AT&T's wireless data networks in the Southeast and Midwest U.S. are down, causing BlackBerry and iPhone users to be without data services.
The EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) and UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) services in those regions began having problems around 6:30 a.m. EST Thursday, said Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman. Voice calling has not been affected, but people trying to use wireless data services might have "difficulty," he said.
Several users of a BlackBerry newsgroup have reported being unable to receive data to their handsets. A systems administrator in Kansas reports that BlackBerry devices there are displaying a message that says "data connection refused."
AT&T is still looking into what exactly caused the failure, but technicians have found a solution to the problem and expect the service to be restored by around 3:30 p.m. EST, Siegel said.
The iPhone runs on the EDGE network, so users of the phones, as well as any other mobile device that receives data from either of the networks, will have problems using data services.
In early 2007, Research In Motion implemented a software upgrade that caused its systems to crash, resulting in a BlackBerry service outage that started in the evening and lasted through the night. This time, the problem appears to be with AT&T's network and not with RIM's infrastructure.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wearable technology takes to the runway
Fashion and technology came together at the Boston Museum of Science, where 'Seamless: Computational Couture' was hosted. Models and designers from around the world participated in the event showing off designs that incorporated technology.
Swedes file charges against Pirate Bay four
Swedish prosecutor Håkan Roswall today filed charges against four people for involvement in running The Pirate Bay, one of the most widely used BitTorrent trackers for illegally distributed music, movies and software in the world.
According to the charges, revenue made from advertising on the Web site totals at least 1.2 million Swedish krona, equivalent to approximately US$190,000. The prosecutor is calling for the Pirate Bay four to forfeit that sum to Swedish authorities.
Along with the charges, Håkan Roswall submitted a number of invoices connected to ad revenue, in order to prove commercial interests in distributing copyright infringing material.
Peter Sunde, spokesperson for The Pirate Bay and one of the four being charged, claims the calculations submitted Thursday are based on invoices not related to the controversial Web site, but was not able to present figures when asked.
"Obviously it's uncomfortable to be prosecuted," Sunde said. "But no one of the involved has intentionally done anything illegal."
Three of the people included in the indictment are directly connected to the running of the site and have openly said so in the media. The fourth person is a former CEO of operator Rix Port80, at the time of his tenure known as Rix Telecom, accused of supplying hardware and bandwidth to The Pirate Bay.
While the validity of the charges must be verified in court in Stockholm, Henrik Pontén, legal council of the Swedish Anti-piracy Bureau, regards them as an indicator that online piracy has become about more than free content.
"We see a clear trend towards piracy becoming even more commercial," Pontén said. "While some want to ignore it, the preliminary investigation shows that an affluent CEO of an ISP has made money that should have been earned by the creators."
The prosecutor claims the four worked together to administer, host and develop the Web site and thereby facilitated other people's breach of copyright law.
In total, 34 cases of copyright infringements are listed, of which 21 are related to music files, nine to movies and four to games.
According to the charges, revenue made from advertising on the Web site totals at least 1.2 million Swedish krona, equivalent to approximately US$190,000. The prosecutor is calling for the Pirate Bay four to forfeit that sum to Swedish authorities.
Along with the charges, Håkan Roswall submitted a number of invoices connected to ad revenue, in order to prove commercial interests in distributing copyright infringing material.
Peter Sunde, spokesperson for The Pirate Bay and one of the four being charged, claims the calculations submitted Thursday are based on invoices not related to the controversial Web site, but was not able to present figures when asked.
"Obviously it's uncomfortable to be prosecuted," Sunde said. "But no one of the involved has intentionally done anything illegal."
Three of the people included in the indictment are directly connected to the running of the site and have openly said so in the media. The fourth person is a former CEO of operator Rix Port80, at the time of his tenure known as Rix Telecom, accused of supplying hardware and bandwidth to The Pirate Bay.
While the validity of the charges must be verified in court in Stockholm, Henrik Pontén, legal council of the Swedish Anti-piracy Bureau, regards them as an indicator that online piracy has become about more than free content.
"We see a clear trend towards piracy becoming even more commercial," Pontén said. "While some want to ignore it, the preliminary investigation shows that an affluent CEO of an ISP has made money that should have been earned by the creators."
The prosecutor claims the four worked together to administer, host and develop the Web site and thereby facilitated other people's breach of copyright law.
In total, 34 cases of copyright infringements are listed, of which 21 are related to music files, nine to movies and four to games.
FTC goes after alleged MySpace hijackers
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has asked a federal court to require an alleged Web page hijacking operation to obey previous orders barring unfair and deceptive practices.
Walter Rines, business partner Sanford Wallace and Rines' company, Online Turbo Merchant, diverted users of MySpace.com to other Web sites and barraged them with ads to earn advertising commissions, according to court papers filed with the FTC. The defendants used pagejacking, phishing and other methods to target MySpace users, in violation of a previous court order, the FTC said in a news release.
The FTC, in a Jan. 23 filing, asked the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire to order the defendants to give up the money they earned from their MySpace scheme.
Rines' listed phone number in New Hampshire was disconnected.
In October 2005, the FTC charged Odysseus Marketing and its owner, Rines, with luring consumers to their Web site by offering free software, including a program that supposedly allowed them to engage in anonymous peer-to-peer file sharing. The software was bundled with spyware that intercepted and replaced search results and barraged consumers' computers with pop-up ads, the FTC said. The software also stole users' personal information, and users were unable to locate or uninstall the spyware through reasonable means, the FTC said.
The FTC alleged that the defendants' software captured consumers' personal information and transmitted the information to the defendants' servers. Consumers were unable to locate or uninstall the spyware through reasonable means, the agency charged. The court ordered a preliminary halt to these practices pending trial, and in October 2006 Odysseus and Rines settled the charges by stipulating to a permanent injunction.
The permanent injunction prohibited the defendants from redirecting consumers' computers; from changing any Web browser's default home page; and from modifying or replacing the functions of any computer application. It required Rines and his company to obtain consumers' express consent before downloading or distributing any content to their computers.
The permanent injunction also imposed a US$1.75 million judgment, and all but $10,000 was suspended based on the defendants' inability to pay.
In its recent filing, the FTC alleges that Rines, his company and Wallace knew of the permanent injunction and violated that order by diverting users from MySpace.com to their Web sites.
Walter Rines, business partner Sanford Wallace and Rines' company, Online Turbo Merchant, diverted users of MySpace.com to other Web sites and barraged them with ads to earn advertising commissions, according to court papers filed with the FTC. The defendants used pagejacking, phishing and other methods to target MySpace users, in violation of a previous court order, the FTC said in a news release.
The FTC, in a Jan. 23 filing, asked the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire to order the defendants to give up the money they earned from their MySpace scheme.
Rines' listed phone number in New Hampshire was disconnected.
In October 2005, the FTC charged Odysseus Marketing and its owner, Rines, with luring consumers to their Web site by offering free software, including a program that supposedly allowed them to engage in anonymous peer-to-peer file sharing. The software was bundled with spyware that intercepted and replaced search results and barraged consumers' computers with pop-up ads, the FTC said. The software also stole users' personal information, and users were unable to locate or uninstall the spyware through reasonable means, the FTC said.
The FTC alleged that the defendants' software captured consumers' personal information and transmitted the information to the defendants' servers. Consumers were unable to locate or uninstall the spyware through reasonable means, the agency charged. The court ordered a preliminary halt to these practices pending trial, and in October 2006 Odysseus and Rines settled the charges by stipulating to a permanent injunction.
The permanent injunction prohibited the defendants from redirecting consumers' computers; from changing any Web browser's default home page; and from modifying or replacing the functions of any computer application. It required Rines and his company to obtain consumers' express consent before downloading or distributing any content to their computers.
The permanent injunction also imposed a US$1.75 million judgment, and all but $10,000 was suspended based on the defendants' inability to pay.
In its recent filing, the FTC alleges that Rines, his company and Wallace knew of the permanent injunction and violated that order by diverting users from MySpace.com to their Web sites.
Amazon buys Audible for $300 million
Amazon.com has begun a new chapter in its battle for customers' ears: it has agreed to pay US$300 million for Audible, a seller of audio books that has a close relationship with Apple.
Ten-year-old Audible sells spoken-word content such as audio books, magazines and radio programs through a number of channels, including its Web sites in the U.S. and U.K. It has 80,000 titles in its catalog, and a further 20,000 through partner sites in France and Germany.
Amazon began reselling Audible's content in 2000, and since 2002, Audible has also distributed audio books through Apple's iTunes Store, when it became Apple's exclusive supplier of spoken-word content. Apple modified the software in its iPods to allow "bookmarking" of Audible audio files.
This chapter in the battle for listeners may yet have a happy ending for Apple, as the Audible team plans to continue and grow its relationship with the iTunes Store, according to Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener. But that goes for Audible's many other channel partnerships too: "We plan to continue and grow all these relationships," Herdener said.
Apple declined to comment on the deal.
The main battle front between Apple and Amazon remains the sale of digital music free of the restrictions imposed by DRM (digital rights management) systems, where Amazon has been competing with Apple in the U.S. since September.
When Apple opened its iTunes Store, the music it sold was wrapped in a layer of DRM to prevent copying, which incidentally tied the music to Apple's iPod players and iTunes software.
Some record companies were unhappy that Apple limited the sales to its players in this way, and last May Apple began offering tracks from EMI without DRM for a small premium, later bringing the price down to the same $0.99 it charges for other tracks with DRM. Amazon joined the fray in September, selling music from EMI and Universal in MP3 format, without DRM, adding tracks from Warner to its catalog in December. It now offers 2.9 million DRM-free tracks, compared to 2 million DRM-free tracks in Apple's iTunes Store. Apple offers millions more tracks with DRM.
Audible's audio books are wrapped in a layer of DRM, which Amazon does not plan to remove unless customers start to complain, Herdener said.
"Each media marketplace has its own business dynamics," he said.
Amazon recently moved into the electronic book market with the launch of its Kindle e-reader, a device for downloading and displaying electronic books. Kindle also plays audio files, including those sold by Audible, making it a (much bulkier) competitor to the iPod.
The $300 million price tag for Audible includes the assumption of outstanding stock option obligations. The companies expect to close the deal by April.
Ten-year-old Audible sells spoken-word content such as audio books, magazines and radio programs through a number of channels, including its Web sites in the U.S. and U.K. It has 80,000 titles in its catalog, and a further 20,000 through partner sites in France and Germany.
Amazon began reselling Audible's content in 2000, and since 2002, Audible has also distributed audio books through Apple's iTunes Store, when it became Apple's exclusive supplier of spoken-word content. Apple modified the software in its iPods to allow "bookmarking" of Audible audio files.
This chapter in the battle for listeners may yet have a happy ending for Apple, as the Audible team plans to continue and grow its relationship with the iTunes Store, according to Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener. But that goes for Audible's many other channel partnerships too: "We plan to continue and grow all these relationships," Herdener said.
Apple declined to comment on the deal.
The main battle front between Apple and Amazon remains the sale of digital music free of the restrictions imposed by DRM (digital rights management) systems, where Amazon has been competing with Apple in the U.S. since September.
When Apple opened its iTunes Store, the music it sold was wrapped in a layer of DRM to prevent copying, which incidentally tied the music to Apple's iPod players and iTunes software.
Some record companies were unhappy that Apple limited the sales to its players in this way, and last May Apple began offering tracks from EMI without DRM for a small premium, later bringing the price down to the same $0.99 it charges for other tracks with DRM. Amazon joined the fray in September, selling music from EMI and Universal in MP3 format, without DRM, adding tracks from Warner to its catalog in December. It now offers 2.9 million DRM-free tracks, compared to 2 million DRM-free tracks in Apple's iTunes Store. Apple offers millions more tracks with DRM.
Audible's audio books are wrapped in a layer of DRM, which Amazon does not plan to remove unless customers start to complain, Herdener said.
"Each media marketplace has its own business dynamics," he said.
Amazon recently moved into the electronic book market with the launch of its Kindle e-reader, a device for downloading and displaying electronic books. Kindle also plays audio files, including those sold by Audible, making it a (much bulkier) competitor to the iPod.
The $300 million price tag for Audible includes the assumption of outstanding stock option obligations. The companies expect to close the deal by April.
Large block in 700MHz auction meets reserve price
A nationwide block of spectrum in the 700MHz band being auctioned by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission received a high bid exceeding the "reserve," or minimum, price of US$4.6 billion on Thursday morning.
A block of eight licenses covering the 22MHz C block of spectrum being sold by the FCC received a high bid of $4.7 billion in the 17th round of the 700MHz auctions, completed early Thursday. The C block is the portion of the 700MHz band on which the FCC will require open-access rules, meaning the winning bidder must allow outside devices such as mobile handsets from other carriers and must allow users to run outside applications on the network.
Some critics have complained that the open-access rules would suppress bidding on the C block, but Google has pledged to bid at least $4.6 billion on the C block. Bidding is anonymous during the 700MHz auctions, so it's impossible to tell which company has the high bid.
Through the 17th bidding round, high bids on the entire 62MHz of spectrum being auctioned totalled nearly $12.8 billion. The FCC and U.S. Congress had budgeted the auctions to raise at least $10 billion, but many observers had expected the auctions would raise much more than that.
One block of spectrum unlikely to reach the FCC's reserve price is the D block, a 10MHz band of spectrum that would be paired with another 10MHz assigned to public safety agencies. The FCC required that the winning bidder build a nationwide voice and data network to be shared between commercial users and public safety agencies such as police and fire departments.
After 17 auction rounds, the high bid for the D block stood at $472 million, far short of the $1.33 billion reserve price set by the FCC. That bid happened in the auction's first round on Jan. 24, and there's been no higher bids since then. If the reserve price is not met, the FCC would have to re-auction the D block.
Many members of the U.S. Congress pushed for a public safety network, after emergency responders couldn't communicate with each other during the 9/11 terrorists attacks and more recent disasters. Police and fire departments in neighboring cities often use different devices on different blocks of spectrum.
Critics have pointed to an FCC rule for the D block saying the winning bidder would have to give up millions of dollars in a deposit if it couldn't come to an agreement on network design with the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST), which controls the public safety spectrum. Scott Cleland, founder of telecom analyst firm The Precursor Group, called that provision "onerous."
"That is not a negotiation," said Cleland, speaking at a 700MHz forum Wednesday. "Auctions are free markets, and people don't have to show up."
The FCC may have to re-auction the spectrum without the reserve price and perhaps without public safety obligations, said Michael Calabrese, director of the Spectrum Policy Program at think tank the New America Foundation. The PSST could use its block of spectrum to negotiate service with the auction winner if no build-out rules are in place, he said.
A PSST spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment on the bidding.
A block of eight licenses covering the 22MHz C block of spectrum being sold by the FCC received a high bid of $4.7 billion in the 17th round of the 700MHz auctions, completed early Thursday. The C block is the portion of the 700MHz band on which the FCC will require open-access rules, meaning the winning bidder must allow outside devices such as mobile handsets from other carriers and must allow users to run outside applications on the network.
Some critics have complained that the open-access rules would suppress bidding on the C block, but Google has pledged to bid at least $4.6 billion on the C block. Bidding is anonymous during the 700MHz auctions, so it's impossible to tell which company has the high bid.
Through the 17th bidding round, high bids on the entire 62MHz of spectrum being auctioned totalled nearly $12.8 billion. The FCC and U.S. Congress had budgeted the auctions to raise at least $10 billion, but many observers had expected the auctions would raise much more than that.
One block of spectrum unlikely to reach the FCC's reserve price is the D block, a 10MHz band of spectrum that would be paired with another 10MHz assigned to public safety agencies. The FCC required that the winning bidder build a nationwide voice and data network to be shared between commercial users and public safety agencies such as police and fire departments.
After 17 auction rounds, the high bid for the D block stood at $472 million, far short of the $1.33 billion reserve price set by the FCC. That bid happened in the auction's first round on Jan. 24, and there's been no higher bids since then. If the reserve price is not met, the FCC would have to re-auction the D block.
Many members of the U.S. Congress pushed for a public safety network, after emergency responders couldn't communicate with each other during the 9/11 terrorists attacks and more recent disasters. Police and fire departments in neighboring cities often use different devices on different blocks of spectrum.
Critics have pointed to an FCC rule for the D block saying the winning bidder would have to give up millions of dollars in a deposit if it couldn't come to an agreement on network design with the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST), which controls the public safety spectrum. Scott Cleland, founder of telecom analyst firm The Precursor Group, called that provision "onerous."
"That is not a negotiation," said Cleland, speaking at a 700MHz forum Wednesday. "Auctions are free markets, and people don't have to show up."
The FCC may have to re-auction the spectrum without the reserve price and perhaps without public safety obligations, said Michael Calabrese, director of the Spectrum Policy Program at think tank the New America Foundation. The PSST could use its block of spectrum to negotiate service with the auction winner if no build-out rules are in place, he said.
A PSST spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment on the bidding.
Google slams Autonomy over enterprise search claims
Google is firing back at enterprise search vendor Autonomy, saying the company recently distributed a white paper that contains "significant inaccuracies" about Google's Search Appliance
The white paper, according to Google, states that Search Appliance "does not index all your critical content."
"On the contrary, the Google Search Appliance was designed to search all critical content in the enterprise, including file shares, intranets, databases, and real-time business data - all from one simple search box," wrote Nitin Mangtani, lead product manager, enterprise search, on an official blog. Mangtani added that Google has also supplied connectors to products like SharePoint and Documentum, and an open-source content connector framework.
The white paper does not appear to be available on Autonomy's Web site, nor is it provided through Google's blog post. Autonomy could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
Autonomy's document also claimed Search Appliance lacks enterprise-level security, according to Mangtani. It in fact supports a number of security access control systems and also allows security settings at the document level, he said. The latter "ensures that end-users see only those documents in the results list to which they have access," according to Mangtani.
In addition, the white paper noted that the search appliance's "capabilities are still being honed," Mangtani wrote.
"This is certainly true: We are constantly working to improve the appliance, to make sure it offers ever increasing relevancy out of the box," he acknowledged.
However, he added, "The fact is that we employ thousands of engineers focused on search relevancy and quality. In the last three months alone, seven new Google Enterprise Labs experiments have been launched (by Google, not third parties as Autonomy claimed) to enhance the enterprise search experience."
Meanwhile, a report released in December by the analyst firm CMS Watch also said the company's technology has certain shortcomings, among them a lack of "advanced tuning controls found in most other enterprise search products."
This is the second time Google's search team has responded to an Autonomy white paper, and overall the exchange is reflective of the tightening market for enterprise search.
Microsoft's bid this month to buy Fast Search and Transfer (FAST), a key competitor of Autonomy, was seen by some observers as a validation of the market.
Autonomy, based in England and San Francisco, is one of the larger independent players in enterprise search. Fourth-quarter revenue released this week stood at $115 million, up 57 percent over the same period in 2006, it said. Adjusted net profits in the fourth quarter were $28.5 million, up from $18.4 million in 2006.
The white paper, according to Google, states that Search Appliance "does not index all your critical content."
"On the contrary, the Google Search Appliance was designed to search all critical content in the enterprise, including file shares, intranets, databases, and real-time business data - all from one simple search box," wrote Nitin Mangtani, lead product manager, enterprise search, on an official blog. Mangtani added that Google has also supplied connectors to products like SharePoint and Documentum, and an open-source content connector framework.
The white paper does not appear to be available on Autonomy's Web site, nor is it provided through Google's blog post. Autonomy could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
Autonomy's document also claimed Search Appliance lacks enterprise-level security, according to Mangtani. It in fact supports a number of security access control systems and also allows security settings at the document level, he said. The latter "ensures that end-users see only those documents in the results list to which they have access," according to Mangtani.
In addition, the white paper noted that the search appliance's "capabilities are still being honed," Mangtani wrote.
"This is certainly true: We are constantly working to improve the appliance, to make sure it offers ever increasing relevancy out of the box," he acknowledged.
However, he added, "The fact is that we employ thousands of engineers focused on search relevancy and quality. In the last three months alone, seven new Google Enterprise Labs experiments have been launched (by Google, not third parties as Autonomy claimed) to enhance the enterprise search experience."
Meanwhile, a report released in December by the analyst firm CMS Watch also said the company's technology has certain shortcomings, among them a lack of "advanced tuning controls found in most other enterprise search products."
This is the second time Google's search team has responded to an Autonomy white paper, and overall the exchange is reflective of the tightening market for enterprise search.
Microsoft's bid this month to buy Fast Search and Transfer (FAST), a key competitor of Autonomy, was seen by some observers as a validation of the market.
Autonomy, based in England and San Francisco, is one of the larger independent players in enterprise search. Fourth-quarter revenue released this week stood at $115 million, up 57 percent over the same period in 2006, it said. Adjusted net profits in the fourth quarter were $28.5 million, up from $18.4 million in 2006.
Fraudsters use malware to direct users to phishing sites
The latest information on phishing indicates that fraudsters are increasingly using malicious software to direct users to their deceptive sites.
The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) said in a new report Thursday that it saw a sharp rise in November in malware that directs users to DNS (Domain Name System) servers controlled by phishers.
DNS servers play a crucial role in locating Web sites. The servers translate a domain name into an IP (Internet protocol) address, enabling a Web site to be located and accessed through a browser.
Often, the phishers will set up their own DNS server that works fine most of the time but can redirect to their own malicious site.
Tainting a person's DNS settings is particularly dangerous since the user probably won't notice the redirection, the APWG said.
"The fraudulent server replies with 'good' answers for most domains, however, when they want to direct you to a fraudulent one, they simply modify their name server responses," the report said.
Phishers are also employing malware that modifies an internal PC file called the hosts, which is used to match domain names of Web sites with IP addresses.
When a person visits a Web site, the browser checks the hosts to see if it has an IP address for a particular domain name. If the hosts file is corrupted or hijacked, the browser can be directed to fetch a different Web page than the one the user intended to go to.
Both attacks -- also known as pharming -- are dangerous, since a user may be typing in the correct URL (uniform resource locator) but be directed to the phishing site.
The APWG reported that the overall number of unique phishing sites declined in November, but 178 different brands were targeted, a record number. By comparison, 120 brands were used in phishing attacks in October. The highest previous total was in April 2007, when 174 brands were targeted.
More Middle Eastern and European financial services companies were spoofed in phishing schemes, APWG said. The financial services industry is the most targeted for fraud, comprising 93.8 percent of all phishing attacks.
The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) said in a new report Thursday that it saw a sharp rise in November in malware that directs users to DNS (Domain Name System) servers controlled by phishers.
DNS servers play a crucial role in locating Web sites. The servers translate a domain name into an IP (Internet protocol) address, enabling a Web site to be located and accessed through a browser.
Often, the phishers will set up their own DNS server that works fine most of the time but can redirect to their own malicious site.
Tainting a person's DNS settings is particularly dangerous since the user probably won't notice the redirection, the APWG said.
"The fraudulent server replies with 'good' answers for most domains, however, when they want to direct you to a fraudulent one, they simply modify their name server responses," the report said.
Phishers are also employing malware that modifies an internal PC file called the hosts, which is used to match domain names of Web sites with IP addresses.
When a person visits a Web site, the browser checks the hosts to see if it has an IP address for a particular domain name. If the hosts file is corrupted or hijacked, the browser can be directed to fetch a different Web page than the one the user intended to go to.
Both attacks -- also known as pharming -- are dangerous, since a user may be typing in the correct URL (uniform resource locator) but be directed to the phishing site.
The APWG reported that the overall number of unique phishing sites declined in November, but 178 different brands were targeted, a record number. By comparison, 120 brands were used in phishing attacks in October. The highest previous total was in April 2007, when 174 brands were targeted.
More Middle Eastern and European financial services companies were spoofed in phishing schemes, APWG said. The financial services industry is the most targeted for fraud, comprising 93.8 percent of all phishing attacks.
PC makers to adopt chips used in MacBook Air
Processors specially developed by Intel for Apple's new MacBook Air laptop will soon be used by other PC vendors in systems, possibly creating competition for what Apple calls the world's lightest and thinnest notebook.
Two PC makers will use the miniaturized Intel Core 2 Duo processors used by Apple in MacBook Air, said a source familiar with Intel's plans. Systems powered by the chips will be released soon, the source said.
The companies' names weren't revealed, but the chip could bring smaller and lighter notebooks that could compete in size and performance with the ultra-thin MacBook Air, which weighs 3 pounds (1.3 kilograms) and measures 0.16 inches (0.4 centimeters) at its thinnest part and 0.76 inches (1.93 cms) at its thickest part.
Apple asked Intel to develop powerful chips for MacBook Air that are 60 percent smaller than the normal size, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said during a keynote address at the Macworld Conference and Expo earlier this month. Intel obliged, which led to the development of smaller Core 2 Duo processors.
"All you have to do is check out the size and shape of the MacBook Air to see what the shrink enables -- smaller, lighter form factors that were physically not possible before," said Connie Brown, an Intel spokeswoman.
The MacBook Air comes with miniaturized Intel Core 2 Duo processors running at either 1.6Ghz or 1.8GHz, with the Intel 965GMS chipset and integrated graphics. Manufactured using the 65-nanometer process, the chips belong to Intel's Merom family of processors.
Intel shrunk the CPU and chipset for a 60 percent reduction in total footprint to comparable Merom processors, Brown said. While delivering similar performance, the chips use 20 watts of power, lower than comparable Merom chips that use 35 watts.
The miniaturized chip was designed for Apple, but other PC makers can use it, Brown said.
PC manufacturers could adopt the miniaturized Merom CPU in mini desktops or subnotebooks, but the Mac OS X Leopard operating system gives MacBook Air an advantage, said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst with Insight 64. Other systems could be based on Windows or Linux.
Apple also has a leg up in product design, which potential MacBook Air competitors will find hard to emulate, Brookwood said.
"What has resulted from Apple's move to Intel chips is its forcing other OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] to pay more attention to the styling of their systems, which is clearly an advantage for users," Brookwood said.
This was the first time Intel developed a small form-factor chip from a normal-sized mobile processor, Brown said.
However, Intel has talked about developing chips with smaller form factors in the past.
At the Intel Developer Forum last year, Intel talked about shrinking the size of chips by up to 60 percent for its next-generation Montevina mobile platform, which will include the new Penryn processors manufactured using the 45-nm process. The small form-factor chips will be released shortly after the normal-sized chips, due to ship by the middle of this year.
It's not a coincidence that both Intel and Apple have talked about a 60 percent size reduction in chips, Brookwood said. Apple has taken a step ahead by adopting the Merom processor for the MacBook Air, and a natural path of progression is to upgrade to the small form-factor Penryn processors that will be part of Montevina, he said.
Apple doesn't comment on future products, a company spokesman wrote in an e-mail.
Two PC makers will use the miniaturized Intel Core 2 Duo processors used by Apple in MacBook Air, said a source familiar with Intel's plans. Systems powered by the chips will be released soon, the source said.
The companies' names weren't revealed, but the chip could bring smaller and lighter notebooks that could compete in size and performance with the ultra-thin MacBook Air, which weighs 3 pounds (1.3 kilograms) and measures 0.16 inches (0.4 centimeters) at its thinnest part and 0.76 inches (1.93 cms) at its thickest part.
Apple asked Intel to develop powerful chips for MacBook Air that are 60 percent smaller than the normal size, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said during a keynote address at the Macworld Conference and Expo earlier this month. Intel obliged, which led to the development of smaller Core 2 Duo processors.
"All you have to do is check out the size and shape of the MacBook Air to see what the shrink enables -- smaller, lighter form factors that were physically not possible before," said Connie Brown, an Intel spokeswoman.
The MacBook Air comes with miniaturized Intel Core 2 Duo processors running at either 1.6Ghz or 1.8GHz, with the Intel 965GMS chipset and integrated graphics. Manufactured using the 65-nanometer process, the chips belong to Intel's Merom family of processors.
Intel shrunk the CPU and chipset for a 60 percent reduction in total footprint to comparable Merom processors, Brown said. While delivering similar performance, the chips use 20 watts of power, lower than comparable Merom chips that use 35 watts.
The miniaturized chip was designed for Apple, but other PC makers can use it, Brown said.
PC manufacturers could adopt the miniaturized Merom CPU in mini desktops or subnotebooks, but the Mac OS X Leopard operating system gives MacBook Air an advantage, said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst with Insight 64. Other systems could be based on Windows or Linux.
Apple also has a leg up in product design, which potential MacBook Air competitors will find hard to emulate, Brookwood said.
"What has resulted from Apple's move to Intel chips is its forcing other OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] to pay more attention to the styling of their systems, which is clearly an advantage for users," Brookwood said.
This was the first time Intel developed a small form-factor chip from a normal-sized mobile processor, Brown said.
However, Intel has talked about developing chips with smaller form factors in the past.
At the Intel Developer Forum last year, Intel talked about shrinking the size of chips by up to 60 percent for its next-generation Montevina mobile platform, which will include the new Penryn processors manufactured using the 45-nm process. The small form-factor chips will be released shortly after the normal-sized chips, due to ship by the middle of this year.
It's not a coincidence that both Intel and Apple have talked about a 60 percent size reduction in chips, Brookwood said. Apple has taken a step ahead by adopting the Merom processor for the MacBook Air, and a natural path of progression is to upgrade to the small form-factor Penryn processors that will be part of Montevina, he said.
Apple doesn't comment on future products, a company spokesman wrote in an e-mail.
Microsoft rolls out CRM update in eight languages
Microsoft has rolled out an update to its customer relationship management (CRM) suite in eight of 25 languages that the software will eventually support.
Dynamics CRM 4.0 is now available in Danish, English, Finnish, Dutch, French, German, simplified Chinese and Spanish, Microsoft announced Wednesday. The company begins a 12-week global tour this week to launch the suite, which is available for both on-demand and on-premise deployments. The company first released code for the software to partners and customers in December.
Over the next three months Microsoft plans to roll out the suite in 17 other languages -- Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Hong Kong Chinese, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, traditional Chinese and Turkish.
Microsoft added multitenant capabilities with version 4.0 of the product, which means a single instance of the software on a server can serve multiple customers when the suite is running as a hosted service. The company also added more support for global companies, giving customers a single view for managing accounts worldwide and adding support for multiple currencies.
Microsoft also has created integration between data in Dynamics CRM and its Office Excel spreadsheet software. Users can import CRM data to Excel and refresh it from live CRM data while they work, using controls from within Microsoft Office. This allows them to use Excel's data-analysis tools with their CRM data, according to Microsoft.
The Dynamics CRM launch tour will travel to Barcelona, London, Madrid and Vancouver on some of the first stops in the 50-city, 20-country tour.
Dynamics CRM 4.0 is now available in Danish, English, Finnish, Dutch, French, German, simplified Chinese and Spanish, Microsoft announced Wednesday. The company begins a 12-week global tour this week to launch the suite, which is available for both on-demand and on-premise deployments. The company first released code for the software to partners and customers in December.
Over the next three months Microsoft plans to roll out the suite in 17 other languages -- Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Hong Kong Chinese, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, traditional Chinese and Turkish.
Microsoft added multitenant capabilities with version 4.0 of the product, which means a single instance of the software on a server can serve multiple customers when the suite is running as a hosted service. The company also added more support for global companies, giving customers a single view for managing accounts worldwide and adding support for multiple currencies.
Microsoft also has created integration between data in Dynamics CRM and its Office Excel spreadsheet software. Users can import CRM data to Excel and refresh it from live CRM data while they work, using controls from within Microsoft Office. This allows them to use Excel's data-analysis tools with their CRM data, according to Microsoft.
The Dynamics CRM launch tour will travel to Barcelona, London, Madrid and Vancouver on some of the first stops in the 50-city, 20-country tour.
Lenovo sees Q3 profits soar, sells mobile phone business
Lenovo Group said its net income almost tripled during its third fiscal quarter, thanks to strong demand for its computers and a weak U.S. dollar.
Lenovo's sales during the quarter came to US$4.6 billion, up 15 percent over the same quarter a year earlier, the company said in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday. The company reported net income of $172 million for the quarter, compared to $58 million a year earlier.
The results announcement came late. Lenovo was originally scheduled to report its financial results on Wednesday, but missed a filing deadline with the Hong Kong stock exchange that forced the company to delay releasing its results by one day, it said in a statement.
Third-quarter PC shipments rose 22 percent compared to the previous year, which Lenovo said outpaced the industry average of 16 percent. That growth likely grew Lenovo's share of the global PC market from 7.1 percent to 7.5 percent, the company said.
China continued to be Lenovo's strongest market, with shipments up by 25 percent during the third quarter. Strong desktop PC sales boosted shipments in the Americas by 15 percent, while the company saw 24 percent growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Strong demand in India helped boost shipments in Asia-Pacific, excluding China, by 20 percent, it said.
Looking ahead, Lenovo noted that the economic outlook is uncertain, but said continued strong demand for PCs in Asia and emerging markets elsewhere means PC shipments will continue to see double-digit growth. The company is counting on the expansion of consumer PC and server sales into markets outside China to give it a boost in the months ahead.
Lenovo also announced plans to sell its mobile-phone business, which saw phone shipments decrease by 31 percent during the fiscal third quarter. A group of private-equity investors will buy the business in a deal valued at $100 million, Lenovo said in a separate filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Lenovo's sales during the quarter came to US$4.6 billion, up 15 percent over the same quarter a year earlier, the company said in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday. The company reported net income of $172 million for the quarter, compared to $58 million a year earlier.
The results announcement came late. Lenovo was originally scheduled to report its financial results on Wednesday, but missed a filing deadline with the Hong Kong stock exchange that forced the company to delay releasing its results by one day, it said in a statement.
Third-quarter PC shipments rose 22 percent compared to the previous year, which Lenovo said outpaced the industry average of 16 percent. That growth likely grew Lenovo's share of the global PC market from 7.1 percent to 7.5 percent, the company said.
China continued to be Lenovo's strongest market, with shipments up by 25 percent during the third quarter. Strong desktop PC sales boosted shipments in the Americas by 15 percent, while the company saw 24 percent growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Strong demand in India helped boost shipments in Asia-Pacific, excluding China, by 20 percent, it said.
Looking ahead, Lenovo noted that the economic outlook is uncertain, but said continued strong demand for PCs in Asia and emerging markets elsewhere means PC shipments will continue to see double-digit growth. The company is counting on the expansion of consumer PC and server sales into markets outside China to give it a boost in the months ahead.
Lenovo also announced plans to sell its mobile-phone business, which saw phone shipments decrease by 31 percent during the fiscal third quarter. A group of private-equity investors will buy the business in a deal valued at $100 million, Lenovo said in a separate filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Damaged cables disrupt Internet in Middle East
Two underwater cables in the Mediterranean Sea were damaged on Wednesday morning, dragging Internet connections throughout the Middle East and in parts of Asia to a crawl.
The cables, one operated by Flag Telecom and the other by a consortium of 15 telecommunications operators, account for 75 percent of the network capacity between Europe and the Middle East, according to Stephan Beckert, an analyst with TeleGeography Research.
A third cable was undamaged, but it is older and has far less capacity than the others, he said.
Operators believe the damage was caused by ship anchors during a heavy storm at sea, Beckert said. Wire services reported that ships heading for Egypt's northern coast were diverted due to the storms, and their anchors may have severed the cables several miles from shore.
AT&T confirmed that its service to some areas of the Middle East was affected, but said it was now re-routing traffic. Etisalat, the telecommunications provider in the United Arab Emirates, reported that both Internet traffic and international voice calls were affected by the incident. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India and all of the Gulf states were affected, Beckert said.
As much as 70 percent of Egypt’s Internet network was down, and over half of India's bandwidth was cut due to the disruption, according to a report from Reuters that cited local officials.
Most of the major operators have backup plans in place for this type of incident, Beckert said. In this case, they'll have to route traffic from the Middle East to Asia, across the Pacific Ocean, through the U.S. and then across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, he said. That will result in latency problems that will likely lead to sluggish connections until the cables are repaired, he said. The operators in the Middle East told him that they should be able to repair the damages in one to two weeks.
The accident should affect mainly Internet traffic. Voice calls travel over the same cables, but operators will give priority to the voice calls, which take up relatively little capacity but produce more revenue than data traffic. Beckert estimates that 1 percent or less of traffic carried on the cables is voice.
The cables, one operated by Flag Telecom and the other by a consortium of 15 telecommunications operators, account for 75 percent of the network capacity between Europe and the Middle East, according to Stephan Beckert, an analyst with TeleGeography Research.
A third cable was undamaged, but it is older and has far less capacity than the others, he said.
Operators believe the damage was caused by ship anchors during a heavy storm at sea, Beckert said. Wire services reported that ships heading for Egypt's northern coast were diverted due to the storms, and their anchors may have severed the cables several miles from shore.
AT&T confirmed that its service to some areas of the Middle East was affected, but said it was now re-routing traffic. Etisalat, the telecommunications provider in the United Arab Emirates, reported that both Internet traffic and international voice calls were affected by the incident. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India and all of the Gulf states were affected, Beckert said.
As much as 70 percent of Egypt’s Internet network was down, and over half of India's bandwidth was cut due to the disruption, according to a report from Reuters that cited local officials.
Most of the major operators have backup plans in place for this type of incident, Beckert said. In this case, they'll have to route traffic from the Middle East to Asia, across the Pacific Ocean, through the U.S. and then across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, he said. That will result in latency problems that will likely lead to sluggish connections until the cables are repaired, he said. The operators in the Middle East told him that they should be able to repair the damages in one to two weeks.
The accident should affect mainly Internet traffic. Voice calls travel over the same cables, but operators will give priority to the voice calls, which take up relatively little capacity but produce more revenue than data traffic. Beckert estimates that 1 percent or less of traffic carried on the cables is voice.
Dell shuts 140 retail kiosks in US
Dell on Wednesday announced the shutdown of retail kiosks in malls throughout the U.S. as it adjusts its evolving product distribution strategy.
The closings comes at a time when Dell is repositioning its retail strategy to attract more customers by selling products through its Web site, retail outlets and over the phone.
Dell had over 140 kiosks, called Dell Direct stores, for customers to buy products, including PCs, TVs and printers. Dell representatives staffed the kiosks and assisted buyers in choosing products and placing orders. The kiosks didn't actually carry inventory so products were shipped to buyers.
This change does not impact Dell Direct stores in Canada, Asia-Pacific and Japan, said Lionel Menchaca, digital media manager at Dell in a blog entry. The company has about 50 stand-alone kiosks outside the U.S.
"We started offering Dell systems through retailers about six months ago, and now customers can buy Dell desktops and laptops through more than 10,000 retail outlets worldwide," Menchaca wrote.
The needs for kiosks declined as retail stores provide more accessibility to Dell products, said Dell spokesman David Frink. The kiosks, introduced in 2002, are being closed immediately, Frink said.
The shutdown might lead to laying off employees who staffed the kiosks, Frink said. He declined to comment on an exact number of layoffs and charges that the company might take relating to the shutdown.
Dell has expanded its in-store offerings over the last six months by signing up retailers globally to sell its products, including Best Buy and Wal-Mart in the U.S., Tesco in the U.K. and Bic Camera in Japan.
The kiosks were just an expansion of the company's online and catalog sales, said David Daoud, an analyst at IDC. "If anything, it shows that Dell doesn't want kiosks to compete with the brick and mortar stores," he said. Customers prefer to buy products online or at a store so having kiosks doesn't fit with Dell's evolving U.S. business model, Daoud said.
However, kiosks will be an effective tool to facilitate brand awareness for Dell in the international and emerging markets, especially for customers who can't go online, Daoud said. Though it has a significant enterprise presence internationally, Dell has the potential to grow in the consumer space, Daoud said.
Dell's retooled retail strategy has helped the company expand its lead over Hewlett-Packard as the largest U.S. PC vendor in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to figures from analyst firms Gartner and IDC. However, HP remained the world's largest PC dealer, topping Dell, Acer and Lenovo, according to figures from both firms.
The closings comes at a time when Dell is repositioning its retail strategy to attract more customers by selling products through its Web site, retail outlets and over the phone.
Dell had over 140 kiosks, called Dell Direct stores, for customers to buy products, including PCs, TVs and printers. Dell representatives staffed the kiosks and assisted buyers in choosing products and placing orders. The kiosks didn't actually carry inventory so products were shipped to buyers.
This change does not impact Dell Direct stores in Canada, Asia-Pacific and Japan, said Lionel Menchaca, digital media manager at Dell in a blog entry. The company has about 50 stand-alone kiosks outside the U.S.
"We started offering Dell systems through retailers about six months ago, and now customers can buy Dell desktops and laptops through more than 10,000 retail outlets worldwide," Menchaca wrote.
The needs for kiosks declined as retail stores provide more accessibility to Dell products, said Dell spokesman David Frink. The kiosks, introduced in 2002, are being closed immediately, Frink said.
The shutdown might lead to laying off employees who staffed the kiosks, Frink said. He declined to comment on an exact number of layoffs and charges that the company might take relating to the shutdown.
Dell has expanded its in-store offerings over the last six months by signing up retailers globally to sell its products, including Best Buy and Wal-Mart in the U.S., Tesco in the U.K. and Bic Camera in Japan.
The kiosks were just an expansion of the company's online and catalog sales, said David Daoud, an analyst at IDC. "If anything, it shows that Dell doesn't want kiosks to compete with the brick and mortar stores," he said. Customers prefer to buy products online or at a store so having kiosks doesn't fit with Dell's evolving U.S. business model, Daoud said.
However, kiosks will be an effective tool to facilitate brand awareness for Dell in the international and emerging markets, especially for customers who can't go online, Daoud said. Though it has a significant enterprise presence internationally, Dell has the potential to grow in the consumer space, Daoud said.
Dell's retooled retail strategy has helped the company expand its lead over Hewlett-Packard as the largest U.S. PC vendor in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to figures from analyst firms Gartner and IDC. However, HP remained the world's largest PC dealer, topping Dell, Acer and Lenovo, according to figures from both firms.
California company introduces new mobile Linux platform
Another mobile Linux platform, this time from Azingo, hit the market on Wednesday, joining an increasingly crowded market of Linux phone software.
Formerly called Celunite, Azingo aims to differentiate itself from the crowd by offering phone makers an entire package, including kernel, middleware, applications, development tools and integration services.
"Mobile Linux has failed because there's a big integration problem," said Michael Mclaughlin, marketing director at Azingo. "People come with piece parts."
For example, companies like Montavista and Wind River make mobile Linux kernels while others like Trolltech, purchased by Nokia just this week, make application development environments. Phone makers typically must buy the different components and then struggle to integrate them. That puts mobile Linux at a disadvantage against some other mobile platforms, like Windows Mobile, which comes complete, he said.
Azingo is offering a complete suite of mobile Linux software but will also help customers integrate different pieces if they choose components from different vendors, said Mclaughlin.
The applications Azingo offers as part of the platform include Web widgets that can deliver information such as weather and traffic, entertainment applications such as video and audio players, and productivity software like e-mail.
Azingo hasn't announced any deals with handset makers planning to use its software. Mclaughlin said the company has been working with some of the well-known vendors and expects handsets running its software to ship in the fourth quarter.
The company isn't the only one offering the market a complete suite of mobile Linux software. A La Mobile has a similar approach, using some of its own software and integrating components from other vendors including Trolltech. GUPP Technologies, a Malaysian company, announced in 2006 that it would use A La Mobile's platform.
Azingo will also compete against Android, Google's high profile Linux-based mobile phone operating platform, which includes an operating system, middleware and applications. Android phones are expected to become available in the second half of this year.
Azingo is a member of the LiMo Foundation, a group founded by Motorola, NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, Samsung and others to build a mobile Linux platform.
Formerly called Celunite, Azingo aims to differentiate itself from the crowd by offering phone makers an entire package, including kernel, middleware, applications, development tools and integration services.
"Mobile Linux has failed because there's a big integration problem," said Michael Mclaughlin, marketing director at Azingo. "People come with piece parts."
For example, companies like Montavista and Wind River make mobile Linux kernels while others like Trolltech, purchased by Nokia just this week, make application development environments. Phone makers typically must buy the different components and then struggle to integrate them. That puts mobile Linux at a disadvantage against some other mobile platforms, like Windows Mobile, which comes complete, he said.
Azingo is offering a complete suite of mobile Linux software but will also help customers integrate different pieces if they choose components from different vendors, said Mclaughlin.
The applications Azingo offers as part of the platform include Web widgets that can deliver information such as weather and traffic, entertainment applications such as video and audio players, and productivity software like e-mail.
Azingo hasn't announced any deals with handset makers planning to use its software. Mclaughlin said the company has been working with some of the well-known vendors and expects handsets running its software to ship in the fourth quarter.
The company isn't the only one offering the market a complete suite of mobile Linux software. A La Mobile has a similar approach, using some of its own software and integrating components from other vendors including Trolltech. GUPP Technologies, a Malaysian company, announced in 2006 that it would use A La Mobile's platform.
Azingo will also compete against Android, Google's high profile Linux-based mobile phone operating platform, which includes an operating system, middleware and applications. Android phones are expected to become available in the second half of this year.
Azingo is a member of the LiMo Foundation, a group founded by Motorola, NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, Samsung and others to build a mobile Linux platform.
Mozilla ups Firefox bug threat, slates fix for Feb. 5
Mozilla Corp. bumped up the threat ranking for an unpatched Firefox bug to "high" Tuesday, but promised a fix is coming in Version 2.0.0.12, now slated for release on Feb. 5.
The company's head of security, Window Snyder, confirmed that the browser, when running any of more than 600 add-ons, can be exploited to steal "session information, including session cookies and session history."
Snyder's acknowledgment followed an update by Gerry Eisenhaur, the researcher who first reported the Firefox problem. "There seems to be some confusion about what exactly the severity of this vulnerability is," Eisenhaur said on his hiredhacker.com blog. "This is not a chrome privilege escalation, but it [is] worse than just leaking some variables. I created another demo to read the sessionstore.js file. This will display information regarding your current session, [including] windows, tabs, cookies, etc."
Last week, when Eisenhaur broached the subject, Mozilla rated the threat as only "low," but began working on a patch. Yesterday, Snyder said a patch would be included with Firefox 2.0.0.12, a security update currently scheduled for a Feb. 5 release.
"Firefox is not vulnerable by default," Snyder added Tuesday. "Only users that have installed 'flat' packed add-ons are at risk."
Her caveat may be a moot point for most Firefox users, however, since such add-ons are legion. For example, a partial list posted on Bugzilla, Mozilla's bug management database, runs to more than 600 Firefox extensions, including YouTube-It and Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer. Snyder urged add-on authors to update their extensions by packaging them as .jar (Java Archive) files to make them immune to the vulnerability.
Alternately, Firefox users can install the popular NoScript extension to block exploits, regardless of which add-ons have been installed.
The company's head of security, Window Snyder, confirmed that the browser, when running any of more than 600 add-ons, can be exploited to steal "session information, including session cookies and session history."
Snyder's acknowledgment followed an update by Gerry Eisenhaur, the researcher who first reported the Firefox problem. "There seems to be some confusion about what exactly the severity of this vulnerability is," Eisenhaur said on his hiredhacker.com blog. "This is not a chrome privilege escalation, but it [is] worse than just leaking some variables. I created another demo to read the sessionstore.js file. This will display information regarding your current session, [including] windows, tabs, cookies, etc."
Last week, when Eisenhaur broached the subject, Mozilla rated the threat as only "low," but began working on a patch. Yesterday, Snyder said a patch would be included with Firefox 2.0.0.12, a security update currently scheduled for a Feb. 5 release.
"Firefox is not vulnerable by default," Snyder added Tuesday. "Only users that have installed 'flat' packed add-ons are at risk."
Her caveat may be a moot point for most Firefox users, however, since such add-ons are legion. For example, a partial list posted on Bugzilla, Mozilla's bug management database, runs to more than 600 Firefox extensions, including YouTube-It and Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer. Snyder urged add-on authors to update their extensions by packaging them as .jar (Java Archive) files to make them immune to the vulnerability.
Alternately, Firefox users can install the popular NoScript extension to block exploits, regardless of which add-ons have been installed.
Apple MacBook Air laptops ship, but no stock in stores
Apple Inc. announced Wednesday that it has begun shipping the first MacBook Air laptops to customers, but acknowledged that a planned update to Apple TV has been delayed for up two weeks.
The company's newest laptop, which CEO Steve Jobs called the "world's thinnest" computer when he unveiled it two weeks ago at San Francisco's Macworld, is shipping as of Wednesday, Apple said. The three-pound portable, which retails for US$1,799 in its base configuration with a 1.6GHz IntelCore 2 Duo processor, 2GB of memory, and a 13.3-in. LED-backlit display, is also supposed to be available at retail, in both the company's own stores and its resellers.
Several calls to Apple retail stores in New York, Oregon and elsewhere, however, failed to turn up a MacBook Air. "We haven't gotten our filthy little hands on them yet," said a sales rep at the store on West 14th St. in Manhattan. When told that Apple had announced the Air's availability, however, he added: "That's good news. It means we'll have them in in two days."
He expects that his store will stock both the base model, and the $3,098 configuration that features a slightly faster processor and swaps out the traditional platter-based hard drive for a faster 64GB SSD (Solid State Drive) built form flash memory.
The Cupertino, Calif. computer and consumer electronics maker also revealed a delay in the free software update for current owners of Apple TV, the content-serving appliance that Jobs put central to Apple's entry into downloaded movie rentals.
"The new Apple TV software update...is not quite finished," Apple said in a statement Wednesday. "Apple now plans to make the free software download available to existing Apple TV customers in another week or two." When Jobs touted the revamped Apple TV Jan. 15, he said the update would be delivered in about two weeks.
Apple did not provide a reason for the delay, saying only: "The new Apple TV software will be available as a free automatic download to all Apple TV customers within two weeks." New Apple TV units -- which cost $229 for a 40GB model, $329 for a 160GB device, and sport the new software -- ship to customers within 24 hours from Apple's online store, according to information on the site.
The company's newest laptop, which CEO Steve Jobs called the "world's thinnest" computer when he unveiled it two weeks ago at San Francisco's Macworld, is shipping as of Wednesday, Apple said. The three-pound portable, which retails for US$1,799 in its base configuration with a 1.6GHz IntelCore 2 Duo processor, 2GB of memory, and a 13.3-in. LED-backlit display, is also supposed to be available at retail, in both the company's own stores and its resellers.
Several calls to Apple retail stores in New York, Oregon and elsewhere, however, failed to turn up a MacBook Air. "We haven't gotten our filthy little hands on them yet," said a sales rep at the store on West 14th St. in Manhattan. When told that Apple had announced the Air's availability, however, he added: "That's good news. It means we'll have them in in two days."
He expects that his store will stock both the base model, and the $3,098 configuration that features a slightly faster processor and swaps out the traditional platter-based hard drive for a faster 64GB SSD (Solid State Drive) built form flash memory.
The Cupertino, Calif. computer and consumer electronics maker also revealed a delay in the free software update for current owners of Apple TV, the content-serving appliance that Jobs put central to Apple's entry into downloaded movie rentals.
"The new Apple TV software update...is not quite finished," Apple said in a statement Wednesday. "Apple now plans to make the free software download available to existing Apple TV customers in another week or two." When Jobs touted the revamped Apple TV Jan. 15, he said the update would be delivered in about two weeks.
Apple did not provide a reason for the delay, saying only: "The new Apple TV software will be available as a free automatic download to all Apple TV customers within two weeks." New Apple TV units -- which cost $229 for a 40GB model, $329 for a 160GB device, and sport the new software -- ship to customers within 24 hours from Apple's online store, according to information on the site.
New attack proves critical Windows bug 'highly exploitable'
Security researchers Tuesday said they'd discredited Microsoft's claim that the year's first critical Windows vulnerability would be "difficult and unlikely" to be exploited by attackers.
On Tuesday, Immunity Inc. updated a working exploit for the TCP/IP flaw spelled out Jan. 8 in Microsoft's MS08-001 security bulletin, and posted a Flash demonstration of the attack on its Web site. The exploit, which was released to customers of its CANVAS penetration testing software -- but is not available to the public -- was a revised version of code first issued two weeks ago.
"This demonstrates conclusively that the MS08-001 IGMPv3 vulnerability is highly exploitable," said Dave Aitel, Immunity's chief technology officer, in a message to his Dailydave security mailing list.
Aitel's assertion challenged Microsoft's earlier assessment that "there are a number of factors that make exploitation of this issue difficult and unlikely in real-world conditions."
Immunity did acknowledge that its newest exploit was not 100% reliable, however.
Other security companies reacted to the revamped attack code and Flash proof by issuing new alerts. Symantec Corp., for instance, sent a new warning to customers of its DeepSight threat network. "The exploit demonstrates remote code execution," noted Symantec. "The exploit works against Windows XP SP2 English Default [and shows] two Windows XP SP2 computers on a local subnet with firewall enabled being compromised."
It urged users who have not already deployed the patches Microsoft issued Jan. 8 to do immediately.
Previously, Aitel had called out the IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) vulnerability as a potential blockbuster for 2008. In a detailed analysis of the flaw and its exploitation, Symantec agreed that the reward to hackers would be large even if replicating Immunity's work might be tough.
"Although exploitation of a remote kernel flaw is considered quite difficult, over the past few years numerous papers have been released on the subject," the Symantec analysis noted. "Examples of exploits successfully leveraging such flaws have also been released to the public. Therefore, we assume that this issue will be exploited in the wild to execute arbitrary code. Deploy patches immediately."
Successful attacks by the Immunity exploit -- and any similar to it developed by others -- allows arbitrary code to execute within the context of the Windows kernel, said Symantec, an especially egregious scenario for Windows Vista.
"This is especially critical on Vista, due to its enhanced kernel security mechanisms," said Symantec. "A local user, even an admin, may have difficultly introducing unsigned code into the kernel, but in this case, it can be done remotely without any authentication whatsoever.
"This vulnerability presents an opportunity to not only execute arbitrary code on the system, but also to install backdoors and other malicious tools as well as a rootkit, which may normally be more difficult with a typical remote userland vulnerability."
In its Jan. 8 MS08-001 bulletin, Microsoft ranked the IGMP flaw as "Critical" for Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista, Windows Small Business Server and Windows Home Server. On other versions, including Windows Server 2003, the bug rated an "Important" label.
On Tuesday, Immunity Inc. updated a working exploit for the TCP/IP flaw spelled out Jan. 8 in Microsoft's MS08-001 security bulletin, and posted a Flash demonstration of the attack on its Web site. The exploit, which was released to customers of its CANVAS penetration testing software -- but is not available to the public -- was a revised version of code first issued two weeks ago.
"This demonstrates conclusively that the MS08-001 IGMPv3 vulnerability is highly exploitable," said Dave Aitel, Immunity's chief technology officer, in a message to his Dailydave security mailing list.
Aitel's assertion challenged Microsoft's earlier assessment that "there are a number of factors that make exploitation of this issue difficult and unlikely in real-world conditions."
Immunity did acknowledge that its newest exploit was not 100% reliable, however.
Other security companies reacted to the revamped attack code and Flash proof by issuing new alerts. Symantec Corp., for instance, sent a new warning to customers of its DeepSight threat network. "The exploit demonstrates remote code execution," noted Symantec. "The exploit works against Windows XP SP2 English Default [and shows] two Windows XP SP2 computers on a local subnet with firewall enabled being compromised."
It urged users who have not already deployed the patches Microsoft issued Jan. 8 to do immediately.
Previously, Aitel had called out the IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) vulnerability as a potential blockbuster for 2008. In a detailed analysis of the flaw and its exploitation, Symantec agreed that the reward to hackers would be large even if replicating Immunity's work might be tough.
"Although exploitation of a remote kernel flaw is considered quite difficult, over the past few years numerous papers have been released on the subject," the Symantec analysis noted. "Examples of exploits successfully leveraging such flaws have also been released to the public. Therefore, we assume that this issue will be exploited in the wild to execute arbitrary code. Deploy patches immediately."
Successful attacks by the Immunity exploit -- and any similar to it developed by others -- allows arbitrary code to execute within the context of the Windows kernel, said Symantec, an especially egregious scenario for Windows Vista.
"This is especially critical on Vista, due to its enhanced kernel security mechanisms," said Symantec. "A local user, even an admin, may have difficultly introducing unsigned code into the kernel, but in this case, it can be done remotely without any authentication whatsoever.
"This vulnerability presents an opportunity to not only execute arbitrary code on the system, but also to install backdoors and other malicious tools as well as a rootkit, which may normally be more difficult with a typical remote userland vulnerability."
In its Jan. 8 MS08-001 bulletin, Microsoft ranked the IGMP flaw as "Critical" for Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista, Windows Small Business Server and Windows Home Server. On other versions, including Windows Server 2003, the bug rated an "Important" label.
EnterpriseWizard offers customizable CRM
EnterpriseWizard this week is releasing the 2.0 version of its CRM application, a product built on top of its SaaSWizard Web application development platform and designed to be easily customizable.
EnterpriseWizard 2.0 employs templates and drag-and-drop style customization of tables and fields through a browser-based interface. Users can also define business rules, sketch out workflows and generate reports. Other new features include an improved search engine and the ability to automatically transmit information from a client computer when a trouble ticket is sent out.
The SaaSWizard platform represents "man-centuries of development," rather than the man-hours usually used as a measure, according to CEO Colin Earl. But EnterpriseWizard is not alone in offering end users the ability to change its application. SAP's recently unveiled CRM 2007 product features an Web 2.0-style interface that users can manipulate to their liking.
A difference lies in EnterpriseWizard's underlying business model. Earl said his company is looking to partner with systems integrators and value-added resellers. The company hopes they will use the core SaaSWizard platform to create and sell customized applications -- both CRM (customer relationship management) and other types -- to customers in vertical industries.
"Our vision is not to build these products ourselves," he said.
Many on-demand software companies have the wrong idea, he argued. "What I see happening in the market is the SAAS vendors have a direct sales model, and they are effectively trying to take the whole pie for themselves. I think this is a strategic mistake," he said.
While the J2EE-based product is available on-demand, it is also possible to deploy it on an internal server, a fact that drew a nod from one close observer of the CRM scene.
"Generally, the fact they offer both on-premise and SAAS is great -- we feel customers like the choice of being able to move seamlessly between the two environments, assuming the two products are functionally the same," China Martens, an analyst with the 451 Group, said via e-mail.
"It's impressive they've retained high-end customers over years such as Chevron and have a bit under 400 customers in total," she added. "If they do want to garner more attention amid the plethora of their competition, we'd expect them to seek some VC funding, also advice from VCs as to how to best grow their business."
The company has about 40 employees and financially is "very healthy" these days, according to Earl, though he acknowledges that the years spent developing SaaSWizard were "pretty lean."
EnterpriseWizard costs US$65 per staff user per month for the hosted product, and $950 per staff user if it is purchased outright on Linux, with unlimited end-user access, according to a spokesman. The company also offers the software for purchase on Windows or Solaris for about $1,150 per staff user.
End users have limited capabilities, including the ability to submit and update their own records, whereas staff users -- such as sales representatives -- have a more sophisticated interface and can gain the ability to change records from other users, the spokesman said.
EnterpriseWizard 2.0 employs templates and drag-and-drop style customization of tables and fields through a browser-based interface. Users can also define business rules, sketch out workflows and generate reports. Other new features include an improved search engine and the ability to automatically transmit information from a client computer when a trouble ticket is sent out.
The SaaSWizard platform represents "man-centuries of development," rather than the man-hours usually used as a measure, according to CEO Colin Earl. But EnterpriseWizard is not alone in offering end users the ability to change its application. SAP's recently unveiled CRM 2007 product features an Web 2.0-style interface that users can manipulate to their liking.
A difference lies in EnterpriseWizard's underlying business model. Earl said his company is looking to partner with systems integrators and value-added resellers. The company hopes they will use the core SaaSWizard platform to create and sell customized applications -- both CRM (customer relationship management) and other types -- to customers in vertical industries.
"Our vision is not to build these products ourselves," he said.
Many on-demand software companies have the wrong idea, he argued. "What I see happening in the market is the SAAS vendors have a direct sales model, and they are effectively trying to take the whole pie for themselves. I think this is a strategic mistake," he said.
While the J2EE-based product is available on-demand, it is also possible to deploy it on an internal server, a fact that drew a nod from one close observer of the CRM scene.
"Generally, the fact they offer both on-premise and SAAS is great -- we feel customers like the choice of being able to move seamlessly between the two environments, assuming the two products are functionally the same," China Martens, an analyst with the 451 Group, said via e-mail.
"It's impressive they've retained high-end customers over years such as Chevron and have a bit under 400 customers in total," she added. "If they do want to garner more attention amid the plethora of their competition, we'd expect them to seek some VC funding, also advice from VCs as to how to best grow their business."
The company has about 40 employees and financially is "very healthy" these days, according to Earl, though he acknowledges that the years spent developing SaaSWizard were "pretty lean."
EnterpriseWizard costs US$65 per staff user per month for the hosted product, and $950 per staff user if it is purchased outright on Linux, with unlimited end-user access, according to a spokesman. The company also offers the software for purchase on Windows or Solaris for about $1,150 per staff user.
End users have limited capabilities, including the ability to submit and update their own records, whereas staff users -- such as sales representatives -- have a more sophisticated interface and can gain the ability to change records from other users, the spokesman said.
FTC settles with advertiser for spam campaign
An online advertiser that drove traffic to its Web sites by sending out spam with misleading subject lines has agreed to settle a U.S. Federal Communications Commission complaint charging that it failed to tell consumers they had to spend money to receive so-called free products, the FTC announced Wednesday.
The settlement requires Member Source Media to disclose the costs and obligations associated with the advertised products and services, and bars the company from sending e-mail that violates the CAN-SPAM Act, which regulates the sending of unsolicited e-mail. The company must also pay US$200,000 in civil penalties, according to the settlement approved Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Member Source Media -- doing business as ConsumerGain.com, PremiumPerks.com, FreeRetailRewards.com, and GreatAmericanGiveaways.com -- and the company’s owner, Chris Sommer, used deceptive spam and online advertising to lure customers to its Web sites, the FTC alleged.
The company used e-mail subject lines such as, "Congratulations. You've won an iPod Video Player," "Here are 2 free iPod Nanos for You: confirm now," and "Second Attempt: Target Gift Card Inside," the FTC said in a press release. The company’s Web-based ads contained similar offers: "CONGRATULATIONS! You Have Been Chosen To Receive a FREE GATEWAY LAPTOP."
When consumers arrived at Member Source Media's Web pages, they were led through a series of ads for goods and services from third parties.
To qualify for their "free products," consumers would have to first wade through pages of "optional" offers. Once they navigated those pages, they had to participate in a series of third-party promotions requiring them to do things such as purchase products, subscribe to satellite television service, or apply for multiple credit cards, the FTC said.
Member Source Media's failure to disclose material facts was deceptive and violated the FTC Act, the FTC said. In addition, the agency charged that deceptive subject lines in Member Source Media's spam e-mails violated the federal CAN-SPAM Act.
The settlement requires that Member Source Media clearly disclose in its ads and on its Web pages that consumers have to spend money or incur other obligations to qualify for a free product or service. The settlement also requires the company to provide a list of the obligations a consumer is likely to incur to qualify for their chosen item -- such as applying for credit cards or purchasing products.
The settlement requires Member Source Media to disclose the costs and obligations associated with the advertised products and services, and bars the company from sending e-mail that violates the CAN-SPAM Act, which regulates the sending of unsolicited e-mail. The company must also pay US$200,000 in civil penalties, according to the settlement approved Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Member Source Media -- doing business as ConsumerGain.com, PremiumPerks.com, FreeRetailRewards.com, and GreatAmericanGiveaways.com -- and the company’s owner, Chris Sommer, used deceptive spam and online advertising to lure customers to its Web sites, the FTC alleged.
The company used e-mail subject lines such as, "Congratulations. You've won an iPod Video Player," "Here are 2 free iPod Nanos for You: confirm now," and "Second Attempt: Target Gift Card Inside," the FTC said in a press release. The company’s Web-based ads contained similar offers: "CONGRATULATIONS! You Have Been Chosen To Receive a FREE GATEWAY LAPTOP."
When consumers arrived at Member Source Media's Web pages, they were led through a series of ads for goods and services from third parties.
To qualify for their "free products," consumers would have to first wade through pages of "optional" offers. Once they navigated those pages, they had to participate in a series of third-party promotions requiring them to do things such as purchase products, subscribe to satellite television service, or apply for multiple credit cards, the FTC said.
Member Source Media's failure to disclose material facts was deceptive and violated the FTC Act, the FTC said. In addition, the agency charged that deceptive subject lines in Member Source Media's spam e-mails violated the federal CAN-SPAM Act.
The settlement requires that Member Source Media clearly disclose in its ads and on its Web pages that consumers have to spend money or incur other obligations to qualify for a free product or service. The settlement also requires the company to provide a list of the obligations a consumer is likely to incur to qualify for their chosen item -- such as applying for credit cards or purchasing products.
Is $.20 enough to stop domain tasters? ICANN thinks so
A proposal by the overseer of the Internet's addressing system could make it a lot easier for people to reserve the domain name they want for their Web site.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is considering keeping the annual fee it charges registries for a registered domain name, even if the domain name is forfeited during the five-day Add Grace Period. ICANN currently charges US$0.20 per domain per year.
The move is intended to stop "domain tasting," a practice where thousands of domain names are purchased at a time and monitored to see which get the most traffic during the grace period, said Jason Keenan, media advisor for ICANN.
The grace period is intended to let people get a refund if they make a spelling mistake while registering a domain. But rogue registrars have been abusing the grace period by setting up thousands of Web sites stuffed with advertising links on newly registered domains.
The domain tasters then keep the ones that generate the most click-through advertising revenue and forfeit the unprofitable domains for a refund before the grace period expires. Some registrars have been known to repeatedly register and unregister domain names as the five-day grace period expires, essentially never paying for use of a domain.
Domain tasting is a problem for users since it means a domain they want to purchase may be temporarily or permanently unavailable. It also means more low-quality Web pages on the Internet that are designed only for generating advertising revenue.
The imposition of a fee would make it a lot more expensive for domain tasters, Keenan said.
"Right now you can go and register a million different names for five days and the cost is zero," Keenan said. "If this [proposal] comes through, the cost is $1 for five [domains]. It really changes the fiscal model of tasting."
A study released earlier this month by ICANN shows how bad the problem has become over the last two years. In January 2005, there were 1.7 million .com and .net domains registered. Of those, 700,000, or 41 percent, were deleted during the grace period, for a total net increase of 1 million domains.
During January 2007, 51 million domains were registered, but 48 million were deleted, or about 94 percent. "There was a net increase of 3 million names but most of the rest were just being 'tasted'," the report said.
The fee is also expected to put the brakes on another practice, known as "front running." Some ISPs and registries sell records of what domain names people have searched for, and those domains will end up being "tasted," said Susan Wade, spokeswoman for Network Solutions, a registry.
Often the tasters will try to sell those domains at inflated prices, she said. Network Solutions has tried to stop the behavior by registering a domain name for four days after someone conducts a search for one on its Web site.
Critics have decried the approach, saying that it forces customers to pay Network Solutions for a domain or face further competition when the domain goes back on the market. Wade countered that Network Solutions doesn't charge any more for the domain, and it prevents the domain from being immediately scooped up by a taster.
However, Wade said Network Solutions will stop the practice if ICANN imposes a fee.
"At that point, we believe that our customers would no longer need protection from front running," Wade said in an e-mail.
The fee proposal is contained within ICANN's 2009 fiscal budget, which will be discussed in Paris in June, Keenan said. It must be approved by ICANN's board as part of the budget.
It must also be approved by registrars that comprise two-thirds of the revenue ICANN receives from domain registrations, Keenan said. There are about 900 or so registrars for the seven generic Top Level Domains (TLDs) that have the Add Grace Period: com .net .org .info .name .pro and .biz, he said.
Registrars have been complaining to ICANN about domain tasting for some time and appear ready to support the plan. Some registrars, such as GoDaddy.com, have dissuaded tasters from using their registration services by reserving the right to charge a fee even for domains that are returned within the five-day period.
Network Solutions also deflects tasters by not issuing bulk refunds for registrations before the five-day grace period expires, Wade said.
However, most tasters end up become registrars themselves, said Warren Adelman, GoDaddy's president and chief operating officer. "We hope that we are really beginning to see the end of an era of what's been negative behavior," he said.
The only other option to stopping tasting would be to get rid of the grace period, which would hurt users, said John Levine, an author and technology consultant. The fee is the easiest route, he said.
"It will definitely stop domain tasting," Levine said. "It's clear they [tasters] have to register several hundred domains to find one that will pay off. It's pretty hard to find a hither-to-unknown domain to find $50 of revenue."
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is considering keeping the annual fee it charges registries for a registered domain name, even if the domain name is forfeited during the five-day Add Grace Period. ICANN currently charges US$0.20 per domain per year.
The move is intended to stop "domain tasting," a practice where thousands of domain names are purchased at a time and monitored to see which get the most traffic during the grace period, said Jason Keenan, media advisor for ICANN.
The grace period is intended to let people get a refund if they make a spelling mistake while registering a domain. But rogue registrars have been abusing the grace period by setting up thousands of Web sites stuffed with advertising links on newly registered domains.
The domain tasters then keep the ones that generate the most click-through advertising revenue and forfeit the unprofitable domains for a refund before the grace period expires. Some registrars have been known to repeatedly register and unregister domain names as the five-day grace period expires, essentially never paying for use of a domain.
Domain tasting is a problem for users since it means a domain they want to purchase may be temporarily or permanently unavailable. It also means more low-quality Web pages on the Internet that are designed only for generating advertising revenue.
The imposition of a fee would make it a lot more expensive for domain tasters, Keenan said.
"Right now you can go and register a million different names for five days and the cost is zero," Keenan said. "If this [proposal] comes through, the cost is $1 for five [domains]. It really changes the fiscal model of tasting."
A study released earlier this month by ICANN shows how bad the problem has become over the last two years. In January 2005, there were 1.7 million .com and .net domains registered. Of those, 700,000, or 41 percent, were deleted during the grace period, for a total net increase of 1 million domains.
During January 2007, 51 million domains were registered, but 48 million were deleted, or about 94 percent. "There was a net increase of 3 million names but most of the rest were just being 'tasted'," the report said.
The fee is also expected to put the brakes on another practice, known as "front running." Some ISPs and registries sell records of what domain names people have searched for, and those domains will end up being "tasted," said Susan Wade, spokeswoman for Network Solutions, a registry.
Often the tasters will try to sell those domains at inflated prices, she said. Network Solutions has tried to stop the behavior by registering a domain name for four days after someone conducts a search for one on its Web site.
Critics have decried the approach, saying that it forces customers to pay Network Solutions for a domain or face further competition when the domain goes back on the market. Wade countered that Network Solutions doesn't charge any more for the domain, and it prevents the domain from being immediately scooped up by a taster.
However, Wade said Network Solutions will stop the practice if ICANN imposes a fee.
"At that point, we believe that our customers would no longer need protection from front running," Wade said in an e-mail.
The fee proposal is contained within ICANN's 2009 fiscal budget, which will be discussed in Paris in June, Keenan said. It must be approved by ICANN's board as part of the budget.
It must also be approved by registrars that comprise two-thirds of the revenue ICANN receives from domain registrations, Keenan said. There are about 900 or so registrars for the seven generic Top Level Domains (TLDs) that have the Add Grace Period: com .net .org .info .name .pro and .biz, he said.
Registrars have been complaining to ICANN about domain tasting for some time and appear ready to support the plan. Some registrars, such as GoDaddy.com, have dissuaded tasters from using their registration services by reserving the right to charge a fee even for domains that are returned within the five-day period.
Network Solutions also deflects tasters by not issuing bulk refunds for registrations before the five-day grace period expires, Wade said.
However, most tasters end up become registrars themselves, said Warren Adelman, GoDaddy's president and chief operating officer. "We hope that we are really beginning to see the end of an era of what's been negative behavior," he said.
The only other option to stopping tasting would be to get rid of the grace period, which would hurt users, said John Levine, an author and technology consultant. The fee is the easiest route, he said.
"It will definitely stop domain tasting," Levine said. "It's clear they [tasters] have to register several hundred domains to find one that will pay off. It's pretty hard to find a hither-to-unknown domain to find $50 of revenue."
Congress extends surveillance law for 15 days
Following an appeal from President George W. Bush on Monday, the U.S. Congress has granted a temporary extension to a controversial law that allows the government to conduct telephone surveillance on suspected terrorists.
On Tuesday Congress voted to extend for 15 days The Protect America Act, which allows the U.S. National Security Agency to intercept phone calls and e-mail of suspected terrorists without first obtaining a court warrant. The act was due to expire Friday, but Bush called for its extension Monday during his final State of the Union address.
The debate to extend the act was led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat. His efforts to extend the act for 30 days began Monday; by late Tuesday, Congress decided on a 15-day extension by a voice vote. Some Democratic lawmakers were in favor of only a temporary extension because they wanted time to consider a more permanent measure.
Bush and some Republican lawmakers were hoping for longer extension of the act, which also provides legal protection for telecommunications carriers that are cooperating with the NSA. Without protection, the carriers face privacy lawsuits from those under surveillance.
The Protect America Act has been surrounded by controversy since Bush signed it in August. Congress is expected to continue debating whether to renew the act or to give carriers immunity from legal proceedings -- or compromise on some combination of both -- during the 15-day extension period.
On Tuesday Congress voted to extend for 15 days The Protect America Act, which allows the U.S. National Security Agency to intercept phone calls and e-mail of suspected terrorists without first obtaining a court warrant. The act was due to expire Friday, but Bush called for its extension Monday during his final State of the Union address.
The debate to extend the act was led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat. His efforts to extend the act for 30 days began Monday; by late Tuesday, Congress decided on a 15-day extension by a voice vote. Some Democratic lawmakers were in favor of only a temporary extension because they wanted time to consider a more permanent measure.
Bush and some Republican lawmakers were hoping for longer extension of the act, which also provides legal protection for telecommunications carriers that are cooperating with the NSA. Without protection, the carriers face privacy lawsuits from those under surveillance.
The Protect America Act has been surrounded by controversy since Bush signed it in August. Congress is expected to continue debating whether to renew the act or to give carriers immunity from legal proceedings -- or compromise on some combination of both -- during the 15-day extension period.
E.U. lawmakers question telecom regulation proposal
Controversial aspects of the European Commission's plan to increase competition throughout the European Union telecommunications sector came under heavy fire late Tuesday by the industry committee of the European Parliament.
The planned reforms, known collectively as the "telecoms review," are designed to increase choice and lower costs for consumers.
Parliamentary committee members from across the political spectrum raised a red flag over two key, and much-debated, aspects of the review: plans to create a pan-E.U. regulator and to force a functional separation of services from former telecommunications monopolies.
The parliamentary committee described Tuesday's session as a preliminary exchange of views. However, if the Commission does not address the parliamentary concerns, the committee could push for changes to the planned reforms.
Several members of the committee questioned whether a supranational regulator, dubbed the European Electronic Communications Market Authority (EECMA), is necessary.
"Who is guaranteeing the independence of the new agency?" asked Pilar del Castillo, of Spain's conservative People's Party.
French Socialist Catherine Trautmann asked how the Commission would deal with possible conflicts between national regulators and the new agency. Trautmann is the committee's rapporteur on the telecom review, which means that she will lead the debate in the committee.
Alexander Alvaro, a German Liberal, questioned the Commission's plan to make the EECMA responsible for the functions of the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA), an E.U. body in charge of network security, as well as much of the work of the national telecom regulators. "I'm not sure whether this would lock two different species into one cage," Alvaro said.
The Commission believes functional separation -- the splitting of telecom infrastructure and networks from services -- is a necessary weapon to use against former national monopolies that continue to obstruct fair competition in the services sector.
"Functional separation tries to achieve an equivalence of access," Fabio Colasanti, the Commission's director general in charge of telecom, told parliamentary committee members. He added that the Commission wants to "re-establish the equality of opportunity" among service providers.
However, many committee members appeared skeptical and were concerned about the costs and benefits of functional separation.
Several other committees will also assess the planned changes. The parliament as a whole has the power to block the proposals, as do the 27 national governments of the E.U. However, a vote on the telecom review by the parliament remains a long way off. Telecom Commissioner Viviane Reding, architect of the proposed changes, expects the review to become law in 2009.
The planned reforms, known collectively as the "telecoms review," are designed to increase choice and lower costs for consumers.
Parliamentary committee members from across the political spectrum raised a red flag over two key, and much-debated, aspects of the review: plans to create a pan-E.U. regulator and to force a functional separation of services from former telecommunications monopolies.
The parliamentary committee described Tuesday's session as a preliminary exchange of views. However, if the Commission does not address the parliamentary concerns, the committee could push for changes to the planned reforms.
Several members of the committee questioned whether a supranational regulator, dubbed the European Electronic Communications Market Authority (EECMA), is necessary.
"Who is guaranteeing the independence of the new agency?" asked Pilar del Castillo, of Spain's conservative People's Party.
French Socialist Catherine Trautmann asked how the Commission would deal with possible conflicts between national regulators and the new agency. Trautmann is the committee's rapporteur on the telecom review, which means that she will lead the debate in the committee.
Alexander Alvaro, a German Liberal, questioned the Commission's plan to make the EECMA responsible for the functions of the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA), an E.U. body in charge of network security, as well as much of the work of the national telecom regulators. "I'm not sure whether this would lock two different species into one cage," Alvaro said.
The Commission believes functional separation -- the splitting of telecom infrastructure and networks from services -- is a necessary weapon to use against former national monopolies that continue to obstruct fair competition in the services sector.
"Functional separation tries to achieve an equivalence of access," Fabio Colasanti, the Commission's director general in charge of telecom, told parliamentary committee members. He added that the Commission wants to "re-establish the equality of opportunity" among service providers.
However, many committee members appeared skeptical and were concerned about the costs and benefits of functional separation.
Several other committees will also assess the planned changes. The parliament as a whole has the power to block the proposals, as do the 27 national governments of the E.U. However, a vote on the telecom review by the parliament remains a long way off. Telecom Commissioner Viviane Reding, architect of the proposed changes, expects the review to become law in 2009.
Microsoft to stay under court's eye for two more years
Microsoft's compliance with a U.S. antitrust settlement will remain under court supervision for another two years, in part because the company delayed producing documentation required by the court, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia extended the court's supervision through Nov. 12, 2009, writing that the 2002 settlement had not fully taken effect. Several U.S. states involved in the case had sought a five-year extension, despite opposition from the Department of Justice.
As part of the settlement, Microsoft is required to document information on communication protocols, making it easier for other software manufacturers to create products that work well with the Windows OS.
The documentation has been a sticking point between the company and the government. Microsoft has been ordered to rewrite the documentation, which was supposed to have been complete by February 2003, to make it clearer.
In her ruling, Kollar-Kotelly blamed Microsoft. "Although the technical documentation project is complex and novel, it is clear, at least to the Court, that Microsoft is culpable for this inexcusable delay," she wrote.
But she also wrote that the company had been "overwhelmingly cooperative" in the years after the antitrust settlement, and that this latest extension should not be viewed as a sanction.
Microsoft will continue to comply with the antitrust ruling and has built its latest operating system, Vista, to comply with the rules, the company said.
"We are gratified that the court recognized our extensive efforts to work cooperatively with the large number of government agencies involved," said Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel and senior vice president.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia extended the court's supervision through Nov. 12, 2009, writing that the 2002 settlement had not fully taken effect. Several U.S. states involved in the case had sought a five-year extension, despite opposition from the Department of Justice.
As part of the settlement, Microsoft is required to document information on communication protocols, making it easier for other software manufacturers to create products that work well with the Windows OS.
The documentation has been a sticking point between the company and the government. Microsoft has been ordered to rewrite the documentation, which was supposed to have been complete by February 2003, to make it clearer.
In her ruling, Kollar-Kotelly blamed Microsoft. "Although the technical documentation project is complex and novel, it is clear, at least to the Court, that Microsoft is culpable for this inexcusable delay," she wrote.
But she also wrote that the company had been "overwhelmingly cooperative" in the years after the antitrust settlement, and that this latest extension should not be viewed as a sanction.
Microsoft will continue to comply with the antitrust ruling and has built its latest operating system, Vista, to comply with the rules, the company said.
"We are gratified that the court recognized our extensive efforts to work cooperatively with the large number of government agencies involved," said Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel and senior vice president.
SAP profit drops 6 percent in fourth quarter
SAP reported a 10 percent rise in revenue for the fourth quarter, but earnings fell 6 percent compared to a year earlier, dragged down in part by the cost of launching Business ByDesign, a new offering for the mid-market, the company said Wednesday.
Revenue for the fourth quarter totalled €3.24 billion (US$4.77 billion as of Dec. 31, the last day of the period reported), up 10 percent from €2.95 billion a year earlier, but net income fell 6 percent to €756 million.
Software and related services revenue grew at 13 percent year on year, while consulting activities, representing around a fifth of SAP's revenue, remained stagnant.
For the full year, revenue rose to €10.25 billion, up 9 percent from €9.39 billion, while net income rose to €1.92 billion, up 3 percent from €1.87 billion.
The results do not include any revenue gains from SAP's $6.8 billion acquisition of French business intelligence software vendor Business Objects, which the companies only completed on Jan. 16, 2008, although they do include €61 million in acquisition-related costs.
SAP's operating margin for the year fell from 27.4 percent in 2006 to 26.7 percent in 2007, but if the effects of exchange rate fluctuations and the company's investment in Business ByDesign were excluded, the operating margin would have risen to 28.2 percent, Chief Financial Officer Werner Brandt said in a conference call.
Developing Business ByDesign cost the company €125 million in 2007, €40 million of it in the fourth quarter, and the company expects to spend at least a further €175 million in 2008. An additional €50 million of expenditure will fall in late 2008 or early 2009.
Sales and related services for subscription-based products like the new ByDesign contributed just €53 million in the fourth quarter, up 47 percent year on year.
Looking ahead, CEO Henning Kagermann expects mid-market products like ByDesign to boost growth in 2008, he said during the conference call.
Another growth driver will be SAP's acquisition of Business Objects, which will help the company increase its penetration of the business user sector, Kagermann said.
SAP expects full-year revenue from software and software-related services to grow at between 24 percent and 27 percent. Excluding the contribution of Business Objects, SAP's existing activities will contribute between 12 and 14 percentage points, the company said.
Revenue for the fourth quarter totalled €3.24 billion (US$4.77 billion as of Dec. 31, the last day of the period reported), up 10 percent from €2.95 billion a year earlier, but net income fell 6 percent to €756 million.
Software and related services revenue grew at 13 percent year on year, while consulting activities, representing around a fifth of SAP's revenue, remained stagnant.
For the full year, revenue rose to €10.25 billion, up 9 percent from €9.39 billion, while net income rose to €1.92 billion, up 3 percent from €1.87 billion.
The results do not include any revenue gains from SAP's $6.8 billion acquisition of French business intelligence software vendor Business Objects, which the companies only completed on Jan. 16, 2008, although they do include €61 million in acquisition-related costs.
SAP's operating margin for the year fell from 27.4 percent in 2006 to 26.7 percent in 2007, but if the effects of exchange rate fluctuations and the company's investment in Business ByDesign were excluded, the operating margin would have risen to 28.2 percent, Chief Financial Officer Werner Brandt said in a conference call.
Developing Business ByDesign cost the company €125 million in 2007, €40 million of it in the fourth quarter, and the company expects to spend at least a further €175 million in 2008. An additional €50 million of expenditure will fall in late 2008 or early 2009.
Sales and related services for subscription-based products like the new ByDesign contributed just €53 million in the fourth quarter, up 47 percent year on year.
Looking ahead, CEO Henning Kagermann expects mid-market products like ByDesign to boost growth in 2008, he said during the conference call.
Another growth driver will be SAP's acquisition of Business Objects, which will help the company increase its penetration of the business user sector, Kagermann said.
SAP expects full-year revenue from software and software-related services to grow at between 24 percent and 27 percent. Excluding the contribution of Business Objects, SAP's existing activities will contribute between 12 and 14 percentage points, the company said.
MySpace to launch developer platform next week
MySpace Wednesday will begin letting programmers pre-register for its developer platform program, which will open for business next week.
Interested developers will be able to sign up on the site to receive information about the MySpace Developer Platform, announced in October. Then next Tuesday, the developer site will become fully operational and feature documentation and API tools to build and test applications for MySpace, the world's most popular social networking service.
Although over the years MySpace has allowed, on a case-by-case basis, some external developers to put their widgets on the social networking site, the upcoming program potentially opens the door to any coder by providing open APIs and makes it possible for developers to generate revenue from those applications.
"This gives developers deeper access to our community through APIs so they'll be able to build richer applications and also gives them an opportunity to build their business directly on MySpace. It's a natural step in the evolution of how we've worked with third party developers," said Amit Kapur, who has just been appointed chief operating officer after being in charge of business development for several years.
In October, the move was widely seen as a competitive response to rival Facebook's successful opening of its platform to outside developers in May, which has resulted in the creation of about 14,000 applications and widgets for that social networking site.
Other social networking companies have also followed suit and decided to let external developers create applications for their sites. Moreover, in November, Google launched its OpenSocial initiative to promote industry-wide adoption of common APIs for social applications, so that developers can more easily port their applications to different sites. MySpace, along with others, has indicated it supports OpenSocial.
As it gears up for the launch of the application development platform, MySpace has taken special care to put safeguards in place to prevent security and privacy breaches from third-party applications, Kapur said.
"A key interest we have as we launch this platform is to protect the user experience against things like application spam and security holes, so that'll be a major part of our launch. We're extremely committed to safety and security," he said.
Facebook has been dealing with this problem, as some over-eager developers have built self-promotion features into their applications to spur their adoption. Since its platform launch, Facebook has tweaked its tools and APIs several times to address the problem of applications that annoy users with intrusive displays and unsolicited messages, and seems to have the issue well under control now.
Interested developers will be able to sign up on the site to receive information about the MySpace Developer Platform, announced in October. Then next Tuesday, the developer site will become fully operational and feature documentation and API tools to build and test applications for MySpace, the world's most popular social networking service.
Although over the years MySpace has allowed, on a case-by-case basis, some external developers to put their widgets on the social networking site, the upcoming program potentially opens the door to any coder by providing open APIs and makes it possible for developers to generate revenue from those applications.
"This gives developers deeper access to our community through APIs so they'll be able to build richer applications and also gives them an opportunity to build their business directly on MySpace. It's a natural step in the evolution of how we've worked with third party developers," said Amit Kapur, who has just been appointed chief operating officer after being in charge of business development for several years.
In October, the move was widely seen as a competitive response to rival Facebook's successful opening of its platform to outside developers in May, which has resulted in the creation of about 14,000 applications and widgets for that social networking site.
Other social networking companies have also followed suit and decided to let external developers create applications for their sites. Moreover, in November, Google launched its OpenSocial initiative to promote industry-wide adoption of common APIs for social applications, so that developers can more easily port their applications to different sites. MySpace, along with others, has indicated it supports OpenSocial.
As it gears up for the launch of the application development platform, MySpace has taken special care to put safeguards in place to prevent security and privacy breaches from third-party applications, Kapur said.
"A key interest we have as we launch this platform is to protect the user experience against things like application spam and security holes, so that'll be a major part of our launch. We're extremely committed to safety and security," he said.
Facebook has been dealing with this problem, as some over-eager developers have built self-promotion features into their applications to spur their adoption. Since its platform launch, Facebook has tweaked its tools and APIs several times to address the problem of applications that annoy users with intrusive displays and unsolicited messages, and seems to have the issue well under control now.
Stanford center turns to Sun Blackbox for extra capacity
When the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center wanted to increase its computing capacity last year it considered a satellite datacenter or an extension to the existing building, but in the end it chose a faster and more novel approach: it ordered a datacenter in a box.
The center, which does high-energy physics research for the U.S. Department of Energy, was one of the first customers for Sun Microsystems' Project Blackbox, which takes standard shipping containers 20 feet by 8 feet by 8 feet (6.1m x 2.4m x 2.4m) and turns them into mini datacenters that can be delivered and operational in a few weeks, according to Sun.
SLAC's Blackbox was delivered in July last year and was up and running by September. Aside from a few challenges -- like figuring out how to service the unit when it's raining -- the center is pleased with its choice and in the process of installing a second unit.
It is one of four customers that Sun identified Tuesday to illustrate momentum for Project Blackbox. It also renamed the product the Sun Modular Datacenter, or Sun MD. The boxes start at US$559,000 without the "payload," or the computers inside, and Sun will ship them around the world for an extra fee. Delivery to Amsterdam by air, for example, costs about $15,000.
SLAC turned to Project Blackbox because it needed to expand its compute capacity fairly quickly. "The datacenter here was at its capacity, especially in terms of the electrical service to the building and the amount of heat we could take back out. And the experiments needed their next year's worth of computing," said Chuck Boeheim, SLAC's assistant director of computing services.
Modifying its existing datacenter to accommodate another major electrical feed and "chiller plant" would have taken one to two years and cost several million dollars. "We also looked at doing a satellite datacenter in a smaller building, but with the approvals and lead time that was a couple of years out as well. Blackbox was something we could do very quickly," Boeheim said.
The raw shipping containers are customized by a subcontractor, and Sun typically installs the payload before delivery. SLAC's Blackbox arrived on a flat-bed truck last July, fitted with 252 Sun Fire X2200 rack-mount servers, the same type it uses in its datacenter. Sun had also wired the servers to a Cisco Catalyst 6509 switch that SLAC provided before delivery.
Boeheim described the process in a white paper on his Web site, along with photos and time-lapse videos that show the box being hoisted into place by a crane.
Customers can put other vendors' hardware in the unit, but not all equipment will fit. SLAC bought some Dell PowerEdge 1950 servers that it wanted to put in its second Blackbox, but they were too long for the server racks. Instead it will move some existing Sun servers to the box from its datacenter, and put the Dell machines inside the building instead.
The computing center already had a 4-megawatt substation serving its area of the site. "So it was a fairly simple matter to put a 220-kilowatt power pane on the outside of that and bring up a fairly standard chiller unit and put that on a concrete pad next to the Blackbox. Both of those things could just be fork-lifted in and connected up," Boeheim said.
SLAC wanted to do a rigorous installation that would last several years, so it spent a few weeks getting the unit hooked up. It had to reconnect about half the power cords which had shaken loose during the truck ride. Aside from that the installation went smoothly and the machines were turned on for batch work Sept. 25, about two months after delivery. The 60-ton chiller and the outside power unit were also delivered in that time.
Servicing the unit has presented some challenges. "We're trying to figure out how to do it on a day like today when it's pouring with rain," Boeheim said recently. "The wind doesn't have to be blowing very hard for the rain to blow in the end, and you pretty much have to open both ends of the box to service it,"
It's quite cramped in the box, he said, and both ends need to be open so that a person can maneuver when a server rack is slid out into the narrow central aisle.
"Our stance right now is to wait for a clear day to open it up," he said. Two people are needed to service the box in case one gets trapped inside or injured, he wrote in the white paper on his Web site. SLAC put a phone in the box in case someone gets locked in.
The first Blackbox gave the center a roughly 25 percent boost in computing capacity, and the servers have been running as smoothly as their counterparts inside the datacenter, Boeheim said. "Once we got them turned on they just ran. We went a full 30 days not even opening the thing." He put rack servers in the box rather than storage gear, because storage gear tends to need servicing more often, he said.
Sun's Blackbox won't be for everyone. Brookhaven National Laboratory, on Long Island, New York, considered a Blackbox but decided on a new wing for its datacenter instead, Boeheim said. SLAC's experience may have been easier than that of an average business because it is a federal government site located on county land. A business in a city may need more planning permissions and permits.
A few other companies offer comparable products, such as the Ice Cube from Rackable Systems, and the Infrastructure Express from American Power Conversion.
Sun said it is happy with the momentum for Blackbox, although it wouldn't say how many customers it has. The other three it named are Hansen Transmissions, a Belgian industrial manufacturer that is using one at a new plant in India; Mobile TeleSystems, Russia's largest mobile operator; and the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands.
Most of the customers had no room to add capacity in their datacenters, said Darlene Yaplee, vice president for integrated platforms in Sun's systems marketing group. "Half the customers are using it while they build extra datacenter capacity, and then it will remain for disaster recovery," she said.
The next size up in standard shipping containers is 40 feet long. "We could do 40 feet technically, but most people have been happy with 20 feet," Yaplee said. Boeheim said he'd probably choose a wider box rather than a longer one, which would accommodate his Dell 1950 servers.
The center, which does high-energy physics research for the U.S. Department of Energy, was one of the first customers for Sun Microsystems' Project Blackbox, which takes standard shipping containers 20 feet by 8 feet by 8 feet (6.1m x 2.4m x 2.4m) and turns them into mini datacenters that can be delivered and operational in a few weeks, according to Sun.
SLAC's Blackbox was delivered in July last year and was up and running by September. Aside from a few challenges -- like figuring out how to service the unit when it's raining -- the center is pleased with its choice and in the process of installing a second unit.
It is one of four customers that Sun identified Tuesday to illustrate momentum for Project Blackbox. It also renamed the product the Sun Modular Datacenter, or Sun MD. The boxes start at US$559,000 without the "payload," or the computers inside, and Sun will ship them around the world for an extra fee. Delivery to Amsterdam by air, for example, costs about $15,000.
SLAC turned to Project Blackbox because it needed to expand its compute capacity fairly quickly. "The datacenter here was at its capacity, especially in terms of the electrical service to the building and the amount of heat we could take back out. And the experiments needed their next year's worth of computing," said Chuck Boeheim, SLAC's assistant director of computing services.
Modifying its existing datacenter to accommodate another major electrical feed and "chiller plant" would have taken one to two years and cost several million dollars. "We also looked at doing a satellite datacenter in a smaller building, but with the approvals and lead time that was a couple of years out as well. Blackbox was something we could do very quickly," Boeheim said.
The raw shipping containers are customized by a subcontractor, and Sun typically installs the payload before delivery. SLAC's Blackbox arrived on a flat-bed truck last July, fitted with 252 Sun Fire X2200 rack-mount servers, the same type it uses in its datacenter. Sun had also wired the servers to a Cisco Catalyst 6509 switch that SLAC provided before delivery.
Boeheim described the process in a white paper on his Web site, along with photos and time-lapse videos that show the box being hoisted into place by a crane.
Customers can put other vendors' hardware in the unit, but not all equipment will fit. SLAC bought some Dell PowerEdge 1950 servers that it wanted to put in its second Blackbox, but they were too long for the server racks. Instead it will move some existing Sun servers to the box from its datacenter, and put the Dell machines inside the building instead.
The computing center already had a 4-megawatt substation serving its area of the site. "So it was a fairly simple matter to put a 220-kilowatt power pane on the outside of that and bring up a fairly standard chiller unit and put that on a concrete pad next to the Blackbox. Both of those things could just be fork-lifted in and connected up," Boeheim said.
SLAC wanted to do a rigorous installation that would last several years, so it spent a few weeks getting the unit hooked up. It had to reconnect about half the power cords which had shaken loose during the truck ride. Aside from that the installation went smoothly and the machines were turned on for batch work Sept. 25, about two months after delivery. The 60-ton chiller and the outside power unit were also delivered in that time.
Servicing the unit has presented some challenges. "We're trying to figure out how to do it on a day like today when it's pouring with rain," Boeheim said recently. "The wind doesn't have to be blowing very hard for the rain to blow in the end, and you pretty much have to open both ends of the box to service it,"
It's quite cramped in the box, he said, and both ends need to be open so that a person can maneuver when a server rack is slid out into the narrow central aisle.
"Our stance right now is to wait for a clear day to open it up," he said. Two people are needed to service the box in case one gets trapped inside or injured, he wrote in the white paper on his Web site. SLAC put a phone in the box in case someone gets locked in.
The first Blackbox gave the center a roughly 25 percent boost in computing capacity, and the servers have been running as smoothly as their counterparts inside the datacenter, Boeheim said. "Once we got them turned on they just ran. We went a full 30 days not even opening the thing." He put rack servers in the box rather than storage gear, because storage gear tends to need servicing more often, he said.
Sun's Blackbox won't be for everyone. Brookhaven National Laboratory, on Long Island, New York, considered a Blackbox but decided on a new wing for its datacenter instead, Boeheim said. SLAC's experience may have been easier than that of an average business because it is a federal government site located on county land. A business in a city may need more planning permissions and permits.
A few other companies offer comparable products, such as the Ice Cube from Rackable Systems, and the Infrastructure Express from American Power Conversion.
Sun said it is happy with the momentum for Blackbox, although it wouldn't say how many customers it has. The other three it named are Hansen Transmissions, a Belgian industrial manufacturer that is using one at a new plant in India; Mobile TeleSystems, Russia's largest mobile operator; and the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands.
Most of the customers had no room to add capacity in their datacenters, said Darlene Yaplee, vice president for integrated platforms in Sun's systems marketing group. "Half the customers are using it while they build extra datacenter capacity, and then it will remain for disaster recovery," she said.
The next size up in standard shipping containers is 40 feet long. "We could do 40 feet technically, but most people have been happy with 20 feet," Yaplee said. Boeheim said he'd probably choose a wider box rather than a longer one, which would accommodate his Dell 1950 servers.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
IBM adds Linux apps support to Unix servers
IBM has added a new capability to its virtualization platform that will allow Linux applications to run on IBM's Unix servers, the company announced Tuesday.
The "Lx86" capability, to be included in IBM's PowerVM virtualization software, allows x86-based Linux applications to run on IBM's System p and Power-based Unix systems without modification, according to IBM. The systems will automatically detect and run Linux-based binaries designed for x86 environments.
"Lx86 is a way to say 'Whatever you have, it can run," said Scott Handy, vice president of marketing and strategy for IBM Power Systems.
The capability will simplify the consolidation of Unix and Linux server sprawls, Handy said. Running Linux applications in the Unix environment can reduce the cost of server consolidation and energy consumption and increase asset utilization, he argued.
Lx86 will be a useful tool for people looking to migrate from Linux systems to other IBM systems, IBM said. The company offers both Unix and Linux operating systems on its servers.
The capability will be included in all editions of IBM's PowerVM platform, which it also renamed Tuesday from the Advanced Power Virtualization platform.
The software now includes an Express edition targeted at small- and medium-size businesses. It allows customers to create up to three partitions on a server and control the use of processor cycles to get optimal performance. The Express edition will be shipped to customers soon, priced at US$40 per core. PowerVM is also available in Standard and Enterprise editions.
IBM also announced that it will update its i5/OS operating system with support for Power6 processors. The update, called V6R1, includes improved performance, storage and security features, according to IBM.
The update supports IBM's Power6 EnergyScale technology for controlling energy use. The company also updated its Rational software tool set for the i5/OS, Handy said.
The i5/OS V6R1, for IBM's System i servers, will ship in March. It will also work with the company's new BladeCenter H server chassis, Handy said.
The "Lx86" capability, to be included in IBM's PowerVM virtualization software, allows x86-based Linux applications to run on IBM's System p and Power-based Unix systems without modification, according to IBM. The systems will automatically detect and run Linux-based binaries designed for x86 environments.
"Lx86 is a way to say 'Whatever you have, it can run," said Scott Handy, vice president of marketing and strategy for IBM Power Systems.
The capability will simplify the consolidation of Unix and Linux server sprawls, Handy said. Running Linux applications in the Unix environment can reduce the cost of server consolidation and energy consumption and increase asset utilization, he argued.
Lx86 will be a useful tool for people looking to migrate from Linux systems to other IBM systems, IBM said. The company offers both Unix and Linux operating systems on its servers.
The capability will be included in all editions of IBM's PowerVM platform, which it also renamed Tuesday from the Advanced Power Virtualization platform.
The software now includes an Express edition targeted at small- and medium-size businesses. It allows customers to create up to three partitions on a server and control the use of processor cycles to get optimal performance. The Express edition will be shipped to customers soon, priced at US$40 per core. PowerVM is also available in Standard and Enterprise editions.
IBM also announced that it will update its i5/OS operating system with support for Power6 processors. The update, called V6R1, includes improved performance, storage and security features, according to IBM.
The update supports IBM's Power6 EnergyScale technology for controlling energy use. The company also updated its Rational software tool set for the i5/OS, Handy said.
The i5/OS V6R1, for IBM's System i servers, will ship in March. It will also work with the company's new BladeCenter H server chassis, Handy said.
Yahoo's Q4 sales up, profit down
Yahoo's fourth-quarter revenue grew, but net income fell as the struggling Internet giant tried to put its house in order and improve its ability to compete against Google and other rivals.
Revenue for the period, ended Dec. 31, came in at US$1.832 billion, up 8 percent compared with 2006's fourth quarter, the company said Tuesday. Subtracting the commission that Yahoo pays to sites in its advertising network, revenue was $1.403 billion, up 14 percent but missing the $1.406 billion consensus expectation from financial analysts polled by Thomson Financial.
Meanwhile, net income fell to $206 million, or $0.15 per share, from $269 million, or $0.19 per share. On a pro forma basis, which includes one-time items, net income was $280 million, or $0.20 per share, down from $297 million, or $0.21 per share. Analysts expected Yahoo to post earnings per share of $0.11.
As had been rumored, Yahoo will lay off staffers. About 1,000 employees will be let go in mid-February, and Yahoo will record a related cash charge of between $20 million and $25 million, Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen said during a conference call to discuss the results.
The details of the staff reduction weren't exactly clear, since Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang characterized the move as a reallocation and realignment of resources, saying that alongside "targeted reductions," Yahoo will make "targeted investments" while reducing "bureaucracy" and "redundancies."
While acknowledging that the company will likely face "headwinds" this year, Yang tried to put a positive spin on the results, saying that the company is starting to see the fruits of a multiyear turnaround plan launched several months ago.
Among the company's main priorities are to grow its audience by positioning itself as people's preferred Internet "starting point" and becoming a "must-buy" provider of online advertising.
The online advertising market is still young and growing, which gives Yahoo a real opportunity to increase its share of the market by capitalizing on opportunities, Yang said.
To grow its audience Yahoo will continue to invest in strengthening key Web properties, such as its home page, My Yahoo, search, Yahoo Mail and its mobile offerings, to make Yahoo the center of people's Internet activities. "We feel a real sense of urgency to address the opportunities we face," Yang said.
At the same time, Yahoo has been phasing out a number of sites and services that it doesn't believe fit into this scheme, so aggregate metrics for Yahoo properties may not reflect the success of this strategy, especially when looking at unique monthly visitors, said Yahoo President Sue Decker.
Instead, to properly evaluate whether Yahoo is succeeding in growing its traffic, Decker argued that one needs to consider visits to Yahoo's key properties.
Once seen as a clear leader on the Internet, Yahoo has reacted slowly in recent years to technology and business shifts, letting small and large competitors elbow it out of the hottest markets. Starting around 2003, Google ran away with the search and advertising market, and in later years Yahoo failed to establish leading services in online video, social networking and blogging.
Along the way, its sales and profits have disappointed for the past two years, leading to several management shakeups in late 2006 and 2007.
For the full fiscal year, Yahoo had revenue of $6.969 billion, an 8 percent increase, and net income of $660 million, or $0.47 per share, compared to $751 million, or $0.52 per share, in 2006.
Yahoo expects first-quarter revenue to be in the range of $1.680 billion and $1.840 billion, and between $7.200 billion and $8.000 billion for the full fiscal 2008 year.
Separately Tuesday, Yahoo announced a multiyear extension to its partnership with AT&T that offers both companies "significant" advertising-based revenue opportunities by offering joint services to consumers. Yahoo and AT&T's original partnership dates from 2001.
Yahoo also announced the appointment of Aristotle Balogh as chief technology officer. Balogh comes to Yahoo from Verisign, where he was also CTO.
Revenue for the period, ended Dec. 31, came in at US$1.832 billion, up 8 percent compared with 2006's fourth quarter, the company said Tuesday. Subtracting the commission that Yahoo pays to sites in its advertising network, revenue was $1.403 billion, up 14 percent but missing the $1.406 billion consensus expectation from financial analysts polled by Thomson Financial.
Meanwhile, net income fell to $206 million, or $0.15 per share, from $269 million, or $0.19 per share. On a pro forma basis, which includes one-time items, net income was $280 million, or $0.20 per share, down from $297 million, or $0.21 per share. Analysts expected Yahoo to post earnings per share of $0.11.
As had been rumored, Yahoo will lay off staffers. About 1,000 employees will be let go in mid-February, and Yahoo will record a related cash charge of between $20 million and $25 million, Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen said during a conference call to discuss the results.
The details of the staff reduction weren't exactly clear, since Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang characterized the move as a reallocation and realignment of resources, saying that alongside "targeted reductions," Yahoo will make "targeted investments" while reducing "bureaucracy" and "redundancies."
While acknowledging that the company will likely face "headwinds" this year, Yang tried to put a positive spin on the results, saying that the company is starting to see the fruits of a multiyear turnaround plan launched several months ago.
Among the company's main priorities are to grow its audience by positioning itself as people's preferred Internet "starting point" and becoming a "must-buy" provider of online advertising.
The online advertising market is still young and growing, which gives Yahoo a real opportunity to increase its share of the market by capitalizing on opportunities, Yang said.
To grow its audience Yahoo will continue to invest in strengthening key Web properties, such as its home page, My Yahoo, search, Yahoo Mail and its mobile offerings, to make Yahoo the center of people's Internet activities. "We feel a real sense of urgency to address the opportunities we face," Yang said.
At the same time, Yahoo has been phasing out a number of sites and services that it doesn't believe fit into this scheme, so aggregate metrics for Yahoo properties may not reflect the success of this strategy, especially when looking at unique monthly visitors, said Yahoo President Sue Decker.
Instead, to properly evaluate whether Yahoo is succeeding in growing its traffic, Decker argued that one needs to consider visits to Yahoo's key properties.
Once seen as a clear leader on the Internet, Yahoo has reacted slowly in recent years to technology and business shifts, letting small and large competitors elbow it out of the hottest markets. Starting around 2003, Google ran away with the search and advertising market, and in later years Yahoo failed to establish leading services in online video, social networking and blogging.
Along the way, its sales and profits have disappointed for the past two years, leading to several management shakeups in late 2006 and 2007.
For the full fiscal year, Yahoo had revenue of $6.969 billion, an 8 percent increase, and net income of $660 million, or $0.47 per share, compared to $751 million, or $0.52 per share, in 2006.
Yahoo expects first-quarter revenue to be in the range of $1.680 billion and $1.840 billion, and between $7.200 billion and $8.000 billion for the full fiscal 2008 year.
Separately Tuesday, Yahoo announced a multiyear extension to its partnership with AT&T that offers both companies "significant" advertising-based revenue opportunities by offering joint services to consumers. Yahoo and AT&T's original partnership dates from 2001.
Yahoo also announced the appointment of Aristotle Balogh as chief technology officer. Balogh comes to Yahoo from Verisign, where he was also CTO.
Sprint said to be back in talks with Clearwire
Sprint Nextel and Clearwire are back in talks about a possible WiMax joint venture after a previous attempt to work together fell apart last year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.
Sprint's continued downhill slide, spurred by defecting Nextel customers, means the deal would make even more sense now, Nadine Manjaro, a senior analyst with ABI Research, told IDG News Service.
"They've lost so much from iDEN defections, they don't really have the money to invest in WiMax," she said. IDEN (Integrated Digital Enhanced Network) is the push to talk technology used in Nextel's network, which Sprint bought in 2005 and continues to struggle to digest.
Clearwire and Sprint, which own the bulk of 2.5GHz spectrum in the country, said in July last year that they planned to jointly build a nationwide WiMax network. But in November the companies said they had failed to reach a final agreement, and terminated their letter of intent.
Since then, Sprint hasn't managed to improve its fortunes. The third-largest operator in the U.S., Sprint's subscriber base declined by 337,000 in the quarter ending Sept. 30. "Sprint is not doing so well now," Manjaro said.
Rather than building a scaled-down network with the assets it has, Sprint would do better if it partnered with Clearwire and also opened up to outside investors, said Manjaro, who worked for Sprint until last April.
From the beginning, she said, Sprint hoped to attract investors to help build the network. "They realized it would take a lot of money," she said. Attracting other parties has now become more urgent. "They didn't anticipate being in the financial position they are in now," she said.
Ideally, Sprint and Clearwire would create a joint venture that would allow each company to retain a stake in the company but also attract other companies, possibly Intel or Google, to provide needed capital, she said. A combined company would be able to negotiate better deals from vendors, she said.
Clearwire has already built wireless broadband networks in 16 U.S. states. Sprint has launched services in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington, D.C., under the Xohm brand.
Spokespeople from Clearwire and Sprint declined to comment on the possibility of any renewed talks.
Sprint's continued downhill slide, spurred by defecting Nextel customers, means the deal would make even more sense now, Nadine Manjaro, a senior analyst with ABI Research, told IDG News Service.
"They've lost so much from iDEN defections, they don't really have the money to invest in WiMax," she said. IDEN (Integrated Digital Enhanced Network) is the push to talk technology used in Nextel's network, which Sprint bought in 2005 and continues to struggle to digest.
Clearwire and Sprint, which own the bulk of 2.5GHz spectrum in the country, said in July last year that they planned to jointly build a nationwide WiMax network. But in November the companies said they had failed to reach a final agreement, and terminated their letter of intent.
Since then, Sprint hasn't managed to improve its fortunes. The third-largest operator in the U.S., Sprint's subscriber base declined by 337,000 in the quarter ending Sept. 30. "Sprint is not doing so well now," Manjaro said.
Rather than building a scaled-down network with the assets it has, Sprint would do better if it partnered with Clearwire and also opened up to outside investors, said Manjaro, who worked for Sprint until last April.
From the beginning, she said, Sprint hoped to attract investors to help build the network. "They realized it would take a lot of money," she said. Attracting other parties has now become more urgent. "They didn't anticipate being in the financial position they are in now," she said.
Ideally, Sprint and Clearwire would create a joint venture that would allow each company to retain a stake in the company but also attract other companies, possibly Intel or Google, to provide needed capital, she said. A combined company would be able to negotiate better deals from vendors, she said.
Clearwire has already built wireless broadband networks in 16 U.S. states. Sprint has launched services in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington, D.C., under the Xohm brand.
Spokespeople from Clearwire and Sprint declined to comment on the possibility of any renewed talks.
NY AG pushes e-safety bill, Facebook, MySpace back it
New York's attorney general and state legislative leaders presented a bill on Tuesday aimed at protecting people from sexual predators on the Internet, as Facebook, MySpace and Yahoo backed the effort.
In a press conference, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced legislation they called "groundbreaking" in its proposed restrictions and controls of sexual offenders' online activities.
"Today I believe we're proposing the most comprehensive, smartest, toughest law in the nation to keep people safe online, especially minors," Cuomo said.
The Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-STOP) responds to the widely documented use that sexual offenders make of the Internet, in particular social-networking sites, to stalk and victimize people, particularly minors.
Specifically, e-STOP would require convicted sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses, instant message screen names and any other online identifiers with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. That data would then be made available to social-networking companies and other online services so that they can then block access to sexual offenders and remove them from their sites.
The bill also calls for allowing sentencing courts and the state's Parole Board to restrict the online activities of sex offenders who used the Internet to commit their crimes, victimized a minor or are considered highly likely to repeat their offenses. In particular, the bill would ban many sex offenders from using social-networking sites.
There are more than 627,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S., about 25,000 of whom are in New York, according to Cuomo's office.
State attorneys general have been very vocal about their concerns over online safety, in particular of minors who are preyed upon by sexual offenders on social-networking sites, which are widely used by teens.
The attorneys general have often criticized Facebook, MySpace and other sites for, in their view, not doing enough to protect minors, but the two sides have recently seemed to get on better terms and have rolled out several joint security initiatives, partnerships and agreements.
The e-STOP bill is needed to help social-networking companies keep their sites safer and will complement these companies' in-house security efforts, Cuomo said.
MySpace Chief Security Officer Hemanshu Nigam agreed and said laws need to keep up with the times and technology. "We hope [e-STOP] becomes a model for other states to follow," Nigam said.
"As Facebook and other Internet companies do our best to exclude [from our sites] those who would do our users harm, we need help from the government," said Chris Kelly, Facebook's chief privacy officer.
Ideally, legislation like e-STOP would get enacted widely in U.S. states and also at the federal level, Cuomo said.
In a press conference, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced legislation they called "groundbreaking" in its proposed restrictions and controls of sexual offenders' online activities.
"Today I believe we're proposing the most comprehensive, smartest, toughest law in the nation to keep people safe online, especially minors," Cuomo said.
The Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-STOP) responds to the widely documented use that sexual offenders make of the Internet, in particular social-networking sites, to stalk and victimize people, particularly minors.
Specifically, e-STOP would require convicted sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses, instant message screen names and any other online identifiers with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. That data would then be made available to social-networking companies and other online services so that they can then block access to sexual offenders and remove them from their sites.
The bill also calls for allowing sentencing courts and the state's Parole Board to restrict the online activities of sex offenders who used the Internet to commit their crimes, victimized a minor or are considered highly likely to repeat their offenses. In particular, the bill would ban many sex offenders from using social-networking sites.
There are more than 627,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S., about 25,000 of whom are in New York, according to Cuomo's office.
State attorneys general have been very vocal about their concerns over online safety, in particular of minors who are preyed upon by sexual offenders on social-networking sites, which are widely used by teens.
The attorneys general have often criticized Facebook, MySpace and other sites for, in their view, not doing enough to protect minors, but the two sides have recently seemed to get on better terms and have rolled out several joint security initiatives, partnerships and agreements.
The e-STOP bill is needed to help social-networking companies keep their sites safer and will complement these companies' in-house security efforts, Cuomo said.
MySpace Chief Security Officer Hemanshu Nigam agreed and said laws need to keep up with the times and technology. "We hope [e-STOP] becomes a model for other states to follow," Nigam said.
"As Facebook and other Internet companies do our best to exclude [from our sites] those who would do our users harm, we need help from the government," said Chris Kelly, Facebook's chief privacy officer.
Ideally, legislation like e-STOP would get enacted widely in U.S. states and also at the federal level, Cuomo said.
New Microsoft Word attacks pose as news about Tibet
New attacks using rigged Microsoft Word documents have been launched, a security company said Tuesday as it warned users to be leery of mail touting news about Tibet.
Phony e-mails purporting to contain news about Tibet and its government in exile are making the rounds, according to Trend Micro Inc., which explained that the messages carry attachments that are malformed Word documents designed to exploit a vulnerability in parsing the popular word processing system's file format.
When opened, the malicious documents deposit a Trojan horse on the victim's Windows PC, said Trend Micro in a post to its security blog.
Trend Micro said the names on the fake Word documents include the following:
-- CHINA';S [sic] OLYMPIC TORCH OUT OF TIBET 1.doc
-- 2007-07 DRAFT Tibetan MP London schedule.doc
-- DIRECTORY OF TIBET SUPPORT GROUPS IN INDIA.doc
-- Disapppeared [sic] in Tibet.doc
Another security firm, Symantec Corp., confirmed the new attacks but said that it has received only "a small number" of submissions from customers regarding the exploit.
"This social engineering technique has been seen before," said Trend Micro researcher Jake Soriano on the TrendLabs Malware blog. "In October, a Trojan rode on the newsworthiness of the monk-led protests in Myanmar ... arriving as an attachment to spam [that] purported to be a message of support from the Dalai Lama to the monks."
Symantec repeated the long-standing advice that users consider banning Office documents that originate from unknown senders and exercise caution in dealing with unsolicited e-mails, particularly those with attachments.
Microsoft Corp. has patched Word several times in the past two years -- most recently in May 2007, when it holes in the way the application handles documents. The company has also been promoting its newest suites, Office 2007 for Windows and Office 2008 for Mac, as being more secure on the file format front than their predecessors, and it has locked down Office 2003 by limiting the number of formats users can open.
Phony e-mails purporting to contain news about Tibet and its government in exile are making the rounds, according to Trend Micro Inc., which explained that the messages carry attachments that are malformed Word documents designed to exploit a vulnerability in parsing the popular word processing system's file format.
When opened, the malicious documents deposit a Trojan horse on the victim's Windows PC, said Trend Micro in a post to its security blog.
Trend Micro said the names on the fake Word documents include the following:
-- CHINA';S [sic] OLYMPIC TORCH OUT OF TIBET 1.doc
-- 2007-07 DRAFT Tibetan MP London schedule.doc
-- DIRECTORY OF TIBET SUPPORT GROUPS IN INDIA.doc
-- Disapppeared [sic] in Tibet.doc
Another security firm, Symantec Corp., confirmed the new attacks but said that it has received only "a small number" of submissions from customers regarding the exploit.
"This social engineering technique has been seen before," said Trend Micro researcher Jake Soriano on the TrendLabs Malware blog. "In October, a Trojan rode on the newsworthiness of the monk-led protests in Myanmar ... arriving as an attachment to spam [that] purported to be a message of support from the Dalai Lama to the monks."
Symantec repeated the long-standing advice that users consider banning Office documents that originate from unknown senders and exercise caution in dealing with unsolicited e-mails, particularly those with attachments.
Microsoft Corp. has patched Word several times in the past two years -- most recently in May 2007, when it holes in the way the application handles documents. The company has also been promoting its newest suites, Office 2007 for Windows and Office 2008 for Mac, as being more secure on the file format front than their predecessors, and it has locked down Office 2003 by limiting the number of formats users can open.
Google fixes Gmail IMAP problem on Windows Mobile
Google said it has fixed a problem that was causing Windows Mobile phone users to receive blank Gmail messages.
In October, Google began supporting IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) for Gmail. That means messages that mobile users send or receive from their phones are synched with their Gmail accounts, appearing the next time users access their accounts from a computer. But shortly after the announcement, Windows Mobile users began complaining in online forums about problems.
In some cases, Windows Mobile users said that HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) e-mail messages showed up blank on their phones. Others said that while they could read message headers, all messages appeared blank.
Google acknowledged the problem and listed it on its known issues page. Late last week, some users of Windows Mobile 6 and its predecessor, Windows Mobile 5, began writing on the online forum that the problem appeared to be fixed. A Google spokeswoman said that it was fixed on Friday, although on Monday it was still listed as a known issue. On Tuesday, the known issues page no longer included the problem.
Google has also posted instructions for configuring the Gmail IMAP capability on Windows Mobile 6 phones.
Windows Mobile users don't have to do anything to take advantage of the fix, the spokeswoman said. They should simply be able to properly receive Gmail messages on their phones now, she said.
In October, Google began supporting IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) for Gmail. That means messages that mobile users send or receive from their phones are synched with their Gmail accounts, appearing the next time users access their accounts from a computer. But shortly after the announcement, Windows Mobile users began complaining in online forums about problems.
In some cases, Windows Mobile users said that HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) e-mail messages showed up blank on their phones. Others said that while they could read message headers, all messages appeared blank.
Google acknowledged the problem and listed it on its known issues page. Late last week, some users of Windows Mobile 6 and its predecessor, Windows Mobile 5, began writing on the online forum that the problem appeared to be fixed. A Google spokeswoman said that it was fixed on Friday, although on Monday it was still listed as a known issue. On Tuesday, the known issues page no longer included the problem.
Google has also posted instructions for configuring the Gmail IMAP capability on Windows Mobile 6 phones.
Windows Mobile users don't have to do anything to take advantage of the fix, the spokeswoman said. They should simply be able to properly receive Gmail messages on their phones now, she said.
Trend Micro stresses 'tested' patent in trade case
Barracuda Networks plans to focus on finding prior art to defend itself and the open-source ClamAV project against patent claims by rival antivirus vendor Trend Micro, which stressed Tuesday that it owns a tested and valid patent.
Barracuda, facing a Trend Micro complaint before the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC), will work on showing the agency that other companies used gateway antivirus scanning before Trend Micro received its patent in 1997, Barracuda said Tuesday. Barracuda, based in California, uses ClamAV code in some of its products.
"In their claim, Trend Micro is seeking an interpretation of its ... patent such that would give it exclusive control of gateway antivirus scanning," said Kylie Heintz, spokeswoman for Barracuda.
"We believe that neither our products, nor the free and open-source ClamAV software, infringe the patent, and further we believe that the patent itself is invalid due to prior art," Heintz said.
The USITC launched a formal investigation of the patent claims in December.
Barracuda's announcement that it intended to find prior art spurred action in the open-source community. Early Tuesday, Groklaw, a blog focused on open-source legal issues, posted an announcement asking for help finding prior art.
But Trend Micro, which filed the USITC complaint in November, has a "known and time-tested patent," said Michael Sweeny, a spokesman for Trend Micro. The company won a similar dispute with rival Fortinet before the USITC in May 2005, Trend Micro noted. Fortinet later settled the patent claims, getting a license from Trend Micro.
In addition, Trend Micro filed a similar complaint against Panda Software International and Panda Distribution, which use a proprietary software package, said Mark Davis, Trend Micro's outside counsel. Trend Micro has not targeted the ClamAV project, he said. "This is purely against commercial competitors," Davis added.
Commercial software vendor Sourcefire purchased the ClamAV project in August. Sourcefire declined to comment on the patent dispute.
Open-source software is not the issue in the USITC complaint, Sweeny added. "We can't see how this would negatively impact open-source development," he said.
Barracuda CEO Dean Drako called scanning for viruses at the gateway "an obvious and common technique" used by most businesses. Almost anyone, including the owners of more than 1 million ClamAV installations, could be sued by Trend Micro if the company's patent claims hold up, he said in a statement.
Barracuda, maker of hardware containing cybersecurity products, has won support in the dispute from the Software Freedom Law Center, a group working to protect open-source software. The law center is grateful to Barracuda for fighting the patent, said Eben Moglen, the center's founding director. "Collective defense from software patents is a shared responsibility for everyone in the free software ecosystem," he said in a statement.
Barracuda has a pending lawsuit seeking to invalidate the patent in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose division.
Trend Micro is misusing the USITC because it's filing a trade complaint asking the agency to bar importation of a product against a company based in the U.S., Barracuda added. "Barracuda Networks designs and manufactures all of the products in question in the United States," Drako said in his statement. "We believe Trend Micro's actions are a blatant abuse of the U.S. legal system."
But Trend Micro said the USITC is an appropriate venue for the patent complaint. The 2005 Fortinet ruling was also against a company based in the U.S., Davis said. "There appear to be several components that are imported," he said.
Trend Micro's USITC complaint says Barracuda uses code from ClamAV, which is written in part in Europe and Australia. Barracuda also imports hardware components, the complaint says.
Barracuda, facing a Trend Micro complaint before the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC), will work on showing the agency that other companies used gateway antivirus scanning before Trend Micro received its patent in 1997, Barracuda said Tuesday. Barracuda, based in California, uses ClamAV code in some of its products.
"In their claim, Trend Micro is seeking an interpretation of its ... patent such that would give it exclusive control of gateway antivirus scanning," said Kylie Heintz, spokeswoman for Barracuda.
"We believe that neither our products, nor the free and open-source ClamAV software, infringe the patent, and further we believe that the patent itself is invalid due to prior art," Heintz said.
The USITC launched a formal investigation of the patent claims in December.
Barracuda's announcement that it intended to find prior art spurred action in the open-source community. Early Tuesday, Groklaw, a blog focused on open-source legal issues, posted an announcement asking for help finding prior art.
But Trend Micro, which filed the USITC complaint in November, has a "known and time-tested patent," said Michael Sweeny, a spokesman for Trend Micro. The company won a similar dispute with rival Fortinet before the USITC in May 2005, Trend Micro noted. Fortinet later settled the patent claims, getting a license from Trend Micro.
In addition, Trend Micro filed a similar complaint against Panda Software International and Panda Distribution, which use a proprietary software package, said Mark Davis, Trend Micro's outside counsel. Trend Micro has not targeted the ClamAV project, he said. "This is purely against commercial competitors," Davis added.
Commercial software vendor Sourcefire purchased the ClamAV project in August. Sourcefire declined to comment on the patent dispute.
Open-source software is not the issue in the USITC complaint, Sweeny added. "We can't see how this would negatively impact open-source development," he said.
Barracuda CEO Dean Drako called scanning for viruses at the gateway "an obvious and common technique" used by most businesses. Almost anyone, including the owners of more than 1 million ClamAV installations, could be sued by Trend Micro if the company's patent claims hold up, he said in a statement.
Barracuda, maker of hardware containing cybersecurity products, has won support in the dispute from the Software Freedom Law Center, a group working to protect open-source software. The law center is grateful to Barracuda for fighting the patent, said Eben Moglen, the center's founding director. "Collective defense from software patents is a shared responsibility for everyone in the free software ecosystem," he said in a statement.
Barracuda has a pending lawsuit seeking to invalidate the patent in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose division.
Trend Micro is misusing the USITC because it's filing a trade complaint asking the agency to bar importation of a product against a company based in the U.S., Barracuda added. "Barracuda Networks designs and manufactures all of the products in question in the United States," Drako said in his statement. "We believe Trend Micro's actions are a blatant abuse of the U.S. legal system."
But Trend Micro said the USITC is an appropriate venue for the patent complaint. The 2005 Fortinet ruling was also against a company based in the U.S., Davis said. "There appear to be several components that are imported," he said.
Trend Micro's USITC complaint says Barracuda uses code from ClamAV, which is written in part in Europe and Australia. Barracuda also imports hardware components, the complaint says.
European court strikes blow against music industry
In a blow against the music industry, the European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that E.U. countries don't have to require Internet service providers to reveal subscriber data for use in civil cases.
The Luxembourg court said E.U. nations may decide on their own whether to require such disclosure, but advised them to seek a balance between disclosing personal information and protecting intellectual property.
Existing E.U. directives on intellectual property do not require disclosure of personal data to ensure effective protection of copyright, the court said in a news release.
The court's decision means that music and film industry groups may have to find other ways in some countries to identify those suspected of illegally sharing files without the permission of the copyright holder.
It also bolsters prevailing opinions in Europe that an IP (Internet protocol) address -- which identifies the computer used by a person -- is personal data that should be protected.
The case, initiated in June 2006, arose after Spanish operator Telefónica resisted turning over subscriber data to Promusicae, a nonprofit organization for music and video publishers in Spain.
Promusicae sought to identify people using the Kazaa peer-to-peer file-sharing program. Promusicae asked Telefónica to name the people who held accounts connected with the IP address of the computer used to share files.
Telefónica contended the data could only be released in the course of a criminal investigation or a national or public security matter.
The IP address of a computer can often be linked to the person who holds an account with an Internet service provider, although it won't indicate who was using the computer when the illegal activity happened.
Music industry groups have typically sought to receive damages from those found to be illegally sharing files. Those lawsuits, however, have often been filed against people who hold subscriptions with a provider. In those cases lawyers have argued, mostly unsuccessfully, that the alleged file sharing was perpetrated by people other than those who held the subscriptions.
The Luxembourg court said E.U. nations may decide on their own whether to require such disclosure, but advised them to seek a balance between disclosing personal information and protecting intellectual property.
Existing E.U. directives on intellectual property do not require disclosure of personal data to ensure effective protection of copyright, the court said in a news release.
The court's decision means that music and film industry groups may have to find other ways in some countries to identify those suspected of illegally sharing files without the permission of the copyright holder.
It also bolsters prevailing opinions in Europe that an IP (Internet protocol) address -- which identifies the computer used by a person -- is personal data that should be protected.
The case, initiated in June 2006, arose after Spanish operator Telefónica resisted turning over subscriber data to Promusicae, a nonprofit organization for music and video publishers in Spain.
Promusicae sought to identify people using the Kazaa peer-to-peer file-sharing program. Promusicae asked Telefónica to name the people who held accounts connected with the IP address of the computer used to share files.
Telefónica contended the data could only be released in the course of a criminal investigation or a national or public security matter.
The IP address of a computer can often be linked to the person who holds an account with an Internet service provider, although it won't indicate who was using the computer when the illegal activity happened.
Music industry groups have typically sought to receive damages from those found to be illegally sharing files. Those lawsuits, however, have often been filed against people who hold subscriptions with a provider. In those cases lawyers have argued, mostly unsuccessfully, that the alleged file sharing was perpetrated by people other than those who held the subscriptions.
EBay unveils lower fees and tighter seller standards
EBay unveiled changes to its online marketplace Tuesday that the company characterizes as sweeping and historic and that are aimed at boosting sales by making the shopping experience simpler and safer.
The changes, which include lowering some fees and raising merchant standards, were announced at the company's eCommerce Forum by John Donahoe, who will succeed Meg Whitman as president and CEO in March.
The changes, which will be implemented at different points in the coming weeks and months, come at a time when eBay is struggling to boost growth of transaction volume and revenue amidst increased competition from the likes of Amazon.com, which in recent years has attracted many merchants away from eBay.
Donahoe said last week during a conference call to discuss eBay's fourth-quarter financials that the eBay marketplace business hasn't been growing as fast as he would like and that changes would be coming to make the shopping experience easier and safer.
EBay's fourth-quarter earnings and revenue exceeded Wall Street's expectations, but its outlook for this year was considered generally disappointing. For example, the conservative 2008 forecast, coupled with slowing growth in the marketplace business, led Citigroup to downgrade the stock to "hold."
While eBay's marketplace "playbook" has served it well for the past 10 years, the e-commerce game has changed significantly so the company must now try bold, new plays, Donahoe said during Tuesday's presentation, which was webcast.
Specifically, buyers have much higher expectations about online shopping than 10 years ago, so eBay must adapt and make their experience on the marketplace a better one, he told more than 200 of the company's largest merchants at the Washington, D.C. event. Likewise, eBay has to do a better job of helping its best merchants be more successful, he said.
"The Web has evolved around us, and what sellers and buyers have come to expect has evolved right along with it. Today, buyers want a very high level of value, selection and convenience. They want to shop on their own terms in a safe, easy-to-use environment. Sellers want a platform that meets the reality of doing business online today and that scales to their needs," Donahoe said.
In short, eBay finds itself at a crossroads where it can't afford to make just incremental changes if it wants to remain a leader and meet its customers' expectations, said Donahoe, president of eBay Marketplaces. "We need to redo our playbook, we need to redo it fast and we need to take bold actions," he said.
Donahoe announced that eBay will introduce an insertion fee reduction in the U.S. Feb. 20 by cutting the cost of listing items by 25 percent to 50 percent. By reducing the impact of items that don't sell, eBay hopes merchants will list more products. In turn, eBay is increasing the so-called "final value" fees it charges merchants when items are sold. The insertion fee cuts apply to auction and fixed-price items.
For example, the insertion fee for a $25 auction or fixed-priced item will drop from $1.20 to $1.00, while the final value fee will increase from 5.25 percent to 8.75 percent. A full rundown of new fees can be found here.
EBay will also do away with fees it charges U.S. merchants for its "gallery" option, in order to encourage merchants to include more photos with their listings. Fee changes will vary by country.
These two changes will reduce fees for most eBay merchants and, while eBay will see a cut in its fees revenue, it believes the moves are necessary for the overall health of the marketplace, he said. "Our goal is to reduce your risk, improve the overall buyer experience and align our success with yours," he said.
In addition, eBay will alter its search engine so that merchants with lower rates of customer satisfaction get less exposure on search results. Meanwhile, sellers with higher buyer satisfaction ratings will get better exposure in search results.
In particular, eBay wants to penalize sellers that charge excessive fees for shipping and handling, which the company has found is a major turnoff for buyers, said Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, who spoke after Donahoe.
EBay will also require a "safe payment option," such as PayPal or a major credit card, from merchants with lower customer satisfaction and from those in product categories that generate many buyer complaints. This gives buyers more protection when transacting with these merchants, Cobb said. Moreover, eBay will also raise the requirements for qualifying as a PowerSeller and update its feedback system.
Regarding PowerSeller status, eBay will require, starting in July, that to qualify for the program a merchant have a minimum 4.5 DSR (Detailed Seller Rating) score, in addition to the existing requirements of a 98 percent positive feedback rating and a certain level of sales, Cobb said.
The DSR rating lets buyers not only leave an overall feedback rating of positive, neutral or negative, but also rate the seller specifically in four areas with a scale of one to five stars: accuracy of item description, communication, shipping time, and shipping and handling charges.
DSR ratings will be used also to determine which merchants get heightened or lowered exposure in eBay's search rankings, Cobb said. "We're linking search with seller performance," Cobb said.
Moreover, for the first time, PowerSellers will get discounts based on high DSR ratings obtained in the previous 30 days. Those with at least 4.6 on all four DSR areas get 5 percent off final value fees, and 15 percent off with ratings of least 4.8.
If these discounts were in place today, about 60 percent of PowerSellers -- about 100,000 -- would qualify for them, Cobb said.
EBay will also revamp its feedback system, in particular to curb what Cobb called "a disturbing trend" of sellers using it to retaliate against buyers by giving them low ratings. This discourages buyers from leaving honest feedback and drives many of them away from eBay.
So, starting in May, sellers will only be allowed to leave positive feedback for buyers, Cobb said. However, eBay will also add protections for sellers against inaccurate feedback from buyers, such as removing negative and neutral feedback when a buyer fails to respond to an "unpaid item" inquiry. In addition, eBay will remove all the negative and neutral feedback from buyers who are suspended.
In addition, PowerSellers will get increased protection from PayPal, which will no longer require them to ship to confirmed addresses for items sold on eBay. PayPal is also lifting its $5,000 annual seller protection coverage limit for PowerSellers and making it unlimited, Cobb said.
More details about these and other changes can be found in a blog posting Cobb made on Tuesday morning.
The changes, which include lowering some fees and raising merchant standards, were announced at the company's eCommerce Forum by John Donahoe, who will succeed Meg Whitman as president and CEO in March.
The changes, which will be implemented at different points in the coming weeks and months, come at a time when eBay is struggling to boost growth of transaction volume and revenue amidst increased competition from the likes of Amazon.com, which in recent years has attracted many merchants away from eBay.
Donahoe said last week during a conference call to discuss eBay's fourth-quarter financials that the eBay marketplace business hasn't been growing as fast as he would like and that changes would be coming to make the shopping experience easier and safer.
EBay's fourth-quarter earnings and revenue exceeded Wall Street's expectations, but its outlook for this year was considered generally disappointing. For example, the conservative 2008 forecast, coupled with slowing growth in the marketplace business, led Citigroup to downgrade the stock to "hold."
While eBay's marketplace "playbook" has served it well for the past 10 years, the e-commerce game has changed significantly so the company must now try bold, new plays, Donahoe said during Tuesday's presentation, which was webcast.
Specifically, buyers have much higher expectations about online shopping than 10 years ago, so eBay must adapt and make their experience on the marketplace a better one, he told more than 200 of the company's largest merchants at the Washington, D.C. event. Likewise, eBay has to do a better job of helping its best merchants be more successful, he said.
"The Web has evolved around us, and what sellers and buyers have come to expect has evolved right along with it. Today, buyers want a very high level of value, selection and convenience. They want to shop on their own terms in a safe, easy-to-use environment. Sellers want a platform that meets the reality of doing business online today and that scales to their needs," Donahoe said.
In short, eBay finds itself at a crossroads where it can't afford to make just incremental changes if it wants to remain a leader and meet its customers' expectations, said Donahoe, president of eBay Marketplaces. "We need to redo our playbook, we need to redo it fast and we need to take bold actions," he said.
Donahoe announced that eBay will introduce an insertion fee reduction in the U.S. Feb. 20 by cutting the cost of listing items by 25 percent to 50 percent. By reducing the impact of items that don't sell, eBay hopes merchants will list more products. In turn, eBay is increasing the so-called "final value" fees it charges merchants when items are sold. The insertion fee cuts apply to auction and fixed-price items.
For example, the insertion fee for a $25 auction or fixed-priced item will drop from $1.20 to $1.00, while the final value fee will increase from 5.25 percent to 8.75 percent. A full rundown of new fees can be found here.
EBay will also do away with fees it charges U.S. merchants for its "gallery" option, in order to encourage merchants to include more photos with their listings. Fee changes will vary by country.
These two changes will reduce fees for most eBay merchants and, while eBay will see a cut in its fees revenue, it believes the moves are necessary for the overall health of the marketplace, he said. "Our goal is to reduce your risk, improve the overall buyer experience and align our success with yours," he said.
In addition, eBay will alter its search engine so that merchants with lower rates of customer satisfaction get less exposure on search results. Meanwhile, sellers with higher buyer satisfaction ratings will get better exposure in search results.
In particular, eBay wants to penalize sellers that charge excessive fees for shipping and handling, which the company has found is a major turnoff for buyers, said Bill Cobb, president of eBay North America, who spoke after Donahoe.
EBay will also require a "safe payment option," such as PayPal or a major credit card, from merchants with lower customer satisfaction and from those in product categories that generate many buyer complaints. This gives buyers more protection when transacting with these merchants, Cobb said. Moreover, eBay will also raise the requirements for qualifying as a PowerSeller and update its feedback system.
Regarding PowerSeller status, eBay will require, starting in July, that to qualify for the program a merchant have a minimum 4.5 DSR (Detailed Seller Rating) score, in addition to the existing requirements of a 98 percent positive feedback rating and a certain level of sales, Cobb said.
The DSR rating lets buyers not only leave an overall feedback rating of positive, neutral or negative, but also rate the seller specifically in four areas with a scale of one to five stars: accuracy of item description, communication, shipping time, and shipping and handling charges.
DSR ratings will be used also to determine which merchants get heightened or lowered exposure in eBay's search rankings, Cobb said. "We're linking search with seller performance," Cobb said.
Moreover, for the first time, PowerSellers will get discounts based on high DSR ratings obtained in the previous 30 days. Those with at least 4.6 on all four DSR areas get 5 percent off final value fees, and 15 percent off with ratings of least 4.8.
If these discounts were in place today, about 60 percent of PowerSellers -- about 100,000 -- would qualify for them, Cobb said.
EBay will also revamp its feedback system, in particular to curb what Cobb called "a disturbing trend" of sellers using it to retaliate against buyers by giving them low ratings. This discourages buyers from leaving honest feedback and drives many of them away from eBay.
So, starting in May, sellers will only be allowed to leave positive feedback for buyers, Cobb said. However, eBay will also add protections for sellers against inaccurate feedback from buyers, such as removing negative and neutral feedback when a buyer fails to respond to an "unpaid item" inquiry. In addition, eBay will remove all the negative and neutral feedback from buyers who are suspended.
In addition, PowerSellers will get increased protection from PayPal, which will no longer require them to ship to confirmed addresses for items sold on eBay. PayPal is also lifting its $5,000 annual seller protection coverage limit for PowerSellers and making it unlimited, Cobb said.
More details about these and other changes can be found in a blog posting Cobb made on Tuesday morning.
Open Solutions Alliance creating European office
The Open Solutions Alliance (OSA) is adding a chapter based in Europe, the group is expected to announce Tuesday.
OSA, a nonprofit vendor alliance formed in early 2007, advocates for the use of open-source software and works on interoperability issues.
The group hopes that the European chapter will be followed by the additions of other regions, such as Asia and Latin America, according to OSA. The chapters are meant to cater to varying regulatory environments and cultural differences globally, the organization said.
Meanwhile, open-source software has gained major momentum in Europe, according to OSA. Citing figures from the research firm Pierre Audoin Conseil, OSA said the market in France alone for open-source software was €730 million (US$1.07 billion) in 2007, up 66 percent over 2006.
OSA Member companies in Europe include hosted ERP (enterprise resource planning) vendor Openbravo, project-management company Onepoint and data-integration firm Talend.
Despite plans to create specialized chapters, OSA's overarching goal will remain the same. "We will all work together on interoperability projects -- interoperability is global," said Yves de Montcheuil, vice president of marketing at Talend.
OSA, a nonprofit vendor alliance formed in early 2007, advocates for the use of open-source software and works on interoperability issues.
The group hopes that the European chapter will be followed by the additions of other regions, such as Asia and Latin America, according to OSA. The chapters are meant to cater to varying regulatory environments and cultural differences globally, the organization said.
Meanwhile, open-source software has gained major momentum in Europe, according to OSA. Citing figures from the research firm Pierre Audoin Conseil, OSA said the market in France alone for open-source software was €730 million (US$1.07 billion) in 2007, up 66 percent over 2006.
OSA Member companies in Europe include hosted ERP (enterprise resource planning) vendor Openbravo, project-management company Onepoint and data-integration firm Talend.
Despite plans to create specialized chapters, OSA's overarching goal will remain the same. "We will all work together on interoperability projects -- interoperability is global," said Yves de Montcheuil, vice president of marketing at Talend.
Intel likely to reveal details of Silverthorne next week
Intel will offer a detailed look at a new processor next week during a presentation at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) that should set the stage for an unexpectedly close battle with Taiwan's Via Technologies.
Intel's presentation will cover technical details of an unnamed low-power processor that is made using a 45-nanometer process and designed for mobile Internet devices, according to an abstract contained in the ISSCC program. That's the same general description used by Intel to describe its upcoming Silverthorne processor.
Intel executives declined to confirm whether the ISSCC presentation covers Silverthorne but said the abstract provided an accurate description of the unspecified processor. If the chip described is indeed Silverthorne, the presentation appears set to confirm many rumored details of the chip's architecture and characteristics.
Most importantly, Silverthorne is rumored to be an in-order processor, the same as the processor Intel will detail next week, according to the abstract.
In layman's terms, this means the chip functions like a factory with a single assembly line and is capable of processing one operation at a time. An in-order processor must complete that operation before it can move on to another operation. This is a different chip architecture from that used in Intel's other processors but it's the same as Via Technologies' low-power C7 chip, which has proved popular among the portable device makers that are Silverthorne's target market.
The processor that Intel will discuss next week is also a dual-issue processor, just as Silverthorne is rumored to be. This feature -- which Intel is likely to emphasize at ISSCC -- allows two instructions to be issued at a time and should give Silverthorne a performance advantage over the C7, which can issue only one instruction at a time.
If these rumored characteristics of Silverthorne are confirmed next week, the stage will be set for an unexpectedly close contest between Intel and Via's upcoming low-power Isaiah processors, which are also designed for small, portable computers.
Tiny by comparison to Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, Via has nevertheless managed to carve out a comfortable niche selling the inexpensive, low-power C7. Beset by a dying third-party chipset business, Via hopes to become a mainstream processor supplier with its upcoming Isaiah processors, which the company unveiled last week.
Unlike the C7 and Silverthorne, Isaiah uses a superscalar, out-of-order processor architecture. This architecture, which is used in high-end chips from Intel and AMD, generally offers better performance than an in-order design and is akin to a factory equipped with multiple assembly lines capable of processing different operations at the same time.
The performance of Isaiah is further enhanced by being superscalar, or having the ability to process multiple instructions during every clock cycle.
Centaur, the Via subsidiary that handles processor design for the company, is confident that Isaiah will outperform Silverthorne, even though an accurate comparison of both chips won't be possible until the two processors can be benchmarked and assessed by independent observers.
Nevertheless, Isaiah looks good on paper. Via chips based on the new architecture will offer 1M byte of L2 cache and support a front-side bus running at speeds up to 1.3GHz. By comparison, the chip that Intel will reveal next week has 512K bytes of cache and a 533MHz front-side bus.
But the ISSCC abstract raises as many questions as it appears to answer. For example, it doesn't specify how many cores the new Intel chip will use and gives no indication for how fast these cores will run.
Silverthorne, and a related processor called Diamondville, are widely expected to be available in single-core and dual-core versions. They are also expected to run at roughly the same clock speeds as the Isaiah chips, will be available in versions running from 400MHz up to 2GHz.
Intel's presentation will cover technical details of an unnamed low-power processor that is made using a 45-nanometer process and designed for mobile Internet devices, according to an abstract contained in the ISSCC program. That's the same general description used by Intel to describe its upcoming Silverthorne processor.
Intel executives declined to confirm whether the ISSCC presentation covers Silverthorne but said the abstract provided an accurate description of the unspecified processor. If the chip described is indeed Silverthorne, the presentation appears set to confirm many rumored details of the chip's architecture and characteristics.
Most importantly, Silverthorne is rumored to be an in-order processor, the same as the processor Intel will detail next week, according to the abstract.
In layman's terms, this means the chip functions like a factory with a single assembly line and is capable of processing one operation at a time. An in-order processor must complete that operation before it can move on to another operation. This is a different chip architecture from that used in Intel's other processors but it's the same as Via Technologies' low-power C7 chip, which has proved popular among the portable device makers that are Silverthorne's target market.
The processor that Intel will discuss next week is also a dual-issue processor, just as Silverthorne is rumored to be. This feature -- which Intel is likely to emphasize at ISSCC -- allows two instructions to be issued at a time and should give Silverthorne a performance advantage over the C7, which can issue only one instruction at a time.
If these rumored characteristics of Silverthorne are confirmed next week, the stage will be set for an unexpectedly close contest between Intel and Via's upcoming low-power Isaiah processors, which are also designed for small, portable computers.
Tiny by comparison to Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, Via has nevertheless managed to carve out a comfortable niche selling the inexpensive, low-power C7. Beset by a dying third-party chipset business, Via hopes to become a mainstream processor supplier with its upcoming Isaiah processors, which the company unveiled last week.
Unlike the C7 and Silverthorne, Isaiah uses a superscalar, out-of-order processor architecture. This architecture, which is used in high-end chips from Intel and AMD, generally offers better performance than an in-order design and is akin to a factory equipped with multiple assembly lines capable of processing different operations at the same time.
The performance of Isaiah is further enhanced by being superscalar, or having the ability to process multiple instructions during every clock cycle.
Centaur, the Via subsidiary that handles processor design for the company, is confident that Isaiah will outperform Silverthorne, even though an accurate comparison of both chips won't be possible until the two processors can be benchmarked and assessed by independent observers.
Nevertheless, Isaiah looks good on paper. Via chips based on the new architecture will offer 1M byte of L2 cache and support a front-side bus running at speeds up to 1.3GHz. By comparison, the chip that Intel will reveal next week has 512K bytes of cache and a 533MHz front-side bus.
But the ISSCC abstract raises as many questions as it appears to answer. For example, it doesn't specify how many cores the new Intel chip will use and gives no indication for how fast these cores will run.
Silverthorne, and a related processor called Diamondville, are widely expected to be available in single-core and dual-core versions. They are also expected to run at roughly the same clock speeds as the Isaiah chips, will be available in versions running from 400MHz up to 2GHz.
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