While wireless Internet access has become a virtual commodity in homes and offices, exhibitors at this week's Cebit show in Hanover, Germany, are displaying wares focused on extending and optimizing the technology.
Nonius Software, a small Portuguese company, is showcasing a software appliance for serving up the Internet on cruise ships as cheaply as possible.
The pleasure vessels generally have to use expensive satellite connections when deep at sea, but can often access lower-cost terrestrial networks when cruising close to shore. Nonius' appliance serves as a referee between the various networks a ship contracts with, automatically switching to a lower-cost provider when it is available, said CEO António Silva.
For now, Nonius is focusing on cruise ships but the concept could apply to other scenarios, such as a tour bus, he suggested.
Meanwhile, the company is rolling out another product aimed at hospitals; it combines Wi-Fi with location tags to create a specialized communication network for tracking the whereabouts of people and machines.
For example, the system could determine whether an Alzheimer's patient unknowingly entered an unsafe area, or could keep tabs on expensive medical equipment, he said.
The system is ideal because it leverages an existing Wi-Fi installation, according to Silva. It is priced based on the number of operational location tags; a 100-tag implementation might cost $30,000, he said.
"It's not for Big Brother," Silva said of the technology. "It's so that patients can feel that they can get someone's attention."
However, none of that is possible if the building in question has a weak or spotty Wi-Fi installation.
Psiber, a company based in Germany and San Diego, is displaying 3-D modeling software during Cebit that aims to maximize the potential of WLANs (wireless local area networks) in buildings.
While the concept of 3-D WLAN planning software is years old, Psiber is pricing its offering aggressively, with a feature-limited version going for US$300 and the full-fledged product costing $600.
A Psiber official said the main target customers for the software include likely suspects such as architects, but argued there could be a mass-market opportunity as well, given the limits of the 2.4Ghz band on which many Wi-Fi signals travel. "Because it's a free spectrum, there will be so much collision [between networks]," said Klaus Romanek, the company's co-founder/owner.
Users of the software input the plans for each floor of the target building. In addition, the software can take into account the building's composition: Is it wood, concrete or a combination? Are there double-glazed windows?
Going even further, users can include the topography within the building's open spaces, such as desks and cubicles.
They place "access points" around the building, and the software generates a visual representation of both the reach and potential interference of the signals.
The software generates models, and therefore its accuracy "depends on the quality of the input data you put in," Romanek said. However, he added, "We find a rough model of your building is good enough."
"There's a lot of experience from real-life [WLAN] installers that went into this," he asserted.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Apple hints at enterprise future for iPhone
Apple hinted that the iPhone might become more useful to business workers during a discussion hosted by Morgan Stanley on Wednesday.
"Tomorrow we're going to talk a bit about the iPhone in the enterprise at our event on campus," said Peter Oppenheimer, chief financial officer of Apple, via a webcast of the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference. "We believe the iPhone is great for all parts of the market, including the enterprise."
Apple has scheduled an event on Thursday for developers, during which it will talk about the software road map of the iPhone, including details about the software development kit for the device and enterprise use, he said. The SDK will allow developers to create applications for the iPhone. Since Apple launched the iPhone last year, it has been closed to third-party developers.
In addition to opening up the iPhone to developers, he suggested that other changes may be on the horizon. While the company has created revenue-sharing agreements with operators so that Apple earns ongoing revenue as users pay for their mobile subscriptions, that model may not apply everywhere into the future, Oppenheimer said. "We're off to a great start, but we're learning and we're not wedded to any one particular way to go to market," he said. "Our objective is to drive scale and take market share."
This year, Apple expects to offer the iPhone in additional European countries and enter markets in Asia, he said.
The company sold 4 million iPhones in the first 200 days that it was on the market, Oppenheimer said. Users of those phones are all over the world, even in countries where Apple isn't selling iPhones. That's an indication of the high demand for iPhones, Oppenheimer said.
Even though Apple ties the iPhone to a particular operator's network, users have discovered ways to unlock the phone so that they can use it on the network of their choosing. "We believe it's occurring at a significant rate, it's just hard to estimate," Oppenheimer said. "We believe the unlocking is occurring because of unprecedented demand for the iPhone. ... We view this as a positive indicator of future demand and interest in the iPhone."
In the fourth quarter of 2007, more iPhones were sold than Windows Mobile devices in the U.S., according to recent research from Canalys. Among smartphones, only Research In Motion's BlackBerry devices sold more than iPhones in the U.S. during the quarter.
"Tomorrow we're going to talk a bit about the iPhone in the enterprise at our event on campus," said Peter Oppenheimer, chief financial officer of Apple, via a webcast of the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference. "We believe the iPhone is great for all parts of the market, including the enterprise."
Apple has scheduled an event on Thursday for developers, during which it will talk about the software road map of the iPhone, including details about the software development kit for the device and enterprise use, he said. The SDK will allow developers to create applications for the iPhone. Since Apple launched the iPhone last year, it has been closed to third-party developers.
In addition to opening up the iPhone to developers, he suggested that other changes may be on the horizon. While the company has created revenue-sharing agreements with operators so that Apple earns ongoing revenue as users pay for their mobile subscriptions, that model may not apply everywhere into the future, Oppenheimer said. "We're off to a great start, but we're learning and we're not wedded to any one particular way to go to market," he said. "Our objective is to drive scale and take market share."
This year, Apple expects to offer the iPhone in additional European countries and enter markets in Asia, he said.
The company sold 4 million iPhones in the first 200 days that it was on the market, Oppenheimer said. Users of those phones are all over the world, even in countries where Apple isn't selling iPhones. That's an indication of the high demand for iPhones, Oppenheimer said.
Even though Apple ties the iPhone to a particular operator's network, users have discovered ways to unlock the phone so that they can use it on the network of their choosing. "We believe it's occurring at a significant rate, it's just hard to estimate," Oppenheimer said. "We believe the unlocking is occurring because of unprecedented demand for the iPhone. ... We view this as a positive indicator of future demand and interest in the iPhone."
In the fourth quarter of 2007, more iPhones were sold than Windows Mobile devices in the U.S., according to recent research from Canalys. Among smartphones, only Research In Motion's BlackBerry devices sold more than iPhones in the U.S. during the quarter.
Ozzie: Microsoft needs Yahoo for Web, advertising plan
Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie on Wednesday attempted to clarify Microsoft's Web-based advertising and services strategy and lay a case for why buying Yahoo is integral to that plan.
In his keynote at the MIX 08 conference in Las Vegas, Ozzie said Microsoft realizes that having a vibrant and relevant portfolio of Web-based services and content, as well as innovative options for commerce and building communications, is essential to develop a "highly engaged, well-targetable audience" for advertising. When it comes to the Web, advertising is the primary way Microsoft will monetize its investments there, he said.
Microsoft is doing all it can "to use the resources we have to ensure there is a vibrant advertising ecosystem," Ozzie said. "If you wonder why we're so interested in Yahoo and its creative people and properties, I hope this makes it a little bit clearer."
Microsoft has been steadily building a wider portfolio of services and content over the past few years to drive its advertising strategy to compete with Google, meeting with little success.
In an attempt to give the strategy a major shot in the arm, Microsoft last month offered to purchase Yahoo, the struggling number-two player in online advertising, for US$44.6 billion. Yahoo's board rejected the bid, but Microsoft seems determined to buy the company, even if it has to be a hostile takeover. Still, even if the deal happens, it's unclear whether it will do much to help either company compete with Google.
Ozzie acknowledged that Microsoft has been working on its Web-based advertising plan for several years, both through acquisitions of companies such as aQuantive and its investment in Live services, but that 2008 will be the year the strategy "finally comes to light."
Ozzie, who seemed more self-assured about his increasingly visible role as Microsoft's technology visionary during his keynote on Wednesday, also revealed the most detail to date about how the Web is transforming all of Microsoft's products. The company in the past few weeks has made a series of announcements that expands its software-plus-services strategy to make more of its traditionally packaged software available as services for both consumers and business customers.
Earlier this week, the company expanded its hosted offerings for businesses by allowing them to use its e-mail software Exchange Server as a hosted service, as well as Office SharePoint Server 2007, a content management and collaboration tool, and Office Live Meeting, for audio and video conferencing over the Web.
Microsoft will continue this year to reveal more facets of its strategy to "drive the reconceptualization of our software to embrace this world of services," Ozzie said. Microsoft sees the Web as a hub that must be a "mesh" connecting all of its products, and is approaching this with four goals in mind: to use the Web throughout its products to connect devices, entertainment, business and development.
"All of our software will be significantly refactored to reach a level of symmetry" between software used on premise, software as a service and services in the cloud, Ozzie said.
For example, on the business side, Microsoft plans to use a new service called Office Live Workspace to be the "central hub of our productivity strategy" for individuals, he said. Office Live Workspace lets users access and share Office documents online. On the business side, Microsoft's Office SharePoint Server will fit the same role, Ozzie added.
Microsoft also will give developers more ability to develop services in the cloud. During his keynote, Ozzie unveiled a beta of SQL Server Data Services, a set of database services that "bring[s] the benefits of SQL Server for developers into the cloud," he said.
In his keynote at the MIX 08 conference in Las Vegas, Ozzie said Microsoft realizes that having a vibrant and relevant portfolio of Web-based services and content, as well as innovative options for commerce and building communications, is essential to develop a "highly engaged, well-targetable audience" for advertising. When it comes to the Web, advertising is the primary way Microsoft will monetize its investments there, he said.
Microsoft is doing all it can "to use the resources we have to ensure there is a vibrant advertising ecosystem," Ozzie said. "If you wonder why we're so interested in Yahoo and its creative people and properties, I hope this makes it a little bit clearer."
Microsoft has been steadily building a wider portfolio of services and content over the past few years to drive its advertising strategy to compete with Google, meeting with little success.
In an attempt to give the strategy a major shot in the arm, Microsoft last month offered to purchase Yahoo, the struggling number-two player in online advertising, for US$44.6 billion. Yahoo's board rejected the bid, but Microsoft seems determined to buy the company, even if it has to be a hostile takeover. Still, even if the deal happens, it's unclear whether it will do much to help either company compete with Google.
Ozzie acknowledged that Microsoft has been working on its Web-based advertising plan for several years, both through acquisitions of companies such as aQuantive and its investment in Live services, but that 2008 will be the year the strategy "finally comes to light."
Ozzie, who seemed more self-assured about his increasingly visible role as Microsoft's technology visionary during his keynote on Wednesday, also revealed the most detail to date about how the Web is transforming all of Microsoft's products. The company in the past few weeks has made a series of announcements that expands its software-plus-services strategy to make more of its traditionally packaged software available as services for both consumers and business customers.
Earlier this week, the company expanded its hosted offerings for businesses by allowing them to use its e-mail software Exchange Server as a hosted service, as well as Office SharePoint Server 2007, a content management and collaboration tool, and Office Live Meeting, for audio and video conferencing over the Web.
Microsoft will continue this year to reveal more facets of its strategy to "drive the reconceptualization of our software to embrace this world of services," Ozzie said. Microsoft sees the Web as a hub that must be a "mesh" connecting all of its products, and is approaching this with four goals in mind: to use the Web throughout its products to connect devices, entertainment, business and development.
"All of our software will be significantly refactored to reach a level of symmetry" between software used on premise, software as a service and services in the cloud, Ozzie said.
For example, on the business side, Microsoft plans to use a new service called Office Live Workspace to be the "central hub of our productivity strategy" for individuals, he said. Office Live Workspace lets users access and share Office documents online. On the business side, Microsoft's Office SharePoint Server will fit the same role, Ozzie added.
Microsoft also will give developers more ability to develop services in the cloud. During his keynote, Ozzie unveiled a beta of SQL Server Data Services, a set of database services that "bring[s] the benefits of SQL Server for developers into the cloud," he said.
Yahoo allows more time to nominate board members
Yahoo has lifted next week's deadline for nominating directors to its board, an attempt to discourage Microsoft from launching a proxy fight to replace the current board with members willing to approve its Yahoo acquisition bid.
The decision to move the deadline, announced Wednesday, is the latest maneuver by Yahoo to attempt to buy itself more time to seek alternatives to Microsoft's unsolicited acquisition bid.
If Microsoft does plan to nominate its own slate of board candidates, it would have had to do it no later than March 14, the original deadline. Now, Microsoft has more time to ponder such a move.
Also on Wednesday, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that Yahoo has stepped up negotiations with Time Warner for a possible tie-up with AOL.
Quoting anonymous sources, The Journal reported that the most likely scenario would be for AOL to be folded into Yahoo. The Times, also quoting anonymous sources, said a joint venture or merger of equals are possibilities.
To extend the nomination deadline, Yahoo amended its bylaws to state that now directors can be nominated up to 10 days after Yahoo announces the date for its 2008 annual stockholder meeting.
"As the company has not yet announced the date of this year's annual meeting, the amendment will give stockholders who want to nominate one or more directors, including Microsoft Corporation, more time to do so. The amendment does not preclude any party from nominating one or more directors at any time prior to the new deadline," Yahoo said in a statement Wednesday.
In an e-mail sent to Yahoo employees on Wednesday, CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang and board chairman Roy Bostock explained that the decision seeks to discourage Microsoft from launching a proxy fight as early as next week.
"In light of the current circumstances, this change removes an imminent deadline. Microsoft, of course, could still choose to name directors, but our objective here is to enable our board to continue to explore all of its strategic alternatives for maximizing value for stockholders without the distraction of a proxy contest," reads the e-mail, which was also filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Yang and Bostock also acknowledge that Yahoo's board and top managers are exploring alternatives "to create stockholder value" and that they are making progress "clarifying the many options available to us."
Apparently, Yang began looking for and considering alternatives to a Microsoft acquisition soon after Microsoft announced its US$44.6 billion bid on Feb. 1, a bid whose value now stands at around $41 billion due to a drop in Microsoft's stock price.
In addition to the AOL talks, there have been reports -- all attributed to anonymous sources in various media outlets -- that Yang has talked to Google, Disney and News Corp. to explore deals that would allow him to reject Microsoft's offer.
The problem for Yang is that an alternative deal would have to at least match the shareholder value of Microsoft's offer. Otherwise, Yahoo would make itself liable to shareholder lawsuits that alleged the board had failed to perform its fiduciary duty.
On Feb. 1, Microsoft offered to pay $31 per share for half of Yahoo's outstanding shares in cash -- about $22.3 billion -- and 0.9509 of a Microsoft share for the other half. Microsoft's half-cash/half-stock offer to Yahoo was valued at about $44.6 billion at the time it was made; Yahoo's share price was $19.18 at the time, while Microsoft's was $32.60.
At the time, the offer represented a 62 percent premium based on the price of Yahoo's stock, but that premium has been erased as Yahoo's stock has risen and Microsoft's fallen. In mid-morning trading on Wednesday, Yahoo's stock price was $28.58 and Microsoft's $28.28.
After Yahoo rejected Microsoft's offer on Feb. 11, saying it undervalues the company, Microsoft indicated it would be willing to pursue any options to acquire Yahoo, leaving the door open to a hostile takeover through a proxy fight.
The decision to move the deadline, announced Wednesday, is the latest maneuver by Yahoo to attempt to buy itself more time to seek alternatives to Microsoft's unsolicited acquisition bid.
If Microsoft does plan to nominate its own slate of board candidates, it would have had to do it no later than March 14, the original deadline. Now, Microsoft has more time to ponder such a move.
Also on Wednesday, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that Yahoo has stepped up negotiations with Time Warner for a possible tie-up with AOL.
Quoting anonymous sources, The Journal reported that the most likely scenario would be for AOL to be folded into Yahoo. The Times, also quoting anonymous sources, said a joint venture or merger of equals are possibilities.
To extend the nomination deadline, Yahoo amended its bylaws to state that now directors can be nominated up to 10 days after Yahoo announces the date for its 2008 annual stockholder meeting.
"As the company has not yet announced the date of this year's annual meeting, the amendment will give stockholders who want to nominate one or more directors, including Microsoft Corporation, more time to do so. The amendment does not preclude any party from nominating one or more directors at any time prior to the new deadline," Yahoo said in a statement Wednesday.
In an e-mail sent to Yahoo employees on Wednesday, CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang and board chairman Roy Bostock explained that the decision seeks to discourage Microsoft from launching a proxy fight as early as next week.
"In light of the current circumstances, this change removes an imminent deadline. Microsoft, of course, could still choose to name directors, but our objective here is to enable our board to continue to explore all of its strategic alternatives for maximizing value for stockholders without the distraction of a proxy contest," reads the e-mail, which was also filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Yang and Bostock also acknowledge that Yahoo's board and top managers are exploring alternatives "to create stockholder value" and that they are making progress "clarifying the many options available to us."
Apparently, Yang began looking for and considering alternatives to a Microsoft acquisition soon after Microsoft announced its US$44.6 billion bid on Feb. 1, a bid whose value now stands at around $41 billion due to a drop in Microsoft's stock price.
In addition to the AOL talks, there have been reports -- all attributed to anonymous sources in various media outlets -- that Yang has talked to Google, Disney and News Corp. to explore deals that would allow him to reject Microsoft's offer.
The problem for Yang is that an alternative deal would have to at least match the shareholder value of Microsoft's offer. Otherwise, Yahoo would make itself liable to shareholder lawsuits that alleged the board had failed to perform its fiduciary duty.
On Feb. 1, Microsoft offered to pay $31 per share for half of Yahoo's outstanding shares in cash -- about $22.3 billion -- and 0.9509 of a Microsoft share for the other half. Microsoft's half-cash/half-stock offer to Yahoo was valued at about $44.6 billion at the time it was made; Yahoo's share price was $19.18 at the time, while Microsoft's was $32.60.
At the time, the offer represented a 62 percent premium based on the price of Yahoo's stock, but that premium has been erased as Yahoo's stock has risen and Microsoft's fallen. In mid-morning trading on Wednesday, Yahoo's stock price was $28.58 and Microsoft's $28.28.
After Yahoo rejected Microsoft's offer on Feb. 11, saying it undervalues the company, Microsoft indicated it would be willing to pursue any options to acquire Yahoo, leaving the door open to a hostile takeover through a proxy fight.
AT&T plans $1 billion network investment
AT&T will spend US$1 billion in 2008 to expand its IP (Internet Protocol) networks for large businesses, driven by an "explosive surge" in data, voice and video traffic, the company said Wednesday.
AT&T's investment in its enterprise networks in 2008 will be a 33 percent increase from 2007 and more than double its investment in 2006, the company said.
Among AT&T's 2008 network expansions:
-- Added subsea fiber-optic cable capacity to Japan and other parts of Asia as well as the Caribbean. AT&T plans to invest in multiple under-the-sea cable systems to Southeast Asia and Australia and import existing cable servicing India and the Middle East.
-- New Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) routers in Europe, Asia and the U.S., with new or additional MPLS-based IP network access nodes in Paris, Moscow, Kuwait, India, Japan and other countries.
-- Enhanced Ethernet network capabilities, including the rollout of a global virtual private local area network product, initially in the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific. AT&T plans to make these services available in 2008 in 14 cities: Frankfurt, London, Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Dublin/Cork, Milan, Madrid and Zurich in Europe; and Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore, and Tokyo in Asia Pacific. By year-end 2008, AT&T expects to have an Ethernet footprint in 39 countries.
-- The addition of DSL (digital subscriber lines) as an access alternative to China, Finland, Norway and Saudi Arabia. By year-end, AT&T plans to have DSL available as an access alternative in 21 countries.
"Companies worldwide are responding to the exploding need to deliver voice, data and video in real time to their end-users, no matter where they are, no matter what the device," Ron Spears, group president, AT&T Global Business Services, said in a statement. "It is vital that we continue to invest in those geographies and services to meet this demand so our customers can connect their operations, partners and suppliers."
In the fourth quarter of 2007, AT&T's Global Business Services unit saw hosting revenues grow by 19 percent, enterprise IP data services by nearly 21 percent, and VPN revenues by 31 percent.
AT&T's investment in its enterprise networks in 2008 will be a 33 percent increase from 2007 and more than double its investment in 2006, the company said.
Among AT&T's 2008 network expansions:
-- Added subsea fiber-optic cable capacity to Japan and other parts of Asia as well as the Caribbean. AT&T plans to invest in multiple under-the-sea cable systems to Southeast Asia and Australia and import existing cable servicing India and the Middle East.
-- New Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) routers in Europe, Asia and the U.S., with new or additional MPLS-based IP network access nodes in Paris, Moscow, Kuwait, India, Japan and other countries.
-- Enhanced Ethernet network capabilities, including the rollout of a global virtual private local area network product, initially in the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific. AT&T plans to make these services available in 2008 in 14 cities: Frankfurt, London, Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Dublin/Cork, Milan, Madrid and Zurich in Europe; and Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore, and Tokyo in Asia Pacific. By year-end 2008, AT&T expects to have an Ethernet footprint in 39 countries.
-- The addition of DSL (digital subscriber lines) as an access alternative to China, Finland, Norway and Saudi Arabia. By year-end, AT&T plans to have DSL available as an access alternative in 21 countries.
"Companies worldwide are responding to the exploding need to deliver voice, data and video in real time to their end-users, no matter where they are, no matter what the device," Ron Spears, group president, AT&T Global Business Services, said in a statement. "It is vital that we continue to invest in those geographies and services to meet this demand so our customers can connect their operations, partners and suppliers."
In the fourth quarter of 2007, AT&T's Global Business Services unit saw hosting revenues grow by 19 percent, enterprise IP data services by nearly 21 percent, and VPN revenues by 31 percent.
Apple goal of 10 million iPhone sales stays on track
Apple remains on course to sell ten million iPhones in the current financial year, senior executives told shareholders Tuesday.
The company's annual shareholder meeting took place at Apple headquarters in Cupertino. Five of the eight board members, including former vice president Al Gore and Google CEO Eric Schmidt, attended the meeting.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs, flanked by chief operating officer Tim Cook and chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer, answered a few questions.
The men revealed Apple plans to launch iPhone in China and India this year. "We will enter Asia with the iPhone in 2008. We will one day enter China, we're not saying when, and we will one day enter India," Cook said.
Asked about his succession plans, Jobs said: "I've been asked that before. If I'm run over by the bus, I hope there won't be a party." Despite the quip Jobs stressed his belief that "any number" of Apple's top executives could lead the company in his stead.
Led by the AFL-CIO Reserve Fund, shareholders managed to pass a resolution ("Say on Pay" ) that gave them a say on executive compensation. The proposal requires Apple's board to ask that shareholders vote on a non-binding resolution each year regarding pay of top executives.
Shareholders rejected a proposal to create a board committee for sustainability. Apple also said it has no plans for a stock buyback or dividend.
The company's annual shareholder meeting took place at Apple headquarters in Cupertino. Five of the eight board members, including former vice president Al Gore and Google CEO Eric Schmidt, attended the meeting.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs, flanked by chief operating officer Tim Cook and chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer, answered a few questions.
The men revealed Apple plans to launch iPhone in China and India this year. "We will enter Asia with the iPhone in 2008. We will one day enter China, we're not saying when, and we will one day enter India," Cook said.
Asked about his succession plans, Jobs said: "I've been asked that before. If I'm run over by the bus, I hope there won't be a party." Despite the quip Jobs stressed his belief that "any number" of Apple's top executives could lead the company in his stead.
Led by the AFL-CIO Reserve Fund, shareholders managed to pass a resolution ("Say on Pay" ) that gave them a say on executive compensation. The proposal requires Apple's board to ask that shareholders vote on a non-binding resolution each year regarding pay of top executives.
Shareholders rejected a proposal to create a board committee for sustainability. Apple also said it has no plans for a stock buyback or dividend.
IBM takeover of Telelogic gets European approval
The European Commission gave the go-ahead to IBM's planned takeover of Swedish software development tool vendor Telelogic on Wednesday, after an in-depth probe of the deal.
IBM bid around US$745 million for Telelogic last June. Despite considerable overlaps in their business activities, the Commission concluded that the deal wouldn't hamper fair competition in the software development tools market.
With the acquisition of Telelogic, IBM will become by far the largest vendor of two types of software development tools: software modelling and requirements management tools. Initially the Commission suspected that the combined strength of the two companies would skew competition in these market sectors, pushing up prices and shutting out competitors.
However, the in-depth probe started last October found that the two companies target distinct and separate customer groups and are therefore not in direct competition with each other.
"The deal will not harm competition in Europe or in any part of Europe," the Commission said.
Modelling tools are designed to help software developers model the software before developing it. The future software product's functions are mapped out by creating visual models as well as by generating data definitions, programming specifications and ultimately the software code itself. Requirements management tools are designed to streamline and document a development team's analysis of the requirements of a project.
IBM bid around US$745 million for Telelogic last June. Despite considerable overlaps in their business activities, the Commission concluded that the deal wouldn't hamper fair competition in the software development tools market.
With the acquisition of Telelogic, IBM will become by far the largest vendor of two types of software development tools: software modelling and requirements management tools. Initially the Commission suspected that the combined strength of the two companies would skew competition in these market sectors, pushing up prices and shutting out competitors.
However, the in-depth probe started last October found that the two companies target distinct and separate customer groups and are therefore not in direct competition with each other.
"The deal will not harm competition in Europe or in any part of Europe," the Commission said.
Modelling tools are designed to help software developers model the software before developing it. The future software product's functions are mapped out by creating visual models as well as by generating data definitions, programming specifications and ultimately the software code itself. Requirements management tools are designed to streamline and document a development team's analysis of the requirements of a project.
Sony-Ericsson phone ranks top in Greenpeace guide
A phone from Sony-Ericsson, a notebook from Sony and PCs from Dell and Hewlett Packard came top of their categories in a study of green electronics devices conducted by Greenpeace. There's little cause for celebration, though, as they only scored around half marks, leaving plenty of room for improvement.
Greenpeace published the list to demonstrate that some companies can develop products that do less harm to the environment, and to encourage others to do likewise. The group is particularly concerned about the dangers posed by the 20 million to 50 million tons of electronic waste it says we produce each year.
"We are building an Eiffel Tower of waste every 70 hours," said Zeina Al-Hajj, a spokeswoman for the group.
Worse, noone knows what happens to most of that waste: more than 75 percent of it cannot be traced, according to the environmental lobby group.
"Is it in landfill, or being shipped to China, or sitting in attics? We really have no idea," she said.
Laden with toxic products including lead, beryllium, PVC, phthalates and brominated fire retardants, poor handling or storage of this waste can damage the environment and human health, the group warned.
To reduce the harm done, the group wants manufacturers to reduce the amount of waste from products, and to make that waste less toxic, by making products that use less energy, choosing environmentally friendly components and materials, making them longer-lasting, and designing products that can easily be recycled.
The Greenpeace study "Searching for green electronics" is a snapshot of some products available on the market between August and November 2007. The group invited PC and phone manufacturers to provide information about their most environmentally friendly notebooks, desktop PCs, mobile phones, PDAs and game consoles. They then evaluated the products on four criteria: use of toxic chemicals, energy efficiency, recyclability and marketing.
Of the companies approached, 14 replied, providing information on 37 products. Some of those contacted, including Acer, Apple, Asus, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sharp, did not respond, or replied too late. This meant that game consoles did not figure in the final report.
The replies were scored, and a weighted total calculated. The highest-scoring device was Sony-Ericsson's T650i phone, with 5.30 out of 10. The other phones submitted scored between 3.6 and 4.4.
In the laptop category, the Sony Vaio TZ11 led with 5.29 points out of 10. Other products listed scored between 3.49 and 4.82.
None of the desktop PCs submitted scored more than half marks: front runners were the Dell Optiplex 755 and the Hewlett-Packard dc5750, with 4.71 points each.
The Greenpeace is not a consumer guide said Yannick Vicaire, one of its authors, although it does show the questions that buyers should ask of manufacturers.
The report should be seen as a comment on the devices studied, and not on the brands as a whole, said Al-Hajj.
Greenpeace published the list to demonstrate that some companies can develop products that do less harm to the environment, and to encourage others to do likewise. The group is particularly concerned about the dangers posed by the 20 million to 50 million tons of electronic waste it says we produce each year.
"We are building an Eiffel Tower of waste every 70 hours," said Zeina Al-Hajj, a spokeswoman for the group.
Worse, noone knows what happens to most of that waste: more than 75 percent of it cannot be traced, according to the environmental lobby group.
"Is it in landfill, or being shipped to China, or sitting in attics? We really have no idea," she said.
Laden with toxic products including lead, beryllium, PVC, phthalates and brominated fire retardants, poor handling or storage of this waste can damage the environment and human health, the group warned.
To reduce the harm done, the group wants manufacturers to reduce the amount of waste from products, and to make that waste less toxic, by making products that use less energy, choosing environmentally friendly components and materials, making them longer-lasting, and designing products that can easily be recycled.
The Greenpeace study "Searching for green electronics" is a snapshot of some products available on the market between August and November 2007. The group invited PC and phone manufacturers to provide information about their most environmentally friendly notebooks, desktop PCs, mobile phones, PDAs and game consoles. They then evaluated the products on four criteria: use of toxic chemicals, energy efficiency, recyclability and marketing.
Of the companies approached, 14 replied, providing information on 37 products. Some of those contacted, including Acer, Apple, Asus, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sharp, did not respond, or replied too late. This meant that game consoles did not figure in the final report.
The replies were scored, and a weighted total calculated. The highest-scoring device was Sony-Ericsson's T650i phone, with 5.30 out of 10. The other phones submitted scored between 3.6 and 4.4.
In the laptop category, the Sony Vaio TZ11 led with 5.29 points out of 10. Other products listed scored between 3.49 and 4.82.
None of the desktop PCs submitted scored more than half marks: front runners were the Dell Optiplex 755 and the Hewlett-Packard dc5750, with 4.71 points each.
The Greenpeace is not a consumer guide said Yannick Vicaire, one of its authors, although it does show the questions that buyers should ask of manufacturers.
The report should be seen as a comment on the devices studied, and not on the brands as a whole, said Al-Hajj.
Avaya awaits SDK to decide on enhanced iPhone support
Avaya is demonstrating the iPhone version of its one-X Mobile client at Cebit, but company officials have not yet decided whether to use the upcoming SDK from Apple to enhance the application.
The iPhone version of the mobile application is available in the U.S. and comes to Europe in the third quarter. One-X Mobile lets users manage voice mail and get access to company directories and call logs.
The goal is to make the iPhone enterprise ready. But because the iPhone is a closed platform, the one-X Mobile client runs in the Web browser, completely separate from the rest of the phone. Avaya offers more advanced clients for Nokia and BlackBerry phones.
The release of the long-awaited iPhone SDK (software developer kit) this week could change all that. So far Avaya hasn't decided whether it's going to build a more full-featured client, using the SDK. A deciding factor will be how open Apple makes the iPhone.
"We will have to wait and see what's possible. Today we don't know if we can integrate directly with Visual Mail," said Stefan Döbbe, senior solution architect at Avaya.
If Avaya can only add two features it probably won't develop a new client. It's a fine balance between what it can achieve, and how many hours it will take, according to Döbbe.
In general, developing clients for mobile phones is an uphill battle.
"We have to develop a client for every phone, because the phone vendors interpret the Java substandards differently. Even phones from the same vendor work differently," said Döbbe.
He also tells a horror story about a Nokia phone that worked in the U.S., but not in Europe, because the European carrier didn't support the same software version.
Despite the challenges, Döbbe still thinks there is hope.
"The vendors are getting closer, which will make it easier for us to develop applications for mobile phones," he said.
The iPhone version of the mobile application is available in the U.S. and comes to Europe in the third quarter. One-X Mobile lets users manage voice mail and get access to company directories and call logs.
The goal is to make the iPhone enterprise ready. But because the iPhone is a closed platform, the one-X Mobile client runs in the Web browser, completely separate from the rest of the phone. Avaya offers more advanced clients for Nokia and BlackBerry phones.
The release of the long-awaited iPhone SDK (software developer kit) this week could change all that. So far Avaya hasn't decided whether it's going to build a more full-featured client, using the SDK. A deciding factor will be how open Apple makes the iPhone.
"We will have to wait and see what's possible. Today we don't know if we can integrate directly with Visual Mail," said Stefan Döbbe, senior solution architect at Avaya.
If Avaya can only add two features it probably won't develop a new client. It's a fine balance between what it can achieve, and how many hours it will take, according to Döbbe.
In general, developing clients for mobile phones is an uphill battle.
"We have to develop a client for every phone, because the phone vendors interpret the Java substandards differently. Even phones from the same vendor work differently," said Döbbe.
He also tells a horror story about a Nokia phone that worked in the U.S., but not in Europe, because the European carrier didn't support the same software version.
Despite the challenges, Döbbe still thinks there is hope.
"The vendors are getting closer, which will make it easier for us to develop applications for mobile phones," he said.
Samsung's new drives can give laptops 1TB of storage
To meet the growing storage needs of laptop users, Samsung Electronics on Tuesday introduced a 500G-byte hard drive that could provide a notebook PC with as much as 1T byte of storage.
The Spinpoint M6, a 2.5-inch hard drive, fits into the chassis of commercial and multimedia notebooks, said Andy Higginbotham, director of hard drive sales at Samsung Semiconductor. Two drives can be combined for 1T byte of storage, he said.
The company was able to fit three 167G-byte platters in a small frame to achieve 500G bytes of storage in one drive, Higginbotham said. The hard drive spins at 5,400 revolutions per minute (RPM).
Priced at US$299, the hard drive will ship to PC makers and retail stores later this month. A company spokeswoman declined to comment on which PC makers will be using the drive.
This is not the first attempt to put 1T byte of storage in a laptop. At the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, Asus announced the M70S laptop, which combined two 500G-byte drives from Hitachi.
Samsung also announced the Spinpoint MP2 hard drive, a 2.5-inch drive with 250G bytes of storage. Aimed at desktop replacement notebooks, workstations and blade servers, it provides quicker read and write speeds than the M6. The hard drive spins at 7,200 RPM.
With the MP2, the company also provides an optional chip that protects a hard drive from vibrations caused by other hardware components.
The Spinpoint MP2 is priced at $299 and will be available through retailers. An 80G-byte version of the hard drive is also available, according to the company.
Both drives come with an optional free-fall sensor, which parks the head and turns the hard drive off in the event of a fall, protecting the data on it.
The Spinpoint M6, a 2.5-inch hard drive, fits into the chassis of commercial and multimedia notebooks, said Andy Higginbotham, director of hard drive sales at Samsung Semiconductor. Two drives can be combined for 1T byte of storage, he said.
The company was able to fit three 167G-byte platters in a small frame to achieve 500G bytes of storage in one drive, Higginbotham said. The hard drive spins at 5,400 revolutions per minute (RPM).
Priced at US$299, the hard drive will ship to PC makers and retail stores later this month. A company spokeswoman declined to comment on which PC makers will be using the drive.
This is not the first attempt to put 1T byte of storage in a laptop. At the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, Asus announced the M70S laptop, which combined two 500G-byte drives from Hitachi.
Samsung also announced the Spinpoint MP2 hard drive, a 2.5-inch drive with 250G bytes of storage. Aimed at desktop replacement notebooks, workstations and blade servers, it provides quicker read and write speeds than the M6. The hard drive spins at 7,200 RPM.
With the MP2, the company also provides an optional chip that protects a hard drive from vibrations caused by other hardware components.
The Spinpoint MP2 is priced at $299 and will be available through retailers. An 80G-byte version of the hard drive is also available, according to the company.
Both drives come with an optional free-fall sensor, which parks the head and turns the hard drive off in the event of a fall, protecting the data on it.
Whatever happened to Google hitting $900?
Last November, investment bank researchers were putting out glowing reports about the prospects of Google's stock going forward, pumping the stock higher.
Credit Suisse analyst Heath Terry topped all others with a 12-month target price of US$900, although three other firms put out targets of $850.
Some of these reports helped Google shares climb to their all-time high of $747.24 on Nov. 7. But as of the close of Nasdaq trading Tuesday, Google shares had sank to just under half the top prediction, $444.60, and down 40.5 percent, or $302.64 from their high.
Henry Blodget, famous for his analysis of Internet companies at investment banking firm Merrill Lynch ahead of the dot-com bust in 2000, believes the shares have further to fall as U.S. economic woes cut into the company's sales and investors come to the realization that Google's growth is slowing down.
In a piece written Tuesday for the Silicon Alley Insider, Blodget writes that the company's stock faces the same problem now that Microsoft and other technology companies have faced in the past. Once growth at these companies leveled off, their share prices dropped.
That doesn't mean Google isn't a great company, nor does it mean Google's stock price won't rise in the future. Indeed, Blodget predicts Google shares will hit $2000 -- in 10 to 20 years.
What it means is that Google would have to find a way to make its ad, video or other businesses generate revenue to continue the strong growth it's seen over the past few years. Blodget believes Google's share price is nearing a bottom, and it will likely trade at a multiple of 20 to 30 times its free cash flow, down from as high as 50 times in the past.
Google faces other headwinds. On Tuesday its stock fell due to the departure of executive and company veteran Sheryl Sandberg. She joined Google in 2001 and was vice president of global online sales and operations at Google before accepting the job of chief operating officer at popular social networking site Facebook.
Some analysts see her departure as a sign people see better growth elsewhere, outside Google. Such jitters sent Google's stock down 2.7 percent, or $12.42 during regular trading Tuesday.
The shares fell another $2.10 in after-market trade to end at $442.50 Tuesday.
Credit Suisse analyst Heath Terry topped all others with a 12-month target price of US$900, although three other firms put out targets of $850.
Some of these reports helped Google shares climb to their all-time high of $747.24 on Nov. 7. But as of the close of Nasdaq trading Tuesday, Google shares had sank to just under half the top prediction, $444.60, and down 40.5 percent, or $302.64 from their high.
Henry Blodget, famous for his analysis of Internet companies at investment banking firm Merrill Lynch ahead of the dot-com bust in 2000, believes the shares have further to fall as U.S. economic woes cut into the company's sales and investors come to the realization that Google's growth is slowing down.
In a piece written Tuesday for the Silicon Alley Insider, Blodget writes that the company's stock faces the same problem now that Microsoft and other technology companies have faced in the past. Once growth at these companies leveled off, their share prices dropped.
That doesn't mean Google isn't a great company, nor does it mean Google's stock price won't rise in the future. Indeed, Blodget predicts Google shares will hit $2000 -- in 10 to 20 years.
What it means is that Google would have to find a way to make its ad, video or other businesses generate revenue to continue the strong growth it's seen over the past few years. Blodget believes Google's share price is nearing a bottom, and it will likely trade at a multiple of 20 to 30 times its free cash flow, down from as high as 50 times in the past.
Google faces other headwinds. On Tuesday its stock fell due to the departure of executive and company veteran Sheryl Sandberg. She joined Google in 2001 and was vice president of global online sales and operations at Google before accepting the job of chief operating officer at popular social networking site Facebook.
Some analysts see her departure as a sign people see better growth elsewhere, outside Google. Such jitters sent Google's stock down 2.7 percent, or $12.42 during regular trading Tuesday.
The shares fell another $2.10 in after-market trade to end at $442.50 Tuesday.
Facebook hires away Google online ad vice president
Sheryl Sandberg, Google's vice president of global online sales and operations, will jump to Facebook later this month to become the social-networking company's chief operating officer and help the company to grow globally.
Sandberg will report directly to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and oversee sales, marketing, business development, human resources, public policy, privacy and communications, Facebook announced Tuesday. Her first day at Facebook will be March 24.
Sandberg's main responsibilities at Google, where she has been since 2001, were online sales of the company's advertising and publishing products, as well as running the sales operations of Google's consumer products and Google Book search, according to information on Google's Web site.
Previously, she worked as chief of staff for the U.S. Treasury Department, as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. and an economist with The World Bank. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about Sandberg's departure.
Sandberg will report directly to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and oversee sales, marketing, business development, human resources, public policy, privacy and communications, Facebook announced Tuesday. Her first day at Facebook will be March 24.
Sandberg's main responsibilities at Google, where she has been since 2001, were online sales of the company's advertising and publishing products, as well as running the sales operations of Google's consumer products and Google Book search, according to information on Google's Web site.
Previously, she worked as chief of staff for the U.S. Treasury Department, as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. and an economist with The World Bank. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about Sandberg's departure.
Windows hacked in seconds via Firewire
A New Zealand security researcher has published a software tool allowing attackers to quickly gain access to Windows systems via a Firewire port.
The tool, which can only be used by attackers with physical access to a system, comes shortly after the publication of research on gaining access to encrypted hard drives via physical access to memory.
Researcher Adam Boileau, a consultant with Immunity, originally demonstrated the access tool at a security conference in 2006, but decided not to release the code any further at the time. Two years later, however, nothing has been done toward fixing the problem, so he decided to go public.
"Yes, this means you can completely own any box whose Firewire port you can plug into in seconds," said Boileau in a recent blog entry.
An attacker must connect to the machine with a Linux system and a Firewire cable to run the tool.
The tool, called Winlockpwn, allows users to bypass Windows authorization, was originally demonstrated at Ruxcon in 2006 at a talk called "Hit By A Bus: Physical Access Attacks With Firewire".
At the time, Boileau also demonstrated some of the malicious uses of the tool, but said he wouldn't be releasing the code for those attacks.
The attack takes advantage of the fact that Firewire can directly read and write to a system's memory, adding extra speed to data transfer. According to Boileau, because this capability is built into Firewire, Microsoft doesn't consider the problem a standard bug.
On the other hand, Boileau said he feels PC users need to be more aware of the fact that their systems can be unlocked via Firewire.
"Yes, it's a feature, not a bug," Boileau stated. "Microsoft knows this. The OHCI-1394 spec knows this. People with Firewire ports generally don't."
Microsoft was not immediately available for comment. In the past the company has downplayed security problems that require physical access.
Firewire has become common on Windows systems in the past few years, and is especially prevalent on laptops.
Researcher Maximillian Dornseif demonstrated a similar exploit on Linux and Mac OS X systems at the CanSec conference in 2005, connecting to those systems via a malicious iPod and Firewire.
According to security researchers, the problem can be remedied by disabling Firewire when not in use.
The tool, which can only be used by attackers with physical access to a system, comes shortly after the publication of research on gaining access to encrypted hard drives via physical access to memory.
Researcher Adam Boileau, a consultant with Immunity, originally demonstrated the access tool at a security conference in 2006, but decided not to release the code any further at the time. Two years later, however, nothing has been done toward fixing the problem, so he decided to go public.
"Yes, this means you can completely own any box whose Firewire port you can plug into in seconds," said Boileau in a recent blog entry.
An attacker must connect to the machine with a Linux system and a Firewire cable to run the tool.
The tool, called Winlockpwn, allows users to bypass Windows authorization, was originally demonstrated at Ruxcon in 2006 at a talk called "Hit By A Bus: Physical Access Attacks With Firewire".
At the time, Boileau also demonstrated some of the malicious uses of the tool, but said he wouldn't be releasing the code for those attacks.
The attack takes advantage of the fact that Firewire can directly read and write to a system's memory, adding extra speed to data transfer. According to Boileau, because this capability is built into Firewire, Microsoft doesn't consider the problem a standard bug.
On the other hand, Boileau said he feels PC users need to be more aware of the fact that their systems can be unlocked via Firewire.
"Yes, it's a feature, not a bug," Boileau stated. "Microsoft knows this. The OHCI-1394 spec knows this. People with Firewire ports generally don't."
Microsoft was not immediately available for comment. In the past the company has downplayed security problems that require physical access.
Firewire has become common on Windows systems in the past few years, and is especially prevalent on laptops.
Researcher Maximillian Dornseif demonstrated a similar exploit on Linux and Mac OS X systems at the CanSec conference in 2005, connecting to those systems via a malicious iPod and Firewire.
According to security researchers, the problem can be remedied by disabling Firewire when not in use.
Google Gears comes out for mobile
Google's quest to keep browser-based applications running while offline is expanding to where it may be needed most: mobile devices.
A version of the Google Gears browser extension software is available to developers, according to a Monday blog posting by Google Mobile Product Manager Charles Wiles. So far it's available only for Microsoft Internet Explorer Mobile on Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices, but there will be versions for other platforms, including Google's own Android system, Wiles wrote.
Google Gears, still in beta testing, lets people continue to work with Web-based applications after they've gone offline. Data and documents are saved on the device so users can see and work on them any time. Gears is already available for desktops and notebooks, with versions for Internet Explorer on Windows XP and Vista, and for Firefox on XP, Vista, MacOS and Linux. Gears for Mobile is a port of that software.
Although notebook PC users sometimes fire up their systems where wired or wireless Internet access isn't available, users of handheld devices with cellular data services often are at the mercy of carrier networks where coverage comes in and out. Using Gears to cache data on devices, developers can create Web-based applications that not only are usable completely offline, but also are more responsive where networks suffer delays, according to Google.
Users can download Google Gears for Mobile, and developers also can get an API (application programming interface) to add it to their software. A few mobile applications already use Gears for Mobile, including Buxfer personal-finance software. Zoho, which makes a suite of Web-based applications including word processing, spreadsheet, presentations and organizer, also is working with Gears for Mobile.
With Zoho Writer word-processing software, users can view their documents on Internet Explorer Mobile both online and offline. Zoho will offer mobile document editing later, according to a company blog.
A version of the Google Gears browser extension software is available to developers, according to a Monday blog posting by Google Mobile Product Manager Charles Wiles. So far it's available only for Microsoft Internet Explorer Mobile on Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices, but there will be versions for other platforms, including Google's own Android system, Wiles wrote.
Google Gears, still in beta testing, lets people continue to work with Web-based applications after they've gone offline. Data and documents are saved on the device so users can see and work on them any time. Gears is already available for desktops and notebooks, with versions for Internet Explorer on Windows XP and Vista, and for Firefox on XP, Vista, MacOS and Linux. Gears for Mobile is a port of that software.
Although notebook PC users sometimes fire up their systems where wired or wireless Internet access isn't available, users of handheld devices with cellular data services often are at the mercy of carrier networks where coverage comes in and out. Using Gears to cache data on devices, developers can create Web-based applications that not only are usable completely offline, but also are more responsive where networks suffer delays, according to Google.
Users can download Google Gears for Mobile, and developers also can get an API (application programming interface) to add it to their software. A few mobile applications already use Gears for Mobile, including Buxfer personal-finance software. Zoho, which makes a suite of Web-based applications including word processing, spreadsheet, presentations and organizer, also is working with Gears for Mobile.
With Zoho Writer word-processing software, users can view their documents on Internet Explorer Mobile both online and offline. Zoho will offer mobile document editing later, according to a company blog.
French firm cuts out virtualization bull
French hardware provider Bull has launched an all-in-one virtualization server for companies looking for less complexity and the ability to reduce the number of deployed servers.
The NovaScale VMBox is currently available in two configurations and supports VMware ESX Server 3.5, with the VMware VirtualCenter Foundation management platform hosted on a separate NovaScale server.
The first configuration is the NovaScale VMBox Discovery, which includes one cluster of 2 NovaScale Universal servers (a total of 16 cores), a Bull StoreWay storage sub-system with a 2.4TB capacity, and VMware Infrastructure Standard Edition. Up to 16 virtual machines can be managed by this cluster.
The second configuration is the NovaScale VMBox Enterprise, which includes one cluster of 2 high performance NovaScale Universal (a total of 32 cores), Bull StoreWay storage sub-systems with a 3.6TB capacity and VMware Infrastructure Enterprise Edition.
Up to 32 virtual machines can be managed by this cluster, which can be extended by adding additional nodes -- each node supporting 32 additional virtual machines.
With the first two versions of NovaScale VMBox, Bull seems to be attempting to remove some of the complexity surrounding a virtualization server installation. Along with the servers, it is including storage sub systems, and pre-loaded software, as well as Bull's Calypso backup software. These configurations are pre-integrated, "thus enabling a 10 times faster deployment of an infrastructure at a lower cost."
"As a pre-integrated and tested solution NovaScale VMbox provides high availability through a complete redundancy of components and a total compliance with VMware recommendations", said Olivier Gaumont, Director of Bull's Enterprise Servers Business Unit in a statement.
The first two NovaScale VMBox modules are available immediately.
The list price of a Discovery configuration with 16 cores, 32GB memory, 2.4TB disk capacity, and VMware software, is 50,000 euros (US$75,946). Bull did not provide prices for the Enterprise configuration.
The NovaScale VMBox is currently available in two configurations and supports VMware ESX Server 3.5, with the VMware VirtualCenter Foundation management platform hosted on a separate NovaScale server.
The first configuration is the NovaScale VMBox Discovery, which includes one cluster of 2 NovaScale Universal servers (a total of 16 cores), a Bull StoreWay storage sub-system with a 2.4TB capacity, and VMware Infrastructure Standard Edition. Up to 16 virtual machines can be managed by this cluster.
The second configuration is the NovaScale VMBox Enterprise, which includes one cluster of 2 high performance NovaScale Universal (a total of 32 cores), Bull StoreWay storage sub-systems with a 3.6TB capacity and VMware Infrastructure Enterprise Edition.
Up to 32 virtual machines can be managed by this cluster, which can be extended by adding additional nodes -- each node supporting 32 additional virtual machines.
With the first two versions of NovaScale VMBox, Bull seems to be attempting to remove some of the complexity surrounding a virtualization server installation. Along with the servers, it is including storage sub systems, and pre-loaded software, as well as Bull's Calypso backup software. These configurations are pre-integrated, "thus enabling a 10 times faster deployment of an infrastructure at a lower cost."
"As a pre-integrated and tested solution NovaScale VMbox provides high availability through a complete redundancy of components and a total compliance with VMware recommendations", said Olivier Gaumont, Director of Bull's Enterprise Servers Business Unit in a statement.
The first two NovaScale VMBox modules are available immediately.
The list price of a Discovery configuration with 16 cores, 32GB memory, 2.4TB disk capacity, and VMware software, is 50,000 euros (US$75,946). Bull did not provide prices for the Enterprise configuration.
'Mebroot' proves to be a tough rootkit to crack
A rootkit uncovered in the wild in December is proving to be a real headache to detect, according to Finnish security company F-Secure.
'Mebroot' proves to be a tough rootkit to crack
IDG News Service 3/4/08
Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service, London Bureau
A rootkit uncovered in the wild in December is proving to be a real headache to detect, according to Finnish security company F-Secure.
On this topic
Yesterday's SQL worms, today's problem
Welcome to the age of localized malware
Microsoft scrambles to quash 'friendly' worm story
2008 Internet Security Trends Report
Top 10 Reasons Hackers use the Web for Attacks
Get practical tips, IT news, how-tos, and the best in tech humor.
Dubbed "Mebroot," the rootkit infects the master boot record (MBR), the first sector of a PC's hard drive that the computer looks to before loading the operating system. Since it loads before anything else, Mebroot is nearly invisible to security software.
"You can't execute any earlier than that," said Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure's chief research officer.
A rootkit is a malicious program that hides deep in a computer's operating system and can be difficult to remove.
Since December, Hypponen said they've seen alpha and beta versions of the Mebroot rootkit but believe it has now been RTMed, the term usually used for a legitimate piece of software that's entered production after testing.
Once a machine is infected, the hacker controlling the rootkit has complete control over the victim's machine, opening up the potential for a variety of other attacks.
For example, the hacker could try and download other malicious software to the machine to log a person's keystrokes and collect financial or personal data.
F-Secure, which specializes in finding rootkits, says its technology is only able to "suspect" if Mebroot is on a PC. Hypponen said he couldn't reveal the techniques the company is using to make even that fuzzy guess.
The problem is that Mebroot isn't just a single file -- it injects itself into other processes running on a machine, masking its nefarious actions, Hypponen said.
Mebroot, however, can be uncovered if F-Secure's security software CD is used to boot up the PC, Hypponen said. "The one who executes first has the upper hand," he said.
Mebroot is the manifestation of what researchers thought was just theoretically possible, although the MBR on older, MS-DOS systems had been infected with rootkits. But in 2005, researchers Derek Soeder and Ryan Permeh of eEye Digital Security showed the idea was possible by producing proof-of-concept code, called "BootRoot."
But Hypponen said it was thought the highly technical engineering needed for a successful attack was beyond the reach of today's malware writers.
They were wrong. Hackers are now creating Web pages that, if visited with certain browsers with security vulnerabilities, will automatically infect a PC with Mebroot -- a technique known as a drive-by download.
Hypponen said it's unknown how widespread Mebroot is. VeriSign's iDefense Intelligence Team has said 5,000 users were infected in separate attacks on Dec. 12 and Dec. 19.
Jeremy Kirk is London correspondent for the IDG News Service
'Mebroot' proves to be a tough rootkit to crack
IDG News Service 3/4/08
Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service, London Bureau
A rootkit uncovered in the wild in December is proving to be a real headache to detect, according to Finnish security company F-Secure.
On this topic
Yesterday's SQL worms, today's problem
Welcome to the age of localized malware
Microsoft scrambles to quash 'friendly' worm story
2008 Internet Security Trends Report
Top 10 Reasons Hackers use the Web for Attacks
Get practical tips, IT news, how-tos, and the best in tech humor.
Dubbed "Mebroot," the rootkit infects the master boot record (MBR), the first sector of a PC's hard drive that the computer looks to before loading the operating system. Since it loads before anything else, Mebroot is nearly invisible to security software.
"You can't execute any earlier than that," said Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure's chief research officer.
A rootkit is a malicious program that hides deep in a computer's operating system and can be difficult to remove.
Since December, Hypponen said they've seen alpha and beta versions of the Mebroot rootkit but believe it has now been RTMed, the term usually used for a legitimate piece of software that's entered production after testing.
Once a machine is infected, the hacker controlling the rootkit has complete control over the victim's machine, opening up the potential for a variety of other attacks.
For example, the hacker could try and download other malicious software to the machine to log a person's keystrokes and collect financial or personal data.
F-Secure, which specializes in finding rootkits, says its technology is only able to "suspect" if Mebroot is on a PC. Hypponen said he couldn't reveal the techniques the company is using to make even that fuzzy guess.
The problem is that Mebroot isn't just a single file -- it injects itself into other processes running on a machine, masking its nefarious actions, Hypponen said.
Mebroot, however, can be uncovered if F-Secure's security software CD is used to boot up the PC, Hypponen said. "The one who executes first has the upper hand," he said.
Mebroot is the manifestation of what researchers thought was just theoretically possible, although the MBR on older, MS-DOS systems had been infected with rootkits. But in 2005, researchers Derek Soeder and Ryan Permeh of eEye Digital Security showed the idea was possible by producing proof-of-concept code, called "BootRoot."
But Hypponen said it was thought the highly technical engineering needed for a successful attack was beyond the reach of today's malware writers.
They were wrong. Hackers are now creating Web pages that, if visited with certain browsers with security vulnerabilities, will automatically infect a PC with Mebroot -- a technique known as a drive-by download.
Hypponen said it's unknown how widespread Mebroot is. VeriSign's iDefense Intelligence Team has said 5,000 users were infected in separate attacks on Dec. 12 and Dec. 19.
Jeremy Kirk is London correspondent for the IDG News Service
Microsoft's European antitrust point man leaves for Apple
Apple is said to be bringing on a public affairs specialist with years of experience helping Microsoft in its battle with the European Commission's competition regulators.
Tom Brookes, Microsoft's Brussels-based spokesman on antitrust matters, has resigned his partnership position at the public affairs consultancy G-Plus, and his responsibility for the Microsoft account, and is understood to be joining Apple, according to people who work closely with him.
Brookes declined to comment about the move, but confirmed he is leaving G-Plus after almost four years with the consultancy. Previously he worked for APCO, a large American public affairs and public relations consultancy, where he began his relationship with Microsoft. He brought the client with him when he joined G-Plus in 2004, and has been the main mouthpiece for Microsoft in Brussels ever since the March 2004 antitrust ruling against the company.
Microsoft is "working on a transition," said Jesse Verstraete, EU communications manager at Microsoft. Verstraete wouldn't say if the designated spokesman would be someone in a consultancy or someone in-house.
According to a source at G-Plus who asked not to be named, Microsoft will continue to work with the business. "There are other well qualified people, including two former aides to competition commissioners [Neelie Kroes and her predecessor Mario Monti], in the G-Plus team," the person said.
Apple declined to comment on Brookes' imminent arrival. He is understood to be starting his new job in the government affairs department in two weeks, and is not expected to play any public relations role for the company.
Tom Brookes, Microsoft's Brussels-based spokesman on antitrust matters, has resigned his partnership position at the public affairs consultancy G-Plus, and his responsibility for the Microsoft account, and is understood to be joining Apple, according to people who work closely with him.
Brookes declined to comment about the move, but confirmed he is leaving G-Plus after almost four years with the consultancy. Previously he worked for APCO, a large American public affairs and public relations consultancy, where he began his relationship with Microsoft. He brought the client with him when he joined G-Plus in 2004, and has been the main mouthpiece for Microsoft in Brussels ever since the March 2004 antitrust ruling against the company.
Microsoft is "working on a transition," said Jesse Verstraete, EU communications manager at Microsoft. Verstraete wouldn't say if the designated spokesman would be someone in a consultancy or someone in-house.
According to a source at G-Plus who asked not to be named, Microsoft will continue to work with the business. "There are other well qualified people, including two former aides to competition commissioners [Neelie Kroes and her predecessor Mario Monti], in the G-Plus team," the person said.
Apple declined to comment on Brookes' imminent arrival. He is understood to be starting his new job in the government affairs department in two weeks, and is not expected to play any public relations role for the company.
Knoa 5.0 tackles end-user performance
Companies might spend millions on an SAP or Oracle implementation. Knoa aims to help businesses determine whether they are getting the most from their investment.
The New York company is rolling out the 5.0 version of its Experience and Performance Manager product this week. The software uses passive monitoring agents to track how users are interacting with products such as Oracle's Siebel customer relationship management (CRM) application, collecting information ranging from application errors to the workflow patterns users execute.
Knoa 5.0 includes a set of templates for collecting data from various enterprise applications and an analytic engine that can derive patterns and trends about an individual user or a group of workers. The results are displayed through a console that can show results in different views: IT support, training, manager and user support. Knoa can add new report definitions for customers who want them, without requiring a system upgrade, according to the company.
Knoa 5.0 also features faster client-server data transmission; improved group-level reporting; and support for displaying multiple languages within the console.
The software may have particular interest for customers with large customer-service groups or call centers -- situations where even a small boost in productivity can result in major overall savings.
Philip McBurney, customer management platform monitoring solutions manager for British Telecom, said the company has been involved with Knoa since November 2006, using it in conjunction with its Siebel implementation.
BT likes Knoa but has found the need to extend it, according to McBurney. "We're working to improve the product in terms of security so it could be used as an auditing product," he said. "Security is built into Knoa, but the level of security required for auditing is completely different."
The company has also customized Knoa to enable field-level monitoring of the content of any forms within Siebel, he said. "That level of data, we didn't have that before."
Overall the vendor has been a pleasure to work with on such customizations, according to McBurney. "Knoa is very responsive to our needs. Our changing needs."
Pricing for Knoa 5.0 ranges from US$45 to $195 per end user, depending upon the application monitored, according to a spokesperson. All prices are for a perpetual license for a named user, the spokesperson said.
The New York company is rolling out the 5.0 version of its Experience and Performance Manager product this week. The software uses passive monitoring agents to track how users are interacting with products such as Oracle's Siebel customer relationship management (CRM) application, collecting information ranging from application errors to the workflow patterns users execute.
Knoa 5.0 includes a set of templates for collecting data from various enterprise applications and an analytic engine that can derive patterns and trends about an individual user or a group of workers. The results are displayed through a console that can show results in different views: IT support, training, manager and user support. Knoa can add new report definitions for customers who want them, without requiring a system upgrade, according to the company.
Knoa 5.0 also features faster client-server data transmission; improved group-level reporting; and support for displaying multiple languages within the console.
The software may have particular interest for customers with large customer-service groups or call centers -- situations where even a small boost in productivity can result in major overall savings.
Philip McBurney, customer management platform monitoring solutions manager for British Telecom, said the company has been involved with Knoa since November 2006, using it in conjunction with its Siebel implementation.
BT likes Knoa but has found the need to extend it, according to McBurney. "We're working to improve the product in terms of security so it could be used as an auditing product," he said. "Security is built into Knoa, but the level of security required for auditing is completely different."
The company has also customized Knoa to enable field-level monitoring of the content of any forms within Siebel, he said. "That level of data, we didn't have that before."
Overall the vendor has been a pleasure to work with on such customizations, according to McBurney. "Knoa is very responsive to our needs. Our changing needs."
Pricing for Knoa 5.0 ranges from US$45 to $195 per end user, depending upon the application monitored, according to a spokesperson. All prices are for a perpetual license for a named user, the spokesperson said.
SAP, Intel partner on new appliance
SAP and Intel are teaming up to sell an Xeon-based appliance geared to run SAP's Business All-in-One ERP (enterprise resource planning) software.
The appliances will be loaded with Business All-in-One, SAP's MaxDB database and SUSE Enterprise Linux from Novell, and are aimed at midsized manufacturing, trade and service industries.
That architecture appears to already have some favor among SAP's users. The company released figures stating that 700 midsized companies are running their SAP applications on Linux, and within that group, 35 percent are using MaxDB.
Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and co-general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, said spending on servers in the SME market is set to hit just under US$20 billion in 2008. It represents the "fastest-growing segment of the industry, and this is of strategic importance to Intel, our partners and global channel providers," he said.
Overall, the companies' goal was to produce a flexible, easy-to-install, and optimized product, according to Gelsinger. The appliance's simplicity, scalability and "exceptional value ... truly makes this a channel-ready product," he said.
SAP did not release pricing information Tuesday.
The appliance will be available in the EMEA region in the first half of this year, followed by India and China in the second half, SAP said.
Intel and SAP previously released an appliance based on SAP's NetWeaver Business Intelligence Accelerator software, an analytic engine for crunching large sets of data.
Also Tuesday, SAP announced that 21 additional partners in the United Kingdom, China, France and Germany have signed on to help sell Business ByDesign, its recently introduced on-demand ERP offering for small to medium-sized enterprises.
Sixteen of the companies have a history selling SAP's Business One and Business All-in-One applications, and the five others are joining now with the express purpose of backing Business ByDesign, according to SAP.
The appliances will be loaded with Business All-in-One, SAP's MaxDB database and SUSE Enterprise Linux from Novell, and are aimed at midsized manufacturing, trade and service industries.
That architecture appears to already have some favor among SAP's users. The company released figures stating that 700 midsized companies are running their SAP applications on Linux, and within that group, 35 percent are using MaxDB.
Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and co-general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, said spending on servers in the SME market is set to hit just under US$20 billion in 2008. It represents the "fastest-growing segment of the industry, and this is of strategic importance to Intel, our partners and global channel providers," he said.
Overall, the companies' goal was to produce a flexible, easy-to-install, and optimized product, according to Gelsinger. The appliance's simplicity, scalability and "exceptional value ... truly makes this a channel-ready product," he said.
SAP did not release pricing information Tuesday.
The appliance will be available in the EMEA region in the first half of this year, followed by India and China in the second half, SAP said.
Intel and SAP previously released an appliance based on SAP's NetWeaver Business Intelligence Accelerator software, an analytic engine for crunching large sets of data.
Also Tuesday, SAP announced that 21 additional partners in the United Kingdom, China, France and Germany have signed on to help sell Business ByDesign, its recently introduced on-demand ERP offering for small to medium-sized enterprises.
Sixteen of the companies have a history selling SAP's Business One and Business All-in-One applications, and the five others are joining now with the express purpose of backing Business ByDesign, according to SAP.
AMD launches 780 chipset for Puma, Cartwheel
Advanced Micro Devices took a step closer to the introduction of its upcoming Cartwheel and Puma chip packages with the introduction of its 780 series chipset at the Cebit exhibition in Hanover, Germany.
Designed to operate with the Phenom 9000 quad-core processors and Athlon 64 X2, the 780G chipset is notable for the integration of an ATI Radeon graphics core that supports Direct X 10 and high-definition video. The chipset's graphics core can also work in tandem with an external ATI-based graphics card to boost overall 3-D graphics performance, a feature that AMD calls ATI Hybrid Graphics.
AMD also touted the 780's energy efficiency, saying the chipset -- which is manufactured using a 55-nanometer process -- offers three times as much performance as its previous offering but consumes less power when idling.
The 780 chipsets are now shipping and motherboards based on the chipset are available from Asustek, Gigabyte, Micro-Star International and Elitegroup Computer Systems, among others, AMD said. PCs based on the 780 will be available during the second quarter.
The 780 chipsets will also ship with AMD's upcoming Cartwheel desktop chip package and Puma, a chip package for notebooks. Cartwheel is built around AMD's upcoming Toliman and Kuma desktop processors, while Puma is based on the upcoming Griffin mobile processor.
Designed to operate with the Phenom 9000 quad-core processors and Athlon 64 X2, the 780G chipset is notable for the integration of an ATI Radeon graphics core that supports Direct X 10 and high-definition video. The chipset's graphics core can also work in tandem with an external ATI-based graphics card to boost overall 3-D graphics performance, a feature that AMD calls ATI Hybrid Graphics.
AMD also touted the 780's energy efficiency, saying the chipset -- which is manufactured using a 55-nanometer process -- offers three times as much performance as its previous offering but consumes less power when idling.
The 780 chipsets are now shipping and motherboards based on the chipset are available from Asustek, Gigabyte, Micro-Star International and Elitegroup Computer Systems, among others, AMD said. PCs based on the 780 will be available during the second quarter.
The 780 chipsets will also ship with AMD's upcoming Cartwheel desktop chip package and Puma, a chip package for notebooks. Cartwheel is built around AMD's upcoming Toliman and Kuma desktop processors, while Puma is based on the upcoming Griffin mobile processor.
Microsoft Workspace opens to broader availability
Microsoft is set to announce general availability of the free online component of Office on Tuesday.
Microsoft Office Live Workspace, which remains in beta, lets users access and share Office documents online. It first became available in December when Microsoft opened a limited beta version of the service.
With the broad availability of Workspace, Microsoft has also rolled out some updates, which became available late last week. Workspace now features an activity panel that shows users a stream of activity on the page, including noting files that have been added or deleted.
Users are now able to upload multiple files at a time. The update also includes a bit of "polish" on the sharing experience, said Eric Gilmore, a senior product manager at Microsoft.
For now Workspace is only available in the English languages, but additional languages will be supported in the future, he said. Despite competition from Google's Docs and Spreadsheets online offering, Microsoft has ambitious goals for how many people might use Workspace, as well as the potential for businesses to use the online service.
According to research from Compete, as of October last year, Google Docs and Spreadsheets had an average of just over 1.4 million unique visits per month.
"We think 1.4 million is very small," Gilmore said. Microsoft hopes that most Office users will also use Workspace, meaning it will be used by many millions of people. Workspace is one iteration of Microsoft's software-plus-services strategy, which aims to combine its software products with online services.
Workspace is designed for professionals and consumers who want to access documents remotely or collaborate with multiple people. It is a simpler version of SharePoint, the managed software platform from Microsoft for enterprises, but the two could converge in the future.
For example, if enterprises ask for the capability, Microsoft could enable workers to share SharePoint sites within Workspace, Gilmore said. If that happened, Microsoft could also alleviate enterprise security concerns by bringing together the Active Directory authentication and authorization tool used in SharePoint with its Live ID online services sign-on process. SharePoint uses Active Directory and Workspace uses Live ID.
"The fundamental pieces are in place that, over time, could bridge the gap between Active Directory and Windows Live ID," Gilmore said.
Microsoft Office Live Workspace, which remains in beta, lets users access and share Office documents online. It first became available in December when Microsoft opened a limited beta version of the service.
With the broad availability of Workspace, Microsoft has also rolled out some updates, which became available late last week. Workspace now features an activity panel that shows users a stream of activity on the page, including noting files that have been added or deleted.
Users are now able to upload multiple files at a time. The update also includes a bit of "polish" on the sharing experience, said Eric Gilmore, a senior product manager at Microsoft.
For now Workspace is only available in the English languages, but additional languages will be supported in the future, he said. Despite competition from Google's Docs and Spreadsheets online offering, Microsoft has ambitious goals for how many people might use Workspace, as well as the potential for businesses to use the online service.
According to research from Compete, as of October last year, Google Docs and Spreadsheets had an average of just over 1.4 million unique visits per month.
"We think 1.4 million is very small," Gilmore said. Microsoft hopes that most Office users will also use Workspace, meaning it will be used by many millions of people. Workspace is one iteration of Microsoft's software-plus-services strategy, which aims to combine its software products with online services.
Workspace is designed for professionals and consumers who want to access documents remotely or collaborate with multiple people. It is a simpler version of SharePoint, the managed software platform from Microsoft for enterprises, but the two could converge in the future.
For example, if enterprises ask for the capability, Microsoft could enable workers to share SharePoint sites within Workspace, Gilmore said. If that happened, Microsoft could also alleviate enterprise security concerns by bringing together the Active Directory authentication and authorization tool used in SharePoint with its Live ID online services sign-on process. SharePoint uses Active Directory and Workspace uses Live ID.
"The fundamental pieces are in place that, over time, could bridge the gap between Active Directory and Windows Live ID," Gilmore said.
Dell toughens up notebook line
Dell on Tuesday is expected to launch its first ruggedized notebook that meets all U.S. Department of Defense standards for durability and operation in extreme conditions.
With a hardened cover, the Latitude XFR D630 notebook is shock-resistant and resists moisture, high altitude and high temperatures, said Brett McAnally, director of product marketing at Dell. The notebook has been tested to conform with standards established by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) for laptops to operate in extreme environments, McAnally said.
It can run in environments from -20 degrees (-9 degrees Celsius) to 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius). It also runs at altitudes as high as 15,000 feet. The laptop is sealed to resist moisture and dust.
The XFR D630 is available with a variety of dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo processors as fast as 2.4GHz with 4M bytes of cache. It includes integrated graphics processing, wired and wireless networking, a shock-resistant 80G-byte hard drive and a 14.1-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) screen with a hardened cover. It can be equipped with as much as 4G bytes of RAM and runs Windows XP Professional or Windows Vista.
The laptop weighs about 8.98 pounds (4 kilograms) and measures 2.6 by 13.9 by 10.2 inches (6.6 by 35.3 by 25.9 centimeters). It is priced at US$3,899 and will be available in the U.S. starting Tuesday. International availability has not yet been determined, a Dell spokesman said. "As we broaden customer engagement around the product, we'll evaluate expansion," he said.
The laptop is a more rugged version of Dell's Latitude D630 laptop, which complies with some of the DOD's rugged laptop requirements, but not all. The earlier laptop will remain on sale. The XFR D630 is targeted at an audience including the military, public-safety first responders and enterprises such as oil and gas exploration companies.
The XFR D630 laptop can use the same BIOS or firmware upgrades as conventional PCs, simplifying IT maintenance, McAnally said. It will let organizations extend computing to new environments, he said.
The fact that it can use a standard software configuration may make the XFR D630 compelling for Dell customers, said Roger Kay, founder and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates.
It also gives Dell a chance to compete against companies such as Panasonic, which is known as the rugged laptop leader with its Toughbook series, Kay said.
With a hardened cover, the Latitude XFR D630 notebook is shock-resistant and resists moisture, high altitude and high temperatures, said Brett McAnally, director of product marketing at Dell. The notebook has been tested to conform with standards established by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) for laptops to operate in extreme environments, McAnally said.
It can run in environments from -20 degrees (-9 degrees Celsius) to 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius). It also runs at altitudes as high as 15,000 feet. The laptop is sealed to resist moisture and dust.
The XFR D630 is available with a variety of dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo processors as fast as 2.4GHz with 4M bytes of cache. It includes integrated graphics processing, wired and wireless networking, a shock-resistant 80G-byte hard drive and a 14.1-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) screen with a hardened cover. It can be equipped with as much as 4G bytes of RAM and runs Windows XP Professional or Windows Vista.
The laptop weighs about 8.98 pounds (4 kilograms) and measures 2.6 by 13.9 by 10.2 inches (6.6 by 35.3 by 25.9 centimeters). It is priced at US$3,899 and will be available in the U.S. starting Tuesday. International availability has not yet been determined, a Dell spokesman said. "As we broaden customer engagement around the product, we'll evaluate expansion," he said.
The laptop is a more rugged version of Dell's Latitude D630 laptop, which complies with some of the DOD's rugged laptop requirements, but not all. The earlier laptop will remain on sale. The XFR D630 is targeted at an audience including the military, public-safety first responders and enterprises such as oil and gas exploration companies.
The XFR D630 laptop can use the same BIOS or firmware upgrades as conventional PCs, simplifying IT maintenance, McAnally said. It will let organizations extend computing to new environments, he said.
The fact that it can use a standard software configuration may make the XFR D630 compelling for Dell customers, said Roger Kay, founder and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates.
It also gives Dell a chance to compete against companies such as Panasonic, which is known as the rugged laptop leader with its Toughbook series, Kay said.
Hosted SharePoint stifles partners, for now
Microsoft's announcement on Monday that it would host SharePoint for businesses of any size left some third-party software providers surprised -- and even annoyed.
Late last year the company began hosting SharePoint for large enterprises, and on Monday it launched a beta of the hosted service for businesses of any size, with plans for general availability by the end of the year.
That came as potentially bad news, at least in the short term, for some companies that have built software that runs on SharePoint. Some of them won't be able to serve customers of the Microsoft hosted offering.
For example, KnowledgeLake has a product that lets companies scan and input documents into SharePoint. The product includes client and server software. Customers of Microsoft’s hosted SharePoint offering wouldn’t be able to deploy the server component, which would prevent them from viewing or searching documents after they scan them, said Chris Caplinger, chief technology officer for KnowledgeLake. Caplinger was attending the annual SharePoint conference in Seattle.
KnowledgeLake, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, is usually briefed by Microsoft about these types of announcements that can affect its business. But this time the software giant didn't tell the company in advance, Caplinger said. As a result, he wasn't sure if Microsoft planned to enable support for his third-party software for customers of the hosted offering.
Nintex CEO Brian Cook was similarly uncertain about what the announcement means to his company, which offers a workflow management tool to SharePoint users. "We're not sure how we fit in," he said. "We can't necessarily dump our application on top of Microsoft's servers."
They may be relieved to hear that Microsoft intends to accommodate these partners in the future. "The new beta can't run custom code today," said Eron Kelly, director in Microsoft's business online service group. "But we're investing heavily, so in the future we'll be able to run applications in the online environment."
There are a couple of ways Microsoft could decide to support its partners. It could run the third-party software on its own servers, or the third-party companies could run their software in a hosted environment that connects to Microsoft's hosted services, he said.
While the third-party companies were uncertain about how they might serve users of the hosted service, they were mostly confident there will still be a large enough market of companies that decide to use internal SharePoint implementations instead. Even though Microsoft is showing off very large enterprises, such as Coca-Cola, as hosted SharePoint users, most of the partners agreed that the hosted version is more likely to appeal to smaller businesses.
"The larger organizations are less likely to go to hosted," said Larry Roshfeld, senior vice president at CorasWorks, which offers software designed to make it easier to build applications on SharePoint. Others agreed. That's in part because big businesses are often concerned about letting a third party host potentially sensitive corporate data.
Richard Howard, an IT administrator for a division of DRS Technologies with about 650 workers, about 50 of whom currently use SharePoint, finds the idea of a hosted version very attractive. However, he said moving to the hosted service would all depend on cost. He's looked at offers for other hosted services that came with astronomical price tags.
Microsoft has not disclosed what it will cost to use the hosted version of SharePoint, said Kelly. "Price will be very attractive to customers of any size when you take into account things that come with running and maintaining an application like this, including hardware, people and bandwidth," he said. Still, the value of just using one hosted service may not be "as compelling" as buying a suite of hosted products from Microsoft, such as Exchange and Live Meeting, in addition to SharePoint, he said.
Late last year the company began hosting SharePoint for large enterprises, and on Monday it launched a beta of the hosted service for businesses of any size, with plans for general availability by the end of the year.
That came as potentially bad news, at least in the short term, for some companies that have built software that runs on SharePoint. Some of them won't be able to serve customers of the Microsoft hosted offering.
For example, KnowledgeLake has a product that lets companies scan and input documents into SharePoint. The product includes client and server software. Customers of Microsoft’s hosted SharePoint offering wouldn’t be able to deploy the server component, which would prevent them from viewing or searching documents after they scan them, said Chris Caplinger, chief technology officer for KnowledgeLake. Caplinger was attending the annual SharePoint conference in Seattle.
KnowledgeLake, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, is usually briefed by Microsoft about these types of announcements that can affect its business. But this time the software giant didn't tell the company in advance, Caplinger said. As a result, he wasn't sure if Microsoft planned to enable support for his third-party software for customers of the hosted offering.
Nintex CEO Brian Cook was similarly uncertain about what the announcement means to his company, which offers a workflow management tool to SharePoint users. "We're not sure how we fit in," he said. "We can't necessarily dump our application on top of Microsoft's servers."
They may be relieved to hear that Microsoft intends to accommodate these partners in the future. "The new beta can't run custom code today," said Eron Kelly, director in Microsoft's business online service group. "But we're investing heavily, so in the future we'll be able to run applications in the online environment."
There are a couple of ways Microsoft could decide to support its partners. It could run the third-party software on its own servers, or the third-party companies could run their software in a hosted environment that connects to Microsoft's hosted services, he said.
While the third-party companies were uncertain about how they might serve users of the hosted service, they were mostly confident there will still be a large enough market of companies that decide to use internal SharePoint implementations instead. Even though Microsoft is showing off very large enterprises, such as Coca-Cola, as hosted SharePoint users, most of the partners agreed that the hosted version is more likely to appeal to smaller businesses.
"The larger organizations are less likely to go to hosted," said Larry Roshfeld, senior vice president at CorasWorks, which offers software designed to make it easier to build applications on SharePoint. Others agreed. That's in part because big businesses are often concerned about letting a third party host potentially sensitive corporate data.
Richard Howard, an IT administrator for a division of DRS Technologies with about 650 workers, about 50 of whom currently use SharePoint, finds the idea of a hosted version very attractive. However, he said moving to the hosted service would all depend on cost. He's looked at offers for other hosted services that came with astronomical price tags.
Microsoft has not disclosed what it will cost to use the hosted version of SharePoint, said Kelly. "Price will be very attractive to customers of any size when you take into account things that come with running and maintaining an application like this, including hardware, people and bandwidth," he said. Still, the value of just using one hosted service may not be "as compelling" as buying a suite of hosted products from Microsoft, such as Exchange and Live Meeting, in addition to SharePoint, he said.
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