Sierra Wireless expands HSDPA AirCard PC Card line
New to the market is the AirCard 875 wireless wide area network card for HSDPA networks from Vancouver’s Sierra Wireless. It offers increased data speeds and high-speed worldwide roaming, with tri-band HSDPA/UMTS and quad-band Class 12 EDGE/GPRS connectivity. It’s a Type II PC Card with a fixed antenna, supporting peak theoretical data rates of up to 3.6 Mbps on HSDPA networks and is upgradeable to support future network upgrades providing peak data rates of up to 7.2 Mbps. Enhancements include receiver equalization to enable reductions in signal interference and better throughput and simultaneous voice and data capabilities to allow customers to use the card as a phone with a headset without suspending access to e-mail or online applications.
Availability: Third quarter 2006 URL: www.sierrawireless.com/product/ac875.aspx
Microsoft rolls out new tool for database developers
Microsoft has unveiled new Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition software that’s designed to help database developers and administrators better collaborate with other members of application development teams. Visual Studio Team Edition for Database Professionals will be the fourth role-based edition of the development software. Currently, there are tool sets targeted at developers, architects and testers available as part of VS 2005. The new edition will be integrated with Team Foundation Server, the server-based software in Visual Studio that supports integrated version control, reporting and work item tracking.
Availability: By the end of 2006 URL: msdn.microsoft.com
Telus and Samsung launch multimedia phone
The Samsung A950 handset, recently launched with Telus Mobility in Canada, is all about multimedia, say the companies. The device features integrated MP3 capabilities, Bluetooth support, a 1.3 megapixel digital camera, video recorder and expandable memory with a slot for an optional 1 GB micro SD memory card. With the Telus wireless high-speed network, the carrier also promises fast access through the device to the Telus Mobile Music and Telus Mobile TV services, with typical download speeds of 400 to 700 Kbps and a top speed of up to 2.4 Mbps on the CDMA 1xEVDO standard-based network.
Availability: Available now Pricing: Through Telus, $99 with a three-year contract or $349 with no contract URL: www.telus.com
Mitel launches VoIP gear, apps
Ottawa-based Mitel has launched a new lineup of VoIP gear, with IP phones, Gigabit Ethernet modules and wireless LAN telephony add-on products aimed at business phone end-users. The Mitel 5330 and 5340 IP phones both support the G.722 wideband audio codec, which provides better audio quality than previous Mitel phones, and some competitive IP phones, Mitel claims. Along with the phones comes an HTML Toolkit, which Mitel said will allow IT administrators to create Web-based phone applications. The company is also offering two network access products with its GigE stand and WLAN Stand accessories. The GigE Stand is a two-port base station add-on for Mitel IP phones with a Gigabit Ethernet port, for connecting a PC (with a 1000Mpbs NIC) to a corporate LAN, and a 10/100Mbps port for the Mitel phone. The WLAN Stand can be configured to run either as just a wireless bridge for a wired Mitel IP phone or as an 802.11 access point for connecting multiple devices.
Availability: July 2006 Pricing: Mitel 5330 will be priced at US$395 and the 5340 will cost US$495, GigE pricing is expected to be US$250, WLAN Stand US$180 URL: www.mitel.com
Avaya announces new desktop IP phones
Avaya Inc. has announced two new IP phones for desktop use in offices, schools and hospitals that feature high-fidelity sound and access to intelligent applications based on a new Wireless Markup Language (WML) interface. The Avaya one-X Deskphone Edition models also include a USB port for connections to keyboards and a variety of devices including handheld computers. Avaya said the phones are aimed at boosting employee productivity and reflect Avaya’s awareness of how often workers need a desktop phone that interacts with all kinds of wireless devices, desktop PCs and applications.
Availability: July 2006 URL: www.avaya.com
Nvidia bets on Windows for smart phone growth
In a bid to convince developers to use its GPU (graphics processing unit) processors, Nvidia has launched a rapid development kit for Windows-based smart phones. The kit integrates the company’s GoForce 5500 chip with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0, allowing handset makers to get their new products on store shelves faster, Nvidia said. A GPU is a secondary processor dedicated solely to graphics, freeing the main chip to manage primary system tasks. Nvidia’s new MobileMedia Platform works by linking the GPU with drivers, middleware and APIs for processors from Intel and Freescale Semiconductor. That can halve a developer’s design schedule from 12 months to six months, said the company.
Availability: Available now URL: www.nvidia.com
Tundra switch targets DSP-intensive processing apps
The Tundra Tsi574 Serial RapidIO Switch, the latest release from Ottawa’s Tundra Semiconductor Corp., aims to deliver the performance, power and configurability designers of embedded designs need to build reliable, high-performance RapidIO-based systems for a wide range of applications such as wireless base stations, media gateways, video infrastructure and DSP-intensive image processing, according to the company. Features include link flexibility through mixed port widths and speeds, hardware multicast for improved distributed processing performance and supervised traffic flow for increased performance and fabric management.
Availability: Sampling will begin in September 2006 Pricing: Volume pricing under US$80 URL: www.tundra.com
NetSuite unveils Canadian tax engine, French-language support
On-demand, mid-market CRM vendor NetSuite Inc. has announced a number of modifications to its NetSuite 11 platform aimed at its Canadian clients. Among the changes and additions, the tax engine has been revised to give businesses greater control over the charging, tracking and reporting of the applicable GST, HST and PST for their activities, making life easier for businesses operating in multiple provinces with tax liabilities in each. The company also unveiled the option to select French as the base language in all product offerings for Canada, allowing Quebec-based companies and other French-speaking businesses to conduct business in both English and French.
Availability: Available now Pricing: Included as part of NetSuite 11 URL: www.netsuite.com/canada
Dell launches new, cooler servers
Dell is launching new servers based on Intel’s new dual-core Xeons, the 5000 and 5100 — previously code-named Dempsey and Woodcrest, respectively. The new products consist of the PowerEdge 1950, 2950 and 2900, plus a blade, the 1955. Dell said the 5100 series brings up to a 150 per cent performance improvement, with the 5000 systems delivering 60 per cent more performance over Intel’s previous Paxville chipsets. Both new chips also consume less power — 65W — than their predecessors. New along with the new chips are new designs and new storage subsystems. All the new servers use 2.5-inch drives, either SAS or SATA, and they share a system image, to make moving between the two and managing them easier. The PowerEdge 1950 is a 1U rack-mounted product, the 2950 is 2U and the 2900 is a tower.
Availability: July 2006 Pricing: The 1950 with SATA drives and the 2900 start at US$1,656, the 2950 starts at US$2,240, and the 1955 blade server costs US$1,748 URL: www.dell.com
Nokia Bluetooth phone available through Rogers
Nokia has announced the Canadian availability, via Rogers Wireless, of its Nokia 6103 mobile phone. With a mid-range price point, the compact fold handset offers wireless Bluetooth connectivity to connect with compatible devices such as headsets, laptops and printers. Building on Nokia’s 6101 handset the 6103 also boasts a new design with a soft touch black cover with textured soft rubber. The handset also boasts a VGA camera and an integrated video recorder and player.
Availability: Available now Pricing: Through Rogers, $29.99 with a three-year service agreement URL: www.rogers.com
HP launches entry-level Itanium server
HP has launched an entry-level, Itanium-based server system aimed at smaller companies in the healthcare, financial services and telecommunications industries. It’s part of HP’s NonStop range and targeted at those requiring business continuity and high availability. The Integrity NonStop NS1000 aims to deliver 24 x 7 availability and real-time access to critical business applications and is powered by Itanium 2 processors, with supported configurations including two to eight processors; four and eight gigabytes of memory; 1.3GHz/3MB cache; and the ability to connect up to 32 TB of disk storage per system using internal disks.
Availability: Available now URL: www.hp.com
IronSentry releases new e-mail archiving tool
Dartmouth, N.S.-based IronSentry has made several enhancements to its e-mail archiving solution, including integration with Microsoft Exchange and a streamlined installation and signup process. The offering automatically sends a copy of all of a customer’s e-mail messages and attachments through a secure connection to Iron Sentry’s database, and provides the ability to quickly locate and retrieve the data through a secure Internet connection. The new enhancements integrate with Microsoft Outlook version 2002 and newer and, the company says, offer e-mail archiving to small and medium companies regardless of their e-mail system.
Availability: Available now URL: www.IronSentry.com
Raritan releases 64-Port KVM-over-IP switch
Raritan has added two new models to its Dominion Series KVM (keyboard, video and mouse)-over-IP product line and new software to enhance remote server management performance. Capable of supporting 64 servers, Raritan said its KX464 is the industry’s highest port density KVM-over-IP switch. Supporting one local and four remote users, the device also provides dual power supplies with automatic failover and dual LAN ports for reliability and availability. Also new is the more economical 32-port KX132, which supports one local and one remote user.
Availability: Available now Pricing: KX464 priced at US$8,495, KX132 at US$3,795 URL: www.NextStepInKVM.com
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