DATA64 launches Cyber Crime Helpline

Friday 26 October 2012

For Immediate Release: 25 October, 2012, Mumbai….. Data64 Techno Solutions Pvt. Ltd., India's leading Cyber Crime Investigation company incubated by Science and Technology Park, a STEP promoted by the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, recently launched Cyber crime helpline on the eve of India Cyber law Day on 17th October to help the general public with cyber crime, cyber law and cyber security related issues.


Alarmed by the increasing number of cyber crime cases around the country, Data64 has taken the initiative to launch this service for helping those affected by cyber crime. The service being a pan India initiative, affected persons can email their grievances at help@data64.com , One can also access this helpline via Facebook page through https://www.facebook.com/cyber.crime.helpline .
Thousands of people fall victims to cyber crime in India. These range from victims of email / Facebook account hacking and fake social networking profiles to victims of credit card fraud, online scams etc. Most victims are unaware about the legal and technical recourses available to them. This helpline has been formed to make those victims aware of and avail such resources. Data64 is also releasing posters for cyber law and security awareness in support of this initiative.

Mr. Debasis Nayak, Director, Data64, said, “The Cyber Crime Helpline is an initiative to help victims of cyber crime who are not sure or unaware of whom to approach and what course of action to take. We encourage everyone who is affected by cyber crime to email us at help@data64.com if they need help. We will do our best to point him/her in the right direction.”

               
About Data64:
Data64 Techno Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is India's leading Cyber Crime Investigation company. It is incubated by Science and Technology Park, a STEP promoted by the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India.

Please log on to: http://www.data64.in
Contact: Ms. Bhagyashri Bandekar-9167082414

HAPPY DUSSERA

Wednesday 24 October 2012


EMC appoints John Roese as CTO

Friday 19 October 2012

EMC Corporation has appointed John Roese, a 20-year IT industry veteran, as its new chief technology officer. Roese will be reporting to Jeremy Burton, executive vice president of Product Operations and Marketing, and will play a key role in shaping EMC’s technology strategy around cloud, big data and trusted IT.
"John brings to EMC a unique blend of experience spanning the entire breadth of IT systems from silicon all the way up through networking, storage, servers and virtualization. In addition, he has directed product development in enterprise, carrier and consumer markets. At heart, John is a true technologist, but he is also a proven strategist and general manager with extraordinary vision and operational expertise within very large, complex organizations,” Jeremy Burton said.

Roese has 20 granted and pending patents to his credit. Prior to this, he was serving as senior vice president and general manager of Huawei’s North American R&D organization.

"The entire IT industry is in a period of rapid evolution towards radically more agile, scalable and user-centric computing.  EMC is ideally positioned in the centre of this transformation with core strengths across cloud, big data, and trusted IT. I am excited and energized to join this great company at the beginning of this next exciting chapter for the global technology industry,” John Roese said.

Roese will be replacing Jeff Nick, who was serving for the past eight years. Nick will take over a new CTO role reporting to Paul Maritz, EMC’s Chief Strategist, focused on big data and emerging applications initiatives. 

Prior to Huawei, Roece was CTO of Nortel, and senior technology and R&D executive globally for the corporation, with functional responsibility for an R&D staff of 12,000 and an annual budget of $1.7 billion. And, prior to that, he was CTO at Broadcom Corporation and CTO, chief marketing officer and chief information security officer of Enterasys Networks.

PANTUM Forays in to Indian Market


With a distinct focus on SOHO and SMB segments, printer manufacturer PANTUM has marked its entry to the India market. Part of the Chinese group Seine Technology Co. Ltd., PANTUM offers reliable, affordable and environmental friendly printing solutions and services.  The company will be focusing sharply on the northern market in the initial phase of its entry – including Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi and Punjab, with a parallel focus on the Eastern market.

When ITVAR News approached Jackson Wang, President, PANTUM International and enquired with him that why he specifically chose India, he said, “India is a big market and for printer market it is in top 5 markets especially laser printers. On being asked about the distribution tie-up, he informed that as a strategy partner, they have opted for Rashi Peripherals”. 

“Our success in international markets in a short time gives us a lot of confidence for the India market and North is one of the key markets for us. Our strength in product innovation and R&D provides us the edge to succeed in highly competitive markets. I am proud to announce that we have fully mastered the core technologies of laser printer R&D as well as manufacturing, and have become an international laser printers brand that covers a dozen models of mono laser printers and MFPs”, he added.

We also approached Alex Li, Vice President, PANTUM International and enquired with him about the product positioning, wherein he informed that as far as the product positioning is concerned, the products launched by the Company are robust, affordable, eco- friendly and reliable. We further asked about the core focus segment and we were informed by him that SOHO and SMBs are the core focus segment of the Company.

PANTUM Forays in to Indian Market

Rajesh Goenka, Vice President, Rashi Peripherals was also present at the launch event. We approached him and asked about this partnership. Regarding this, he said, “Though we have a very strong product portfolio, but a product that was critically missing from our portfolio was printer and now with this partnership with PANTUM, we have added that product to our portfolio as well”.

“We will be very selective in choosing the partners for this new range of printers and we will be working very hard to make PANTUM achieve their aim of being among the top five printer brands in the country by 2015”, he added.

PANTUM has aggressive growth plans for India and aims to be among the top five printer brands in the country by 2015. PANTUM will cover 64 top cities in India by the end of this year and expects to cover over 100 cities by the end of 2013. The company plans to extensively use the IT channel to penetrate the market, beginning with 25 channel partners and about 1000 resellers. In keeping with the aggressive growth plans, the company expects to double these numbers in the next one year.

PANTUM has a refreshing approach to business with strong ties and commitment to product quality as well as affordable printer cartridges. The products are built to last 4-times longer than comparable printers, with fewer paper jams and much lower cost-per-page. The company’s pricing strategy is in-line with comparable printers; however with long-lasting printers, PANTUM products will offer cheaper costs per page over time than other printers. In fact, the company ranked fourth on a recent FORBES list of the 100 fastest growing companies in China.

AMD to cut 15 percent of its Workforce


Blaming the tumbling PC sales, Sunnyvale based chipmaker AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) has made an announcement to trim its workforce by nearly 15 percent. According to AMD’s most recent annual report, AMD has nearly 20,000 employees.


It is reportedly said that AMD is expected to record restructuring expenses of about $80 million in the fourth quarter.

According to latest chunk of information, AMD is planning to take this step to reduce expenses backed by weak global economy and a consumer shift toward tablets. As a matter of concern, it is found; AMD recorded a loss and saw its revenue decline in the third quarter 2012.

Besides the latest job cut, AMD is also planning other restructuring actions including site consolidations.

Reliable insiders informed, the restructuring plan by AMD will result to operational savings of $190 million next year.

Industry experts believe, the latest layoff announcement has come on top of 1,400 job cuts, the company announced in November. To the reader’s surprise, AMD has also laid off 2,300 workers in September.  

Apple to acquire Color Labs


As per a recent update, the tech giant Apple is planning to acquire Color Labs, a photo-and-video-sharing social network labs.
Founded by Bill Nguyen, the California based Color Labs is a two-year-old startup that facilitate users in media sharing from smartphones.

As a matter of concern, it is found; initially, Color started off as an iPhone exclusive network for sharing their photo albums with other users in their vicinity. After that, it evolved into a media sharing network across different platforms including iOS and Google’s Android.

Presently, it enables users to live stream videos over Facebook. However, the Color Labs failed to live up to its initial hype.

Reliable insiders informed our team that the deal has already been finalized but yet to be inked.

None of the companies have disclosed the deal amount. But, it is expected that the price involved in the acquisition of startup is in the ‘high double digits’.

RIM to bolster its retail presence across India


Identifying huge business opportunities in Indian market, the BlackBerry maker RIM is planning to strengthen its retail presence across the country.

Inaugurating the first premium BlackBerry store in Kolkata, Sunil Dutt, Managing Director at RIM India has shared his views. He stated, there is a need to increase RIM’s retail presence in the country. Presently, RIM has six premium stores in India and the number will be increased very soon.

He further added, all the stores will be operated via the franchisee route. The other cities where these stores are located are: Delhi, Gurgaon, Bangalore and Mumbai.

Replying to a query, Dutt clearly specified that RIM would cater only high-end market in India and not enter the lower end market any time soon. Presently, RIM’s price points range between Rs. 10,000 to Rs.  1.40 lakh. He also announced that the new Blackberry 10 mobile operating system powered devices will reach to users in the first quarter of the next financial year.

Besides retail stores, the company is also thinking to add 250 more BlackBerry support centers to assist consumers across India by this year-end, reliable insider informed.

Analysts quote, RIM’s share prices have shrunken badly as these days most consumers are opting either Apple devices or Google's Android powered devices.

McAfee Launches New Data Center Security Suites


McAfee has announced four new Data Center Security Suites to help secure servers and databases in the data center.  The suites offer a unique combination of whitelisting, blacklisting and virtualization technologies for protecting servers and virtual desktops. These solutions provide optimal security for servers and databases in physical, virtualized and cloud based data centers, with minimal impact on server resources which is a key demand for data centers.
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“Performance and security are key concerns for servers in the physical, virtualized or cloud based Data Centers,” said Jon Oltsik, Senior Principal Analyst, Information Security and Networking at Enterprise Security Group.  “The new server security suites from McAfee, based on its application whitelisting, virtualization and blacklisting and AV technologies, provide an enhanced security posture while maintaining the high server performance needs of the Data Center.”

“McAfee is leading the industry with these new solutions for protecting servers in the data center,” said Candace Worley, senior vice president and general manager of endpoint security at McAfee.  “The combination of whitelisting, blacklisting and virtualization in a single solution, offers an optimal security posture for protecting servers in the data centers.  These solutions address the need in the industry to offer solutions that provide the highest level of protection with minimal impact on the resources they are deployed on and in a wide range of customized licensing options.”

Shyam Networks Debuts IDU Carrier Grade TDM over IP Solution


Gurgaon based Shyam Networks Limited is announcing the launch of its IDU carrier grade TDM over IP Solution. Shyam’s carrier-grade IDU product series provides TDM circuit emulation over packet networks. IDU is a TDM over IP solution that converts E1 streams into packets for transmission over IP network. IDU is the ideal solution for utility companies looking for reducing expenses and simplifying their networks by migrating legacy voice and SCADA applications over more efficient Ethernet networks.

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This solution is ideally positioned to help carriers, enterprises & cellular operators in terms of reducing their network expense with maximum investment protection by enabling seamless migration from TDM to IP networks. IDU can drive telcos, metropolitan carriers & cable operators towards generating new revenue by delivering profitable leased and private line services over their scalable ethernet infrastructure.

The state-of-the-art design provides the highest availability with the accurate timing signal and data bit stream reconstruction. Predefined system parameter profiles that according to different application requirement; ultimately simplify the installation process and saving the maintenance cost.

“Today the operator community is looking forward to infusing better cost efficiencies within their network and this product is ideal for such scenarios. Driving resiliency and cost efficiency, our IDU interworks with Shyam RM series PTP and PTMP radios to enable wireless E1 links, replacing more costly microwave radios,” explained, Nafis Kazim, COO, Shyam Networks Ltd.

Citrix Continues to Drive Innovation in Desktop Virtualization


Citrix announced new innovations in its desktop virtualization solution with tech previews of Citrix VDI-in-a-Box and Citrix XenClient and a new release of the Citrix AppDNA software. In addition, new Citrix Ready partner products are being released at Citrix Synergy, which leverage the HDX system-on-chip architecture for low-cost and innovative form-factor devices. Citrix continues to focus on developing market-leading desktop virtualization solutions, acquiring innovative technology and teams and spearheading partner initiatives to drive down the costs of virtual desktops and speed adoption across enterprises of all sizes.

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In the past 18 months, Citrix has invested in several acquisitions and industry initiatives designed to expand use cases for desktop and application virtualization to accelerate customer transformation to cloud services and enable widespread adoption by reducing virtual desktop acquisition and operational costs. Citrix has carefully fostered a culture of innovation keeping recently acquired teams intact and focused on innovation with quarterly releases of new functionality, while also taking advantage of the collective resources of Citrix to integrate features across multiple product lines.

John Fanelli, Vice President of Marketing, Enterprise Desktops and Apps, Citrix, said, “Desktop virtualization has become a key enabler of mobile workstyles, powered by cloud services for enterprises and small businesses alike. With our continued focus on investing in Citrix developed and acquired technology, and working with partners across technology areas, we are helping to drive down costs and enabling our customers to develop more mobile and flexible IT services.”

SanDisk announces Diwali Campaign Offering


SanDisk Corporation announced it is conducting a Diwali holiday campaign offering consumers across India the chance to win one of 35 digital cameras with the purchase of any SanDisk product. Consumers also can win one of 350 USB flash drives simply by registering online, no purchase necessary. The campaign1 will run from October 15 until November 18, 2012.

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“SanDisk is the retail market leader in USB flash drives and flash memory cards in the Asia Pacific region, and we are focused on offering consumers in India reliable products that help them do more with their digital devices,” said Manisha Sood, India country manager and director, SanDisk. “Our Diwali campaign gives consumers the chance to win great prizes, and for added fun we’ve introduced a special USB flash drive exclusively for Diwali featuring festive packaging.”

With an array of solutions to capture and share cherished moments, SanDisk is demonstrating the need for reliable flash memory products while thanking its customers with hundreds of great prizes during the festive Diwali season. SanDisk offers a full lineup of retail products for people from all walks of life, including USB flash drives and flash memory cards for mobile phones and cameras.

SanDisk’s USB portfolio ranges from coin-sized drives and stylish devices to high-performance USB 3.0 solutions. The drives allow consumers to carry libraries of digital content with them wherever they go and are backed by SanDisk’s reputation for reliability. As an added benefit, virtually all SanDisk USB flash drives offer encryption and online backup features with SanDisk SecureAccess software. The software creates a password-protected private folder on the USB drive that allows consumers to share the files they want while keeping other data secure.

Indian Tablet Market to Grow at a CAGR of 40% over the next 5 Years

MAIT announced the findings of its first ever Tablet Study on the tablet revolution underway in the Indian market. The tablet market, pioneered by the launch of the iPad in  2010, has been growing rapidly and the study puts the growth rate at 40% over the next 5 years, compounded annually.

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Commenting on this new opportunity, Dr. Alok Bhardwaj, President, MAIT, said:  “The tablet market is the new blue-eyed growth opportunity in India.  It is fast becoming one of the drivers of rapid growth in the IT content consumption and hardware sector in India. With the introduction of several national and international brands of tablet in India, the market is witnessing a revolution of sorts with these devices changing the way services are delivered in various other sectors such as education, healthcare and governance. Tablets will soon enable and empower even our rural areas with services bridging the last mile connectivity gap through these devices.  We expect the market to touch 1.6 million units in the current financial year and grow to touch 7.3 million units by 2015-16”.

“A key factor in the growth of tablets has been the encouragement from the government in adopting and developing low-cost options for use in our villages and other rural areas.

Education and healthcare services are now being accessed by many more people with the help of low-cost tablet.  He further said, Tablets being one of the cheapest devices available in the Indian market, it is a potential device that can transform the entire country, as any content in any language can effectively work on this device”.

MAIT Vice President, Mr J V Ramamurthy said: “The tablet market is expected to grow at around 40% CAGR annually over the next 5 years. It is an evolving market and we expect to see the emergence of value based tablet devices as an important segment. Also the developing ecosystem for this device will ensure that tablets as a computing device will become an integral part of human lives. Apart from being a consumer lifestyle product I see a huge uptake of the tablet in the education segment and it is a device which has all the potential to revolutionize the education system”

Experion Process Knowledge System to Ensure Safety, Reliability and Efficiency of Kenya’s Largest Geothermal Project

Thursday 18 October 2012


Honeywell has announced that its award-winning control system, Experion  Process Knowledge System (PKS), has been selected by Hyundai Engineering for Kenya Electricity Generating (KenGen) company’s two key geothermal plants in Olkaria, which will increase KenGen’s total electricity generating capacity by 25 percent and help meet the country’s increasing demand for energy.


Experion PKS will be used to integrate data from Olkaria’s different operating systems and share that information with the plant’s workforce, enabling them to make quicker, better- informed decisions. It will also be used to centralize control room strategies. The system will feature an integrated operator interface and incorporate physical security, emergency shutdown and fail-safe controls. Honeywell will also provide project management and engineering expertise, some of which will be on-site.
Experion PKS will be implemented at KenGen’s Olkaria I and  IV power plants – each with a capacity of 140 megawatts.  The project is the largest geothermal project in Kenya.

We are providing KenGen with a state-of-the-art control system that improves availability, reduces downtime and protects asset investment is announced by Darius Adamczyk, president-Honeywell Process Solutions. Together with Hyundai Engineering, we are developing a solution that generates continuous and reliable power to meet Kenya’s needs.

From the early design stages, Honeywell has advised us on technical specifications and cost reduction methodologies stated by SH Keum, Hyundai Engineering’s chief engineer on the project. We selected Honeywell for its robust technology and strong team of engineers who have been working with us to create and deliver a total solution that meets KenGen’s requirements. With the solution in place, the new power plants will be able to operate in a sustainable manner as they can increase production while consuming fewer raw materials, putting KenGen in a strong position for the future.

Shyam Networks Debuts IDU Carrier Grade TDM over IP Solution


Driving down network expense by enabling seamless migration from TDM to IP networks for the carrier, enterprise and cellular operator community, Gurgaon based Shyam Networks Limited, a next generation data communications, security and surveillance focused organisation is announcing the launch of its IDU carrier grade TDM over IP Solution.


Shyam’s carrier-grade IDU product series provides TDM circuit emulation over packet networks. IDU is a TDM over IP solution that converts E1 streams into packets for transmission over IP network. IDU is the ideal solution for utility companies looking for reducing expenses and simplifying their networks by migrating legacy voice and SCADA applications over more efficient Ethernet networks.

This solution is ideally positioned to help carriers, enterprises & cellular operators in terms of reducing their network expense with maximum investment protection by enabling seamless migration from TDM to IP networks. IDU can drive telcos, metropolitan carriers & cable operators towards generating new revenue by delivering profitable leased and private line services over their scalable ethernet infrastructure.

The state-of-the-art design provides the highest availability with the accurate timing signal and data bit stream reconstruction. Predefined system parameter profiles that according to different application requirement; ultimately simplify the installation process and saving the maintenance cost.

IDU - Carrier Grade TDM over IP Solution

Single integrated voice and data solutions: Provide a single voice and data link for customers. The revenue generating potential for this application is immense. Telecom and enterprise users can save a lot of access and equipment costs and generates new revenue by offering different types of service over existing IP networks.

Hot standby 1+1 solution: Carrier grade solution available with remotely managed hot and standby link. Secondary link is used to backup the primary in case of equipment failure or loss of ethernet link connectivity.

Centralized management: Shyam’s Unified Network Management Platform now supports IDU series products, thus enabling remote management from centralized location.

Highly resilient clock recovery mechanism: Highly resilient clock recovery mechanism supports up to 2% packet loss and miss ordering thus ensures synchronization in erroneous network.

Advance networking: Supports advanced networking features such as QoS, Management VLAN, VLAN Support, Q in Q & Ingress/Egress BW Limitations.

Panasonic's New Partner Program Affords Resellers New Services, More Support


Panasonic on Thursday unveiled a new partner program it says will arm VARs with a more dedicated team of channel resources, along with greater visibility and access to the company's sprawling portfolio of products.



The new program, called the Panasonic Authorized Reseller Program, was announced at Panasonic's Solutions Partner Summit 2012, taking place this week in Phoenix, Ariz. The program will be rolled out over the coming months and will replace the nine, product-specific partner programs that were previously in place.

Sheila O’Neil, vice president of channel management at Panasonic System Communications Company, the new B2B solutions unit Panasonic rolled out in April, said this consolidation of programs will not only make for an overall more consistent and simple partner program, but will provide VARs with visibility into other Panasonic product groups from which they could be generating sales.

"You could say it's an all-in-one handbook where it's all under one program and where [partners will] be able to actually pull it all together. They'll be able to view all of it. ... We're looking for simplification and unification," O'Neil told CRN. "It's not necessarily always been easy to find the information about one program for a product group versus the other. So now, it's all under one comprehensive program."

Bill Brennan, senior director of channel sales at Panasonic System Communications Company, said the new Panasonic Authorized Reseller Program is aligned with today's tech industry, where devices are becoming more and more interconnected through the digital world and IP networking. The program's goal is to encourage this broader line of thinking among Panasonic partners, encouraging them to grow their businesses by embracing new categories of products.

"When we talk about the breadth of product, it sounds almost overwhelming. But, that's the other mission today is to work with our reseller partners and make them understand that the digital world has really made this an IP offering," Brennan said. "It's really simplified the business. The way we connect products, the way we get products to work is becoming very similar across categories, ... so it's very important that we take a lot of our loyal dealers and reduce their fear and apprehension about getting into these new categories."

Kaspersky Developing Its Own Security-Focused Operating System


Amid growing concerns around IT security and cyberconflict, combined with Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT)’s increased emphasis on operating system security, Kaspersky Labs is in the process of developing an OS of its own.

At this point, there is very little detail on what the platform might one day entail. A Kaspersky spokesperson told CRN that "no interviews or Q&As" are currently being scheduled. But a company press release, as well as a blog post from CEO and Co-founder Eugene Kaspersky, confirmed that an OS development initiative is currently under way. "Since there has been some speculation regarding the company’s plans, we wanted to be sure to bring everyone up-to-speed by providing some clarity on what we are working on and why," he said via email.

In a keynote speech to the ITU Telecom World 2012 conference, Eugene Kaspersky outlined risks surrounding cyberterrorism and cyberwar and then called for increased international cooperation and the development of advanced technology to protect vulnerable industrial systems.

"In the long run, cyberwarfare is where all parties lose: attackers, victims and even uninvolved observers. Unlike traditional weapons, tools used in cyberwarfare are very easy to clone and reprogram by adversaries. The most important move to survive in this environment is the development and deployment of a new, advanced security paradigm for the most critical infrastructure."

With this statement as a backdrop, Kaspersky on Tuesday issued a blog post to "end the speculation" and confirm that his company is working on a security-enhanced OS.

"We're developing a secure operating system for protecting key information systems (industrial control systems (ICS)) used in industry/infrastructure," he wrote. "Quite a few rumors about this project have appeared already on the Internet, so I guess it's time to lift the curtain (a little) on our secret project and let you know (a bit) about what's really going on."

Canonical Launches New Ubuntu Linux Server, Desktop Software


Canonical has released updates for the server and desktop editions of Ubuntu Linux, offering expanded cloud computing capabilities for developers and users.


The new Ubuntu Server 12.10, available for download today, includes the "Folsom" release of OpenStack that Canonical said gives Ubuntu developers more flexibility for deploying cloud services. The release also incorporates new deployment and management tools for deploying distributed applications.

Ubuntu Server 12.10 is the fifth Ubuntu release to support OpenStack, the open-source Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud-computing project started by RackSpace and NASA in 2010 and supported by Canonical and number of leading IT vendors.

The new server software "is really at the center of what's happening with OpenStack," said Mark Baker, Canonical server product manager, in an interview.

Two major OpenStack components included in Ubuntu Server 12.10 are the "Quantum" virtual networking API and "Cinder" block storage technology. JuJu, Obuntu's service orchestration software, is now natively supported on OpenStack cloud systems running on Ubuntu Linux.

Canonical also said the Ubuntu Server 12.10 is the first operating system to support Intel (NSDQ:INTC)'s Open Attestation software that authenticates cloud images to ensure that no virtual machines are a security risk. And the Ubuntu Metal-as-a-Service bare-metal provisioning tool has been updated in Ubuntu Server 12.10.

Ubuntu Server 12.10 is an interim release that Canonical supports for 18 months: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is the most recent long-term support release.

On the client side Ubuntu 12.10, also available for download today, offers improved integration between applications and content running on a desktop PC and on the Internet. Using Ubuntu 12.10 Dash, for example, users can simultaneously see files on their hard drive and on Google (NSDQ:GOOG) Drive, Google's cloud file storage service.

Canonical is pitching the Ubuntu Linux for desktops as alternative to the upcoming Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) Windows 8.

Fortinet Rolls Out New FortiOS 5.0 Operating System


Fortinet has rolled out the latest version of its security operating system, adding client reputation capabilities, OS-independent sandboxing, and enhanced device identification as part of 150 new features and capabilities.

The Sunnyvale, California-based company will begin deploying FortiOS 5.0 by the end of the month as an enhanced foundation for its FortiGate security platforms.


“This enables our channel partners to be a lot more consultative in their customer approach,” said senior product marketing manager Kevin Flynn. “It provides a lot more flexibility and granularity that can help partners defend against sophisticated threats, as well as produce the kind of validation and reports necessary to satisfy compliance requirements.”

Flynn identifies the new client reputation feature as one of the main aspects of the new revision. Through customizable values, channel partners and IT managers can use this tool to establish a cumulative security ranking for each device accessing the network, based on a range of user behaviors and supported by the vendor’s anti-malware detection system with an on-device behavior-based heuristic engine and cloud-based antivirus services that includes an OS-independent sandbox and botnet IP reputation database.

“This will dramatically upgrade security in BYOD environments,” he said. “Different policies can be put into place for different platforms, providing added granularity and control.”

The new system can also accommodate a series of role-based policies for users and guests based on location, data and application profile. “The rights can vary based on whether they are employees, partners, or other types of people who might be granted access to your network,” explained Flynn. “Not only can the administrator set security levels, they can also makes those network resources available for a pre-designated amount of time.”

Among the components included in the upgrade, FortiManager 5.0 can now manage physical and virtual security devices using a single Web-based GUI with drag and drop capabilities, policy object editing, and a new script UI facility.

FortiAnalyzer 5.0, the company’s reporting platform, can now consolidate reporting for all FortiOS-based devices and endpoints, providing data on bandwidth consumption, application usage and network utilization. It can manage both physical and virtual appliances, and synchronize multiple FortiAnalyzers for unified configuration and reporting.

FortiClient 5.0 continues to provide endpoint security for Windows and Macintosh OSes. The latest edition now includes enforcement of security policies in off-net situations when the device is not connected to the network.

“The protections and policies remain in place after I shut down my VPN connection, so I won’t be able to go to a phishing site, for example, Flynn added.

FortiOS is provides as a free upgrade. FortiClient is an agent with prices based on volume.

Penguin Intros ARM-Based, Low-Power-Consumption Servers


Penguin Computing on Wednesday said it is shipping a new high-performance, low-power-consumption server based on a new ARM processor from Calxeda.

Penguin Server

Penguin's new Ultimate Data X1 (UDX1) server is based on the new ARM-based EnergyCore ECX-1000 server on chip (SoC) from Austin, Texas-based Calxeda.

Calxeda's SoC architecture integrates a low-power-consumption ARM processor with a fabric switch and management software as a complete server node in a way that allows cloud or data center customer to scale their server infrastructures to thousands of nodes. Each server uses only 5 watts of power, Calxeda said.


"With the HPC or big cloud data center customers we deal with, we find that power and cooling over time is their biggest expense," said Charlie Wuischpard, CEO of Fremont, Calif.-based Penguin. "Anything that promises dramatically lower power is interesting. We're seeing customers start to play with ARM."

Calxeda is teaming up with several server vendors, including Hewlett-Packard and U.K.-based Boston Limited, to develop low-power-consumption servers based on its ARM architecture. However, HP in June decided to use Intel (NSDQ:INTC)'s Atom-based Centerton processor for its first Gemini low-power-consumption servers.

Penguin's UDX1 features a modular server design that can be configured with up to 48 Calxeda EnergyCore server nodes, each of which has four server cores. The UDX1 server also has an internal 10-Gbit Ethernet switch fabric and up to 144 TB of hard drive capacity.

The Calxeda EnergyCore ECX-1000 is at its core a 32-bit processor, but it comes to market as customers are investing in 64-bit applications, Wuischpard said.

"We don't necessarily expect this to go into wide-scale adoption as a 32-bit server," he said. "But it gives customers an opportunity to play with ARM for scalable environments. It gives customers opportunities to look at the design features before moving to 64 bit."

Calxeda on Wednesday said its road map includes a move to 64-bit ARM processors in 2014, and that in the meantime its 32-bit architecture will enable customers to develop new generations of cloud applications such as dynamic Web hosting and big data analytics.

Wuischpard said the new Penguin UDX1 server will be of interest in Hadoop big data environments and other areas where applications require a lot of processing but not as much internal storage.

Top Cisco Partners Pulling For Lloyd To Succeed Chambers


Some of Cisco (NSDQ:CSCO)'s best-known solution provider partners see Rob Lloyd, Cisco's president, development and sales, as the most likely and best-qualified candidate to take over for Cisco CEO John Chambers as the networking titan mounts what will be a closely-watched succession.


Most partners declined to go on record out of concern for relationships with Cisco's other major CEO candidates. But in private conversations with CRN during UBM Channel's Best of Breed conference in Tampa, Fla. this week, several top executives from Cisco Gold partners were unanimous that Lloyd, Cisco's hard-charging head of global sales, would be the right choice to succeed Chambers.

A solution provider who attended this month's Cisco Partner Executive Exchange (CPEE) in Scottsdale, Ariz. said Cisco executives didn't talk much about succession in public, but that in "cocktail conversation," Cisco insiders told him Lloyd appears to have the inside track.

"Seems like he's going to be the guy, and that's a good thing," said the solution provider, who added that partners were buzzing about Chambers' recently stepped-up talk about succession throughout CPEE. "He's not as powerful on the engineering side of the house, but if you have the sales guys pulling for you -- and he's had global sales at Cisco for years now -- that's pretty good pull. Don't forget that Chambers had Lloyd's job before he took over as CEO. Don't think that won't count."


Other partners pointed at Lloyd's channel bona fides -- he ran a Canadian VAR long before his Cisco career kicked off -- and partner relationships as making him particularly appealing as a future Cisco boss from a channel perspective.

"He had his own channel business, sold it, and then became an executive at a national channel company. That's a rise many of us can relate to, because a lot of us have had opportunities over the years to go work for the manufacturers," said a second solution provider and BoB attendee. "He knows certain elements of our business -- really granular stuff about relationships and how it's all supposed to work -- probably better than anyone else in contention. He's good at articulating that stuff, too."

Chambers told CRN in a recent interview that he would likely step down within two to four years, with the expectation that he would remain board chairman.

Chambers didn't identity any one internal candidate as an obvious successor, but said he would be bringing top managers like Lloyd out of silos and provide them more and varied responsibility.

"That's the way executives used to be brought up," Chambers told CRN. "We'll see where they have strengths and maybe a little bit where they struggle."

Two such moves happened earlier this month. Lloyd was promoted from executive vice president to president, sales and development, with Cisco's engineering organization now under him. Gary Moore, Cisco's chief operating officer and the architect of its massive global restructuring, also had president added to his title. And in another succession, Chuck Robbins, most recently senior vice president of The Americas, has followed Lloyd as Cisco's senior vice president of global sales.

Another top solution provider CEO and major Cisco partner agreed that Lloyd would be the most likely choice, but that if succession were put to a popular vote among Cisco partners, Robbins might come out on top.

"Chuck is loved in the channel," said the solution provider. "You talk about fast-rising careers there, for one, but a lot of partners remember what he did when he ran U.S. and Canada channel sales and how much of an advocate he was."

Robbins' comparative lack of global experience would probably hold him back, the solution provider said.

"He's taken on the worldwide sales force now but that's his first major global management spot at Cisco," the partner said. "That's a different animal, managing the geographies. If the [Chambers succession] happens sooner rather than later, he'd probably have his international experience questioned. He might get his shot further down the line."

Cisco intends succession to be a "non-event," Chambers said, adding that the CEO role itself isn't as important as deciding who will be the three to five major executives running Cisco in its next phase.

"What can our partners count on? Cisco leadership." Chambers said. "Consistency, industry leadership, innovation, and if we do our job, you haven't' seen anything yet."'

Michael Gleason, managing director of Global Enterprise Technologies, a Cherry Valley, Ill.-based Cisco Gold partner, said partners would appreciate a smooth transition and Cisco hasn't given any indication it wouldn't be.

"It looks like it's going to be a two or three person race," Gleason told CRN earlier this month. "Chambers has done an excellent job over the last 5 to 10 years in branching out and allowing people below him to grow in different areas. I don't see any hiccups once he steps back at all -- seems like it will go off without a hitch."