Interoperability remains biggest open-source worry
By Chris Kanaracus, IDG News Service
Interoperability is the biggest concern among open-source-software customers, according to survey from The Open Solutions Alliance (OSA).
The group, which includes CollabNet, EnterpriseDB and others, contended in a statement that if its members overcome interoperability challenges, they stand to "out-Microsoft Microsoft by offering a fully interoperable suite of business tools."
"We think interoperability has to be a core feature [of open-source software] from the very beginning," OSA's president, Dominic Sartorio, said in an interview. "Most commercial open-source companies are finding a good amount of success. But how many opportunities are they leaving on the table because they're not interoperable?"
The OSA singled out Microsoft, as opposed to Oracle or SAP, because its member companies mostly target mid-market customers, according to Sartorio. "We have one common competitor: Microsoft."
OSA derived the study's findings from a series of forums it held this year in Europe and the US. It said some 100 people attended the events.
Participants cited a variety of interoperability scenarios and concerns, including single sign-on for identity management.
Another involved user interface interoperability. "A lot of people try to plug open-source projects into an enterprise portal, and they want a unified look and feel," Sartorio said.
Customers also cited cross-platform portability and data integration challenges.
In addition, the study found that:
Lower up-front cost was the most important driver for adoption of open-source products, but this was tempered by concerns that spending on support and services would be greater. That feeling in turn was mitigated by a belief among respondents that open-source products will become more mature over time and easier to support.
Few customers cited the ability to customise source code as a selling point for open-source applications, preferring instead that it handle their needs out of the box.
Sartorio said OSA's work will continue in 2008. "This is going to be an ongoing effort. We're scratching the surface here with issues customers brought up in these forums," he said.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Sun Microsystems Ultra 24 Workstation review
Sun Microsystems Ultra 24 Workstation review
The Sun Ultra 24 is the first Intel-based workstation ever from Sun, and it’s a humdinger.
By Paul Venezia, Infoworld
List price:￡2,516.96 as tested
Buying advice: At first blush, I figured the Ultra 24 to be just another small, workstation-class system that would be good for those who need a little extra horsepower from time to time, but aren’t running high-end apps that need a full-blown workstation. After putting it through its paces, I’m thinking that it just might fit both bills. Don’t let the size and single-CPU nature of the Ultra 24 fool you -- there’s a lot of power in that little box.
The Sun Ultra 24 is the first Intel-based workstation ever from Sun, and it’s a humdinger. The single 3.0GHz Core 2 Extreme quad-core CPU packs a serious punch, and there’s power aplenty for high-end graphics cards, including the nVidia FX5600. Hot-swap SAS or SATA drives and plenty of PCIe slots round out a very nice package.
The workstation market isn’t what it used to be. Back in the day, the term "workstation" denoted a very (and I mean very) high-powered desktop system with a very high-powered video card. In most circles, if it had an Intel processor it was a "desktop," and if it had a Sparc processor it was a "workstation," and never the twain shall meet. Well, the twain have met, and it’s a happy union.
Since Sun’s announcement that it would begin using Intel chips in its product line, an Intel-powered Sun workstation has been a foregone conclusion. The only questions pertained to which chipset and what options would be available. Those questions have been answered -- at least for now -- with the introduction of the Sun Ultra 24 Workstation. Sun’s workstation line now contains entries from every major CPU food group: Intel, Sparc, and the AMD Opteron. The latter two categories include two systems each: a single-socket and a dual-socket model. The Intel class includes only the single-socket Ultra 24 for now, but it’s highly likely that a dual-socket system will be introduced at a later date.
Under the hood
I’ve had the pleasure of working with the Ultra 24 for the past week or so, and I’ve found it to be a very capable, high-end workstation, even with the midrange nVidia FX1700 graphics card. The mainboard is based on Intel’s Garlow uniprocessor platform, and can handle dual- and quad-core Core 2 chips and as much as 8GB of UDDR2-667 RAM. Plus, it’s outfitted with two x16 PCIe 2.0 slots, one x4 PCIe 1.1 slot, one x1 PCIe slot, and two 33MHz standard PCI slots. Rather than skimping on the slots to allow space for embedded graphics and dual NICs, Sun has opted to go the other way, offering more expansion. Losing the embedded graphics is a good thing, but the system could definitely benefit from a pair of gigabit NICs.
On the I/O side, the embedded SATA controller can handle as many as four internal hot-swap SATA drives, or the same cage can be used with an optional SAS RAID controller to handle the faster SAS drives. When I tried some hot swaps, I did find the cage a little sticky. A nice feature is the full 5.25-inch drive bay at the top of the case. The Ultra 24’s counterpart on the AMD side is the Ultra 20 M2, which shares the same form factor and sports a single AMD Opteron CPU. The open bay design of both workstations makes it far simpler to replace the optical drive. Higher-end workstations from Sun use enclosed front-loading optical drives that are sleek, but can be problematic to replace. That said, the SATA dual-layer DVD/CD writer included in the Ultra 24 is no slouch.
My evaluation unit came with an Intel Core 2 Extreme Q6850 3.0GHz quad-core CPU, 8GB of RAM, four 250GB SATA drives, and the nVidia FX1700 graphics card -- essentially the top-end CPU and mid-range options package for this system. To push it further, the high-end nVidia graphics cards are supported, such as the FX4600 and FX5600.
Sun Microsystems Ultra 24 Workstation review
The Sun Ultra 24 is the first Intel-based workstation ever from Sun, and it’s a humdinger.
By Paul Venezia, Infoworld
There are enough external power connections not only to support these cards, but potentially even two cards, though adding two full-length cards isn’t possible due to space restrictions. On the low end, nVidia’s NVS 290 2D card is supported.
Of course, the system shipped with Solaris 10 x86, and I proceeded to try a bevy of supported and unsupported operating systems. I had a few issues with most of them, generally revolving around the NIC drivers. For every OS except for Ubuntu 7.10, you’ll need to pull down specific NIC drivers, even though the adapter is in the e1000 family. Once all of the drivers were installed, Vista Ultimate ran like a champ in full Aero with all the bells and whistles, as did Ubuntu 7.10, Fedora 7, and RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux), though RHEL 4 U5 seemed to take exception to the SATA hardware and initially acted sluggish at times. Kernel updates handled these problems, however.
On the display side, the nVidia FX1700 proved surprisingly responsive, and when matched with Sun’s stellar 24-inch LCD display, breathtaking with any OS.
The speed zone
I ran several benchmarks on the Ultra 24 and compared them to a similarly configured dual-CPU dual-core Opteron 2218 system. This wasn’t exactly an apples-to-apples test since inherent design differences between uni-processor and multi-processor systems can cause variations in results, but at least it was four cores against four cores. The 2218s aren’t the current generation, and they are clocked at 2.6GHz, but still, the performance difference on common workstation tasks was significant.
Using sound processing as a focus, I worked with an 838MB uncompressed WAV file, using the LAME MP3 encoding engine to work it into a 320Kbps MP3. The Opteron box took 5 minutes 17 seconds and the Ultra 24 completed the task in 3 minutes 46 seconds, more than a full minute faster. I then compressed the WAV file with bzip2, timing the results. Again, the Ultra 24’s Core 2 Extreme CPU took the lead, churning through the file in 2 minutes 24 seconds, versus the Opteron’s 4 minutes 7 seconds. On the reverse side, it took the Ultra 24 just 1 minute 4 seconds to uncompress the same file; the Opteron again took second place at 2 minutes 58 seconds, almost two minutes slower. It’s a safe bet that even with a single CPU in the Ultra 24, this system holds its own. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any AMD Barcelona-based systems in the lab to compare, but it would definitely be an interesting test to run.
At first blush, I figured the Ultra 24 to be just another small, workstation-class system that would be good for those who need a little extra horsepower from time to time, but aren’t running high-end apps that need a full-blown workstation. After putting it through its paces, I’m thinking that it just might fit both bills. Don’t let the size and single-CPU nature of the Ultra 24 fool you -- there’s a lot of power in that little box.
The Sun Ultra 24 is the first Intel-based workstation ever from Sun, and it’s a humdinger.
By Paul Venezia, Infoworld
List price:￡2,516.96 as tested
Buying advice: At first blush, I figured the Ultra 24 to be just another small, workstation-class system that would be good for those who need a little extra horsepower from time to time, but aren’t running high-end apps that need a full-blown workstation. After putting it through its paces, I’m thinking that it just might fit both bills. Don’t let the size and single-CPU nature of the Ultra 24 fool you -- there’s a lot of power in that little box.
The Sun Ultra 24 is the first Intel-based workstation ever from Sun, and it’s a humdinger. The single 3.0GHz Core 2 Extreme quad-core CPU packs a serious punch, and there’s power aplenty for high-end graphics cards, including the nVidia FX5600. Hot-swap SAS or SATA drives and plenty of PCIe slots round out a very nice package.
The workstation market isn’t what it used to be. Back in the day, the term "workstation" denoted a very (and I mean very) high-powered desktop system with a very high-powered video card. In most circles, if it had an Intel processor it was a "desktop," and if it had a Sparc processor it was a "workstation," and never the twain shall meet. Well, the twain have met, and it’s a happy union.
Since Sun’s announcement that it would begin using Intel chips in its product line, an Intel-powered Sun workstation has been a foregone conclusion. The only questions pertained to which chipset and what options would be available. Those questions have been answered -- at least for now -- with the introduction of the Sun Ultra 24 Workstation. Sun’s workstation line now contains entries from every major CPU food group: Intel, Sparc, and the AMD Opteron. The latter two categories include two systems each: a single-socket and a dual-socket model. The Intel class includes only the single-socket Ultra 24 for now, but it’s highly likely that a dual-socket system will be introduced at a later date.
Under the hood
I’ve had the pleasure of working with the Ultra 24 for the past week or so, and I’ve found it to be a very capable, high-end workstation, even with the midrange nVidia FX1700 graphics card. The mainboard is based on Intel’s Garlow uniprocessor platform, and can handle dual- and quad-core Core 2 chips and as much as 8GB of UDDR2-667 RAM. Plus, it’s outfitted with two x16 PCIe 2.0 slots, one x4 PCIe 1.1 slot, one x1 PCIe slot, and two 33MHz standard PCI slots. Rather than skimping on the slots to allow space for embedded graphics and dual NICs, Sun has opted to go the other way, offering more expansion. Losing the embedded graphics is a good thing, but the system could definitely benefit from a pair of gigabit NICs.
On the I/O side, the embedded SATA controller can handle as many as four internal hot-swap SATA drives, or the same cage can be used with an optional SAS RAID controller to handle the faster SAS drives. When I tried some hot swaps, I did find the cage a little sticky. A nice feature is the full 5.25-inch drive bay at the top of the case. The Ultra 24’s counterpart on the AMD side is the Ultra 20 M2, which shares the same form factor and sports a single AMD Opteron CPU. The open bay design of both workstations makes it far simpler to replace the optical drive. Higher-end workstations from Sun use enclosed front-loading optical drives that are sleek, but can be problematic to replace. That said, the SATA dual-layer DVD/CD writer included in the Ultra 24 is no slouch.
My evaluation unit came with an Intel Core 2 Extreme Q6850 3.0GHz quad-core CPU, 8GB of RAM, four 250GB SATA drives, and the nVidia FX1700 graphics card -- essentially the top-end CPU and mid-range options package for this system. To push it further, the high-end nVidia graphics cards are supported, such as the FX4600 and FX5600.
Sun Microsystems Ultra 24 Workstation review
The Sun Ultra 24 is the first Intel-based workstation ever from Sun, and it’s a humdinger.
By Paul Venezia, Infoworld
There are enough external power connections not only to support these cards, but potentially even two cards, though adding two full-length cards isn’t possible due to space restrictions. On the low end, nVidia’s NVS 290 2D card is supported.
Of course, the system shipped with Solaris 10 x86, and I proceeded to try a bevy of supported and unsupported operating systems. I had a few issues with most of them, generally revolving around the NIC drivers. For every OS except for Ubuntu 7.10, you’ll need to pull down specific NIC drivers, even though the adapter is in the e1000 family. Once all of the drivers were installed, Vista Ultimate ran like a champ in full Aero with all the bells and whistles, as did Ubuntu 7.10, Fedora 7, and RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux), though RHEL 4 U5 seemed to take exception to the SATA hardware and initially acted sluggish at times. Kernel updates handled these problems, however.
On the display side, the nVidia FX1700 proved surprisingly responsive, and when matched with Sun’s stellar 24-inch LCD display, breathtaking with any OS.
The speed zone
I ran several benchmarks on the Ultra 24 and compared them to a similarly configured dual-CPU dual-core Opteron 2218 system. This wasn’t exactly an apples-to-apples test since inherent design differences between uni-processor and multi-processor systems can cause variations in results, but at least it was four cores against four cores. The 2218s aren’t the current generation, and they are clocked at 2.6GHz, but still, the performance difference on common workstation tasks was significant.
Using sound processing as a focus, I worked with an 838MB uncompressed WAV file, using the LAME MP3 encoding engine to work it into a 320Kbps MP3. The Opteron box took 5 minutes 17 seconds and the Ultra 24 completed the task in 3 minutes 46 seconds, more than a full minute faster. I then compressed the WAV file with bzip2, timing the results. Again, the Ultra 24’s Core 2 Extreme CPU took the lead, churning through the file in 2 minutes 24 seconds, versus the Opteron’s 4 minutes 7 seconds. On the reverse side, it took the Ultra 24 just 1 minute 4 seconds to uncompress the same file; the Opteron again took second place at 2 minutes 58 seconds, almost two minutes slower. It’s a safe bet that even with a single CPU in the Ultra 24, this system holds its own. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any AMD Barcelona-based systems in the lab to compare, but it would definitely be an interesting test to run.
At first blush, I figured the Ultra 24 to be just another small, workstation-class system that would be good for those who need a little extra horsepower from time to time, but aren’t running high-end apps that need a full-blown workstation. After putting it through its paces, I’m thinking that it just might fit both bills. Don’t let the size and single-CPU nature of the Ultra 24 fool you -- there’s a lot of power in that little box.
Lenovo 3000 V200 laptop review
Lenovo 3000 V200 laptop review
An ultra-portable XP workhorse that costs less than a ThinkPad.
By Christian Harris, Techworld
List price:￡800 (plus VAT)
Pros: Highly portable; good build quality; excellent support; built-in optical drive & fingerprint reader; Gigabit Ethernet; 802.11n; Web camera
Cons: Disappointing battery life; no DVI port
Buying advice: Ruggedness, battery life, scree and keyboard quality, and a decent warranty are all things to watch for. Don't worry about processor speed within reason. One issue that people often take for granted is Wi-Fi connectivity, which can vary from machine to machine in the robustness and range of the connections it can make.
Lenovo has updated its ultra-portable laptops with the flagship 3000 V200. Sporting a 12.1-inch widescreen display (1280x800 native resolution) and based on Intel’s brand-new ‘Santa Rosa’ mobile platform, the silver-and-black V200 might just be the perfect highly-portable Windows-based system for cash-strapped small businesses.
Starting at just ￡800 (ex.VAT), Lenovo’s 3000 V200 is the company’s lightest (1.81kg) widescreen laptop to date. That doesn’t mean to say it lacks some grunt under the hood. At time of purchase you can opt for an Intel Core 2 Duo processor up to a T7300 (2GHz), up to 4GB of 667MHz DDR2 system memory, and a very accommodating 160GB (5400rpm) hard drive. The processors have Santa Rosa’s 800MHz front-side bus, and are paired with an Intel GM965 chipset.
Other technical niceties to ponder include a choice of graphics chipsets - Intel GM965 or nVidia GeForce Go 7300 (64- or 128MB) - and you can opt for either a CD-RW/DVD-ROM or DVD recordable (Dual Layer) drive. Unlike a lot of ultra-portable laptops, the V200’s optical drive is actually built in, so you don’t have to worry about additional peripherals and power supplies weighing you down.
Powered by Windows Vista (Lenovo offers a choice of Editions), the V200 is relatively well connected considering its size. There’s a 4-pin FireWire port (ideal for external storage devices), three USB 2.0 ports (one at the rear of the machine and one at each side), analogue VGA port, 5-in-1 card reader, Express Card/54 slot, Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g/n, Gigabit LAN, 56K modem, headphone and microphone ports. Unfortunately there’s no digital video-out (DVI) or S-Video ports, but the system isn’t really designed for multimedia. The battery should provide you with around 2 hours 45 minutes operating time, which is a little disappointing considering the small display.
Not as well supported in terms of pre-installed applications as a ThinkPad, the V200 still offers more than your average business laptop. Take the one-button system recovery for instance, which helps you to recover from a crash or virus with the push of a button. Simple network connectivity and management tools let you quickly find and connect to a wireless network and save connection profiles for later use, while performance restoration keeps the system running almost as good as new by allowing you to restore to a previous backup without losing your personality settings for printers, browsers and applications.
Lenovo’s automatic update utility is neat for staying up to date with model-specific drivers and patches. Fragmentation can cause slowdowns, crashes, system freezes or even system failures. With Diskeeper Home you can quickly analyse fragmentation levels and detect them automatically to maintain peak performance on your system.
Presentation Director is a display configuration utility that enables you to create, manage, and use various display and projection schemes when making presentations. Using these schemes you can quickly and easily configure the machine to display a presentation on an external projector, monitor, or television with appropriate resolution and colour settings; avoid interruptions by disabling the screen saver and power management timers and hiding your desktop and instant-messaging windows; and use multiple monitors to extend the size of your desktop.
Presentation Director also enables you to capture your current display settings as a default scheme called ‘My Normal Display Settings.’ After you finish a presentation you can immediately and easily return to your default settings by applying this scheme.
Another neat utility which tends to get overlooked is PC Doctor 5. This provides a relatively comprehensive set of diagnostic testing and system information tools that allow end-users to quickly troubleshoot many (not all) hardware and software problems without the aid of a technical support engineer.
Corporates will also love the integrated fingerprint reader and integrated 1.3 megapixel conference camera. To unlock the V200 (after configuration), all you need is the swipe of your finger. The biometric security tools also let you store passwords for easy access to password-protected Web sites.
Mobile computing should be as comfortable as possible. The same engineers that brought us the legendary keyboard design on ThinkPad range now give you great tactile feel with intelligent layout and performance on V-Series. Thoughtfully designed, the keyboard has specialised keys and buttons for easy access to the presentation director application and Lenovo Care tools, as well as multimedia controls for stop, play, forward, rewind and pause.
The TrackPad is responsive and the two mouse buttons nice and quiet. We missed the TrackPoint of the ThinkPads, but Lenovo keeps this second navigation device the preserve of its premium range. Above the keyboard are three handy external volume controls.
Conclusion
Lenovo’s 3000 V200 is an impressive machine. It’s not the most striking in terms of design, nor does it offer the most features in its class, but it’s a great choice for small-business users unable to stretch their budget to a ThinkPad X61 (from ￡980 ex. VAT). The keyboard and pointing device are both solid, and the pre-installed software bundle is perfect for business owners. The screen is really crisp and bright, and the biometric security will be a real boon to anyone transferring sensitive documents. The only real disappointments are the sub-standard battery life and the lack of a digital video-out port.
An ultra-portable XP workhorse that costs less than a ThinkPad.
By Christian Harris, Techworld
List price:￡800 (plus VAT)
Pros: Highly portable; good build quality; excellent support; built-in optical drive & fingerprint reader; Gigabit Ethernet; 802.11n; Web camera
Cons: Disappointing battery life; no DVI port
Buying advice: Ruggedness, battery life, scree and keyboard quality, and a decent warranty are all things to watch for. Don't worry about processor speed within reason. One issue that people often take for granted is Wi-Fi connectivity, which can vary from machine to machine in the robustness and range of the connections it can make.
Lenovo has updated its ultra-portable laptops with the flagship 3000 V200. Sporting a 12.1-inch widescreen display (1280x800 native resolution) and based on Intel’s brand-new ‘Santa Rosa’ mobile platform, the silver-and-black V200 might just be the perfect highly-portable Windows-based system for cash-strapped small businesses.
Starting at just ￡800 (ex.VAT), Lenovo’s 3000 V200 is the company’s lightest (1.81kg) widescreen laptop to date. That doesn’t mean to say it lacks some grunt under the hood. At time of purchase you can opt for an Intel Core 2 Duo processor up to a T7300 (2GHz), up to 4GB of 667MHz DDR2 system memory, and a very accommodating 160GB (5400rpm) hard drive. The processors have Santa Rosa’s 800MHz front-side bus, and are paired with an Intel GM965 chipset.
Other technical niceties to ponder include a choice of graphics chipsets - Intel GM965 or nVidia GeForce Go 7300 (64- or 128MB) - and you can opt for either a CD-RW/DVD-ROM or DVD recordable (Dual Layer) drive. Unlike a lot of ultra-portable laptops, the V200’s optical drive is actually built in, so you don’t have to worry about additional peripherals and power supplies weighing you down.
Powered by Windows Vista (Lenovo offers a choice of Editions), the V200 is relatively well connected considering its size. There’s a 4-pin FireWire port (ideal for external storage devices), three USB 2.0 ports (one at the rear of the machine and one at each side), analogue VGA port, 5-in-1 card reader, Express Card/54 slot, Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g/n, Gigabit LAN, 56K modem, headphone and microphone ports. Unfortunately there’s no digital video-out (DVI) or S-Video ports, but the system isn’t really designed for multimedia. The battery should provide you with around 2 hours 45 minutes operating time, which is a little disappointing considering the small display.
Not as well supported in terms of pre-installed applications as a ThinkPad, the V200 still offers more than your average business laptop. Take the one-button system recovery for instance, which helps you to recover from a crash or virus with the push of a button. Simple network connectivity and management tools let you quickly find and connect to a wireless network and save connection profiles for later use, while performance restoration keeps the system running almost as good as new by allowing you to restore to a previous backup without losing your personality settings for printers, browsers and applications.
Lenovo’s automatic update utility is neat for staying up to date with model-specific drivers and patches. Fragmentation can cause slowdowns, crashes, system freezes or even system failures. With Diskeeper Home you can quickly analyse fragmentation levels and detect them automatically to maintain peak performance on your system.
Presentation Director is a display configuration utility that enables you to create, manage, and use various display and projection schemes when making presentations. Using these schemes you can quickly and easily configure the machine to display a presentation on an external projector, monitor, or television with appropriate resolution and colour settings; avoid interruptions by disabling the screen saver and power management timers and hiding your desktop and instant-messaging windows; and use multiple monitors to extend the size of your desktop.
Presentation Director also enables you to capture your current display settings as a default scheme called ‘My Normal Display Settings.’ After you finish a presentation you can immediately and easily return to your default settings by applying this scheme.
Another neat utility which tends to get overlooked is PC Doctor 5. This provides a relatively comprehensive set of diagnostic testing and system information tools that allow end-users to quickly troubleshoot many (not all) hardware and software problems without the aid of a technical support engineer.
Corporates will also love the integrated fingerprint reader and integrated 1.3 megapixel conference camera. To unlock the V200 (after configuration), all you need is the swipe of your finger. The biometric security tools also let you store passwords for easy access to password-protected Web sites.
Mobile computing should be as comfortable as possible. The same engineers that brought us the legendary keyboard design on ThinkPad range now give you great tactile feel with intelligent layout and performance on V-Series. Thoughtfully designed, the keyboard has specialised keys and buttons for easy access to the presentation director application and Lenovo Care tools, as well as multimedia controls for stop, play, forward, rewind and pause.
The TrackPad is responsive and the two mouse buttons nice and quiet. We missed the TrackPoint of the ThinkPads, but Lenovo keeps this second navigation device the preserve of its premium range. Above the keyboard are three handy external volume controls.
Conclusion
Lenovo’s 3000 V200 is an impressive machine. It’s not the most striking in terms of design, nor does it offer the most features in its class, but it’s a great choice for small-business users unable to stretch their budget to a ThinkPad X61 (from ￡980 ex. VAT). The keyboard and pointing device are both solid, and the pre-installed software bundle is perfect for business owners. The screen is really crisp and bright, and the biometric security will be a real boon to anyone transferring sensitive documents. The only real disappointments are the sub-standard battery life and the lack of a digital video-out port.
Xbox accused of jamming WLANs
By John Cox, Network World (US)
Signals from Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console can disrupt wireless LANs, according to IT staff at Morrisville State College.
It's not clear, however, whether it's the college's WLAN access points or students' wireless notebooks that have been affected There is some anecdotal evidence, however, that it at least affects other radios in the same 2.4GHz band.
Morrisville IT staff typically use Bluetooth headsets, which run in the 2.4GHz band, with their cell phones when they troubleshoot problems on the spacious campus. "We had problems syncing our headsets to our phone where this signal was strong," says Matt Barber, the college's network administrator. A phone user had to physically touch the headset to the cell phone to make the initial connection, he says.
There may be effects on the WLAN that the equipment itself, from Meru Networks, is circumventing, according to Barber. Part of Meru's WLAN architecture employs software that gives the access points more control over wireless-client transmission behavior than does the software of some of Meru's rivals. An access point near a radiating Xbox may be compensating for interference by in effect guiding a wireless laptop to send and receive when open spectrum is available, essentially dodging around the Xbox signal.
Working with Meru, the small IT staff is planning to test soon the effect of multiple Xbox consoles in a dorm with a large number of active notebook clients. Microsoft could not comment on the Xbox signal phenomenon.
This autumn, Morrisville IT staff, working with Meru engineers and IBM, the network integrator, detected an unusual signal in the 2.4GHz band. "We wanted to look at the [radio frequency] environment in our dorms," Barber says. "We always thought we'd run into some strange stuff [there] in the 2.4 range."
The signal was discovered using Cognio Spectrum Expert, from Cognio (recently bought by Cisco). Spectrum Expert is RF-analysis software packaged with a WLAN adapter card that slots into any laptop PC. (See our April 2007 Clear Choice Test of four WLAN protocol analysers.) Among other capabilities, Spectrum Expert identifies sources of radio energy in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz WLAN bands, and identifies the cause, such as a brand of access point or a microwave oven.
"The signal really stood out," Barber says. "In some places it was so strong we thought it might be affecting the air [that is, the radio environment] around it."
The Cognio software, however, was baffled by this new signal: "Unknown emitter" was the classification. The signal shows up in the Cognio display as a kind of green-blizzard effect, covering a large swath of the 2.4 band, Barber says. That means the signal "is jumping all over the spectrum band," he says. In contrast, a nearby Meru access point shows up in the same scan as a strong, stable yellow-red glow, almost like a sun. The green blizzard is shot through with red dashes, which show, Barber says, that the signal at moments nearly rivals the access point in strength.
The mystery signal baffled the IT staff and Meru until Barber had a brainstorm: He brought in his own Xbox 360 and plugged it in, and turned on the Cognio spectrum analyser and watched the same signal appear.
Barber says the signal seems be created by the console's embedded 2.4GHz radio, which is used to communicate with the handheld wireless controller -- the gizmo with the buttons that manipulate a game running on the console. The Xbox also takes an optional Wi-Fi adapter, in the form of an USB dongle, to connect to a WLAN access point.
Barber says his "best guess" at this point is that the embedded radio, not the USB adapter, causes the signal. The signal is created even if the Xbox console is shut off: Just plugging its AC adapter into an electrical outlet seems to trigger the radio to look for - and keep looking for - a companion wireless controller. "It's even worse when you have multiple Xboxes in an area," Barber says.
At one point, IT staff wrapped the console in a static discharge bag, the material used, for example, to wrap and protect consumer electronics gear from static damage during shipment. The same properties make it act like radio "blanket" to muffle a transmission. Sure enough, the Cognio software showed a significant drop in the Xbox signal's strength.
The next step is more systematic testing. "We want to get several consoles together with a bunch of WLAN clients, to create a busy [RF] environment, and do some measurements," Barber says. "Are we seeing frames being dropped in the air, or people getting disconnected?"
Answering that question may be a bit more urgent, with Christmas looming, and the likelihood of still more brand-new Xboxs and other wireless entertainment products turning up in January when students return.
Signals from Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console can disrupt wireless LANs, according to IT staff at Morrisville State College.
It's not clear, however, whether it's the college's WLAN access points or students' wireless notebooks that have been affected There is some anecdotal evidence, however, that it at least affects other radios in the same 2.4GHz band.
Morrisville IT staff typically use Bluetooth headsets, which run in the 2.4GHz band, with their cell phones when they troubleshoot problems on the spacious campus. "We had problems syncing our headsets to our phone where this signal was strong," says Matt Barber, the college's network administrator. A phone user had to physically touch the headset to the cell phone to make the initial connection, he says.
There may be effects on the WLAN that the equipment itself, from Meru Networks, is circumventing, according to Barber. Part of Meru's WLAN architecture employs software that gives the access points more control over wireless-client transmission behavior than does the software of some of Meru's rivals. An access point near a radiating Xbox may be compensating for interference by in effect guiding a wireless laptop to send and receive when open spectrum is available, essentially dodging around the Xbox signal.
Working with Meru, the small IT staff is planning to test soon the effect of multiple Xbox consoles in a dorm with a large number of active notebook clients. Microsoft could not comment on the Xbox signal phenomenon.
This autumn, Morrisville IT staff, working with Meru engineers and IBM, the network integrator, detected an unusual signal in the 2.4GHz band. "We wanted to look at the [radio frequency] environment in our dorms," Barber says. "We always thought we'd run into some strange stuff [there] in the 2.4 range."
The signal was discovered using Cognio Spectrum Expert, from Cognio (recently bought by Cisco). Spectrum Expert is RF-analysis software packaged with a WLAN adapter card that slots into any laptop PC. (See our April 2007 Clear Choice Test of four WLAN protocol analysers.) Among other capabilities, Spectrum Expert identifies sources of radio energy in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz WLAN bands, and identifies the cause, such as a brand of access point or a microwave oven.
"The signal really stood out," Barber says. "In some places it was so strong we thought it might be affecting the air [that is, the radio environment] around it."
The Cognio software, however, was baffled by this new signal: "Unknown emitter" was the classification. The signal shows up in the Cognio display as a kind of green-blizzard effect, covering a large swath of the 2.4 band, Barber says. That means the signal "is jumping all over the spectrum band," he says. In contrast, a nearby Meru access point shows up in the same scan as a strong, stable yellow-red glow, almost like a sun. The green blizzard is shot through with red dashes, which show, Barber says, that the signal at moments nearly rivals the access point in strength.
The mystery signal baffled the IT staff and Meru until Barber had a brainstorm: He brought in his own Xbox 360 and plugged it in, and turned on the Cognio spectrum analyser and watched the same signal appear.
Barber says the signal seems be created by the console's embedded 2.4GHz radio, which is used to communicate with the handheld wireless controller -- the gizmo with the buttons that manipulate a game running on the console. The Xbox also takes an optional Wi-Fi adapter, in the form of an USB dongle, to connect to a WLAN access point.
Barber says his "best guess" at this point is that the embedded radio, not the USB adapter, causes the signal. The signal is created even if the Xbox console is shut off: Just plugging its AC adapter into an electrical outlet seems to trigger the radio to look for - and keep looking for - a companion wireless controller. "It's even worse when you have multiple Xboxes in an area," Barber says.
At one point, IT staff wrapped the console in a static discharge bag, the material used, for example, to wrap and protect consumer electronics gear from static damage during shipment. The same properties make it act like radio "blanket" to muffle a transmission. Sure enough, the Cognio software showed a significant drop in the Xbox signal's strength.
The next step is more systematic testing. "We want to get several consoles together with a bunch of WLAN clients, to create a busy [RF] environment, and do some measurements," Barber says. "Are we seeing frames being dropped in the air, or people getting disconnected?"
Answering that question may be a bit more urgent, with Christmas looming, and the likelihood of still more brand-new Xboxs and other wireless entertainment products turning up in January when students return.
Profiting from carbon reduction measures
By Chris Mellor, Techworld
IBM technology is being used in a carbon emission monitoring tool that can enable companies to help pay for carbon reduction measures by selling emission reduction credits.
As part of the Kyoto Protocol, businesses can offset their carbon emissions by buying carbon credits. These are certified reductions in carbon emissions over a period of time by a defined and verified source, such as an India-based power generating company.
The certifying of carbon emissions to create credits is a complex and closely-regulated matter as, in effect, carbon credits are a form of currency. Generally, customised measures are used and these are expensive to obtain and develop.
The GreenCert meter has been developed by US-based Evergreen Energy's subsidiary C-Lock (think carbon lock). It wanted to measure Evergreen's own carbon reductions through using cleaner coal fuel, and developed a range of sensors and monitors and recorded, processed and reported the results using software and expertise from IBM partner Enterprise Information Technology (EIM).
The IBM products include the WebSphere portal, Process Server and Business Process Management software, Lotus Forms, and DB2 database, Content Manager and Records Manager. A services-oriented architecture is used.
The combined sensors and monitoring tools and IBM products have been made into a product called the GreenCert meter. A business could use the GreenCert meter to measure and verify carbon emissions before a carbon reduction initiative is implemented. After that is done, the reduction is considered to be valid and verified.
Such verified emission reductions can be packaged and sold on world carbon credit markets as Certified Emission Reduction Credits (CCERC). These have a value of between $3 and $8/tonne (about ￡1.50 - ￡4.00 at ordinary conversion rates.)
This will provide revenue to help a business pay for carbon reduction efforts once they are operating. GreenCert can be applied as a general tool to agriculture, energy, government and financial concerns and enable them to participate in the carbon credit trading markets without having to pay for expensive customised technology.
GreenCert will be available in the first half of next year from C-Lock. Pricing was not disclosed.
IBM technology is being used in a carbon emission monitoring tool that can enable companies to help pay for carbon reduction measures by selling emission reduction credits.
As part of the Kyoto Protocol, businesses can offset their carbon emissions by buying carbon credits. These are certified reductions in carbon emissions over a period of time by a defined and verified source, such as an India-based power generating company.
The certifying of carbon emissions to create credits is a complex and closely-regulated matter as, in effect, carbon credits are a form of currency. Generally, customised measures are used and these are expensive to obtain and develop.
The GreenCert meter has been developed by US-based Evergreen Energy's subsidiary C-Lock (think carbon lock). It wanted to measure Evergreen's own carbon reductions through using cleaner coal fuel, and developed a range of sensors and monitors and recorded, processed and reported the results using software and expertise from IBM partner Enterprise Information Technology (EIM).
The IBM products include the WebSphere portal, Process Server and Business Process Management software, Lotus Forms, and DB2 database, Content Manager and Records Manager. A services-oriented architecture is used.
The combined sensors and monitoring tools and IBM products have been made into a product called the GreenCert meter. A business could use the GreenCert meter to measure and verify carbon emissions before a carbon reduction initiative is implemented. After that is done, the reduction is considered to be valid and verified.
Such verified emission reductions can be packaged and sold on world carbon credit markets as Certified Emission Reduction Credits (CCERC). These have a value of between $3 and $8/tonne (about ￡1.50 - ￡4.00 at ordinary conversion rates.)
This will provide revenue to help a business pay for carbon reduction efforts once they are operating. GreenCert can be applied as a general tool to agriculture, energy, government and financial concerns and enable them to participate in the carbon credit trading markets without having to pay for expensive customised technology.
GreenCert will be available in the first half of next year from C-Lock. Pricing was not disclosed.
Linux best for smart phones says Torvalds
By Tom Jowitt, Techworld
Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, sees a healthy future for the open source operating system on mobile devices, especially after Google's recent push with its Android platform.
In an interview with Reuters, Torvalds thinks that Linux will become more widely available next year on mobile devices.
"I haven't been personally involved, but it certainly looks like 2008 may be - thanks to the Google alliance - one of the years you will find more widely available phones with Linux," Torvalds told Reuters.
Back in early November, Google finally revealed its much hyped mobile plan. The Android platform has been developed by Google and others as part of the Open Handset Alliance, which has over 30 members. The open-source platform will comprise an operating system, middleware stack, customisable user interface and applications, and the first Android-based phones should hit the market in the second half of 2008.
Android has already gained some big name backers, including mobile operators such as T-Mobile, Telefonica and Sprint Nextel, and mobile handset makers such as Motorola, LG and Samsung. Chip makers Intel, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments are also backing Google’s platform.
Torvalds said Motorola had been one of the first players to come out with Linux phones, mainly in China and also in the US. Other Android handset makers are expected to follow suit with Linux models in 2008.
"Right now, there are no phones in the market. You can find some of the phone manufacturers making pre-release versions. You can't buy them yet, but I think next year you can," Torvalds said.
Torvalds also thought that the wider use of Linux in phones had been hampered by the fact that the real mass market was essentially in the low-end segment of devices, rather than smart phones.
"That seems to be changing. It used to be that they were so expensive that, by necessity, most people even in the industrialised world... would not go for a smart phone. Quite frankly, Linux makes much more sense in a smart phone than it makes in a really low-end product," Torvalds said.
Currently, Nokia’s Symbian platform has the largest market share for mobile operating systems, followed by the Windows Mobile OS from Redmond. Analyst firm IDC recently predicted that every mobile network operator will open its network to a wide range of devices, not just those offered by the carriers themselves.
Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, sees a healthy future for the open source operating system on mobile devices, especially after Google's recent push with its Android platform.
In an interview with Reuters, Torvalds thinks that Linux will become more widely available next year on mobile devices.
"I haven't been personally involved, but it certainly looks like 2008 may be - thanks to the Google alliance - one of the years you will find more widely available phones with Linux," Torvalds told Reuters.
Back in early November, Google finally revealed its much hyped mobile plan. The Android platform has been developed by Google and others as part of the Open Handset Alliance, which has over 30 members. The open-source platform will comprise an operating system, middleware stack, customisable user interface and applications, and the first Android-based phones should hit the market in the second half of 2008.
Android has already gained some big name backers, including mobile operators such as T-Mobile, Telefonica and Sprint Nextel, and mobile handset makers such as Motorola, LG and Samsung. Chip makers Intel, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments are also backing Google’s platform.
Torvalds said Motorola had been one of the first players to come out with Linux phones, mainly in China and also in the US. Other Android handset makers are expected to follow suit with Linux models in 2008.
"Right now, there are no phones in the market. You can find some of the phone manufacturers making pre-release versions. You can't buy them yet, but I think next year you can," Torvalds said.
Torvalds also thought that the wider use of Linux in phones had been hampered by the fact that the real mass market was essentially in the low-end segment of devices, rather than smart phones.
"That seems to be changing. It used to be that they were so expensive that, by necessity, most people even in the industrialised world... would not go for a smart phone. Quite frankly, Linux makes much more sense in a smart phone than it makes in a really low-end product," Torvalds said.
Currently, Nokia’s Symbian platform has the largest market share for mobile operating systems, followed by the Windows Mobile OS from Redmond. Analyst firm IDC recently predicted that every mobile network operator will open its network to a wide range of devices, not just those offered by the carriers themselves.
Sony Ericsson P1i review
Sony Ericsson P1i review
Here's a clumsy but loveable phone with lots of features
By Peter Judge
List price:￡285
Pros: Good keyboard, decent camera,
Cons: clumsy user interface,
Buying advice: This phone has a lot going for it, and more features than some Nokia devices we have tried, aimed at the same market. It's a clumsy package, though, but one that users could easily learn to love.
The Sony Ericsson P1i is a classic example of the slowly-evolved smartphone. The kind of thing that iPhone users will look down on, and its own devotees will cling to.
It's got a touchscreen, but it doesn’t do the touchy-feely interface of the iPhone - this is an old-school PDA-style design, with a stylus, and a full, but quirky, qwerty keyboard. Launched earlier in 2007 in Europe, and currently costing ￡285 without a contract, it's the sequel to one of the longest running smartphone series - and has a lot to recommend it.
It uses UIQ, the only real rival interface to Nokia's S60 on the Symbian operating system, owned by Sony Ericsson and more of a contender since Motorola bought a stake late this year.
Sony Ericsson has a somewhat patchy history in smartphones. The P-series made a brilliant start in 2002 with the P800, a does-everything phone with a clever flipping keyboard (inherited from Ericsson phones like the R380) that won lots of fans, but it stumbled in 2005, when the P990 was delayed a whole year, till the end of 2006.
Nokia capitalised on this, with its E-series, which includes the E65 slider and the E61 qwerty phone. Sony Ericsson launched the M600, a UIQ smartphone, but that didn't gain much favour owing to its lack of a camera and Wi-Fi. The P1i is intended to redress this balance - it's a P-series phone built into the M600 style, but with camera, Wi-Fi and a built in radio.
Design and usability
If the P1i has a problem it will be convincing new users. People who have stuck with the interface will like it, but others may find it so quirky they won't pick it up. Also, post-iPhone, people are going to want really good web browsing, and a slimmed down user interface - and that's not what you have here.
It's chunky, at 55x17x106mm and 124g, but not massively so, and goes happily in a pocket. The screen is decent, at 65mm large, and 240x320 pixels.
The phone doesn't do a great job of putting key functions like the contacts list or calendar up front, however. They're on the main screen, with icons big enough to use a finger on, but if you're off doing messaging or whatever, you have to get back to the main screen first (this is easier after you find the "back" button on the side.
I couild get used to this, but I like dedicated buttons, like the Nokia E65 does. The buttons here are all in the qwerty pad.
For data entry, I'm prejudiced. I don't like qwerty phones, and I think stylus-driven phones are a mistake which will die out when the last user loses the last stylus down the back of the sofa. The P1i, therefore is asking for trouble with me, by combining stylus and keyboard, a class of device which needs three hands to use, and includes the Windows Mobile based Motorola MC35 which I loathed.
To my surprise, the P1i is friendlier. I'm more familiar with Symbian, but also on the side, as well as that Back button, it also has a scroll wheel, which moves the cursor up and down and selects when pressed, which cuts down the number of times you need to pull out the stylus.
I liked the qwerty keyboard too. It has two letters per key, so each key can be bigger than the micro-pimples of a Blackberry or Treo, and they're nicely contoured rubber and responsive.
The letter keys have a rocker action. For instance, the top left key gives Q or W, depending which side you touch. There's a shift key to get capitals, and an Alt key which gives a bunch of other characters like brackets, @ and the like, as well as numbers on the middle keys.
This isn't unheard of on smartphones, but it's the first time I've met it, and I found it weird till I got used to it. The predictive text works well.
Connections
The P1i works fine as a phone (in phone mode, the number keys are just numbers), and shows an eagerness to help - suggesting after every phone call that the number could be added to the contacts list.
Bluetooth works just as it should do, and the USB cable is fine for synching with a PC. There's also a cradle (a rare thing that harks back to PDAs) that combines Bluetooth and power, and the provided PC software synchs it easily with Outlook, Notes and other email clients.
Setting up Wi-Fi is easy, but the web browser is not as good as the Nokia or iPhone browsers. Lacking the ability to preview a small version of the page, which is useful on a small gadget. Also, obviously, with Wi-Fi on, the battery drains more quickly, so it can run out in less than a day.
With the qwerty keyboard, email is clearly a major likely use for the phone, and it is the first Sony Ericsson phone to support RIM's Blackberry Connect, software that puts Blackberry email on non-Blackberry devices.
The BlackBerry Connect software, when installed, gives clear status alerts, and works well. I used it with GoogleMail, which works all right, though it's not all that well implemented, in terms of using the
Entertainment
The P1i has an FM radio (not enough phones do), and media player, as well as a fairly good camera. It handles 3.2 Mpixels, and has optional autofocus, and a flash. It also has a sound recorder, which is actually useful, and not stuck with the silly one minute limit in the Nokia E65. There's a Sony MemoryStick slot for extra storage, accessible from the side of the device without taking the back off, but well protected.
Conclusion
This has a lot going for it, and more features than some Nokia devices we have tried, aimed at the same market. It's a clumsy package, though, but one that users could easily learn to love.
Here's a clumsy but loveable phone with lots of features
By Peter Judge
List price:￡285
Pros: Good keyboard, decent camera,
Cons: clumsy user interface,
Buying advice: This phone has a lot going for it, and more features than some Nokia devices we have tried, aimed at the same market. It's a clumsy package, though, but one that users could easily learn to love.
The Sony Ericsson P1i is a classic example of the slowly-evolved smartphone. The kind of thing that iPhone users will look down on, and its own devotees will cling to.
It's got a touchscreen, but it doesn’t do the touchy-feely interface of the iPhone - this is an old-school PDA-style design, with a stylus, and a full, but quirky, qwerty keyboard. Launched earlier in 2007 in Europe, and currently costing ￡285 without a contract, it's the sequel to one of the longest running smartphone series - and has a lot to recommend it.
It uses UIQ, the only real rival interface to Nokia's S60 on the Symbian operating system, owned by Sony Ericsson and more of a contender since Motorola bought a stake late this year.
Sony Ericsson has a somewhat patchy history in smartphones. The P-series made a brilliant start in 2002 with the P800, a does-everything phone with a clever flipping keyboard (inherited from Ericsson phones like the R380) that won lots of fans, but it stumbled in 2005, when the P990 was delayed a whole year, till the end of 2006.
Nokia capitalised on this, with its E-series, which includes the E65 slider and the E61 qwerty phone. Sony Ericsson launched the M600, a UIQ smartphone, but that didn't gain much favour owing to its lack of a camera and Wi-Fi. The P1i is intended to redress this balance - it's a P-series phone built into the M600 style, but with camera, Wi-Fi and a built in radio.
Design and usability
If the P1i has a problem it will be convincing new users. People who have stuck with the interface will like it, but others may find it so quirky they won't pick it up. Also, post-iPhone, people are going to want really good web browsing, and a slimmed down user interface - and that's not what you have here.
It's chunky, at 55x17x106mm and 124g, but not massively so, and goes happily in a pocket. The screen is decent, at 65mm large, and 240x320 pixels.
The phone doesn't do a great job of putting key functions like the contacts list or calendar up front, however. They're on the main screen, with icons big enough to use a finger on, but if you're off doing messaging or whatever, you have to get back to the main screen first (this is easier after you find the "back" button on the side.
I couild get used to this, but I like dedicated buttons, like the Nokia E65 does. The buttons here are all in the qwerty pad.
For data entry, I'm prejudiced. I don't like qwerty phones, and I think stylus-driven phones are a mistake which will die out when the last user loses the last stylus down the back of the sofa. The P1i, therefore is asking for trouble with me, by combining stylus and keyboard, a class of device which needs three hands to use, and includes the Windows Mobile based Motorola MC35 which I loathed.
To my surprise, the P1i is friendlier. I'm more familiar with Symbian, but also on the side, as well as that Back button, it also has a scroll wheel, which moves the cursor up and down and selects when pressed, which cuts down the number of times you need to pull out the stylus.
I liked the qwerty keyboard too. It has two letters per key, so each key can be bigger than the micro-pimples of a Blackberry or Treo, and they're nicely contoured rubber and responsive.
The letter keys have a rocker action. For instance, the top left key gives Q or W, depending which side you touch. There's a shift key to get capitals, and an Alt key which gives a bunch of other characters like brackets, @ and the like, as well as numbers on the middle keys.
This isn't unheard of on smartphones, but it's the first time I've met it, and I found it weird till I got used to it. The predictive text works well.
Connections
The P1i works fine as a phone (in phone mode, the number keys are just numbers), and shows an eagerness to help - suggesting after every phone call that the number could be added to the contacts list.
Bluetooth works just as it should do, and the USB cable is fine for synching with a PC. There's also a cradle (a rare thing that harks back to PDAs) that combines Bluetooth and power, and the provided PC software synchs it easily with Outlook, Notes and other email clients.
Setting up Wi-Fi is easy, but the web browser is not as good as the Nokia or iPhone browsers. Lacking the ability to preview a small version of the page, which is useful on a small gadget. Also, obviously, with Wi-Fi on, the battery drains more quickly, so it can run out in less than a day.
With the qwerty keyboard, email is clearly a major likely use for the phone, and it is the first Sony Ericsson phone to support RIM's Blackberry Connect, software that puts Blackberry email on non-Blackberry devices.
The BlackBerry Connect software, when installed, gives clear status alerts, and works well. I used it with GoogleMail, which works all right, though it's not all that well implemented, in terms of using the
Entertainment
The P1i has an FM radio (not enough phones do), and media player, as well as a fairly good camera. It handles 3.2 Mpixels, and has optional autofocus, and a flash. It also has a sound recorder, which is actually useful, and not stuck with the silly one minute limit in the Nokia E65. There's a Sony MemoryStick slot for extra storage, accessible from the side of the device without taking the back off, but well protected.
Conclusion
This has a lot going for it, and more features than some Nokia devices we have tried, aimed at the same market. It's a clumsy package, though, but one that users could easily learn to love.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)