The most recent articles from IT Week

Virgin Media touts 200Mbit/s broadband

Dave Bailey — 2008-08-08T12:43:00.000Z

Dave Bailey, IT Week, Friday 8 August 2008 at 12:43:00

Cable provider says it could deliver 200Mbit/s services within four years.

Virgin Media is touting the possibility of providing customers with broadband speeds of up to 200Mbits/s within the next four years.

Speaking at a conference call on Virgin Media's second quarter earnings, chief executive Neil Berkett said, "Even by 2012, we'll still have an advantage to BT's fibre to the cabinet (FTTC). We'll certainly be able to offer up to 200Mbit/s broadband download speeds, if we so chose."

Also at the presentation Virgin Media unveiled its intention to launch a mobile broadband service in the fourth quarter of 2008, but with no further details. The service would launch on the back of re-negotiated wholesale rates with its mobile partner T-Mobile.

T-Mobile upgraded its 3G network from high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) to high speed uplink packet access (HSUPA) in July. Although limited to users within the M25, uplink and downlink speeds would effectively be around 1Mbit/s and 2Mbit/s respectively.

Elsewhere, reports emerged that Virgin Media may be intending to withdraw from the corporate communications market to concentrate on its cable TV and broadband business. Investment bank Goldman Sachs is reported to have a potential merger plan for the business part of Virgin Media, NTL Telewest Business.

But a Virgin Media spokesman refused to be drawn on the reports. "We never comment on rumour or speculation," he said.

First look: BlackBerry Bold - iPhone killer?

Phil Muncaster — 2008-08-08T11:35:00.000Z

Phil Muncaster, IT Week, Friday 8 August 2008 at 11:35:00

"Aspirational" device will suit those impressed by the iPhone's look but wanting core business features

Research in Motion (RIM) came into the VNUnet.com offices today to show off its latest model, the BlackBerry Bold. It's being marketed as an "aspirational" device, so this is definitely one for the senior executives - you won't be rolling this out across your mobile workforce. As far as look and feel goes, the aluminium casing and leatherette finish on the back are designed to give it a bit of an upmarket feel and the latter makes it a lot easier to handle than other models.

It's slightly lighter than other BlackBerrys, and the picture quality of the 480x320 screen is one of the best we've seen - this is apparently achieved due to the close proximity of lens to LCD. The user interface has been simplified a great deal from the traditional BlackBerry model, giving it an appearance similar to the Apple iPhone, with easy-to-understand icons represented in neatly boxed sections. Combined with the high-quality screen, this immediately made us try to use the device as a touchscreen model ...possibly something for RIM to consider for future versions.

HSDPA capabilities are a welcome inclusion, and web browsing is speedy. Navigation is made quite simple via the central trackball that doubles as a mouse, allowing the user to pan and zoom across regular web pages, as well as those optimised for mobile devices.

The keypad has raised, slightly curved keys that make it easier to use than previous versions and miminise the risk of mistyping. Those wanting to get their hands on a Bold face a short wait - T Mobile has announced it will be offering the device to its customers from September, although pricing details are yet to be revealed.

Orange launches mobile management tools

Dave Bailey — 2008-08-06T14:41:00.000Z

Dave Bailey, IT Week, Wednesday 6 August 2008 at 14:41:00

New service to help IT manage mobile devices

Mobile operator Orange has launched its hosted Device Management service which allows IT teams to manage and support devices mobile remotely.

The system enables IT to update, troubleshoot and even lock or wipe devices remotely and requires no back-end servers.

Security features included in the system allow IT administrators to remotely enforce password policies, lock down Bluetooth and camera functionality, and remove unauthorised applications, which could be affecting the mobile device's performance.

Managers can also apply company-specific settings over the air to all devices simultaneously, and can view logs of all user activity.

"It is becoming increasingly important for organisations to be able to manage their device fleet in a cost-effective and time-efficient way," said Anthony Keyworth, director of business products,at Orange's UK business services division.

Orange Device Management costs £3.50 + VAT per user, per month plus data charges, including Orange technical support.

Vyatta ships open source routing appliance

Dave Bailey — 2008-08-05T14:20:00.000Z

Dave Bailey, IT Week, Tuesday 5 August 2008 at 14:20:00

Open source networking takes a step forward with enterprise-class appliance

Open source vendor Vyatta has begun shipping a mid-range firewall and routing appliance, the Vyatta 2501, which it claims offers unparalleled price-performance.

The Vyatta 2501 is intended to meet the connectivity and security demands of medium and large enterprises, but costs a fraction of proprietary alternatives.

"The Vyatta 2501 combines features, performance, flexibility, and value on high-performance hardware, making it a clear alternative in a market saturated with expensive proprietary solutions," said Kelly Herrell, chief executive, Vyatta in a statement.

The 2501 uses Vyatta's open-network operating system and has two integrated gigabit Ethernet ports for LAN connections, together with two expansion slots, one PCI-X and one PCIe, for additional LAN/WAN connectivity.

The 1U high 2501 appliance has support for internet routing protocols, the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) and the Routing Information Protocol (RIP).

The appliance has gigabit LAN connectivity, with an option for 10 gigabit Ethernet optical connections. The wide area network interfaces range from ADSL, up to T1/E1 and T3 connections, and can be load-balanced.

The 2501 also incorporates a firewall, IPSec and point-to-point tunneling (PPTP) virtual private network (VPN) connections, and has integrated the Wireshark network packet analysis and capture system.

Vyatta say that the 2501 is available now, starting at £1,200 ($2,347) including service and support.

Orange offers to boost application performance

Dave Bailey — 2008-08-05T13:58:00.000Z

Dave Bailey, IT Week, Tuesday 5 August 2008 at 13:58:00

Orange's Network Boost guarantees application performance across the globe

Mobile operator Orange has launched Network Boost which promises to make it easier for customers to manage enterprise applications running over its wired network.

Network Boost can be used by firms to prioritise, accelerate and optimise specific applications, with Orange guaranteeing uptime. This will enable customers to deploy applications across the globe, while managing them through a single service desk.

Orange also claimed that Network Boost can improve incident management, and will provide guaranteed time-to-repair service level agreements.

Other features include the ability to compress data to minimise network delays, as well as monitor and anticipate network performance degradation.

Orange said that the new service would be available in 220 countries.

Juniper upgrades network access protection

Dave Bailey — 2008-08-04T17:52:00.000Z

Dave Bailey, IT Week, Monday 4 August 2008 at 17:52:00

Juniper updates its line of unified access control tools

Juniper Networks has refreshed its line up of its unified access control (UAC) tools, adding new server hardware and firmware upgrades.

Juniper's new Network and Security Manager is based on its existing NetScreen Security Manager, adding support for its J-Series services routes, EX-Series switches, secure sockets layer (SSL) connections and UAC.

The ability it manage SSL and UAC from a single panel will ease the workload of security staff, said Anton Grashion, Juniper's security strategist in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

"You could have an access control policy for people working remotely or locally," he said.

Juniper has also launched two new UAC management systems, the Infranet Controller (IC) 4500 and the 6500, which allow businesses to implement security policy controls from a central server. The IC 6500 is targeted at large, multinational organisations and can support 30,000 devices simultaneously.

Juniper's UAC 2.2 firmware is built on the open, standards-based Trusted Computing Group's (TCG) Trusted Network Connect (TNC).

With its latest release, Juniper had also added support for Microsoft's Windows Statement of Health (SoH) protocol and its embedded network access protection (NAP) agent, so any Windows Vista users or Windows XP users with service pack 3 installed, could have their network access managed through Juniper Infranet Controllers.

Juniper's UAC 2.2 firmware and the IC 4500 and IC 6500 platforms are available now. UAC 2.2 software is free for customers with current maintenance contracts, but lists at $1,500 a 25 simultaneous endpoint device.

Review: HP moves to rival BlackBerry

Daniel Robinson — 2008-08-01T12:52:00.000Z

Daniel Robinson, IT Week, Friday 1 August 2008 at 12:52:00

The iPaq 914c is a mobile messaging device designed to work with the latest communciation and management tools

HP's iPaq 914c Business Messenger is a Windows Mobile handset designed primarily for email and messaging, and is thus a potential rival for RIM's BlackBerry models. When used in conjunction with new management tools from Microsoft, the iPaq could prove to be a worthy challenger to the RIM device.

Shipping since early July, the iPaq 914c is almost exactly the same size as RIM's BlackBerry 8000 series, and just a tad larger than the BlackBerry Curve models. However, it is heavier than either of these at 154g, which HP puts down to a larger than standard battery pack to give users a long time between charges while on the road. It is also quite chunky, especially when compared with Nokia's slimline E71 handset.

Like many current smartphones, the new iPaq supports GSM, 3G/HSDPA cellular connections up to 7.2Mbit/s, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and has built-in GPS capability for navigation. However, the iPaq 914c is the first device we have seen to ship with Windows Mobile 6.1, the latest version of Microsoft's handset platform.

With its qwerty keyboard, the iPaq bears more than a passing resemblance to a BlackBerry, and HP has in fact borrowed one feature that users of older BlackBerry models will be pleased to see; a thumbwheel on the side of the device, which makes it easy to scroll through emails while holding the unit in one hand.

The iPaq also has a five-way navigator control and a stylus-driven t ouch-screen, so the user is not short of control options. You can dial phone numbers using an on-screen keypad or the physical keys, for example.

For messaging purposes, the keyboard is one of the most important aspects of a mobile handset. The iPaq 914c has rather small keys with a curved top, but we found we could enter text at a reasonable – if not very fast – pace. BlackBerry-using colleagues that we showed the device to said they found the keyboard better than expected, but preferred that of the BlackBerry Curve, which has a distinct gap between adjacent keys.

The screen on the iPaq 914c looks small for the size of the device, but at 2.46in is almost identical in size to that of the BlackBerry Curve, and has the same resolution at 320x240 pixels. Text, however, does appear a little small for easy reading.

Just below the screen are a cluster of buttons, including the standard red and green call/hang up phone keys, plus context-sensitive buttons, a Windows menu key, and shortcuts to the calendar and email.

Windows Mobile 6.1 introduces a number of enhancements, but these are not immediately apparent on the iPaq 914c. Its home screen looks pretty much the same as many handsets we have seen with Windows Mobile 6.0, for example.

One noticeable change is that SMS texts are now displayed as threaded conversations in the messaging inbox, so that users can see messages they have sent to colleagues and the responses in chronological order. Also new is a Getting Started Center to help setup features such as email accounts and pairing the handset with Bluetooth devices. However, this simply follows the format of a Help file entry, and we found it to be of little value.

For corporate IT departments, Windows Mobile 6.1 holds out the promise of better security and management, at least when used in conjunction with new Microsoft server products.

System Center Mobile Device Manager (MDM), for example, joins mobile devices to the corporate domain and brings them under the control of Active Directory policies set by the IT department. According to Microsoft, policies can govern which applications users are allowed to run, enable or disable specific hardware features, and remotely deploy applications.

Potentially, this means that Windows Mobile 6.1 handsets such as the iPaq 914c could have a level of management control akin to that of BlackBerry devices. However, like the BlackBerry, this control comes at the expense of licensing and deploying extra servers on the corporate network in addition to the Exchange groupware server. HP also has its own Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) for managing mobile devices.

Windows Mobile 6.1 also brings some enhancements to the Internet Explorer browser, such as the ability to zoom in and out of pages. However, we found that it still does not render web sites as well as other mobile browsers such as Opera's Java-based Opera Mini, which we downloaded and installed for comparison purposes.

We tested the iPaq 914c using a 3G SIM supplied by Vodafone, and were able to get an HSDPA connection for much of the time we browsed the web. This gave reasonable download speeds, although obviously not as fast as when we connected to a Wi-Fi access point.

The iPaq 914c also features GPS capability, the primary use of which is likely to be navigation. The handset comes with Google Maps built-in, but an optional HP iPaq Trip Guide Kit provides real-time turn-by-turn directions.

As well as Assisted GPS (A-GPS), which uses information from the cellular network to speed up the time to first fix, HP provides a software tool that can download satellite ephemeris data from the internet. Nevertheless, we found that the iPaq still took several minutes to get an initial fix on our location.

As part of Windows Mobile 6.1, the iPaq 914c ships with Office Mobile 6.1, the latest version of Microsoft's mobile productivity tools. In addition to Word, Excel and PowerPoint, this includes a mobile version of OneNote.

However, these applications now save documents by default in the OOXML file formats used by Office 2007. While they can open documents created by versions of Office up to 2003, they cannot save in this format. As the majority of businesses still run older versions of Office on the desktop, this could lead to interoperability problems when sending documents to colleagues.

Other applications include Google Search; HP's Printsmart Mobile, used for sending documents to a printer via Bluetooth or a network connection; a Remote Desktop client; and Voice Commander for controlling functions of the phone by voice.

The iPaq 914c is based on a 416MHz PXA270 processor with 128MB RAM and 256MB Flash ROM. The handset has a slot on the left side of the case for SD Card Flash storage, next to a mini-USB connector for charging the battery and linking to a PC. Both are protected by rubberised covers. A three megapixel camera is at the rear of the device.

HP quotes the battery life of the iPaq 914c as up to four hours talk time and up to 10 days or 250 hours on standby. This figure seems rather low, considering the 1940mAh battery pack, which is one of the largest we have seen on a mobile handset, and in fact HP said that this figure includes the talk time users can expect to get while using other features of the device as well. In our tests, we used the iPaq 914c for the best part of a week before needing to recharge it.

Ethernet marches on

IT Week staff — 2008-07-30T16:31:00.000Z

IT Week staff, IT Week, Wednesday 30 July 2008 at 16:31:00

The Foundry Networks/Brocade merger throws doubt over fibre channel future

The £1.5bn acquisition of Ethernet switching vendor Foundry Networks by Fibre Channel (FC) specialist Brocade may have IT managers who have deployed FC storage area network (SAN) infrastructure wondering about their investments.

Is this a move to compete with Cisco or an acknowledgement that FC is destined to lose out to the onward march of Ethernet in the guise of iSCSI – or both?

A technology that could unite the worlds of FC and Ethernet is Fibre Channel over Ethernet, which would allow firms to operate FC SANs and utilise the higher speeds currently available with Ethernet, such as 10Gbit/s.

The FC roadmap on the Fibre Channel Industry Association’s web site shows the next iteration of 16Gbit/s will not hit the streets until 2011, by which time the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ 40Gbit/s and 100Gbit/s standards might already be helping to prop up the internet.

One of the arguments against FC was that it was another network that needed managing, and that argument still exists. But is the FC SAN manager likely to say to the LAN manager, “Yes, of course you can have my job”. That internal scenario reflects the external battle between FC and Ethernet, which now seems to be swinging decisively in the latter’s favour.

The question is, will FC be crushed under an avalanche of iSCSI or will its twilight be a managed one?

Review: iPhone 3G boosts web experience

Daniel Robinson — 2008-07-30T12:30:00.000Z

Daniel Robinson, IT Week, Wednesday 30 July 2008 at 12:30:00

Apple's 3G iPhone has faster web access, but lags behind other mobiles in corporate features

The iPhone 3G is an updated version of Apple's touch-screen smartphone, adding support for faster 3G network connections and also GPS capability for location-based services such as navigation. However, despite the addition of some enterprise-friendly features, the iPhone is still more of a consumer device than a business tool.

Available in the UK since July on O2's network, the iPhone 3G is a slick, user-friendly device that offers support for Microsoft Exchange email systems and an impressive web browser. This makes the device attractive for accessing web-based applications, but the lack of a keyboard will be a handicap for many users, and its device management capabilities are still rudimentary compared with other platforms.

The new iPhone is almost identical in appearance to the first version, with a 3.5in display that almost fills the front panel. There are few other controls – a single button beneath the screen returns the user to the "home" screen when pressed, an on/off switch is on the top edge of the case, and the left edge has a ringer off toggle and volume up/down button.

At 133g, the iPhone is heaver than a standard phone, but still lighter than many smartphones. It is also roughly the same size as many rival devices, such as the BlackBerry Curve. Like the original iPhone, this new model has 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in addition to its GSM and 3G cellular radios.

Unlike most other touch-screen devices, the iPhone's user interface is entirely finger driven. No stylus is supplied, as these do not work - the screen does not respond to pressure. A bonus of this is that you are less likely to accidentally dial a number with the iPhone in a bag or your pocket. The device's 320x480 display is also one of the best we have seen on any mobile device.

The home screen presents a set of application icons that the user simply touches to activate, with key functions such as phone, email and Safari (web browser) in a row at the bottom of the display. Inside an application, the controls are likewise activated by touch. When data input is required, an on-screen keyboard appears, and some functions are controlled by gestures. Inside the browser, for example, putting two fingers on the screen and pulling them apart zooms in, while an on-screen slider control is used to unlock the device.

We found the on-screen keyboard unsatisfactory compared with a physical keyboard, especially those on many BlackBerry models. Whenever your finger goes anywhere near the screen, it registers as a keypress, often causing the wrong character to be entered. In our experience, this makes the iPhone unsuitable for heavy-duty messaging, although the phone dialling keypad with fewer keys works just fine.

The iPhone's new 3G support provides HSDPA download speeds up to 3.6Mbit/s, and we found this noticeably improved loading of web pages in the Safari browser compared with the original iPhone, although browsing over a Wi-Fi connection is still faster.

For enterprise customers, the iPhone 3G now supports Microsoft's Exchange, and is capable of receiving email, contacts and calendar updates pushed over the cellular connection. Administrators can also gain limited control of an iPhone using policies applied via Exchange, such as enforcing passwords or remotely wiping a device. However, the iPhone does not implement all Exchange features.

To provision a handset, the iPhone 3G supports Configuration Profiles, XML files that contain settings for device security policies, VPN configuration, Exchange settings and certificates. Apple provides a web-based configuration console that enables administrators to create configuration files and email them direct to users from the console itself, or post them to a web site for downloading.

The other major new feature of the iPhone 3G is GPS. This provides the user's location for applications such as the built-in Google Maps, which can give directions to local amenities and user-specified destinations. The iPhone supports Assisted GPS (A-GPS), which makes use of information from the cellular network as well as satellites to determine location.

We found that the iPhone was unable to get a fix on our location in central London, due to the number of tall buildings that interfere with the satellite signals. Outside the capital, however, the iPhone had no difficulty pinpointing the location within minutes.

Another new feature aimed at enterprise buyers is VPN support. This includes L2TP, PPTP and Cisco IPSec protocols, with authentication via RSA SecurID or CryptoCard tokens. L2TP and PPTP additionally support MS-CHAPv2 authentication.

From a business perspective, the iPhone 3G thus has potential for some vertical applications, if developers can match the level of ease of use demonstrated in the built-in software. Our review unit shipped with 16GB of Flash storage (an 8GB unit is also available), which should provide ample space for applications and data.

This must be measured against the fact that the iPhone doubles as an iPod media player and has a link from the home screen direct to the iTunes music store, features that are unlikely to endear the device to corporate buyers.

There is also no easy way for a customer to replace the battery. Unlike most other mobile handsets, this means that users cannot carry a spare on a business trip in case the main battery runs out. It also means that the iPhone must be returned to Apple to replace a defective battery.

Apple would not specify the size of the battery inside the new iPhone, but quotes the handset as lasting for five hours of talk time, or up to 300 hours on standby. Apple also claims the device can deliver up to five hours internet use on a 3G connection, or six hours on Wi-Fi.

Siemens offloads corporate comms unit

Dave Bailey — 2008-07-30T11:55:00.000Z

Dave Bailey, IT Week, Wednesday 30 July 2008 at 11:55:00

Siemens Enterprise Communications to merge with private-equity owned Enterasys

German engineering giant Siemens has sold off part of its telecoms business, Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEC), to private equity company, The Gores Group.

Gores will integrate SEC with Enterasys, a network infrastructure company it already owns, and another of its portfolio, contact centre management specialist SER Solutions, to create a new company to be run as a joint venture with Siemens.

Founder and chairman of Gores, Alec Gores said, "We have been looking for an opportunity to expand our presence in the enterprise networking and communications space and this partnership provides the perfect fit."

The new company will create a sizeable competitor to network equipment titan Cisco. Operationally, Gores will drive the business and will be hoping that SEC's HiPath and OpenScape platforms, in combination with Enterasys' network hardware products, which includes switches, routers, VoIP security, and intrusion detection and prevention systems, will be able to dent Cisco's market share.

Both Gores and Siemens will inject $275m into the new firm for product development and further acquisitions.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal expects to close before October subject to approval from both Germany and US authorities.

Motorola to acquire AirDefense

Dave Bailey — 2008-07-29T15:50:00.000Z

Dave Bailey, IT Week, Tuesday 29 July 2008 at 15:50:00

Motorola looks to extend wireless security offerings with acquisition

Communications provider Motorola is to acquire pioneer wireless security vendor AirDefense, one of the last remaining independent providers of enterprise wireless intrusion prevention (WIPS) systems.

The acquisition will help Motorola compete in the fast-growing wireless security market, said Kathy Paladino, Motorola's enterprise mobility president.

"Wireless security remains a leading concern for enterprises, and this transaction will enable Motorola to deliver a common platform solution for greater indoor and outdoor protection to wireless LAN (WLAN) networks in support of the all-wireless enterprise.”

Motorola recently announced a planning tool for 802.11n deployments and the AirDefense acquisition will boost its potential to compete in the IEEE 802.11n wireless market. Although the 802.11n standard has yet to be ratified, test deployments are being looked at by enterprises.

The market for both replacement of legacy 802.11a/b/g systems and 'greenfield' deployments by 802.11n will be huge according to industry experts, and associated with that will be a demand for 802.11n WIPS.

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

BT leaps in to Voice 2.0

Dave Bailey — 2008-07-29T14:25:00.000Z

Dave Bailey, IT Week, Tuesday 29 July 2008 at 14:25:00

Telco giant to acquire telephony tools maker Ribbit

BT is to acquire Silicon Valley-based voice application vendor, the Ribbit Corporation, for £53 million, in an effort to fast-track its development of new telephony applications and services.

BT Americas president Michael Boustridge said Ribbit's platform will make it, "simpler, cheaper and faster to build communications functionality into applications, enabling developers to introduce new revenue-generating voice services in hours, rather than weeks."

“The communications industry is entering a new phase. Closed networks are becoming open platforms and developers are now driving innovation," added Ted Griggs, chief executive, Ribbit.

Ribbit's technology is intended to help developers add voice and automation features to web applications. Customers include software-as-a-service pioneer Salesforce.com.

Rob Bamforth, Quocirca's principal analyst for communication, collaboration and convergence said that the market for platforms to integrate communications with enterprise applications was still in its infancy. But it is clear "it's going to be open software winning out over proprietary hardware," he added.

BT's acquisition of Ribbit was part of "a continuing recognition that services not plumbing is where the future differentiation lies," said Bamforth.

Alcatel-Lucent leaders to leave

Dave Bailey — 2008-07-29T11:43:00.000Z

Dave Bailey, IT Week, Tuesday 29 July 2008 at 11:43:00

Chief exec and chairman to leave embattled telecoms giant

Telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent has confirmed the departure of both its chief executive and chairman in the wake of continued losses at the embattled firm.

The departure of chief executive Patricia Russo and chairman Serge Tchuruk was confirmed as the company reported a loss of £871.3m for the fiscal quarter ending 30 June 2008.

Tchuruk will leave the vendor on 1 October 2008; Russo will step down by the year's end.

Alcatel-Lucent has not reported a profit since the merger and its share price has dropped over 60 per cent since its high in April 2006, just after Alcatel announced it was to acquire US rival Lucent Technologies for an eventual figure of $11 billion.

In a statement, Russo said, "The company will benefit from new leadership aligned with a newly composed Board to bring a fresh and independent perspective that will take Alcatel-Lucent to its next level of growth and development in a rapidly changing global market."

The firm hopes the top-end shake up will shake off the bad financial results, and will be able to better compete with rivals, Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia Siemens Networks and Nortel.

The acquisition which closed in September 2006 was touted by executives on both sides, as a 'merger' of equals, and together the combination would be able to address their respective market strongholds, Alcatel in Europe and Lucent in North America.

Meru locks out car park hackers

Dave Bailey — 2008-07-28T12:43:00.000Z

Dave Bailey, IT Week, Monday 28 July 2008 at 12:43:00

New system aims to stop wireless data seeping out of the office

Wireless vendor Meru Networks has unveiled a new system to protect business users from eavesdroppers hoping to hack in to their wireless networks.

Meru's new RF Barrier is intended to protect users from so-called 'parking lot' attackers, who passively listen for insecure wireless traffic which they can use to obtain passwords and other critical security information.

Meru said that because RF Barrier used directional antennas and selective enforcement technology, it would not impact internal wireless traffic or that from other WLANs close by.

“Previously, both wireless security and infrastructure vendors have focused on protecting the connection and the back-end network, while the perimeter – where attacks cannot be detected – has remained undefended,” said Joe Epstein, Meru’s senior director of technology in a statement.

In 2007 hackers using a telescope wireless antenna siphoned off wireless traffic from US retailer TK Maxx, which they subsequently used to crack back office network security at the firms parent company TJX, resulting in nearly 50 million credit and debit card records being taken.

RF Barrier will be available this September and can use any Meru 802.11a/b/g access points. Pricing for a starter kit including four antennas, four APs, cabling and software is £1,800 ($3,595).

The future of enterprise storage

Daniel Robinson — 2008-07-25T09:57:00.000Z

Daniel Robinson, IT Week, Friday 25 July 2008 at 09:57:00

Virtual storage connected by iSCSI offers datacentre managers the most cost-effective way of coping with ballooning enterprise storage requirements, according to Dell

Enterprises are facing an ever increasing requirement for storage because of data retention policies and growing use of digital media files, according to computer giant Dell. At the same time, recent trends such as the move towards virtual machines are complicating the way storage is utilised, leading to headaches for IT departments trying to manage and stay on top of their storage needs.

Dell believes that storage virtualisation is going to play an important part in addressing this issue, and that a key part of providing this capability will be better storage area network (SAN) technology based on iSCSI. This is not perhaps surprising, as Dell is now the leading global iSCSI supplier, according to figures from analyst firm Gartner, following its acquisition of storage vendor EqualLogic earlier this year.

IT managers are familiar with the fact that the volume of storage required on their network continually grows, especially as there is a need to retain certain kinds of information for future reference as well as regulatory compliance reasons. Digital media files such as photos are also adding to the burden as these tend to be large in size.

Within a corporate environment, three types of information currently tend to occupy the lion’s share of storage allocation, Dell said. Email takes up 26 per cent on average, with files and shared storage using up another 20 per cent, while backup and protection of vital information accounts for a further 11 per cent.

The growth in storage also brings complexity, according to Dell, which estimates that 70 per cent of enterprise investment in storage is going on “just keeping the lights on”, a situation that the company is aiming to address using future products from its EqualLogic storage division.

“We want to change this situation and flip it around,” said Robin Kuepers, head of storage marketing for Dell in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, adding that customers wanted to spend more on innovating, and “want help to slow storage growth”.

Deploying iSCSI is one way to simplify storage, Kuepers said, pointing out that this protocol runs over standard Ethernet infrastructure, something that enterprises already have and are comfortable managing. In contrast, a Fibre Channel SAN requires costly dedicated infrastructure.

While iSCSI is often seen as an entry-level solution, there is increasing corporate interest in the technology because it easily scales up, Kuepers said. He said that because iSCSI boxes typically come with Ethernet ports built in, adding more storage adds bandwidth to the storage array at the same time.

Another trend that will worsen storage management headaches within datacentres is server virtualisation. This is employed to make the most efficient use of modern hardware, which is often capable of handling several virtual servers simultaneously.

However, virtualisation can complicate backup and recovery operations, according to Praveen Asthana, enterprise storage director at Dell.

This is because virtual machines in a SAN-based VMware implementation are typically stored in a VMFS cluster file system configured as a logical unit number (LUN). If a snapshot is taken of the LUN, this creates a backup of all the virtual machines within it, making it difficult to roll back just one of the virtual servers if the need arises.

With iSCSI, data sets can be configured and accessed as individual LUNs, according to Dell, which makes recovery as simple as un-mounting the virtual machine from its disk volume, rolling it back to an earlier snapshot, then re-mounting it.

Forester Research senior analyst Andrew Reichman wrote in a report earlier this year that “iSCSI is inherently more virtualised than Fibre Channel, allowing for more granular addressing, especially important for virtual server environments”.

Another problem that enterprises currently face is that data is distributed here and there around the network, on numerous different servers and often on client systems as well.

“Organisations don’t know exactly how much storage they have. They know where their big databases are, but don’t know how many PCs they have, or what information is on them,” said Tony Lock of analyst firm Freeform Dynamics.

According to John Joseph, Dell vice president of storage marketing, this has led to storage “islands” as new workloads are deployed onto separate physical servers with their own local storage. This situation is inefficient, as most of this local storage is under-utilised and difficult to manage, he explained.

Not surprisingly, Dell believes the solution is for companies to separate servers from their storage and put it onto a SAN, effectively consolidating all storage into the datacentre. Previously, implementing a SAN would have been a costly investment, but Dell claims that iSCSI now makes it possible to build a SAN for less than £5,000.

One of the reasons for this is the falling cost of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE), which is increasingly being used for iSCSI storage arrays. Praveen Asthana also said that Ethernet will scale to offer greater bandwidth than rival technologies in future.

“Fibre Channel went from 2G to 4G, and there are plans to offer 8G, while Ethernet is on 10 gigabits today and there are plans for 40,” he said.

Joseph said that with Dell’s EqualLogic kit, companies can build a virtual storage environment, one where administrators can manage a pool of storage instead of individual storage devices. This pool can simply be expanded as necessary by adding extra iSCSI equipment as required.

One existing feature of EqualLogic’s kit is its support for a tiered storage architecture. Logical storage volumes are sliced up and the blocks distributed across the virtual storage array, and can also be moved around as necessary, depending on how often the data in them is accessed.

Joseph said that Dell plans in future to offer the same capability for virtual machine images, but declined to give a timeframe for this move.

“In future, we will be able to move a virtual machine to storage with a better quality of service if necessary,” said Joseph. This means that virtual machines servers or desktops with a heavy workload can be moved automatically to faster storage hardware.

Conversely, virtual machines that are less critical will be migrated by the storage management system to slower storage, according to Joseph, from 15,000RPM disk arrays to 10,000RPM, for example.

“You’ll be able to automatically move less frequently accessed data from $9,000 per terabyte storage to $3,000 per terabyte storage,” he said.

According to Dell, this will take some of the burden of management away from the IT staff, and go some way towards helping tackle the problem of the ongoing growth in storage.

Lock said that this kind of feature will become more prevalent in the future.

“Apart from the biggest organisations, most companies do not have dedicated staff to manage areas such as storage,” Lock said, adding that in future storage will be based on virtualisation and become much more flexible.

“Tiered storage is going to happen, but there’s a desperate need for data discovery tools, and automatic classification of data,” he said.