Microsoft SharePoint technology is increasingly used in SMBs and larger companies as a business collaboration platform for the enterprise and the web, to connect and empower people, to cut costs with a unified infrastructure and rapidly response to business needs.
The free Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or – depending on requirements – the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 are used to implement business solutions for collaboration, document management, enterprise content and records management, business intelligence, forms service and company-wide search. The fast, easy and complete integration of external LOB data, e.g. from databases or Office files, is a common requirement in the use of Microsoft SharePoint technology. Existing data integration solutions for SharePoint – such as the Business Data Catalog (BDC) – are often complex at the facility, require additional tools, bring with them limitations or they are available for certain SharePoint editions only.

Quickly connect business data to MOSS and WSS lists without any programming or tools

The Business Data List Connector (BDLC) for SharePoint offers a “SharePoint External List” by connecting a real SharePoint list (no Web Part) to external business back-end data, using a very simple web-based list settings dialogue. No programming or additional tools are required. The BDLC can be configured easily with a few simple list settings, such as connection provider, connection string and a SQL query statement. The new version 1.5 supports more connection provider than ever, for example SQL Server, Oracle, OLEDB (e.g. Microsoft Office), ODBC or other custom provider installed. The desired data can be populated to the list and presented with the familiar UI and navigation features of common SharePoint lists made available: Views, sorting and grouping, filters, calculated fields. Lookup features can be created as usual for presentation of and interaction with external data in SharePoint lists. The Business Data List Connector extends the SharePoint collaboration and search capabilities as well as the Office user experience to include external business data and the processes that are associated with that data.

Start workflows in SharePoint to take business actions on external data changes

The list data can be updated manually or automatically in background, using a timer service. List workflows and notifications per RSS or email can be used out-of-the-box, to take business actions in SharePoint, if external LOB data records are changed. For example the Business Data List Connector can be used to implement a sales dashboard application, which empowers end users to gain insight into the underlying ERP or CRM data in a reusable way, e.g. with aggregations and transformations and quickly being notified in case of changes.

Free shareware version download today

The new SharePoint add-on BDLC V1.5 comes with a robust installer to allow it to be easily deployed within any SharePoint environment, including farms. It is available for SharePoint starting with WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007. You can download it directly on the vendor’s product pages at http://www.layer2.de/en/products.

Free to use for SharePoint User Groups (SPUG)

All components offered by Layer2 are completely FREE to use within a registered SharePoint User Group web site (back-link and logo required).

Cost-free partner program for implementers and affiliates

A cost-free partner program was launched to support companies that are interested to sell and implement Layer2 products around the world. Registered affiliates can market Layer2 products by placing links on their web sites to the relevant product pages of the Layer2 web shop on http://www.share-it.com. They will receive a 20% commission for each sale of these products via their web site. Additionally implementers receive qualified leads to make use of Layer2 solutions in their own projects. Please register and join today!

About Layer 2 GmbH

Layer 2 GmbH is a specialist for creating custom components and solutions for Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies. Based in Germany, Layer2 offers products and solutions that add additional features to portals based on Microsoft SharePoint technology, e.g. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS), Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 or the free Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 / 4.0 (WSS). The products – SharePoint web parts, features and solutions – are completely based on the Microsoft .NET Framework and especially designed to run on top of SharePoint technology and to integrate fluently into the SharePoint user interface. The solutions are sold directly to end-customers or distributed via a worldwide fast growing partner network of resellers and implementers.

For almost 20 years Layer2 has been known as a reliable partner to customers in Central Europe, offering additional consulting and services in the fields of SharePoint, .NET-programming and IT-Infrastructure. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Layer2 offers a broad variety of deep technical knowledge as well as a focus on end users and customers.

At CeBIT 2010 in Hannover / Germany from March 2 to 6, 2010, NovaStor (www.novastor.com), a pioneer in data protection, presents enterprise/corporate-level data protectionsolutions and new SaaS technologies in hall 2 / D44.
NovaStor introduces the latest release of its enterprise data backup solution, NovaBACKUP Data Center 4.0, at CeBIT2010. NovaBACKUP DataCenter 4.0 features a universal licensing scheme and a technology that makes economic use of resources with the potential to reduce corporate data storage expenditures by as much as 50%.
NovaStor also presents a new SaaS technology with integrated lead generation and customer acquisition features for ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and Value Added Resellers. NovaBACKUP xSP 11 allows resellers and service providers to offer online backup as a service to new and existing customers and is now integrated with NovaStor’s innovative Strategic Growth Package, tailored to support partners with lead generation.
Virtualization and Software-as-a-Service:
In addition to presenting viable business models for service providers and value added resellers by appointment, NovaStor will hold a free workshop on enterprise backup and virtualization. Visitors to NovaStor’s booth will also find representatives from NovaStor partner SITaas (www.sitaas.de), a managed service provider currently using NovaStor’s xSP technology to offer backup as a service.
Free tickets, Appointments & Workshop sign-up:
Interested CeBIT attendees can request individual appointments at NovaStor’s booth or sign up for the free workshop by sending an email to info@novastor.com. The number of workshop spaces is limited and will be allotted on a first come-first served basis.
SITaaS
SITaaS is leader in Off-Site Data Storage, Online Backup and Email Lifecycle Management. SITaas has established strong, exclusive partnerships with market-leading technology developers and manufacturers. The company continually evaluates these partners with respect to their quality standards and market position in order to offer the best quality services possible.
About NovaStor:
NovaStor is a leading international provider of software solutions for data protection and availability. NovaStor provides software, SaaS solutions and services for local and online backup, restore and retention of business-critical data. Clients include home, mobile, and SMB users, service providers as well as international corporates. NovaStor’s cost-effective solutions are platform- and hardware-independent and ensure that optimal technological and economical use is gained from the customer’s existing and future IT environment. NovaStor is headquartered in Switzerland (Zug), has offices in Germany (Hamburg) and the USA (Simi Valley), and is represented in numerous other countries through partnerships.

IPscape, the Australian cloud-based contact centre provider, today launched Keep in Touch (KiT), a cloud-based, integrated telephony service for salesforce.com that can be accessed anywhere and from any telephone.

IPscape KiT provides contact centres with IPscape’s advanced telephony features and call centre functionality from within the salesforce screen. Call notes and voice recordings are automatically inserted into the salesforce.com record for enterprise and unlimited edition users.

Salesforce.com users can enter any telephone number – home, mobile, office, home office, VoIP – to have all calls routed to that number. Incoming calls still trigger a salesforce screen pop and outgoing calls are billed through the IPscape system, alleviating the hassles of telco reimbursement to staff. SMS and emails can also be routed to KiT for visibility of all waiting voicemails, SMS messages and emails that can be actioned by any KiT user.

KiT also increases the visibility of sales team performance and efficiencies through real-time monitoring and detailed reports of all calls into and out of a sales team. Sales managers have an up-to-the-second view of salesperson call performance and call outcome for better management of people and sales campaigns.

According to Simon Burke, CEO at IPscape, KiT is easily installed into salesforce to integrate CRM with telephony.

“KiT opens advanced functionality and amazing flexibility – for voice, SMS and email – to the contact centre while still recording call information in the salesforce record so anyone in the organisation has to-the-moment information on every customer,” said Burke.

“It also means an instantly available business continuity plan. Everyone can stay at home tomorrow and, with just an internet connection and browser, business continues as normal,” continued Burke.

At just 2.5cm high, KiT is a slender addition to the salesforce screen, using icons and colour coding to keep users continuously up-to-date and in control. Once engaged on a call, KiT enables fast call logging with a call notes area and wrap code drop down; relieving users of the multi-step procedure of manually entering salesforce activity logs.

KiT is available in four editions from simple to the full IPscape contact centre experience with pricing starting from A $55 per user per month plus call charges (additional to salesforce.com fees).

To see KiT in action, register for the 30 minute webinar on Friday 22 January 2010 (10am Sydney time) at http://www.ipscape.com.au/salesforcekit

For more information see the IPscape website at http://www.ipscape.com.au

Zoho today announced that it is inviting open source projects to use Zoho Discussions, the company’s online forums and community software, at no charge. Providing free use of its application for online customer support and innovation forums is the company’s way of giving back to the open source community. The Zoho invitation does not have an expiration date, and open source projects can take advantage of the offer by visiting http://www.zoho.com/discussions/open-source.html.
“We use many open source components in Zoho Apps,” said Raju Vegesna, Zoho evangelist. “As open source advocates, we want to contribute to the community, and making Zoho Discussions freely available to open source projects is our way of fostering that community and saying ‘thank you.’”

Zoho Contributes to Community

The free Zoho Discussions offer being extended to open source projects is distinct from the free version of Zoho Discussions that the company offers to individuals and organizations. For open source projects, Zoho will tailor the level of service appropriate to the project’s size and needs. In addition to support for multiple forums, moderators, gigabytes of attachments, and other features, Zoho will offer free migration and customization services on a case-by-case basis. Forum visitors will be able to participate by using their Zoho username/password as well as Google, Google Apps, and Yahoo! credentials.

One of the first open source projects to take advantage of the Zoho offer is the JavaScript library, jQuery. Not happy with its existing solution for engaging with its community, jQuery evaluated several vendor solutions before settling on Zoho Discussions to power its online forums at forum.jquery.com.

Prior to Zoho Discussions, jQuery used mailing lists and Google Groups to interact with its users. As part of its free offer, Zoho migrated all the data and users from the jQuery mailing lists and Google Groups into Zoho Discussions. Similarly, Zoho is customizing Zoho Discussions for free, giving the forums the same look and feel as the rest of the jQuery site.

John Resig, creator and lead developer of the jQuery JavaScript library, blogged about the transition from Google Groups to Zoho Discussions. Here’s an excerpt:

“When looking for a new area to have discussions, we looked at a wide variety of solutions with a few major requirements: It had to be capable of handling both regular discussions and the now-ubiquitous question & answers that occur. Additionally, we wanted something that lowered the barrier to asking a question — something that anyone would be able to use (thus it had to have a good web interface).

“We also wanted a solution that would have a low maintenance threshold for the team. This would mean either using a hosted solution in which the team we were working with was very accommodating or using a solution that we host ourselves that was trivially easy to use and had a good community of developers.

“We ended up analyzing countless solutions but in the end we chose to go with Zoho Discussions. A combination of decisions drove us to this decision:

Zoho Discussions seamlessly integrates both regular, forum-style, discussions and Q&A. Additionally, all the moderation and administration tools are designed around building and managing a slick workflow for answering questions and concerns.
The Discussions team at Zoho have been incredibly accommodating They are not only providing all the hosting for free but going out of their way to fix concerns and integrate our full Google Groups back history. We’ve been working very closely with them, and they’ve fixed, or are fixing, every issue that we’ve brought forward.”
For more information on Zoho, please visit www.zoho.com. To get breaking Zoho news, visit and subscribe to the RSS feed at http://blogs.zoho.com, and follow the company on Twitter at @zoho.

Additional Resources

Zoho website: http://www.zoho.com/

Zoho news releases: http://www.zoho.com/in-the-news.html

Zoho product videos: http://www.zoho.com/product_videos.html

Zoho general videos: http://www.zoho.com/videos.html

Zoho blogs: http://blogs.zoho.com

Zoho on Twitter: http://twitter.com/zoho

Zoho Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zoho/231460215383

About Zoho

Zoho is a comprehensive suite of award-winning online productivity, collaboration and business applications for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as consumers. Over two million users rely on Zoho for their Business, Productivity & Collaboration needs and actively connect via Forums and Blogs. To date, Zoho has launched 21 different applications which include several online office applications such as Writer, Sheet, Show, and Mail along with a host of business applications ranging from CRM to Projects, Invoice and Meeting. These applications are offered directly via Zoho.com or through hundreds of partners in the Zoho Alliance Partner Program. Zoho has received numerous awards, including a 2009 Webware 100 Award and an InfoWorld 2009 Technology of the Year Award. For more information about Zoho, please visit http://www.zoho.com/.

Zoho is a division of ZOHO Corp., a privately-held and profitable company, which also provides IT Management Software (ManageEngine) and a Network Management Suite (WebNMS). With headquarters in Pleasanton, CA and offices in Austin, New Jersey, London, Tokyo and Beijing, ZOHO Corp. serves the technology needs of more than 40,000 customers worldwide. For more information about ZOHO Corp., please visit http://www.zohocorp.com/

Grameen Foundation announced today the latest release of Mifos, its award-winning open source software platform for microfinance. Mifos 1.4 is the first version available in Spanish and also provides support for Firefox 3.0 and integration with banking and other systems. This marks a significant step forward in extending an open platform that gives the entire microfinance industry cost-effective access to technology.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091026/GFLOGO)

Engineers at Grameen Foundation’s Technology Center in Seattle worked closely with its global community including corporate volunteers from SunGard Technology Services, as well as individual technology contributors from the United States, Europe and Australia to build the new features and additional product scalability.

The work was also supported by volunteers from Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and Catholic Relief Services, including Jesus Fernandez-Munoz, Vice President of Financial Institutions Debt Products at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, who volunteered to translate Mifos into Spanish through Grameen Foundation’s Bankers without Borders® initiative and the Mifos community.

“The contributions of our volunteers and strategic partners are vital in helping to build new innovations into Mifos to meet the evolving technology needs of microfinance institutions,” said George Conard, Executive Director of Grameen Foundation’s Technology for Microfinance Initiative. “This open approach is central to our vision for advancing technology across the industry and supports our goal of reaching 100 million new poor clients through the Mifos platform.”

New Advancements

Multi-lingual Support – The launch of the Spanish version of Mifos makes it more accessible throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, one of the most advanced and vibrant regions for microfinance. Bankers without Borders® volunteers from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Catholic Relief Services translated the Mifos platform into Spanish; another volunteer translated Mifos into Hungarian, which is also included in this release. Mifos is now available in four languages with translations into Arabic, Khmer Script, Indonesian, and Mandarin already under way.
Mifos APIs – Mifos now includes an application programming interface, (API) that enables users to import bank transactions through .xls or .csv file formats. This feature was designed and built for Mifos customer, Al Majmoua, a microfinance institution based in Beirut, Lebanon. This paves the way for a plug-in architecture that supports the seamless flow of information between Mifos- and other systems, and external payment networks. For the next release, this API will be extended to integrate Mifos with the rapidly-growing mobile money platform, m-pesa in Kenya.
Firefox 3.0 Support – Mifos now fully supports Firefox, the open source web browser developed and managed by Mozilla Corporation. This will allow microfinance institutions (MFIs) to lower their overall cost of technology investment.
Scalability Support – Members of SunGard Technology Services in Bangalore, India, and other volunteers provided enhancements to our collection sheet entry module that enable greater scalability and more robust transaction processing for hundreds of thousands of microfinance clients. SunGard also helped build greater support for delivering microinsurance services by adding functionality that validates clients’ ages.

To download Mifos, please visit www.mifos.org/product/download.

About Mifos Project

Mifos is Grameen Foundation’s award-winning open source information management platform for microfinance. It provides the industry cost-effective access to a flexible technology solution that scales and evolves to help MFIs more efficiently and effectively deliver financial services to the poor. Currently Mifos is being used in production by eight microfinance institutions across India, Tunisia, Kenya, Philippines, and Senegal serving more than 550,000 clients. Mifos is part of the Technology for Microfinance Initiative based at the Grameen Technology Center in Seattle, WA. Committed to transforming technology from a barrier into an accelerator for microfinance, in conjunction with this open platform, Grameen Foundation provides business consulting, educational services, front-office innovations, and a worldwide community to create measurable business results and social impact through strategic technology investments. For more information, please visit www.mifos.org.

About Grameen Foundation

Grameen Foundation, a global nonprofit organization, helps the world’s poorest people access financial services and technology solutions by providing financing, technology support and management strategies to the local organizations that serve them. It also spearheads technology initiatives that create new microbusiness opportunities for the poor, provide telecommunications access for the world’s rural poor, and improve their access to health and agriculture information and other services. Founded in 1997, Grameen Foundation has offices in Washington, D.C., Seattle, Washington, Hong Kong, Ghana and the Philippines. Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank and the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, is a founding member of its board of directors, and now serves as director emeritus. For more information, please visit www.grameenfoundation.org

Razuna Ltd. today announced the general availability of Razuna 1.3.5, a major upgrade to the world’s most advanced open-source Digital Asset Management System. Razuna has seen major adoption at organizations throughout the world, and is free to download and use. Razuna is based on a completely open source stack and has been downloaded thousands of times since its release.

“Razuna 1.3.5 brings low cost digital asset management to every organizations, and dramatically reduces the barrier to organize and collaborate on your media library, be it video, audio, images, or documents,” said Nitai Aventaggiato, Founder and CEO, Razuna Ltd. “Our customers already enjoy the benefit of managing and accessing all of their digital asset management requirements with Razuna, and Razuna can also easily be deployed to cloud environments.”

This release builds on Razuna’s history of delivering a low-cost, innovative, and Enterprise-enabled open source Digital Asset Management solution. New features in Razuna 1.3.5 include:

Full support for Audio files

Razuna now includes full support for audio files, including the ability to convert audio from one format to another on the fly. Razuna users have long enjoyed full support for video and images and this same functionality is now available for audio. All popular Audio formats are supported, and audio files are played directly in the browser.

Wordpress Plugin and extended API

The Razuna Wordpress Plugin makes it easy to publish video and images to sites powered by Wordpress. With the Wordpress Plugin, organizations are one step closer to centralizing all of their assets. Enhancements to the Razuna API make it easier for organizations and developers to integrate external systems to Razuna.

Performance Enhancements

Razuna’s codebase and JavaScript libraries have undergone a complete rewrite. What this means to our users is a tremendous performance boost, allowing customers to find and serve their digital assets more quickly and conveniently.

Razuna 1.3.5 is available for immediate download at http://razuna.org.

Contacts:
Nicola Battistini
Razuna Marketing & Communication Director
nicola @ razuna . com

Razuna Ltd.
83 Wimpole Street
London, UK
W1G 9RQ

About Razuna Ltd.:
Razuna Ltd. is a startup formed by a handful of people who are passionate about creating the best Digital Asset Management System. The founder and CEO, Nitai Aventaggiato, has been developing software for over a decade and is a strong believer in open source software.

Razuna, the open source alternative to Digital Asset Management Systems, is the result of many years of addressing the challenges of digital asset management, and is available under the AGPL license. Razuna also offers hosted Digital Asset Management solutions for numerous organizations at http://www.razuna.com

Razuna Ltd. is a London, UK based, privately held company.

Tata Communications, a leading provider of the new world of communications, today announced the launch of its IP Exchange (IPX) solution, which will enable mobile service providers to seamlessly and efficiently route all communication traffic, including voice, IP and signaling solutions, via one IP pipe while supporting end-to-end QoS, security, multilateral connectivity, and cascading payments.
With commoditization of voice and messaging driving down ARPUs, service providers are under increasing pressure to control costs. Moving to an IPX platform provides one IP gateway for many services and this helps mobile operators to protect their margins on roaming and international traffic termination.
As a universal service gateway, IPX also reduces overhead costs on network maintenance and service development as well as helps manage complexity from voice routing, service testing and partnerships. In addition, the network optimization provided by IPX empowers mobile network providers to make the tough migration to the new world of IP connectivity allowing increased bandwidth flexibility, global reach and ensured quality for converged services.
Currently, the interconnection of IP is optimized for public Internet, and service providers are unable to distinguish between voice and data services or guarantee quality connectivity to their end users. Tata Communications IPX creates a flexible ecosystem that allows mobile operators to tap into the company’s global MPLS network as an IP backbone for the secure transport of any form of application and rich media via any access network with varying service quality levels.
“Tata Communications IPX service provides an efficient, cost-effective and future-proof converged IP transport solution for MNOs to help them address their key challenges of protecting margins and growing revenues,” said Christian Michaud, Senior Vice President, Product and Business Development, Global Voice Solutions, Tata Communications. “As the industry moves towards universal service interoperability, IPX will help service providers to optimize profitability and long-term growth by providing one connection for many services.”
Tata Communications is a key member of the IP Interworking Alliance (IPIA), which engages operators and carriers in technical specifications and commercial templates for the IPX with the ultimate goal of facilitating global interworking of IP services.
“End-to-end delivery of innovative multimedia services calls for the efficient inter-working of fixed and mobile networks and the adoption of new business models. The IPX architecture provides a comprehensive commercial and technical solution to the interconnection, management and billing of IP traffic. IPX solutions like those from Tata Communications can help service providers balance their needs to ensure high service quality and to reduce costs,” said David James, Principal Analyst Wholesale Telecoms at Ovum.
For more information on Tata Communications’ IPX, please visit

http://www.tatacommunications.com/providers/voice/ipx

SysTools BKF Repair version 4.3 now supports Windows 7 also i.e. Microsoft Windows 7 backup recovery is now possible with this Microsoft backup recovery tool

Windows 7 is the latest public release version of Microsoft Windows (the most widely used Operating System) reached general public on October 22, 2009. This release took place less than 3 years after Windows Vista release, the predecessor of Windows 7. Acknowledging the possible need for Microsoft backup recovery of Windows 7 users, SysTools Software Group has now made most of its products (data recovery tools and software for other data related needs) compatible with Windows 7.

SysTools BKF Repair is a Microsoft backup recovery utility tool that helps users to repair corrupt Microsoft backup files and to recover data from corrupt BKF. Latest version 4.3 of SysTools BKF Repair software now supports Windows 7 also, besides supporting all the previous Windows versions. Using this Microsoft backup recovery software, users will now be able to perform Microsoft Windows 7 backup recovery also.

Great news for SysTools regular users is that this latest version 4.3 of this Microsoft backup recovery program can be bought at the same price as that of the previous version i.e. $89 (Personal License) and $180 (Business License). Thus, users now get many benefits for Microsoft Windows backup recovery in one simple clean interface at comfortable prices.

SmartSoft, a leading developer of innovative conversion software, has announced a new online PDF conversion service. Users can upload a PDF document and download the converted file in an editable format. The new service is an alternative to the desktop application Smart PDF Converter, and its advantage is that registered users will be able to access it from any computer, without having to download and install the program.

The new online PDF service has all the features of Smart PDF Converter. It supports a wide range of formats, including DOC, HTML, XLS, RTF, JPEG and TIFF. Conversion is quick and easy, and the output files retain all the graphics and layout of the original document.

“Our goal is to make our services as easily accessible as possible”, said Nedelcho Georgiev, CEO of the company. “We are very proud to have received such positive feedback from people who have benefitted from Smart PDF Converter, and we wanted to take that to the next level and give our clients the option to have the service available online. We are constantly striving to provide convenient and reliable PDF solutions of the highest standards, ensuring improved accessibility and accuracy of the conversion results.”

Smart PDF Converter has been a top-selling PDF conversion software application since 2005 which is currently estimated to have a base of over a million users. Its brand new online alternative can be accessed at http://online.pdftodocconverterpro.com.

About SmartSoft
SmartSoft is one of the world’s leading conversion software developers. The company specializes in conversion and OCR software with customers all over the world. Its top-selling products, such as Smart PDF Converter, Smart Protector and Smart PPT Converter, have received appreciation by millions of users in more than 150 countries.

American Industrial Systems, Inc. (AIS), has unveiled a new 10.1” Power over Ethernet (PoE) Touchscreen Panel PC powered by an Intel® Atom Z530 Processor for ultra-low power consumption. Power over Ethernet or PoE technology describes a system to safely transfer electrical power, along with data, to remote devices over standard category 5 cable in an Ethernet network. It does not require modification of existing Ethernet cabling infrastructure. The unit supports the latest POE standard IEEE 802.3at for up to 25 Watt power transmission capability. AIS’ fanless PoE Panel PC utilizes an ultra low power Atom processor, LED backlit LCD panel, and PoE technology, packaged into a compact form factory which is easily deployed into buildings for home automation systems, Heating Ventilation and Cooling (HVAC) control, Lighting Management, Building Control and Security.
By automating more and more of building systems including heating, cooling, water, and power, users can save 15% or more on heating and electric bills. Additionally PoE significantly reduces the need for electricians to install conduit, electrical wiring, and outlets throughout the enterprise. With PoE only one cable – a simple CAT-5 Ethernet – is required. Estimates of cost savings using PoE range from $500 to $1,000 per port. In larger settings, this represents a major cost reduction. PoE increases the overall reliability since PoE networks have fewer wires, there is less likelihood of an inadvertent power disruption (accidental shut off, etc). With an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) power to the devices is assured during a power failure.

AIS 10.1” Energy Efficient Panel PC features a 4 wire Resistive Touchscreen, wide temperature -25 deg C. to 55 deg. C operating capability, LED backlight LCD Panel, and a 20W total power consumption. Everything is packaged within a rugged industrial steel chassis, protecting the components from harsh industrial environments. Long life cycle industrial grade components are utilized for high reliability and long availability. Standard VESA 75mm spaced mounting holes are available on the rear and additional mounting clips are included for easy mounting to any fixture or wall. AIS’ new PoE Panel PC provides a solution for companies looking to go green, increase their operating efficiency, reduce expensive cabling costs, and reduce their power consumption footprint.

MSRP Pricing Starting at: $999 for AIS’ 10.1” PoE Panel PC

Features and Benefits:

Intel® US15W Chipset
Intel® Atom Z530 Processor 1.6 GHz
Lower Power Consumption and Fanless Operation
Supports IEEE802.3at Power Over Ethernet (PoE) standards
10.1” LED Backlit LCD Panel
4 Wire Resistive Touch Capable
Wide Operating Temperature Capable: -25 deg. C to 55 deg. C
Industrial Grade components for High Reliability and Product Life Cycle
Rugged Steel Housing
Slim form Factor
Designed for 24/7 Continuous Operation
About American Industrial Systems, Inc.

AIS is a leading global designer and manufacturer of specialty industrial panel pc, industrial display, digital signage, and rugged tablet pc solutions for customers in the broadcasting, engineering & construction, gaming & entertainment, medical & healthcare, leisure & hospitality, mining, network & telecommunications, network security, oil & gas, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, pipelines, public & private educational services, railroads and retail markets. AIS specializes in designing and manufacturing cost-effective LCD and embedded computing products for the industrial market, as well as ODM/OEM applications worldwide. Whether your vision involves off-the-shelf displays or highly customized embedded computing solutions, AIS can supply the experience, technology, and resources you need to build it right and get you to market first. For additional information on AIS products and services, please call AIS toll-free at (888) 485-6688 or visit: www.aispro.com

Iomega, an EMC company (NYSE: EMC) and a global leader in data protection, today announced the launch of Iomega® v.Clone™ software, an application that empowers individuals to create and carry on an Iomega hard drive an image of their primary PC which can be run on virtually any PC* in the world.

Iomega’s ground-breaking v.Clone technology, to be demonstrated this week at the Consumer Electronics Show (Booth # 31823, South Hall 3) in Las Vegas, will be available later this month as download for purchasers of Iomega portable and desktop hard disk drives. In addition to being available by download, v.Clone software is expected to begin shipping with Iomega USB 2.0 portable hard disk drives beginning the first quarter of 2010.

“Iomega’s v.Clone technology represents the first time virtualization has been made easy-to-use and extremely convenient for consumers and small offices,” said Jonathan Huberman, president of Iomega and the Consumer and Small Business Division of EMC. “With v.Clone software, you can carry your PC in your pocket and access your files, email and applications on almost any computer anywhere, including netbooks. Taking the files on your PC or laptop with you wherever you go is simple with v.Clone technology and an Iomega portable hard drive. v.Clone is the perfect application for individuals with multiple computers – it allows you to use a virtual clone of your primary computer with your other computers, ensuring access to your digital content wherever you go.”

The Anatomy of v.Clone Technology
Developed in conjunction with EMC and incorporating VMware virtualization technology, v.Clone makes a virtual clone of a primary computer’s operating system, applications and personal settings and stores that content on an Iomega external hard drive (USB interface only). Attach the Iomega external drive with v.Clone software to virtually any PC and the user now has access to everything that was on the primary computer. Data is not left behind on the secondary computer when the user is finished (only the application itself), and v.Clone also syncs your data back when you return to your primary computer.

What makes Iomega v.Clone software novel is its ability to keep the virtual image updated with changes made to the user’s primary PC, and to synchronize changes back to the primary PC when the Iomega USB hard drive containing the v.Clone image is reconnected. These capabilities give users the freedom to move between the physical computing environment on their primary PC and a virtual computing environment virtually anywhere they connect their Iomega external hard drive with Iomega v.Clone software.

“Whether you’re using your friend’s computer or a family member’s netbook, at the office or even flying 35,000 feet over the ocean,” said Huberman, “v.Clone technology gives you computing advantages you’ve always wanted when you’re separated from all your data on your primary computer. Now you can have it with you with your Iomega hard drive.”

Everyday v.Clone Usage Applications
Netbooks, popular as they may be, lack onboard storage and are considered by most as not powerful enough to run more than simple web-surfing tasks. Not true. The dirty little secret is that netbooks are capable of running a virtual image of a fully-featured PC using Iomega v.Clone technology. Connecting an Iomega USB hard drive with a v.Clone image to a netbook turns it into an ultra-portable version of the user’s primary PC, complete with all of the applications, data and files that are typically used on the main computer. This capability provides an astounding level of flexibility for individuals who prefer the convenience of traveling with a netbook. Now they can do so without sacrificing the capabilities of their more powerful PC.

Security is always important. To protect user’s information and critical data stored in an Iomega v.Clone image, two levels of security are employed. The first level of security is password protection built into the v.Clone application. Individuals who cannot enter the proper password are prevented from gaining access to the virtual environment of the primary PC. For security, v.Clone can be used in conjunction with an Iomega® eGo™ Encrypt or Encrypt Plus Portable Hard Drive, which safely encrypt data stored on them. Security measures aside, because the user’s environment is virtualized and stored on their Iomega external hard drive, personal data is not left behind on a computer used to run the v.Clone image.

In case of emergency, in addition to its primary functionality as a supremely portable backup of a primary computer, an Iomega v.Clone image also provides a “never down” benefit. Should the user’s primary PC fail, the Iomega USB hard disk drive containing the v.Clone image can be used immediately on virtually any available PC. And because the v.Clone image is kept updated automatically, the user will have access to their latest documents, email, settings, etc., and can even migrate documents and settings from their v.Clone image to a new computer.

Upgrading to a new operating system and something doesn’t go right? With v.Clone technology, you can run your virtual PC on another PC until you remedy the new OS or upgrade issues with your primary PC.

Iomega v.Clone Availability
The Iomega v.Clone Software will be demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show (Booth # 31823, South Hall 3), January 7-10, in Las Vegas. Iomega expects v.Clone software to be available for downloads later this month, from www.iomega.com, by purchasers of Iomega external hard drives. Later in Q1, 2010, the Iomega v.Clone Software will ship pre-installed on Iomega portable hard disk drives, including Iomega® eGo™ Portable Hard Drives (USB), Iomega eGo Encrypt Plus Portable Hard Drives, Iomega eGo BlackBelt Portable Hard Drives, and Iomega Prestige™ Portable Hard Drives.

About EMC
EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) is the world’s leading developer and provider of information infrastructure technology and solutions that enable organizations of all sizes to transform the way they compete and create value from their information. Information about EMC’s products and services can be found at www.EMC.com.

About Iomega
Iomega Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of EMC Corporation headquartered in San Diego, is a worldwide leader in innovative storage and network security solutions for small businesses, home offices, consumers and others. The Company has sold more than 410 million digital storage drives and disks since its inception in 1980. Today, Iomega’s product portfolio includes one of the industry’s broadest selection of direct-attached external hard drives; industry leading network attached storage products for the home and small business; and the ScreenPlay™ family of multimedia drives that makes it easy to move video, pictures and other digital files from the computer room to the living room. To learn about all of Iomega’s digital storage products and managed services solutions, please go to the Web at www.iomega.com. Resellers can visit Iomega at www.iomega.com/ipartner

Addressing the growing demand for lightweight, mobile netbook devices, MSI and Novell today announced the upcoming availability of SUSE® Moblin preloaded on the MSI U135 netbook. Following the recent release of Moblin™ version 2.1, this marks the first original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to sell a fully-supported Intel® Atom processor-based netbook running Moblin-based technology to consumers.

“Customers today are looking for devices that give them mobility and flexibility,” said Sam Chern, director of Global Marketing at MSI. “MSI netbooks, in combination with SUSE Moblin, provide an innovative interface and robust computing capabilities as well as the cost-efficiency that our customers are looking for in these new devices.”

Designed for the consumer and the enterprise, the MSI netbook offers a rich Internet experience with integrated e-mail, multimedia and Web browsing capabilities. Building on the latest innovations from the open source community and hardened by Novell and Intel, the MSI U135 netbook gives customers nearly all-day computing capabilities with long battery life and low power consumption built-in.

“The Moblin project has the potential to become an accessible and widely used computing platform,” said Ram Peddibhotla, Open Source Business Director, Intel Software and Services Group. “We have worked closely with Novell in refining the current Moblin version 2.1 for the netbook. We are pleased to see companies like MSI and Novell embracing the technology, contributing to its development and bringing it fully-supported to customers.”

Markus Rex, general manager, Novell Open Platform Solutions, said, “Novell is pleased to be working with MSI, a leading hardware vendor, to make SUSE Moblin the most user-friendly Linux netbook option for consumers. We have the most comprehensive Linux desktop portfolio available and with the growing interest in netbooks, we are continually improving SUSE Moblin to meet the demands of mobile computing users and expand the possibilities for Linux.”

Availability
The MSI U135 running SUSE Moblin will be on display this week in the MSI booth #30651 at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Convention Center South Hall 3 and will be generally available in February 2010.

For more information on SUSE Moblin from Novell, visit www.novell.com/moblin. Additional information about Moblin-based technology can be found at www.moblinzone.com.

About Moblin™ Project
Hosted by the Linux Foundation, Moblin project is an optimized open source Linux operating system project that delivers visually rich Internet and media experiences on Intel® Atom™ Processor-based devices including handhelds, netbooks/nettops, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), and embedded systems. More information can be found at http://www.moblin.org.

About MSI
MSI was founded in 1986 and is one of the world-class IT product leading brands. Based on the operating principle “Insist on the Best”, MSI has shown a strong R & D capabilities and high production technology in motherboard and graphics card products. Adopting a diversified management and business strategy, MSI has also penetrate into the Notebook, All-in-One PC and Car Entertainment product fields. At an international brand development strategy, MSI has launched a new corporate identity system (CIS), as well as corporate slogan “Insist on the Best”. It also represents a new era in MSI’s brand development. With high productivity, high technology, and high quality R & D niche, MSI is expected to become one of the top 10 notebook and system brands in the world in 2010 and 2012. Apart from the market operation, MSI fulfills more efforts in our corporate citizenship, taking into account environmental protection and social feedback. In March this year, MSI has been chosen simultaneously as one of “2009 Top 50 Corporate Citizens” and “2009 Top CSR Excellent Enterprises” from CommonWealth Magazine and Global Views Magazine in Taiwan. In the future, MSI will continue to commit and implement corporate social responsibility in company governance. Fulfilling its responsibilities as world citizen, MSI will do more specific actions and contribution to public awareness to achieve “Beautiful Life, Green Homeland”, our goal and commitment to stakeholders.
About Novell

Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) delivers the best engineered, most interoperable Linux platform and a portfolio of integrated IT management software that helps customers around the world reduce cost, complexity and risk. With our infrastructure software and ecosystem of partnerships, Novell harmoniously integrates mixed IT environments, allowing people and technology to work as one. For more information, visit www.novell.com.

Novell and SUSE are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. *All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today unveiled a new way for consumers to purchase an Android mobile phone, a web store hosted by Google. The company is also launching the first phone offered through this new model, called the Nexus One, which combines the latest in hardware from HTC Corporation with the newest Android software.

The goal of Google’s new consumer channel is to provide an efficient way to connect Google’s online users with selected Android phones. The online experience of the web store has been designed with a focus on simplicity.

Through the web store found at www.google.com/phone, consumers can buy the Nexus One without service (meaning any GSM network SIM card can be inserted into the device), or purchase the phone with service from one of Google’s operator partners. As new phones come to market through this channel, consumers will benefit from the ability to match a phone of their choice with the service plan that best meets their needs. Operator prices and plan details will be featured on the site.

“The Nexus One belongs in the emerging class of devices which we call ‘superphones,’ with the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon™ chipset making it as powerful as your laptop computer of three to four years ago. It’s our way to raise the bar on what’s possible when it comes to creating the best mobile experience for consumers” said Andy Rubin, VP of Engineering. “We look forward to working with handset manufacturers and operators to bring more phones to market through this channel worldwide”

Nexus One Hardware Features

* Display: 3.7″ AMOLED 480×800 WVGA display
* Thinness: 11.5mm; Weight: 130g
* Processor/Speed: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 3G QSD8250 chipset, delivering speeds up to 1GHz
* Camera: 5 megapixel auto focus with flash and geo tagging
* Onboard memory: 512MB Flash, 512MB RAM
* Expandable memory: 4GB removable SD Card (expandable to 32GB)
* Noise Suppression: Dynamic noise suppression from Audience, Inc.
* Ports: 3.5mm stereo headphone jack with four contacts for inline voice and remote control
* Battery: Removable 1400 mAh
* Personalized laser engraving: Up to 50 characters on the back of the phone
* Trackball: Tri-color notification LED, alerts when new emails, chats, text messages arrive

“The Nexus One represents the unique combination of design and innovation two companies like Google and HTC can have when they collaborate” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. “The Nexus One continues HTC’s strategy of offering people a portfolio of phones that meet their diverse needs”

Nexus One Software Innovation

The Nexus One runs on Android 2.1, a version of the platform’s Eclair software, which offers advanced applications and features including:

* Google Maps Navigation: offering turn-by-turn driving directions with voice output.
* Email: multiple Gmail accounts; universal inbox and Exchange support.
* Phone book: aggregate contacts from multiple sources, including Facebook®.
* Quick Contacts: easily switch between communication and social applications.
* Android Market: access to more than 18,000 applications.

In addition, the Nexus One introduces new functionality and software enhancements:

* Enter text without typing.
* Use a voice-enabled keyboard for all text fields: speak a text message, instant message, tweet, Facebook update, or complete an email.
* Tell your phone what you want it to do.
* Search Google, call contacts, or get driving directions by just speaking into your phone.
* Take personalization to the next level.
* Dynamic, interactive, live wallpapers react to the touch of a finger.
* More widgets and five home screen panels allow for further device customization.
* Capture camera-quality pictures and video with your device.
* 5 megapixel camera includes LED flash, auto focus, zoom, white balance and color effects.
* View pictures and Picasa Web Albums in the new 3D Gallery.
* Record Hi-Res MPEG4 video, and then upload to YouTube with one click.
* Read your voicemail messages.
* Get transcribed voicemail with Google Voice integration, without changing your number.

Pricing, Availability, and Future Plans

Nexus One is initially available from the Google web store in the US without service for $529 or starting at $179 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile USA. In the near future, Verizon Wireless in the US and Vodafone in Europe plan to offer services to customers in their respective geographies. Today, consumers can go to www.google.com/phone to learn about the Nexus One and place an order. We will initially take orders from consumers in the US and three other markets – the UK, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

In the coming months Google plans on partnering with additional operators, offering consumers access to a broad set of service plans. In the future we expect to launch more phones with Android handset partners and to expand the web store to more countries.

About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

SGI (NASDAQ:SGI), a global leader in HPC and data center solutions, today announced that Imperial College London, one of the UK’s most prestigious educational establishments, has selected SGI Altix ICE 8200 EX, a Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) solution, to add to its central high performance computing (HPC) service.
Consistently rated among the world’s best universities, Imperial is a science-based institution with a global reputation for high quality teaching and academic research. Imperial College required an advanced computing solution for students and researchers to conduct course work and research that depend on extremely complex process modeling. The college selected the SGI dual-rail Infiniband supercomputer, Altix ICE 8200 EX, which uses the latest Intel® Xeon® Nehalem processors.

The SGI installation will act as Imperial’s high-end HPC system, providing a central service to handle all study and research applications common to HPC academia, such as computational fluid dynamics, and weather and ocean modeling. The new system also acts as a stepping stone to the national academic supercomputer service HECToR (High End Computing Terascale Resources).

“Due to the complex nature of the target applications, speed, performance and low latency are critical factors for our HPC users,” said Simon Burbidge, HPC coordination manager at Imperial College London. “The new SGI installation has proven to perform very well across these attributes and will enable researchers at the university to tackle larger, more difficult problems than ever before.”

SGI will provide dedicated in-house application expertise to Imperial College London as part of the technology partnership to help port and optimize key codes onto the new SGI architecture.

“Imperial College London is at the absolute forefront of technological development and scientific understanding,” said Rod Evans, vice president of sales for Northern Europe at SGI. “Altix ICE will help drive its academic research to new levels with highly reliable, extremely energy efficient and scalable hardware, allowing them to continually evolve their HPC capabilities.”

SGI Altix ICE supercomputers are designed-to-order for data-intensive computing. Featuring integrated blade architecture, Altix ICE supports extremely high densities – up to 512 processor cores in a single rack – and is easily scalable to thousands of nodes, making it an ideal solution for the most challenging computing problems. In addition, the Altix ICE blade architecture offers unique technologies like diskless nodes and integrated backplanes, which not only enhance reliability, but reduce operating costs by reducing power expended for cooling.

About SGI

SGI is a global leader in large-scale clustered computing, high performance storage, HPC, data center enablement and services. SGI is focused on helping customers solve their most demanding business and technology challenges. Visit www.sgi.com for more information.

About Imperial College London

Consistently rated amongst the world’s best universities, Imperial College London is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research that attracts 14,000 students and 6,000 staff of the highest international quality. Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and business, delivering practical solutions that improve quality of life and the environment – underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.

Since its foundation in 1907, Imperial’s contributions to society have included the discovery of penicillin, the development of holography and the foundations of fiber optics. This commitment to the application of research for the benefit of all continues today, with current focuses including interdisciplinary collaborations to improve health in the UK and globally, tackle climate change, and develop clean and sustainable sources of energy. For more information, please visit http://www.imperial.ac.uk.

Continuing to lead the revolution in face-to-face online video communication, Skype today announced support for Skype™ video calls on PCs in 720p high definition (HD), as well as Skype software embedded into Internet-connected widescreen televisions from its consumer electronics manufacturer partners.
High Definition Skype Video Calling

The latest version of Skype for Windows can deliver up to 720p HD-quality video calling at 1280 x 720 resolution, at up to 30 frames per second, giving individuals an even smoother and richer video calling experience. To make an HD video call, users will need a high-speed broadband connection, a new HD webcam, a PC with a 1.8 GHz dual-core processor and Skype 4.2 Beta for Windows.

“With HD-quality Skype video calls, we can bring our users even closer to the ones they love through an even richer, more meaningful video calling experience,” said Josh Silverman, CEO of Skype. “Imagine being able to see the sparkle of your grandchild’s eyes or the setting of your best friend’s engagement ring. Through the innovation of Skype’s engineers and our hardware partners, these scenarios are now possible without having to buy expensive equipment or software.”

New HD webcams are due to arrive in early 2010. At CES, faceVsion and In Store Solutions introduced new HD webcams that are optimized to work with Skype. In order to make HD video calling available to as many people as possible, the new Skype Certified™ HD webcams handle the video encoding and processing onboard, removing the need for a high-performance computer to encode the HD video.

faceVsion developed the FV TouchCam N1, an HD encoding webcam optimized for Skype video calling. Two versions of the faceVsion webcam will ship, beginning in February 2010: one with a microphone ($99) and one without ($69). In Store Solutions introduced two new HD encoding webcams, the FREETALK® HD PRO ($120) and FREETALK® HD PRO PLUS ($140), which will be available in March 2010. Both the faceVsion and FREETALK webcams will be available for purchase online via the Skype Shop (skype.com/shop).

Skype-enabled Televisions

Skype is already renowned for popularizing video calling and bringing people closer together through rich, real-time communication. With Skype embedded into Internet-connected HDTVs, the company is creating a new experience that will allow people to communicate from the comfort of their living rooms.

The new HDTVs will deliver familiar Skype features including:

Free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls
Calls to landline or mobile phones at Skype’s low rates
The option to receive inbound calls via a user’s online Skype number
Skype voicemail, if it is set up
Being invited to participate in voice conference calls with up to 24 other parties
Support for up to 720p HD video calls, depending on the availability of high-speed broadband and a HD webcam
At CES, Skype announced partnerships with LG and Panasonic to offer Skype–enabled HDTVs. Skype software will be embedded into Panasonic’s line of 2010 VIERA CAST-enabled HDTVs and LG’s 26 new LCD and plasma HDTVs with NetCast Entertainment Access™. Both lines are expected to be available in mid-2010. Both LG and Panasonic will offer specially-designed HD webcams that are optimized for Skype video calls as separate accessories that can be plugged into the televisions. These webcams support 720p HD and include special microphones and optics that can pick up sound and video from a couch-distance.

“The popularity of Skype video calling has increased substantially in recent years with an average of 34% of Skype-to-Skype calls now including video,” added Silverman. “For many people who are video calling on Skype, they have expressed a desire to communicate with their friends and family from somewhere comfortable, and preferably on a big screen. Logically, this led to the development of Skype embedded on HDTVs.”

Skype recommends uninterrupted high-speed broadband of at least 1 Mbps symmetrical bandwidth to achieve 720p HD-quality video calls on either a PC or television.

For more information about Skype-enabled televisions, please visit skype.com/go/TV or view a demonstration during CES at the Panasonic (Central 9405) or LG (Central 8205) booths. Further details, multimedia, and partner press releases are also available at http://bit.ly/8xumEu.

About Skype

Skype is software that enables the world’s conversations. Millions of individuals and businesses use Skype to make free video and voice calls, send instant messages and share files with other Skype users. Everyday, people everywhere also use Skype to make low-cost calls to landlines and mobiles. Download Skype to your computer or mobile phone at skype.com.

Access to a broadband Internet connection is required. Skype is not a replacement for traditional telephone service and cannot be used for emergency calling.

Skype, associated trademarks and logos and the “S” symbol are trademarks of Skype Limited.