Self-serve upgrades give EMC tools the edge
EMC hopes to trump big-league competitors IBM and Hewlett-Packard with a new line of storage management products that gives users greater freedom in performing their own upgrades. The Clariion UltraScale CX3-20, CX3-40 and CX3-80 have a capacity range of 59 to 239 TB, and EMC said they command faster response than competitors and are about five to 10 per cent cheaper. The company said the CX3 series will generate savings by allowing users to self-install upgrades and mix-and-match disk drives to meet their business needs. The lower-end CX3-20 with a 4 Gb cache is suited for mail messaging, departmental applications and databases; the CX3-40 with an 8 Gb cache is suited for heavy databases, transactional workloads, video streaming and remote replication, and the top end CX3-80 with a 16 Gb cache is suited for tiered storage, backup-to-disk and heavy data warehousing, said EMC. The system is backwards compatible with previous EMC units.
Availability: Available now Pricing: CX3-40 starts at US$452,000, CX3-40 at US$452,000, CX3-80 at US$101,000 URL: www.emc.com
Novell pitches Microsoft desktop alternative
Novell took a swing at Microsoft’s dominance on the corporate desktop this month with the release of the Novell Open Workgroup Suite, which repackages several open-source applications and tools under new licensing terms. The suite includes Novell’s Open Enterprise Server (including SuSE Linux Enterprise Server), GroupWise collaboration tools, ZenWorks desktop management tools and Novell Linux Desktop, as well as the OpenOffice productivity suite for Linux and Windows. None of the software is new; it’s a rebranding and renaming of Novell’s existing Small Business Suite and Linux Small Business Suite. But it comes with OpenOffice for Windows for the first time, and it’s offered under new licensing terms, including a subscription option.
Availability: Available now
Pricing: Rental starts at $114 per year, perpetual license at $156 per device/user, cross-platform version $213 per user/device for a perpetual license. Annual maintenance is also available, and upgrade pricing is available to existing customers.
URL: www.novell.com/products/openworkgroupsuite
Zarlink unveils new Ethernet switches
Ottawa’s Zarlink Semiconductor has expanded its ClassSwitch Ethernet platform with two new devices it said enable lower cost design and faster deployment of network access equipment to support PON (passive optical network) technology, which can carry triple-play voice, video and data services over fibre networks. The new ZL33032 and ZL33050 chips integrate embedded memory with protection switching and enhanced per-flow QoS features — elements the company said are key in the delivery of advanced services, including IPTV (Internet Protocol television) and end-to-end private VLAN. The ZL33032 embedded memory switch has 24 FE (Fast Ethernet) and four GE (Gigabit Ethernet) ports, while the ZL33050 delivers the same features and port configurations, with the option to add external memory to support applications requiring additional traffic burstiness, more complex congestion control and advanced traffic shaping.
Availability: Available now
Pricing: The ZL33032 and ZL33050 are priced at US$74.00 and US$80.91, respectively, at 10 K volumes
URL: packetswitching.zarlink.com
Platform simplifies element management
Nakina Systems, an Ottawa-based developer of multi-vendor security and element management tools for network operators, has released Nakina Network OS 5, the next version of the company’s flagship product. The carrier-grade network OS serves as a mediation layer and single point of integration between the network itself and higher-level network management systems. The release expands the services offered, with additions that include the centralized collection of performance measurement statistics and device configuration services, with advanced features like the ability to populate a configuration template and have it propagate across any number of devices, ensuring consistency in the commissioning and configuration of networking equipment.
Availability: Available now URL: www.nakinasystems.com
Entry-level notebook targets SMBs
Dell is aiming the newest entry in its Latitude line of entry-level notebooks, the D520, at the SMB and education sectors. Weighing in at 5.24 lbs, depending on configuration, options include either Intel’s Core Duo or Celeron M processors, a 14.1-inch or 15-inch display, and expanded Wi-Fi networking capabilities. The company said the dual-battery configuration option, allowing extended use on the road, will appeal to business users, as will the integrated microphone for VoIP applications. Dell said the notebook is already ready to support Microsoft’s upcoming Vista OS and the emerging 802.11n Wi-Fi standard. Base configuration includes 512 MB of SDRAM expandable up to 4 GB and the standard CD-ROM can be swapped for a DVD/CD-RW combo drive or a DVD-RW drive.
Availability: Available now Pricing: Starts at $1,049 URL: www.dell.ca
NetApp unveils high-end SAN systems
In an attempt to boost its high-end storage business, Network Appliance Inc. has brought out two storage-area network (SAN) products. The new FAS6030 and the FAS6070 arrays have capacities of up to 420TB and 504TB, respectively, and support up to 16 Fibre Channel ports. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company, which is seeking to gain credibility as a high-end storage vendor, said the new systems are designed to challenge EMC’s Symmetrix product line. Both new arrays support Fibre Channel and Serial ATA disk drives that range from 9GB to 300GB on the Fibre Channel side and up to 500GB on the SATA side.
Availability: Available now
Pricing: FAS6030 is priced from US$131,600, FAS6070 starts at US$195,225
URL: www.netapp.com
Intelligent systems technology helps optimize schedules
Saskatoon-based Clevor Technologies has released a new version of its employee scheduling software that the company promises will automatically generate the schedule most beneficial for the user based on the parameters they’ve selected, such as lowest total cost or shortest time. Clevor Schedule Optimizer uses an intelligent systems-based, high-performance optimization engine to deliver the most efficient schedule automatically, and the company is finding traction for the product in the construction, maintenance, manufacturing and professional services sectors.
Availability: Available now URL: www.clevor.com
CA extends tape encryption to the mainframe
CA Inc. has launched new software that aims to ease tape encryption and key management for mainframe users. CA’s BrightStor Tape Encryption tool encrypts data as it is written to standard label z/OS tapes, without requiring changes to JCL (job control language) or applications, the company said. CA acknowledged the large IT overhead associated with data encryption, and to help address the problem, CA allows administrators to pick and choose which encryption algorithms they use for different data sets with different security needs. For businesses that want to share data on tape with customers or partners, CA provides free decryption downloadable software for third parties. The software integrates with tape management tools from CA and other vendors. It also aims to automate key management from creation to deletion. CA said it is also looking into disk encryption for mainframe users, although it has no set plans at this time.
Availability: Available now
Pricing: Starts at US$60,000 for encrypting up to 300 data files a month
URL: www.ca.com
IBM unveils mainframe SOA tools
IBM has announced a new programming language and new tools designed to allow companies to more easily transform the company’s System z mainframe into a core platform for building out an SOA. The IBM Rational Cobol Generation tools are designed to allow developers familiar with Java, VisualBasic or Cobol to create SOA-enabled mainframe applications by using a platform-independent language — Enterprise Generation Language — that is then translated into COBOL. IBM also unveiled a slew of new tools designed to help companies integrate mainframe data via an SOA. The new WebSphere Process Server for z is designed to connect mainframe data to complex business processes via an SOA. The new WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus for IBM System z will provide transformation and routing of messages within the SOA. WebSphere Portal for z.OS will combine different applications in an SOA, while DB2 Viper for z/OS dat/ server will link unstructured data with relational information in databases. Finally, Tivoli Federated Identity Manager for z/OS will help secure transactions across the mainframe and distributed computers using SOA technology.
Availability: First two available in June, others later this year
URL: www.ibm.com
Treo 700p smartphone combines Palm OS, EvDO
Palm has debuted its Treo 700p smart phone, marking the second of four new devices the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company plans to launch this year. The company said it’s the first smart phone to have both the Palm OS and EvDO wireless broadband, and, by adding e-mail and Office functions, a digital camera and MP3 music player, should appeal to both consumer and enterprise users. Like the existing 700w, which runs Windows Mobile OS, the 700p uses EvDO networking, offers a 1.3 megapixel digital camera and stocks 128MB of memory, all driven by a 312MHz Intel XScale processor. One difference is that the people with laptop PCs can use the 700p as a wireless modem, connected with either a USB cable or Bluetooth wireless.
Availability: Available now URL: www.palm.com
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