Communications News articles from September 2008

Communications News archives from September 2008

Not very social.(VIEWPOINT)(Viewpoint essay)
September 1, 2008... Fifteen years ago, they were called bulletin boards. Judged by today's technologies, they were pretty clunky. You typed questions or information in a few fields and waited (and hoped) for a response. They were the Internet's first "social...

IP for youth.(SHORT TAKES)(Youth Development and Research Fund Inc.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Youth Development, New Mexico's largest social services nonprofit organization, is using an Avaya IP telephony system to improve its client services and better control its communications costs. YDI decided that Avaya IP Office fit its tight...

Switch in time.(SHORT TAKES)(AmazingMail.com uses network switches from Juniper Networks )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Scottsdale, Ariz.-based AmazingMail.com, which provides direct mail marketing solutions, has deployed Juniper Networks EX-series Ethernet switches and Secure Services Gateway (SSG) firewalls. By replacing the company's incumbent switching and...

What drives network upgrades?(Data Center)(Survey)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Today's network managers are challenged by a myriad of evolving network requirements. Network teams have always had the burden of balancing new technical architectures with the ongoing responsibility of maintaining...

Events.(Calendar)
September 1, 2008... SANS Network Security 2008, Sept. 28-Oct. 6, Las Vegas, is a training event focused on network security. Courses include penetration testing, hacker exploits, security management, forensics and more. www.sans.org 2008 BICSI Fall...

Publications.
September 1, 2008... Resource Allocation for Wireless Networks: Basics, Techniques and Applications, by Zhu Han and K.J. Ray Liu, offers basic concepts, optimization tools and application examples of providing a unified framework for crosslayer optimization of...

Spam, cybercrime linked (duh!).(Security)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... In apparently the first experiment of its kind, McAfee asked 50 people from around the world to surf the Web unprotected for 30 days. Participants from 10 countries received more than 104,000 spam e-mails throughout the course of the...

Who are those smart phone users?(Mobility)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... In light of all the interest in the new Apple iPhone, Neilson Mobile recently issued a report on just who is using smart phones, what they are paying and who pays the bills. The research firm says that in the first quarter of this year, 48...

PDU drives energy efficiency: installing these units is one effective and straightforward means of reducing server power usage.(Power Play)
September 1, 2008... A 2007 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report estimates that data centers consume approximately 61 billion kilowatt hours of energy, or about 1.5 percent of total U.S. electricity consumption. The EPA also predicts that data center power...

The biggest threat: end-users: education, processes and technology can help alleviate insider security issues.(Threat Stoppers)
September 1, 2008... Savvy administrators recognize that because end-users are privy to an organization's sensitive data, they represent a significant risk factor. Security pros, however, continue to struggle with mitigating this threat. While no single solution...

Routine tasks automated: system-management software automates provisioning of IT services for financial firm.(Beyond Testing)
September 1, 2008... In the course of less than a decade, online banking has taken off, now growing at a rate of about 27 percent per year. This is not surprising, given that it provides a more convenient option for customers and is a cost-saving move for financial...

The wisdom of simple security: DePaul University chooses an SSL VPN to connect students and staff seamlessly and easily to its wireless network.
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When DePaul University in Chicago first made wireless connectivity available to students and staff, the wireless network used basic wired equivalent privacy (WEP) authentication as an extension of traditional...

802.11n access point.(WIRELESS PRODUCTS)(Meru Networks)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The IEEE 802.11n wireless access point AP440 features four IEEE 802.11n radios that work together to provide internal redundancy, load balancing and security. The four radios support access at up to 300 Mbps each,...

Wireless access point.(WIRELESS PRODUCTS)(NETGEAR Inc.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ProSafe 802.11n dual band wireless access point supports devices based on 5-GHz 802.1 la/n or 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n technologies. The SNMP-manageable solution secures the wireless network and incorporates 802.3af PoE...

Managed access point.(WIRELESS PRODUCTS)(3Com Corp.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The dual-radio wireless LAN Managed Access Point (MAP) 39S0 with intelligent switching offers both centralized and distributed data forwarding, with the device automatically determining the best alternative based on the requirements of the...

Wireless AP enclosure.(WIRELESS PRODUCTS)(Chatsworth Products Inc. )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The 5" deep ceiling enclosure for wireless access points/bridges mounts above the drop ceiling within a single ceiling tile and contains a hinged door that opens into the office space, providing easy access to the wireless access point. This...

Historic resort fixes wireless gap: cellular coverage upgraded to provide staff and guests unfettered service.(Special Focus: Wireless)(Company overview)
September 1, 2008... The focus at The Greenbrier, a national historic landmark established in 1778, has always been on providing luxury in an historic setting, but its technology services have lagged over the years. Now, the resort, nestled in the Allegheny...

Headset choices.(Special Focus: Wireless)
September 1, 2008... Most organizations today still employ the traditional corded phone systems common to offices 20 years ago. These systems keep office workers tethered to their desks, negating the benefits of other portable technology and reducing productivity,...

Fiber plays video security role: media conversion connects surveillance networks utilizing copper-based cabling.(Facilities Management)
September 1, 2008... Whether the cabling is coax for traditional analog cameras or unshielded twisted pair (UTP) for newer IP-based cameras, copper cabling poses several issues that could limit the design or physical reach of a video security network. Integrating...

Network video recorder.(INFRASTRUCTURE PRODUCT)
September 1, 2008... Suited for IP camera-based video-surveillance systems, the i-Pro WJ-ND400 Network Video Recorder (NVR) can record up to 64 network cameras simultaneously with multi-format recording in MPEG-4 and JPEG. The NVR offers metadata-associated VMD for...

Fixed-mobile meets UC: with proper design, unified communications can enhance the FMC wireless experience.(Voice Networks)
September 1, 2008... Adapting to the demand of their mobile workforces, many businesses are beginning to implement fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) by extending their wireless networks to support voice and unified communications services in an effort to improve cost...

Athletics win with antivirus: low-cost, easy-to-deploy software defeats span at Penn State University.(Network Security)
September 1, 2008... Universities and colleges often face a more challenging IT and network security challenge than typical corporate networks. With the rise of peer-to-peer (P2P), file sharing and MP3 trading, campuses have become a haven for viruses and spyware....

Data protection with SaaS.(Network Security)
September 1, 2008... Software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings can provide small and midsize businesses (SMBs) with access to software remotely as a Web-based service. SaaS data protection provides online backup and recovery and can meet broader information-management...

High-capacity storage.(Product Spotlight: Storage)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The DATABeast is a high-capacity, high-density, full-service storage system that stores up to 336 TB and scales to accommodate up to 4 PB in a single, easy-to-manage system. The solution includes management tools necessary for thin...

E-mail archiving appliance.(Product Spotlight: Storage)(IntraDyn Inc.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The ComplianceVault eSeries 2000 and 4000 provide 2 TB and 4 TB of storage to capture and archive all company e-mail on a continuous basis. Both models use server-class SATA hard drives, feature RAID 5 protection, include dual power supplies...

Disaster recovery solution.(Product Spotlight: Storage)(NovaStor Corp.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Designed for Windows-based PCs and servers, NovaBACKUP 10 empowers users with the choice to create backups and store data locally or online. The data-protection and disaster-recovery software includes disk image recovery, which takes a snapshot...

NAS gateway.(Product Spotlight: Storage)(ONStor)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... The data center-class Cougar 6000 NAS gateway features redundant modular architecture, heterogeneous storage virtualization and advanced multicore storage network processors. Built into a 2U cluster-in-a-box design with eight GigE ports and...

Mobile storage.(Product Spotlight: Storage)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Little Big Disk Quadra 1TB includes dual 2.5" hard disks that work together in RAID 0 configuration to enable burst transfer speeds up to 110 Mbps via integrated eSATA or 80 Mbps via integrated FireWire800 interfaces. The fanless solution...

Tape drive.(Product Spotlight: Storage)(International Business Machines Corp.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Providing information security with support for encryption and key management, the IBM System Tape Drive stores up to 1 TB of uncompressed data per tape cartridge, with a native data rate of 160 megabytes per second. The TS1130 uses giant...

External storage drives.(Product Spotlight: Storage)(MicroNet Technology Inc.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Available in 500-GB and 1-TB models, G-Force GreenDrive external USB and eSATA disk drives utilize a variable speed disk mechanism that increases rotational velocity of the disk in response to host demand, resulting in virtually no performance...

E-mail archive solution.(Product Spotlight: Storage)(Tangent Computer Inc.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... To preserve e-mail, digital faxes and instant messages, the DataCove 8000L network appliance offers SAS, RAID 5 and RAID 6, unalterable archival, 256-bit AES encryption, indexing and deduplication. The appliance has 12 hot-swap drive bays and...

Wireless keyboard/mouse.(General Products)(Microsoft Corp.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Designed to complement Windows Vista OS, the Wireless Laser Desktop 7000 includes an ergonomic keyboard and rechargeable, high-definition laser mouse with a charging station. The keyboard features hot keys for one-touch access to most-used Web...

E-discovery archive service.(General Products)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... With the managed service ActiveVault 4.0, enterprises can consolidate, archive and manage inactive data from virtually any media source into an accessible format in order to apply and enforce retention policies and legal holds to ensure data is...

Peripheral device control.(General Products)(DeviceLock)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Delivering access control at plug-and-play ports and drives, DeviceLock 6.3 prevents employees from using corporate or personal mobile computing resources to extract information beyond the scope of security policy guidelines. Featuring...

BlackBerry monitoring.(General Products)(Zenprise Inc.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Zenprise 3.3 monitors the overall health of the entire BlackBerry infrastructure and automatically troubleshoots BlackBerry end-user challenges with detailed detection of user-specific issues such as low battery life, weak signal strength or...

Utility bills key to greener IT: increasing cost of electricity puts pressure on IT departments to conserve.(GreenTech)(Survey)(Column)
September 1, 2008... Due to the steady increase in the cost of electricity over the last few years, many organizations have begun to focus on reducing energy use. When looking for ways to lower the utility bill, the spotlight often shines on the company energy hog:...