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Citrix Unveils Mobile Enterprise Strategy at Citrix Synergy

Citrix — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:49:15 +0000

Citrix Synergy™, the conference where mobile workstyles and cloud services meet, Citrix unveiled the next phase of its strategy to enable the mobile enterprise. With the advent of the Cloud Era, an increasingly mobile workforce is looking for easier ways to work the way they want – with anyone, from any location, on any device. Citrix is enabling these mobile workstyles with an expanding portfolio of personal cloud solutions that give employees the freedom and flexibility they want, combined with the security and control businesses need.

Today’s announcements make it easier for companies of all sizes to go mobile – empowering employees to interact securely with any combination of people, data, apps and devices – then bringing it all together in a seamless, integrated experience for end users.

People
The Citrix mobile enterprise strategy begins with a focus on empowering people to work from anywhere, with anyone, on any device. To enable today’s increasingly mobile workforce, Citrix today announced GoToMeeting® HDFaces for the iPad, combining video conferencing, audio conferencing and screen sharing into a single, seamlessly integrated experience for mobile workers. This breakthrough all-in-one solution makes it easy to collaborate face-to-face while on the go, all from the convenience of a lightweight mobile tablet.

Today’s mobile workstyles also require a new approach to team collaboration. To address this growing demand, Citrix today unveiled the first solution from its recent acquisition of Podio. The new Citrix Podio offering delivers a powerful cloud-based team collaboration platform for companies of all sizes. Unlike complex PC Era solutions, Podio brings the power of mobile and social to team collaboration, making it easy for people to work the way they want in dynamic team workspaces, across any mix of employees, contractors and partners.

Finally, Citrix made it easier for IT to support workers when they themselves are on the go. The new GoToAssist® for mobile devices lets IT professionals provide live support from anywhere, connecting to employee computers and solving problems directly from their iPad, Android tablets or Android phone.

Data
The second pillar of the Citrix mobile enterprise strategy is a focus on data. The centerpiece of this strategy is Citrix ShareFile™, a powerful cloud-based file sharing service that makes it easy for people to share files with others, and to ensure that their information follows them across devices, regardless of where it was initially created and saved.

To expand this cloud file sharing capability to a broader set of enterprise customers, Citrix today unveiled the new ShareFile StorageZones technology, giving enterprise customers the ability to choose optimal locations for storing corporate data – either off-premise in the public cloud, or on-premise, within their own private datacenters. The new ShareFile StorageZones technology makes it easier for enterprise customers to meet security, compliance and performance requirements, without giving up the simplicity and elasticity of cloud-based data services.

Citrix also announced it is plugging ShareFile into its popular Citrix Receiver™ software client, used by millions of people around the world every day to access business applications on any PC, Mac, tablet or smart phone. As a result of this integration, end users will be able to open, view, edit, save and share documents on their personal and mobile devices, regardless of where those documents were initially created. This breakthrough new integration delivers on the promise of bringing follow-me-data to people as they move across different devices.

Apps
The third component of the Citrix mobile enterprise strategy centers on applications. With most business applications today designed for Windows, desktop virtualization has gained significant momentum as the primary way of delivering Windows apps and desktops as a service from the datacenter. To make it easier for customers to get started with virtual desktops, Citrix today announced a new RemotePC option as part of the popular FlexCast® delivery technology in its market-leading Citrix XenDesktop® product line. Using the new RemotePC capability, XenDesktop customers will be able to quickly turn existing office PCs into distributed VDI hubs without setting up additional servers and storage in the datacenter. This innovative new solution makes it easy for IT to give end users fast, secure remote access to all the apps and data on their office PC from any device. Once IT is ready to move to a more full-service VDI implementation, these distributed RemotePC images can be easily moved into the datacenter to run in a traditional hosted VDI model for better consolidation, security and management efficiency.

As the app landscape shifts, an increasing percentage of business applications are being delivered as web, SaaS, cloud and mobile apps. As this transition occurs, businesses need a simple way to secure and control this diverse mix of apps, while giving users easy, self-service access to all their work apps and data from a secure company app store. To deliver on this promise, Citrix today announced Citrix CloudGateway 2, a powerful new update to its unified storefront solution that adds extensive mobile application management capabilities, including full support for native HTML5, iOS and Android apps. The new CloudGateway release also adds integration with ShareFile, giving customers a single unified control point for all apps and data enterprise-wide.

Devices
The fourth pillar of the Citrix mobile enterprise strategy focuses on devices. The centerpiece of this strategy is Citrix Receiver, the company’s universal software client, available on more than two billion PCs, Macs, thin clients, tablets and smartphones worldwide. Citrix Receiver makes it easy for customers to support bring your own (BYO), flex-working and work-from-home initiatives to enable mobile workstyles, regardless of the devices chosen by end users.

Citrix XenClient® extends the Citrix device support strategy to corporate laptop users with a secure, client-side hypervisor that runs directly on the laptop, even when disconnected from the network. Citrix strengthened its leading position in this market today with the acquisition of Virtual Computer, a provider of enterprise-scale management solutions for Xen-based client hypervisors. Citrix will combine the newly-acquired Virtual Computer technology with XenClient to create the new Citrix XenClient Enterprise edition. The combined solution will give corporate laptop users the power of virtual desktops to go, while making it far more secure and cost-effective for IT to manage large fleets of corporate laptops across a distributed mobile enterprise.

The final component of the Citrix device strategy centers on its innovative new Citrix HDX System-on-Chip (SoC) initiative, launched last October at Citrix Synergy Barcelona. This groundbreaking program was designed to enable an entirely new generation of devices, capable of running high-definition virtual desktops and apps at game-changing price points and form factors.

Citrix was joined by multiple partners today to unveil the first wave of devices featuring the new HDX SoC technology. New thin clients from ATrust, Centerm, NComputing and ThinLinx reduce the cost of high-performance HDX Ready thin clients by more than half, dramatically improving the return on investment for desktop virtualization just six months after the HDX SoC program was first announced. Citrix partner HP also unveiled an innovative new All-in-One zero client that uses Power-over-Ethernet and consumes a mere 13 watts of power, less than half that of comparable devices on the market today. Citrix expects additional innovations in price and design based on the new HDX SoC program to be announced by these and other partners in the coming months.

Bringing it All Together in a Seamless Experience for End Users
While enabling the mobile enterprise is a central focus for business and IT decisions makers worldwide, it is also increasingly important for end users. From the user perspective, however, enabling a mobile workstyle is far more personal. Users today have little patience for outdated applications, systems and devices that are complex to learn and operate, and will increasingly go around IT if simple solutions are not offered. Supporting these users means going beyond individual tools to provide a seamless experience where everything they need just works – intuitively, naturally and easily.

To deliver on this vision, Citrix announced a series of integrations between its user-facing apps like GoToMeeting, GoToAssist, Podio, ShareFile and Citrix Receiver – along with additional support for third-party apps and services like Evernote, GetSatisfaction, Microsoft Skydrive and Google Apps. By delivering innovative integrations between these apps and services, Citrix customers can ensure that their broader mobility and personal cloud strategies also resonate with end users who think less about the “Mobile Enterprise,” and more about “ME@work”.

Citrix Startup Accelerator Spurs Mobile and Cloud Innovation

Citrix — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:36:21 +0000

Citrix Systems today announced upcoming opportunities for global entrepreneurial companies to contribute to the next wave of innovation for mobile workstyles via the Citrix Startup Accelerator, its Silicon Valley-based seed investment initiative. The IT landscape is in a period of dramatic change, shifting expectations of IT and computing capabilities and providing an opportunity for entrepreneurs to contribute their ideas. Startups have always challenged the norms and assumptions in computing and in business. As the exceptions of the PC Era – mobile users, personal devices, and wireless access – become the assumptions of the Cloud Era, staying close to new thinking is important to Citrix as it continues to help shape the future.

Focused on entrepreneur-led innovation, the Startup Accelerator provides seed investments to select startups from around the world, enabling them to benefit from the global Citrix presence, its entrepreneur-friendly environment, large customer base and seasoned go-to-market strategies to help further their ideas.

In the next two months, the Citrix Startup Accelerator is providing several opportunities at premier Silicon Valley events for entrepreneurs to present their business ideas to potentially secure funding:

Startup.Synergy Challenge: Applications are now open to participate in the Citrix Startup.Synergy Challenge. Interested companies can apply between now and April to be in the running for the next round of investments by the Citrix Startup Accelerator. Three early finalist companies will be chosen to present live to a panel of judges on May 9 at Citrix Synergy in San Francisco. One company will be immediately offered a $100,000 investment from Citrix and inclusion in the 2012 Startup Accelerator class subject to the terms of the Startup Accelerator Program.
DEMO Spring 2012: Produced by IDG Enterprise in conjunction with VentureBeat, the DEMO Spring 2012 conference, April 17-19 in Santa Clara, Calif., will focus on emerging technologies and new product innovations. The DEMO conferences have earned a reputation for consistently identifying tomorrow's cutting-edge technologies, and have served as launch pad events for companies such as E*Trade, Palm, Salesforce and Tivo. Citrix will be a gold sponsor of the event and provide onsite opportunities for emerging startups to apply to the 2012 Startup Accelerator class and potentially secure up to $250,000 in funding.
Startup.Synergy: This track at Citrix Synergy will provide insight into the incredible fluidity of mobile workstyles and the new demands placed on IT for the cloud services that empower them. It will provide an inside look at tomorrow’s multibillion tech companies, a framework to appreciate how quickly these companies are proliferating and showcase how the Citrix Startup Accelerator is building new bridges to this ecosystem. Startup.Synergy tickets provide entry to Citrix CEO Mark Templeton’s Synergy Opening Keynote presentation at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 9, with lunch in the Solutions Expo at 12:30 p.m., followed by the Startup.Synergy afternoon track. To purchase your One Day Pass ($295), please visit the Synergy registration page.

Since launching the program in 2011, Citrix Startup Accelerator has announced investments in 11 innovative companies that are poised to change the face of cloud, mobile, virtualization, networking and collaboration technologies. The program expects to announce several more new investments in 2012 as a result of this year’s application process.

Red Hat Expands Subscription Portability to the Cloud with Amazon Web Services

Virtualization.net — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:51:42 +0000

Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that it is expanding its offerings on Amazon Web Services with the addition of Red Hat Enterprise MRG Grid via Red Hat Cloud Access.

Red Hat Cloud Access is a capability that enables Red Hat customers to move their subscriptions between traditional on-premise servers and off-premise clouds hosted by Red Hat Premier Certified Cloud Providers, such as Amazon Web Services. Red Hat initially extended its Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscriptions into the cloud with Red Hat Cloud Access in April 2010. Today, the company adds Red Hat Enterprise MRG Grid subscriptions as the second product able to take advantage of the Red Hat Cloud Access program. This results in improved deployment portability, easier subscription management and cost advantages for deploying in the cloud.

Red Hat Enterprise MRG incorporates Messaging, Realtime and Grid functionality that offers improved performance, response time and compute grid management. Enterprise MRG’s Grid technology provides a highly scalable and manageable platform for High Throughput Computing (HTC) and High Performance Computing (HPC) environments, and includes the ability to schedule to local grids, remote grids, virtual machines and rented cloud infrastructure. At its launch in 2008, Enterprise MRG was the first HPC product that could integrate with private virtualization and public clouds.

Red Hat Enterprise MRG Grid was recently extended to Amazon Web Services via DevPay, allowing customers to build hybrid clouds or use Enterprise MRG in the cloud for managing traffic and on-demand HPC capabilities. Now, with Cloud Access, customers can use their Red Hat subscription for Enterprise MRG in Amazon Web Services deployments. As a Red Hat Certified Cloud Provider, Amazon Web Services allows customers to use the same images both on-premise and in-cloud, through an in-cloud update service provided by Red Hat. Errata and updates are made available through the in-cloud service, so customers on a Red Hat Certified Public Cloud that are Cloud Access-enabled have confidence that they have up-to-date images. With this, users can manage and update thousands of servers with ease. A primary benefit of Red Hat's approach to cloud computing is that it is built on standardized open source technology, providing a consistent application platform across physical, virtualized and cloud environments. This gives customers the flexibility to adapt to new computing models as their business needs dictate, simply and cost effectively, while also eliminating the vendor lock-in associated with other cloud computing solutions.

“Red Hat Cloud Access allows our customers to benefit from the valuable support they receive directly from Red Hat experts through their Red Hat subscription, while also allowing them to take advantage of the benefits of deploying in a certified public cloud,” said Scott Crenshaw, vice president and general manager, Cloud Business Unit at Red Hat. “This level of flexibility gives enterprises the ability to bring their infrastructure to the cloud more easily and now encompasses both our Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system and Red Hat Enterprise MRG Grid technologies, offering more choice for public clouds.”

“Our continued relationship with Red Hat demonstrates collaboration focused on providing on-demand, pay-as-you-go cloud solutions for our existing and future customers,” said Terry Wise, director of Business Development at Amazon Web Services. “We started with support for Red Hat Cloud Access capabilities with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and are excited that our customers can now take advantage of Red Hat Enterprise MRG Grid via Cloud Access.”

Red Hat Enterprise MRG Grid is globally available for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) today.

Mobile Virtual Environments: The Opportunity for Guest Applications and Operating Systems

Reportlinker — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:42:05 +0000

The explosive growth of mobile applications and waning battle between application ecosystems are creating a new reality in the mobile industry. Apple and Google have effectively prevailed in the platform war, leaving OEMs without access to these ecosystems at a significant disadvantage. Users are also demanding a wide choice of innovative applications on all their digital devices: smartphones used for work and personal use, tablets and e-books, in their cars and on their TVs.

OEMs need to provide Android apps to their customers but are hesitant to relinquishing control of their branded experience and services. Enterprises want to drive productivity by providing their employees access to slick consumer applications alongside secure enterprise apps on smartphones and tablets of their choice. Virtualization solutions can solve these challenges by creating environments that are independent of the underlying OS or hardware in which to run foreign applications and guest operating systems.

This report analyzes four virtualization technologies that all take different approaches and are designed to address notably different markets. These technologies include:

Mobile hypervisors
Secure application containers
Thin client and cloud solutions
Application virtual machines

Enterprises that are embracing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies are looking to virtualization solutions to protect enterprise data on employee owned devices. Over the past few years, mobile hypervisors that have been used to reduce hardware costs are now being repurposed to enable two segregated application operating systems on one device. Containerized application solutions, thin client and cloud solutions are enabling the separation of consumer and enterprise applications within the operating system protecting sensitive enterprise data. The emergence of virtualization technologies to help manage BYOD policies will lead to new competition prompting important strategic decisions for established mobile enterprise software vendors. As this market shifts from managing devices to securing enterprise applications and data, mobile device management vendors and mobile enterprise application platform vendors will have to embrace emerging technologies to stay relevant. With promising technologies such as type 1 hypervisor based solutions still on the horizon, providers will have to weigh their current investments against their long term technical roadmap.

OEMs are deploying application virtual machines, or more specifically, the Devlik virtual machine on non-Android devices to run Android applications. This strategy allows OEMs to leverage the robust Android ecosystems without having to relinquish control of the user experience to Google. These devices will run Android applications side by side with Native and HTML5 applications in a seamless interface, increasing developer flexibility and driving innovation. We are forecasting over 508 million non-Android devices to ship in 2016 which will run Android applications. Beyond traditional mobile devices, Delvik virtual machines are being evaluated to run applications on in-vehicle infotainment systems (IVI) and set top boxes. This trend will have important strategic implications as mobile applications migrate to these new platforms. Internet players are pushing into the TV content distribution market and virtualization solutions will be an important tool for entrenched players defending their market. Separating the Delvik virtual machine from the Android stack will also loosen Google's grip on application distribution and compromise its ability to manage fragmentation in the Android ecosystem. While fragmentation will be a challenge for the industry, creating new cross device opportunities for Android developers will help improve application economics, which in turn will strengthen the ecosystem in the long run.

Companies Mentioned ACL

Alien Delvik

Android

Android Player

Apple TV

Codezero

Delvik VM

Divide

Dynamics

Googe TV

iOS

iPad

Java

Limo/Tizen

Meego

Mobile Horizon

Mobile Virtulization Layer

OKL4

Pocket Cloud

Safezone

Symbian

Toggle

vLogix Mobile

VLX

WebOS

Windows Mobile

Table of Contents Introduction 1

Market Opportunity 1The Enterprise Opportunity 2The Cross Device Opportunity 2

Technology Trends 2

Hypervisors 2Application Containers 4Application or Process Virtual Machines (VM) 5Streaming UI's & Thin Client Solutions 7Cloud Solutions 7

Market Drivers & Barriers 8

Developer Economics 8Emergence of Cloud Computing 8IP Litigation 9

Market Opportunities 9

Enterprise Market 10Cross PlatformSecurityEase of InstallationPerformance and Device Level FunctionalityIT ControlDiverse Enterprise MarketMobile Handset Market 13Other Consumer Mobile Device Market 14IVI-In Vehicle Infotainment Market 15Cable Network Operators 15

Market Strategies 16

Forecast & Strategic Outlook 17 BYOD Market Forecast 17

Type 2 Hypervisors and Container Apps

Type 1 Hypervisors

BYOD Market Strategic Outlook 21

MEAP and MDM Players Will Struggle With Strategic Dilemmas

Cohabitation of MDM, MEAP, and Sandbox Solutions Will Be Short Lived and Players Will Compete 21 In The Long Run Red Bend Wins In BYOD Solutions Market

Virtual Machines Market Forecast 22

Smartphones

Tablets

Automobiles

Set Top Boxes

Virtual Machine Strategic Outlook 26

Changing Dynamics in Developer Ecosystem

Delvik & HTML5 Value Proposition Overlap

OEMs will Focus More on Core Functionality to Differentiate

Fragmentation Will Grow in Android

Android Wins and Looses

Virtualization Trend Strategic Outlook 27

Carrier Opportunities

How Will Apple React to This Trend

Vendor Profiles

Enterproid 28OverviewMobile Virtualization OfferingsCompetitive AdvantagesCompetitive ChallengesGood Technologies 30OverviewMobile Virtualization OfferingsCompetitive AdvantagesCompetitive ChallengesMyriad Group 31OverviewMobile Virtualization OfferingsCompetitive AdvantagesCompetitive ChallengesOpen Kernel Labs 33OverviewMobile Virtualization OfferingsCompetitive AdvantagesCompetitive ChallengesOpen Mobile World Wide 34OverviewMobile Virtualization OfferingsCompetitive AdvantagesCompetitive ChallengesRed Bend Software 35OverviewMobile Virtualization OfferingsCompetitive AdvantagesCompetitive ChallengesResearch in Motion 37OverviewMobile Virtualization OfferingsCompetitive AdvantagesCompetitive ChallengesVMWare 38OverviewMobile Virtualization OfferingsCompetitive AdvantagesCompetitive Challenges

Table of Figures

Table 1 - Mobile Hypervisor Vendors 4 Table 2 - Application Container Vendors 5 Table 3 - Delvik VM Players 6 Table 4 - Thin Client and Streaming Vendors 7 Table 5 - Virtualization Technology Opportunity Matrix 10 Table 6 - Virtualization Technology Business Models 17

Figure 1 - Type 1 Hypervisor Architecture 3

Figure 2 - Type 2 Hypervisor Architecture 3

Figure 3 - Application Containers Architecture 5

Figure 4 - Application Virtual Machines Architecture 6

Figure 5 - Virtualization Implementation Architecture 12

Figure 6 - Total Enterprise Virtualization Users Forecast: 2012-2016 18

Figure 7 - Total Users Application Container and Type 2 Hypervisors Forecast: 2012-2016 18

Figure 8 - Total Revenues Type 2 Hypervisor and Container App Solutions Market Forecast:

2012- 201 20

Figure 9 - Device Shipments with Type 1 Hypervisors Forecast and Install Base 2012-2016 20

Figure 10 - Total Devices Shipping with Delvik VM and Total Addressable Market Forecasts:

2012-2016 23

Figure 11 - Smartphones Shipping with Delvik VM and Total Addressable Market Forecasts:

2012-2016 23

Figure 12 - Tablets Shipping with Delvik VM and Total Addressable Market Forecasts:

2012-2016 24

Figure 13 - Automobiles Shipping with IVI Systems Featuring Delvik VMs and Total Addressable

Market Forecasts: 2012-2016 25

Figure 14 - Set Top Boxes Shipping With Delvik VM and Total Addressable Market Forecasts:

2012-2016 26

To order this report:Mobile Telephony Industry: Mobile Virtual Environments: The Opportunity for Guest Applications and Operating SystemsMore Market Research ReportCheck our Industry Analysis and Insights

Teradici Demos PCoIP Optimized Client for Mobile Virtual Desktop Users at CES

Teradici — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:38:04 +0000

Teradici, the developer of the innovative PC-over-IP® (PCoIP®) protocol that enables a true PC experience for desktop virtualization, today announced its participation at the 2012 International CES, January 10 – 13 in Las Vegas. Teradici will be showcasing a joint technology demonstration with Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI), highlighting the performance and efficiency of both the OMAP4460 smart multicore processor and Teradici PCoIP protocol.

The demonstration, taking place in the TI Wireless booth, North Hall, MR N116, will showcase the PCoIP protocol delivering a VMware View™ virtual desktop using TI’s OMAP4460 mobile processor. TI will also be demonstrating a concurrent video conferencing session running on the same OMAP 4 platform. This demonstration will show the continuing evolution of the PCoIP protocol which is expanding to support new hardware and software platforms.

“By collaborating with TI on the OMAP 4 platform, we are expanding our portfolio of optimized solutions to provide mobile and enterprise customers with multimedia-rich virtual desktop performance,” said Dan Cordingley, president and chief executive officer. “Teradici’s continuing innovations in hardware, software and protocol deliver even greater flexibility for workers to access their VDI environments remotely and use new client form factors such as tablets and phone devices.”

“The efficiency of the PCoIP protocol in a virtual desktop environment capitalizes on the performance of the OMAP 4 platform, allowing us to deliver a very compelling virtual desktop user experience,” said Dennis Rauschmayer, general manager, OMAP enterprise business line, TI. “OMAP 4’s smart multicore architecture allows users to experience the high-performance remote virtual desktop session on a monitor while concurrently enjoying a full Android experience or demanding application such as an HD video conference session on a second screen.”

About PCoIP Technology
Teradici’s PCoIP technology is an innovative remote display technology that allows the user’s desktop operating system, applications, and data to reside in the datacenter, eliminating the need for traditional desktop workstations, PCs and thin clients, and delivers an uncompromised user experience to each person, anywhere, over any network and to any type of device without incurring the security risks associated with having data reside in remote PCs, laptops, or tablets. PCoIP technology provides high resolution, full frame rate 3D graphics and high-definition media, with full USB peripheral interoperability, locally over a LAN or remotely over a high-latency WAN. It compresses, encrypts and encodes the entire computing experience at the datacenter and transmits it 'pixels only' across a standard IP network to secure, stateless PCoIP zero clients, thin clients, and mobile devices.

The PCoIP protocol is implemented in several software configurations, including VMware View™, the industry leading desktop virtualization platform as well as in silicon for hardware accelerated performance and enhanced security. A growing ecosystem of over 30 third-party vendors provide a wide variety of PCoIP products including server plug-in cards, rack and tower workstations, blade PCs, zero clients, integrated monitors, and IP phones with PCoIP capability.

IT Trends of 2012: Enjoy the Benefits without Taking Unnecessary Risks

Kroll Ontrack — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:34:17 +0000

Kroll Ontrack, the leading provider of data recovery, electronic discovery, and information management products and services, today announced the most important technology trends for the coming year include virtualization, cloud computing, social networking and energy efficiency. However, businesses that want to benefit from these trends need to look at adopting iron clad information management and security strategies to ensure data security and data loss avoidance.

"Technologies like virtualization, cloud computing, social networking and energy efficiency present companies with major opportunities to develop their businesses -- even in difficult economic times," said Todd Johnson, vice president of data recovery operations, Kroll Ontrack. "However, despite all the enthusiasm for these developments, it is important to keep one eye firmly fixed on the associated risks. Just as with any other technology, data loss can never be completely prevented, and businesses should be prepared for these incidents before they occur."

In 2012, virtualization will continue to evolve and spark a variety of other trends, predicts IT analyst firm Gartner. Without a doubt, virtualization provides more flexibility and hardware independence; however, the risk of data loss remains. Even in the virtual world, information is still stored on a hard or tape drive. Hardware independence does not therefore eliminate the risk of hardware failure, operating errors or insufficient employee training. Rather, companies should make sure they adjust their information management strategies for newly adopted technologies and their associated risks as well as know that expertise and specialized tools can result in a successful data recovery from these complex infrastructures.

Companies will also continue to increase their use of cloud computing in 2012. According to a report recently published by Cisco Systems, cloud-related network traffic is increasing by 66 percent each year. In 2010, there were 130 exabytes of data flowing through cloud networks, and if Cisco's predictions are correct, by 2015, this will increase to 1.6 zettabytes. Although cloud computing offers optimized storage that is not connected to a specific infrastructure, this technology still relies on hardware components and is consequently not immune to data loss. Cloud service clients should therefore work with their provider to understand what safeguards are in place in the event of data loss. A sound and tested disaster recovery plan with an experienced data recovery provider denoted is imperative for any cloud service.

Social networking tools such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are increasingly being used by companies for marketing, recruiting and information sharing. While there is tremendous value in harnessing this collective information, organizations can't overlook how to protect it. Higher levels of human interaction equate to increases in storage volume and consequently the probability of data loss and data security vulnerabilities. Organizations therefore need to make decisions regarding if and where this social networking content is physically stored and how this information can be protected.

The growing bring-your-own-device trend also presents businesses with new challenges, as privately owned mobile phones, tablets and laptops may not be sufficiently secured. Without a concise back-up strategy for personal devices, valuable information may be lost if the personal device is damaged or stolen. Further, proprietary data could remain on the personal laptop or iPad(R) when the employee leaves the company. Companies need services that can retrieve data from damaged devices when necessary as well as professional solutions to securely delete data without damaging the device itself.

Flash storage drives and solid state disks (SSDs) in particular offer greater storage capacities and are falling in price. As flash and SSD technology become more widespread, the amount of critical company data stored on them will also grow. Users therefore need efficient ways of recovering data from flash media and SSDs. Standards have not yet been established, so manufacturers have developed their own versions of the technology. As new products hit the market quickly, data recovery engineers will have to stay up-to-speed with the necessary tools and technologies to successfully retrieve data from flash and SSDs. For flash and SSD users, this means that regular backups are even more important.

Finally, 2011 data breach stories and countless spot checks have shown time and again that confidential data has been and continues to be easily retrieved using relatively simple methods. As new technology is adopted in 2012 and older corporate and end user technology is discarded or donated to charitable institutions, organizations and consumers alike must develop strategies for securely deleting data before passing them on. This applies to all mobile devices, laptops, virtual infrastructure, USB sticks, archive volumes and memory cards that are discarded, donated or resold on the second-hand market.

"Kroll Ontrack data engineers specialize in these issues and regularly help organizations and home users with recovering lost or damaged data and advising them on data management strategies," said Johnson. "We continually invest in creating current proprietary tools and technologies to address the latest technology developments and use trends."

F5 Keeps Android Users Connected and Productive with New Secure Access Solutions

F5 Networks — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:17:26 +0000

F5 Networks, the global leader in Application Delivery Networking, today announced that its BIG-IP® Edge Client™ is the industry’s first SSL VPN solution that provides comprehensive security and mobile access for all devices running Android 4.x (codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich). F5’s free, downloadable client enhances mobile user productivity by providing accelerated client access to corporate resources via a full SSL VPN connection.

In parallel, F5 has also developed a version of its BIG-IP Edge Client for “rooted” devices, which can be used by IT professionals to extend client support for devices running previous versions of the Android OS, or for testing and demonstration purposes. Additionally, F5 is introducing enhanced support for its BIG-IP Edge Portal™, which provides managed application access to enterprise web applications such as SharePoint, wikis, and Intranet sites.

“As a recognized leader in the SSL VPN market, customers continually look to us for solutions to address their evolving IT needs,” said Mark Vondemkamp, Director of Product Management at F5. “User requests to support the latest smartphones and tablets are a great example. Our Edge Client and Edge Portal applications give users secure, convenient, and fast access to company resources from the corporate and personal devices of their choice. With leading support for Android, Linux, and Apple iOS endpoints, F5 solutions provide flexible, optimized access to empower mobile users without sacrificing IT’s ability to manage applications and infrastructures.”

With F5’s new remote access solutions and mobile applications, organizations can:

Securely Extend IT Support Capabilities and Maintain Infrastructure Safeguards
Without direct control of the individual devices they’re being asked to support, IT organizations often deny such access requests rather than risk exposure of sensitive data or materials. With F5’s new mobile applications, IT personnel can provide secure access for Android-based devices without jeopardizing their ability to protect and manage their systems.
Tailor IT Policies to Meet Specific Compliance Requirements and Business Needs
With F5® solutions, IT teams can implement customizable access policies to provide managed mobile connectivity for contractors, partners, or specific groups of employees. Organizations can also grant full network access or limited web access to specific applications, depending on business priorities and personnel requirements.
Improve User Experience and Accelerate Client Access with BIG-IP Edge Gateway
When implemented together, the BIG-IP Edge Gateway™ solution and the BIG-IP Edge Client provide accelerated application performance for Android devices, enabling users to access applications up to 10 times faster. In addition, BIG-IP Edge Client keeps smartphone and tablet users connected as they change locations, moving from LAN to a wireless network or mobile hotspot, for example.

Additional SSL VPN Solution Enhancements from F5

In conjunction with new Android-focused solutions, F5 is introducing technologies to better support organizations’ users and SSL VPN infrastructures, including:

The industry’s first remote access solutions that are truly IPv6 capable – F5’s SSL VPN offerings allow organizations to simultaneously support mixed IPv4 and IPv6 environments, helping IT teams scale and transition their infrastructures while ensuring business continuity.
Virtual editions for maximized efficiency – Customers can now deploy BIG-IP® Edge Gateway™ and WebAccelerator™ without adding new hardware, enabling organizations to better support virtual and cloud environments.
Superior remote access scalability – BIG-IP Access Policy Manager™ is now available on F5’s award-winning VIPRION® chassis, meaning customers can support up to 100,000 concurrent users at a fraction of the cost of competitors’ offerings.

Availability
F5’s BIG-IP Edge Client, BIG-IP Edge Client for rooted devices, and BIG-IP Edge Portal can be downloaded from the Google Android Market. All other F5 solutions mentioned in this announcement are available today with BIG-IP version 11.1 software.

TI’s OMAP platform powers Windows 8 tablets with advanced visual and computing capabilities

Texas Instruments — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:21:57 +0000

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) hosts an OMAP4470 processor-based tablet running on a pre-release version of Windows 8 at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, demonstrating how the latest OMAP™ 4 platform distinctly supports Microsoft's new computing experience, Windows 8, that reimagines Windows. Designed specifically to enable the ultimate tablet experience, the OMAP4470 processor's rich multimedia, end-to-end security and powerful multitasking capabilities prove the ideal match for Windows 8 key features including a fast & fluid touch-first user interface, a rich user experience with hardware accelerated graphics, an always-on-always-connected experience, and multiple security enhancements.

Secure, visually-immersive computing in HD
The OMAP4470 platform's smart multicore architecture pairs its main CPUs with several differentiated features including programmable accelerators, hardware composition engines and a dedicated ISP. Imagination Technologies' super-fast PowerVR SGX544 GPU and enhanced memory architecture add still more functionality while an OMAP-specific distributed composition architecture enables advanced image and video layering for crisp, HD visuals. These elements and more are the force behind the OMAP4470 processor's ability to enable fast and fluid multitasking in Windows 8 while maintaining ultra-low power consumption.

As tablets become more prominent in household and enterprise environments, the increased need for rich graphics and imaging is mirrored by the increased need for complete security. Tablets used for cloud-based applications, access to work documents or streaming premium content benefit from the TI's system-level M-Shield™ mobile security technology—providing the highest level of terminal and content security available today. The M-Shield solution also operates a hardware-protected, trusted execution environment (TEE), which does not require a dedicated chip or extra CPU cycles, freeing the CPUs for critical Windows 8 computing functions.

"The always on, always connected experience requires the sophistication of a processing architecture best offered by OMAP technology," said Deepu Talla, general manager, OMAP mobile computing, wireless business unit, TI. "The OMAP4470 processor makes expert use of its smart multicore architecture to enable enhanced PC and mobile computing experiences. Combining the OMAP 4 platform's unique capabilities with Microsoft's seamless interaction of touch, mouse and keyboard via Windows 8 will deliver a streamlined, fast and fluid experience."

"Reimagined, Windows 8 is a fast and fluid, touch-first OS that brings a new range of capabilities without compromise," said Aidan Marcuss, senior director of Windows Core Marketing & Ecosystem, Microsoft Corp. "Our partnership with platform leaders such as TI help take full advantage of ARM architecture, with new capabilities that enable compelling new PCs and user scenarios."

LANDesk Introduces Service Desk with Integrated Mobile Workforce and Advanced End-User Self-Service

LANDesk — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:11:18 +0000

LANDesk Software, a global leader in systems lifecycle management, endpoint security and IT service management, today announced LANDesk® Service Desk 7.5, a significant upgrade to the LANDesk IT service management (ITSM) solution. In today's always-on global workforce, IT administrators are expected to be readily available, regardless of their location or the time of day. This is becoming increasingly difficult, especially given the fact that service desk budgets are being cut and the majority of service desk personnel are reporting their headcounts will not increase in 2012. In order to better enable service desks to support end user requests while IT administrators are away from their computers, LANDesk Service Desk 7.5 focuses on a user-centric and mobile approach to support.

Service Desk 7.5 introduces its browser interface, LANDesk Web Desk, on a mobile platform. LANDesk Mobile Web Desk provides IT support staff and management with the capability to access service desk functions via a smart phone or tablet device, so that they can maintain the same level of availability and support end users have come to demand while away from their desks. LANDesk Mobile Web Desk ITSM process-handling capabilities are unlimited in that they allow staff to work with any process in any window. Mobile Web Desk is available across multiple platforms.

"We wanted to address the fact that service desk managers are increasingly mobile," said Steve Daly, CEO, LANDesk Software. "With the Mobile Web Desk functionality of 7.5, they can review service desk information or authorize requests regardless of location or the type of mobile device they may be using, ensuring that end users will receive the continuous, instantaneous support they are increasingly requiring in today's always-on workplace."

LANDesk Service Desk 7.5 also includes an enhanced version of LANDesk Management Information. This functionality provides a graphical trend view of key data metrics generated using service desk data, along with external data sources, so IT managers can track the progress of Key Performance Indicators and service performance over time to ensure alignment with business goals. This information can then be pushed out in chart form across the business to all Service Desk web interfaces, including mobile, so that senior management can gain a rounded view of performance on their smartphones or tablet devices and in turn, make more informed business decisions.

In addition to the new mobile functionality provided by Mobile Web Desk and the enhancements in Management Information, LANDesk Service Desk 7.5 also takes advantage of a popular self-service capability, the shopping cart. Recent studies indicate that as younger generations enter the workforce, they prefer to troubleshoot IT needs themselves, while older generations would rather call a service desk staff member on the phone. As baby boomers retire and the workforce becomes increasingly younger, this is a preference IT managers will need to address. With the new shopping cart functionality built into the LANDesk Service Catalogue, employees are given web-based, self-service capabilities provided through a consumer-style shopping cart feature that allows them to add a request (or multiple requests) to their shopping carts and checkout. With the Service Catalogue shopping cart, employees can now enter multiple requests at a time, review their requests before submitting and cancel requests. In addition, even when multiple services are requested through the cart selection, they can still follow their own unique fulfillment processes. This feature allows short-staffed and under-funded service desks to reduce call volumes and provides end users with the consumer style "self service" function they are increasingly demanding.

With Service Desk 7.5, LANDesk is furthering its position as a leader in service desk best practices. LANDesk is also announcing that it is one of just four service management vendors to have recently achieved PinkVERIFY v3.1 status from Pink Elephant for all 15 ITIL v3 processes. Developed by the UK government and used by thousands of organizations around the world, ITIL has become the de facto standard for IT best practices and assists organizations in providing the necessary framework for IT service management.

Additional Features of LANDesk Service Desk 7.5 Include:

New Installation Administration: Enables SaaS hosts and private cloud administrators to spin up and configure multiple instances of Service Desk through a single control panel
Enhanced Default Design: Default out-of-the box design now provides an even faster time-to-live route based on customer best practices
Extended Concurrent License Monitoring: Users can now track and manage the use of their concurrent licenses alongside their named license models for maximum accessibility
New Localization: Already available in English, French, German, Russian and Portuguese, Service Desk 7.5 extends reach to end users in Japan with Japanese language functionality

LANDesk Service Desk 7.5 is available today.

vLogix Mobile, First Mobile Virtualization Solution Ready for the Mass Market

Red Bend Software — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:54:53 +0000

Red Bend Software, the market leader in Mobile Software Management (MSM) with more than 1 billion Red Bend-Enabled(TM) devices, today announced the immediate availability of vLogix Mobile(TM) 5.0, the first Mobile Virtualization solution ready for mass-market deployment to consumer and enterprise smartphones, tablets, modems and wirelessly connected devices. Unlike other Mobile Virtualization products, vLogix Mobile is the first that can be integrated in a matter of weeks rather than months, enabling the fastest time to market.

vLogix Mobile 5.0 (formerly VLX(TM)) combines the proven performance and reliability of the industry's most widely deployed Type-1 mobile hypervisor with Red Bend's unparalleled experience in making advanced embedded technologies work within the unique complexities and resource constraints of mobile platforms.

vLogix Mobile enables two operating systems to run simultaneously, separately and securely on the same hardware for:

Extending support for legacy software on new platforms, which eliminates the need to redesign, redevelop and revalidate existing software to support new OS configurations, and
Combining separate profiles for business use and personal use on the same smartphone, known as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD).

"Mobile Virtualization solutions such as Red Bend's vLogix Mobile enable OEMs to make their devices more competitive in both feature set and price point, while enabling CIOs to meet the new challenge of BYOD," said Stacy Crook, senior analyst, Mobile Enterprise Software research, IDC. "By reusing existing software assets more cost effectively, supporting new applications more rapidly and securely separating work and life on one phone, the entire industry can benefit from Mobile Virtualization."

vLogix Mobile 5.0 provides:

Fast Integration -- Expanded management capabilities and an extensible architecture make it easier and faster for manufacturers to bring virtualized mobile devices to market. As a result, integration now takes weeks, not months--making vLogix Mobile the only Mobile Virtualization solution viable for the mass market.
Standards-Based -- Supports a pre-standard implementation of the new Virtualization Management Object (VirMO) standard proposed by Red Bend in the Open Mobile Alliance Device Management (OMA DM) Working Group--a critical step in ensuring that OEMs, operators and enterprises avoid the costly end-to-end control points found in the server virtualization market.
Over-the-Air Management -- Allows virtualized devices to be continuously managed over the air using Red Bend's market-leading solutions for device management, software management and analytics, and firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updating, used to manage more than 900 mobile device models.

vLogix Mobile is built on the VLX Type-1 mobile hypervisor from VirtualLogix, acquired by Red Bend in September 2010. The solution has been licensed by more manufacturers to virtualize more smartphones and connected devices than all other Mobile Virtualization products combined.

"Driving market adoption of advanced technologies like Mobile Virtualization requires getting the entire ecosystem to work together. For our competitors with no experience in the mobile industry, this is a daunting challenge," said Yoram Salinger, CEO of Red Bend Software. "Only Red Bend has the experience in working with every leading device manufacturer, semiconductor vendor and mobile operator to drive the adoption of new mobile technologies into more than 1 billion mobile devices. While others are working on science projects, the key is to align closely with customers and partners and to build a reliable and scalable product, and that's what we are delivering with vLogix Mobile."