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Tag: desktop

  • Gladinet Launches Cloud Gateway for Cloud-Hosted Desktop

    After pioneering the concept of integrating a wide range of cloud services on a PC desktop with its introduction of Cloud Desktop earlier this year, Gladinet, the ubiquitous cloud storage client, rolled out Gladinet Cloud Gateway v1.0 and Cloud Desktop v1.3.

    The company says both new products are designed to meet the cloud computing needs of small and medium-sized businesses – a category that until now was underserved by cloud service providers.

    If Cloud Desktop turns the Internet into a virtual PC, Cloud Gateway is its file server. Built on the same open platform as Cloud Desktop, teh Gateway connects individual desktops to cloud storage through one access point.

    "Cloud Gateway acts as a liaison between Cloud Desktop and cloud storage," explained Gladinet co-founder Jerry Huang.

    "Before, if a company had 100 employees using Cloud Desktop, they needed 100 connections to Amazon S3, Google Docs or whatever services their employees were using. With the Gateway, that’s all changed. Now SMBs only need Cloud Gateway to connect to cloud services, regardless of how many different interfaces or accounts they may have. The Gateway acts as a file server to the Desktops, which simply connect to it over their LAN."

    According to Huang, allowing one server to support many individual desktops, the application gives SMBs the freedom to scale back their own data storage capacity while providing centralized administration and backup capability.

    “Files stored at various offsite data centers are as easy to access as if they resided on the user’s hard drive. Thanks to Cloud Gateway’s use of smart caching, copies of files stored with cloud services are quickly accessible on local desktops – eliminating the problem of lost data in the event of cloud service business closures,” he said.

    Gladinet assures that once configured by an administrator, Cloud Gateway is available to every Cloud Desktop user in a company and requires no account information to be entered by individual users, no matter how many different cloud services they’re using.

  • IP Players Create Recession Strategies As 2008 Revenues Fall


    Customer spending on new IP lines and desktop gear declined significantly last year in North America compared with 2007.

    Much of the downturn during 2H08 can be attributed to fewer orders from three key verticals devastated by the recession: financial services, manufacturing and retail, according to research from T3i Group LLC.

    The report confirms all sectors of the telecommunications manufacturing industry have been affected negatively by the global economic situation.

    However, it says the major North American networking suppliers – Cisco, Avaya, Nortel, Mitel and NEC – have crafted ways to survive the downturn.

    According to report "InfoTrack for Enterprise Communications Full Year 2008 Report", the decline led to US manufacturer revenues in 2008 totalling USD $3.7 billion, down 11 per cent from 2007, while Canadian revenues for 2008 totaled USD $289 million, down 8 per cent from 2007.

    The InfoTrack report also found total average selling prices (ASP) were down 1 per cent in 2008, with IP platform prices dropping 4 per cent due to reduced demand resulting from capex cutbacks and the shutdowns of unprofitable business locations.

    IP revenues in total fell 7 per cent during the 12-month period, although smaller key system pricing remained stable (down less than 1 per cent) due to the addition of embedded IP, wireless and applications functionality.

    Bob Olson, Voice Technologies Analyst at T3i Group, said there could be a near-term solution to slowed IP telephony spending: monies promised in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (also known as the stimulus package).

    "Fortuitously, the biggest winner for the telecom sector in the appropriations portion of the final 2009 stimulus bill is infrastructure, with nearly USD $137 billion targeted for miscellaneous improvements, including USD $9 billion to expand broadband Internet access," he said.

    "The justification for the USD $9 billion is based on building a level playing field for rural programs, including schools, libraries and hospitals. All that translates into new software and hardware sales."

  • Mobile Videoconferencing Still Some Way To Go


    Improvements in call quality and economic conditions are doing wonders for global demand for videoconferencing – and in particular desktop video calling.

    But the day when globe-trotting executives hook up to a video conference call on their smartphone would still appear to be a little way off.

    Linor Shachar, VP sales and marketing for videoconferencing experts Emblaze VCON, said video over mobile had had limited success so far.

    "People are refusing to have a video call over mobile," she said. "It’s still not there in terms of end-user quality.

    "For the user it’s very annoying, so people tend to give up very quickly."

    Shachar said issues such as being to able to deliver the service over all types of phone and the cost of making video calls would remain barriers to the adoption of mobile videoconferencing.

    "Once you get over these, I’m sure people will be ready to try mobile video call. I am sure it will get there," she said.

  • Emblaze: Growing Global Demand For Desktop Videoconferencing Solutions


    As the global appetite for videoconferencing solutions grows, so do the possibilities they offer.



    hdtv.biz-news spoke to Linor Shachar, VP sales and marketing for videoconferencing experts Emblaze VCON, about the latest market trends and developments.


    It’s strange to hear an executive from a company that sells videoconferencing solutions admitting business people will always need to travel to meetings and conferences.

    Yet while Linor Shachar, VP sales and marketing for videoconferencing experts Emblaze VCON, believes there is a place for face-to-face meetings she has no doubts about the future of video calling.

    And she argues that future is shifting rapidly from expensive full-room telepresence systems to desktop videoconferencing applications.

    "Up until two years ago the market was driven by room systems," she said. "This was centred around specialist hardware companies that installed usually costly equipment in corporate conference rooms.

    "Everyone was looking to have such a system. But it was quite expensive and users had to get up from their desks and go to a conference room to make a video call."

    Shachar said that in the last couple of years the trend has shifted towards desktop solutions.

    Demand for these is growing quickly in Europe and the US, where the financial crisis is favoring videoconferencing solutions that enable businesses to reduce travel budgets.

    Shachar said interest was also growing rapidly in APAC nations, especially China and India, where there was a rush to adopt desktop videoconferencing.

    This preference for desktop options was partly driven by a desire to take advantage of a lower cost model of videoconferencing.

    But she said there was also the convenience factor of being able to make video calls easily and quickly from the PC or laptop on your desk.

    This was becoming more acceptable, especially as people are now increasingly familiar with VoIP and video calling from their experience of using them at home.

    Shachar said Emblaze has now developed a reputation for its desktop client – especially software delivering Full HD (1080p).

    A major success for the Israeli company was providing BMW’s group headquarters with over 3,000 desktop clients.

    She said rather than relying on email to communicate both internally and externally, BMW staff are able to work and interact via video calls.

    "Video is becoming more intuitive and simple to use. For, instance, it’s connected to Outlook so you simply have to click on a contact to make a video call, " she said.

    "Its use is growing at BMW, with more and more departments asking to join and more people using video.

    "In a huge organisation such as BMW, it’s very useful between sites but also within one site.

    "So you can ‘ping’ a colleague in the warehouse and get them to hold up a part for you to look at without having to leave your desk."

    Shachar said a key aspect of the success of the video conference system was the HD call quality.

    "If the quality was poor people would not use it," she said.

    So while Emblaze accepts that there will always be the need for people to travel to meetings, face-to-face meetings are increasingly being replaced by video calls.

    "A quarter of meetings are now done over video – that has changed very recently," she said.

    As people become more accustomed to the idea of meeting remotely that figure is certain to keep on rising.

    Does your business use videoconferencing? Are there some situations where it just isn’t effective?

    Please send us your comments.