Although the ISR G2 announcement from Cisco seems like more of the same, but faster and stronger, there are significant improvements related to voice and video that are worth mentioning. Here is a table that shows them:
Prior to TechEd Europe this coming week, a number of third party vendors have made announcements. One of these is F5, who on November 3 announced its new F5 Management Pack Solution for OpsMgr 2007, allowing customers using F5 and Microsoft to dynamically manage application delivery in virtual environments, particularly when using Hyper-V and System Center Virtual Machine Manager.
F5 has added Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO) capabilities to its F5 management pack, previously introduced in April 2009. Read more
I haven't disappeared, I've had several family medical related "incidents" to deal with. These are not over, but I will resume blogging as time permits. I appreciate your patience!
New to Exchange 2010 is the Exchange Control Panel, or ECP. This is a component of Outlook Web App 2010 where an administrator can sit in their OWA screen and not only check their emails, calendar appointments, and contacts, but can perform administrative tasks. So instead of the administrator having to find a computer and terminal server remote into a system to add a user, delete a user, make configuration changes in public f Read more
I'm going to take some time off from blogging for at least a month, if not longer. My MBA classes have been intense this semester and, honestly, I've lost the motivation to blog each week. It's not that big of a time commitment - about 2 hours a week. But when it comes time to write the blog I either have homework to do or I've done homework all day and would prefer watching a movie. Read more
At least Cisco is warning Unified Communications customers about it NOT successfully offering support for Microsoft Windows 7:
"Cisco will have no liability for any delay in delivery, or failure to deliver, any or all of the planned Windows 7 support features set forth herein. Therefore, any such delay or failure will not in any way grant to Cisco customers the right to return, refund, adjust, or exchange any previously purchased Cisco products or products that customers may purchase under their Cisco purchase contracts."
Are you "rolling the dice" by deploying Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) while purchasing the following Cisco UC products? Read more
Cisco was urged yet again this week to raise its $3 billion bid for Tandberg. As IDG News Service's Steve Lawson reports, the company was addressed in an open letter urging a hike in the price: Read more
The Federal Aviation Administration today said it would streamline the environmental review part of permit applications for the launch and/or reentry of reusable suborbital rockets to help bolster a fledgling commercial space market. Read more
The flurry of incoming inquires on Vblock hasn't let up yet. The top two questions I consistantly get are: Read more
Open source software appeals to many in IT for its low -- or nonexistent entry price -- and flexibility, and now that appeal is growing on hiring managers, according to IT talent experts, who report that companies will in 2010 seek candidates with high-tech skills related to open source software. Read more
We've all seen lamps with phone jacks in hotel rooms. Well, here's a lamp that plugs into a phone jack in your home and operates by filching the trickle of electricity found there.
Clever?
Bound to upset phone companies?
Both?
The lamp is sold by an outfit called UxSight, which lists addresses in Hong Kong and San Mateo, Calif. Read more
President Obama had it right when he said that he would make Cybersecurity a priority of his administration. That was back in May and while things have progressed since then. For example, just last week, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano cut the ribbon on the new the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC), a new cybersecurity command-and-control datacenter in Arlington, VA.
This blog comes on the heels of a recent NetworkWorld Google Subnet blog titled "10 App Add-ons for the Enterprise" which details ten popular third party Google Apps add-on applications. These ten applications only scratch the surface of a niche market helping to propel the momentum of Google Apps for the enterprise. Companies and individual developers alike are flocking to the Google developer community with grand ideas for the next must-have add-on application. So how are they building these add-on apps? Read more
Text message this morning from CNN: Unemployment hit 10.2% in October. Microsoft announced earlier this week another 800 employee layoffs to the 5,000 previously announced employee layoffs. If you look at Microsoft's financials you see why, a 14% revenue and 18% net income drop for the last reported quarter, on top of disappointing prior quarters. Read more
The last day at PASS is always with mixed feelings but as they say "Don't cry because it's over, just smile because it happened". Easier said than done as President Wayne Snyder got all choked up when he acknowledged Kevin Kline's awesome 10 years contribution to the leadership of PASS. Standing ovation in Seattle. Read more
One of the nicest integration features in Exchange 2010 Outlook Web App is the ability to integrate Office Communications Server 2007 R2 presence and instant message right in the OWA 2010 screen. Read more
Despite the recent Cisco, EMC, VMware announcement, the reality is that the majority of the market will continue to buy virtualization offerings from the likes of the major “piece part” suppliers – Dell, HP, IBM, etc. – and that is perfectly fine. There is a more aggressive, higher-end customer base who will desire, then require, the likes of the VCE coalition to move them to the next level. Read more
In the past few weeks several organizations have asked me about these "funny" packets they see leaving their networks destined for the Internet. These packets turned out to be IPv6 packets encapsulated within an IPv4 header (IP protocol 41). IPv6 packets that are encapsulated in IPv4 packets may be created unintentionally or they may be malicious activity that is trying to avoid detection. To understand this potential security issue you need tools to help you inspect this type of traffic. Read more
Although phones featuring Google's open-source Android operating system have been out for more than a year, it's only been in recent months that the platform has really caught on. In fact, this fall alone has seen the debut of several new high-profile Android devices from such esteemed manufacturers as HTC, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung. Read more
Among all the free tools that Google produces, Google's 3D modeling software, SketchUp, has to be one of the best and most addicting. Here is a link to a slideshow of 10 models that were selected from Google's 3D Warehouse, its online library of thousands of models created by SketchUp users. Read more
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