A lot of surfers who use proxy servers frequently complain that theirs do not work at their school/ office computers because their Web proxies are blocked by the system administrator.
A way of circumventing this is to make your own proxy server. Your proxy server should be hosted by a Web hosting service provider that maintains CGI or PHP at no additional fees.
Before you begin, you have to download a copy of cgiproxy and phpproxy.
To set up cgiproxy, your web hoster should be cgi enabled. Some free hosters do not provide cgi. A little set of preinstalled scripts will also be helpful. You should see to it that the hoster is enabled before you begin installing.
Afterwards, download cgiproxy and unload it to a local directory. Once you have opened the file, you can modify a lot of settings. For instance, you could set up the script in a manner where it would only enable text to go through the proxy and no image will be displayed.
Flick through the file. Change the options and save the new file. Next, upload the script to the directory of your cgi.
If you open your browser, you can then surf the net anonymously. To validate that you really are anonymous while browsing, open a website like whatismyip.com and try to see if the IP is same with the installed server script and not the IP of your computer. In this case, you have done it right and can browse the net without worrying about your privacy.
To set up phpproxy, you must first download it. Next, unload it to a home index in the hard drive. What you should do next is to upload the script to your webspace. Afterwards, open the new URL and check if it’s doing right.
Some filters might forbid files that contain ‘proxy’ in the filename. To stay away from these kind of filters, you need to rename your file.
When you open your script, just enter the IP of your client to ascertain that it is your client alone who will be able to hook up or could append a .htaccess file to the directory. This will oblige all else who desire to begin the script to type in a username and a password.
Dynamics GP or Great Plains Web Services to Integrate, Customize or Implement
Microsoft Dynamics GP provides the Web Services for Microsoft Dynamics GP for external applications to integrate with the data contained in the Microsoft Dynamics GP. eConnect acts as the middle engine internally to do the integration and business rules enforcement, therefore it provides an additional reliability to the Web Services tool.
The Web Services tool can help if you are using General Ledger, Accounts Receivables, Accounts Payables, Sales, Purchasing, Inventory, Project Accounting, Fixed Assets and many other modules. You just need to provide the correct interface, data types and format of documents, and an interface can be created with programming tools like Visual Basic and C#.
This tool is ideal for doing web access like a web page to for Salespersons of the company to enter orders, or employee of the company to enter their time card every day. The Web services use standard Internet transport protocols such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and standard XML-based document formats such as Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) to exchange information. Therefore it is always web access ready.
There are many external data sources like Excel, Access, text, web data, point-of-sale systems, or legacy application data can be interfaced with Dynamics GP. The external applications can perform actions like creating, updating, retrieving, and deleting documents and transactions in Dynamics GP. Internally, it uses eConnect and XML documents for communications and data conversion, business rules are enforced at the same time. An XML schema specifies the data that is included in each type of XML document.
All Great Plains or Dynamics GP windows and reports are ready to customize, you can use modifiers to change the appearances or values. If more advanced modification or customization is needed then VBA, Dexterity, Visual Studio Sdk are there to help. Great Plains has been in the accounting software marketing for many years, and it is one of the first software to convert to Windows environment from DOS. It is also one of the first accounting software to include the .Net in its tools, so the software has always been trying to be on top what are new with computers and operating systems.
The Web Services tool can help if you are using General Ledger, Accounts Receivables, Accounts Payables, Sales, Purchasing, Inventory, Project Accounting, Fixed Assets and many other modules. You just need to provide the correct interface, data types and format of documents, and an interface can be created with programming tools like Visual Basic and C#.
This tool is ideal for doing web access like a web page to for Salespersons of the company to enter orders, or employee of the company to enter their time card every day. The Web services use standard Internet transport protocols such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and standard XML-based document formats such as Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) to exchange information. Therefore it is always web access ready.
There are many external data sources like Excel, Access, text, web data, point-of-sale systems, or legacy application data can be interfaced with Dynamics GP. The external applications can perform actions like creating, updating, retrieving, and deleting documents and transactions in Dynamics GP. Internally, it uses eConnect and XML documents for communications and data conversion, business rules are enforced at the same time. An XML schema specifies the data that is included in each type of XML document.
All Great Plains or Dynamics GP windows and reports are ready to customize, you can use modifiers to change the appearances or values. If more advanced modification or customization is needed then VBA, Dexterity, Visual Studio Sdk are there to help. Great Plains has been in the accounting software marketing for many years, and it is one of the first software to convert to Windows environment from DOS. It is also one of the first accounting software to include the .Net in its tools, so the software has always been trying to be on top what are new with computers and operating systems.
Finding a Free Affiliate Program
Advertising space on a web site can be a great source of income, especially for free affiliate programs. However, this precious space should not be wasted on free affiliate programs that have low payout. Some costly affiliate programs are unscrupulous ones which do not pay at all. So the best option would be to join a free affiliate program.
There are many free affiliate programs available in the net through which you can earn money at a lower risk. A number of free affiliate programs sell products related to health care, weight loss, and skin care. These programs have become global leaders of this marketing industry. Some of these free affiliate programs are the highest paying ones and have the best tracking software systems available. This state of art tracking system even tracks sales and commissions from phone calls and mail orders, and not just through the free affiliate program.
With most of the free affiliate programs, the affiliate is always in control as to how he wants to market the products. He can choose to market the product through his own customized domain or through links provided by free affiliate program owner. There are customised pop-ups on exit available for the site to protect from losing the traffic. These free affiliate programs also provide efficient management system to track marketing efforts and a webmaster support team is always ready to help out with the program. Several incentives are also available for good performance.
The best place to find free affiliate programs is in online directories. An affiliate merchant can take the help of these directories to locate sites for promoting his product and services. Business establishments thus get unlimited growth potential through free affiliate programs. It helps to build up sales through effective and efficient measures. A good commission scheme and a good network provider ensures the success of these marketing programs.
Nowadays we see a boom of many new free affiliate programs, giving rise to an apparent chain reaction. Most of the businesses world wide have adopted this new trend and they offer some or other kind of affiliate program. Some of the programs may be free, but have certain criteria which need to be satisfied by the affiliates. For example Overture provides search engine affiliate program only if the web site fulfils their minimum criteria of having 2 million clicks a month.
There are many free affiliate programs available in the net through which you can earn money at a lower risk. A number of free affiliate programs sell products related to health care, weight loss, and skin care. These programs have become global leaders of this marketing industry. Some of these free affiliate programs are the highest paying ones and have the best tracking software systems available. This state of art tracking system even tracks sales and commissions from phone calls and mail orders, and not just through the free affiliate program.
With most of the free affiliate programs, the affiliate is always in control as to how he wants to market the products. He can choose to market the product through his own customized domain or through links provided by free affiliate program owner. There are customised pop-ups on exit available for the site to protect from losing the traffic. These free affiliate programs also provide efficient management system to track marketing efforts and a webmaster support team is always ready to help out with the program. Several incentives are also available for good performance.
The best place to find free affiliate programs is in online directories. An affiliate merchant can take the help of these directories to locate sites for promoting his product and services. Business establishments thus get unlimited growth potential through free affiliate programs. It helps to build up sales through effective and efficient measures. A good commission scheme and a good network provider ensures the success of these marketing programs.
Nowadays we see a boom of many new free affiliate programs, giving rise to an apparent chain reaction. Most of the businesses world wide have adopted this new trend and they offer some or other kind of affiliate program. Some of the programs may be free, but have certain criteria which need to be satisfied by the affiliates. For example Overture provides search engine affiliate program only if the web site fulfils their minimum criteria of having 2 million clicks a month.
Article Source: http://www.articlesaboutcomputers.com
S. Stammberger is the owner of Marketing On The Internet. Find the top affiliate programs, news, tips, and blog.
Shutting down websites
Even the GAO concedes that shutting down specific websites is a strategy fraught with problems, including potential lawsuits, technology limitations and the fact that blocking a few websites probably wouldn't result in much of an overall reduction in traffic anyway:
"Overall Internet congestion could be reduced if Web sites that accounted for significant amounts of traffic -- such as those with video streaming -- were shut down during a pandemic. According to one recently issued study, the number of adults who watch videos on video-sharing sites has nearly doubled since 2006, far outpacing the growth of many other Internet activities. However, most providers' staff told us that blocking users from accessing such sites, while technically possible, would be very difficult and, in their view, would not address the congestion problem and would require a directive from the government. One provider indicated that such blocking would be difficult because determining which sites should be blocked would be a very subjective process. Additionally, this provider noted that technologically savvy site operators could change their Internet protocol addresses, allowing users to access the site regardless. Another provider told us that some of these large bandwidth sites stream critical news information. Furthermore, some state, local, and federal government offices and agencies, including DHS, currently use or have plans to increase their use of social media Web sites and to use video streaming as a means to communicate with the public. Shutting down such sites without affecting pertinent information would be a challenge for providers and could create more Internet congestion as users would repeatedly try to access these sites. According to one provider, two added complications are the potential liability resulting from lawsuits filed by businesses that lose revenue when their sites are shutdown or restricted and potential claims of anticompetitive practices, denial of free speech, or both. Some providers said that the operators of specific Internet sites could shut down their respective sites with less disruption and more effectively than Internet providers, and suggested that a better course of action would be for the government to work directly with the site operators."
"Overall Internet congestion could be reduced if Web sites that accounted for significant amounts of traffic -- such as those with video streaming -- were shut down during a pandemic. According to one recently issued study, the number of adults who watch videos on video-sharing sites has nearly doubled since 2006, far outpacing the growth of many other Internet activities. However, most providers' staff told us that blocking users from accessing such sites, while technically possible, would be very difficult and, in their view, would not address the congestion problem and would require a directive from the government. One provider indicated that such blocking would be difficult because determining which sites should be blocked would be a very subjective process. Additionally, this provider noted that technologically savvy site operators could change their Internet protocol addresses, allowing users to access the site regardless. Another provider told us that some of these large bandwidth sites stream critical news information. Furthermore, some state, local, and federal government offices and agencies, including DHS, currently use or have plans to increase their use of social media Web sites and to use video streaming as a means to communicate with the public. Shutting down such sites without affecting pertinent information would be a challenge for providers and could create more Internet congestion as users would repeatedly try to access these sites. According to one provider, two added complications are the potential liability resulting from lawsuits filed by businesses that lose revenue when their sites are shutdown or restricted and potential claims of anticompetitive practices, denial of free speech, or both. Some providers said that the operators of specific Internet sites could shut down their respective sites with less disruption and more effectively than Internet providers, and suggested that a better course of action would be for the government to work directly with the site operators."
Policing the internet
When it comes to saving Wall Street during a pandemic, the feds will stop at nothing. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pulls out all the stops to make sure America's legalized financial gambling centers (Wall Street) keep on churning out the scams. This requires protecting the critical infrastructure of Wall Street.
As the GAO report explains:
"DHS is the lead federal agency for two critical infrastructure sectors... that are important for the Internet. Specifically, the entities within DHS responsible for coordinating national efforts to promote critical infrastructure protection activities for those sectors are the National Cyber Security Division and the Office of the Manager of the National Communications System (NCS), respectively. Although the vast majority of Internet infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector, federal policy recognizes the need to be prepared for the possibility of debilitating disruptions in cyberspace. ...DHS is the central coordinator for cyberspace security efforts and has responsibility for developing an integrated public-private plan for Internet recovery."
The internet will be critical during a pandemic, the report goes on to say, because it will be an important vehicle for the government to distribute messages to the public (such as "Go get your vaccines..." or "Report to the nearest quarantine center"). It will also be important because millions of people might need to continue their work at home rather than showing up at the office and sneezing all over their coworkers.
"Increased use of the Internet by students, teleworkers, and others during a severe pandemic is expected to create congestion in Internet access networks that serve metropolitan and other residential neighborhoods. For example, localities may choose to close schools and these students, confined at home, will likely look to the Internet for entertainment, including downloading or "streaming" videos, playing online games, and engaging in potential activities that may consume large amounts of network capacity (bandwidth)."
The solutions, says the GAO, is to tell companies to send workers home and hope they get something done there: "Furthermore, the government has recommended teleworking as an option for businesses to keep operations running during a pandemic."
This part of the GAO report is particularly hilarious because, as every employer knows, when you give employees the ability to work from home, many of them spend the day at home goofing off and downloading porn! It's true: Most internet porn surfing activity occurs during work hours (9 to 5), and all those corporate porn filters that people have at work don't exist on their home computers. By sending employees home, companies will only be adding to the congestion of the internet, creating an even larger problem for Wall Streeters who are trying to extort yet more taxpayer dollars from the federal government to cover their failed investment gambles.
Now here's the kicker in all this: "According to a DHS study and Internet providers, this additional pandemic-related traffic is likely to exceed the capacity of Internet providers' network infrastructure in metropolitan residential Internet access networks. ...During a pandemic, congestion is most likely to occur in the traffic to or from the aggregation devices that serve residential neighborhoods, interfering with teleworkers' and others' ability to use the Internet."
In other words, all that pandemic porn downloading will bring the internet to its knees. The internet really begins to get jammed up at the "40% absenteeism" level, according to a 2007 DHS study mentioned in this GAO report: "The study's model predicted that at the 40 percent absenteeism level -- the level that health organizations have indicated is likely under a relatively serious pandemic -- the highest point of congestion across the entire Internet infrastructure could occur within residential Internet access networks."
Unfortunately for Wall Street, there is no way for anyone to tell the difference between the traffic of a porn downloader vs. the traffic of a Wall Street day trader. On the internet, all packets are (nearly) the same priority. So there's no simple way to prioritize traffic from some users ("important" Wall Street people) over other users. That means "porn packets" can't simply be rejected in favor of "Wall Street packets."
As the GAO report explains:
"DHS is the lead federal agency for two critical infrastructure sectors... that are important for the Internet. Specifically, the entities within DHS responsible for coordinating national efforts to promote critical infrastructure protection activities for those sectors are the National Cyber Security Division and the Office of the Manager of the National Communications System (NCS), respectively. Although the vast majority of Internet infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector, federal policy recognizes the need to be prepared for the possibility of debilitating disruptions in cyberspace. ...DHS is the central coordinator for cyberspace security efforts and has responsibility for developing an integrated public-private plan for Internet recovery."
The internet will be critical during a pandemic, the report goes on to say, because it will be an important vehicle for the government to distribute messages to the public (such as "Go get your vaccines..." or "Report to the nearest quarantine center"). It will also be important because millions of people might need to continue their work at home rather than showing up at the office and sneezing all over their coworkers.
"Increased use of the Internet by students, teleworkers, and others during a severe pandemic is expected to create congestion in Internet access networks that serve metropolitan and other residential neighborhoods. For example, localities may choose to close schools and these students, confined at home, will likely look to the Internet for entertainment, including downloading or "streaming" videos, playing online games, and engaging in potential activities that may consume large amounts of network capacity (bandwidth)."
The solutions, says the GAO, is to tell companies to send workers home and hope they get something done there: "Furthermore, the government has recommended teleworking as an option for businesses to keep operations running during a pandemic."
This part of the GAO report is particularly hilarious because, as every employer knows, when you give employees the ability to work from home, many of them spend the day at home goofing off and downloading porn! It's true: Most internet porn surfing activity occurs during work hours (9 to 5), and all those corporate porn filters that people have at work don't exist on their home computers. By sending employees home, companies will only be adding to the congestion of the internet, creating an even larger problem for Wall Streeters who are trying to extort yet more taxpayer dollars from the federal government to cover their failed investment gambles.
Now here's the kicker in all this: "According to a DHS study and Internet providers, this additional pandemic-related traffic is likely to exceed the capacity of Internet providers' network infrastructure in metropolitan residential Internet access networks. ...During a pandemic, congestion is most likely to occur in the traffic to or from the aggregation devices that serve residential neighborhoods, interfering with teleworkers' and others' ability to use the Internet."
In other words, all that pandemic porn downloading will bring the internet to its knees. The internet really begins to get jammed up at the "40% absenteeism" level, according to a 2007 DHS study mentioned in this GAO report: "The study's model predicted that at the 40 percent absenteeism level -- the level that health organizations have indicated is likely under a relatively serious pandemic -- the highest point of congestion across the entire Internet infrastructure could occur within residential Internet access networks."
Unfortunately for Wall Street, there is no way for anyone to tell the difference between the traffic of a porn downloader vs. the traffic of a Wall Street day trader. On the internet, all packets are (nearly) the same priority. So there's no simple way to prioritize traffic from some users ("important" Wall Street people) over other users. That means "porn packets" can't simply be rejected in favor of "Wall Street packets."
P2P traffic uses the most bandwidth
According to this TechRepublic post (http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/t...), the majority of internet traffic is actually P2P traffic. Anywhere from 49 to 89 percent of all internet traffic reportedly falls into this category.
P2P traffic means "peer to peer." It's file-sharing traffic happening between two "peered" computers rather than from one central server to many individual computers. YouTube, for example, is a centralized video site that serves videos directly to millions of computers. The Pirate Bay, on the other hand (www.ThePirateBay.org) is a site that lists links to peer-to-peer sharing files so that individual computer users can share files amongst each other, bypassing centralized websites or file servers.
Peer-to-peer traffic carries the latest movies, music albums, television shows, ebooks, podcasts, graphic novels and even... yes... porn. A search on The Pirate Bay today shows downloads for Heroes Season 4 Episode 7 (350MB), the new Bruce Willis movie Surrogates
Porn represents a sizable percentage of all P2P traffic. Although "official" statistics were difficult to find, according to TopTenReviews.com (http://internet-filter-review.topte...), internet pornography revenues in the U.S. were $2.8 billion (2006). There are 4.2 million porn websites on the 'net, and 25% of all search engine requests are porn-related. Importantly, this page claims that (700MB) and even a bootleg version of the new Windows 7 operating system (3.5GB). These files are obviously not small. When peered computers share these files, it requires a tremendous amount of bandwidth.35% of all P2P traffic is porn-related.
Where am I going with all this? Well, if you consider that roughly 50% of all internet traffic is P2P, and that roughly one-third of all P2P traffic is porn, then it quickly becomes obvious that if the GAO's pandemic clogging of the internet becomes a reality, porn might bring down Wall Street!
What this also means, however, is that cutting off access to specific websites (like YouTube) will likely do very little to free up internet bandwidth. To have any real impact on reducing bandwidth usage, the U.S. government would need to run public service ads begging internet users to stop downloading porn. The problem with that approach is that people who pirate porn are probably not the kind of people who obediently follow the advice of the feds.
P2P traffic means "peer to peer." It's file-sharing traffic happening between two "peered" computers rather than from one central server to many individual computers. YouTube, for example, is a centralized video site that serves videos directly to millions of computers. The Pirate Bay, on the other hand (www.ThePirateBay.org) is a site that lists links to peer-to-peer sharing files so that individual computer users can share files amongst each other, bypassing centralized websites or file servers.
Peer-to-peer traffic carries the latest movies, music albums, television shows, ebooks, podcasts, graphic novels and even... yes... porn. A search on The Pirate Bay today shows downloads for Heroes Season 4 Episode 7 (350MB), the new Bruce Willis movie Surrogates
Porn represents a sizable percentage of all P2P traffic. Although "official" statistics were difficult to find, according to TopTenReviews.com (http://internet-filter-review.topte...), internet pornography revenues in the U.S. were $2.8 billion (2006). There are 4.2 million porn websites on the 'net, and 25% of all search engine requests are porn-related. Importantly, this page claims that (700MB) and even a bootleg version of the new Windows 7 operating system (3.5GB). These files are obviously not small. When peered computers share these files, it requires a tremendous amount of bandwidth.35% of all P2P traffic is porn-related.
Where am I going with all this? Well, if you consider that roughly 50% of all internet traffic is P2P, and that roughly one-third of all P2P traffic is porn, then it quickly becomes obvious that if the GAO's pandemic clogging of the internet becomes a reality, porn might bring down Wall Street!
What this also means, however, is that cutting off access to specific websites (like YouTube) will likely do very little to free up internet bandwidth. To have any real impact on reducing bandwidth usage, the U.S. government would need to run public service ads begging internet users to stop downloading porn. The problem with that approach is that people who pirate porn are probably not the kind of people who obediently follow the advice of the feds.
Can Hulu, Twitter and porn destroy Wall Street?
To translate this concern of the GAO, what they're saying is that if too many people stay home and use the internet, Wall Street might not be able to function smoothly. Therefore, in order to protect Wall Street (because as you know, our government does everything possible to bail out Wall Street), the feds might need to shut down some popular websites.
But where, exactly, is all the bandwidth usage really coming from? Twitter uses virtually no bandwidth, given that it's a short, text-based messaging service. Text articles also don't use up much bandwidth. In terms of clogging the internet's "series of tubes" (to use a hilarious term coined by a U.S. Senator), the real culprits are videos. While a Twitter text message might be less than 1k in size, a typical video is 350MB, or roughly 350,000 times larger than a Twitter message.
So where, exactly, are people getting video downloads? The most popular non-porn video destinations today are MySpaceTV.com, YouTube.com, LiveLeak.com, Yahoo Video and Hulu.com. But as it turns out, even these highly popular websites may not account for most internet traffic.
But where, exactly, is all the bandwidth usage really coming from? Twitter uses virtually no bandwidth, given that it's a short, text-based messaging service. Text articles also don't use up much bandwidth. In terms of clogging the internet's "series of tubes" (to use a hilarious term coined by a U.S. Senator), the real culprits are videos. While a Twitter text message might be less than 1k in size, a typical video is 350MB, or roughly 350,000 times larger than a Twitter message.
So where, exactly, are people getting video downloads? The most popular non-porn video destinations today are MySpaceTV.com, YouTube.com, LiveLeak.com, Yahoo Video and Hulu.com. But as it turns out, even these highly popular websites may not account for most internet traffic.
US government report recommends blocking popular websites during pandemic flu outbreakUS government report recommends blocking popular websites during pandemic flu outbreak
(NaturalNews) The US government has issued a new report that recommends blocking access to popular websites during a pandemic outbreak in order to preserve internet bandwidth for investors, day traders and securities clearing house operations. The concern is that a pandemic would cause too many people to stay at home and download YouTube videos and porn, hogging all the internet bandwidth and blocking throughput for investment activities, thereby causing a stock market meltdown.
This isn't an April Fool's joke. It's all based on a public report issued by the Government Accounting Office (GAO), available from their website at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d108.pdf
In this article, I'm going to explain how a pandemic outbreak could theoretically bring down Wall Street. But to get to that, you'll first need to find out what the GAO said in its curious report (see below). Parts of this article are presented as satire, but the underlying facts quoted here are all true and verifiable (links are provided to all sources).
This report in question is entitled, "GAO Report to Congressional Requesters, INFLUENZA PANDEMIC" and includes this subtitle: Key Securities Market Participants Are Making Progress, but Agencies Could Do More to Address Potential Internet Congestion and Encourage Readiness.
As the report explains:
In a severe pandemic, governments may close schools, shut down public transportation systems, and ban public gatherings such as concerts or sporting events. In such scenarios, many more people than usual may be at home during the day, and Internet use in residential neighborhoods could increase significantly as a result of people seeking news, entertainment, or social contact from home computers. Concerns have been raised that this additional traffic could lead to congestion on the Internet that would significantly affect businesses in local neighborhoods, such as small doctors' offices or business employees attempting to telework by connecting to their employers' enterprise networks.
This isn't an April Fool's joke. It's all based on a public report issued by the Government Accounting Office (GAO), available from their website at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d108.pdf
In this article, I'm going to explain how a pandemic outbreak could theoretically bring down Wall Street. But to get to that, you'll first need to find out what the GAO said in its curious report (see below). Parts of this article are presented as satire, but the underlying facts quoted here are all true and verifiable (links are provided to all sources).
This report in question is entitled, "GAO Report to Congressional Requesters, INFLUENZA PANDEMIC" and includes this subtitle: Key Securities Market Participants Are Making Progress, but Agencies Could Do More to Address Potential Internet Congestion and Encourage Readiness.
As the report explains:
In a severe pandemic, governments may close schools, shut down public transportation systems, and ban public gatherings such as concerts or sporting events. In such scenarios, many more people than usual may be at home during the day, and Internet use in residential neighborhoods could increase significantly as a result of people seeking news, entertainment, or social contact from home computers. Concerns have been raised that this additional traffic could lead to congestion on the Internet that would significantly affect businesses in local neighborhoods, such as small doctors' offices or business employees attempting to telework by connecting to their employers' enterprise networks.
Virtual Computing May Be Key to Increased Efficiency
Currently, one of the many hot topics in computing is virtual computers. If you look at any of the computer trade journals, you are almost guaranteed to find at least one article discussing how to “virtualize” your data center and how it will allow you to utilize your server hardware oh so much more efficiently. Truth be told, it's not all hype.
However, this is yet another field where you have to be very careful to make sure everyone is using the same definition for the terms, and that you have carefully considered all the implications. And sad to say, this wouldn't be the first time that a vendor has redefined what they call their technology to try and catch the popular wave.
First, virtual machines are nothing new (well, at least not in computer terms). If you have been using an application written in Java, you have been using a virtual machine. For that matter, if you have been running any applications written in one of Microsoft's .Net languages, you have been using a virtual machine. As originally defined, a virtual machine is "an efficient, isolated duplicate of a real machine,"1 though in current usage no physical analog of this logical computer need exist. In this context, a Java virtual machine is what is referred to as a “process virtual machine.” When an application is launched, a virtual machine is created to run that single process and is closed when the process concludes. Because it adds an additional layer of software between the application and the computer hardware, it adds additional overhead to the system, reducing its efficiency. The justifying reason for this is that the virtual machine provides a platform-independent environment for the execution of the program.
To put this example into more understandable terms, the Java program itself cannot be run directly on any standard computer because it will not understand its commands. What the Java virtual machine does is read in the Java program commands and translate them into native commands- allowing the computer it is running on to speak the same language and therefore understand those commands. This is the reason Java can be referred to as a portable language. In theory, one could take the same Java program and run it on any computer, no matter what its native command set. The reality is that it is only portable between computers and operating systems for which a Java virtual machine application has been written. This virtual machine is what is referred to as an abstraction layer between the operating system and the Java application. It deals with the differences in how to access files and hardware for that particular system so the Java program doesn't have to.
The other kind of virtual machines are called “system virtual machines.” With a system virtual machine, an entirely different instance of an operating system is sharing all of the underlying physical machine hardware. These additional instances can run the same, or different, operating systems. The software that handles the juggling between these different operating system instances is frequently referred to as a hypervisor, though you will occasionally see it referred to as a virtual machine monitor.
Hypervisors capable of running directly on the host computer are referred to as “native virtual machines.” If the hypervisor runs on top of another operating system, it is referred to as a “hosted virtual machine.” You will sometimes see these referred to as Type 1 and Type 2 virtual machines.
In a Type 2 system, the hypervisor’s operating system is called the host operating system. All the instances the hypervisor’s operating system is handling are referred to as guest operating systems. Depending on the machine architecture that a specific guest operating system was designed for, it may be able to execute natively on the host processor, or it may require the hypervisor emulate another processor architecture. This is referred to as “full virtualization” of the hardware and, while the execution is not as efficient as native execution, it does allow much more flexibility in terms of the operating systems that can be supported.
While it is true that virtual systems can be very complex, particularly those designed for computers or operating systems not specifically for virtualization, there are those that like to exaggerate this complexity, like how the old west medicine man used their mumbo-jumbo to sell snake oil.
System virtual machines can take many forms; not all of them are designed to perform ground breaking research or simplify server management. In fact, the sole purpose of one is to play games. DOSBox and DOSBox Portable are designed specifically to emulate an Intel 286/386 microprocessor in both real and protected modes, along with all of the supporting hardware of a pre-Windows PC. This design is specific so that many of the old DOS games that are incompatible with the current CMD emulator in Windows can be run on this version. This includes detailed emulation of hardware such as the SoundBlaster sound card and the common graphic modes of the time (Tandy/Hercules/CGA/EGA/VGA/VESA).
Virtual computers designed to emulate state of the art systems are naturally, uh... somewhat more complex. The configuration process of the initial versions of these virtual machines reflected that complexity. However, as newer versions of these programs were released, the actual configuration process became much simpler. To create a virtual machine using the EasyVMX.com Web site's Super Simple Virtual Machine Builder, you only need to answer four questions. This is augmented by all of the tutorials and other support documents, both written and video that can now be found on the Web.
While there are multiple commercial virtual machine applications available, there are also a number of free virtual machine implementations out there, at least for non-commercial use, which you can use to gain familiarity with the technology. Two of the more popular ones appear to be VirtualBox and VMware.
VirtualBox is Open Source Software originally developed in partnership with Sun Microsystems and now with Oracle. The current stable release is version 3.1.6, with a major upgrade, version 3.2.0, available in Beta 1. It is a full “virtualizer” for x86 hardware and is available in versions hosted by Windows, OS X, Linux and Solaris operating systems. Supported guest operating systems include many versions of Windows (including Windows 98), Linux, Solaris, OpenBSD, DOS, OS/2, Haiku, Syllable, ReactOS and SkyOS, though some versions also require VT-x or AMD-V hardware virtualization support. The binary versions include support for virtual USB Controllers, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) support, and USB over RDP support. RDP support allows you to use a virtual machine as an RDP server, so an application running in the virtual machine appears to run on a remote PC using a RDP client, which is also known as Desktop Virtualization (think Citrix).
VMware currently has the largest market share of any virtual machine system and runs under MS Windows and Linux. Guest operating systems supported include various versions of Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS, Linux, OS/2, OS X, FreeBSD, NetWare and Solaris.
As mentioned before, using EasyVMX.com can make setting up your new virtual machine an experience approaching easy in terms of difficulty.
Running VirtualBox or VMware on your local computer is more than just a parlor trick or an example of doing something just because you can. This capability serves several practical purposes. First, it does allow you to run multiple operating systems, so than you can run applications that will not run on your native host operating system. Secondly, it allows you to use your virtual machine to safely test downloaded apps or to surf unexplored regions of the Web. If either results in a maul ware infection, you just delete that virtual machine and create a new one, with no permanent harm done to your system. Believe, me, this is a much less aggravating issue than having to reformat your hard drive after an infection and reinstall and reconfigure all of your applications from scratch.
While using virtual machine software to consolidate multiple virtual servers onto one physical server can definitely allow you to utilize your existing hardware servers more efficiently, there are potential downsides to take into consideration.
First, virtualization does generate overhead processes that must be subtracted from the native capability of the server. If the guest operating system can run natively on the physical processor of the hardware server, the virtual server may run at about 80 percent of the native server’s capacity. If the virtualization software must emulate the instruction set of another machine architecture, this utilization may drop considerably. With multiple virtual machines running on the physical server, making its capabilities are shared between them, the virtual server capabilities drop even more.
However, I find the degree of contingency planning that goes into “virtualizing” a server much more concerning. Yes, you can use existing hardware more efficiently by having every physical server run multiple virtual machines. However, if you don't include the appropriate software and carefully craft your contingency plans for application fail over, if that one physical server fails, then all of the virtual servers hosted in it fail as well. In some instances, instead of having just one system go down, you may have a half dozen or more virtual systems go down. I can tell you from experience that this is not a fun situation. So, do explore the capabilities of virtual computers and server virtualization, but make sure you ask those worst case questions, and that your implementation group has good answers for them. If you get anything other than a calm reasoned response back, well, you may find that Westworld isn't just an old movie...
However, this is yet another field where you have to be very careful to make sure everyone is using the same definition for the terms, and that you have carefully considered all the implications. And sad to say, this wouldn't be the first time that a vendor has redefined what they call their technology to try and catch the popular wave.
First, virtual machines are nothing new (well, at least not in computer terms). If you have been using an application written in Java, you have been using a virtual machine. For that matter, if you have been running any applications written in one of Microsoft's .Net languages, you have been using a virtual machine. As originally defined, a virtual machine is "an efficient, isolated duplicate of a real machine,"1 though in current usage no physical analog of this logical computer need exist. In this context, a Java virtual machine is what is referred to as a “process virtual machine.” When an application is launched, a virtual machine is created to run that single process and is closed when the process concludes. Because it adds an additional layer of software between the application and the computer hardware, it adds additional overhead to the system, reducing its efficiency. The justifying reason for this is that the virtual machine provides a platform-independent environment for the execution of the program.
To put this example into more understandable terms, the Java program itself cannot be run directly on any standard computer because it will not understand its commands. What the Java virtual machine does is read in the Java program commands and translate them into native commands- allowing the computer it is running on to speak the same language and therefore understand those commands. This is the reason Java can be referred to as a portable language. In theory, one could take the same Java program and run it on any computer, no matter what its native command set. The reality is that it is only portable between computers and operating systems for which a Java virtual machine application has been written. This virtual machine is what is referred to as an abstraction layer between the operating system and the Java application. It deals with the differences in how to access files and hardware for that particular system so the Java program doesn't have to.
The other kind of virtual machines are called “system virtual machines.” With a system virtual machine, an entirely different instance of an operating system is sharing all of the underlying physical machine hardware. These additional instances can run the same, or different, operating systems. The software that handles the juggling between these different operating system instances is frequently referred to as a hypervisor, though you will occasionally see it referred to as a virtual machine monitor.
Hypervisors capable of running directly on the host computer are referred to as “native virtual machines.” If the hypervisor runs on top of another operating system, it is referred to as a “hosted virtual machine.” You will sometimes see these referred to as Type 1 and Type 2 virtual machines.
In a Type 2 system, the hypervisor’s operating system is called the host operating system. All the instances the hypervisor’s operating system is handling are referred to as guest operating systems. Depending on the machine architecture that a specific guest operating system was designed for, it may be able to execute natively on the host processor, or it may require the hypervisor emulate another processor architecture. This is referred to as “full virtualization” of the hardware and, while the execution is not as efficient as native execution, it does allow much more flexibility in terms of the operating systems that can be supported.
While it is true that virtual systems can be very complex, particularly those designed for computers or operating systems not specifically for virtualization, there are those that like to exaggerate this complexity, like how the old west medicine man used their mumbo-jumbo to sell snake oil.
System virtual machines can take many forms; not all of them are designed to perform ground breaking research or simplify server management. In fact, the sole purpose of one is to play games. DOSBox and DOSBox Portable are designed specifically to emulate an Intel 286/386 microprocessor in both real and protected modes, along with all of the supporting hardware of a pre-Windows PC. This design is specific so that many of the old DOS games that are incompatible with the current CMD emulator in Windows can be run on this version. This includes detailed emulation of hardware such as the SoundBlaster sound card and the common graphic modes of the time (Tandy/Hercules/CGA/EGA/VGA/VESA).
Virtual computers designed to emulate state of the art systems are naturally, uh... somewhat more complex. The configuration process of the initial versions of these virtual machines reflected that complexity. However, as newer versions of these programs were released, the actual configuration process became much simpler. To create a virtual machine using the EasyVMX.com Web site's Super Simple Virtual Machine Builder, you only need to answer four questions. This is augmented by all of the tutorials and other support documents, both written and video that can now be found on the Web.
While there are multiple commercial virtual machine applications available, there are also a number of free virtual machine implementations out there, at least for non-commercial use, which you can use to gain familiarity with the technology. Two of the more popular ones appear to be VirtualBox and VMware.
VirtualBox is Open Source Software originally developed in partnership with Sun Microsystems and now with Oracle. The current stable release is version 3.1.6, with a major upgrade, version 3.2.0, available in Beta 1. It is a full “virtualizer” for x86 hardware and is available in versions hosted by Windows, OS X, Linux and Solaris operating systems. Supported guest operating systems include many versions of Windows (including Windows 98), Linux, Solaris, OpenBSD, DOS, OS/2, Haiku, Syllable, ReactOS and SkyOS, though some versions also require VT-x or AMD-V hardware virtualization support. The binary versions include support for virtual USB Controllers, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) support, and USB over RDP support. RDP support allows you to use a virtual machine as an RDP server, so an application running in the virtual machine appears to run on a remote PC using a RDP client, which is also known as Desktop Virtualization (think Citrix).
VMware currently has the largest market share of any virtual machine system and runs under MS Windows and Linux. Guest operating systems supported include various versions of Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS, Linux, OS/2, OS X, FreeBSD, NetWare and Solaris.
As mentioned before, using EasyVMX.com can make setting up your new virtual machine an experience approaching easy in terms of difficulty.
Running VirtualBox or VMware on your local computer is more than just a parlor trick or an example of doing something just because you can. This capability serves several practical purposes. First, it does allow you to run multiple operating systems, so than you can run applications that will not run on your native host operating system. Secondly, it allows you to use your virtual machine to safely test downloaded apps or to surf unexplored regions of the Web. If either results in a maul ware infection, you just delete that virtual machine and create a new one, with no permanent harm done to your system. Believe, me, this is a much less aggravating issue than having to reformat your hard drive after an infection and reinstall and reconfigure all of your applications from scratch.
While using virtual machine software to consolidate multiple virtual servers onto one physical server can definitely allow you to utilize your existing hardware servers more efficiently, there are potential downsides to take into consideration.
First, virtualization does generate overhead processes that must be subtracted from the native capability of the server. If the guest operating system can run natively on the physical processor of the hardware server, the virtual server may run at about 80 percent of the native server’s capacity. If the virtualization software must emulate the instruction set of another machine architecture, this utilization may drop considerably. With multiple virtual machines running on the physical server, making its capabilities are shared between them, the virtual server capabilities drop even more.
However, I find the degree of contingency planning that goes into “virtualizing” a server much more concerning. Yes, you can use existing hardware more efficiently by having every physical server run multiple virtual machines. However, if you don't include the appropriate software and carefully craft your contingency plans for application fail over, if that one physical server fails, then all of the virtual servers hosted in it fail as well. In some instances, instead of having just one system go down, you may have a half dozen or more virtual systems go down. I can tell you from experience that this is not a fun situation. So, do explore the capabilities of virtual computers and server virtualization, but make sure you ask those worst case questions, and that your implementation group has good answers for them. If you get anything other than a calm reasoned response back, well, you may find that Westworld isn't just an old movie...
Cisco sniffing around P2P player Skype?
BANGALORE, INDIA: Peer-to-peer Internet telephony provider Skype might be up for sale again, as per a few reports in TechCrunch and GigaOm.
As per reports Cisco has shown interest in Skype, who had filed for IPO early this month.
Skype, founded in 2003, was acquired by eBay Inc in 2005. However, in November 2009 eBay sold 70 percent stake in Skype.
The bid value can go up to $5 billion, adds the report. The reports also add that search engine giant Google had backed off from the bid after showing interest initially.
As per reports Cisco has shown interest in Skype, who had filed for IPO early this month.
Skype, founded in 2003, was acquired by eBay Inc in 2005. However, in November 2009 eBay sold 70 percent stake in Skype.
The bid value can go up to $5 billion, adds the report. The reports also add that search engine giant Google had backed off from the bid after showing interest initially.
CSL, ZTE set to launch DC HSPA+/LTE network
NEW DELHI, INDIA: CSL Limited (CSL), a Hong Kong-based mobile network operator, and network equipment vendor ZTE Corporation demonstrated DC HSPA+ (42 Mbps)/LTE technology at the LTE Asia 2010 Conference.
“CSL’s data traffic has increased by 40 times since the launch of Next G network in March 2009, it is clear that there is a strong need for LTE in Hong Kong to continue to provide a superior customer experience,” said Christian Daigneault, CTO, CSL Limited.
Also Read: Mobile data traffic from PC modems routers to rise
In July 2010, CSL and ZTE have announced the deployment of 1800 MHz/2600 MHz dual-band LTE network and the upgrade of the 3G network to the Dual Cell technology with peak speeds of 42Mbps.
Since the end of 2009, ZTE and CSL have been testing LTE with pre-commercial LTE USB modems and field trials conducted showed peak download speeds reaching up to 100Mbps in the streets of Hong Kong.
“Launching LTE and Dual Cell HSPA simultaneously is a technological challenge rarely seen before. We have been successful in providing CSL with a solution that will provide exceptional performance to CSL customers” said Xu Ming, VP, Wireless Products, ZTE.
“CSL’s data traffic has increased by 40 times since the launch of Next G network in March 2009, it is clear that there is a strong need for LTE in Hong Kong to continue to provide a superior customer experience,” said Christian Daigneault, CTO, CSL Limited.
Also Read: Mobile data traffic from PC modems routers to rise
In July 2010, CSL and ZTE have announced the deployment of 1800 MHz/2600 MHz dual-band LTE network and the upgrade of the 3G network to the Dual Cell technology with peak speeds of 42Mbps.
Since the end of 2009, ZTE and CSL have been testing LTE with pre-commercial LTE USB modems and field trials conducted showed peak download speeds reaching up to 100Mbps in the streets of Hong Kong.
“Launching LTE and Dual Cell HSPA simultaneously is a technological challenge rarely seen before. We have been successful in providing CSL with a solution that will provide exceptional performance to CSL customers” said Xu Ming, VP, Wireless Products, ZTE.
Wi-Fi hotspots evolving despite lack of biz model
SCOTTSDALE, USA: The hotspot market continues to experience strong growth in deployed venues and usage, driven largely by wireless and broadband providers embracing Wi-Fi both as a competitive differentiator and enhancement to core services, says In-Stat.
Despite the continued growth in hotspot deployments, the underlying business model has been in a continuous state of definition and development over the past decade, and remains a primary uncertainty in the future of the hotspot market.
Also Read: WiFi an alternate to clogged 3G networks?
“We are a decade into the introduction of hotspot services and the market is still working out the revenue model,” says Amy Cravens, market analyst, In-Stat. “Initially the market was based on pay-as-you-go revenues, with providers hoping it would evolve into ongoing subscriptions and corporate accounts."
In-Stat’s consumer survey identified security concerns as the top barrier to hotspot usage. Other top concerns are service availability and costs.
"And while there has always been a free access component, branded hotspot venues like McDonald's and Starbucks, have made free access pervasive, which may lead to a public that is resistant to pay,” he adds.
Annual venue growth is expected to remain strong over the next several years, but will begin to slow in later forecast years.
Europe will account for 40 percent of worldwide venues in 2010. By 2012, handhelds are anticipated to account for half of hotspot connects.
Europe and North America are the largest hotspot markets based on usage (annual connects). On a per location basis, airport hotspot usage dwarfs all other venues with several thousand connects per month.
Despite the continued growth in hotspot deployments, the underlying business model has been in a continuous state of definition and development over the past decade, and remains a primary uncertainty in the future of the hotspot market.
Also Read: WiFi an alternate to clogged 3G networks?
“We are a decade into the introduction of hotspot services and the market is still working out the revenue model,” says Amy Cravens, market analyst, In-Stat. “Initially the market was based on pay-as-you-go revenues, with providers hoping it would evolve into ongoing subscriptions and corporate accounts."
In-Stat’s consumer survey identified security concerns as the top barrier to hotspot usage. Other top concerns are service availability and costs.
"And while there has always been a free access component, branded hotspot venues like McDonald's and Starbucks, have made free access pervasive, which may lead to a public that is resistant to pay,” he adds.
Annual venue growth is expected to remain strong over the next several years, but will begin to slow in later forecast years.
Europe will account for 40 percent of worldwide venues in 2010. By 2012, handhelds are anticipated to account for half of hotspot connects.
Europe and North America are the largest hotspot markets based on usage (annual connects). On a per location basis, airport hotspot usage dwarfs all other venues with several thousand connects per month.
What is IBM eyeing for with Blade acquisition?
Blade RackSwitch products include:
RackSwitch G8100 and G8124 10G Low Latency Switches
RackSwitch G8000 1-10G Aggregation Switch
RackSwitch G8100 and G8124 10G Low Latency Switches
RackSwitch G8000 1-10G Aggregation Switch
Blade Server Switches
Blade embedded Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches are available for IBM. BladeCenter, HP BladeSystem, NEC SigmaBlade and Verari BladeSwitch to consolidate server I/O, enable network virtualization, and reduce data centre complexity by adding network intelligence within the blade server chassis.
Blade embedded Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches are available for IBM. BladeCenter, HP BladeSystem, NEC SigmaBlade and Verari BladeSwitch to consolidate server I/O, enable network virtualization, and reduce data centre complexity by adding network intelligence within the blade server chassis.
Blade's switch modules for IBM:
BNT 10-port 10G Ethernet Switch Module
BNT 6-port 10G Ethernet Switch Module
BNT 1/10Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch Module
BNT Layer 2-7 Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module
BNT Layer 2/3 Copper Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module
BNT Layer 2/3 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module
BNT 10-port 10G Ethernet Switch Module
BNT 6-port 10G Ethernet Switch Module
BNT 1/10Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch Module
BNT Layer 2-7 Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module
BNT Layer 2/3 Copper Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module
BNT Layer 2/3 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module
Blade's switch modules for HP BladeSystem include:
HP 10Gb Ethernet BL-c switch
HP 1:10Gb Ethernet BL-c switch
HP GbE2c Layer 2/3 Ethernet blade switch
HP GbE2c Ethernet blade switch
HP 10Gb Ethernet BL-c switch
HP 1:10Gb Ethernet BL-c switch
HP GbE2c Layer 2/3 Ethernet blade switch
HP GbE2c Ethernet blade switch
Blade's switch modules for NEC SigmaBlade include:
NEC 1Gb Intelligent L2 switch
NEC 1Gb Intelligent L3 switch
NEC 10Gb Intelligent L3 switch
NEC 1Gb Intelligent L2 switch
NEC 1Gb Intelligent L3 switch
NEC 10Gb Intelligent L3 switch
Blade Network Management and Virtualization Software Products
SmartConnect with VMready
BLADEHarmony Manager
SmartConnect with VMready
BLADEHarmony Manager
With inputs from Wikipedia and Reuters
Toshiba intros 4G WiMAX-ready laptops
IRVINE, USA: Toshiba’s Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., rolled out a range of 4G WiMAX-ready laptops.
Carl Pinto, vice president, product development, Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Digital Products Division. “We are expanding our effort to provide more WiMAX-ready laptops to our line as mobile connectivity becomes even more essential for productivity and digital entertainment.”
Also Read: NSN Alcatel and now Cisco: Is WiMAX losing grounds?
The following models of Toshiba will have built-in WiMAX technology.
Satellite A665
The Satellite A665 laptop blends Toshiba’s new Fusion X2 styling with multi-media performance to boost high-def entertainment, productivity and creativity. Offering a 16-inch diagonal HD TruBrite widescreen display, a premium audio package, the latest Intel Core processors and optional NVIDIA GeForce graphics.
It also has a suite features such as Sleep and Music.
WiMAX will be available on the Satellite A665-S6086, Satellite A665-S6094, Satellite A665-S6097 Satellite A665-S6098 and the 3D-capable Satellite A665-3DV6 models, starting at $804.99 MSRP3.
Satellite M645
The Satellite M645 laptop is a compact PC featuring a 14-inch diagonal HD TruBrite widescreen display, the latest Intel Core processors and a premium audio package with harman/kardon speakers and Dolby Advanced Audio technology, the laptop delivers a stunning mobile entertainment experience and is easy to carry.
WiMAX will be available on the Satellite M645-S4063 and Satellite M645-S4070 models starting at $759.99 MSRP.
Portégé R705
The Portégé R705-P35 comes with a 13.3-inch diagonal widescreen display, the laptop has a starting weight of just three pounds4, measures about one inch thin and features a raised tile keyboard and a long battery life rating and built-in Intel Wireless Display technology.
The Portégé R705-P35 is priced at $899.99 MSRP.
Satellite E205
Satellite E205-S1980 laptop features NVIDIA GeForce 310M graphics processing unit (GPU) with energy-saving Optimus technology.
With a 14-inch diagonal LED-backlit HD TruBrite display, the Satellite E205 is equipped with Intel Wireless Display technology, the new Intel Core i5 processor, a sleek slot-loading DVD drive and LED backlit keyboard.
The Satellite E205-S1980 is priced at $1,079.99 MSRP.
Toshiba’s WiMAX enabled laptops will be available on Sept. 26, 2010 at select retailers.
Carl Pinto, vice president, product development, Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Digital Products Division. “We are expanding our effort to provide more WiMAX-ready laptops to our line as mobile connectivity becomes even more essential for productivity and digital entertainment.”
Also Read: NSN Alcatel and now Cisco: Is WiMAX losing grounds?
The following models of Toshiba will have built-in WiMAX technology.
Satellite A665
The Satellite A665 laptop blends Toshiba’s new Fusion X2 styling with multi-media performance to boost high-def entertainment, productivity and creativity. Offering a 16-inch diagonal HD TruBrite widescreen display, a premium audio package, the latest Intel Core processors and optional NVIDIA GeForce graphics.
It also has a suite features such as Sleep and Music.
WiMAX will be available on the Satellite A665-S6086, Satellite A665-S6094, Satellite A665-S6097 Satellite A665-S6098 and the 3D-capable Satellite A665-3DV6 models, starting at $804.99 MSRP3.
Satellite M645
The Satellite M645 laptop is a compact PC featuring a 14-inch diagonal HD TruBrite widescreen display, the latest Intel Core processors and a premium audio package with harman/kardon speakers and Dolby Advanced Audio technology, the laptop delivers a stunning mobile entertainment experience and is easy to carry.
WiMAX will be available on the Satellite M645-S4063 and Satellite M645-S4070 models starting at $759.99 MSRP.
Portégé R705
The Portégé R705-P35 comes with a 13.3-inch diagonal widescreen display, the laptop has a starting weight of just three pounds4, measures about one inch thin and features a raised tile keyboard and a long battery life rating and built-in Intel Wireless Display technology.
The Portégé R705-P35 is priced at $899.99 MSRP.
Satellite E205
Satellite E205-S1980 laptop features NVIDIA GeForce 310M graphics processing unit (GPU) with energy-saving Optimus technology.
With a 14-inch diagonal LED-backlit HD TruBrite display, the Satellite E205 is equipped with Intel Wireless Display technology, the new Intel Core i5 processor, a sleek slot-loading DVD drive and LED backlit keyboard.
The Satellite E205-S1980 is priced at $1,079.99 MSRP.
Toshiba’s WiMAX enabled laptops will be available on Sept. 26, 2010 at select retailers.
What is IBM eyeing for with Blade acquisition? BANGALORE, INDIA: IBM is all set to buy Blade Network Technologies, a Santa Clara, CA, based vendor of Gigabit and 10G Ethernet network infrastructure solutions that reside in blade servers and server and storage racks. This move comes as IBM and rivals such as Hewlett-Packard, Oracle Corp, and Cisco Systems are developing or acquiring new technologies in response to clients' demands for better and cheaper ways to manage their data centres. Also Read: Mainframe not yet a has-been: IBM Blade, which spun off from Nortel's Blade Server Switch Unit and was established in 2006, has been an IBM sales partner since 2002. The company has operations in Canada, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Japan and Korea. While IBM has long competed with HP and Oracle, its rivalry with network equipment maker Cisco is relatively new. Cisco's recent entry into servers has prompted HP and IBM to retaliate by buying or forming close partnerships with networking firms. Blade offers a range of top-of-rack and bladed 1-10 Gigabit Ethernet switches for high-performance computing (HPC), multimedia (VOD, IPTV, VoIP), online gaming, financial analysis, security, cloud networking, Web 2.0 and other I/O-intensive applications. Blade’s top-of-rack and blade server switches exemplify a set of rules for the data center known as Rackonomics – an economical approach for provisioning essential server, storage and networking infrastructure that empowers enterprise data centers to control costs and contain sprawl while realizing massive scale-out economies. RackSwitch Blade RackSwitch is a 1-10 Gigabit Ethernet top-of-rack data centre switch. RackSwitch product family extends virtualization by mirroring the benefits of server virtualization within the network at the rack level, saves energy through rack-friendly cooling and alleviates pain by removing complexity through simplified management and fabric convergence. RackSwitch is the only switch designed specifically for IBM’s iDataPlex, a custom-configured rack system featuring design innovations in cooling and efficiency to address I/O-intensive Web 2.0 applications and cloud computing.
BANGALORE, INDIA: IBM is all set to buy Blade Network Technologies, a Santa Clara, CA, based vendor of Gigabit and 10G Ethernet network infrastructure solutions that reside in blade servers and server and storage racks.
This move comes as IBM and rivals such as Hewlett-Packard, Oracle Corp, and Cisco Systems are developing or acquiring new technologies in response to clients' demands for better and cheaper ways to manage their data centres.
Also Read: Mainframe not yet a has-been: IBM
Also Read: Mainframe not yet a has-been: IBM
Blade, which spun off from Nortel's Blade Server Switch Unit and was established in 2006, has been an IBM sales partner since 2002. The company has operations in Canada, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Japan and Korea.
While IBM has long competed with HP and Oracle, its rivalry with network equipment maker Cisco is relatively new. Cisco's recent entry into servers has prompted HP and IBM to retaliate by buying or forming close partnerships with networking firms.
Blade offers a range of top-of-rack and bladed 1-10 Gigabit Ethernet switches for high-performance computing (HPC), multimedia (VOD, IPTV, VoIP), online gaming, financial analysis, security, cloud networking, Web 2.0 and other I/O-intensive applications.
Blade’s top-of-rack and blade server switches exemplify a set of rules for the data center known as Rackonomics – an economical approach for provisioning essential server, storage and networking infrastructure that empowers enterprise data centers to control costs and contain sprawl while realizing massive scale-out economies.
RackSwitch
Blade RackSwitch is a 1-10 Gigabit Ethernet top-of-rack data centre switch.
Blade RackSwitch is a 1-10 Gigabit Ethernet top-of-rack data centre switch.
RackSwitch product family extends virtualization by mirroring the benefits of server virtualization within the network at the rack level, saves energy through rack-friendly cooling and alleviates pain by removing complexity through simplified management and fabric convergence.
RackSwitch is the only switch designed specifically for IBM’s iDataPlex, a custom-configured rack system featuring design innovations in cooling and efficiency to address I/O-intensive Web 2.0 applications and cloud computing.
Google Instant Blacklist: What is it?
BANGALORE, INDIA: Google has gone gaga over its Instant and 'Autocomplete' features, which it says is the future of search. Thanks to its 'autocomplete' feature people can get results as they type their queries.
We have seen that in Instant the suggestion box scrolls down with every letter and also throws up 10-15 search results simultaneously.
Also Read: Google adds video and voice chat to Gmail
However, a few, although not many, might have noticed that there are some 'selected' words which don't give this 'instant' results. In this case, Google waits for you to complete the whole word and then go and hit the search, instead of displaying caches instantly. Try out the words lesbian or Aryan.
Recently Hacker publication 2600 had compiled a list of such words that Google had blacklisted. Here are they.
Altogether Google Instant has blacklisted 12 words beginning with A, including Aryan, ass, 29 that begin with B, including biseXual, bitcH, 21 words that start with C, including cum (blacklists after a space), clit (blacklists after a space), 19 from D category, such as dominatIon, deeptHroat, 4 from E (eroT).
Similarly 14 from F (fetIsh, fuCk), 18 from (google is Evil, gay man), 16 from H (how to kilL, how to murdeR), four from I (i haTe, inceSt), 13 from J (jack ofF, jacobs ladder piercing), 10 from L (Lesbian, latinA), seven from M (missionary Position), 12 from N (negrO, neonaZi), five from O (orgY), 12 from N (nigGer, nuDe), 17 from P (paedoPhile, pissIng), one from Q, nine from R (rapE), 37 from S (sex, seduceD) 18 from T (teeN, towelHead), three from U (undressIng), four from V (vibratoR), six from W and two from Y are also blacklisted.
Vinay Goel, head of products, Google India, said, “There are a number of reasons you may not be seeing search queries for a particular topic. Among other things, we apply a narrow set of removal policies for pornography, violence, and hate speech.
However, contrary to the blacklisted words there are a few which seem not to scare Google, although they can fall under the said category, such as 'how to commit suicide', 'ku klux klan', 'murder', 'nazi', 'homosexual', 'fascist' etc.
“It's important to note that removing queries from 'autocomplete' is a hard problem, and not as simple as blacklisting particular terms and phrases. In search, we get more than one billion searches each day. Because of this, we take an algorithmic approach to removals, and just like our search algorithms, these are imperfect. We will continue to work to improve our approach to removals in 'autocomplete', and are listening carefully to feedback from our users,” adds Goel.
We have seen that in Instant the suggestion box scrolls down with every letter and also throws up 10-15 search results simultaneously.
Also Read: Google adds video and voice chat to Gmail
However, a few, although not many, might have noticed that there are some 'selected' words which don't give this 'instant' results. In this case, Google waits for you to complete the whole word and then go and hit the search, instead of displaying caches instantly. Try out the words lesbian or Aryan.
Recently Hacker publication 2600 had compiled a list of such words that Google had blacklisted. Here are they.
Altogether Google Instant has blacklisted 12 words beginning with A, including Aryan, ass, 29 that begin with B, including biseXual, bitcH, 21 words that start with C, including cum (blacklists after a space), clit (blacklists after a space), 19 from D category, such as dominatIon, deeptHroat, 4 from E (eroT).
Similarly 14 from F (fetIsh, fuCk), 18 from (google is Evil, gay man), 16 from H (how to kilL, how to murdeR), four from I (i haTe, inceSt), 13 from J (jack ofF, jacobs ladder piercing), 10 from L (Lesbian, latinA), seven from M (missionary Position), 12 from N (negrO, neonaZi), five from O (orgY), 12 from N (nigGer, nuDe), 17 from P (paedoPhile, pissIng), one from Q, nine from R (rapE), 37 from S (sex, seduceD) 18 from T (teeN, towelHead), three from U (undressIng), four from V (vibratoR), six from W and two from Y are also blacklisted.
Vinay Goel, head of products, Google India, said, “There are a number of reasons you may not be seeing search queries for a particular topic. Among other things, we apply a narrow set of removal policies for pornography, violence, and hate speech.
However, contrary to the blacklisted words there are a few which seem not to scare Google, although they can fall under the said category, such as 'how to commit suicide', 'ku klux klan', 'murder', 'nazi', 'homosexual', 'fascist' etc.
“It's important to note that removing queries from 'autocomplete' is a hard problem, and not as simple as blacklisting particular terms and phrases. In search, we get more than one billion searches each day. Because of this, we take an algorithmic approach to removals, and just like our search algorithms, these are imperfect. We will continue to work to improve our approach to removals in 'autocomplete', and are listening carefully to feedback from our users,” adds Goel.
Business VoIP service revenue up 8pc in 1H10
CAMPBELL, USA: Worldwide VoIP service revenue totaled $22.6 billion in the first half of 2010 (1H10), up eight percent over 2H09, driven by solid growth in business and residential services across all regions.
This is according to market research firm Infonetics Research which updated 2010 VoIP and Unified Communication Services and Subscribers market share and forecast report, which now includes an IP Centrex/UC Provider Tracker highlighting deployments by provider, region, service, and platform.
Also Read: 3G will give new lease of life to VoIP industry
Diane Myers, directing analyst for VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research, said: "The market for business voice over IP services slowed during the financial turmoil of 2009, but we are now seeing a good uptick in new business across all segments, particularly in IP connectivity services. Based on all indications and the feedback we are getting from service providers, we expect 2010 to end on a high note, with revenue up 13 percent over 2009."
A growing number of hosted providers are incorporating unified communication elements and mobility into their standard offerings, which is creating new levels of service differentiation.
The number of residential VoIP subscribers grew 10 percent between 2H09 and 1H10 to 145.4 million.
Though residential VoIP services revenue growth is slowing due to pricing pressures across all geographies, new developments continue in regions such as Africa and Southeast Asia that previously did not have a large residential VoIP provider base.
In 1H10, the IP connectivity segment of the business VoIP services market surged past the managed IP PBX and hosted VoIP/UC services segments to become the largest segment of the market.
In North America, the market for business VoIP services is marked by continued consolidation, with Comcast acquiring New Global Telecom and MegaPath acquiring Speakeasy and Covad in 1H10.
This is according to market research firm Infonetics Research which updated 2010 VoIP and Unified Communication Services and Subscribers market share and forecast report, which now includes an IP Centrex/UC Provider Tracker highlighting deployments by provider, region, service, and platform.
Also Read: 3G will give new lease of life to VoIP industry
Diane Myers, directing analyst for VoIP and IMS at Infonetics Research, said: "The market for business voice over IP services slowed during the financial turmoil of 2009, but we are now seeing a good uptick in new business across all segments, particularly in IP connectivity services. Based on all indications and the feedback we are getting from service providers, we expect 2010 to end on a high note, with revenue up 13 percent over 2009."
A growing number of hosted providers are incorporating unified communication elements and mobility into their standard offerings, which is creating new levels of service differentiation.
The number of residential VoIP subscribers grew 10 percent between 2H09 and 1H10 to 145.4 million.
Though residential VoIP services revenue growth is slowing due to pricing pressures across all geographies, new developments continue in regions such as Africa and Southeast Asia that previously did not have a large residential VoIP provider base.
In 1H10, the IP connectivity segment of the business VoIP services market surged past the managed IP PBX and hosted VoIP/UC services segments to become the largest segment of the market.
In North America, the market for business VoIP services is marked by continued consolidation, with Comcast acquiring New Global Telecom and MegaPath acquiring Speakeasy and Covad in 1H10.
Computer servers to detect earthquakes
NEW YORK, USA: Computer servers in data centres could be doing more than responding to requests from millions of Internet users.
IBM researchers have patented a technique using vibration sensors inside server hard drives to analyze information about earthquakes and predict tsunamis.
Also Read: Toshiba brings Wipe feature for hard drives
Also Read: Toshiba brings Wipe feature for hard drives
“Almost all hard drives have an accelerometer built into them and all of that data is network accessible,” says Bob Friedlander, master inventor at IBM. “If we can reach in, grab the data, clean it, network it and analyze it, we can provide very fine-grained pictures of what’s happening in an earthquake.”
The aim is to accurately predict the location and timing of catastrophic events and improve the natural disaster warning system. Seismographs that are widely used currently do not provide fine-grained data about where emergency response is needed, say the researchers.
IBM’s research is not the first time scientists have tried to use the sensors in computers to detect earthquakes. In 2008, seismologists at the University of California at Riverside and Stanford University created the Quake Catcher Network.
The idea was to use the accelerometers in laptops to detect movement. But wading through mounds of data from laptops to accurately point to information that might indicate seismic activity is not easy. For instance, how do you tell if the vibrations in a laptop accelerometer are the result of seismic activity and not a big rig truck rolling by?
That’s why IBM researchers Friedlander and James Kraemer decided to focus on using rack-mounted servers.
“When you are looking at data from a rack that’s bolted to the floor it’s not the same as what you get from a laptop,” says Kraemer. “Laptops produce too much data and it’s liable to have a lot of noise.”
Servers in data centres can help researchers get detailed information because they know the machine’s orientation, its environmental conditions are much better controlled and the noise generated by the device tends to be predictable.
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