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  • Storage To Buck General Drop in IT Hardware Spending


    Spending on storage is the only area of IT hardware that will avoid a drop-off in 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis.

    A newly revised forecast from IDC suggests worldwide investment in information technology will slow significantly next year.

    It will grow 2.6 per cent year over year in 2009, down from IDC’s pre-crisis forecast of 5.9 per cent growth.

    In the United States, IT spending growth is expected to be 0.9 per cent in 2009, much lower than the 4.2 per cent growth forecast in August.

    On a sector basis, software and services will enjoy solid growth while hardware spending, with the exception of storage, is expected to decline in 2009.

    On a regional basis, spending growth in Japan, Western Europe, and the United States will hover around 1 per cent in 2009.

    In contrast, the emerging economies of Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America will continue to experience healthy growth, but at levels notably lower than the double-digit gains previously forecast.

    John Gantz, chief research officer at IDC, said although all the economic forecasts went from up slightly to down drastically in a matter of days, the good news was that IT was in a better position to resist the downward pull of a slowing economy.

    "Technology is already deeply embedded in many mission-critical operations and remains critical to achieving further efficiency and productivity gains," he said. "As a result, IDC expects worldwide IT spending will continue to grow in 2009, albeit at a slower pace."

    Looking beyond 2009, IDC expects IT spending to make a full recovery by the end of the forecast period with growth rates approaching 6.0 per cent in 2012.

    Despite these gains, IDC estimates that more than USD $300 billion in industry revenues will have been lost due to slower spending over the next four years.

  • USB Virus Infections Spreading


    The number of computers infected with viruses from USB flash memory drives is spreading in Japan, according to a survey from Trend Micro.

    Results from the company’s monthly surveys show USB-mediated infections with Autorun, a typical computer virus, totaled 143 in August.

    The number rose to 347 in September and 471 in October.

    Based on the finding, the Tokyo-based virus-scanning software company has called on PC users to take precautions when sharing data with others via USB memory sticks.

    Conventional viruses are programmed to attack a computer when a file attached to an e-mail message opens or on-line software is downloaded.

    But the September survey found that 53.7 per cent of newly detected computer viruses are programmed to spread via USB devices.

    "It is recommended that users refrain from recklessly sharing USB devices. They should frequently run a virus scan," a Trend Micro official said.

    USB devices are a "blind spot" for computer users as many of them are only cautious against virus infections via e-mail messages and the Internet.

  • Internal Cloud Computing Option Avoids Outsourcing Concerns


    Data center software provider, Cassatt Corporation, has announced new service and technology offerings to help companies safely realize "internal cloud computing".

    Bill Coleman, chairman and CEO of Cassatt Corp, said this was an IT approach that delivers the benefits of cloud computing using the resources that organizations already have inside their data centers.

    He said cloud computing offers great promise by having third parties deliver the computing resources needed to run applications as an on-demand service, with a lot of the IT infrastructure invisible to the user.

    "However, at this point most IT professionals are not comfortable outsourcing Relevant Products/Services the mission-critical parts of their sensitive internal applications to an external cloud provider," he said.

    "They are concerned about availability, vendor lock-in, not having the control they need, and having to rebuild these applications from scratch with proprietary tools running on provider-specific platforms."

    To directly address these problems, the updated Cassatt offerings help customers implement cloud-style computing environments using their existing systems, inside the firewalls of their data centers without having to modify their current hardware or software.

    Coleman said the resulting "internal cloud" can provide the same operational efficiency, fault tolerance, and energy Relevant Products/Services savings promised by external clouds, but without the worries over security Relevant Products/Services, compliance, lack of control, or the need or delay required to change or replace their current applications.

  • Storage-as-a-service Market Rife With Opportunity


    Storage-as-a-service is more than just a viable alternative, according to two new IDC multi-client studies.

    An IDC survey of 812 firms reveals that demand for online storage services is very strong in small, mid-size, and large firms that are facing budgetary and IT staffing pressures.

    These companies are evaluating online services for backup/disaster recovery, long-term record retention, business continuity, and availability.

    On the consumer front, the storage-as-a-service opportunity is exploding as individuals need to store fast growing volumes of digital data.

    They are increasingly considering online services, as an alternative to a product purchase, for backing up, sharing, and preserving data long term.

    In both the commercial and consumer segments, the availability of storage-as-a-service is disrupting traditional storage software markets as it changes how individuals and firms access storage capacity and procure software functions.

    But, more importantly, storage-as-a-service is a precursor to the longer term cloud storage and cloud computing opportunity, IDC reveals.

    Brad Nisbet, program manager for Storage and Data Management Services at IDC, said that as consumers and business organizations continue to generate vast amounts of data and seek optimum methods to store and protect them, the growth of storage capacities delivered through storage-as-a-service offerings will outpace traditional storage architectures.

    "With storage-as-a-service capacity growing over 65 per cent from 174 petabytes in 2007 to over 2.1 exabytes in 2012, the market is rife with opportunity," he said.

    Laura DuBois, program director for Storage Software at IDC, said that today, in the commercial context, online backup and archiving services are the immediate manifestation of the longer term opportunity for a series of cloud-based services which will impact the storage industry.

    "Storage-as-a-service will take place in two phases: first as a way to enable protection, recovery, long-term retention, and business continuity, and second as a by-product of larger cloud computing initiatives," she said.

    Among the key survey results on the commercial side are:

    • Suppliers that offer a breadth of services to satisfy a range of use cases for storage-as-a-service will be a step ahead.
    • Storage-as-a-service is of interest as a lower cost alternative to on-premise solutions and secondarily in support of limited IT staff.
    • Firms show a preference for suppliers whose focus is on online services and for those that have a strong technical background.

    Among the key survey findings on the consumer side are:

    • Suppliers that understand the differences between the large population of consumers merely aware of online backup and those considering it will be at an advantage.
    • Motivators for early adoption of online backup have been for recovery, but individuals currently evaluating are motivated by anywhere files accessibility.
    • Consumers indicated a clear preference to get an online backup service from a dedicated online backup company, rather than from an IT supplier, phone company, or the like.

  • Vyke Announces Mobile VoIP For Windows Smartphones


    Vyke Communications has announced a beta version of its mobile VoIP software and service for all Windows Mobile 6.0 and higher based smartphones.

    The solution is based on Vyke’s stand-alone proprietary mobile VoIP technology, which the company claims allows it to provide high quality voice service while circumventing any operator handset tampering issues.

    Jan Berger, chief marketing officer, Vyke Communications, said the mobile VoIP software addressed the significant portion of the enterprise market that is Windows Mobile based.

    "As this stand alone software is compatible with a wide cross section of business orientated mobile handsets, it adds significantly to our potential customer base and will be an important tool in helping our enterprise sales team reach its goals," she said.

    While primarily intended for the enterprise sector, Vyke said the beta software will also be available for consumers to download before the end of November.

  • Web Conferencing Coming To Smartphones


    PhoneTopp has announced an online conference and collaboration tool for use with smartphones – initially only for the iPhone and the Blackberry Bold.

    Intended to allow desktop conferencing on high end handset, PhoneTopp currently has an alpha product available and will be releasing a public beta in Q1 2009.

    The company plans to charge subscriptions fees, estimated at USD $8 per month.

    Tom Barsi, CEO of PhoneTopp, said that until now, only people sitting at their computer in a pre-arranged meeting could participate in a web conference.

    "Holding back expansion of web conferencing is tying the user to the desk,” he said “The proliferation of smart phones capable of running web conferencing allows PhoneTopp to lead an opportunity that will dramatically change business communication – enabling true ‘adhoc’ mobile collaboration.”

    Gartner estimates the web/audio collaboration market to be USD $5 billion today.

    In 2010, the consultants forecasts web conferencing will be available to 75 per cent of corporate users as standard facility alongside email, presence and calendaring.

    The PhoneTopp system software runs a thin client-computing model, hosted by the company on the Amazon EC2 cloud.

    The architecture off-loads computer intensive tasks to the datacenter, saving on power dissipation and network traffic.

    PhoneTopp said its patent work around adaptive virtualization protocol (PAV) reduces “over the air” latency to an estimated 5 seconds.

    The protocol takes on the difficult task of managing multiple streams to the smartphone while dynamically adapting and optimizing how the content gets pushed based on the available bandwidth.

    From now through the end of 2008, PhoneTopp is encouraging early beta sign-ups with an incentive of three months free service when launched.

    Interested parties should go to www.phonetopp.com and input their email address for follow-up.

    The hope is to also have support for more smartphones by next year, possibly including Google’s Android platform.

    When commercially launched, PhoneTopp will first allow users to host or participate in a web meeting directly from their smartphone, through a simple click-to-collaborate approach that includes the ability to:

    • accept an invitation via text message to join a web conference
    • answer a phone call that launches an application to participate in the meeting, with no phone numbers or passwords to remember
    • navigate and zoom natively with integrated tools, including a PhoneTopp-developed “mobile rewind” capability that allows users to independently go back within the presentation if they missed a slide.

  • Skype Launches Computer-free Videophone


    ASUS has launched the first Skype certified videophone allowing unlimited video calling over the Internet.

    The AiGuru SV1, part of the Eee Phone product family, has a 7" display and a built-in webcam, speaker and microphone.

    WiFi-capable, the videophone lets users make unlimited video calls for free to other Skype users without the need for a computer.

    The AiGuru SV1 is Skype’s first foray with a partner into the videophone category.

    But with more than 25 per cent of Skype-to-Skype calls including video, it would seem like a logical step.

    Designed to be simple to use, the AiGuru SV1 has an icon-based interface and intuitive button layout which should make it easy for anyone to make and receive Skype-to-Skype video and voice calls.

    Users can also join voice conferences, which could make the videophone attractive as an all-in-one voice and video conferencing solution for small businesses.

    The AiGuru SV1 also allows users to make and receive calls to and from fixed and mobile lines at cheap rates.

    Priced at USD $299.95, the ASUS AiGuru SV1 is now available in North America from Skype’s online shop, and will be available from ASUS authorized resellers later this year.

    Consumers in Europe can pre-order the videophone from Skype’s shop, priced at €269.95/£219.95, with shipment beginning next week.

    The videophone will also be available in retail outlets in Asia Pacific later this year.

  • EU Investigating Mobile Operators Blocking VoIP


    An inquiry has been launched by the European Union into whether blocks on VoIP service by Europe’s mobile phone operators are in breach of competition laws.

    The EU’s antitrust authority has written to every mobile phone operators how they deal with internet based voice calls.

    The deadline for responding to the letter was Wednesday.

    Several phone operators have clauses in their contracts which either block VoIP services over their 3G networks, or exclude VoIP traffic from monthly data bundles included with the tariffs.

    Some operators have also tried to block the VoIP over Wi-Fi capabilities in some handsets.

    Last year, VoIP provider, TruePhone threatened to sue Vodafone after the operator was alleged to be blocking calls over its VoIP network.

  • World's First WiMax/GSM Mobile Supports VoIP


    HTC has announced the launch of the MAX 4G, the first dual-mode WiMax/GSM Windows Mobile device.

    Undoubtedly the best specced WinMo device so far, calls between MAX 4Gs will automatically be routed over the WiMAX airwaves using VoIP.

    Initially only being released in Russia by mobile WiMAX operator Scartel, which operates under the brand name Yota, the Max 4G supports GSM calls using a Sim card from any Russian network operator.

    When both callers are Yota subscribers, the call will automatically be routed as a VoIP call over the Yota mobile WiMAX network.

    The Yota phone service includes functions such as call holding, conference calling and video calling using the VGA camera on the front of the device.

    The handset features 8GB internal flash memory, a 3.8-inch 800×480 WVGA touch-screen display , TV out capability, a 3.5-mm headphones jack, integrated GPS, 5 megapixel camera, Windows Mobile 6.1 and HTC’s proprietary Touch Flo 3D user interface.

    The basic Yota Home package will provide access to online games, maps, messaging and file exchange applications while on the move.

    Users will also be able to view online films, video and TV programmes.

    With Yota Video, a full video-on-demand service, users can watch their favourite movies and videos from their personal Yota catalogue on the handset.

    Yota TV broadcasts 14 free channels, while Yota Music offers an online music catalogue of over 50,000 titles.

    Yota Yap-yap allows contacts to be synchronised and edited through the web, and video clips and phones data uploaded to yota.ru. Images taken with the camera can be geo-tagged using coordinates from the integrated GPS.

  • Voxbone Offers Internet's First Global 'Country Code'


    Voxbone has announced iNum, a global telephone number that enables anyone to establish a local presence anywhere in the world.

    An abbreviation of international numbers, iNums use the new ‘country code’ +883 created by the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) to let VoIP users anywhere in the world receive calls using standard phone numbers.

    Initially, the calls will mainly connect users of different VoIP services.

    Eventually, callers will be able to dial iNums directly from traditional phone lines in any location.

    Rodrigue Ullens, CEO and co-founder of Voxbone, said iNum was a new kind of phone number for a new kind of world that was about local presence and global relationships, not about distance or national borders.

    "We believe the new geography is defined by the markets, customers and vendors that businesses need to connect with most," he said.

    "We need ‘local’ communication with these people—whether calls originate on public-switched or VoIP networks, whether they are truly local or ‘virtually’ local."

    Ullens said the ITU approved Voxbone’s testing of iNum in June 2007.

    It began testing +883 numbers in remote networks then began a preview with several service providers, Jajah, Mobivox, Gizmo5, Ribbit, iotum, Rebtel, Voipbuster, Voxeo and Voipuser.

    Among wholesale voice carriers, Arbinet, Belgacom ICS, Level 3 Communications and Stealth’s Voice Peering Fabric are already routing +883 calls today.

    Since recognizing the new country code requires an update to the switch routing tables of all wholesalers, international carriers and retail providers, +883 calls must traverse participating carriers’ networks to connect.

    A list of all such carriers and their rates for iNum connection appears on the www.inum.net site.

    To create a number with “local” PSTN access around the world, Voxbone worked with the ITU to establish the 883 country code, in the same way that 44 is the country code that refers internationally to the United Kingdom and 1 to the United States.

    Voxbone provides iNum numbers for free to carriers and service providers, Ullens said.

    As the number wholesaler, Voxbone will receive calls to these numbers and deliver them to the appropriate service provider. In this way, it connects incoming calls from PSTN callers as well as calls between different VoIP islands.

    Some iNum participating carriers will resell iNum numbers to their customers so they can receive calls; other participants will merely route (terminate) calls to the new numbers.

    Most participating carriers will even deliver calls to iNum numbers free of charge to their users, effectively providing free connectivity between their network and remote networks.

    “Customers and prospects who see an advertised iNum telephone number that costs little or nothing to dial will be just as inclined to call an international business as they would any business physically located nearby or in-country,” said Ullens.

    “We see iNum encouraging more people to call globally, enabling business subscribers to have wider interactions with callers from new markets,” he added. “For carriers, iNum will increase call minutes and generate additional revenue through innovative global services.”

    Ullens described iNum as a natural extension of Voxbone’s role as an online DID (direct-inward-dial) warehouse.