New Jornada accessories on the way
Hewlett-Packard Co. recently announced several new accessories to go along with the Jornada 560 series of Pocket PCs, including: 1) a PC card adapter that lets you plug a PC card and a MultiMediaCard (MMC) or Secure Digital (SD) card into the CompactFlash slot. For example, the adapter would let you use a wireless LAN PC card and a SecureDigital storage card at the same time. The adapter is expected to be available in December and will cost around US$150; 2) a pocket keyboard that replaces the existing cover of the Jornada 560 with a cover that has a mini-thumb keyboard. The keyboard is also expected in December and will cost around US$50. For users who want a full keyboard, the Targus Stowaway Portable Keyboard works with the Jornada 560 and costs about US$100; and 3) a battery that fits into the Compact Flash card slot, and includes its own MMC/SD slot. With this adapter, you can get extra battery life, as well as the benefits of an MMC or SD card for extra storage or memory. The battery is expected in December and will cost about US$80.
Network Associates disbands PGP unit
Network Associates Inc. has dissolved its PGP business unit and plans to sell off the division’s gateway firewall and encryption products. PGP’s other technologies, including the CyberCop vulnerability assessment tool, PGP VPN, PGP E-Business Server and PGPfire, will be branded and sold as McAfee tools. The PGP unit, with 250 employees, accounted for about nine per cent of revenue at Network Associates. The PGP name was introduced more than a decade ago when Phil Zimmerman developed the Pretty Good Privacy mail encryption product, which was later sold to Network Associates. McAfee Director of Marketing Michael Callahan said there are a number of reasons why the security vendor wants to sell off the Gauntlet and WebShield firewall/VPN appliances. PGP encryption products didn’t garner big sales, but in a larger sense, encryption is a “complicated” technology, Callahan said, and Network Associates decided it wasn’t worth the effort.
What’s up doc?
IBM Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Pfizer Inc. last month launched a software company aimed at reducing the administrative workload of office-based physicians. The new company, called Amicore Inc., will make workflow and connectivity software designed to reduce the amount of paperwork physicians need to do, thus letting them spend more time practicing medicine. The company’s product, Amicore Practice Suite, will be based on software and technology acquired from a company called PenChart. PenChart’s workflow software eliminates the need to file and retrieve paper-based medical records and speeds the process of ordering prescription refills. It also reduces the cost of transcribing medical records. The Amicore Practice Suite adds to these capabilities by using an electronic patient record to automate and streamline clinical workflow.
Avici scales down core
Avici Systems Inc. last month unveiled a scaled-down version of its Internet core router in an effort to crack new markets. The Stackable Switch Router (SSR) is an OC-192 router targeted at regional/metro points of presence within regional Bell operating companies, IXC, PTT and ISP networks, and carriers and service providers with small core network requirements. It is based on the same architecture, and uses the same modules, software and command line interface as Avici’s flagship TSR router, which is comprised of 40 slots and occupies a full telco rack. The SSR is available in a 19-inch or 23-inch rack-mountable form factor. It features 20 slots per chassis, and supports interfaces ranging from OC-3c to OC-192c, and Gigabit Ethernet, and is said to be “OC-768c capable.” It scales from 5Gbps to 200Gbps per chassis, sports two redundant server slots, and supports MPLS Label Distribution Protocol, RSVP-TE signaling and rerouting capabilities.
