News

Network hardware

June 13, 2007 13 Jun'07
TI drives VoIP call quality and QoS improvements

Voice over IP call quality and reporting gained another helping hand with Texas Instruments and Network Physics' recent partnership.
June 11, 2007 11 Jun'07
Your shout: Green datacentres, Wi-Fi dangers, project planning

Computer Weekly readers' have their say
June 11, 2007 11 Jun'07
Confusion between file virtualization and file area networks (FANs)?

There has been some confusion -- FAN has added yet another acronym for storage professionals to contend with...
June 08, 2007 08 Jun'07
VoIP market evolves in 2007

VoIP will see market changes this year as IP PBX sales increase and market leaders shift their focus.

June 07, 2007 07 Jun'07
VoIP performance testing fundamentals

VoIP network performance testing can mean the difference between a VoIP system working at a high level QoS and a weak system that runs so poorly customers could take their business elsewhere. This guide discusses why it is important to run regular ...
June 05, 2007 05 Jun'07
VeriSign, AirMagnet team up for wireless security

VeriSign and AirMagnet announce collaboration on the new VeriSign Wireless Intrusion Prevention Service (IPS) to help IT shops defend Wi-Fi users.
June 01, 2007 01 Jun'07
AOL sidelines major virtualisation tools

America Online rolls out appliances from YottaYotta for storage virtualisation, preferring its scalability and design over EMC's Invista and HDS' USP.
June 01, 2007 01 Jun'07
Cisco, Nortel frontrunners in Avaya acquisition rumours

Cisco and Nortel, among others, are named as possible suitors for Avaya, as acquisition rumours swirl around the VoIP mainstay.
June 01, 2007 01 Jun'07
Check Point promises more VoIP security, fewer slowdowns

Check Point's enhanced Open Performance Architecture is designed for deeper security of technologies like VoIP without the network performance problems that often come with it.
June 01, 2007 01 Jun'07
VoIP islands connect with WAN gateways

VoIP islands can be connected by technologies such as gateways and WAN optimisation.

May 30, 2007 30 May'07
Brocade gets into the HBA business

Experts say the move, based on a partnership with LSI, could lower HBA pricing across the board and be the first step toward a Brocade-developed storage virtualization product.
May 30, 2007 30 May'07
Mobile content market finally takes off

The UK mobile content and services market is finally taking off, with mobile operators attracting regular buyers of content.
May 29, 2007 29 May'07
SAN School: Table of contents

What is a storage area network? What are the benefits and pitfalls of installation? How can a SAN fit into your organization? These questions and more are answered SAN School.
May 29, 2007 29 May'07
Councils call for studies to ease Wi-Fi radiation fears

Local councils and other public authorities deploying wireless networks have called for further government research into the health effects of Wi-Fi
May 29, 2007 29 May'07
Norfolk public and firms embrace free Wi-Fi access

Norfolk County Council has seen the number of connections to its network rise from 3,000 to 30,000 less than a year into a two-year trial of a county-wide wireless network.
May 25, 2007 25 May'07
VoIP advice from the trenches

ITKE, or ITKnowledge Exchange, is simply a cool (and quick) way to get a response to your VoIP-related questions.
May 24, 2007 24 May'07
Interop: updated software, new security features

3Com targets SMBs; Shift4 introduces gateway to wipe data; SecureWave updates software; StillSecure opens support program; and BlueCoat demonstrates mobile security tools.
May 24, 2007 24 May'07
Cardiff University builds UK's largest wireless Lan

Cardiff University is implementing the UK’s largest wireless Lan.
May 23, 2007 23 May'07
Shoe retailer Faith cuts call costs with Mitel IP telephony system

Shoe retailer Faith has improved communications and cut call costs between its 220 stores by installing a Mitel IP telephony system, which it says will pay for itself in two years.
May 23, 2007 23 May'07
Friends Provident opts for Genesys intelligent telephony

Financial services company Friends Provident is replacing two operating systems that currently serve its five UK contact centres with an intelligent telephony system to improve call management.
May 22, 2007 22 May'07
Unison opts for IP telephony

Unison, the UK’s largest trade union, is improving the performance of its wide area network and adopting IP telephony to cut costs and deliver greater comms flexibility.
May 21, 2007 21 May'07
Mobile instant messaging enhances company's business processes

A mobile IM service acquired by a hosted VoIP provider encourages more companies to enhance their business processes.
May 21, 2007 21 May'07
Harmful effects of Wi-Fi scrutinised

The potential harmful effect of Wi-Fi radiation will come under scrutiny in a BBC Panorama programme tonight
May 18, 2007 18 May'07
Second WiMax trial in Warwick

Pipex Wireless’s second commercial trial of WiMax services will be tested by the public this weekend.
May 17, 2007 17 May'07
E-money sQuidcard keeps contactless payments simple

The recent swathe of contactless cards announced by the banks and credit card industry has been challenged by the newly launched sQuidcard.
May 17, 2007 17 May'07
Post Office signs £750m voice and data services deal with BT

The Post Office has signed a £750m deal with BT as part of a far-reaching plan to offer voice and data services.
May 11, 2007 11 May'07
Virgin Trains speeds towards on-board 3G mobile network

Virgin Trains is partnering with mobile operator Orange to improve on-board 2G and 3G mobile voice and data services to Virgin Voyager passengers.
May 11, 2007 11 May'07
Edexcel selects RFID to enhance security

UK exam body Edexcel is to roll out Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and micro-texting technology this summer to increase the security of the examinations process.
May 11, 2007 11 May'07
VoIP, unified communications adoption continue to rise

VoIP and unified communications adoption continue to rise steadily in the enterprise, according to Infonetics Research's latest report.
May 10, 2007 10 May'07
ULCC pilot shows wireless network benefits

The University of London Computer Centre is considering rolling out a wireless service across its 20 institutions after a successful pilot.
May 10, 2007 10 May'07
Scarborough NHS Trust upgrades to Cisco high bandwidth wireless network

Scarborough NHS Trust is using comms integrator Affiniti to help improve hospital performance and efficiency by replacing its core network with a high bandwidth solution equipped with wireless infrastructure.
May 10, 2007 10 May'07
Packeteer and Microsoft to launch iShaper ‘branch office in a box’

Network optimisation supplier Packeteer is working with Microsoft to develop a “branch office in a box” to help users deploy wide area networks (Wans) and file systems.
May 08, 2007 08 May'07
Supplier preps SMB push

Alcatel-Lucent is targeting small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) through a new product set as well as a new structure for enabling its sales and integration partners.
May 04, 2007 04 May'07
Mobile operators defend VoIP ban

Mobile operators have hit back at those criticising their decision to block mobile VoIP services over their networks.
May 04, 2007 04 May'07
Azzurri launches managed comms service

Azzurri Communications has launched its Azzurri One platform to help firms cut their telecoms and data connectivity bills.
May 03, 2007 03 May'07
Alien RFID built on Microsoft’s BizTalk server platform

Alien Technology has showcased an RFID supply chain solution, which uses Microsoft’s BizTalk server platform.
May 02, 2007 02 May'07
Oxford University rethinks datacentre storage

A midrange storage array may seem an odd choice for a new supercomputing centre, but the university's IT manager says that storage needs are changing with new research.
May 01, 2007 01 May'07
Products supporting the Wi-Fi Protected Setup standard due for June

Products supporting a new standard designed to ease the deployment of wireless networks and encourage their use within smaller businesses are expected to be available next month, according to industry body the Wi-Fi Alliance.
April 27, 2007 27 Apr'07
UK slips down e-readiness table

The UK is less ready for the global e-economy than it was last year, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
April 24, 2007 24 Apr'07
Scaling storage networks demands careful consideration

In the Fibre Channel world, scaling often means adding more and faster switch ports to extend the fabric's bandwidth and connectivity. But IP storage (mainly iSCSI) is a growing area of SAN expansion, using ubiquitous Ethernet network technology to ...
April 24, 2007 24 Apr'07
City switches on Wi-Fi network

The Square Mile in the City of London has switched on its area-wide Wi-Fi network.
April 23, 2007 23 Apr'07
Weekly compilation of storage news:Dell LTO-4 drive, new Sun array

Dell is first out of the gate with the new LTO-4 drive, which offers native encryption; Sun unveils new array and deepens its relationship with FalconStor.
April 23, 2007 23 Apr'07
Mobile operators block VoIP application

Mobile contract users have complained that mobile operators have blocked the Truphone voice over IP application on their new Nokia handsets.
April 20, 2007 20 Apr'07
BT acquires Comsat International

BT is continuing its global expansion programme by acquiring Comsat International, a data communications provider that supplies Latin America.
April 20, 2007 20 Apr'07
Retailers embrace mobile technology

By 2012, 15% of retailers will have installed technology to communicate with mobile devices, according to Gartner.
April 20, 2007 20 Apr'07
Symantec launches online backup service for SMEs

Symantec has launched a trial version of an online data backup service for SMEs.
April 17, 2007 17 Apr'07
Storage consolidation: Disks and disk subsystems overview

Any storage consolidation effort must involve a serious consideration of disk subsystems and the specific disk types that those systems will contain
April 17, 2007 17 Apr'07
Lloyds TSB speeds trade processing

Lloyds TSB's corporate markets operation has cut the time it takes to complete overnight processing of trades by six hours after deploying a £3.5m converged network.
April 16, 2007 16 Apr'07
Wireless kit must be secure 'out of the box', say experts

Infosecurity Europe: The need to make wireless devices secure by default and more openness on data breaches are on the agenda at next week's Infosecurity conference
April 16, 2007 16 Apr'07
Extricom announces education grant programme

Wi-Fi supplier Extricom has announced its first annual UK Education Grant Programme. The programme will offer £1m of grant awards to educational institutions throughout the UK.
April 16, 2007 16 Apr'07
Belfast Institute deploys wireless network for online learning

The Belfast Institute, the largest provider of further and higher education and training in Northern Ireland, is deploying a Cisco Unified Wireless Network around its central campus to provide secure online learning access.
April 13, 2007 13 Apr'07
Businesses run VoIP alongside traditional telecoms

US businesses are embracing voice over Internet Protocol, (VoIP), but they are not abandoning traditional voice lines.
April 11, 2007 11 Apr'07
VoIP 'not ready for mainstream adoption', says Forrester

Voice over IP (VoIP) technology is not ready for mainstream consumer adoption, says Forrester Research analyst Zayera Khan in a new report which examines VoIP service suppliers including Google, ICQ, Microsoft, Skype, and Yahoo.
April 11, 2007 11 Apr'07
Global drugs giant Shire overhauls intranet content system

Global pharmaceutical company Shire is to overhaul an intranet used by 4,000 employees worldwide.
April 10, 2007 10 Apr'07
Capacity planning software specifications

Gauging storage needs over time is one of the biggest challenges faced by IT administrators, and a new generation of capacity planning tools is emerging to help forecast growth and utilisation of storage resources.
April 10, 2007 10 Apr'07
Pipex joins with Nokia Siemens to speed UK WiMax roll-outs

Pipex Wireless and Nokia Siemens Networks have agreed to co-operate on WiMax infrastructure and service development to expand the availability of commercial WiMax services in the UK.
April 09, 2007 09 Apr'07
HP renews SMB storage campaign

With the launch of the new All-in-One 1200 and the shifting of executives to a new SMB business unit, HP is focused on its low-end products in an effort to boost growth.
April 05, 2007 05 Apr'07
Goldman Sachs: Interest in NetApp SAN products wanes

A survey by the investment firm shows enterprise storage buyers had a declining interest in NetApp SAN products over the last year.
April 05, 2007 05 Apr'07
Weekly compilation of storage news: AmeriVault, NetApp, Omega and more

A new lifecycle service automatically migrates older backup files to cheaper storage at AmeriVault facilities.
April 04, 2007 04 Apr'07
Storage vendors propose FC over Ethernet standard

A group of nine storage vendors led by Emulex is proposing a Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) standard .
April 04, 2007 04 Apr'07
Wireless VoIP market to grow rapidly

VoIP and Voice over Wi-Fi markets are expected to be strong in 2007 and remain so through 2012.
April 04, 2007 04 Apr'07
Thin clients promoted as a green alternative

British businesses could save £78m in electricity bills and slash CO2 emissions by 485,000 tonnes a year by switching from PCs to thin clients, researchers have claimed.
April 04, 2007 04 Apr'07
Nissan uses Bluetooth network to push new car

Nissan has launched a Bluetooth proximity marketing campaign on the Hypertag indoor network.
April 03, 2007 03 Apr'07
Sun plans open source network attached storage

Sun is planning to announce a new strategy around network attached storage (Nas) that is meant to be an open source competitor to NetApp and Microsoft, according to industry sources.
April 03, 2007 03 Apr'07
HSBC uses Bluetooth for drive-by marketing

HSBC is using Bluetooth short range wireless technology to send marketing messages to people walking past some of its London branches.
April 02, 2007 02 Apr'07
Networking for SMBs

Networks made simple -- or complex? From basic definitions to security and VPN must-haves, this guide takes the bite out of network management challenges.
April 02, 2007 02 Apr'07
Quantum leaps into file virtualization with StorNext

Quantum is trying to bring ADIC's StorNext SAN file system out of the HPC market with new features for file virtualisation and data deduplication with version 3.0.
April 02, 2007 02 Apr'07
Over half of UK households have broadband

Over 50% of UK adults now have broadband at home - up from 39% a year ago and a seven-fold increase over the last four years, says a report from comms regulator Ofcom.
March 29, 2007 29 Mar'07
Nortel and Microsoft extend comms alliance

Nortel and Microsoft have extended their comms alliance to allow carriers to offer hosted voice over IP and unified comms services.
March 29, 2007 29 Mar'07
Bluetooth 'poses serious threat to business'

Businesses are at serious risk of criminal activity using the Bluetooth wireless connectivity system. Financial adviser Grant Thornton says the widely used short-range system is a major threat to busineses.
March 28, 2007 28 Mar'07
Enterprise storage switch purchase considerations

Considerations of enterprise switches with a series of specifications to help make on-the-spot product comparisons between vendors.
March 27, 2007 27 Mar'07
IBM and 3Com integrate IP telephony with business apps on single platform

IBM and 3Com have developed a system to integrate IP telephony with e-mail, messaging and core business process applications on a single, secure platform.
March 27, 2007 27 Mar'07
Electromagnetic paint protects wireless networks from hackers

Companies are to be offered a special “wireless-blocking” paint which can be used to protect their internal wireless networks.
March 26, 2007 26 Mar'07
Indoor base stations emerge on mobile radar

Indoor base stations for mobile connectivity will be the next thing in enterprises, says telecoms analyst Analysys.
March 23, 2007 23 Mar'07
Retail and services to lead fixed mobile convergence adoption, says IDC

The adoption rates for European business fixed mobile convergence (FMC) will vary from sector to sector, with retail and services firms leading the way.
March 22, 2007 22 Mar'07
Midrange storage array specifications

Product snapshots highlighting key specifications for a cross section of midrange storage array products.
March 21, 2007 21 Mar'07
Microsoft unveils SME VoIP system

Microsoft has launched an internet protocol (IP) phone system code-named Response Point, designed for ease of use and manageability at SMEs.
March 18, 2007 18 Mar'07
Cisco stamps on Brocade in Q4, Dell'Oro says

For the second quarter in a row Cisco is gaining SAN switch market share on Brocade, according to the latest report by the Dell'Oro Group. But the numbers are causing a firestorm.
March 15, 2007 15 Mar'07
Enterprise-class tape library purchase considerations

Picking the best tape library for enterprise deployment is a serious challenge. This guide focuses on the specific considerations of enterprise-class tape libraries.
March 15, 2007 15 Mar'07
Enterprise-class tape library specifications

Key specifications for a cross-section of enterprise-class tape library systems with a minimum of 100 TB of compressed capacity, SAN connectivity, and room for at least 100 tape cartridges in a base configuration.
March 15, 2007 15 Mar'07
Meru links wireless security to QoS

Meru Networks has introduced a product suite designed to protect wireless networks from security threats, while maintaining the quality of service of applications.
March 13, 2007 13 Mar'07
VoIP visions: highlights from VoiceCon Spring 2007

Unified communications and VoIP were big topics at VoiceCon Spring 2007. Here are some news highlights from the show.
March 13, 2007 13 Mar'07
Winners and losers in storage market reports IDC

According to the latest IDC research, HP shows declining revenues in several storage categories; EMC, HDS, Symantec and NetApp show surprising results.
March 12, 2007 12 Mar'07
Comms in concert for Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall is embarking on a major project to boost its customer contact systems.
March 09, 2007 09 Mar'07
Firms to reduce voice spend by 30% with FMC

Fixed–mobile convergence combined with voice over IP (VoIP) will allow corporate customers to reduce their voice spend by over 30%, said telecoms research group Analysys.
March 08, 2007 08 Mar'07
Skype downloads hit 500m milestone

Skype has been downloaded over 500 million times worldwide, although the number of active registered users for its service is well below this figure.
March 08, 2007 08 Mar'07
VoIP becoming central to business change

IP telephony is now having a significant impact on the way organisations run their businesses, with 80% of firms believing that IP telephony will help transform their working practices within the next two years.
March 07, 2007 07 Mar'07
Microsoft outlines software-centric VoIP, UC

Microsoft unveils its vision of a software-based VoIP system to enable unified communications.
March 07, 2007 07 Mar'07
European Wi-Fi usage spirals

European Wi-Fi usage among enterprise users is spiralling, according to mobile connectivity solutions specialist iPass, and the UK is leading the way.
March 05, 2007 05 Mar'07
Nortel switch release focuses on unified communications

Nortel today released two new switch series aimed at unified communications deployments.
March 05, 2007 05 Mar'07
Ofcom report says UK needs high-speed fibre in the last mile

Next-generation broadband products for the last mile must be based on fibre, according to a report commissioned by Ofcom.
March 05, 2007 05 Mar'07
Paris to offer free Wi-Fi broadband to citizens and visitors

Citizens and visitors to Paris are to get free access to Wi-Fi broadband internet across the capital.
March 04, 2007 04 Mar'07
Buzz builds around data reduction for primary storage

Analysts predict that in-band compression offerings from StoreWiz, newly updated this week, are the first step toward a new wave of primary storage deduplication products.
March 04, 2007 04 Mar'07
NetApp stokes midrange fires with new array

The FAS 3040 is a scaled down version of the 64-bit 3070 architecture; NetApp officials say more moves downmarket will follow.
March 02, 2007 02 Mar'07
Irish parliament deploys converged IP network

The Irish National Parliament (Oireachtas) has deployed an Alcatel-Lucent converged IP network to improve the communications services that can be delivered to users, irrespective of their location.
March 01, 2007 01 Mar'07
Fibre connections top one million in Western Europe

There are now over one million ultra-fast fibre-to-the-home subscriptions in western Europe, although much wider adoption in the short to medium term is remote, said research group Informa.
February 28, 2007 28 Feb'07
RFID cloning presentation moves forward despite legal threats

Chris Paget, director of research and development at IOActive spoke mainly about the science behind RFID tags and readers and the inherent security issues of the technology.
February 27, 2007 27 Feb'07
Black Hat presenter nixes RFID cloning demo under pressure

A demonstration of a device that could easily clone radio frequency identification (RFID) badges, was pulled from a conference presentation under pressure from a chip maker.
February 27, 2007 27 Feb'07
Broadband users dissatisfied with service

Broadband users are less satisfied with their service provider than last year, according to a new survey from analyst Point Topic.
February 26, 2007 26 Feb'07
VoIP kit sales on the rise

The sale of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) technology to service providers is booming, with consumers and small offices helping to drive the trend to next generation voice services.