Which brings us back to one of my favourite topics in IT and that is "what goes around comes around". In this case - and Case is literally correct, unless they had changed their name to Cray by then, and then back to Case... - it was a Case Communications product in the early '90's, a point-to-point, laser-based Ethernet solution (10Mbps) that we tested in a City of London location and it worked great back then even. However, it was not foolproof, since Case had not allowed for the "cleaner factor".

As all IT folks know, the cleaner is the greatest threat to network uptime and so it proved here. Given that this was in the old "City" certain restrictions were in place, such as not allowing ugly as hell transmitter/receiver equipment to be located externally on certain listed buildings. It so happened that this location was in such a listed building. Anyway, having worked perfectly for days, one morning the IT guys got in to find that the link was down - dead as the proverbial Dodo, Yangtze River Dolphin etc etc. From the control end, all looked perfectly ok, so the only answer was to walk to the office where the other (seemingly dead) end of the link was located.

On arriving there and brushing past the sign that said "PLEASE DO NOT CLOSE THE SHUTTER AT ANY TIME" they found that the internally-located laser transmitter/receiver was no longer pointing through a glass window, but straight into some wooden shutters that had been, er, shut, by the IT devil that is "the cleaner".

T'point (to point) being - cleaner factor allowed for - that such technologies worked well back then and still work well now. Not that the Metronet expansion is being limited to Manky weather town. The operator is rapidly expanding its network into Liverpool, Leeds (now we're talking united), Birmingham and Dublin - not quite the "London, New York, Paris, Rome" associated with top perfumeries, but a start nonetheless. And my aforementioned mate John will welcome the Irish connection, particularly if it could extend into the North-West corner of the republic.

What is interesting about Metronet is that it is the first wireless communications operator to achieve profitability and that, to do so, it has deployed product from a (meerkat free) Russian wireless broadband product company - InfiNet Wireless - who we are currently speaking to about testing by pure chance. And guess what InfiNet's claimed USP is? Price-performance. Doubly interestingly, last year Motorola came to us with a view to us testing its wireless broadband products in order to prove that the additional cost of Motorola product (over alternatives such as InfiNet) was justifiable. After long talks and many promises from Motorola, that particular project (not entirely surprisingly) never happened. Shame the kids had to do without Christmas presents last year, but sometimes these things are unavoidable...

So I (and my kids) personally look forward to validating the opposite argument with the InfiNet technology. But what is it being used for I hear you say (I've got finely-tuned hearing)? Good question. Metronet is using InfiNet's technology to offer customers secure, high-bandwidth access to the Metronet core dark fibre backbone (ah - there's always holes in the ground somewhere!), specifically where access bandwidth regularly requires throughput of above 20Mbps while still conforming to Metronet's 99.95% availability SLA req's. So we are talking point-to-point last-mile applications, as well as more complex point-to-multipoint applications covering enterprise networks, public safety and security networks. The deployments support diverse traffic profiles covering applications such as high-capacity backhaul, VoIP-based call centres, video conferencing, high-bandwidth corporate database synchronisation, remote data centre services, public security applications and IP CCTV surveillance, where low-latency networks capable of supporting PTZ-controlled surveillance systems are an important factor.

As well as targeting corporate data clients with high bandwidth and high-reliability business class Internet and MPLS based Point-to-Point network access solutions, Metronet is engaging with local Police and Council Authorities to promote use of its network infrastructure to support wireless connectivity for applications such as CCTV video and ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) systems. The b******s!

As my mate John Earley explained:

"There's quite a lot that we like about InfiNet.  From a deployment aspect we have found that their kit offers a significant throughput advantage in a smaller channel spacing compared with other manufacturers and we like a bunch of features that the solution offers.  For example, the ability it gives for per VLAN rate throttling which adds an element of network control through the air and enables us to ensure sufficient bandwidth is available for network management and monitoring."

"We also appreciate having direct access to knowledgeable support engineers that can assist with problem resolution as and when required (quite literally)."

Interesting comment, that last one, given that we are talking a Russian company here... and a lesson for many so-called UK ones methinks.

Anyway, I say "bring it on InfiNet" and let's give this Russian technology the Broadband-Testing seal of approval. Part-payment in top quality vodka is negotiable...

Industry analyst Gartner Group has already stated that it believes cloud computing will be as influential as e-business. At the same time it warned that 'in the cloud' security services appear at the 'peak of inflated expectations' on Gartner's 2009 Hype Cycle for Infrastructure Protection, expecting reality to deliver it as a mainstream technology within a two to five year timescale.

But what about the here and now? With two laptops and a non-stop travelling month across the UK ahead of me, I took the opportunity to decide for myself whether the cloud is the answer to delivering efficient security services, right-here right-now, including several trips to Brighton, home of the chap who penned those lines a few years ago.

On one laptop, therefore, we installed Trend Micro's cloudy OfficeScan 10 AV software while, on the other, we had a "classic" fat client type AV product, from a well-known purveyor of such. With WiFi and mobile broadband dongles to hand, I was ideally positioned to decide whether the cloud argument is all fluff or really makes sense.

Looking at OfficeScan 10, what we have here is a genuine cloud application that benefits from this approach, enabling fast updates (every 15 minutes) and a relatively light client. It seemed a no-brainer in truth to see the potential benefits of using the cloud approach as a means of ensuring that updates are as timely as possible - critical to the success of an AV product. This approach also removes much of the human requirement for managing updates (pattern file management etc), meaning less chance of errors leading to potentially damaging virus/threat outbreaks. The counter-argument, of course, is what if you cannot get online? The answer is to have enough of a database on your client to protect you in environments you'll encounter offline. But then most of the threats are online...

Of course, there is a key server element to this product. While the OfficeScan 10 suite obviously benefits from having a dedicated server to run on, equally it operates within a virtual environment, such as VMware. We tested in both environments without problems. The modular nature of the server application suite made it very easy to create custom configurations for different types and levels of user, with additional functionality such as file and web reputation able to be applied as required. Via a server plug-in, endpoint security extends to mobile devices - a vital consideration with smart phone and related technology sales and usage increasing enormously within business.

At the client endpoint, while everything can be automated, a simple interface accessible from the Windows toolbar allows the user to optionally run manual scans and related tasks. Comparing day-to-day usage at the client endpoint with another AV product from a well-known vendor, it was clear how 'light' the OfficeScan client is and how non-intrusive it is in comparison. Other features such as the ability to throttle CPU utilisation at the client during scans means that the user experience is essentially completely transparent. Why should they know that AV software is running?

In use during our test period, we were never knowingly aware of the existence of the OfficeScan client, apart from when it captured some test viruses and automatically quarantined them, in line with our configuration options. In contrast, our alternative AV client we were comparing the OfficeScan client with, as well as using more memory, was far more intrusive in terms of the number and length of downloads it made during our test period - in some cases a full client update, rather than simply a virus signature update.

This was really highlighted during travelling around the UK when using a mobile broadband connection - an increasingly common form of Internet access for many users and one that might well become the norm in the next two to three years, as costs continue to fall. Here is where the cloud-based approach really shines. OfficeScan caches as much data locally as it can, which clearly helps in this kind of user scenario. The client can also detect when a laptop or equivalent is in battery mode and cancel an auto-scheduled scan, a life-saver in some cases when travelling with no means of recharging the battery (in every sense).

In summary, the cloud works!

...in the sense of a USB stick, or CD if you prefer. For the relevance of this, let's back-track a little. The first L-B product I tested, back in 1999, was the Arrowpoint chassis-based product that cost a cool $125,000 - each. It cost Cisco even more, when they splashed out $5.7bn for that company a couple of months after my test. For the record, that product is now rubbish.

However, we should note that a decent spec server in those days from HP or similar also cost a pretty penny or two. Thus, it was that someone like NetScaler could still charge just south of $100,000 per L-B device, so $200K for a redundant pair, as recently as 2004. And they were a relative bargain at just $300m to Citrix. And, for the record, that still is a good product, just expenisive, as are those from my mates at F5.

In the UK we have Zeus - whose latest product I will be testing very shortly, so watch this space - which undercuts its US rivals on price:performance, but it's not everyone who needs an L-B (or Traffic Management/Application Delivery Controller etc) product that does 30,000 SSL transactions per second.

Moreover, the cost of server real estate has fallen dramatically since the heady days of the dot com boom, so it is not reasonable now to demand mega-money for an L-B solution if it's simply cheaper to add more servers and other forms of redundancy.

So, enter jetNEXUS and the L-B on a stick. The premise is thus: got some old servers that are doing time as a temporary coffee table or simply ticking over without really having an active role to play in your IT shop? So, take a bootable stick or disk from jetNEXUS with its ALB code on it, boot from the disk and watch your old server turn into a load-balancer in a matter of minutes. Key in an IP address and you're away. No mega money required, no weeks of training required, just basic networking skills.

How cool is that?

We tried it with a couple of "retired" servers randomly picked from jetNEXUS' official dusty corner of the machine room and they were magically turned into a redundant pair of L-Bs 10 minutes later, for miles less than the cost of an entry-level product from aforementioned US vendors.

So, if you've got some old servers gathering dust, you know where to go - just checkout www.jetnexus.com - a full report will also be appearing on the Broadband-Testing website shortly.