Latest News from Citrix Virtualization Journal

NComputing Drives Desktop Virtualization Into the Mainstream With Launch of $20 Numo System-On-Chip Bringing Windows and Linux Applications to Any Device

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:00:05 EDT

NComputing Inc., the global leader in low-cost virtual desktops for Windows, Linux, VMware and Citrix, with over 20 million daily users, today announced the launch and immediate availability of its Numo family of chips. Numo is an ambidextrous chip that will power consumer applications, such as accessing Google from a smart TV, as well as enterprise applications, such as using Microsoft Windows-based virtual desktops in bank branch offices. NComputing's Numo provides maximum flexibility and choice as modern computing models continue their inevitable transformation and integration between traditional desktops and new models of cloud computing.

Reality Check on the iPad

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:35:00 EDT

Do you believe the iPad will change the way we do computing? I don't. Don't get me wrong. These devices are awesome and I wouldn't mind someone buying me one, but do I think they will have a huge impact on business? Not really

Devon IT Announces Plans for Integration of Thin Client Solutions with Microsoft RemoteFX

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:31:20 EDT

Devon IT, Inc., a provider of thin client hardware and software solutions , today announced plans to support Microsoft RemoteFX, a feature being developed for Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1,in a future version of Devon IT products.

Microsoft Accelerates Desktop Virtualization

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:00:00 EDT

Microsoft on Tuesday announced new investments around desktop virtualization technologies and solutions, including virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), to help organizations of all sizes increase flexibility, employee productivity and IT cost savings. "Employees crave options in where and how they work. And yet, IT still needs to enforce security and compliance of devices. The business is being pulled in two directions," said Brad Anderson, corporate vice president of the Management and Services Division at Microsoft. "Microsoft's desktop virtualization strategy is unique in addressing this balance. It builds on existing investments and comprehensive management to mitigate risks and control costs, while still equipping end users to be more productive from anywhere."

CSC Signs Major Five-Year IT Services Contract Extension with UTC

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:30:34 EDT

CSC (NYSE: CSC) today announced a five-year extension to its global information technology (IT) outsourcing agreement with United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX). The extension adds over $1.5 billion in value to the existing contract, which now runs until December 2019. The extension also provides CSC with the immediate opportunity to expand into new geographies with a potential new business value of an additional $300 million.

Xiotech Introduces Intelligent Application Storage

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:12:01 EDT

Addressing the business challenges and infrastructure burdens created by trends including massive data growth, virtualization, cloud computing and green data centers, Xiotech Corporation unveiled its vision and roadmap to deliver the market's first and only solution for Intelligent Application Storage.

Study: Most VDI Proof-of-Concepts Fail

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:34:00 EDT

There is a lot of speculation about whether 2010 will be the year VDI hits its stride. We all know intuitively there is a huge market for desktop virtualization given the large installed base of PCs that need to be refreshed - the questions are, how quickly will this market adopt desktop virtualization and is the technology addressing needs sufficiently to drive broad market acceptance? Our point-of-view, from having worked with VDI over the past decade, is that the demand for virtual desktops is real, but for widespread adoption two things are needed: the technology needs to be less expensive than PCs and it must be easy to use. Interestingly, several studies have pointed out the same - just this week I just saw an article from a business consulting firm who said that most VDI proof-of-concepts are failing.

Simpler, Lighter and Safer Protection for Businesses From F-Secure

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:01:53 EDT

Targeted online attacks against companies are increasing at an alarming rate and are now at an all-time high, according to Mikko Hypponen, Chief Research Officer at F-Secure. Speaking at the recent RSA conference in San Francisco earlier this month, he said, "We have seen both the volume and sophistication of the attacks increase significantly during the last year. Criminals are targeting corporate bank accounts more actively and we are also seeing a clear increase in targeted espionage attacks, which are set to double this year if the current pace continues."

NI Technology Updates Outlooks for Intel, Netlist, Citrix Systems, EMC and VMware

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:35:17 EDT

Xiotech Accelerates End-to-End Virtualization

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:34:00 EDT

Xiotech Corporation, a provider of intelligent application-oriented storage solutions, on Thursday announced a new Virtualization Performance Pack that expands on the company's industry-leading performance, scalability and simplicity in virtual environments. Xiotech's new capabilities further unlock the value of its Intelligent Storage Element (ISE) technology for customers across hypervisors, including VMware, Citrix and Microsoft Hyper-V, and remove the bottlenecks that plague virtualization deployments. The new components within the pack include broader support within ICON Manager's Virtual View, storage adapters for Citrix XenServer and VMware, and best-practice tools. A recent survey of Xiotech customers by TechValidate found that more than a third of customers realized 20 to 30 percent increases in utilization and operational savings of as much as 50 percent with Xiotech Virtual View.

5 Steps to Building a Network Security Strategy for Your Campus -- a Webinar With Maryville University and Bradford Networks

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:09:26 EDT

Bradford Networks, a proven leader in securing today's heterogeneous networks, announced today that customer Maryville University will present via webinar, "5 Steps to Building a Network Security Strategy for Your Campus." The live event will take place Tuesday, March 30 from 11am to noon Eastern.

Reuters Launches Competitive Solution for US Newspapers' Financial Pages

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 06:00:07 EDT

Reuters today announced it will offer automated delivery of customizable, print-ready financial data layouts to US newspapers at an attractive price. The solution leverages Thomson Reuters assets as the leading financial news and information provider.

Aruba Networks’ Rightsizing Guide Makes It Easier to Squeeze Costs Out of LAN Infrastructure

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:02:43 EDT

Aruba Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARUN), a global leader in 802.11n wireless LANs and secure mobility solutions, today announced the availability of “Network Rightsizing Best Practices Guide,” a reference primer compiled from real-world implementations, that shows how 802.11n Wi-Fi can significantly lower the cost of refreshing wired LAN infrastructure while also improving services.

Desktop Virtualization... The Right Way (Part 4)

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:15:00 EDT

One office with one type of desktop... Easy. Hundreds of offices with any type and age of desktops... Difficult but not impossible. Most organizations find themselves in the difficult camp. A user's desktop can be completely different (in terms of hardware, resources, applications and configuration) than the person sitting next to them doing a similar job. As the environment includes users from different departments, in different offices, with different requirements it becomes clear that the understanding of the user topology for an organization is critical before one can create a desktop virtualization solution. In previous blogs, I've discussed how understanding the underlying standards, applications and storms plays an important role in creating a successful virtual desktop design. The fourth requirement is to understand the organization's user topology. More specifically, one must get a grasp of the endpoints and user locations.

Expand Networks poursuit ses efforts de virtualisation avec ExpandView Virtual

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:11:14 EDT

Expand Networks www.expand.com, leader de l’optimisation des réseaux étendus pour la consolidation et la virtualisation des succursales, a franchi une étape importante dans sa stratégie de produits virtuels en lançant ExpandView Virtual. ExpandView est un système de gestion centralisée haut de gamme qui répond aux défis liés aux déploiements à grande échelle, à la configuration, à la production de rapports proactive et aux alertes pour l’ensemble de ses dispositifs physiques et virtuels Accelerator dans des environnements à la fois physiques et virtuels. ExpandView assure une « visibilité réseau axée sur l’application » dans le but d’optimiser la performance de l’application et l’utilisation de la bande passante, et fournit des « rapports d’analyse de tendances » dans le but de prévenir et de contrôler proactivement les problèmes potentiels en matière de capacité.

Expand Networks setzt Virtualisierungsinitiative mit ExpandView Virtual fort

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:28:20 EDT

Expand Networks (www.expand.com), der führende Anbieter von WAN-Optimierungslösungen für die Konsolidierung und Virtualisierung von Niederlassungen, hat mit der Einführung von ExpandView Virtual im Rahmen der Strategie virtualisierter Produkte einen weiteren wichtigen Schritt nach vorn unternommen. ExpandView ist ein zentrales Managementsystem mit vollem Funktionsumfang, das die Herausforderungen umfangreicher Implementierungen und Konfigurationen sowie proaktiver Berichts- und Meldungsfunktionen mit allen physischen und virtuellen Geräten der Produktreihe Accelerator in physischen oder virtuellen Umgebungen bewältigt. ExpandView bietet „anwendungszentrierte Netzwerktransparenz“ zur Optimierung der Anwendungsleistung und der Bandbreitennutzung, sowie „Trendanalyseberichte“, um vor möglichen Kapazitätsengpässen proaktiv zu warnen und bei deren Eintreten gegenzusteuern.

Authernative Granted US and Japanese Patents for User Authentication

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:42:39 EDT

Expand Networks continúa con su iniciativa de virtualización con ExpandView Virtual

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:32:13 EDT

Expand Networks, www.expand.com, líder en optimización de WAN para la consolidación y virtualización de sucursales, dio otro paso importante en su estrategia de productos virtuales con el lanzamiento de ExpandView Virtual. ExpandView es un sistema completo de administración centralizada que supera los desafíos relacionados con la implementación, configuración, presentación de informes proactiva y el servicio de alertas a gran escala en todos sus aceleradores físicos y virtuales y dentro de entornos físicos o virtuales. ExpandView brinda «una visibilidad de redes fluida entre aplicaciones» para optimizar el rendimiento de las aplicaciones y el uso de la banda ancha, y ofrece «presentación de informes de análisis de tendencias» para advertir de manera proactiva y controlar los posibles desafíos de las capacidades.

Desktop Virtualization.... The Right Way (Part 3)

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:52:43 EST

Total power often leads to corruption. No, I'm not talking about business or politics. I'm talking about desktops. Have you been in a meeting where people talk about giving users admin rights to workstations. I have two words for you... Be afraid... Be very afraid... OK that was 5 words, but the point is clear. Be afraid.

Desktop Virtualization.... The Right Way (Part 2)

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:45:00 EST

One of the questions you must ask yourself when designing a desktop virtualization solution is understanding the user patterns. This has a direct impact on XenDesktop farm design and scalability with respects to boot up storms and logon storms. Let's take two different examples so you can get a better idea for what I'm talking about. In this scenario, all users logon in the morning and logoff in the evening. There might be some sporadic users working after hours, but for the most part users stay within these working hours. This is a fairly easy scenario, which is why I've started with it. To design your environment, you need to make sure that the boot up storm doesn't overwhelm your environment. You will be starting a large number of hosted virtual desktops and that has a direct impact on your hypervisor of choice, your storage solution and your network infrastructure. You can easily overcome any challenges with a boot up storm in this scenario by using the XenDesktop idle desktops configuration to pre-boot desktops X minutes before the main rush begins (X is based on how many desktops you need up and running before users start connecting). By the time users come online, the system should have calmed down from the boot up storm.

Desktop Virtualization.... The Right Way (Part 1)

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 07:00:00 EST

User supported applications account for the largest percentage of applications within the organization. IT does not have visibility into these applications, which makes a move to desktop virtualization difficult without proper analysis. By focusing on Application Assessments, Application Layoffs, and Application Delivery Strategy, the challenge of applications can be overcome in time for the virtual desktop.

Expand Networks Continues Virtualization Drive with ExpandView Virtual

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:58:32 EDT

Expand Networks www.expand.com, the leader in optimizing WANs for branch office consolidation and virtualization, has taken another significant step in its virtualized product strategy with the launch of ExpandView Virtual. ExpandView is a fully featured centralized management system that overcomes the challenges associated with large scale deployment, configuration, proactive reporting and alerting across its range of physical and virtual Accelerator devices, and within physical or virtual environments. ExpandView delivers ‘Application fluent network visibility’ to optimize application performance and bandwidth utilization and provides ‘trend analysis reporting’ to proactively warn of, and control, potential capacity challenges.

Sales Growth Spurs $8 Million Additional Investment in Lucid

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:48:24 EDT

In response to recent sales of HYDRA 200 real time distributed processers for use in the consumer gaming and professional PC markets, LucidLogix Technologies has received an additional $8 million in funding from current investors Rho Ventures, Giza Venture Capital and Genesis Partners, bringing total capitalization to $40 million.

View CAD Drawings on iPhone Through Microsoft Seadragon Deep Zoom Technology From Informative Graphics

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:30:13 EDT

images and office documents to Microsoft Deep Zoom images. Created by Microsoft Labs, Deep Zoom is revolutionary technology that enables high resolution viewing of images as a collection. The images can be accessed through Silverlight, Seadragon AJAX and the Seadragon iPhone App.

ClickFox to Host Customer Experience Webinar Featuring Noted Industry Analyst

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 06:07:24 EDT

ClickFox, the pioneering leader of customer experience analytics (CEA) software and solutions, today announced that it will host an industry webinar featuring Forrester Research, Inc. Principal Analyst, Bruce Temkin. The complimentary webinar, “Understand your Customers as Individuals, Not Individual Transactions”, will draw on research findings from ClickFox’s massive repository of customer behavior data for over 240 million consumers in the U.S. to present proven best practices for improving today’s customer experience.

DroidSecurity Selected by 10,500 Users Within 24 Hours of Malware Found on Mobile Phones

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 05:10:33 EDT

DroidSecurity, a pioneer in smartphone security, today announced that 10,500 new users downloaded their mobile device security solution within 24 hours of the discovery of the Conficker and Mariposa viruses on new Vodafone HTC Magic smartphones. DroidSecurity customers were preemptively protected against the malware through its cloud-based malware detection technology.

World Wide Technology Awarded $27 Million Department of Defense Contract

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:06:22 EDT

World Wide Technology, Inc. (WWT), a market-leading systems integrator that provides innovative technology and supply chain solutions, announced today that it has been awarded a two-year, $27 million contract by the Department of Defense (DoD) to meet the technology and supply chain needs of the Tri-Service Medical Education and Training Campus (METC) at Ft. Sam Houston. Through this contract, WWT will support the largest consolidation of military medical training in DoD history with the design, procurement, installation and integration of advanced technology solutions.

Virtual Bridges Launches Solution for Hosted Desktop Virtualization

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:30:00 EDT

Virtual Bridges, makers of the VERDE suite for desktop management and provisioning, on Tuesday announced the immediate availability of VERDE Hosted Powered by Rackspace. This new offering provides comprehensive hosted desktop virtualization solution for VDI, disconnected, and branch-office desktop users worldwide. Complementing Virtual Bridges' VERDE On-premise desktop virtualization, VERDE Hosted addresses an organization's unique requirements for infrastructure, CAPEX and OPEX budgets, and payment options. VERDE Hosted is specifically targeted for customers that do not want to incur the upfront CAPEX costs of deploying a Desktop Virtualization solution. VERDE Hosted can further drive down total cost of ownership (TCO) beyond VERDE On-premise, today nearly 40 percent lower than any competing solution. VERDE Hosted and VERDE On-premise both offer virtual desktops in VDI, disconnected and branch-office modes. Because VERDE Hosted does not share any infrastructure, customers will benefit from VERDE Bridges' access to Rackspace's award winning customer service called Fanatical Support.

ASC to Demonstrate New Quality Monitoring Solution at Strategie Clients Exhibition in Paris

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 06:59:00 EDT

Hoesbach/Germany, March 16, 2010 - ASC (www.asctelecom.com), a leading global provider of innovative solutions to record, analyze and evaluate communications, today announced it will demonstrate its new quality monitoring solution, INSPIRATIONpro 10.0, at the Stratégie Clients Exhibition, Paris, France, at Porte de Versailles, Hall 1, on March 16-18, 2010.

The exhibition will gather professionals in marketing, client relations and CRM in the same place and will provide an overview of the latest contact center services, solutions and innovations. It will feature 200 exhibitors and is expected to attract more than 12,000 visitors interested in these fields becoming the most important exhibition for customer acquisition, retention and management.

Andrea Carniti, Commercial Director of ASC telecom SAS, said, "We look forward to demonstrating our next-generation communications recording and analysis capabilities to this unique audience. Our quality monitoring solution, INSPIRATIONpro 10.0, is particularly suited to this show because of its enterprise-wide impact on business process optimization."

The product will improve recent innovations in speech analytics, designed to categorize calls for larger organizations with an otherwise unmanageable volume of communications. This capability has been expanded in Version 10.0 to allow complex searches beyond those available in the GUI (graphical user interface).

The eLearning module has also been refined in Version 10.0 with new capabilities for supervisor interaction. This module spots the weak points in each agent's performance and delivers customized instruction directly to their desktops, thus creating a loop of continuous learning.

Another prominent new feature offered by INSPIRATIONpro 10.0 involves automated muting to avoid storage of credit card security codes (CSC). Previously available only as a manual override, this capability will provide fail-safe compliance with the most stringent requirements of the payment card industry data security standard (PCI DSS).

About ASC
ASC is a leading global provider of innovative solutions to record, analyze and evaluate multimedia-based communications. ASC's solutions reveal information, enabling companies and organizations to considerably improve their value creation: contact centers enhance customer service, efficiently deploy staff and increase productivity. Financial institutions fulfill documentation requirements, achieve a higher level of legal security and reduce costs. First responders and public safety organizations enhance reactivity in emergency situations.

ASC´s software solutions are used in contact centers to continuously measure and improve the quality of customer contacts. Data from all communication levels in contact centers are collected, brought together and evaluated to help train agents and optimize customer service. Based on the content of recorded calls and screen activities, INSPIRATIONpro reveals improvement potentials in contact center operations including processes, marketing, sales activities, time of reaction and problem analysis.

ASC subsidiaries and sales offices in Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Poland, Middle East, the United States, Japan and Singapore as well as certified, powerful distribution partners realize ambitious customer projects in more than 60 countries. An export quota of almost 70 percent, together with its worldwide service network, makes ASC a powerful global player.

For more information, contact:

ASC telecom AG • Seibelstrasse 2 - 4 • 63768 Hoesbach • Germany
Contact: Katrin Henkel, PR & Communications
Phone: +49 6021 5001-264
Fax: +49 6021 5001-310
E-Mail: k.henkel@asc.de
Internet: www.asctelecom.com

Autonomy Delivers the First Meaning-Based Multichannel Customer Interaction Analytics Application

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:00:20 EDT

Autonomy Explore Identifies, Analyzes and Acts on Critical Patterns Across all Customer Touchpoints Including Contact Center, Web Sites, Mobile Phones and Social Media

Intel Launches Secure Data Center Processor

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:01:00 EDT

Combining security, performance and energy efficiency, Intel Corporation on Tuesday launched the Intel Xeon Processor 5600 series. The new processors deliver two new security features -- Intel Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions (Intel AES-NI), and Intel Trusted Execution Technology (IntelTXT) -- that enable faster encryption and decryption performance for more secure transactions and virtualized environments, providing data centers with a stronger foundation for cloud security. These are also the first server and workstation chips based on the groundbreaking, new Intel 32nm logic technology, which uses Intel’s second-generation high-k metal gate transistors to increase speed and decrease energy consumption. The Intel Xeon Processor 5600 series supports up to six cores per processor and delivers up to 60 percent greater performance than the 45nm Intel Xeon processor 5500 series. In addition, data centers can replace 15 single-core servers with a single new one, and achieve a return on their investment in as little as 5 months.

Stealth Cloud Computing Startup To Launch at Cloud Expo April 19-21 in New York City

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:15:00 EDT

Cloud Computing Journal caught up with the CEO of a major new player in the fast-emerging Cloud ecosystem - a CEO who has taken an interesting and unusual decision. While signing up as the Platinum Plus Sponsor of the 5th International Cloud Expo, he and his company have decided to remain completely anonymous. Who or what might this company might be, only seasoned industry analysts can even guess at, let alone know. But perhaps there are some inadvertent clues among the answers given here to the latest in our "Exclusive Q&A" series. Enjoy!

A-Server to Unveil DAAS.com at Cloud Expo

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EDT

A-Server, a specialist in datacenter virtualization, will launch a new version of its Datacenter-as-a-Service platform at SYS-CON's 5th International Cloud Computing Expo, which will take place on April 19-21, 2010, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. A-Server, a silver sponsor for the event, will unveil its fully configured and installed cloud rack solution tailored to the needs for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Cloud Service Providers, offering rapid deployment of reliable, flexible and cost-effective cloud computing. A-Server opened its first sales office in North America earlier this year and already has several successful service provider customers in Europe, most known includes SymetriQ in the UK that delivers a product comparable to Amazon web services using DAAS.com.

Intel Brings Affordable Solid-State Computing to Netbooks and Desktop PCs

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:30:29 EDT

Intel Corporation announced today a new addition to its award-winning lineup of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs): the Intel® X25-V Value SATA SSD. Priced at $125, the 40 gigabyte (GB) drive is aimed at value segment netbooks and dual-drive/boot drive desktop set-ups to offer users the performance and reliability advantages of solid-state computing at an affordable, entry-level price.

Ricoh Introduces Aficio GX e5550N GelSprinter(TM) Color Printer

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:00:33 EDT

Business Inkjet Color Printer Offers Affordability and Convenience with the Speed and Durability of a Laser Printer

Hitech Act Drives Mahaska Health Partnership to Imprivata for Secure Access to Electronic Medical Records (EMR)

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:37:41 EDT

Imprivata®, Inc., the company that simplifies and secures user access, announced today that Mahaska Health Partnership (MHP) has secured its virtual and traditional computing environments using Imprivata OneSign. With Imprivata OneSign, MHP streamlined clinician access to patient data, both within the facility and from remote locations, while effectively addressing key mandates introduced in the Healthcare Information Portability and Privacy (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Acts.

Devon IT Announces Citrix HDX Ready Thin Client to Enhance Virtual Desktop Performance

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:04:09 EDT

Devon IT, Inc., a leading thin client hardware and software provider, today announced the availability of its Citrix HDX Ready™ thin client model, the TC5X, further enhancing the user experiences of virtual desktops. More information can be found here: http://www.citrix.com/ready/partners/devon-it-inc/products/tc5x.

ClickFox to Lead Expert Panel of Call Center Executives at CRM Association Event

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:02:43 EDT

ClickFox, the pioneering leader of customer experience analytics (CEA) software and solutions, today announced that the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, Anna Convery, will lead an informative panel discussion with industry experts, entitled “Recession Proofing Your Contact Center: Methods Helping Contact Centers Optimize in a Downturn”, hosted by Customer Relationship Management Association (CRMA) and the American Teleservices Association (ATA).

VidSys Pushes the State of the Art in Intelligent Physical Security Information Management (PSIM)

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:00:25 EDT

VidSys, the leading provider of Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) software that allows organizations to resolve business and security situations in real time, today released the newest version of its PSIM software system including its situation management application, RiskShield. With the latest enhancements, the VidSys PSIM software system further pushes the state of the art in improving the real time diagnosis, resolution and management of situations along with an integrated suite of services for setting policy, determining compliance and initiating investigative analysis. It is now easier to set and enforce policies and offers integration with post situation compliance and investigative reporting, helping organizations save time, money and, in some cases, lives.

How-To: Best Practices for Preventing Downtime in Automation Systems

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 08:30:18 EDT

Meeting the application availability needs of process automation systems, such as those used in the pharmaceutical or oil and gas industries, can be a daunting task. Downtime in these scenarios has the potential to disrupt or derail a production schedule, put lives at risk or compromise compliance of industry regulations. At the live webinar, "Preventing Downtime in Automation Systems," Marathon Technologies and ARC Advisory Group Research Director Craig Resnick will provide best practice recommendations for protecting automation applications from downtime. The webinar will help organizations learn how to more effectively protect their automation applications by providing proven tips to reduce human error and protect hardware, storage and networks from downtime. Topic: Preventing Downtime in Automation Systems

Thomson Reuters Launches 7500 New Indices

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 05:00:04 EDT

Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) today launched 7500 new equity sector-level indices covering a broad range of regions and sectors unique to Thomson Reuters. These include full lines of Emerging Market and Asia Pacific sector indices in addition to the first line of Iberian sector and NAFTA sector indices, as well as indices for new and relevant sectors such as Water, Renewables, and Diversified Media. The sector indices are the most recent addition to Thomson Reuters indices which include the award-wining Thomson Reuters Realized Volatility Index - a first-of-its-kind index that provides a new way to forecast volatility.

DevCentral Top5 03/12/2010

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:09:58 EST

This week I bring to you a full house of content, docs over blogs. To say there have been more than a few pairs on DevCentral lately though would be an understatement. The rush of content could be likened to an avalanche but without the messy death and destruction bits to deal with. From interviews to tech tips to blog posts to original songs pertaining to cloud computing (no, I'm not joking, and no, the link isn't in here…go find it yourself), DevCentral never seems to sleep these days, which is just how we like it. In case you're overwhelmed and looking for a place to get started, here are my Top5 picks for the week:

Citrix XenApp 5.0 Implementation Tips

http://devcentral.f5.com/Default.aspx?tabid=63&articleType=ArticleView&articleId=1082335

Naladar, one of the esteemed MVPs of the DevCentral community, comes to us with this piece on XenApp this week. He's looking to share his recent experiences and given his track record, he's the kind of person you want to listen to when he decides to share something with the community. While there are deployment guides out there for Presentation Server 4.5, Naladar takes the time to walk you through the differences in implementation that you'll need to pay attention to for v5. With some almost immediate positive feedback it's obvious that other people out there have found this one useful already. Combine that with the fact that I'm always eager for a chance to show off how awesome our users are, even to the point of contributing killer content for the masses, and this one had to be my top pick this week.

Configuring a multi-tier Testing Environment with VMware Teams and BIG-IP LTM VE

http://devcentral.f5.com/Default.aspx?tabid=63&articleType=ArticleView&articleId=1084344

There have been many a post about LTM VE over the past few weeks, many of them very cool, but Don took a slightly different angle by showing you how to set up a VMware team so you can spin up and down your entire test team (VE, client, server) with the push of a single button. Pretty neat stuff. Not only that, but he goes into enough detail with screenshots and step by step instructions that you should be able to re-create the environment pretty easily if you're still looking for a way to get up and running with your VE deployment. Whether you were waiting for the right walk-through on setting up LTM VE to come along or you're just interested in seeing yet another way of doing things, this article was a goodie.

BIG-IP Logging and Reporting Toolkit - part two

http://devcentral.f5.com/Default.aspx?tabid=63&articleType=ArticleView&articleId=1084341

The second installment of Joe Malek's awesome Logging and Reporting Toolkit series is out, and worth a read. Here he talks about the two vendor options he investigated when looking into advanced options for BIG-IP logging and reporting, Splunk and Q1 Labs. He talks a bit about each of their offerings, their strengths and what to expect from them. He then goes onto give us an extensive list of the different information these systems are going to be made to handle in the soon to come resolution to this technological tease wherein we'll finally get to see the results of his testing, his analysis of the options, and some fun charts. If you didn't catch the first installment yet, I highly recommend going and checking that one out as well.

If I Had a Hammer…

http://devcentral.f5.com/weblogs/macvittie/archive/2010/03/10/if-i-had-a-hammer.aspx

Despite the title Lori does not go on to talk about carpentry or construction. Instead she fills us in on her take on Carr's analogy and why the "pay as you use" model is really more like a "pay for the minimum required in CASE you need it" model. It's not a negative slant on things, just realistic, to remember that there is an inherent cost in things that have to be running before requests actually come in. To fool ourselves into thinking that we're paying only for what we use, like electricity, when we're paying a set cost just to have the resources available when needed is..well..just that, fooling ourselves. I like her points here and thought it was worth passing on. The cloud can be awesome and effective and even cheap for many people, but don't get caught off-guard thinking it's going to be free until you need it while really being billed.

20 Lines or Less #37 - Hex, HTTPS, and SNATing

http://devcentral.f5.com/weblogs/cwalker/archive/2010/03/12/20-lines-or-less-37.aspx

I'm so sorry, 20LoL, I didn't mean to leave you out last time, there was just too much good stuff! I never meant to hurt you, you know how I love you, I just couldn't justify bumping one of the other hawesome topics for your iRuley goodness. You're back, though, this week, with 3 more examples of iRules fu at its finest. *cough* Check out what the forums & samples section have to offer this week in less than 21 lines of code. We've got payloads being converted to hex, yet another take on https redirection and some pretty nifty snating stuff happening. These are always a cool look at what people in the community are up to, so check it out.

Well, there it is, another week, another 5 from DC. Hopefully you liked reading as much as I liked writing. Come back next week for more, and feel free to drop me a line with any feedback.

Technorati Tags: DevCentral,F5,Top5,Colin Walker

#Colin

CORRECTING and REPLACING Super Micro, OTOY, and AMD Combine Technologies to Bring Fusion Render Cloud Servers to Market in Q2 2010

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:13:27 EST

Fourth bullet under FRC Technical Specifications: in release dated March 10, 2010, should read: Token based metering system (sted Token basted metering system).

Diskeeper & CompTIA Educational Foundation Keep Military Veterans' Computers Working at Top Speed

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:03:10 EST

Diskeeper Corporation doubled its annual donation to the CompTIA Educational Foundation, providing 1,000 copies of its defragmentation software to keep the computers of the military veterans running at top speed while they train for new tech careers.

SAP Mobility Challenge, Part 6

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:43:00 EST

Would you use Linkedin if you had to make a phone call and ask each person individually if they were using Linkedin before connecting to them? What if you had to manually program each connection yourself according to the mobile operating system and version each friend or contact was using? What if the programming was different for every mobile device? What if you had to re-program the connection every time a friend changed smartphones or upgraded their OS? The system would quickly cease to be a benefit and start being a big burden wouldn't it? The value of Linkedin is that it automates and standardizes most processes and connection related issues. Everyone connects in standardized ways and uses pre-built processes to manage all of their connections, security, settings, etc. It is easy to view all of your contacts and manage these contacts from one screen. Enterprise mobility and the support of mobile devices needs these same kinds of concepts in place. Enterprise mobility, like most IT systems, need standards that include defined methodologies and processes in order to manage it effectively and efficiently. If your company or client has hundreds or thousands of smartphones, handheld computers or other mobile devices using mobile applications, thick and thin clients, MEAPs and micro-applications, there is an absolute requirement for mobile device management. If they don't, it will be a big challenge now that will only get bigger.

Thin Client Computing Could Save Small Businesses Thousands in IT Costs

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:11:00 EST

Small businesses in the UK could be savings thousands of pounds in IT costs and management time by switching from their traditional computers to thin clients, according to research from IGEL Technology. A small company with five PC users could save £2,300 over the first three years and more than £6,000 over a 6 year period - the typical life of a thin client. Annual costs per workstation below £600 Instead of conventional PCs with their own locally installed software ("fat clients"), employees would use small thin client devices, which look just like a small PC but run their software from a central server. This Virtual Desktop Infrastructure means that staff can still do all the same tasks as with their old PC but the running and maintenance costs are significantly reduced. When distributed over six years, the costs for this kind of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) with five thin client workstations - including monitors, printer, keyboards and mice - comes to only £596 annually. In contrast, a comparable workstation in a conventional PC environment would cost around £800 per year. What's more, in purely Linux-based systems (no cost for Windows® licenses), the annual per-workstation savings increase by almost another £100.

Study: Healthcare IT Leaders Need to Address Mobile Security and Management

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:04:29 EST

“Managing and Securing Mobile Healthcare Data and Devices,” a commissioned technology adoption profile conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Fiberlink Communications Corporation was released today with findings on the top needs of healthcare IT leaders. With 95% of healthcare enterprises relying on smartphones for work, this industry is one of the most mobile across all verticals.

Technology Industry Executives Prepare for Networking and BizDev Opportunities at TheBDevent June 2010

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:30:17 EST

Should schools issue laptops? Privacy vs access

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:33:00 EST

A news item caught my attention a few days back: a Pa. school district was accused of using

Super Micro, OTOY, and AMD Combine Technologies to Bring Fusion Render Cloud Servers to Market in Q2 2010

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:38:28 EST

AMD (NYSE:AMD), OTOY and Super Micro (NASDAQ:SMCI) announced today that they plan to bring Fusion Render Cloud Servers to market in the second quarter of 2010.