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

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

End of May will see personal computers — notebook, netbooks and desktops — getting expensive by almost 10 per cent.

Weakening rupee against dollar is leading major personal computer manufacturers in India to increase prices of their products.

Companies such as Acer India, Hewlett Packard (HP) India and Dell India are facing the reality of rupee depreciation, which they think would continue at this level of Rs 54-56 against the dollar for at least next few months.

The players felt information technology hardware market’s margin is already driven by various factors such as excise duty and input costs. If forex movements also come into play at steep level since beginning this month, it would have to be passed on to the customers.

“We are looking at 8-10 per cent of price increase, depending on the products category, by end of this month,” Mr Vinay Awasthi, Senior Director — Product and Marketing, Personal Systems Group, HP India, told Business Line.

However, 8-10 per cent might be more than what has been earlier for the industry level of around 5-7 per cent.

“But, rupee has been depreciating against the dollar from Rs 45-47 few months back to what is now, and that is the reality,” Mr S. Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India, said.

Therefore, by and large, the increase in products cost will happen before end of this month, though demand from consumers are not yet down, he said.

Dell India said it was too early to be able to determine specific price increases, but it would happen for sure. “Since most of the components are imported, it is reasonable to assume that with dollar appreciation, rupee prices will increase by similar amounts,” Mr Mahesh Bhalla, Executive Director and General Manager — Consumer and Small and Medium Business, Dell India, said.

“This is a catch-22 situation because of rupee devaluation. Under the current situation if the prices are not increased it will adversely affect the companies expansion plans and further investment,” Mr Alok Bhardwaj, President, Manufacturers Association for IT India, said.

Source:http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-tech/article3443038.ece?ref=wl_industry-and-economy

Computer Hardware: Global Industry Almanac is an essential resource for top-level data and analysis covering the Computer Hardware industry. It includes detailed data on market size and segmentation, textual analysis of the key trends and competitive landscape, and profiles of the leading companies. This incisive report provides expert analysis on a global, regional and country basis.
Scope of the Report
- Contains an executive summary and data on value, volume and segmentation
- Provides textual analysis of the industry’s prospects, competitive landscape and profiles of the leading companies
- Incorporates in-depth five forces competitive environment analysis and scorecards
- Covers the Global, European and Asia-Pacific markets as well as individual chapters on Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States.
- Includes a five-year forecast of the industry
Highlights
The global computer hardware market grew by 6.8% in 2011 to reach a value of $176,167.2 million.
In 2016, the global computer hardware market is forecast to have a value of $225,147.1 million, an increase of 27.8% since 2011.
Computers is the largest segment of the global computer hardware market, accounting for 53.2% of the market’s total value.
Americas accounts for 50.8% of the global computer hardware market value.
Why you should buy this report
- Spot future trends and developments
- Inform your business decisions
- Add weight to presentations and marketing materials
- Save time carrying out entry-level research

Source:http://www.sys-con.com/node/2281771

Microsoft today released version 1.5 of the Kinect for Windows runtime and SDK, and made Kinect for Windows hardware available in four more countries.

The updated release adds several capabilities intended to help developers use the Kinect sensor in new and intriguing ways. That includes Kinect Studio, which will let developers record, playback, and debug clips of users engaging with their apps. There’s also improved tracking – from facial features to seated skeletal tracking.

The Face Tracking SDK “provides a real-time 3D mesh of facial features—tracking the head position, location of eyebrows, shape of the mouth, etc.,” Microsoft said in a blog post.

Seated Skeletal Tracking, meanwhile, “tracks a 10-joint head/shoulders/arms skeleton, ignoring the leg and hip joints.” It’s not restricted to seating positions, which Microsoft said will allow developers to create seating-optimized apps (in offices, for example) or standing apps that only focus on the upper body (like kiosks).

“Skeletal Tracking is supported in Near Mode, including both Default and Seated tracking modes,” Microsoft said. “This allows businesses and developers to create applications that track skeletal movement at closer proximity, like when the end user is sitting at a desk or needs to stand close to an interactive display.”

Microsoft also promised updated guidelines for natural user interface development, and significant additions to sample code and SDK documentation.

The update also brings new language support for speech recognition: French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese. There are also new language packs that help distinguish the way a language is spoken in different regions.

Meanwhile, Kinect for Windows hardware, which will set you back $249, is now available in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. Next month, it will also come to Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, India, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates.

“As we have worked with customers large and small over the past months, we’ve seen the value in having a fully integrated approach: the Kinect software and hardware are designed together; audio, video, and depth are all fully supported and integrated; our sensor, drivers, and software work together to provide world class echo cancellation; our approach to human tracking, which is designed in conjunction with the Kinect sensor, works across a broad range of people of all shapes, sizes, clothes, and hairstyles, etc,” Microsoft said. “And because we design the hardware and software together, we are able to make changes that open up exciting new areas for innovation, like Near Mode.”

The Kinect for Windows 1.0 SDK made its debut in early February in 12 countries. The offering is intended to take the Kinect sensor technology beyond entertainment and use it for things like healthcare. Microsoft first tipped the 1.5 SDK in April, promising a release by the end of May.

Source:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404694,00.asp

Today, with increasing electronic communications and transactions, trust in the hardware used for these purposes has never been more important. To establish and ensure trust, the U.S. and other governments around the world have taken advantage of the trusted hardware and process for establishing trust that leading technology companies have developed through a not-for profit organization, called the Trusted Computing Group (TCG).

TCG’s hardware-based root of trust process relies on open standards — not proprietary processes. It starts with a Trusted Platform Module or TPM. Typically a secure cryptographic integrated circuit inside an enterprise-grade computer or server, the TPM is an integral part of these units and has been installed in over half a billion end products.

The hardware-based root of trust is a significant improvement over software-only protection schemes, since software is vulnerable to the same attacks from the malware that it attempts to thwart. In contrast, the more robust hardware-based TPM approach can manage user authentication, network access, data protection and more. The root of trust has a minimum set of functions to establish the trustworthiness of the host platform. Attestation or vouching for the accuracy of information, as well as authentication, or proof of identity, are among the tasks enabled by the root of trust established by the TPM.

With the TPM, users can set passwords and store digital credentials, including passwords in a hardware-based vault. The TPM can manage keys and can be used in conjunction with self-encrypting drives to restrict access to sensitive data.

The TPM has progressed from its first level over 10 years ago to the TPM 1.2 version today. The TPM and its associated specifications were designed to provide a high level of security to Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) and other products used by government agencies.

As part of its High Assurance Platform (HAP) Program, the National Security Agency (NSA) uses the TPM in a virtualized approach to run multiple secure environments. Today, almost all computers acquired by the Department of Defense (DoD) are required to include a TPM.

This advanced level of trust and security has prompted the National Security Agency (NSA) to sponsor two Trusted Computing Conferences and Expositions. The most recent conference was held September 20-22, 2011 in Orlando, FL. In addition to demonstrating current successes from the use of the TPM in national security programs, presenters discussed the necessity to take these efforts even further.

Taking advantage of a hardware root of trust

In its as-delivered condition, the TPM in computers, servers and other products are in a ready-state to be activated. For government, business entities or individuals to obtain the improved security that the TPM offers, it simply requires security policy processes to be followed. This process is usually described in the operation manuals for the equipment, and is easy for trained information technology personnel to implement.

Once activated, the TPM provides increased security through linkage to other TCG specifications that have been developed for networks, such as the Trusted Network Connect (TNC) and self-encrypting drives (SEDs).

TNC provides trusted network access for fixed and remote mobile devices used enterprise-wide, so authorized users can safely interact with network systems. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) worked together to integrate Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) developed by NIST and TNC standards developed by TCG. The combination provides a powerful automated compliance and network access and enforcement tool set. The use of SCAP’s ability to manage the security integration of devices, including desktop PCs, servers, laptops and more, with TNC’s complementary set of network capabilities provides users a level of security that was very difficult, expensive or impossible to deliver previously.

TPM used with the newest self-encrypting drives (SEDs) can take the encryption security to a higher level. While a TPM is not required for users to benefit from the automatic encryption that an SED provides, the TPM can prevent unauthorized access to the network or computer systems. Microsoft has step-by-step instructions for enabling and using the BitLocker disk encryption leveraging the TPM included in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Extending TPM security

With TPM-based security readily available to protect computers and servers, the transition is already well underway to use mobile devices including smart phones to access the restricted information in government and other networks. TCG’s Mobile Trusted Module (MTM) is a secure element and specification developed for use in mobile and embedded devices. The market requirements for these wireless devices dictate a reduced feature set from the traditional PC TPM developed for a wired computing environment, but can work cooperatively with TPMs in other devices for complete system security. The effort to develop the complete functionality required for mobile trust continues with the ongoing development of MTM 2.0. With these specifications, network service providers, third-party service providers and end-users all benefit from establishing trustworthy behavior.

TCG’s recent formation of an Embedded Work Group will provide additional tools to embedded system developers. With these specifications, devices that are increasingly connected to the Internet can benefit from the same approach to security that TCG has provided to computer, servers, drives and networks. With this protection, embedded devices can avoid becoming the weak link entry point for network malware.

Moving forward

The supply chain realizes the importance of hardware-based security and continues to embrace TPM technology with implementations in hardware and improved software and services. Upcoming Windows’ releases from Microsoft are anticipated to require TPM. As self- encrypting drives continue to proliferate that also take advantage of the TPM, Microsoft is just one of the examples that can be cited.

Acceptance of improved TPM-based trustworthiness by U.S. Government agencies has been demonstrated as well. With NIST and TCG’s initial collaboration viewed as quite successful, expanded use of SCAP and TNC technologies can be expected.

While there are few guarantees in life, one thing is for certain, a non-activated TPM cannot deliver the added security it was designed for. So, the admonition to government as well as business organizations is: let’s use what we own, turn on the TPM and use it.

Source:http://www.gsnmagazine.com/node/26405?c=cyber_security

The machine shown here may not look nearly as good as the latest Digital Storm PC or Alienware laptop, but that’s not the point. The point is to put a lot of power into a portable package, and make it sip power in a way that monster towers can only dream of doing. VIA knows a thing or two about efficiency, with the new VIA AMOS-3002 being revealed and designed around the VIA EPIA-P900 Pico-ITX board. Within, there’s a 1GHz VIA Eden X2 dual-core CPU, a VX900H media system processor (MSP) on the VIA EPIA-P900 board, fully HD-capable graphics engine, support for a variety of codecs (MPEG-2, WMV9 and H.264) and native HDMI support. The VIA AMOS-3002 has a certified operating temperature of -20 to 60 degrees C, vibration tolerance of up to 5Grms and a shock tolerance of up to 50G. The VIA AMOS-3002 is also available with the VIA EPIA-P830 featuring a 1.0GHz Nano E-Series processor, offering an operating temperature of -20 to 70 degrees C.

In other words, this thing is designed for lots of unique applications. In a boat, in a car, or in any other super tight space where cooling would usually be an issue. There’s also a SATA interface Flash drive, while an optional storage sub-system expansion chassis offers support for a standard 2.5″ SATA drive. Comprehensive I/O functions on front and rear panels include two COM ports, six USB 2.0 ports, including two of which are lockable for increased ruggedization, line-in/out, one DIO port, one VGA and one HDMI port for display connectivity and two GLAN ports for dual Gigabit networking. Optional Wi-Fi and 3G networking are available through a MiniPCIe expansion slot.

No word on a price just yet, but if you’re looking for your next carputer, here it is.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/VIA-Launches-Fanless-AMOS3002-Mini-PC/

If you’re having a hard time convincing your boss that you need a new work notebook (“It only has a single core, boss. One core!”), then this sweet piece of machinery from Dell is probably just a pipe dream for you, although if your work involves running 3D workloads, you may have a shot. The Dell Precision R5500 rack workstation allows for up to four concurrent users, and those users can connect to the unit from just about anywhere using a variety of devices such as thin clients, desktops, and mobile devices (that are equipped with a Citrix Receiver).

Citrix XenServer with HDx 3D Pro is what underpins the system, enabling the four-user virtualization. Each virtualized users gets a dedicated graphics card within the Precision R5500; currently, the highest-end option Dell is offering is NVIDIA Quadro 2000 series graphics cards, but Quadro 4000, 5000, and 6000 series cards will be available soon.

The 2U Precision R5500 workstation includes Intel Xeon processors as well as support for up to six 2.5-inch SAS hard drives or five SATA hard drives and up to 192GB of system memory. The starting price is $2,742.

Dell announced today it is expanding its client virtualization solutions with the introduction of the first virtualized 2U rack workstation enabling up to four concurrent professional graphics users to work from a single workstation from virtually anywhere. The Dell Precision R5500 rack workstation is the first four-GPU (graphics processing unit) configuration to be certified by Citrix with GPU pass-through on Citrix XenServer® 6 using Citrix XenDesktop® HDX™ 3D Pro, and brings additional security, IT resource optimization and end user flexibility to high performance workloads. This new usage model is designed for customers running 3D workloads in the engineering, medical, media and entertainment, scientific, software development and economic and finance market segments looking to support additional users on a single workstation.

Additional benefits of a virtualized rack workstation include the ability to centralize, secure and manage data, leverage worldwide talent pool, share resources for improved cost effectiveness and run performance critical applications that require the host system and data to be in close proximity. Users can connect to the powerful, dependable and manageable Dell Precision R5500 via Dell and non-Dell computing devices including thin clients, laptops, desktops or other mobile devices that have a loaded Citrix Receiver™.

“The Dell Precision R5500 offers the highest user density available on a XenServer certified platform for XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro, with four concurrent users per host,” said Derek Thorslund, director of product management, HDX technology at Citrix. “This makes it a very attractive option for customers looking to deliver high-end 3D professional graphics while keeping their intellectual property safe in the data center.”

Citrix XenServer with HDX 3D Pro enables the virtualized workstation environment with a dedicated discrete graphics card per user or virtual machine. The dedicated graphics provides the user with full access to the graphics card in a virtualized environment. Users can configure their Dell Precision R5500 with up to four NVIDIA Quadro® 2000 mid-range graphics cards, with other high-end NVIDIA Quadro graphics cards available soon. Dell’s 2U rack workstation offers industry standard bus slots with options of up to five full-height and full-length PCIe slots, and industry standard graphics and GPU compute cards including the newest NVIDIA Quadro and NVIDIA Tesla® solutions.

“This new rack workstation configuration from Dell provides designers and engineers with a unique virtualized desktop performance option,” said Jeff Brown, general manager, Professional Solutions Group, NVIDIA. “Dell’s R5500 powered by NVIDIA Quadro GPUs gives these users an opportunity to experience the full power of high-end OpenGL, Direct X and CUDA applications in a small form-factor, virtualized desktop environment.”

In addition to high-end graphics support, the R5500 provides the full scalability and powerful performance of Dell’s high-end tower workstations in a 2U form factor. It is purpose-engineered for professionals who run compute and graphics intensive workloads and require extreme performance with remote capability. It offers high-performance Intel Xeon processors with memory capacity of up to 192GB¹and dual-wide GPU slots that scale up to 450 watts, up to six 2.5-inch SAS HDDs or five SATA HDDs. The R5500 is designed for dependable and peak performance so comes with Dell’s advanced service and support and robust manageability and security options.

“We are working closely with Citrix and NVIDIA to enable new usage models to address the needs of our workstation customers,” said Efrain Rovira, executive director of Dell Precision workstations. “This industry first four-GPU XenServer certification delivers increased productivity and flexibility to our customers and it adds to the list of innovations we’ve introduced to the workstation industry.”

Availability
Citrix XenServer with GPU pass-through is available worldwide through Citrix and Dell S&P. The starting price for the Dell Precision R5500 is $2,742 USD.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/Dell-Precision-R5500-Workstation-Supports-Four-Concurrent-Users/

Account holders complained that they were left embarrassed after being unable to pay for goods and services and demanded compensation.

The managing director of a theatre production company said his business appeared to miss out on thousands of pounds worth of internet sales because of the problem.
Last night the bank responded to complaints on its official Twitter feed by saying it was “really sorry” about the problems.

Later it said: “Our ATMs should be back up now. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Among those complaining was a London-based customer who wrote: “I have just tried to pay for dinner, I can’t. Ran to a cash machine won’t give me any cash. Thanks HSBC.”

Later he added: “Closing my account tomorrow. Disgrace and humiliating to say the least.”
Another customer, in the East Midlands, tweeted: “I felt like a right prat when I couldn’t pay for petrol. I had to wait for someone to come and lend me some money to pay for it!”

Andrew Collier, managing director of Minor Entertainment, a children’s theatre production company, complained that online sales for a production of In The Night Garden Live at the O2 appear to have been affected.

He said that for a period between around 5pm and 9pm when he would have expected to be taking around 150 orders of about four tickets each – with tickets priced from £10 to £25 – only a “handful went through”.

Mr Collier said customers had been calling the show’s call centre to report problems and that they were not given a reason when payments did not go through.
He said: “You are in a position where your customers are trying to make an order and it fails and they don’t know why. I am sure that we will have lost out.
“The show opens this week and we have had a lot of marketing this weekend. The show is for children and our busy period is after the children have gone to bed, eight or nine.

“Whenever a customer makes a mistake, the bank is very quick to charge them. I hope that we will see the bank making some compensatory gesture to all customers affected – however I doubt they will, so I think I will be looking to move bank.

“It’s incredibly frustrating and there are multiple failures. There is the failure of the system in the first place, the failure to get it back up quickly, and the failure to communicate with their customers.

“We only fully understood what the problem was by looking at customer complaints on social networking sites.”

HSBC said the problems had been the result of a “hardware failure” in the UK.

It appeared that over a two-hour period HSBC customers using some non-HSBC machines had been unable to withdraw cash.

For a slightly longer period, some had also been unable to carry out card transactions but for most, a back-up system meant they went through, the bank said.
Last night a spokesman for HSBC said: “For a short period of time this evening, an IT hardware failure which supported some ATM and debit card transactions meant that a small minority of HSBC customers were unable to withdraw cash or pay for goods.

“We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to customers, we have worked as quickly as possible to restore our service and both are now available again.”

Last November, another computer crash saw millions of HSBC customers lose access to their money as internet accounts, cash points and debit cards stopped working.
A previous outage took place in 2006 when a “server issue” meant computers were failing to verify the identity of card users.

Source:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/banking/9278841/HSBC-customers-hit-by-computer-glitch.html

Desktop-as-a-Service is an interesting way for IT execs to provide cloud-based Windows desktop sessions, as well as shared resources such as storage. DaaS can help companies roll out new desktops and support Bring Your Own Device policies.

DaaS or Hosted Virtual Desktop (HVD) providers offer a pristine, policy-controlled session (either persistent or ad hoc) that can be accessed by a wide variety of devices. If you have an iPad3 and a Bluetooth keyboard, you’re in. Mac? You’re in. An old and wheezing Windows XP patched-to-death machine? You’re in. The machine used to access a DaaS session is largely irrelevant to the session’s use, which can be for standard “office” functions, or as part of an application-specific setup.

The products we tested ranged from simple to comprehensive. All of the DaaS service providers in our test — Desktone, dinCloud, ICC Global Hosting, Applications2u, and Nivio — used a Citrix infrastructure to provide desktop sessions. But each of them arrived at their product offering from a different perspective, and sometimes, with a different attitude.

For this test, we accessed cloud-based sessions in three different ways: Comcast residential broadband, Comcast ‘business’ broadband (higher data rate), and through several different VM configurations via our data center installation at nFrame in Carmel, Ind.

We logged on via browsers or through the DaaS vendor’s proprietary application. Nivio could use Flash or HTML5; Desktone used Quest vWorkspace, while the rest used varying Citrix apps to logon to the HVDs.

We liked Nivio for its very simple configuration. And Nivio’s “happiness messages” (headers and banners that customers could configure with their own slogans) showed that it wants to appeal to more than just stodgy geek-types. DinCloud had strong and fast performance.

Desktone was highly configurable. ICCGlobalHosting (ICCGH) had a strong vertical application feel, and Applications2u seemed targeted towards independent software vendors (ISV) and application providers that prefer an entire desktop offering rather than just a web-based app.

Some of the service providers in this test have an involved customer intake process (Desktone, dinCloud, and ICCGH), while others were more like “desktops on the hoof” (Applications2u and Nivio). The intake process is important for several reasons as the number of decisions that need to be made prior to deployment require planning and thought.

We could only find support for hosted Windows (Windows 7 and Windows 2008R2 “terminal”) sessions. You can’t find Mac OS because of Apple’s licensing constraints, and hosted Linux sessions are difficult to find.

In terms of productivity applications, most of the vendors could supply Microsoft Office and SharePoint. They also expressed a willingness to brand DaaS desktops with organizational logos, “stock” applications and resource links, as well as to negotiate preloaded software for both persistent and ad hoc sessions.

How DaaS works

In the simplest form, DaaS is like Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), Virtual Network Control (VNC), and similar provisioning that dates back to the the PCAnywhere days, where you got screen, keyboard, and mouse (at minimum) connected to another computer, so as to use that system as though you were sitting comfortably nearby.

Today’s iteration is Virtual Device Interface-Infrastructure (VDI), which includes the basics, plus sound, local drive, and local ports (like USB). VDI can be accomplished on premise or in the cloud.

DaaS service providers are the gateway for cloud-based connectivity, which includes virtualized desktop sessions and applied administrative constraints. The selling points are hosted external applications, shared storage resources, joining DaaS resources as extensions of an existing (or new) Active Directory infrastructure, and extended device compatibility in a BYOD scenario.

Here are the individual reviews:

Desktone

Desktone uses Citrix components mixed with its own desktop portal and management infrastructure. The Citrix pieces, including session access applications like Citrix Receiver, give remote users choices for what kind of device, such as a Mac or a Windows XP client, might be compatible with a Desktone-hosted Windows7 session.

Hosted sessions can reside in an isolated Active Directory or workgroup environment, or could be connected via a VPN (many types are supported) linking Desktone’s provisioned desktops and network with a customer network.

VPN connectivity can be problematic because of the varying types of VPNs possible. Those connected with firewall and VPN appliances are said to be the most easily (and quickly) deployed.

The customer intake process revolved around deciding on networking characteristics, choosing different hosted desktop variants based on an average installation, then upgrades to hosted sessions based on memory, disk and number of CPUs (up to four) that would be hosted on Desktone’s cloud, which consists largely of blades in a multi-tenant environment.

Like several other DaaS service providers we tested, Desktone has an administrative portal application to manage DaaS operations security and asset formation (making customized versions of Windows 7 for DaaS access). Also, like other DaaS service providers tested, we found we could join our Active Directory network logon characteristics if needed; a network “join” is available for VPN purposes, too.

The Desktone portal allowed us to check site configuration, desktop asset distribution and pools, which are aggregations of resource groupings. Pools allowed us to differentiate RDP-connected machines by resources, like local-to-session clipboard, drive, printer, smartcard or COM port connectivity.

Dividing pools in this way allows an organization to create Active Directory pools, then to differentiate between persistent and non-persistent sessions, and then to aggregate local resources.

Desktone provides the ability to try the instances prior to deployment by administratively accessed instances that use Windows SysPrep (as opposed to image snapshots, so as to correctly establish the hardware licensing requirements for Windows 7) and should be familiar to Microsoft admins.

The landing URL (the starting page that clients access via a browser) can be customized with organizational logos and imprints. It’s also possible to link to third party trouble-ticket applications and systems management applications. We found out about Desktone through an announcement by Quest Software that its applications will soon be able to resource-manage Desktone’s portal and DaaS resources under their “umbrella.’

The Citrix infrastructure helps expand accessibility; common desktop operating system browser connections are available, as well as various Citrix Receiver clients for devices ranging from iOS and Android through Linux, Mac OS, and of course, older and newer versions of Windows. This would also hold true for other DaaS service providers we tested.

The Desktone speed was very good in our light performance testing, and we encountered no difficulties using Windows 7 instances. We’d like to see stronger password and smartcard use, as we could change passwords to those easily cracked by dictionary attacks, although passwords are wrapped by the default https session encryption.

Desktone was fast and easy to provision, made easily accessible by the largely Citrix-based connectivity infrastructure. Performance was good, and extensibility to existing networks should be simple.

dinCloud

The dinCloud client is vWorkstation from Quest Software. On Windows clients, that means Flash is used, although there are other client-types that don’t use Flash, like the iPads and other devices under iOS and Linux. The vWorkstation software gave us a rapid access under Windows 7, but requires a few user-side settings (that can be scripted, if you’re gifted) on other platforms. The results, however, are pretty spectacular for users.

If you’ve used Windows 7 on a desktop or notebook, subject to your connection speed, you get an identical experience. Our connection was fast, and it was difficult to tell that it wasn’t the resident host operating system on our clients. The caveat is that we have a strong broadband connection and couldn’t detect any latency at all. Those with slower connections or congestion may experience weaker response. Those searching for a remotely-hosted Windows 7 session that feels like a hypervisor-based Windows 7 session will be pleased.

The administrative experience for dinCloud is very simple, and it’s not for civilians, although civilians/users can be given policy-controlled choices. DinCloud presented us with an organizational URL and a base set of users; then we were required to update to Adobe FlashPlayer 10+. The yourorg.dinCloud.com landing URL was called, a link was provided and the sessions began.

The vWorkspace client supports RDP, ICA, and even VNC (although potentially unencrypted) access protocols, and logged us on quickly, but took a bit of work to get Firefox 11 working; IE 8/9 worked easily to access sessions. There is also a dinCloud Server offering, but this was not tested.

The Quest vWorkspace client supports device sharing; it’s possible to administratively permit/allow sharing of local drives, printers, COM ports, smartcards, USB devices (where Windows 7 supports them), “Universal Printers” (print to PDF, etc), microphone and interactive clipboard contents. Screen sizes can be autosized or forced to default geometry. We could also set performance optimizations and add various speed enhancements, including media player redirection (Windows Media Player pops up locally, if available, rather than drag it through the session connection).

Overall, dinCloud was fast, and the intake process was professional and showed skills at varying architectural possibilities. If we wanted to rapidly join a flock of policy-enforced, yet generic Windows 7 desktops together, dinCloud would be our choice.

Nivio

The Nivio experience was different than the other DaaS providers, following a model that’s very retail-like on the surface, but had some depth of configuration. Based on Citrix XenServer, Nivio used a commodity-based session model for its desktop services. You can get persistent or non-persistent sessions, rent or license apps, and use the session-spawned “nDrive” to save and collaborate pre-loaded or production data among groups of users. The feel of Nivio is more ad hoc (and for less formal deployments) and spontaneous. There’s an “nApps” store, an organizational URL yourorg.niv.io, and the nDrive. The “n” theme was catchy; some will find it gets old to them.

Nivio doesn’t provision standard Windows 7 sessions. Instead, we got terminal-server like sessions running on Windows 2008R2 Server. Nivio uses Ericom AccessNow 2 graphics acceleration server for HTML5 graphics speed enhancement, a product we saw in a prior edition (and earlier stages) in our coverage of VDI server infrastructure.

Nivio eshews typical Citrix XenServer client infrastructure, and used Adobe Flash-based browser access or HTML5 browser access. Flash adds compatibility but at the potential sacrifice of non-Flash client-types — but it’s possible to use an HTML5-compatible browser (apparently IE9 is incompatible with Nivio’s sofware) to logon to a virtual Nivio session. We ran into some access problems with Firefox 11, but Nivio proved to us that there’s a bug in Firefox 11 in which mixed SSL-encrypted and non-encrypted data aren’t correctly handled from their perspective; perhaps it’s fixed by the time your read this, but we found the portions of the session used were encrypted correctly, just not reported by Firefox as encrypted.

The sessions are hosted in turn on a Windows 2008 R2 server, terminal server-style. The sessions were highly policy controlled, but contained a full payload of standard-issue Microsoft Office apps. If you use Windows, you’re in Windows and no retraining ought to be required to make use of the Citrix Windows session UI.

The Nivio nApp offerings were divided into several categories, including free and rentable. While the list wasn’t very long, we found its inclusion interesting in the face of other application stores like iTunes or Google Marketplace. If you want to use free office applications, several choices are available, as well as familiar Microsoft Office at a rental price.

In use, Nivio was the longest to load a session unless it was a persistent session (which still takes a little time to set up a session). That said, the length of time was less than a half minute, and sessions performed well according to the benchmark we used. Nivio has a youthful appeal to it that betrays its depth of configuration. It was refreshing.

ICC Global Hosting

ICC Global hosts a number of line-of-business applications for a variety of ISVs and says its “sweet spot” is sessions for five to 500 users. Like others in our DaaS testing, ICCH uses Citrix infrastructure, and after a customer intake and provisioning process, we logged into Citrix XenApp.

As with others that we tested, Citrix XenApp provisioned us with a Windows 2008R2 “terminal” session, and it was extraordinarily fast, due to a short four-hop connection between our facilities in Bloomington and from nFrame, our hosting facility in Carmel, Ind., and their sites in Atlanta and eastern Kentucky. Other may have our experience depending on their connectivity. The XenApp software is available for a variety of Windows and Mac hosts, and we found all of them — MacOS, Linux, Windows, and Android, via Citrix Receiver, equally featured in terms of resource sharing and speed.

After an initial provisioning exchange, we were given a URL, logon, and initial passwords. From there, all was lightning fast, and the plain-vanilla Windows-over-Citrix experience. ICCGH was otherwise fastidious regarding building up the provisioned desktops quickly, and has experience in multi-tenant, ISV environments.

ICCGH also has experience in putting together a variety of Active Directory environment extensions, or isolated, server-based authentication mechanisms through the use of VPNs. A number of VPN configurations are supported, including IPSec, GRE, and PPTP that allow “islands” of resources to be connected (or not) for extension, isolation, or application-specific off-premises pools of resources.

Like other DaaS provider services tested, ICCGH can make available local resources such as disk storage, USB, printers, etc., or otherwise control them through either customer-supplied policies or those imposed by Active Directory connections. Microsoft-savvy admins will feel at home.

Applications2u

The Applications2u (A2U) environment is also underpinned by Citrix infrastructure, and downloads Citrix Receiver on initial access for users. There are a wide variety of compatible Citrix Receiver clients available — meaning Windows machines, Macs, iOS and Android; some of the clients are more difficult to install than others, but Windows and Apple users shouldn’t have much problem.

Applications2u with Citrix Receiver allows a fully virtualized desktop experience, and/or allows only Windows-compatible applications to be accessed. The apps-only experience is A2U’s secret sauce (a version of XenApp is also offered by ICCGH that provides a similar service), and it’s done well. Using the Receiver, remote applications can be launched on a Receiver-launched device, rather than an entire Windows 7-ish desktop. This permits “foreign” applications to run wherever communications and security mandates permit.

Receiver-launched applications could be a simple Excel spreadsheet, an SAP application, something .NET, or whatever might run on the hosted virtual session, in isolation from most of what happens on the client-side environment. The DaaS is in the cloud, or just a cloud-hosted application within A2U construct.

While Applications2u stresses Managed Service Provider (MSP) services, we confined our use and testing to application and hosted virtual desktop use. A2U uses SunGard as its hosting facility. The customer intake process was poised towards setting up extensions of existing resources, but also duplication of internal infrastructure for use as disaster recovery “hot site” use, or other alternate use.

Like other Citrix infrastructure tested, A2U allows resource sharing, local, or A2U-hosted. Like Nivio, the A2U-based storage can be group-shared, we found, as well as policy-enforced (optional) local resource sharing, drives, printers, and the like. In testing, configuration and deployment was fast, and responsiveness was very good. The A2U cloud-hosted sessions were quick, and we were reminded of our Desktone experience.

We did not extensively test hosted applications, and we did not try to pen-test applications hosted via the virtualization provided by the Citrix Receiver application. Apps hosted by A2U have moderate isolation from whatever’s going on in the client’s hardware and OS environment, but application sessions may be subject to client-side keyloggers or other entrapments that might make them insecure. However, we could find no current CVE notes that portend that Microsoft Office applications are remotely exploitable when hosted elsewhere from a virtualized access. Only the client host, via Citrix Receiver, receives an infection vector. Applications virtualized by A2U aren’t necessarily immune from BYOD connection malware. Communications to A2U hosted components were fast, and logon to A2U resources was equally fast.

Applications can be placed in user desktop menus like other applications, and only possible latencies betray the remote execution of the application.

We found Applications2u both resourceful and responsive. Like ICCGH, A2U seems targeted towards larger organizations and vertically-integrated Windows applications and the experience was both efficient and drama-free. We like that.

Overall

While it seemed as though we were reviewing Citrix Desktop-as-a-Service, we found much differentiation among the vendors. Desktone and dinCloud were easily provisioned and fast. Applications2u had a bit of useful option shock, but also the secret sauces of application virtualization specialties, as well as ready-made options for alternate/hot-site capabilities (if Windows 7 is your favorite). Nivio had HTML-5 access going for it, despite Firefox 11 oddities, and had our vote for something that was actually “fun”. ICCGH, like Applications2u, performed well.

A Final Word of Caution

Three of the five service providers we tested had issues with TLS/SSL certificates. All the issues that we ran into were corrected quickly. Administrators are cautioned to initially, then randomly check for TLS/SSL certificate validity (and correct chain of certificate authority) when accessing through browsers.

Source:http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=48F7AF4F-A31C-EA32-2F6C769295F5BD27

Moving from theory to reality, US researchers have unveiled the world’s first inexact computer chip (pictured). Error checking on the chip is only enforced for applications that require accuracy; other less fussy applications – such as video rendering – are processed with errors that are not discernible to the user. The benefit is a chip that the developers claim is around 15 times more efficient than today’s computer chips. The development team, from Rice University, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Switzerland’s Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) and the University of California, Berkeley, believe the chip could power computing devices in the developing world from only solar power.

“It is exciting to see this technology in a working chip that we can measure and validate for the first time,” said project leader Krishna Palem, from the Rice Institute for Sustainable and Applied Infodynamics (ISAID). “Our work since 2003 showed that significant gains were possible, and I am delighted that these working chips have met and even exceeded our expectations.”

The concept behind the chip is simple. Slash power use by allowing processing components – like hardware for adding and multiplying numbers – to make a few mistakes. By managing the probability of errors and limiting which calculations produce errors, the designers have found they can simultaneously cut energy demands and dramatically boost performance.

“Particular types of applications can tolerate quite a bit of error. For example, the human eye has a built-in mechanism for error correction. We used inexact adders to process images and found that relative errors up to 0.54 percent were almost indiscernible, and relative errors as high as 7.5 percent still produced discernible images,” explained researcher Christian Enz, who led the CSEM arm of the collaboration.

Another example of the inexact design approach is “pruning,” or trimming away some of the rarely used portions of digital circuits on a microchip. In previous research, the researchers showed that pruning some sections of traditionally designed off-the-shelf microchips could boost performance in three ways: The pruned chips were twice as fast, used half as much energy and were half the size. In the new study, the team delved deeper and implemented these ideas in the processing elements on the prototype silicon chip.

“In the latest tests, we showed that pruning could cut energy demands 3.5 times with chips that deviated from the correct value by an average of 0.25 percent,” said Rice’s Avinash Lingamneni. “When we factored in size and speed gains, these chips were 7.5 times more efficient than regular chips. Chips that got wrong answers with a larger deviation of about 8 percent were up to 15 times more efficient.”

The inexact chip is likely to be a key component in ISAID’s planned iPad-like I-slate educational tablet, designed for Indian classrooms with no electricity. Officials in India’s Mahabubnagar District are bullish about the device and have announced plans to adopt 50,000 I-slates into middle and high school classrooms over the next three years.

Rice’s Palem said the hardware and graphic content for the I-slate are being developed in tandem. The chips are expected to cut power requirements in half and allow the I-slate to run on solar power from small panels similar to those used on handheld calculators. The first I-slates to contain inexact chips are expected by 2013.

Source:http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20120420231824data_trunc_sys.shtml

A race to liberate computer users from the mouse is kicking into high gear, inspired by the potential of turning hands and other body parts into digital controllers.

The goal: to manage computers and other devices with gestures rather than pointing and clicking a mouse or touching a display directly. Backers believe that the approach can make it not only easier to carry out many existing chores but also take on trickier tasks such as creating 3-D models, verifying whether clothes fit, training athletes and browsing medical imagery during surgery without touching anything.

Such possibilities have spurred furious action at some high-tech heavyweights, including Microsoft Corp., MSFT -1.51% Apple Inc., AAPL +0.05% Google Inc. GOOG -3.64% and companies that make televisions, computers and other hardware. Microsoft, which helped ignite the action with the 2010 introduction of its Kinect accessory for gaming consoles, on Monday is updating the software that allows developers to build applications for the PC version of the product.

Meanwhile, smaller entrants are developing inexpensive gesture-based products to help bring the technology to a mainstream audience. A start-up called Leap Motion on Monday will begin taking orders for a $69.99 device that allows users to control any desktop or laptop computer by waving their hands and fingers in the air.

The gadget, which resembles a pack of gum, is designed for particularly precise actions. Where devices like Microsoft’s Kinect track larger movements—like the action of swinging a tennis racket—Leap Motion says its technology can let a person write words or draw a picture, as it tracks motions within fractions of millimeters.

David Holz, Leap’s chief technology officer, demonstrates how the Leap allows users to rotate and zoom in on a digital globe with one motion, something that would take several steps using a mouse or a touch screen.

How it Works

The Leap is a series of small camera sensors enclosed in a metal case slightly larger than a jump drive, with hard black plastic film on the top.
The device emits a stream of infrared light particles, which bounce off objects within the four-cubic-foot sensor zone.
Source: WSJ Reporting

“It really makes you feel connected,” says Mr. Holz, during an interview in the company’s bunkerlike basement office in San Francisco. By contrast, existing tools that control computers “don’t work like real life.”

Not every interaction with a computer will necessarily be enhanced by gestures. But new interfaces have consistently defined winners and losers in the technology industry—such as Apple’s pivotal backing of the mouse on the Macintosh in the 1980s and touch-screen applications since 2007 with its iPhones and, later, iPads.

Apple hasn’t publicly tipped its hand, but a person familiar with the matter said it has been studying gesture-based technology for years. It has patented an invention for allowing users to manipulate three-dimensional interfaces without touching a screen. Apple declined to comment.

Backers believe gesture-based technology, along with voice-activation technology, will inspire entirely new kinds of devices and applications, such as robots that recognize and interact with humans based on their movements or physical therapy training programs that can tell whether someone is performing exercises correctly.

The field is attracting some venture-capital money. Bot Square Inc., whose Flutter app parses images from a webcam to allow users to play and pause iTunes and Spotify music libraries with a hand wave, has raised $1.4 million from venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz, NEA and others. The Mountain View, Calif., company plans to release other apps and support for additional gestures soon, says CEO Navneet Dalal.

Leap Motion has raised a total of $14.55 million from Highland Capital Partners and Founders Fund as well as Andreessen Horowitz and others.

Microsoft’s existing version of Kinect for Windows PCs—introduced earlier this year—tracks the motions of an entire body, but the company says its updated software will allow tracking of more joints, including head, neck and arms.

Craig Eisler, general manager for Kinect for Windows, says the existing version of the software has been downloaded more than 350,000 times by developers. Potential uses include helping surgeons view 3-D medical imagery while operating, and creating cheap 3-D body scanners.

Other variations of the concept are in the works. Google recently offered a sneak peak of specially modified glasses that give the user information about the world around them, combining sensors and voice recognition along with gesture control.

At PrimeSense Ltd., an Israeli developer of motion-sensor technology, Tal Dagan, vice president of marketing, envisions gesture technology being embedded in signs that can change when different people are standing in front of them and robots that guide shoppers in stores.

Mr. Holz, 23 years old, began working on Leap’s technology while in high school. He says he was frustrated by how hard it was to draw a three-dimensional object with a mouse.

He dropped out of a University of North Carolina Ph.D. program to start the business with a friend from middle school in Florida, Michael Buckwald. For the past year and a half, they and now 20 employees have been working to refine their software and the Leap, which is expected to ship between December and February.

Like the Kinect, the Leap relies on infrared light. The device creates a three-dimensional zone where it can detect minute movements. It can control any software running on a computer it is connected to but the company wants developers to build applications specifically optimized for gesture.

Mr. Buckwald says the company is talking to partners about embedding its technology in laptops and other devices.

Source:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303879604577412550939856014.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

It’s no secret that Eurocom makes some incredibly spec-heavy notebooks and mobile workstations. Often, those high-performing mamba jambas are also rather weighty and bulky, but the company has apparently accepted the challenge (and possibly felt market pressure) to create something smaller that still packs a punch for gamers.

The Monster 1.0 is the fruit of that labor, an ultraportable gaming notebook that sports an 11.6-inch (1366×768) backlit LED display and runs on an Intel Core i7-3820QM processor, NVIDIA GT 650M (2GB) graphics adapter, and up to 16GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory (over two sockets). The notebook can handle up to 1TB of storage in a variety of SATA2 or SATA3 configurations, including support for HDDs, SSDs, and hybrid drives.

Weighing in at 3.96lbs, the Monster 1.0 has plenty of I/O ports including USB 2.0, a pair of USB 3.0, HDMI 1.4a, VGA, headphone and mic, and Gigabit LAN. Battery life isn’t quite a featured specification here, as although it’s listed for up to 410 minutes (almost 7 hours), a review linked to in the press release clocked it at closer to 4 hours.

The EUROCOM Monster “achieves its goal of packing the most amount of power in the smallest package possible while still maintaining usability. Stuffing the latest Intel Core i7 quad-core processor and a powerful Nvidia GT 650M graphics card in an 11.6” chassis is no small engineering feat. Overall performance is outstanding for any task, especially gaming. The W110ER (EUROCOM Monster) is a great travel companion thanks to its four pound weight and durable exterior… The four hours of battery life should suffice” Notebook Review.com.

The EUROCOM Monster 1.0 provides an increased level of simplicity and functionality which users cannot get in a Tablet, Netbook or Ultrabook. With a full complement of IO ports, the EUROCOM Monster is far more functional than the vast majority of ultra portables on the market.

EUROCOM Monster 1.0 users have an NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics processor, with 2GB of video memory, 384 cores, with the graphics clock running at 850 MHz. This graphics powerhouse is the ultimate mobile gaming system. The Monster also supports NVIDIA Optimus technology for enhanced battery life combined with extreme performance.

“The Monster 1.0 features an amazing form factor, great built quality, superb keyboard, reasonable price tag, and .. yeah, Monster like performance, which you really don’t expect to see in such small laptop” explains Nadav Appel, Eurocom Customer.

The EUROCOM Monster 1.0 combines the best of both worlds of power and performance with support for high performance Intel Ivy Bridge processors, up to Intel Core i7-3820QM with 4 cores, 8 threads, 8 MB L3 Cache running at 2.70 GHz with Max Turbo frequency being 3.7 GHz.

Memory comes via two sockets, with support for up to 16 GB of DDR3 1600 memory.

The EUROCOM Monster supports Solid State Drives, Hard Disks and Hybrid Drives, with support for up to I TB of storage, SATA 2 and SATA 3 storage devices.

“The EUROCOM Monster 1.0 is the perfect system for individuals who live a fast paced lifestyle, who also require high performance computing. The EUROCOM Monster 1.0 is a lightweight system with over 4 hours of battery life, making it the perfect system for travelers, business professionals, gamers and students” states Mark Bialic, Eurocom President.

EUROCOM Monster 1.0 Benchmarks
Eurocom technicians have been testing and benchmarking the EUROCOM Monster 1.0 with various configurations and testing suites. This is done to ensure all of the published configurations function accordingly. Below is a selection of the testing that has been done.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/Eurocom-Announces-Monster-10-Ultraportable-Gaming-Notebook/

Unsure if you’ve noticed, but Ultrabooks have been looking mighty sharp of late. With vendor after vendor aiming for an ever-tighter, slimmer piece of the notebook pie, Acer has outdone itself with the new TravelMate P243 series. It’s actually designed for small businesses, but there’s nothing here stopping the average consumer from digging in.

Aside from clean, classic good looks and an all-black frame, it’ll be powered by Intel’s 3rd-gen Core processors with Turbo Boost technology.

The new line is available with NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M graphics, enabling DirectX 11 support. It’ll also ship with Acer ProShield Security, a suite of security and manageability tools integrated in a unified user interface.

Acer ProShield features pre-boot authentication (PBA) and protects the notebook from BIOS level all the way to application level. It allows creating a Personal Secure Drive (PSD) to seamlessly store and encrypting all critical files, so that even if the notebook is stolen or lost the data cannot be accessed.

Unwanted files or folders can be permanently removed beyond recovery thanks to the File Shredder utility. Finally, it offers the automated solution to manage IT assets remotely and on the go.

Another layer of security is offered by Acer Backup/eRecovery Manager to backup your valuable data and media library and protect your assets. Recovery is on demand thanks to Acer eRecovery Manager. Wake-on-LAN allowing a computer to be turned on by a network message, provides remote management options.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/Acer-Introduces-Ivy-BridgeEquipped-TravelMate-P243-Notebook-Range/

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced major upgrades to the GS Series line of high-performance power supply units (PSUs). A new improved design boosts energy efficiency, enabling the new GS Series PSUs to achieve 80 PLUS® Bronze certification while also providing quieter, fanless operation at low power loads. The newly enhanced models are available in three wattage models: the GS600, GS700, and GS800.

GS Series power supplies are designed for PC builders who want an affordable, reliable, and efficient power supply that offers visually stunning, customizable looks to match their PC. The power supplies feature user-switchable red, white or blue LED lights that can also be turned off if desired. Further customization is possible with swappable color insert rings which are available for purchase from the Corsair website.

The 80 PLUS certification program was created by utility and computer companies to drive the creation and adoption of more energy-efficient power supplies for desktop computers and servers. Corsair GS Series power supplies now have an upgraded architecture that achieves 80 PLUS Bronze certification to provide up to 85% energy-efficiency under typical usage conditions, resulting in lower energy bills and less heat.

As with all Corsair power supplies, GS Series PSUs offer class-leading voltage stability and ultra-low ripple and noise specifications, for long component life. The 140mm temperature-controlled fan also ensures that GS Series power supplies remain quiet as well as cool. Plus, by operating fanless at load levels below 20% of the model’s wattage rating, each GS Series PSU significantly reduces noise levels.

“The GS Series line has been popular with PC enthusiasts who demand quiet, good-looking, and affordable power supplies they can count on,” said Ruben Mookerjee, VP and General Manager for Components at Corsair. “Now we are proud to deliver the next evolution in the GS Series PSU line, with higher-levels of energy efficiency and a new striking, customizable industrial design.”

Source:http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18845&Itemid=47