SiteSetter

Clues about HP's Gen8 servers leaked on its website

2012-02-03T05:31:00.001+05:30

Hewlett-Packard has let slip some details on its website about its upcoming Proliant Gen8 servers ahead of their official launch. The pages list basic details of single- and dual-socket BL, ML and DL Gen8 servers, which will be based on Intel's upcoming Xeon E5 processors.

One system, the single-socket ProLiant BL460c, is a small-form-factor server based on Intel's E5-2650L processor. Some servers will have HP's latest networking, I/O, storage and management capabilities, according to results that show up during a search of HP's website. The pages the results are supposed to lead to have been removed from the site.

HP declined to comment about the servers or their potential launch date. The company is holding a big event in Las Vegas Feb. 13 to share news about "ground-breaking, new enterprise technology and services that redefine customer data center experiences and economics," according to an invite. Dave Donatelli, executive vice president and general manager of HP Enterprise Servers, Storage, Networking and Technology Services, is expected to speak at the event.

The Gen8 servers will eventually replace the Proliant G7 family, which was introduced in March 2010 and is based on x86 processors from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.

HP is trying to more tightly integrate components and software in its servers to make deployment and management easier, said Jean Bozman, research vice president of enterprise servers at IDC. The new servers could feature higher levels of integration, and there is excitement building around the systems, she said.

Like some other vendors, HP has been releasing servers in recent years geared toward specific tasks, in addition to its general-purpose products. For example, HP sells G7 servers configured with Microsoft or VMware software to help companies deploy virtualized workloads quickly. HP also offers servers geared toward cloud and database deployments.

In November, HP also announced server designs based on low-power microprocessors from ARM. The servers are due for release for testing purposes in the first half of this year.

Microsoft fine-tunes Windows 8 Beta with input from users

2012-02-03T05:27:00.001+05:30

Microsoft continues to tinker with Windows 8 even as it finalizes its beta version, acting on suggestions it received from users who have experimented with the Windows 8 Developer Preview.

Among the upgrades touted in the Building Windows 8 blog is a way to resolve file-name collisions during copy and move functions as well as how the system reacts when it is shut down during a copy job and then restarted.

Microsoft says that about 2,200 comments from users of the Developer Preview inspired some of the upgrades, which were made depending on whether the improvements were readily feasible within the overall architecture of Windows 8.

One change is in how the Windows 8 file system treats files that appear to be identical during copy or move functions, giving users the option to act on all the duplicates or just one depending on whether they are deemed identical or unique.

So if two files match names, size and timestamp, the vast majority of the time they will be duplicates, and both need not be copied or moved; one will do. But users will be presented with a dialog box informing them of the possible duplication and giving them the option to pick one or have both copied.

If both are copied, the name of one will be changed by adding a number to it.

Microsoft says this is among several changes it is making to Developer Preview for inclusion in Windows 8 Beta before it is released sometime next month.

In defining duplicate files, the new file system can match names, file sizes and timestamps, with the latter being defined down to 100 nanoseconds on files in the Windows 7 New Technology File System (NTFS), which is being replaced in Windows 8 by Resilient File System (ReFS).

NTFS vs. ReFS

One main goal of ReFS is to keep data from being corrupted and to keep it available. Another related change: Windows 8 Beta will display a resume button to users when they reboot their machine after it shuts down during a copy job. Rather than simply picking up where it left off, it lets users decide whether that's what they want to do. The reason, according to the blog, is that significant changes might have been made since the copy job was interrupted.

Other tweaks Microsoft highlights in its blog include several to Windows Explorer. One sets the default to minimize the ribbon across the top of the window so if users want it, they have to set it up. This was in response to an apparently large and blunt group protesting that they didn't like the ribbon. Microsoft says it appreciates their opinion but will continue to develop ribbons and urges customers who don't like it to try third-party tools to customize the navigation.

The beta version of Windows 8 will also include a learning tool within the ribbon for users who prefer using hot keys to clicking on ribbon icons. When they click on an icon, a "keytip" drops down, telling what hot key will carry out that function. So, for example, clicking on New Folder within Explorer's ribbon will reveal a keytip that tells the same function can be executed by typing Ctrl + Shift + N. So the ribbon will teach those who don't like the ribbon an alternative method.

Meet the Spark, an open-source tablet that will cost $260 and run Linux

2012-02-03T05:22:00.001+05:30

As an alternative to the many Android tablets already on sale, the Spark is a 7-inch Linux-based slate that's entirely open and built around open-source software.

Are you ready for yet another tablet release? Well, this time it’s a little bit different to the slew of Android slates we’ve become used to, as it runs an open source Linux operating system, making it perfect for developers and users who don’t want to deal with any proprietary software at all.

Announced by leading KDE hacker Aaron Seigo on his blog, it’s called the Spark, and it uses the community-driven spin-off of MeeGo called Mer as its OS, with KDE’s cool Plasma Active user interface over the top.

So why would you choose this over an Android device or the Kindle Fire? It’s obviously not for everyone, but if you want an open device loaded with free software, that’s yours to do whatever you like with, then it’s likely to be exactly what you’re after. The Spark’s bootloader isn’t locked, so you’re free to install any alternative operating system and any apps too.

The specification isn’t the highest you’ll see though, with the tablet boasting a 7-inch screen, a 1Ghz ARM processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal memory and a Mali-400 GPU. It’s speculated that the Spark is a rebranded Zenithink slate, which if true would mean the screen resolution is a mere 800 x 400.

But as it’s set to retail for 200 euros, which converts to about $260, it’s a bargain for anyone who want to run Linux natively rather than just another build of Android. There will even be an application store with apps and eBooks, plus as Seigo himself points out, individual stores can be built for it, making it potentially useful for educational and business environments.

More information on when the Spark will be released, and where will go on sale, will be coming soon.

Tobii debuts EyeAsteroids, an arcade game you play with your eyes

2012-02-03T05:20:00.001+05:30

Defend the Earth from asteroids... with only your eyes!

We’ve been covering the evolution of Tobii’s eye-tracking technology for quite a while now, and while much of the Swedish company’s focus has been on developing ways for people to use their computers without lifting a finger, they’re clearly having some fun, too.

Over at Tobii’s website, the company debuted some new images and video for Eye Asteroids, a cabinet-style arcade game that uses the eye-tracking technology instead of a normal controller. The game itself is an Asteroids clone, requiring players to move around the screen (using their eyes) and destroy various pieces of space debris before they collide with the planet.

“Using your eyes as a game controller is an almost magical experience,” reads the Tobii site. “It’s as if the game can read your mind, creating the sensation of having supernatural powers.”

According to EuroGamer, the eye Asteroids cabinets will run about $15,000 each, but if you’re planning to be in London’s Trocadero between now and February 17, you can give one a test run.

Google adopts Twitter-like censorship policy for Blogger

2012-02-03T05:17:00.002+05:30

In an effort to limit government-imposed censorship to specific areas, Google has changed Blogger blogs to have country-specific domains.

Google has quietly added county-specific URLs to Blogger blogs, in an effort to more effectively address take-down notices from local governments. The change allows Google to censor specific blogs in a single country, rather than worldwide, where rules surrounding pornographic, religious, or political content differ from other parts of the world.

The addition of country-code top level domains (ccTLDs) to Blogger follows Twitter’s highly-controversial announcement last month that it will now censor tweets only within specific countries. This change to Blogger essentially enables Google to do the same with its blogging platform.

“Migrating to localized domains will allow us to continue promoting free expression and responsible publishing while providing greater flexibility in complying with valid removal requests pursuant to local law,” writes Google on the Blogger support page. “By utilizing ccTLDs, content removals can be managed on a per country basis, which will limit their impact to the smallest number of readers. Content removed due to a specific country’s law will only be removed from the relevant ccTLD.”

The change to Blogger comes amid legal trouble for Google in India, where it, along with Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo! and 17 other Internet companies, are being prosecuted by the Indian government for allowing the publication of offensive material. The prosecution follows a lawsuit filed by Vinay Rai, a Dehli-based journalist, who charged that these companies allowed “objectionable content” into India’s digital space. Google has not publicly stated that the changes to Blogger and the legal action in India are connected.

As with Twitter’s new censorship policy, this change to Blogger appears to be a good one, since the government-forced censorship of content published on the platform will be limited to the narrowest possible audience, rather than the entire world.

Google does censor content on some of its properties in other ways, however. On YouTube, for instance, some content is blocked in certain countries based on users’ IP addresses.

“On occasion, YouTube blocks specific content in order to comply with local laws in countries where YouTube has launched,” reads the YouTube policy page. “For instance, certain Nazi imagery is unlawful in parts of Europe.”

Facebook ads are going mobile

2012-02-03T05:16:00.002+05:30

In order to meet shareholder revenue expectations, Facebook will be introducing ads to the mobile platform.

Yesterday Facebook began the IPO process and made some of its very private financial details very public. The S-1 form is a pundit’s dream: it lays out a company’s every penny spent and earned as well as the pitfalls it believes it’s subject to. Facebook is no exception, and the company laid it all on the table for us yesterday.

We already got a good look at some of the basics – and to sum it up, Facebook and its founders and early investors are confirmedly rich people. What’s possibly more interesting, however, is some of what Facebook forecasts for the future.

In Facebook’s summary of risk factors, the company points out that the huge adoption of the mobile platform is at odds with a major source of its revenue. “Growth in use of Facebook through our mobile products, where we do not currently display ads, as a substitute for use on personal computers may negatively affect our revenue and financial results.” Furthermore, Facebook points out “We may not be successful in our efforts to grow and further monetize the Facebook Platform.”

Now, that latter point is unlikely – as are a number of these risk factors. A company basically needs to address everything that could potentially sink its business, and that’s what Facebook is doing. But given how important ads are to Facebook’s profit margin, and its forthcoming responsibility to shareholders, don’t be surprised if ads start hitting your smartphone in the near future.

Facebook says a “substantial majority” of its revenue comes from advertising. It also says that “We had more than 425 million monthly active users who used Facebook mobile products in December 2011. We anticipate that the rate of growth in mobile users will continue to exceed the growth rate of our overall MAUs for the forseeable future, in part due to our focus on developing mobile products to encourage mobile usage of Facebook.”

Ads on mobile are a sure thing. Facebook is creating a product and expects to drive users to mobile, because that’s where people are increasingly engaging with the platform. It also needs ads because that’s where most of its money comes from. You do the math. It will probably be a slow introduction with Sponsored Stories, and then it will eventually fully embrace Facebook ads.

Internet Explorer takes unexpected jump in market share

2012-02-03T05:06:00.004+05:30

Just when you thought Internet Explorer was on a years-long losing streak, about to drop below 50 percent of all browsing activity worldwide, the January figures from Net Applications showed a substantial, remarkable 1.19 percent jump in IE use in January.

Just as surprisingly, there are concomitant decreases in market share for all three of IE's primary competitors: Firefox (down almost 1 percent from December), Chrome (down almost 0.2 percent), and Safari (down almost 0.1 percent).

What happened?

For one, Chrome shot itself in the foot. About a month ago, Google stomped on Chrome's PageRank because of a marketing campaign that included paid-for links in blogs that extolled the virtues of Chrome. Google comes down hard on companies that pay bloggers for links, and it came down much harder on itself. As a result, if you Google "browser" right now, you'll find Firefox, Opera, Safari, Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, SeaMonkey, Konqueror, Maxthon, Avant, Crazy Browser, Dolphin, and Flock -- and you have to look very, very hard to find Chrome. A lower PageRank also means it "displays fewer ads," according to Net Applications. That PageRank hit will continue for another month.

But that's only part of the story -- the one that's been widely reported. Here's the rest of the story.

Internet Explorer's largest gain in January wasn't from IE 9 or even IE 8. By far the largest IE growth in January was from IE 6, the version that Microsoft declared dead in the United States, the one that Microsoft's been trying to pulverize for years. Between December 2011 and January 2012, according to Net Applications, IE 9's market share grew 0.16 percent, from 11.48 to 11.64 percent of the overall search market; IE 8's grew 0.11 percent; IE 7's grew 0.10 percent; and IE 6 was up 0.60 percent -- IE 6 grew almost four times as fast as any other version of IE.

Microsoft says that fewer than 1 percent of the PCs in the United States run IE 6.

So where did the big surge in Internet Explorer usage come from? Probably the place with the most PCs running IE 6: China. In December and January, more PCs were sold in China than in the United States. The vast majority of PCs sold in China don’t come with Windows pre-installed. One has to wonder how many of those PCs got fitted with pirated copies of XP, running IE 6.

Amazon Sees 58 Percent Decline in Profits

2012-02-03T05:03:00.001+05:30

Amazon shares plummeted almost 10 percent in late trades on Tuesday after the company put out a press release announcing it missed its fourth-quarter projected goals. Despite the sales of its Kindle devices during the holidays, Amazon, the largest Internet retailer, reported a 58 percent decline in its fourth-quarter profit due to too much spending and increased shipping costs.

The Seattle e-commerce company said its sales rose 35 percent, from 2010’s $12.95 billion to $17.4 billion, during the last three months of 2011. However, overall profits plunged 58 percent from $416 million (0.91 cents per share) to $177 million, (0.38 centers per share) as Amazon continued to spend heavily on development and infrastructure to support its Kindle business and other company costs.

Analysts estimate that the Kindle, including both the e-reader and the newer tablet model, the Fire, sold around 6 million units during the holiday. The Android powered device, priced at $199, is Amazon’s attempt at breaking into the tablet marketing, going head to head with Apple’s iPad.

“We are grateful to the millions of customers who purchased the Kindle Fire and Kindle e-reader devices this holiday season, making Kindle our bestselling product across both the U.S. and Europe,” said Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon. “Our millions of third-party sellers had tremendous holiday season with 65 percent unit growth and now represent 36 percent of total units sold.”

Although Amazon has begun to make a name for itself with tablets, Bezos did not comment regarding the millions the company lost this year in profits, nor did he make a statement reassuring investors about the loss.

Amazon has conditioned investors to expect stronger growth, making the latest results disappointing, said Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners LP in New York. “To miss on the top line, that’s what breaks the momentum,” said Gillis, who recommends selling Amazon stock.

In Amazon’s defense, Tom Szkutak, Amazon’s Chief Financial Officer, said estimates on a company’s performance is always a difficult call. “Trying to predict during a seasonal Q4 is challenging,” said Szkutak. “If you look at that net loss number as a percentage of revenue, it keeps going up. They’re trying their best to offset that in other ways.” Analysts agree expecting consumers to begin using their Kindle devices to make purchases that will begin to chip away at the loss in revenue.

HTC Android phone flaw fix not coming until next week for some

2012-02-03T05:01:00.000+05:30

Some users of HTC Android phones will have to wait until next week to get a fix for a problemthat could leak credentials used to gain access to Wi-Fi networks, including corporate networks.

HTC is downplaying the severity of the problem and says most affected phones have already gotten the fix via updates and upgrades.

But it acknowledges users will have to manually load the software update and says those users should check back to its help page next week.

The flaw lies within the particular Android build used in certain models of HTC phones. It exposes Wi-Fi login credentials used as part of 802.1X network access control used onwireless networks.

A rogue application with rights to see that information and also with rights to access the Internet could steal the credentials and send them to attackers who might then use them to infiltrate a corporate network.

Google says no such rogue application has been found, according to a description of the flaw at the My War With Entropy blog by Bret Jordan. "Google has also done a code scan of every application currently in the Android Market and there are no applications currently exploiting this vulnerability," Jordan says.

For its part, HTC posted a paragraph on its help page about the flaw. "HTC has developed a fix for a small WiFi issue affecting some HTC phones. Most phones have received this fix already through regular updates and upgrades. However, some phones will need to have the fix manually loaded. Please check back next week for more information about this fix and a manual download if you need to update your phone," the posting says.

According to US-CERT, affected phones are:

• Desire HD (both "ace" and "spade" board revisions) - Versions FRG83D, GRI40

• Glacier - Version FRG83

• Droid Incredible - Version FRF91

• Thunderbolt 4G - Version FRG83D

• Sensation Z710e - Version GRI40

• Sensation 4G - Version GRI40

• Desire S - Version GRI40

• EVO 3D - Version GRI40

• EVO 4G - Version GRI40

HP takes giant first step into OpenFlow

2012-02-03T04:45:00.000+05:30

HP this week said it is taking its first leap into OpenFlow-enabled network equipment, supporting the standard on 16 of its Ethernet switch products as it attempts to gain a foothold in a market likely to receive significant attention from competitors.

Beyond adding OpenFlow support on this first batch of switches, which includes the HP 3500, 5400 and 8200 series, HP plans to extend OpenFlow support across all of the switches offered under its FlexNetwork architecture.

OpenFlow is a software-defined networking standard that has been a major topic of discussion in the network and infrastructure management field of late, with those in academia and the research sector weighing its potential for the future. Initially used for research, OpenFlow essentially replaces the network equipment required for the control plane with source code. Proponents say doing that eliminates the need for hundreds, or sometimes thousands, of switches and routers, enabling network managers to move core routers to the edge and better examine the network. Also, because the controller is adapted to software code, network managers are afforded the freedom to program their own networks.

OpenFlow's ability to help IT staff gain insight into the network and develop entirely new architectures is what made it a win for the researchers and technologists who worked with it from the start. This includes HP Networking distinguished technologist Charles Clark, who worked alongside the first technologists who crafted OpenFlow at Stanford University in 2007.

"We started working with Stanford and found that they had come up with this very interesting idea of being able to centrally control flow tables of switches in the network, and trying to understand how we can use that both for research purposes and maybe also for solutions for customers," Clark says.

However, OpenFlow has primarily remained a research protocol in the four years since it was introduced. That's why Saar Gillai, CTO of HP Networking, says the announcement of OpenFlow support for the company's switches is a landmark for HP.

"Up until now there certainly hasn't been any availability of OpenFlow on [HP's] Tier 1 products, and with this we're sort of crossing that boundary," Gillai says. "When you cross that boundary, [the market] does change, which is one of the reasons that we think this is a big deal. We think that now customers can feel safe that they have it on a supported product, and we do think it's going to start more use cases in the enterprise."

Growth in OpenFlow adoption and real-world use at the enterprise network level will not happen overnight, Gillai says. At first, he expects organizations, including universities, that are already familiar with OpenFlow to be open to HP's new switch portfolio. Once those use cases gain more recognition, the conversation in the industry surrounding OpenFlow will shift from the theoretical to that of real-world results, Gillai says.

Experts on OpenFlow believe widespread adoption of the protocol will be gradual simply because of the nature of the network industry. Dan Schmiedt, executive director of network and telecom at Clemson University, says current infrastructure management practices are so ingrained in traditional standards that it will take time for many to migrate.

"That is to say that nothing is really changing or advancing -- we're still basically using the same protocols and paradigms we used 20 years ago," Schmiedt says. "With good reason, too: it works, and even if someone came up with the best new protocol there ever had been, it would be at best a decade before it was implemented in any network box."

However, the progression may be moving along more quickly than Schmiedt had predicted. In his work with OpenFlow and software-defined networking at Clemson, Schmiedt has already seen the potential for widespread operational change stemming from an innovative approach to the network.

"Perhaps that is the most important thing about SDN/OF: it opens networking to true innovators instead of simple protocol plumbers like me," Schmiedt says. "My world is fixed in the OSI model and the way we've always done things. Since the advent of OF, and for the first time in my 15 years in networking, I regularly interact with students and faculty who seek to solve real-world networking problems."

For HP, Clark believes the release of its new switch portfolio is a milestone.

"We're kicking the year off with the availability of production-quality OpenFlow switches," Clark says. "This is the beginning of that transformation from research to production. It'll be an exciting year for OpenFlow."

HP certainly isn't alone in the race to make network equipment Openflow compatible. IBM and NEC, for example, have collaborated on a collection of OpenFlow-enabled switches.

AMD fundamentally shifts chip design methodology

2012-02-03T04:41:00.001+05:30

Advanced Micro Devices will take a fundamentally different approach to designing chips as it tries to move away from playing second fiddle to Intel.

The company will blur the lines between CPUs and graphics processors in future chip design cycles, with both units sharing a memory pool and running common software applications, said AMD CTO Mark Papermaster Thursday during a financial analyst conference speech that was webcast.

AMD is also opening up its chips for integration of third-party intellectual property, which is the best way for the company to offer customized chips for specific customer needs, Papermaster said.

An example is the data center, where intellectual property in the chip can be mixed and matched with IP to help tailor chips for cloud, Web serving or high-performance tasks, Papermaster said.

The new chip architectural approach comes as AMD rebuilds its product portfolio and restructures its business model. The company appointed new CEO Rory Read just five months ago and Papermaster took on the role of CTO in October. Executives speaking at the analyst day event being held in Sunnyvale, California, continuously hit on the need to adopt a more "agile" business model that could respond quicker to customer needs.

AMD's current chips integrate CPUs and graphics processors based on the company's intellectual property. The CPUs and GPUs perform different functions and run different software code -- for example, antivirus software is processed on CPUs and not on GPUs. The more resource-intensive graphics applications like Adobe Flash are offloaded to GPUs, freeing up CPUs to process other tasks.

AMD's new chip design, called HSA (heterogeneous systems architecture), will reach maturity by 2014 with 64-bit addressing, virtual memory, better internal bandwidth and software taking advantage of both processing units, Papermaster said. A chip code-named Kabini for low-power laptops due in 2013 will see HSA at work, according to an AMD slide deck.

AMD is also leading the formation of an organization to bring software development tools so coders can write applications for HSA. The company hopes to open source the tools, and more details about its progress will be shared later this year.

Depending on whether partners buy into HSA, the new approach would allow AMD to tackle the chip market in a fundamentally different way from Intel, which controls the IP and sells the parts, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, who was at the event.

Opening up the chip to external IP has worked well in some cases, but questions remain on how effective a growth driver it will be for AMD's chips, King said.

Though details are lacking, this is a strategic announcement intended to set the company's direction for the future, King said.

AMD puts the brakes on adding more cores to server chips

2012-02-03T04:37:00.000+05:30

Advanced Micro Devices has put the brakes on adding more cores to its server chips, stopping at 16, the company said Thursday during a financial analyst day.

AMD's new server chips code-named Abu Dhabi and due out in 2013 will have 16 cores, the same number as the existing Opteron 6200 chips code-named Interlagos that shipped last year. Servers are being redesigned to match specialty workloads and adding more cores to the Abu Dhabi chip wasn't the way to boost performance, said Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager of Global Business Units at AMD, during a speech.

"At the end of the day, that wasn't the right answer for the customers," Su said.

Abu Dhabi is targeted at two- and four-socket servers and will be based on a new processor architecture code-named Piledriver. The chip will be socket-compatible and be a straight plug-in replacement for Opteron 6200 chips, which are based on the Bulldozer core. Abu Dhabi will deliver more performance but consume the same power as the Opteron 6200.

There are other ways to boost server performance, such as using graphics processors, Su said. Graphics processors are used in some of the world's fastest supercomputers to handle demanding scientific and math applications.

The company is also open to employing "lots of little cores" to meet specific workloads, Su said. AMD is already researching using its low-power netbook processors to meet light Web serving and cloud workloads, and some servers already employ hundreds of low-power Intel Atom netbook chips to process fast-moving Web transactions.

Chip makers in the past have reduced core counts as some applications are not designed to break up tasks over multiple cores. Oracle in 2010halved the number of cores in its Sparc T4 processor in an attempt to improve single-thread performance, which is key when running large databases and back-end applications.

Intel has been increasing the number of cores on its chips at a slower pace than AMD. Intel uses 10 cores on its fastest Xeon server chips.

AMD will not add cores to its other server chips either. The company next year will also release new server chips code-named Seoul and Delhi with up to eight cores for different server segments.

AMD also shared additional details about chips for PCs and tablets due this year. The Hondo tablet chip, which will draw up to 4.5 watts of power, will be in Windows 8 tablets later this year, the company said. Chips code-named Trinity will show up in thin-and-light laptops priced between US$600 and $800 by midyear. The laptops will deliver up to 12 hours of battery life and have been pitched as a cheaper alternative to Intel's ultrabooks.

Also due this year are chips code-named Brazos 2.0, the follow up to existing C-Series and E-Series chips found in low-power laptops today. Laptops with Brazos 2.0 chips will deliver roughly the same amount of battery life, but have better graphics and application performance.

AMD also ripped up its old road map and introduced a tablet and laptop processor lineup for next year. A new chip for performance PCs code-named Kaveri will be based on the new Steamroller core. Chips code-named Temash for tablets and Kabini for low-power laptops will improve performance while driving down power consumption.

AMD also outlined a new chip design plan called HSA (heterogeneous systems architecture) in which the company will gradually blur the lines between the CPU and GPU and implement third-party intellectual property inside the chip. The chip code-named Kabini will include some elements of HSA, according to AMD's product road map.

Microsoft Office 15 Goes to Technical Preview

2012-02-02T21:29:00.001+05:30

Get ready for the new Microsoft Office. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant has started its technical preview of the new version, which is code-named Office 15, and speculation is starting to build.

The technical preview offers the software to a select group of customers, under non-disclosure agreements. On its official Office blog, PJ Hough, corporate vice president for Office program development, posted Monday about the technical preview, calling it the "most ambitious undertaking yet for the Office Division."

Tile or Not?

He said the new update will include revisions to Office-related cloud services, servers, mobile and PC clients, Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project, and Visio. A public beta test release is expected this summer.

While Microsoft isn't ready to release details about the changes, speculation is rampant on the Web.

A key question is the degree to which the new Office will be designed for the new tile-based, touch-oriented Metro style of Windows 8, or whether it will be primarily targeted for use in Windows 8's more traditional desktop mode.

At the moment, indications are that most apps in the Office suite will not be extensively rebuilt as a touch-based app, and will primarily use traditional Windows interaction, although there likely will be some visual simplification.

Even on ARM-based Windows 8 tablets, a key target platform for the Metro style, Office apps are expected to run in a traditional desktop mode. Various online reports indicate that a more complete overhaul of Office, which would have to be fully redesigned to take advantage of the Metro style, would require more development time than Microsoft is prepared to spend on the next release.

Tile vs. Desktop Mode

Some observers are expressing relief that Office will not be completely redesigned for Metro, because using productivity apps via an interface that is designed for tablets is, at best, an approach that needs to be thoroughly tested in the lab and field -- preferably on other software tools first, before it is tried on such essential productivity apps as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

One key interaction issue, as Steve Kaneko, Office design director, has indicated to news media, is that the large tile- and touch-based Metro style is not necessarily the best interface for dealing with applications that require navigating and generating a large amount of information , such as many of Office's component applications.

This tension between a tile-based interface that could be appropriate for tablets, and a productivity-focused interface for what are fundamentally desktop productivity apps, is a recurring concern about the coming Windows 8. Microsoft's resolution for this issue is not yet clear.

If the limited adaptation of Office to the Windows 8 Metro style is accurate, it is counter to hints that CEO Steve Ballmer began dropping last fall. At the time, he told news media and analysts that "you ought to expect that we are rethinking and working hard on what it would mean to do Office Metro style."

While some Office apps, such as Word and Excel, may not be fully redesigned for the Metro style, other Office apps, such as OneNote and Lync, which involve less complex interaction, are expected to be more Metro-friendly.

IBM Rolls Out Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices

2012-02-02T21:27:00.002+05:30

IBM just got into the mobile management game. Big Blue rolled out software based on its 2010 BigFix acquisition that helps organizations manage and secure smartphones and tablets in the workplace while also managing laptops, desktops and servers.

Dubbed IBM Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices, the new offering lets companies use a single solution to manages Apple iOS, Google Android , Nokia Symbian, and Microsoft Windows Mobile and Windows Phone devices. The software also adds a layer of security to combat the escalating threats from the bring your own device, or BYOD, trend.

"If you plant yourself in the data center and think about all the data and applications around you, somehow it has to all get pushed out so that people can use it on PCs, laptops, servers or elsewhere," said Bob Sutor, vice president of IBM Mobile Platform. "Many of the things you have to do in terms of provisioning applications, updating operating systems, and knowing what version is running, is very consistent with what's going on with mobile."

A Mobile Uprising

It's consistent -- and it's happening on a grand scale . IDC expects the mobile workforce to reach more than 1.19 billion by 2013, putting new pressures on enterprises to connect personal smartphones and tablets to corporate networks and provide employee access to business data on them.

At the end of 2011, almost half of mobile devices used in the workplace were employee owned, according to IDC. This BYOD trend raises additional concerns about managing security risks. Mobile exploits doubled in 2011 from 2010, according to the IBM X-Force Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report.

IBM Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices allows IT admins to remotely set policies, identify potential data compromises and wipe data off the devices if they are lost or stolen. The software also helps configure and enforce passcode policies, encryption and virtual private network settings.

Consistency Across the Enterprise

The new release of IBM Endpoint Manager also extends IBM capabilities in managing the security and compliance of servers, computers and point-of-sales devices, such as ATMs and self-service kiosks to smartphones and tablets using mobile operating systems while addressing the unique aspects of those devices.

Beyond safeguarding data and providing flexible management for IT admins, the software has compliance benefits. The technology automatically identifies non-compliant devices and takes action by denying e-mail access or issuing user notifications until corrective actions are implemented.

Windows XP still hanging on as dominant OS

2012-02-02T21:26:00.001+05:30

Windows XP refuses to give up its top spot without a fight.

The decade-old OS has slowly been losing more users to Windows 7, but January marked a small resurgence in its grip on the market, according to stats out today from NetApplications.

For the month, Windows XP grabbed 47.19 percent of all OS users, inching up from 46.5 percent in December. At the same time, Windows 7 saw its market share dip to 36.4 percent from almost 37 percent the previous month.

Obviously, a fraction of a percentage point is nothing for XP to crow about, especially since its overall share has dropped from almost 58 percent a year ago. But it does point to the continued popularity of an OS that Microsoft would like to see kick the bucket.

The folks in Redmond have been pushing both consumers and companies to jump ship from XP to Windows 7.

As part of that push, Microsoft has been constantly reminding people that support for XP runs out in April 2014, at which time security patches and other updates will no longer be available. Though that gives individuals plenty of time to upgrade, enterprises face a longer path to migration, putting more pressure on them to switch to Windows 7 before too long.

Microsoft has even advised companies still on XP not to wait for Windows 8 and instead plan their moves to Windows 7 now.

Despite the minor drop in Windows 7's market share last month, more people may be following Microsoft's message.

The current flavor of Windows has seen its cut of customers rise from 23 percent a year ago to its present 36 percent.

Of course, as more people buy new computers outfitted with Windows 7, the percentage naturally grows, but probably not fast enough for Microsoft's taste.

Windows 8, which has been available as a Developer Preview since last September, saw its share of users actually dip to 0.2 percent from half a percentage point last month. Fewer people may be checking out the Developer Preview in anticipation of the beta version, which is due to launch sometime this month.

Among operating systems in general, Windows remains in top place by a long shot with an overall share of 92 percent. Apple's Mac OS X grabbed 6.39 percent of users last month, a minor increase from December and around a one percentage point bump from a year ago.

Cisco Addresses BYOD, Network Traffic With Aironet 3600 Series AP

2012-02-02T21:24:00.000+05:30

Cisco Networks is rolling out a new wireless access point designed to address the growing demand for fast network performance and consistent connectivity that is being fueled by the rapid growth of mobile devices and mobile network traffic.

At the Cisco Live conference in London Jan. 31, company officials unveiled the Aironet 3600 Series Access Point (AP), which they said offers users the best wireless experience. That includes 30 percent faster performance, fast speeds at a greater distance and the new ClientLink 2.0 technology, which improves performance for all wireless devices—including laptops, smartphones and tablets—connected to the access point.

It comes at a time when more people are using more mobile devices—for work as well as for personal use—and demanding strong network performance and constant connectivity, according to Inbar Lasser-Raab, senior director of enterprise mobility and routing global marketing for Cisco.

“We expect great quality,” Lasser-Raab said in an interview with eWEEK. “Customers expect immediate service, and they expect high quality. … It’s not only the flood of devices, but the flood of traffic over these mobile devices.”

IT departments are struggling to keep up with the demand, she said. They’re juggling with multiple issues, from the increasing use of applications, such as video, voice and desktop virtualization, to the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend of employees demanding to access the corporate network and data with their personal smartphone and tablets.

That demand will only rise. Cisco’s Visual Networking Index Forecast indicates that 54 percent of workers say their mobile device is the most important technology in their lives, and that more than half of college students and employees want to use them in their work or school activities, feeding into the BYOD trend. By 2015, there will be 7.1 billion mobile connected devices worldwide.

“Wireless is the thing everyone is talking about,” Lasser-Raab said.

Cisco’s Aironet 3600 Series AP is designed to address the growing demands being placed on wireless networks. It’s the first three spatial stream 802.11n access point to come with a fourth antenna, she said. That enables the Cisco access point to handle more devices connecting wirelessly to the network from a greater variety of devices, and ones that are farther from the access point. The 30 percent faster performance on the Aironet 3600 Series AP—compared with previous access points—will enable people to have better experiences in everything from virtual desktops to cloud-based services to video calls.

ClientLink 2.0 gives a consistent connectivity and performance, regardless of the mobile device being used or its wireless signal strength, Lasser-Raab said. That is important in the case of devices like tablets, which can be slow and have weaker wireless signals, according to Cisco officials.

The Aironet 3600 Series offers a modular design to enable businesses to add modules to improve functionality, and provides the ability to support other devices as the need arises. Cisco’s CleanAir technology offers radio-frequency spectrum trouble-shooting capabilities. A new RF-monitoring module gives businesses full visibility into all 23 channels of the WiFi spectrum, rather than simply monitoring the traffic-servicing channel. This will enable companies to be more proactive to interference and security issues.

The Aironet 3600 Series AP is available immediately, with pricing starting at $1,495. The dedicated RF-monitoring add-on module will be available by year's end.

Avnet buys refurbished reseller Canvas

2012-02-02T21:20:00.000+05:30

Avnet has splashed the cash on acquiring US-based refurbished hardware reseller Canvas Systems from investment firm Platinum Equity.

The deal has been agreed for an undisclosed sum and Avnet expects it be immediately accretive to its financials. Canvas is headquartered in Norcross, Georgia and was founded in 1998, setting up a UK office in Warwickshire the following year. It also runs a Dutch outpost.

The firm specialises in refurbished servers from HP, Dell, IBM and Sun, as well as selling storage and networking technology. Canvas also offers new products and provides services including power monitoring, data erasure and business continuity.

It runs an IT rental operation, and its UK website claims to have £50m worth of stock warehoused at any given time. According to Avnet, Canvas' global revenues for 2011 stood at $122m (£77m).

Jeff Bawol, Americas president of Avnet Technology Solutions, said: "The acquisition of Canvas Systems enhances our IT lifecycle management services capabilities and supports our strategy to deliver best-in-class solutions that help our business partners consistently achieve profitable growth.

"The addition of Canvas Systems enhances Avnet Technology Solutions' ability to deliver a seamless solution at any phase in the IT lifecycle and provides its suppliers with an additional channel for capturing brand loyalty in the secondary market."

What JavaScript's inventor really thinks about Google Dart

2012-02-02T21:08:00.000+05:30

Google's Dart language, which attempts to address JavaScript's supposed weaknesses, is getting a mixed reaction from the inventor of JavaScript itself, Brendan Eich.

While admiring Google's efforts to make the Document Object Model more usable as part of Dart, Eich was skeptical about its chance for support in browsers. "Dart is one of the many languages that currently compiles to JavaScript, and that's a lot to say about that because like in Native Client from Google, I don't think Dart is going to be natively supported ever in other browsers. Not in Safari, not in IE (Internet Explorer)," said Eich, who is CTO at Mozilla, at the Node Summit conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. JavaScript has been supported in popular browsers, including Mozilla's own Firefox browser.

Google has argued that while JavaScript is good for building simple Web applications, it has its shortcomings in maintaining structure as a program grows. Dart attempts to address this.

Eich also was not optimistic that JavaScript would be extended to support native code. While saying this type of integration could benefit C++ games developers port to the browser, Eich again doubted browser vendors would back it. He cited Google's Native Client as an effort in this vein, using a safety-checking compiler, running native code in a sandbox, and leveraging "a runtime full of APIs." But he said Microsoft and Apple would not use that compiler. "The second problem is that big fat set of APIs is tied directly into the [Google] Chrome browser. They're not APIs that are based on standards. There's some of them based on WebKit, some of them based on Chrome code. You can't get those APIs out of IE, you can't get them out of Safari." For Mozilla in particular, its mission is to make the Web better and make JavaScript better so it can talk to all the hardware, Eich said.

Eich also stressed a need for JavaScript tooling and sees that happening. He cited Adobe's embracing of HTML5 as an example of a tooling effort for JavaScript.

Additionally, Eich said an improvement intended for ECMAScript 6, the planned next version of the JavaScript base standard, would address an issue with programming errors made in the strict mode in ECMAScript 5. "The next version will in certain contexts make those be ahead-of-time errors, so when you load your code, it doesn't even run. You get a hard error." ECMAscript 6 is due for adoption in 2013, according to Eich.

Xerox Offers New IaaS, Cloud Backup, Disaster Recovery Services To VARs

2012-02-02T21:05:00.000+05:30

Xerox (NYSE:XRX) plans to offer a host of new cloud services through solution providers, including infrastructure-as-a-service for midrange and Intel (NSDQ:INTC) systems, cloud backup and disaster recovery.

The services leverage the cloud infrastructure built by ACS, acquired by Xerox in 2010, and are targeted toward SMBs with revenue between $10 million and $250 million.

The services are designed to ensure that a company's applications, data and IT platforms are secure and are standardized versions of custom solutions that ACS previously built for large clients, said Ken Stephens, senior vice president of Xerox Cloud Services.

"We're packaging them in such a way that is much more standard, more off the shelf. Because we are standardizing those services, they can be sold much easier, i.e., with less customization, which provides us the opportunity to sell to a broader market," said Ken Stephens, senior vice president of Xerox Cloud Services.

The Xerox Cloud IaaS for Midrange and Intel services work on Linux and Windows servers and are offered with multiple tiers of storage, They also support multiple databases, legacy applications and ERP systems, according to the company, and can be installed and ready to use with an on-demand "click and pick" provisioning process.

Each client's workload is isolated on a separate VLAN, and protected by hypervisor-based virtual firewalls, according to Xerox. The IaaS services also include tracking, auditing and reporting capabilities through the Xerox ACS Management Platform and are delivered via five global data centers that house multitenant technologies and virtualized LANs, according to Xerox.

The Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery services include the recovery of data, applications and OSes with restorations less than 24 hours, according to Xerox. The Cloud Backup service includes self-service provisioning for Quantum deduplication/replication appliances, client-side software download for Quantum vmPRO and Quantum deduplication/replication appliances. Each Quantum appliance includes two terabytes of storage to contain the replicated de-deuped compressed data backups.

Private network connectivity from the client's network into the ACS Data Centers is not included, but network engineering services are available to help design and implement connectivity, according to Xerox. A customer may order and own the telecom service or order service through ACS, using ACS's contracted telecom rates, according to Xerox.

The Disaster Recovery as a Service is sold in combination with Cloud Backup and is replicated, secured and encrypted on a daily basis and leverages the same Business Cloud infrastructure used for corporate enterprises, according to Xerox. While Cloud Backup enables the restoration of individual files, the Disaster Recovery service can recover a complete image of each virtual machine instance to an alternate location. End users can designate critical applications for restoration in less than 24 hours by purchasing guaranteed capacity, while less critical applications are available for a longer restoration period at a reduced cost, according to the company.

Xerox acknowledged that it's joining a crowded roster of vendors looking to capitalize on the cloud phenomenon. The Xerox differentiator, Stephens said, is that partners aren't forced to rely on a single vendor to provide the entire solution.

"HP (NYSE:HPQ) is an example. They're a great company but they still culturally struggle offering something that is not HP. We don't have that problem. We're pretty agnostic. We do have chosen partners. We are standardized on [VCE's] Vblock and we leverage a great deal of CA [Technologies and Novell/Attachmate, but we're not religious about it," Stephens said.

Oracle Details Alleged HP Payments To Keep Itanium Alive

2012-02-02T21:01:00.001+05:30

Oracle (NSDQ:ORCL) has released court documents its says show that Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) made a series of payments toIntel (NSDQ:INTC) to keep the Itanium processor alive and agreed with Intel to artificially stretch out the Itanium roadmap.

The details came from a newly-unsealed lawsuit filed by Oracle last year in which it alleged that HP agreed to pay Intel nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars to continue developing Itanium processor to prevent customers of HP's Integrity server line from adopting competing platforms and disrupting HP's lucrative Integrity-related service business.

Oracle's cross complaint, which it filed on June 15, was originally sealed by the court at Oracle's request but released in unredacted form Monday after Judge James P. Kleinberg of the Superior Court of California in Santa Clara County dismissed Oracle claims of fraud against HP and said that HP and Oracle must both unseal certain documents.

An HP source who declined to be named said that, with the decision by the judge to unseal the documents and dismiss an Oracle claim that HP engaged in fraud, HP can concentrate on getting back to the trial over the original lawsuit. The source did not address the specific claims in Oracle's June 2011 lawsuit.

However, in a statement, HP wrote, "We look forward to seeing the facts made public that demonstrate how Oracle's March 2011 announcement to no longer develop software for Itanium servers was part of a calculated business strategy to drive hardware sales from Itanium to inferior Sun servers. This further demonstrates the fact that Oracle breached its contractual commitment to HP and ignored its repeated promises of support to our shared customers."

The fraud claim, which was part of the newly-unsealed Oracle cross complaint, stemmed from Oracle's assertion that HP duped it into signing an agreement over its hiring of dismissed HP President and CEO Mark Hurd. Oracle alleged that HP concealed the fact that it planned to hire two new executives hostile to Oracle, including former SAP CEO Leo Apotheker as the new HP CEO and Ray Lane, a former Oracle executive, as the company's chairman.

Details of some of those documents had been available before in redacted versions, which are edited forms of documents with sensitive parts blanked out or covered by black stripes to show where parts were cut.

In its cross complaint, a copy of which was sent to CRN by Oracle, Oracle alleged that HP had engaged in a "multi-year campaign of secrecy and deception designed to conceal the truth about Intel Corporation’s commitment to the Itanium microprocessor in order to extend its Itanium server business at Oracle’s expense and reap large profits from its own unsuspecting installed base of Itanium users."

Oracle alleged that HP in 2008 or earlier learned from Intel that Intel wanted to end development of the Itanium processor because of the chip's market position and because Intel wanted to focus its development resources on its x86-based Xeon processor line. Oracle, citing "HP internal documents," alleged that HP knew that the Itanium development was a distraction to Intel.

The Oracle complaint, quoting from internal HP communications, alleged that HP itself believes the Itanium roadmap is "'more an illusion than of technical significance,'" and that HP wanted to extend the Itanium roadmap to '"create market perception of long term viability.'"

Oracle also alleged that HP in 2010 extended its collaboration agreement with Intel related to the Itanium processor after determining that its original plan to port its HP-UX operating system to the Intel Xeon server platform would result in problems with convincing independent software vendors to support the new HP-UX.

Oracle further alleged that HP was concerned about losing its profitable support business based on its Integrity servers.

HP-UX is HP's version of Unix, and competes directly with Oracle's Solaris Unix operating system. HP-UX currently runs only on the Itanium server platform. Intel's public roadmap calls for the next version of the Itanium processor, code named Poulson, to be released some time this year. The roadmap also includes a further processor, code named "Kittson," for which a release date has not yet been announced. However, Intel has traditionally came out with a new version of its Itanium processor every two to three years.

Oracle alleged that HP convinced Intel to update its Kittson roadmap to split the Kittson processor into two separate releases separated by two-and-a-half years, which let HP extend its "profit pool" based on revenue and services from the Integrity server platform through 2017.

The second Kittson release, Oracle alleged, would have an Itanium core but be built into a Xeon-compatible socket, a design which Oracle wrote would help HP migrate its customers to the Xeon platform over the next five years.

Those moves would cost HP nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars, Oracle wrote in the cross complaint.

In 2008, HP and Intel signed an "Itanium Collaboration Agreement" under which HP would pay Intel $440 million over five years to continue development of the Itanium through the release of the Kittson model in 2012, Oracle alleged.

Oracle further alleged that HP agreed in October of 2010 to pay Intel an additional $250 million-plus to produce the Itanium for an additional three years and to update its roadmap.

However, Oracle alleged, HP deliberately withheld information from its customers about the Itanium processor plans in order to protect its Integrity server revenue stream.

"In fact, if it became clear that the purpose of the 'extended roadmap' was simply to produce a processor that would migrate customers to x86 in five years, a customer making an IT decision today would not wait for HP’s Xeon hybrid solution to come to market—they would simply move today, as would many of HP’s current customers. In fact, Intel has sought to reveal the socket-compatible nature of Kittson publicly numerous times and HP has blocked it from doing so. The market still does not know about it," Oracle wrote in its cross complaint.

Oracle also wrote that it made its decision to stop development of the next generation of its database, named 12g, in March of 2011 based on general market signals of the Itanium processor's market decline and discussions with Intel executives about the Itanium, and that at the time it had no knowledge of the alleged "secret HP-Intel deals."

Oracle has previously stated that it will support the Itanium-based servers on current versions of its software through 2018. However, Oracle alleged in the cross complaint, "HP nonetheless chose to defame Oracle at every turn with allegations that Oracle was refusing to support existing Itanium system users."

Oracle backed up that allegation by citing several media reports,including some from CRN, in which HP executives allegedly gave false and misleading statements about Oracle in relation to the Itanium server.

Oracle and HP had a decades-long relationship in which HP's mission-critical servers were one of the top platforms for Oracle's database and middleware products.

However, that relationship started to unravel when Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, a move which gave Oracle its own server platform. Oracle has since moved to integrate its software and server hardware into tightly-integrated appliances.

Oracle declined to further discuss the unsealed documents.

An Intel spokesperson, in an emailed response to CRN, said the company has not announced any specific product plans. Intel works on a multi-year planning horizon, and product roadmaps, whether for Itanium or for Xeon, do not go beyond that, the spokesperson said.

SeaMicro puts 256 Xeon cores in server

2012-02-02T20:56:00.002+05:30

SeaMicro on Tuesday announced a new microserver that incorporates 256 Xeon processor cores to enable faster delivery of data for Internet-based activities such as social media or search.

The SM10000-XE server is a 10U rack server with 64 quad-core Intel E3-1260L processors that run at a clock speed of 2.4GHz. The server is designed to provide faster response to Internet queries by speeding dynamic Web applications and tasks such as extraction of information from databases.

The new server is an upgrade from SeaMicro's SM10000-64HD, which launched last year with 384 dual-core Atom low-power netbook chips. The new server's Xeon processors have "heavyweight" cores that can deliver a better performance than Atom cores, said Andrew Feldman [CQ], CEO of SeaMicro.

SeaMicro has been selling 10U Atom-based servers for the past 18 months, but there was a need to drive up performance by implementing server-class Xeon chips, Feldman said. Smaller and fast moving Internet workloads are efficient on Atom, while the demanding cloud workloads are faster on Xeon, Feldman said.

On servers running Apache open-source software, the new servers handily outpace the older Atom-based machines, Feldman said. It is also faster at running Memcached caching software and PHP applications, he said.

The SM10000-XE server draws 3.2 kilowatts to 3.5-kilowatts on normal workloads, which is higher than SeaMicro's existing Atom servers, Feldman said. The Xeon and Atom servers have different benefits and their adoption will ultimately depend on whether a customer is looking for faster application performance or power savings, Feldman said.

However, the server is more power-efficient than a fleet of independent Xeon-based servers, Feldman said. Each 10U server unit can replace 500 single-socket servers from five years ago, while providing a 25-times improvement in power consumption.

SeaMicro's SM10000-XE server falls in an emerging class of servers called "microservers," which are dense servers that can share components such as power supplies and network connectors. The SeaMicro servers can be plugged in hyperscale environments to add computing capacity, while sticking within the power and space constraints of data centers, Feldman said.

"It's going quickly with the hyperscale guys, and they are also the most savvy about matching work to processors," Feldman said.

SeaMicro's ability to fit Xeon chips in a dense, single-chassis infrastructure also helps broaden the scope of microservers, said Jason Waxman, general manager of Intel's data center business unit. There are exciting opportunities for microservers with server chips based on the upcoming Ivy Bridge microarchitecture, which will add more performance and power-benefits.

The server includes multiple mini-motherboards with the Intel chip set, Samsung's DRAM and SeaMicro's ASIC, which virtualizes I/O and networking. The boards are the size of half a sheet of binder paper and are interconnected through fabric that can transfer data at 1.28 terabits per second. The server can support up to 2TB of RAM and up to 64 sold-state drives or hard disks for storage.

Catbird Releases Next Generation Security for Virtualized and Cloud Computing

2012-02-02T20:53:00.003+05:30

The next generation of vSecurity has been launched by Catbird. The company specializes in comprehensive security and compliance for virtual, cloud and physical networks. IT managers will be able to capitalize on the benefits and cost-savings of virtualized and cloud computing with the control and assurance provided by vSecurity 5.0, the company stated.

In a release, Edmundo Costa, CEO of Catbird, said, "Virtualization has revolutionized all aspects of data center computing, including security. With Catbird's vSecurity 5.0, our customers benefit from the economic and technical advantages of virtualization. From the U.S. Department of Defense to some of the largest credit card processors in North America, vSecurity automates the security and compliance process, enabling broader and deeper use of virtualization and cloud computing. Catbird customers can virtualize more assets, virtualize more quickly and improve virtualization ROI."

According to source, comprehensive and automated control, visibility and efficiency are provided by vSecurity 5.0 as it integrates directly with the hypervisor. Virtualized data center compliance with PCI (News- Alert), FISMA, NIST, HIPAA and other standards is also monitored and enforced by its vCompliance engine. Regulated industries can therefore use virtualized infrastructure advantageously for their mission-critical computing.

Oracle Closes RightNow Purchase; Expands Service Cloud

2012-02-02T20:51:00.002+05:30

Oracle has completed its $1.5 billion acquisition of RightNow Technologies. The deal brings a respected customer service offering into Oracle's Public Cloud.

The company is betting that RightNow's tech will help them meet the needs of enterprises that want to deliver a unified , personalized customer experience from start to finish, from the marketing and sales phase all the way through customer service and support. The value proposition of RightNow, as it becomes Oracle's new CRM component, is to maximize loyalty, advocacy and repeat business.

Expanding the Public Cloud

Offerings of the Oracle Public Cloud include cloud applications for managing sales, marketing, human capital, social networking, database, Java, data and security . With RightNow, Oracle is pacing to compete more fiercely against CRM vendors with a Customer Service Cloud, namely Salesforce.com.

"Like IBM and some of its other primary competitors, Oracle is very much an enterprise -focused vendor," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. "If it's had any weak spots, it's been mostly in the mid-market. The RightNow product and service set fits very well with that group.

"Not only does the RightNow acquisition notably broaden Oracle's solution set and the number of customers or the types of customers it can go after, but it also gives it a very viable competitive alternative to more successful vendors in that space, including Salesforce.com."

Targeting SMBs

From a merger standpoint, the Oracle Customer Service Cloud aims to blend Oracle's marketing, sales, e-commerce, search and business intelligence software with RightNow's service capabilities to deliver customer experiences across all channels and customer touchpoints: on the Web, in a store, over the phone or via mobile devices.

Beyond the toe-to-toe competition with Salesforce.com, King sees Oracle's move to integrate RightNow Technologies into its Public Cloud -- a move toward the middle market -- as an important one. King noted that much of the action in business IT tends to happen on the enterprise side.

"Small- to medium-sized businesses make up a huge portion of the market and a large majority of employees as well. It's understandable that vendors want to go after the 5,000-plus employee companies because that's where the real money lies," King said.

"One of the interesting things about the cloud computing model is that it provides a dynamic that allows an enterprise-centric vendor like Oracle to reach out to smaller companies, and in a more profitable manner."

Apple iPad breaks HP's hold on top PC spot

2012-02-02T20:49:00.002+05:30

Apple is out-shipping traditional PC vendors by a wide margin on the back of strong iPad sales, a marketing research firm has found.

In the fourth quarter, Apple became the leading worldwide client PC vendor by shipping more than 15 million iPads and 5 million Macs, representing 17 percent of the total 120 million client PCs shipped globally in the fourth quarter, according to Canalys.

Hewlett-Packard was a distant No. 2 with about 12.7 percent.

"We're going through the biggest shift the PC industry has seen in 20 years. It's very difficult to grow in the classic PC market when all of the growth is coming from iPads," Steve Brazier, CEO of Canalys, told CNET.

"For example, the Netbook category, which was all the rage a few years ago, has been decimated by iPads," he said. Netbooks are compact, 10-inch size laptops that run Windows.

"And that's a big problem for HP," he added.

Excluding tablets--what Canalys generically calls "pads"--the client PC market declined 0.4 percent, according to Canalys.

Among the other top five PC vendors, only Lenovo managed to increase its market share, by a relatively modest two points, Canalys said. Meanwhile, Apple had a six-point gain over the same quarter a year ago. HP, Acer, and Dell all lost market share.

And what about ultrabooks, which are expected to blunt the onslaught of tablets to some degree? "We expect ultrabook volumes to see limited adoption through the first half of 2012, before finally gaining momentum later in the year as price points decline and Intel launches a new line of processors and embarks on an aggressive marketing campaign," Canalys analyst Michael Kauh, said in a statement.

Numbers aside, Brazier said the real shocker may be the emergence of Amazon as a personal computing giant. "In five years, maybe less, a company like Amazon may be a bigger PC company than some of the top fives today. It's a fundamental shift so those who are in denial are in trouble."

And that's happening already. Amazon may have shipped more than 5 million Kindle Fire tablets in the fourth quarter. Combine the Fire with other Kindle devices and you have numbers that rival the top PC makers.

Google Tells Android Developers to Stop Using the Menu Button

2012-02-02T20:47:00.003+05:30

Google is telling Android developers to stop using its Menu button and begin using the Action Bar that was introduced with the Android 3.0 Honeycomb release.

Scott Main, lead tech writer for developer.android.com, penned a Jan. 26 blog post titled "Say Goodbye to the menu Button" to help wean developers off the Menu button. Cutting right to the point, Main said, "Not only should your apps stop relying on the hardware Menu button, but you should stop thinking about your activities using a 'menu button' at all."

Main said before Honeycomb, all Android-powered devices included a dedicated Menu button. "As a developer, you could use the Menu button to display whatever options were relevant to the user, often using the activity's built-in options menu," he said.

However, "Honeycomb removed the reliance on physical buttons, and introduced the Action Bar class as the standard solution to make actions from the user options immediately visible and quick to invoke," Main said. "In order to provide the most intuitive and consistent user experience in your apps, you should migrate your designs away from using the Menu button and toward using the action bar. This isn't a new concept—the action bar pattern has been around on Android even before Honeycomb—but as Ice Cream Sandwich rolls out to more devices, it's important that you begin to migrate your designs to the action bar in order to promote a consistent Android user experience."

Main said developers needn't be concerned that it will take a lot of work to begin using the Action Bar because of the need to support versions of Android older than Honeycomb. "It's quite simple for most apps because you can continue to support the Menu button on pre-Honeycomb devices, but also provide the action bar on newer devices with only a few lines of code changes," he said.