Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer predicts that more than 500 million people will be using Windows 8 by the end of next year, AFP reports.

Ballmer, who was speaking at a forum in Seoul, South Korea, also expects Windows 7 to hit the 350 million device milestone later this year.

Windows 8 was described by Ballmer as the “deepest, broadest, and most impactful” operating system the company has made to date. He promised the “best economic opportunity” for hardware makers and Metro application developers who opt to support the upcoming operating system.

Corporate and enterprise demand have boosted Microsoft’s sales of Windows 7, Bloomberg reports, following the more than half decade of Windows XP success – and inadvertently helped along by the sudden requirement to shift away from Windows Vista.

One of the reasons why Windows XP remains so popular is the reluctance to upgrade to Vista in the first place. With many legacy applications still running suitably well on the decade-old platform, there was no incentive to upgrade. Vista suffered with poor backwards compatibility and performance issues, which led to many upgrading to Windows 7 as soon as it was released.

Windows 7 shot ahead of Vista and became the fastest-selling operating system to date. According to Net Applications, Windows XP has a declining share of 46 percent, while Windows 7 has a rising share of more than 38 percent.

At the current trend, Windows 7 could overtake Windows XP in October – coincidentally the month slated for the forthcoming release of Windows 8.

Windows 8 will ‘disappoint’: Analysts cut price targets on HP, Dell
Microsoft faces Windows 8 trouble if it fails to ship in October

Windows 8 should be an interesting and testing time for Microsoft. While the upcoming operating system will run on PCs and tablets alike, the ultrabook market is still developing – in competition with Apple’s MacBook Air – and will likely boost sales in the slimmer and more aesthetically attractive notebooks.

Gartner says more than 100 million tablets will be sold in 2012, with the figure tripling to more than 320 million tablets in 2015. The research firm estimates that Windows 8 will gain more than 12 percent of the tablet market, dwarfed by Apple’s nearly 60 percent, with the iPad.

Last week, BMO analysts cut Hewlett-Packard and Dell’s price targets, after one of its analysts claimed that “Windows 8 will prove to be a disappointment, at least out of the gate.” Analysts do not think that Windows 8 will be as successful as Windows 7 was and continues to be, and that PC sales could suffer as a result.

Having said that, if Windows 7 continues to sell hot off the shelves and overtakes Windows XP in time for an October arrival, Windows 8 could push through the expected worst of it and prove analysts wrong.

Source:http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-57439338-501465/microsoft-500-million-will-run-windows-8-in-2013/

Leap Motion has officially set the new standard for how we use desktop devices.

The world’s most accurate 3-D motion control device is said to revolutionize the way users control their laptops and desktop computers.

Leap Motion’s newest creation offers a motion control interaction space that will allow users to operate traditional desktop computer elements — windows, folders and icons — and interact with applications, using gestures made in the air.

By creating a three-dimensional interaction space, consisting of 4 cubic feet, The Leap controls the computer more precisely and quickly than a mouse or touchscreen, and as reliably as a keyboard, according to a statement released by Leap Motion.

Information Week’s Thomas Claburn notes that the Leap device produces an infrared light that reflects off objects in the four-cubic foot visible to its sensors, much like Microsoft’s Kinect.

Accordingly, The Leap device then interprets that data to direct the movement of objects on the screen of the connected computer.

“It was this gap between what’s easy in the real world but very complicated to do digitally, like molding a piece of clay or creating a 3-D model, that inspired us to create the Leap and fundamentally change how people work with their computers,” Leap Motion CEO and co-founder Michael Buckwald said in a statement.

Leap Motion expects its Leap device to be useful for basic computing tasks like navigating an operating system or browsing through web pages, 2D or 3D drawing, manipulating 3D data visualization systems, and playing computer games, including first-person shooters like “Rage” and “Call of Duty.”

Based in San Francisco, Leap Motion is a motion-control software and hardware company that develops 3-D motion-control and motion-sensing technology.

The $70 device is slated to ship “this winter,” as Leap Motion says it has already begun accepting requests for free developer kits.

Source:http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/344071/20120522/leap-motion-3d-technology-laptops-desktop.htm

The vibe Silicon Valley must be getting from the masses is that low cost, pint-sized PCs are the wave of the future, hence why we’re seeing so many of them recently. The most popular of the bunch right now is the Raspberry Pi PC, but lo and behold, VIA is jumping in the ring with a $49 APC Android PC.

“APC brings the familiarity and convenience of Android to the PC at a US$49 price point that will open up exciting new markets and applications,” said Richard Brown, VP of Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. “Like a bicycle for your mind, APC will enable more people than ever before to explore the vast online universe.”

The system consists of a Neo-ITX motherboard that can hooked up to a TV or PC monitor. It measures just 17cm x 8.5cm, can be housed in a standard mini-ITX or micro-ATX chassis, and consumes just 4 watts at idle and 13.5 watts under load. An ARM-based VIA processor clocked at 800MHz does the heavy lifting and is helped by 512MB of DDR3 memory, 2GB of NAND flash storage, and built-in 2D/3D graphics with support for up to 720p. It also has an HDMI port, VGA port, four USB 2.0 ports, audio outputs, a microSD card slot, GbE LAN port, and a custom build of Android 2.3.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/VIA-Hops-on-the-Low-Cost-PC-Bandwagon-with-a-49-APC-Android-System/

If you dig the all-in-one form factor, the Lenovo IdeaCentre A720 is about as compelling as it gets. After showing off the A720 at CES, Lenovo now has the AIO available for purchase, reports The Verge.

The A720 boasts a large 27-inch screen with 10-point multitouch support, and the display itself can be adjusted from -5 to 90 degrees. The highest-end version of the computer will have an Intel Core i7-3610QM processor, a 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT620 graphics card, 8GB of DDR3-1600MHz memory, and a 1TB hard drive with a 64GB SSD. Buyers will also get a wireless keyboard and mouse, mini optical wheel mouse, Blu-ray combo ODD, built-in WiFi, an HD 720p webcam, 6-in-1 card reader, and IR remote, and HDMI in and out.

The aforementioned version of the A720 starts at $2,099, with two other versions starting at $1,949 and $1,849. The Verge noted that in any configuration, the A720 costs quite a bit more than what Lenovo said it would this January; around CES time, the company thought it would hit the market at closer to $1,299.

Lenovo expects shipments to land around the second week of June.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/Lenovos-IdeaCentre-A720-Now-Available-to-Tingle-All-Ten-Fingers/

Get Online @ Home, the government scheme intended to get the last eight million UK citizens online, will offer discounted refurbished PCs with a year’s worth of broadband through TalkTalk, for £159.

Headlined by UK’s Digital Champion Martha Lane Fox, the scheme is also supported by Microsoft, Simplify Digital and a host of computer hardware recycling companies. It is part of the GO ON UK initiative launched last month to boost the digital capability of UK SMEs, charities and the remaining 8.2 million adults who have never used the Internet.

The initiative is a successor to the Race Online 2012, a two-year campaign that got 2 million Brits using the Internet for the first time.

Cheap and cheerful

“We know that the cost of buying and connecting a PC is a significant barrier and so being able to offer a PC with a year’s broadband for under £160 will be a lifeline for many,” Lane Fox told the Telegraph.

Get Online @ Home will provide refurbished desktop computers and laptops pre-loaded with Windows 7 and a Talk Talk Internet connection, ready to use out of the box, to anyone in the UK.

The price for a desktop PC without the Internet connection is £149, reduced to £99 for charities and people receiving certain benefits. Every computer comes with a 15″ flat screen monitor, keyboard, mouse, CD drive and USB ports. Contents inside may vary, but customers can count on at least a Pentium 4 2GHz processor, 1Gb of RAM and a 40Gb hard drive.

Laptops are slightly more expensive, with a £199 price tag, reduced to £169 for those less fortunate. Each will have a minimum of 1 hour standby battery life, a webcam, several USB ports, and at least a Celeron processor with 1Gb of RAM and a 40Gb hard drive.

The scheme has delivered discounted hardware since March 2011, but the new partnership with TalkTalk involves a cut in prices for computers, or broadband, depending on how you look at it.

If broadband, priced at modest £5 a month, is bought together with a Get Online @ Home PC, TalkTalk will give customers a £50 discount, making a year’s worth of broadband connection cost just £10 on top of the cost of the computer.

The offer includes 40GB monthly download allowance, a free wireless router, free set-up and unlimited evening and weekend calls to UK landlines. However, customers will also have to take TalkTalk’s £14.50/month line rental (which has to be paid to use a landline phone anyway).

“The Internet connects and entertains, educates and informs – it even saves money. Yet there are children growing up today in towns and cities that are fully broadband enabled who do not have internet access at home to support their education. TalkTalk believes that every family should be able to have safe and affordable internet access and, as theUK’s leading value for money broadband provider, this belief is at the very heart of our business. We are proud to be a founder partner of Go ON UK and make this vision a reality,” said Dido Harding, CEO of TalkTalk, at the launch of GO ON UK last month.

It is unclear why Get Online @ Home chose TalkTalk as its partner, taking into the account the company’s abysmal performance in Ofcom’s annual customer satisfaction survey.

Last month also saw the launch of the HomeKey – a £70 bootable computer on a USB running Linux, designed to give older or less able people an easy-to-use PC on cheap hardware. HomeKey’s creator, SimplicITy was very critical of the Race Online scheme, saying that the problem iis the difficulty of using Windows, not the price of hardware, and claiming that many of those trained by the initiative will have failed to carry on using their systems once the training is complete.

Source:http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/government-scheme-offers-pc-with-broadband-for-159-79070

US computer maker Dell on Tuesday reported a 33 percent drop in profits in a disappointing quarterly report for former market leader.

The company, which has slipped to third place in the global PC market, said its profit in the first fiscal quarter fell to $635 million.

Revenue in the quarter was $14.4 billion, a four percent decrease from the same period the previous year.

Dell said however the firm was moving away from its traditional PC base to services.

“We continued to shift the mix of our business during a challenging environment,” said Brian Gladden, Dell’s chief financial officer.

“Our enterprise solutions and services businesses now account for 50 percent of our gross margin, and we’ll continue to make the necessary investments to maintain our progress.”

Texas-based Dell, once the biggest PC maker, has fallen to third place behind market leader Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo, and is just barely ahead of fourth place Acer Group.

Dell last month said it was buying Wyse Technology to expand its business offerings in the Internet “cloud” in the face of softening demand for traditional computing hardware.

Last year, Dell said it would halt sales of its Android tablet computer in the US market, failing to gain traction against rivals such as Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Apple’s iPad.

Source:http://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/computer/294682/dell-profit-plunges-on-disappointing-sales

You may know that RAM (random access memory) is computer memory and that it affects the speed of PCs, laptops and handheld electronic devices. But is there any benefit to upgrading and adding more RAM to your computer?

The amount of RAM in your system is the primary factor in how fast it boots up, launches programs, navigates between them and responds to your inputs. If you have too little RAM for the amount of tasks you ask your system to perform, it will run slowly, freeze or crash.

Upgrading RAM doesn’t necessarily make programs run faster; it lets your system handle more tasks simultaneously. Let’s imagine your computer is a home office. The hard drive is like a filing cabinet where your data and applications are stored. RAM is the desk in your office.

Every time you launch a program, it’s as if you take a file from your filing cabinet and put it on your desk. Larger applications take up more space on your desk. A small desk will quickly run out of space to hold additional files. A larger desk (more RAM) allows your system to run more programs at the same time without performance lag.

When you don’t have enough RAM to support all the programs you want to run, your computer will file away what you’re not actively using to make room to run the new application. Let’s say you’re surfing the Internet when you launch Photoshop. Because Photoshop is a large program, it requires a lot of RAM to run.

If your computer doesn’t have enough RAM to run both Photoshop and an Internet browser, the system will push the files for the browser out of RAM and onto your hard drive. When you navigate back to your browser, the system has to retrieve the data from the hard drive to re-launch your Web-surfing capability.

This process takes longer than accessing a program that’s actively running. If you have enough RAM to run both applications, your system can leave the Internet browser fully functioning while you use Photoshop, allowing you to use both applications.

Every time your system has to dump data from RAM to make room for something else, or go to the hard drive to retrieve data to run a program, it takes time. This leads to a less responsive system. If you instruct your system to launch an application that it can’t support, it may crash — imagine the desk in the office scenario buckling under the weight of too many files.

Most applications instruct your system to automatically launch certain files from their program every time you start your computer. This makes it faster for the program to load when you select it. However, having multiple programs launch to your RAM simultaneously slows your system’s boot-up if you don’t have enough RAM.

When buying a new computer, few people purchase enough RAM to accommodate their future use. Software writers expect that systems will support progressively larger amounts of RAM in the future, so they often write bulkier programs that require more resources to run. As you install system and program updates, the applications grow larger. Suddenly, the RAM that was more than sufficient when you bought your system is now lacking.

After nearly a decade in the computer-repair business, I’ve never had anyone complain that his or her computer had too much RAM. The most common grievance: a slow, unresponsive system. RAM is the most noticeable upgrade for the average user. Luckily, it’s relatively easy and inexpensive to add more RAM to your computer or laptop, resulting in a good bang for your buck compared to other hardware upgrades.

Source:http://www.standard.net/stories/2012/05/22/ram-upgrade-lets-computer-handle-more-tasks-once

Iron Bow Technologies LLC, an information technology solutions provider, announced today that it has been awarded the Marine Corps Common Hardware Suite (MCHS) End User Devices contract by the United States Navy. This Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract enables the United States Marine Corps to purchase commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) computers, servers and other advanced IT products.

The contract has an estimated value of $775 million with a three year base period of performance with the option to be extended for an additional two years. The MCHS End User Devices contract provides the Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) with a vehicle to purchase COTS ruggedized and non-ruggedized desktops and laptops, servers and other computer equipment and accessories.

“Iron Bow’s extensive history of delivering innovative information technology solutions to defense agencies has been integral to our company’s success in securing multiple ID/IQ contracts with the military services this year,” said Rene LaVigne, President and CEO of Iron Bow. “The MCHS End User Devices contract will enable Iron Bow to provide computers and other endpoints necessary for the Navy to fulfill its mission both in the field and at home.”

The MCHS End User Devices contract is the second ID/IQ defense contract awarded to Iron Bow since the beginning of 2012. Earlier this year, the Air Force awarded Iron Bow the Network Centric Solutions-2 (NETCENTS-2) Products contract; and the Army extended Iron Bow’s Information Technology Enterprise Solutions — 2 Hardware (ITES-2H) contract to August 2013.

By awarding these contracts to Iron Bow, the military services have chosen a partner that delivers innovation, world-class expertise and mission assurance. Iron Bow is one of the few small businesses to offer a comprehensive portfolio of products and services from an unparalleled team of technology partners, along with resources such as skilled technical support, best-in-class customer service and real-time program management.

Source:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-navy-awards-marine-corps-common-hardware-suite-end-user-devices-contract-to-iron-bow-2012-05-22

At the beginning of every year, I take stock and reassess things. This evaluation ranges from the personal — my ongoing self-promise to lose weight and exercise more — to the technological, and in the latter category, I thoroughly examine my computing hardware, software, and services setups with an eye toward changing things where possible to be more efficient and not simply continuing to do things the same way out of some misguided sense of tradition.

This year, I’ve done horribly, at least on the technological side. Virtually none of what I intended to change this year has come to pass. An expected move from Microsoft Word to Evernote and then OneNote as my main writing tool has met with an ignominious end, although I’ve achieved a half goal of sorts by using Word against a SkyDrive-based data store. I declared that I had purchased my last point-and-shoot camera, expecting that some future smartphone would finally include a decent enough camera, only to have that camera up and die, forcing a new purchase. And while I had milked my aging Core 2 Quad-based desktop far past a reasonable time period — heck, three entire Intel processor generations have occurred since that machine was current — I figured I’d simply move to a docked laptop configuration of some kind — I ended up buying yet another behemoth tower PC recently.

So much for aiming for the future.
To be fair, my workload isn’t typical, and it’s certainly not representative of an average knowledge worker or consumer. I don’t play games on a PC at all, but I do use a lot of virtual machines (VMs), both for testing and development purposes — and being able to utilize Hyper-V in Windows 8 on my main desktop and then move VMs as needed to a Windows Server-based box was certainly part of the rationalization for this purchase.

Still, my inability to move beyond the comfortable, easily expandable tower computer is somewhat troubling. I make a point of replacing my laptop once a year to keep up with current trends — again, something that’s specific to my work needs and not representative of normal behavior — and have been anticipating a future generation of Windows 8-based portable devices. Given this, I should have waited.
In fact, while I understand that few businesses, IT pros, and power users are actively considering moving to Windows 8 anytime soon — indeed, the reaction I’ve seen from these audiences to Windows 8 has been universally negative — the hardware that will accompany this release will be quite interesting. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that this year will see a complete revamping of the PC, for both desktop and portable machines.

Some of this is already happening, thanks to the ongoing release of Intel’s third-generation Core processors, codenamed Ivy Bridge, which became available first in desktop form — thus my previously mentioned purchase — and are now starting to appear in portable machines as well. Ivy Bridge chipsets utilize a new 22nm manufacturing process that results in dramatic power management gains over the previous-generation, 32nm, chipsets while offering slightly better performance as well. So even in PCs based on a previous design, the benefits are immediate.
Where things get interesting, of course, is in the new designs. And even though Windows 8 is still months away from fruition, PC makers are already shipping some innovative new designs that are worth considering.

On the desktop PC side, there are two very interesting trends that I think speak to the future of this market — which, while diminished in the face of a strong preference for mobile computers, will no doubt continue for certain uses and customer types. The first has been around since Apple shipped its first flat-screen iMac: all-in-one PCs, which now every major PC maker has embraced and even given their own spin.

All-in-ones are fairly well understood and seem to deliver real value, but I’m also interested in the second desktop trend, which is for compact computers. A few years back, these wafer-thin PCs were typically served by inadequate, netbook-type components, but today there are various models that use modern, Ivy Bridge hardware. The most impressive, perhaps, is the recently announced Lenovo ThinkCentre M92p “tiny” PC, which looks more like an external optical drive than the powerful PC it really is and is reasonably priced (well under $1,000).

Things are, of course, more interesting in the mobile space. We’re currently seeing a boom in what I think of as the second generation of Ultrabooks, as well as a confusing lineup of sort-of-Ultrabooks (such as HP’s Sleekbooks) that don’t quite qualify to use Intel’s Ultrabook name. (Some utilize AMD chips, for example.) These machines are impressive, and even on the first-generation Ultrabook I’m currently using — an ASUS Zenbook UX31 — the balance of power and portability is impressive. This is a 13-inch machine with an amazing 1600 x 900 resolution screen that weighs just 3 pounds and boots pre-release versions of Windows 8 in single-digit seconds.
Ultrabooks, however, are going to get even better, thanks to Ivy Bridge chipsets, backlit keyboards, and more form factor and design choices from a variety of PC makers. While the original generation of Ultrabooks was clearly, um, inspired by the MacBook Air — the UX31 I’m using is a veritable rip-off, design-wise: PC makers have gotten the memo and many are applying their own design language to the devices.

Ultrabooks, however, are just the start. Windows 8 will usher in a new era of tablet devices, or what we used to call Tablet PCs, and these will range from slate-type devices (tablets) with screens of 7 inches and up (with the sweet spot no doubt being in the 10-inch range) to hybrid-type devices, including convertible laptops, that blur the line between Ultrabooks and tablets.

I’m particularly interested in the notion of carting around a slate-type tablet that is in fact a real Intel-type PC, and using it on the go as I now use an iPad, for touch-based reading, media consumption, and light email and web browsing. But tethered on a desk to a large screen, keyboard, and mouse, this type of machine becomes, in effect, a full-powered desktop computer. And that means I have one less device to carry around with me, assuming of course that the battery life is adequate.

These devices will, I think, make today’s traditional laptops look like the dinosaurs they are. And we’re going to wonder how we ever lived without them. Naturally, these machines will work best with Windows 8, given that system’s innate multi-touch capabilities and superior power management. I wonder if that will be enough for today’s holdouts to give Windows 8 a second chance.
Whatever happens, I can tell you this: I’m never buying another desktop PC again. Seriously.

Source:http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/tablets/rethinking-pc-143155

DURABILIT B.V., based in the Netherlands, a leading independent supplier of CO2 neutral IT solutions and refurbished hardware, has been nominated for the prestigious Sustainable Energy Europe Awards 2012.

The awards are an initiative started by the European Commission in 2005 and highlight the most outstanding and innovative European projects in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable energy. DURABILIT strives towards a 100% CO2 emission neutral IT world and the European Commission recognized its significant and proven contribution to the EU 2020 objectives.

The winners will be announced on 19 June 2012 at the Sustainable Energy Europe Awards Ceremony, during the EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW). The EUSEW conference is expected to attract at least 4000 participants from 50+ countries and to have more than 500 hosting events across 30+ countries. The EUSEW is the core activity of the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign.

DURABILIT has been nominated in the category “Consuming” for its green and CO2 neutral IT solutions and Greener Network Calculator, which DURABILIT developed together with Prof. Dr. Ir. Harold Krikke of the Open University in the Netherlands. The DURABILIT Greener Network Calculator enables customers to determine the total CO2 reduction that can be achieved when re-using products like IT hardware instead of buying new hardware. Possible reductions in CO2 emissions range from 35-90%. Apart from a reduction in CO2 emissions, the use of refurbished network hardware also helps to dramatically reduce costs (TCO) by 30-90%, all this while being of the same quality as new equipment.

“The fact that we have been nominated for such a prestigious European award is proof that our research, knowledge and CO2 neutral IT solutions is seen as relevant by the European Commission and the industry,” says Korfmacher. DURABILIT has been promoting the implementation of green IT solutions, IT Asset Management and use of used routers and switches since it was founded in 2005. As such, DURABILIT also acts as a CO2 Advisor to its customers.

Its customer base ranges from large multinational corporations to small and medium sized companies. It also advises government agencies on Green IT, CO2 neutral IT solutions and the most efficient use of IT Assets and Resources.

Source:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/market-leader-in-used-network-hardware-is-finalist-for-prestigious-sustainable-energy-europe-awards-2012-an-initiative-by-the-european-commission-152535635.html

Taiwanese hardware manufacturer VIA has announced a new product called the Android PC System (APC), a seven-inch ARM board that ships with a custom version of the Android mobile operating system. The device will be available in July for $49.

The APC includes a VIA ARM11 SoC, 512MB of RAM, 2GB of flash storage, VGA and HDMI video outputs, speaker and microphone jacks, a microSD slot, an ethernet port, and four USB ports. It also reportedly supports hardware-accelerated video decoding. According to VIA, the board consumes only 4 watts when idle and 13.5 watts under maximum load.

The Raspberry Pi foundation’s $35 computer, which launched earlier this year, attracted considerable interest from Linux hobbyists and embedded computing enthusiasts. The foundation partnered with two manufacturers, but has struggled to meet demand for the product. VIA could help fill the unmet demand for a low-cost ARM system that is suitable for the hobbyist market.

VIA’s computer will ship as a bare board without a case. The board, which measures 7 inches by 3.5 inches, is described by VIA as conforming with the new “Neo-ITX” form factor. The included software environment is based on Android 2.3, but has been tailored to work better with keyboard and mouse input devices. The APC has more USB ports and twice as much RAM as the $35 Raspberry Pi. By way of comparison, the tiny $74 Android computer that surfaced last week has a higher-end Cortex-A8 CPU, a WiFi antenna, and Android 4.0.

The market for low-cost Linux systems is becoming increasingly diverse, with offerings at several different price points and form factors. This is a win for enthusiasts who have more choices to pick from for their hobby projects.

Source:http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/05/another-tiny-computer-vias-49-apc-offers-android-hdmi-video-out/

MobileDemand, the nation’s leading provider of Rugged Tablet PC systems in Transportation, announced today that the xTablet T7000 rugged tablet PC is now Gobi 3000 certified. Gobi allows the computer hardware to access the 3G global networks provided by various wireless carriers.

MobileDemand users of xTablets equipped with Gobi 3000 will be able to take advantage of high speed mobile networks, embedded GPS capabilities and a Gobi application programming interface. All of this can be done at speeds up to 14.4 Mbps downlink and 5.76 Mbps uplink.

“Many of our customers have field operations that are mission-critical to their business. With the xTablet T7000 with Gobi 3000, they can extend enterprise applications beyond the four walls so that mobile workers can get the information they need to be more efficient and productive at the point of work,” says Bob Zink, MobileDemand Vice-President of Sales and Marketing.

In industries such as field service, transportation and public sector, it’s vital for employees in the field to have a wireless connection at all times. Whether it’s used by a manager, dispatcher or other field worker, Gobi 3000 is a go-to solution that puts an end to connectivity limitations. Now, real-time information such as asset tracking, route optimization and work order management can be enabled with the MobileDemand Rugged Tablet PC, the ultimate productivity tool.

MobileDemand xTablets are built military rugged to withstand the rigors of real-world field applications. They are MIL-STD 810G compliant and have an Ingress (Sealing) Rating of up to IP65, which means they have been tested to survive pressured water, temperature extremes, rain, humidity, salt, sand, dust, shock, vibration and 26 consecutive drops up to 5 feet. xTablets are full Windows 7 PCs and are powered by Intel processors to provide all the performance needed to handle graphic and data intensive applications. They offer hot-swappable and high capacity batteries for all-day use and several input options such as pen-stylus, numeric keypad, on-screen or full QWERTY keyboard. They provide all-light readable displays, color cameras, and optional bar code and credit card scanners (on the xTablet T7000 and xTablet T8700). Optional cradles, mounts and accessories are also available.

The MobileDemand xTablet T7000 Gobi 3000 has been certified on the T-Mobile and Verizon 3G Networks. MobileDemand customers with a rugged tablet PC with Gobi 3000 who currently use these networks can realize all of the advantages of staying connected. Employees, customers and partners can now work together from wherever they are and improve processes and customer experiences to achieve sustainable growth.

Source:http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/720944

Google has completed its $12.5 billion purchase of device maker Motorola Mobility in a deal that poses new challenges for the Internet’s most powerful company as it tries to shape the future of mobile computing.

The deal closed Tuesday, nine months after Google Inc. made a surprise announcement that it wanted to expand into the hardware business with the most expensive and riskiest acquisition in its 14-year history. The purchase pushes Google deeper into the cellphone business, a market it entered four years ago with the debut of its Android software, now the chief challenger to Apple Inc.’s iPhones.

In Motorola, Google gets a cellphone pioneer that has struggled in recent years. Motorola hasn’t produced a mass-market hit since it introduced the Razr cellphone in 2005. Once the No. 2 cellphone maker, Motorola now ranks eighth with 2 percent of the worldwide market share, according to Gartner.

As had been expected, Google CEO Larry Page immediately named one of his top lieutenants, Dennis Woodside, as Motorola’s CEO. He replaces Sanjay Jha, 49, who will stay on just long enough to assist in the ownership change.

Woodside, 43, has spent the past three years immersed in online advertising as president of Google’s America region, which accounted for $17.5 billion of Google’s revenue last year. Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. booked $13.1 billion in revenue during its final year as an independent company.

Nevertheless, Woodside’s background in online advertising is likely to raise questions about whether he is the best choice to oversee a company that specializes in making smartphones, tablet computers and cable-TV boxes.

“It’s a bit concerning because online advertising is quite different than the hardware business,” Gartner Inc. analyst Carolina Milanesi said. “Google is so focused on advertising that it doesn’t consider that kind of thing.”

Google depends on digital ads for 96 percent of its revenue, which totaled $38 billion last year.

In a statement, Page praised Woodside as an outstanding leader who has “been phenomenal at building teams and delivering on some of Google’s biggest bets.”
The takeover became possible only after government regulators were satisfied that the acquisition wouldn’t stifle competition in the smartphone market. China removed the final regulatory hurdle by granting its approval Saturday. Regulators in the U.S. and Europe had cleared the deal three months ago.

Google wants Motorola largely for its trove of 17,000 cellphone patents, which the search company can use to defend Android phones against lawsuits accusing them of copying key features from the iPhone.

But in recent months, Google has been signaling that it has been drawing up more ambitious plans for the newly acquired hardware business.

Macquarie Securities analyst Benjamin Schachter believes Google is particularly interested in developing a snazzier tablet computer powered by its Android software to compete against Apple’s hot-selling iPad and Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle Fire.

Owning a handset and tablet manufacturer will also allow Google to exert more control over how Android runs on the devices. That has been difficult for Google to do because it gives away Android to other hardware manufacturers, which can tweak the software to suit their own agenda.

In moving beyond its expertise in search and software into manufacturing a wide range of equipment, Google will test its ability to keep Android partners, shareholders and employees happy.

Google will have to reassure its Android partners such as Samsung Electronics Co. and HTC Corp. that Motorola’s devices won’t get souped-up versions of the software or receive other preferential treatment.

If it appears Google is favoring Motorola, manufacturers might consider building their own mobile operating system or defect to Microsoft Corp.’s Windows software, which is getting a major facelift this year.

“This gives Google a chance to develop and showcase a ‘next generation’ device for mobile computing,” said N. Venkat Venkatraman, a Boston University professor specializing in technology and management. “But it could also create a complex issue for Google. How do you balance the desire to create something that consumers love without upsetting the rest of the Android ecosystem?”

Milanesi suspects Google might also try to design a Motorola smartphone that caters to the needs of companies and government agencies.

“Like almost everything Google does, I think they will try a lot of different things and then do whatever is best for them,” Milanesi said.

In a statement Tuesday, Motorola spokeswoman Jennifer Weyrauch-Erickson said the plan under Google’s ownership is to make “fewer, but bigger launches.” She said Woodside wasn’t available for an interview.

Motorola’s cable-TV boxes could provide Google with a springboard for delivering more of its services, including advertising, to living rooms. However, cable companies control the market for set-top boxes, and they resist any intrusion into their realm.

Google also will likely have to do some hand-holding with investors who have been worried about Motorola’s troubles eroding Google’s hefty profit margins.

“If it looks like Motorola is just a lab or toy for Google, investors are going to be asking themselves whether the company is spreading itself too thin,” Venkatraman said.
As its line of smartphones has waned in popularity, Motorola has suffered losses totaling $1.7 billion during the past three years. Google has earned $25 billion over the same stretch.

Page already has decided to operate Motorola separately partly because of the contrasting fortunes of the two companies. That will make it easier for investors to track how the different lines of business are faring. For now, Motorola will continue to have its headquarters in Libertyville, Ill., far from Google’s Silicon Valley home in Mountain View, Calif.

Google shares fell $14, or more than 2 percent, to $600.11 in early afternoon trading Tuesday.

Turning around Motorola will likely require layoffs, a painful process that belies Google’s carefully cultivated image as a cuddly employer.

Google laid off about 300 people in 2008 after it paid $3.2 billion to acquire online advertising service DoubleClick Inc., which was previously the biggest deal in the company’s history. The cutbacks represented about one-quarter of the workforce that Google inherited from DoubleClick. If Google imposes a similar reduction on Motorola’s 20,500-employee payroll, it would translate into about 5,000 layoffs.

Taking on so many new employees also raises the risk of cultural clashes with the 33,000 people already working at Google.

Motorola Mobility is one half of the old Motorola Inc. It split at the beginning of last year. The other half, Motorola Solutions Inc., is still independent. It sells police radios, barcode scanners and other products aimed at government and corporate customers.

Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ifiep9HTE7dh2kQ46ZWjqvhE0zUw?docId=8d5f3b5c915a42d9a13a0a306d07a7a8

Vizio is no stranger to defying the odds.

Consumers don’t have to wait long to see Vizio launch what could be one of the biggest disruptions to the computer business in years. The Irvine, Calif.-based company, located in an area between Los Angeles and San Diego, down the road from a Christmas tree farm, plans next month to launch a line of computers. It will sell two ulta-thin notebooks, a laptop and two desktop computers that feature high-style design. And leveraging its household name in millions of living rooms, its computers will be designed to be easy to set up and get going right out of the box.

The pitch is simple: Vizio aims to give consumers computers a fit and finish that rivals Apple’s Macintosh, yet running the familiar Microsoft Windows software that powers 90% of the world’s computers. Vizio plans to pull this off with a lineup of stylish computers in carefully machined aluminum bodies carved by robots. And as it did with its flat-screen TVs, it will do so at competitive prices.

“PCs have become a sea of black plastic,” says Vizio Chief Technology Officer Matt McRae, describing the lineup of Windows-based computers from other manufacturers, many of which focus on corporate customers where design is an afterthought. “We’re building a product people want.”

Vizio gets input from suppliers

In the process, Vizio has torn up the playbook on how PCs are designed and marketed. It is pioneering a sort of casual joint venture, which gives makers of parts that go inside the computers great say in how the system is designed.

Vizio is taking the role of a general contractor, overseeing the big-picture but relying on partners for technical help. The computers’ innards are optimized with suggestions from Microsoft and Intel, the companies that know the key components best and spend billions annually on research and development. Vizio has just a few hundred employees, and a small staff of engineers.

“Vizio is doing a good job listening and taking advice from the experiences on how to optimize hardware and software,” says Steve Guggenheimer, vice president of Microsoft’s OEM division, adding that Microsoft is willing to provide technical assistance to any of its partners.

Intel collaborates with all the PC makers that use its chips. But Vizio contacted the computer chipmaker very early in the process and “wanted to learn all we had to teach them,” says Intel’s Gary Richman, director of marketing for the PC client solution division that cooks up innovated designs that use the company’s chips.

That leaves Vizio to focus on the consumer experience, making sure the PC looks and works the way it should, right from the get-go. As evidence of its commitment to consumers over profit, it’s forsaking the industry’s long practice of loading new computers with “crapware” software, which they’re paid to install, but that many times hurt the performance of the computers.

The company also plans to “in source” all the technical support. If consumers call with questions, they will talk to a trained professional at Vizio’s consumer service center in Dakota Dunes, S.D. — not a call center in India or the Philippines.

Plane crash lends perspective
It might be tempting to scoff at Vizio. After all, the privately owned company has just 409 employees. Vizio was co-founded in 2002 by William Wang, now 48, an entrepreneur who created a number of companies, including several computer monitor businesses in the 1990s, among them a company called Princeton Graphics. Later, in 2001, Wang worked with Gateway, a former customer and a popular computer seller in the 1990s, to sell big-screen TVs in the retail stores operated by the computer maker. Wang and 95 others famously survived the crash of a 747 airplane taking off for a flight across the Pacific Ocean. Eighty-three people died in the crash, an experience, he said in an e-mailed response, that has helped him keep the pressure of life in perspective.

“Prior to the crash I worried about business issues every day. The crash allowed me to see the world from a different perspective, eliminating the fear that often limits innovation,” he said in the e-mail. Getting into the PC business is just the latest way Wang hopes to push innovation. “We are entering the PC market because I know consumers want a high-quality and beautifully designed personal computer that is affordable,” he says. “We asked the question, ‘Why can’t we deliver smart industrial design and performance without a price premium?’ ”

But even with its rapid success in TVs, how can it have a chance taking on Hewlett-Packard, Dell and of course Apple, which has grown to become the most valuable U.S. company and is sitting on almost $100 billion in cash and investments?

Making things even more tricky for Vizio is the fact the market for laptops has been stagnant, and as more consumers look to tablets as their go-to devices for e-mail and Web browsing. Vizio also must deal with the fact Apple might encroach on its turf, too. Apple is widely expected to release some sort of TV set, although no details are known.

Vizio is used to taking on difficult tasks, though. When it entered the TV business, the segment was considered to be crowded and mature. But while there were many TVs and TV makers, it turned out that there was a way to do it for less, while maintaining quality.

Consumers’ positive association with Vizio’s TVs and the company’s relationships with big retailers such as Costco and Wal-Mart will certainly give it a fighting chance, says James Kelleher of Argus Research.
Vizio has work cut out for it

There’s no shortage of critics, though. “It’s crazy talk, as far as them competing with Apple,” says James Ragan of Crowell Weedon. Initially, the company might make inroads against Dell and HP in the consumer market, but Vizio still doesn’t have a strong answer to Apple’s iPad tablet computer, which is where the industry’s growth is, he says. “It’s going to be tough for them,” he says.

Not to mention that Apple is successfully locking consumers into a network of devices that starts with them buying a smartphone but branches into other devices and purchases from Apple’s online market for music. Vizio is “not just up against the Apple brand, it’s up against an ecosystem,” says William Choi of Janney Montgomery Scott.

The idea that Vizio could challenge Apple is “ridiculous,” says Andy Hargreaves, analyst at Pacific Crest, who responded to USA TODAY via e-mail. “Unlike the TV market at the time Vizio entered, the PC market is already entirely outsourced and Apple has advantages on component purchasing,” he writes. “Vizio has as much chance as I do in being more cost-efficient than Apple in its production.”

But Vizio’s McRae says the company has heard similar criticism before. Giving consumers what they want, they will be successful. “We have the view of what consumers want,” he says. “We’ve built a different product on an open ecosystem.”

Source:http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/story/2012-05-22/vizio-takes-on-apple-computers/55143066/1

Some of Aaron Sarnacki’s computer service clients have been with him 10 years. Not only is such customer loyalty unusual in the rapidly changing industry, but even more remarkable is that Sarnacki is just 23.

A 2006 graduate of Searsport District High School, where he was valedictorian, and a 2010 graduate of the University of Maine, Sarnacki planned a career as a physician. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in pre-med.

But a funny thing happened on the way to medical school — his part-time business, Archangel Computers, grew to the point that he was ready to open storefronts in both Belfast and Camden. The Belfast location, on upper Main Street near Weaver’s Bakery, opened for business earlier this month. The Camden store, on Elm Street at the corner of Washington Street, will open next month.

On Monday afternoon, Sarnacki fielded a question from one customer about installing a wireless printer. A few minutes later, another customer asked about Web design help. A third started perusing the Apple laptops he has for sale, displayed on a counter.

“We can pretty much do anything,” Sarnacki said, including repairing computers that have suffered hardware or software failures, removing viruses, installing software, networking computers for businesses and providing IT support on an on-call basis.

After working out of his family’s home in Searsport, Sarnacki last summer set up shop in a building across from City Hall on Church Street. Business was good enough that he was ready to take the storefront plunge.

“We support hundreds of businesses in the area,” he said.

Many of Archangel’s clients are physician offices; Sarnacki and his two full-time employees help them set up electronic medical records. Some area public libraries have outsourced their IT work to Archangel. He also works with high-end digital photographers and computer-assisted designers.

So how does a young man grow a business so effectively?

“It’s just word of mouth,” Sarnacki said. “Once we get a customer, we don’t lose them.”

Archangel repairs both PCs and Apples and sells new and refurbished Apples and Dell PCs, as well as accessories and parts, even really hard-to-find stuff, Sarnacki said. Gesturing to the various Apples displayed on the two counters that line the Belfast store, he said, “We’re the only place in the midcoast where you can find this stuff north of Portland.”

Sarnacki renovated the Main Street storefront in a clean, hip style: unpainted steel ceiling panels in the 1890s fashion, dark-stained composite floor and art lights, all in a minimalist setting. The repair work is done in the back.

Source:http://bangordailynews.com/2012/05/22/business/computer-service-opens-in-belfast-camden/?ref=latest

Dell on Wednesday reported a drop in profits for the first quarter, weighed down by a revenue decrease and slower sales of consumer products.

Dell reported net income of $535 million, down 33% from the same quarter last year. Excluding one-time charges, it reported net income of $761 million for the quarter that ended on May 4, down 28% compared to last year’s first quarter. Earnings per share was 43 cents, compared to the consensus estimate of 46 cents from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Dell’s revenue was $14.4 billion, dropping by 4% year over year, while analysts expected revenue of $15 billion

Revenue for Dell’s consumer division, which deals in PCs, tablets and other products, was $3 billion, declining 12%year-over-year. Revenue for the Large Enterprise unit, which deals in software, services and hardware for large companies, was $4.4 billion in the quarter, a 3% decline. A bright spot was Dell’s Small and Medium Business business unit, which grew revenue by 4% to $3.5 billion.

Revenue for mobile products such as laptops and tablets fell by 10 %, while desktop revenue fell by 1%. Dell was the third largest PC maker in the first calendar quarter of the year behind Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo, according to IDC. While worldwide PC shipments grew by just 2.3%, Dell’s shipments fell by 2.1% year-over-year during the calendar quarter, IDC said.

Dell is moving away from the consumer business and focusing heavily on its enterprise business as it tries to increase profitability. The company has poured billions into research and development for server and data center products over the last year. In the first quarter, the company made two big acquisitions including security company SonicWall and thin-client hardware and software company Wyse Technology.

Dell in early February also formed a software group, appointing former CA CEO John Swainson to lead the unit. The company also acquired a string of software companies, including Make Technologies and Clerity Solutions, which automate the migration of legacy applications to new systems, and AppAssure, which specializes in data backup.

The company continued its shift in the “mix of our business during a challenging environment,” said Brian Gladden, Dell’s chief financial officer, in a statement.

But Dell also has had to contend with lower demand in the consumer segment and slower enterprise demand for products in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), he said in a conference call to discuss the financial results.

There has been a pause in IT spending in some countries, Gladden said, but an uptick is expected in the second quarter, with more spending in the education and government sectors.

Some customers could also be holding off spending on PCs with the expected release of Microsoft’s Windows 8 OS, Gladden said.

The company expects second-quarter revenue to be up 2% to 4% compared to the first quarter.

Source:http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9227393/Dell_profit_shrinks_in_the_first_quarter

Asus isn’t the only motherboard manufacturer who is unleashing Thunderbolt technology today. MSI also announced the official release of its Z77A-GD80 motherboard with Thunderbolt support. This motherboard was showcased at CES 2012 in January. The Z77A-GD80 features the newest Intel Z77 chipset with support for the new generation 22nm processors. With the Thunderbolt interface, users will get two-way bandwidth up to 10Gbps as well as power for external devices. The Z77A-GD80 uses Military Class III components and features MSI’s one-second overclocking OC Genie II and UEFI / Windows dual-graphical interface ClickBIOS II.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2012, world-renowned mainboard manufacturer MSI showcased the Z77A-GD80 mainboard, featuring the world’s first mainboard with Thunderbolt support. The leading technology on display in the Z77A-GD80 resulted in unprecedented interest and coverage by global media, and is now officially released today. The Z77A-GD80 is equipped with the newest Intel Z77 chipset with support for the new generation 22nm processors, and is equipped with the newest Thunderbolt transfer interface. With Thunderbolt, external device connectivity problems faced by high-end users are alleviated such as: poor data transfer rates, every device requiring an independent connection port, and transfer speed dropping low when sending and receiving files simultaneously due to lack of bandwidth, etc. The all new Thunderbolt transfer technology provides an extremely large bi-direction 10Gbps bandwidth, which allows simultaneous connection of high resolution monitors, storage devices and even a graphics card. 8-channel audio signal is also supported, allowing multiple devices to be connected via a single cable. The Z77A-GD80 mainboard utilizes Military Class III components, which passed through 7 rigorous MIL-STD-810G standard tests and have also been certified by independent third-party laboratories, providing the best quality and stability. It is also equipped with the MSI’s proprietary one-second overclocking OC Genie II and UEFI / Windows dual-graphical interface ClickBIOS II, allowing users to easily achieve high system performance with an easy operational experience.

The world’s fastest external transfer technology – Thunderbolt

The MSI Z77A-GD80 features the newest and fastest external connection technology – Thunderbolt. It provides two-way bandwidth that reaches as high as 10Gbps and can also provide electric power for external devices. HD video content can be transferred within only a few seconds! The two-way and independent bandwidth design allows users to send and receive files simultaneously through the Thunderbolt interface and not reduce the respective transfer speed. Additionally, only one cable connection is required from the computer to other external peripherals such as high-resolution monitors and large capacity external storage devices. 8-channel audio signals are also supported. Compared to the traditional interface which requires one connection cable to connect each device or multiple external hubs, Thunderbolt can increase convenience and ease of connectivity, fully meeting the needs of professionals and high-end users.

Highest quality and stability – Military Class III components

Continuing MSI’s commitment to the product’s stability and durability, MSI’s Z77A-GD80 also imported Military Class III components. In addition to importing Highly-conductive Polymerized Capacitors (Hi-c CAP), Super Ferrite Choke (SFC) and Solid Capacitors (Solid CAP), there is also the next generation DrMOS – DrMOS II. DrMOS II embedded with fully automatic dual-thermal protection; when the operating temperature reaches to about 115?, an indicator on the motherboard will light up, warning the enthusiast to check MOSFET’s cooling status; if the operating temperature reaches to about 130?, the system will automatically power off, ensuring the motherboard will not be damaged from high temperature! These components all passed rigorous testing conducted by third party laboratories: extreme temperature, humidity, pressure, vibration and dropping; and have received the Military Class certification, making MSI’s Military Class III components the synonym for the highest quality and stability.

Better performance increase and usage experience

MSI’s exclusive OC Genie II technology only requires one second to generate amazing performance increase, and also release the CPU, iGPU and memory performance at the same time. It also maximizing under the most stable situation and considerably saving enthusiast’s time for system adjustment. The brand new My OC Genie function allows users set the overclocking settings manually for better performance. Click BIOS II is the world’s first system tool that integrated UEFI BIOS and Windows application programs; it allows you to adjust system settings under different environments through the mouse or even the LCD touch panel. MSI Z77A-GD80 supports not only the latest PCI Express Gen 3 standard to deliver a staggering 32GB/s of bandwidth, but the new generation 22nm processors; double that of the previous generation. It allows users enjoy the latest standard for better use experience.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/MSI-Unleashes-Z77AGD80-Motherboard-With-Thunderbolt/

Ars Technica and others report on a cool miniature Android computer that can plug directly into your TV. The whole thing is housed in a 3.5-inch plastic case, weighs in at 200 grams, and measures roughly the size of a USB thumb drive (a tiny bit bigger, actually.) It’s being sold by Chinese retailers, and you can get yourself one online for the low price of $74 (or 5% off, if you order 5 or more).

Some specs for you (get ready for some alphabet soup): an HDMI port that plugs into your TV (1080p), 512MB of RAM, a 4GB Flash drive (plus a micoSD slot that can bump you up to 32GB). For connectivity, there’s WiFi 802.11b/g. It runs Android 4.0 (ICS), and for a keyboard, you can use Android virtual keyboard or 2.4G wireless keyboard plus a fly mouse. The device has a AllWinner A10 single-core 1.5GHz ARM CPU, as well as a Mali 400 GPU. Need more specs? I doubt it, but if so, this site has tabulated them all.

A cheap, mini computer–does this sound a bit familiar? I’ve reported in the past on Raspberry Pi, the $35 mini-computer. After a lot of windup, the Raspberry Pi has finally made it out into the field, with its creator saying that 200,000 units should be out there by the end of June. Engadget just caught up with Eben Upton at Maker Faire Bay Area 2012, and shot a video of the encounter.

In addition to the much-hyped Raspberry Pi, the new Android computer will compete with the FXI “Cotton Candy,” another USB-sized offering. The Cotton Candy is expected to cost a bit more, $199 plus tax and shipping. The price difference is largely accounted for by the fact that it has a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 CPU, with 1GB of RAM.

Why exactly would you buy one of these mini-computers, given their limited capability? Their intention is eventually to get a new generation interested in coding, hardware, and what makes a computer tick. In an era when most of us view the smart phones in our pockets as working a kind of quasi-divine magic, devices like these three mini-computers, with their rough (metaphorical) edges, inspire a fascination with the nuts and bolts of computing. “The Raspberry Pi has the potential to be whatever you want it to be, just like a pile of Lego blocks,” says Adam Turner in a thought-provoking piece in the Sydney Morning Herald.

That piece is titled, ominously, “Is the Raspberry Pi lost on the iGeneration?” Let’s hope the answer is no.

Source:http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/helloworld/27867/

On Friday morning March 18th, 2012 the largest tech IPO in American history took place in Baynetwork Inc,’s Menlo Park backyard. The world watched the $100+B facebook valuation go into motion as a simple exposure point was exploited by local IT network hardware re-seller and computer equipment supplier, Baynetwork Inc.

New, pre-owned, refurbished and used Cisco equipment re-seller, Baynetwork, Inc., took Marketing Director’s, Jason E. Sutherland, idea to usher national media attention towards a local company and turned it into gold. Jason’s idea was simple, take advantage of the media hype related to the facebook ipo.

Billions of dollars are spread throughout the Silicon Valley among some very prominent companies like Apple, Yahoo, Cisco, Oracle and Ebay to name a few. The facebook IPO media sensation was the perfect platform for a local business in Silicon Valley to remind the big players about an opportunity to help promote local economy and business from right within their own backyard. “It’s not everyday that you can easily and cost effectively tell all of the tech world about where to get affordable data center hardware.” -Jason E. Sutherland.

Determined to let the world know about deeply discounted Dell blade servers, Juniper switches and ShoreTel VoIP equipment, the Baynetwork team built a plan; print big signs, get as close to the media as possible and make some magic. Within a couple of hours, Yuriy Petushkov, Larry Lessler, Cornelius Lopes and Jason Sutherland began a march onto facebook campus with four 48″ X 24″ signs that were co-branded “Baynetwork Like Button Facebook”.

Upon arriving on facebook’s Menlo Park campus (a stones throw away from Baynetwork Inc’s Corporate Office), Mr. Sutherland quickly set himself up to have Baynetwork gain national media exposure by walking into the live camera shots of all the morning news cameras with his freshly printed sign. Quick to their feet, facebook security and communications staff politely asked Jason to keep his signs and himself out of the live camera shots. Baffled by this humble request the team of four respected it and took positions at the main intersection (Willow Road and the Bayshore freeway ) outside of facebook campus.

Driven to make sure the world knew about affordable Ixia testing equipment, network security analysis, managed IT services and private cloud deployment Jason and Larry who were closest to the facebook campus entrance soon found themselves being interviewed by Forbes.com reporter, Brian Claufield.

If there was one time that IT hardware asset recovery became sexy it was when Brian realized the stroke of logic with Baynetwork’s grass roots approach to marketing. It was evident that the Baynetwork Inc. way of doing things in a practical and cost-effective manner was now about to be shown to the world. Brian’s excitement and ability to write about the guerrilla marketing tactic was executed with sheer genius. Shortly after a quick and on-the-spot interview, Forbes.com had a complete article and photo covering our local story of “What’s Better Than Facebook Advertising? How About Free Advertising”.

Throughout the morning journalists from KQED, San Jose Mercury News, AP and KCBS continued to interview Cornelius Lopes, Jason Sutherland, Larry Lessler and Yuriy Petushkov about why an IT hardware equipment supplier would do something like this. It’s obvious, we make IT happen!

Since 1997, Baynetwork, a premier re-seller of new, pre-owned, refurbished and used network hardware and computer equipment including Cisco, Juniper, Dell, Barracuda, Ixia, ShoreTel and many premier IT hardware brands, has helped define and shape the IT network hardware equipment industry. From complete network design and configuration to security analysis and private cloud deployment, Baynetwork’s array of services and products helps thousands of companies across the globe deliver digital media and content with reduced cost and short lead times. Baynetwork services also include enterprise and data center IT hardware repair.

Source:http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/718901