Interoperable e-health records
Toronto’s MedcomSoft Inc. has introduced MedcomSoft Record 2006, the company’s third-generation electronic medical record system for the integration of point of care and reference vocabularies. The platform is compliant with the MEDCIN industry standard for clinical vocabulary, and produces structured data that is automatically codified and cross-mapped to other industry standard reference terminologies. It’s designed as a single application to automate all clinical, administrative and financial functions in the ambulatory care market. In addition to the EMR system it includes a Practice Management System, a Computerized Provider Order Entry system, a document and images management system, and a range of other tools.
Availability: Available now. URL: www.medcomsoft.com
Partnering for Network Storage
Bell Microproducts is launching a new line of network storage devices that incorporate Zetera’s Storage over Internetworking Protocol (SoIP) technology, including desktop and rackmount devices for business users, under its Hammer storage brand. The companies said using the SoIP technology would give Hammer users better fluidity and virtualization than is available with more expensive SAN and NAS products. Zetera’s architecture uses distributed controllers to eliminate the high cost and performance limitations of fixed RAID controllers.
Availability: Q1 2006. URL: www.bellmicro.com and www.zetera.com
Zarlink release targets video distribution space
Ottawa’s Zarlink Semiconductor has introduced the first two devices in its new ClassSwitch platform of single-chip, full-service Layer 2 Ethernet switches designed for network access equipment supporting packet-based applications, such as IPTV (Internet Protocol television). The devices enable IP multicast packet-forwarding service distribution, a key element in the delivery of IP video in the first mile. The platform includes the ZL33042 with 24 FE (Fast Ethernet) + 2 GE (Gigabit Ethernet) port configurations and the ZL33046 Ethernet switch delivering 16 FE + 2 GE port configurations. Zarlink said future devices will incorporate lower and higher data throughput and optional port count configurations.
Availability: Available now. Pricing: ZL33042 US$68.00, ZL33046 US$60.00, in quantities of 5,000 units. URL: www.zarlink.com
Teradata updates warehouse product
Teradata has released Teradata Warehouse 8.1, a suite of software, hardware and consulting services with new features the company said will make it easier to build and manage the growing active data warehouses at the heart of enterprise intelligence. Enhancements include Teradata Active System Management, a system management tool to monitor and manage data warehousing environments. It monitors query activity in real time with an on-screen dashboard and provides tools to help administrators better manage the system.
Availability: Available now. URL: www.teradata.com
HP printers for home and office
HP has as unveiled two new colour inkjet printers, the Deskjet 6980 and Deskjet 6940. Both offer wired Ethernet printing for sharing with multiple computers, and the 6980 offers wireless printing with built-in Wi-Fi 802.11g/b. Designed for high-volume printing customers that want professional-quality prints quickly, they can print at up to 36 pages per minute (ppm) in black and 27 ppm in colour.
Availability: February 2006. Pricing: Deskjet 6940 $179, Deskjet 6980 $199. URL: www.hp.com
PlateSpin supports Virtual Server 2005
Toronto-based data-migration vendor PlateSpin has added support for Microsoft’s Virtual Server 2005 Release 2 and Symantec’s LiveState 6.0 to its PowerConvert software. The company’s technology supports migration of data, applications and operating systems in physical, virtual, blade or mixed environments. The software is used for server consolidation, disaster recovery, hardware migrations and data centre optimization and relocation. Version 5.2 of PowerConvert also features support for multi-subnet and full duplex networks, new server-discovery tools and error reporting. PowerConvert 5.2 is available in three editions: Universal, Consolidation and Recovery.
Availability: Available now. Pricing: Starting at $120. URL: www.platespin.com
Oracle offers SOA deployment suite
Seeking to offer one-stop shopping for SOAs, Oracle is packaging several of its existing Fusion middleware products together as the Oracle SOA Suite. Products will be integrated and have both a common install and common management tool, and will feature Oracle’s BPEL for mapping out business process flows and ESB for connecting existing IT systems and business partners as a set of services, as well as Oracle Enterprise Manager and Oracle JDeveloper 10g. Oracle said other companies haven’t put together a truly comprehensive SOA suite before, or one that interoperates with other vendors’ middleware.
Availability: Available now. Pricing: US$50,000 per CPU when deployed with an Oracle application server, or US$65,000 per CPU when used with a rival application server. URL: www.oracle.com
Google grows the mini
In celebration of its one-year anniversary, the Google Mini search appliance is getting a teensy bit bigger, with two new versions that double and triple the capacity of the existing appliance. Customers can order a 200,000-document or a 300,000-document capacity version that can index more than 220 file types, including HTML, PDF, and Microsoft Office. The Mini was designed to meet the needs of small and midsize companies, for which the enterprise-focused Google Search Appliance would be overkill. Google said smaller companies were finding that the 100,000-document capacity, the previous maximum for the Mini, wasn’t enough. The mini is a hardware box loaded with search engine software, designed to be easily set up and deployed.
Availability: Available now. Pricing US$5,995 and US$8,995. URL: www.google.com/enterprise
BlueTree launches EvDO wireless modems
Wireless modem manufacturer BlueTree Wireless Data Inc., based in Montreal, has launched two new EvDO products; the IP 4600 and the GPS 5600 — which the company claims is the only EvDO GPS wireless modem on the market. Designed to support both mobile data and telemetry applications, new features include a second cellular antenna connector that improves receiver sensitivity by up to 3dB on both 800 MHz and 1900 MHz bands. Both have also met the MIL-STD-810F military specifications and the SAE J1455 specifications for vibration, temperature, shock and humidity, and have already received carrier certification on two major North American CDMA EvDO networks, with more expected shortly.
Availability: Available now. URL: www.bluetreewireless.com
Mozilla ships Thunderbird 1.5 e-mail client
Mozilla Corp. has released the latest version of its e-mail client with a host of new features, including better security, automatic updating and other enhancements. New security features include Kerberos authentication and integration with server-side spam filtering, and a phishing detector. Also new is the auto-saving of e-mails in progress as drafts and automatic spell-checking as an e-mail user types a message, as well as automatic software updates. There’s also new support around podcasting and RSS.
Availability: Available now. URL: www.getthunderbird.com
Seagate shipping 160GB laptop drive
Seagate Technology LLC has begun shipping a 160GB hard disk drive for use in laptop computers. The drive, which is the highest-capacity 2.5-inch drive on the market according to the company, is Seagate’s first laptop drive to use perpendicular data recording. This involves standing the magnetic fields that represent data bits upright. In most current drives these fields lay flat on the disk surface. Standing them upright means they take less space, enabling more to be packed on the disk and the storage capacity to be increased. The Momentus 5400.3 drive is, as its name suggests, a 5,400-rpm (revolutions per minute) drive. The version shipping now has an Ultra ATA/100 interface and a second version with a faster Serial ATA interface will be available later this year.
Availability: Available now. URL: www.seagate.com
A TurningPoint for 2006
Turning Technologies LLC, a company specializing in tools for measuring audience response, has released its TurningPoint 2006 Audience Response System (ARS), a tool that teachers, speakers and trainers can use to instantly measure their audiences’ knowledge and opinions in the aggregate and, the company said, keep listeners more involved as well. On the device side, options range from credit-card size response units using line-of-sight-infrared or radio frequency technology, to “virtual keypads” for PCs, desktops or PDAs. The software forms the backbone for creating, receiving, tallying, reporting and sharing audience response data, and also integrates with Microsoft Office.
Availability: Available now. Pricing: Ranges from US$1,500 to US$3,500, depending on configuration. URL: www.turningtechnologies.com
Symantec updates DeepSight service
Symantec Corp. has updated its DeepSight Threat Management System, making version 7.0 of the online security service less expensive and easier to use. The company said DeepSight now has a revised user interface, where users will have an easier time getting access to security information, and also boasts a simplified search process. Users will also now receive comprehensive threat analysis information on spyware and adware. The DeepSight service provides security data that is gathered from Symantec’s network of more than 150 million desktop antivirus users and intrusion detection sensors, as well as information stored in the company’s large vulnerability database. Pricing for the service has been slashed significantly in hopes of making the service available to a broader range of users.
Availability: Available now. Pricing: Starts at US$9,995/year. URL: www.symantec.com/ enterprise
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