Six minutes is all a company gets to make an impression onstage at DemoFall, so snap judgments are the order of the day for attendees. What follows are a few of mine from last week’s show in Huntington Beach, Calif. – starting with the work stuff and finishing up with a few fun entries.
Six minutes is all a company gets to make an impression onstage at DemoFall , so snap judgments are the order of the day for attendees. What follows are a few of mine from last week’s show in Huntington Beach, Calif. – starting with the work stuff and finishing up with a few fun entries.
Start-up Teneros has taken to heart the three most-dreaded words in any workplace: “E-mail is down.” The company’s first of a series of Application Continuity Appliances provides instant failover for Microsoft Exchange Servers during planned or unplanned downtime. Teneros promises a 10-minute installation, zero upkeep and no monkeying with your Exchange Server – for $15,000. Problem solved.
Sana Security is looking to end the rat race that is signature-based malware protection by offering an interesting alternative called Primary Response that identifies the nasty stuff based on how the code acts. Anything that flunks the duck test is automatically killed and removed. False positives – some server programs and even anti-virus software can trip it up – are handled with a white list. A stand-alone version is expected to be available in December for $30 to $40, with a managed version for enterprise networks following next year.
Gaining control over instant messaging use in your organization can be harder than trying to tackle a Coke machine. The Barracuda IM firewall from Barracuda Networks brings a gang-tackling approach to the task by offering an all-in-one IM server and gateway filtering product. Not only does the combo provide an in-house IM standard, it gives IT impressively detailed control over the intrusion and abuse of public IM services. Reporting features will help with regulatory compliance . . . and goose your company’s goof-offs.
The next two won’t exactly be welcomed like found money in many an IT shop, but users are going to love them.
U3 was onstage touting a variety of new licensing relationships that are bound to bring scads more of its souped-up USB “smart drives” into workplaces – at least those that aren’t actively blocking such devices. These products are moving beyond file transfer and backup to now allowing you to bring your critical applications home or on vacation. All kinds of security options and add-on applications for the devices were shown. (The latter included Party Poker, a personal ‘Net Buzz favorite but not often found on lists of approved corporate applications.)
The Mobile Personal Server from Realm Systems looks as though it may have an easier time calming the concerns of IT security pros. Slightly bigger than a deck of cards, the device also plugs in to any USB port but trumps the key-chain cousins by giving mobile users secure access to all authorized applications and data they would have back at the office. Biometric authentication coupled with back-end control offered by the accompanying Realm Management Router give IT reasonable assurance that the personal server is in the proper hands.
TalkPlus, known until last week as Caller IP, generated positive chatter with a service that promises to bring a passel of VoIP features to ordinary cell phones without the need for a broadband network and without traversing the Internet. Multiple phone numbers/identities, 10-way conferencing and inexpensive international rates are among the enticements. Although the company has yet to announce any deals with carriers, the service is expected to debut in January.
UniPrivacy showed off a promising partial answer for those, such as Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who find disturbing the notion that their personal information is piled up in so many places on the ‘Net and easily accessible to all via search engines such as Google. UniPrivacy will monitor such repositories for you and request the deletion of stuff you don’t want hanging out there. Trouble is that not all collectors of private information offer mechanisms for having yours deleted. And much private information resides in public records that by definition are available for public scrutiny. UniPrivacy offers you this limited protection for $3 a month.
Because I am the type of driver who could get lost in a car wash, this next one appealed to me on a personal level. Destinator Technologies showed how it’s going to save me from pulling my hair out next time I’m hopelessly lost. Think GPS and verbal directions right over your smartphone or PDA. My family is going to thank these people.
Peerflix provides an online mechanism for trading physical goods and services – DVDs in its debut incarnation. Turn that pile of DVDs you never watch into a pile of DVDs you’d like to watch for 99 cents per swap with other members of the service. Less expensive than Netflix, the company claims. As for available inventory, I tossed them a curve by requesting the 1940 Cary Grant classic “His Girl Friday” . . . and the Peerflix membership was at the ready with a half-dozen copies.
Tired of paying for directory assistance? If you can stand a 12-second commercial before getting your number, Jingle Networks will save you that buck or two. Dial 1-800-FREE-411.
Finally, one of the most warmly received products at DemoFall was the one that really had no business being there: the SafeGuard Child Seat from IMMI. While not technically a tech product, plenty of technology went into developing and building a car seat that looks like it could protect a NASCAR driver if not for the fact that those guys weigh more than 65 pounds. It’s impressive but pricey at $429 apiece – and as a father of 4-year-old triplets, I found the math unpalatable. But you may want to check it out at www.safeguardseat.com.
Snap judgments always welcome here. The address is buzz@nww.com.
