Cisco boosts application acceleration
Cisco Systems has announced the Application Control Engine (ACE), a module to boost application throughput, security and management for its Catalyst 6500 Series switch. ACE is available in three configurations, including a top-end version that offers 16Gbit/sec. throughput. The other two offer 8Gbit/sec. and 4Gbit/sec. throughput. The separate Application Velocity System (AVS), which works with ACE, combines a number of functions now seen on several devices in data centres, including load balancing, security, and application switching and acceleration.
Availability: ACE available now, AVS in May Pricing: ACE starts at US $39,995, AVS at $10,000 URL: www.cisco.com
Entrust launches managed PKI service
Entrust has launched the Entrust Managed Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Service, designed to bring PKI security benefits to businesses without having to develop the expertise internally. Entrust said the service has been designed to meet US Federal Common policy and standards requirements, and includes management functions such as high availability, disaster recovery, automated failover and network protection, as well as intrusion protection, anti-virus for the Certification Authority (CA) services, denial of service protection and archival of CA data.
Availability: Second quarter of 2006 URL: www.entrust.com
Remotely managing the data centre
Aten Technology, a developer of KVM (keyboard/video/mouse) and remote connectivity tools, has released a new enterprise-class remote environment monitoring and management device geared to large enterprise data centres. The GN0116 Guardian over the NET is a control unit that lets network administrators access and control server environment settings remotely. By daisy chaining additional GN0116 units, Aten said up to 4,096 digital controllers could be managed.
Availability: Available now Pricing: US$1,900 URL: www.aten-usa.com
Cognos targets HR industry
Ottawa-based BI vendor Cognos has launched Cognos 8 Workforce Performance, a human resources analytic application. Cognos said the tool gives companies a view of performance trends and influencing factors within the talent management cycle, including visibility into headcount and turnover, compensation and incentives, talent segmentation and ratings, and includes a range of modifiable, pre-packaged reports and analytics on over 100 workforce metrics. The interface is customizable based on role through an Adaptive Application Framework.
Availability: Available May 15 URL: www.cognos.com
Humming right along
Toronto’s Hummingbird Ltd., a developer of enterprise content management and network connectivity tools, has released a new PC NFS (Network File System) server, the Hummingbird NFS Maestro Server 2006 Enterprise Edition. Designed to interoperate with Windows Server operation systems, the software has been certified for Windows Server 2003 by VeriTest and also supports the new NFSv4 protocol.
Availability: Available now URL: www.connectivity.hummingbird.com
Laptop takes flight
Designed to be ultra portable for the frequent traveler, Dialogue Technology has made its Flybook A33i available in Canada. With integrated 3G Wireless and tablet features, the Flybook measures 9.3 inches x 6.1 inches and weighs 2.7 pounds. Its 8.9 inch wide-view colour high resolution TFT LCD touch-screen can be rotated and folded back to become a Tablet PC. Interfaces include two USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire ports, an integrated 10/100 Ethernet network port plus integrated Bluetooth and WiFi. It’s powered by a Transmeta Crusoe TM-5800 processor running at 1 GHz clock speed, and comes with 512MB DDR RAM and up to 80GB hard disk drive. An interchangeable Li-Ion rechargeable battery gives up to four hours of continuous use.
Availability: Available now Pricing: Suggested retail price of $3,050 URL: www.flybook.ca
Telus has the Blackberry 7100i
Telus Mobility and Research in Motion have said RIM’s BlackBerry 7100i will be exclusively available in Canada on the carrier’s Mike network. The 7100i includes the traditional data and voice BlackBerry functionalities, such as e-mail, Web browsing, organizer applications, and access to corporate data applications. The 7100i also supports GPS tracking, is Bluetooth enabled, and has a high-resolution colour display. For corporate customers, BlackBerry Enterprise Server software integrates with Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino and Novell GroupWise, and works with existing enterprise systems to enable secure, push-based, wireless access to e-mail and other corporate data.
Availability: Available now Pricing: Starts at $249.00 with a three-year contract, or $549.99 without a contract URL: www.telus.com
Help for network operators
Mississauga, Ont.-based Fluke Networks Canada has released an integrated Distributed Network Analysis and Monitoring Solution designed to give network operators a centralized vision and troubleshooting capability, for both local and remote networks, via a central console in the network operations centre. The company said it will let operators take a proactive approach to managing the distributed enterprise and reduce downtime. At the core is the OptiView Server, which collects and correlates performance information gathered from OptiView Workgroup Analyzers and OptiView WAN Analyzers placed at remote locations.
Availability: Available now Pricing: Varies depending on configuration URL: www.fluke.com
New SAN offering from Dell
Dell, in partnership with EMC, has updated its SAN offering with its new Dell/EMC AX disk storage system. The AX150 for Fibre Channel and the AX150i for iSCSI, both designed to support up to 10 servers and six terabytes of storage, feature software and hardware advances aimed at simplifying storage consolidation and easing configuration. The new offerings include increased power redundancy, additional iSCSI ports and enhanced snapshot software, and bundled software that includes EMC Navisphere Express Management Suite, EMC Power Path, EMC SnapView Express and Configuration Wizards.
Availability: Available now Pricing: Starts at $6,700 URL: www.dell.com
BEA unveils portal tools
BEA Systems has unveiled two tool sets designed to allow users to fold Microsoft applications into BEA portals. Its new AquaLogic Interaction SharePoint Console is a set of tools for users of Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services to discover and connect to those services within BEA’s AquaLogic portals. Enterprises using SharePoint Services for collaboration and content management can continue to do so, and the BEA tool will manage that information as it is updated, said the company. The BEA Portal .Net Application Accelerator allows users to incorporate .Net applications into BEA’s AquaLogic Interaction or WebLogic Portal frameworks. It includes new support for ASP.Net 2.0, Visual Studio 2005 and the Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP) protocol.
Availability: Console available now, Accelerator mid-year URL: www.bea.com
Securing your memory stick
Montreal’s MXI Security has launched the MXP product family, a line of portable USB memory sticks that combine secure storage with digital identity, cryptography and strong authentication services. Designed to meet requirements like HIPAA, SOX and GLB, features include hardware-based authentication mechanisms such as biometrics and passwords executed on-board, and built-in mechanisms to enable corporate control and centralized management. The Outbacker is a USB portable hard drive storing up to 60 GBs of information and offering three-factor authentication, and the Stealth houses up to 2 GBs with three-factor authentication. Two tokens are also available. The Stealth Bio Token has three-factor authentication, and the Stealth Token two-factor authentication.
Availability: Available now Pricing: Stealth US$259.99, Outbacker $499.99, Stealth Bio Token 189.99, Stealth Token $149.99 URL: www.mxisecurity.com
Backing up the remote office
Aiming to extend enterprise-class data protection to remote offices, Symantec has released Veritas NetBackup 6.0 PureDisk Remote Office Edition. Leveraging advances in disk-to-disk backup, data reduction, encryption, replication, and centralized administration, the tool is designed to help companies overcome the challenges often associated with remote office backup, including tape administration, lack of skilled IT personnel at remote offices, and the risks involved with transporting un-encrypted backup tapes offsite. Symantec says the tool encrypts backup data from the moment it is captured at the remote office, while in transit, and while on disk at both the remote office and central data centre. An integrated key management system encrypts each data segment with a unique key, ensuring administrators and end users only have access to the data they are entitled to.
Availability: Available now URL: www.symantec.com
Symantec tunes up its IM monitoring
Symantec is making it easier to monitor and control real-time applications being used on corporate networks. With release 8.0 of its IM Manager software, the company is adding tools to apply security policies to VoIP and videoconferencing and expanding its ability to do the same to instant messaging and text messaging, said Symantec. The 8.0 IM Manager software integrates its archived IM transcripts with another Symantec product, Enterprise Vault, which archives e-mails. The company says this lets customers store and search these archives from a single console rather than opening IM Manager to look for archives, and opening Enterprise Vault to search through stored e-mails. The new software also can block new IM viruses based on behavior it detects on a network.
Availability: Available now Pricing: US$40 per seat URL: www.symantec.com
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