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About 1784 days ago PCs, Laptops, and Notebooks

Five Features No New Laptop Should Be Without

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Seasoned computer users know the most important laptop features boil down to processor, system memory, battery life, and monitor size — but consider these the essential “basics” that are just as relevant today as they were a decade ago. Since then, however,  we’ve had a number of new technologies crop up, such as dual- and quad-core CPUs, wide-area networking (WAN) connectivity, solid state drives and security-related tools. Here’s a look at a few of the newer features available if there’s a need and a budget. Multicore processors Why limit yourself to one engine under the hood of your car when you can have two or four? This is a way to think about dual- and quad-core technology, giving your laptop a serious boost in performance. Powered by chipmakers Intel and AMD, many laptops today include a dual-core processor, which speeds up your applications and makes multitasking smoother, while high-end laptops have quad-core processors for serious PC video editors, animators, and gamers. The good news is that you need not break the bank to afford one as dual-core CPU-based laptops start at $549. Solid state drives Rather than a traditional hard drive to store all of your PC’s data, laptops with “solid state drives” (SSDs) use Flash memory — similar to what holds your digital camera’s photos or iPod nano’s music — which offers a number of advantages to the mobile computer user. Solid state-based laptops are smaller, lighter, more energy efficient, run faster, and are less susceptible to damage because there are no moving parts. “In many vertical markets, rugged-ization and durability are very important, with features like shock mounted [hard disk drives] or SDDs, crumple zones in the notebook in case of accidental drops, and spill-proof keyboards,” says David Daoud, an analyst with IDC, a Framingham, Mass.-based technology research firm. Not everyone is sold on SSDs, however. Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director at the New York-based Jupiter Research firm, says small businesses watching their budget might be turned off at the relatively high costs of SSDs compared to traditional hard drives. “While battery life is improved, you’ll definitely pay a premium for not a lot of disk space, plus the claims about [increased] performance are not proven,” says Gartenberg. “The best bang for your buck is still is magnetic [hard disk] storage.” Integrated cell connections Rather than hunting for a Wi-Fi hotspot, your laptop can log online anywhere you can get cell phone reception — even while on a moving train or in the back of a cab. A new trend is for laptop makers to include integrated GSM/GPRS connectivity, giving you access to a wireless carrier while on the go. Some even include support for high-speed “3G” connections, offering broadband-like wireless speeds. “Integrated WAN and GPS are interesting new features in laptops,” agrees Gartenberg. But he cautions “you need to decide if you’re willing to make an investment in a carrier, which is not unlike a cell phone commitment.” “In the wireless world, we also expect Qualcomm’s Gobo chip to find a great deal of interest, among those who travel a lot and travel across regions with different wireless broadband standards,” adds Daoud. Side view screens Many laptops today include a 2.5-inch colour liquid crystal display (LCD) on the opposite side of your screen — just as your flip phone might have a smaller screen on the outside (mainly to show who’s calling). Some Windows Vista-based laptops include an extra “SideShow” screen so you can quickly read downloaded emails, notes or calendar appointments — all without having to turn on the PC. Gartenberg agrees a “mini environment in which you can rapidly boot up to look at a calendar or access a Web browser” is appealing, though SideShow hasn’t caught on just yet: “It remains as a promise more than a fulfillment at this point.” Security improvements, too Integrated fingerprint readers are a reliable biometrics-based technology that ensures only the laptop user can access data on the drives — an important consideration given the potentially sensitive corporate data carried under the arm while traveling. Further, traditional locks, from the likes of Kensington, can serve as a visible deterrent to a would-be thief; a steel cable is connected to a small security slot on the laptop, usually at the side or back, before tethered to a large or heavy object, such as a desk at an airport lounge. A mobile businessperson may also install clever software, such as Lojack (from $39.99 a year), that will stealthily contact the security center with its whereabouts the moment the stolen laptop is connected to the Internet. But for all of these newer laptop features, however, Gartenberg believes one of the most important is still battery life. “Today, it’s possible to have your laptop last more than 10 hours on single charge — you don’t want to fight for a plug at the airport or your local Starbucks. “At the end of the details these are the details that boost productivity,” he says.

About 1906 days ago Mobility Tips and Tricks

Enabling the Mobile Workforce

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The success of today’s mobile worker largely depends on IT support. For anyone inclined to challenge this statement, consider the word choice that comes from your prototypical mobile worker when he or she can’t achieve an Internet connection. Exactly. My last column on the mobile workforce covered the importance of standardizing both hardware and software as well as establishing the rules of engagement. Now I’d like to delve into other issues – giving your mobile workers the tools and support they need while protecting your business and your business equipment and data. Work from home vs. on-the-go employees As you take a look at your employee base, it’s important to distinguish the true road warrior from the work-from-home (WFH) user — as if we need yet another acronym — scenario. The WFH user requires nothing more than an office environment in the home; i.e., a computer (laptop or desktop), printer, fax, phone, etc. This one is easy. The environment is static and controlled. On the other hand, mobile workers by definition are always on the go. Like the traveling salesman of yesteryear, they’re on the road, at home and on the customer’s site. They need the tools to be productive from a multitude of locations, whether it’s a Starbucks, library, or municipal hotspot. As my company, The Hoffman Agency, has evolved to embracing mobile working, my role has also evolved. The management team has not only turned to me to manage the flow of bits and bytes beyond our office corridors, but also for my perspective on what makes a successful mobile worker. They recognize that I’m the one on the front lines interacting with mobile employees. In short, I’ve found that four attributes characterize the person who successfully adjusts to an ever-moving office: Self Discipline: For some people, out-of-sight-out-of-mind brings out the worst of human procrastination. It takes a certain amount of mental toughness to maintain productive work habits in diverse settings without “the man” lurking. Organized: No question, working on the go puts a premium on organization skills. Resourcefulness: Mobile workers encounter the unexpected on a regular basis. If they call IT every single time something goes awry, you’ll need to add a call center in Bangalore. I’ve found that the person who can safely secure a cup of coffee while working on a laptop without a tabletop bodes well for this characteristic. Pack Mule: I know several people who carry so many laptop batteries that the weight exceeds that of the actual computer. If you can’t figure out an easy way to lug the stuff, you’re starting in a handicapped position. Tracking company-owned assets Related to this “stuff,” IT needs to track the assets of the company-owned equipment. And our employees sign a document of good faith that they’re responsible for the loss or damage of equipment from negligence or what we term lack of common sense. Checking a laptop computer as baggage, then discovering a cracked screen upon pickup is not normal wear and tear. There are a number of tools available that make the mobile worker’s life a lot easier. I’m a fan of a Web-based conferencing product called GoToMeeting that gives your mobile folks an easy way to pull together a virtual meeting. Attendees don’t need pro-loaded software on their computers in order to participate. They simply click on a URL address sent from the meeting host, and they’re up and running. I also find the unappreciated flash drive (or thumb drive) is a must-have tool for folks on the move. It plugs into your laptop via the USB port, becoming another storage drive and allows employees to carry electronic files from the office and home computer for easy access to their laptop. We can’t overlook the challenge of security. My last column touched on security between the home office and the outside world (via the Internet Service Provider). For flash drives, I strongly recommend using either an encryption and/or password-controlled program. The bigger security question lies in how you secure such a disparate “playground” associated with mobile computing. In the good old days — five years ago — users would dial into the corporate network via a modem. That made security easy, since it was controlled by our server in our office. Today, it’s much more cost-effective to let companies like Boingo, Dialer.net, or T-Mobile manage the connections. These come in a variety of flavors: dial-up, broadband or wireless, and the companies also handle the security issues. Because they require a login and password, they automatically encrypt all inbound and outbound Internet traffic (e-mail, Web, IM, VoIP call, etc.) on any access point you use in their services. It becomes more complicated when your users are connecting through hotels, Starbucks, etc. and you have no control over the “free” connection. This is a favorite vulnerability preyed upon by worms, viruses and hackers because they know it’s a potential back door to Nirvana. Here, you need to make sure you’ve installed personal mobile firewalls on all of your laptops. Windows XP and Vista include a basic firewall with the operating system at no extra cost. While it’s adequate, I recommend an industrial strength mobile firewall from companies such as ZoneAlarm, Comodo, and Symantec that protects you from both inbound and outbound traffic (the Windows product only addresses inbound traffic). Recently I was at the Denver airport and struck up a conversation with one of the security people who gave me a tour of the lost and found. At first glance, it seemed like Wal-Mart’s computer department. He told me they average roughly 100 laptops and 75 other mobile devices (cellphones, PDAs, etc.) every two to three weeks, with about half of these left when people go through security. It was a reminder to me that security for mobile users needs to come in two forms: technology and common sense. And if you come off as a nag in “nurturing” the common sense piece, so be it. Linda Wilson is the IT director of http://www.hoffman.com >The Hoffman Agency, a global public relations firm with 120 employees.

About 1966 days ago Business Software

Tech Talk: Moving Business Applications Online

Elizabeth Wasserman: Why did you need new business applications? Andrew Bartels: When I first came to the firm in 2004, there was Microsoft Excel and paper. It was a company that had done little with technology probably for the past five to 10 years. We were confronted with an opportunity to overhaul the entire infrastructure, which we did. In a medium-sized business, I needed to focus my dedicated support staff on supporting our primary applications. And yet we had so many different parts of the business that could benefit from new applications. We employ a lot of people and we’re always recruiting and hiring. We have a full time recruiter. At first, she was attempting to track all of the resumes and all of the follow up using paper. She was actually hauling around a legal style file briefcase. By implementing an HR Web application from QuickBase, we allowed her to eliminate that paper and to work out of anywhere and have access — from home, one of our branches, or Starbucks if that’s where she happened to be. Wasserman: Why did you opt to use Web-hosted applications? Bartels: We wanted these applications to be actually separate from our core system. Like many companies, we’re very focused on security and the security of our customer information. The fewer people that have access to that information from outside of our corporate network infrastructure, the better. One of the main reasons, as well, was we wanted something that was easy to get up and running and had a back end that was administered by somebody other than our support staff. We wanted our support staff focused on our core customer-facing systems.

About 1997 days ago PCs, Laptops, and Notebooks

10 Must-Have Tech Tools for 2008

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The year 2008 is when I resolve to unchain myself from my desk more. I intend to spend more time with clients and other business owners. And technology is going to play a big role in my plan. Technology has the power to liberate me from the chains that bind me to my office.  It frees you from repetitious drudgery, making my work life more enjoyable, too. That’s why I get so excited every year end. This is when I get to share my picks of the tech tools that every well-equipped entrepreneur should have for that liberated business lifestyle.  Here are my choices for ten tech tools you can’t live without in 2008 — with an emphasis on saving time, keeping you enthusiastic, and liberating you from drudgery: iPhone — The iPhone is just cool. What else can I say? There may be other handheld devices that perform more functions and allow you to leave your laptop behind when you go out of the office for the day or on a short business trip. But for pure fun in surfing the Web, the iPhone is it. Not to mention that it’s a great conversation piece at the local Starbucks that can help break the ice and initiate some professional networking. Sometimes you just need something that makes you feel “in” — in addition to helping get you out of the office. Start page — Start pages are free webpages that serve as personalized home pages.  On them you can add bookmarks, e-mail, widgets and more to organize your Web activity and communications. I run all my Web business operations from a start page at Netvibes.com. I have links to all my blog admin screens; my traffic stats; my RSS feed statistics; my social bookmarking profiles at places like LinkedIn; and even fun stuff like the local weather and motivational quotes of the day. It keeps me organized and saves time. Other start page options include: PageFlakes.com; iGoogle, My Yahoo and Protopage.com.  Business dashboard — Make 2008 the year you resolve to create a business dashboard for an overview of how your business is doing — and really use that data in your accounting program.  MyBizHomepage is a fabulous free Web-based service that imports your QuickBooks data and gives you a series of reports in a dashboard so you can see your business at a glance. And since it is on the Web, you can access it anywhere. You get the kind of dashboard that previously only big companies had access to. Wireless Broadband — As someone who travels on business an average of twice a month, I usually carry my laptop with me. But then I find myself arranging my travel around getting Wi-Fi connections — not to mention paying through the nose for Wi-Fi in hotels and airports. So this year I resolve to get a wireless broadband card so that I can be connected anywhere, anytime. Say goodbye to wasting time hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots. Say hello to being productive in those spare 30-minutes here and there while traveling. Jacquie Lawson Greeting Card Subscription — You have to see the Jacquie Lawson greeting cards to understand why they are so classy and special. A subscription allows you to send an unlimited number of electronic greetings throughout the year for personal and business purposes. They’re not a substitute in every situation for a paper card or note, but for immediate greetings they are unparalleled. Trust me, it will be the best $10 you spend. Microblogging — Twitter and similar microblogging tools are the hot new way to communicate. You type in a short message (on Twitter it’s 140 characters, or about one sentence). Your message gets broadcasted out on a public ”wire.” But you can choose just to follow the messages of certain people or companies. You can also send and receive the stream of Twitter messages on your mobile phone. Businesses use it to broadcast news, recent business blog posts and similar announcements. It’s also handy if you are at a large conference and want to find out what is going on in other sessions or where to meet up with other people. Facebook and LinkedIn profiles — Facebook and LinkedIn have emerged as the two primary social networking sites used by business people. These services are a way to keep track of your business connections (and personal connections, too). And you can expand your network and “meet” other like-minded individuals — i.e., meet the connections of your connections. Eventually another service may emerge as the new hot place, but for now it’s Facebook and LinkedIn. So get yourself a profile in each service, keep your profile up to date, and starting expanding your network. You’ll organize your contacts and be able to better keep up. Google Optimizer — Google has been outstanding at introducing new services — FREE services I might add — and my latest favorite from Google is the Website Optimizer tool. With this tool you can do testing of alternate versions of Web pages, to see whether certain text or images or page layouts will convert visitors into paying customers. Don’t waste time guessing — find out for sure what works on your website. Optimizer rocks! Voice recognition software — Voice recognition software has been around for over a decade, and it actually works quite well — so well, that I occasionally wonder why more people don’t use it. You have to “train” the software to recognize all your words, but after a couple of days it becomes 99 percent accurate. I find it great for breaking through mental blocks or writer’s blocks. Just put on your headset with microphone, and start talking. There are two major versions: Dragon Naturally Speaking, and a free version which comes installed with Windows XP/Microsoft Office. I use the free Microsoft version and a good headset. High quality headset — Speaking of headsets, make 2008 the year you invest in a good quality headset for your computer.  A USB headset is the most versatile choice, because you don’t have to worry about sound cards in your computer.  You just plug your headset into a USB port on your computer.  Voila!  You’re ready to dictate using your voice recognition software; record podcasts; use Skype to make phone calls inexpensively or for free; and to listen to audio and video so you don’t disturb others in the same room.  Logitech and Plantronics are two manufacturers of quality headsets. Bonus tool:  purse organizer — OK, gentlemen, this is for you too.  Purse organizers — inserts with a series of pockets — can be used in your laptop bag, purse or overnight bag to organize all the stuff you need to lug with you when out of the office.  An organizer can hold  pens, iPod, phone, keys, credit cards, eyeglasses, PDA, small notebooks, post-it notepads, dry-erase markers — you name it. You can easily move everything when you switch bags, too. Your life will seem so much easier when you are organized.  And yes, they come in manly colors. And if you are curious about last year’s picks, visit: Tech Tools You Can’t Live Without in 2007.  Anita Campbell is a writer, speaker and radio talk show host who closely follows trends in the small business market at her site, Small Business Trends.

About 2392 days ago Mobility Tips and Tricks

Going Wireless in Your Office

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The word “office” conjures up visions out of Dilbert, replete with rows of cubicles and desktop PCs. But these days laptops and tablet PCs are becoming more the norm and with them, an increasing penchant for wireless networks that let employees log on from anywhere on the work campus. While no one tracks the small business adoption rate for wireless local area networks (WLANs), those who service the sector say demand has spiked. Such need prompted Cisco Systems’ unit Linksys to launch a small-business focused line this year. Small businesses value added resellers (VARs) also say wireless is on a tear. “As laptops and tablet PCs get smaller and smaller, I think it’s a trend that’s only going to continue to grow,” says C.J. Ezell, president of Arrival Systems, a Mobile, Ala. VAR. Options: consumer grade or professionally installed It’s easy to see why small businesses are going wireless. Most laptops have built-in wireless connectivity, equipment is generally cheap and, if you keep things simple, it’s easy to install. “If you’re buying the consumer-grade stuff, the typical person can usually configure it inside of 30 or 40 minutes,” says Ezell. For the more sophisticated set-up, it’s a good idea to call in a professional. Marty Wachi, senior product manager at Linksys, says two-thirds of his company’s small businesses customers opt for a VAR. That’s mostly because the higher-end entries have more complicated (and more robust) security features. VARs can also add bells and whistles like virtual private networks (VPNs) that let employees tap into the network securely from home or even the local Starbucks. But even if you decide to call in a pro, setting up a wireless network is pretty cheap. You can expect to pay between $100 and $400 for equipment and the total cost rarely tops $1,000, even if you hire someone to set it up. Choices between wireless standards If you’re intent on setting up a WLAN yourself, it’s easy enough. You can buy a lot of the lower-end “prosumer” equipment at your nearby computer store. As long as you use cable or DSL for your broadband connection, most WLANS are plug-and-play systems. Aside from that, the only variables are speed and range, which boils down to a choice between one of three standards. The older generation of wireless equipment is based on Wireless B (802.11b, a standard introduced in 1999 that averages 6.5 Mbps and has a range of about 100 feet. These days, you’re more likely to get something based on either Wireless G (802.11g) or Draft N (802.11n), which get speeds of 25 Mbps and 200 Mbps and ranges of 100 feet and 160 feet, respectively. The next standard on the horizon is currently referred to as Draft N, because it’s merely a draft until the Institute of Electronical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ratifies the new standard, a move that is expected to happen next year. There’s lots of Draft N equipment on the market already. Do you need it? That depends on what kind of work you’re doing. “If you’re not going to be doing a lot of printing jobs, G would be sufficient,” says Doug Hagen, director of marketing for Netgear, a maker of wireless networking products from Santa Clara, Calif. “If you’re looking to have room to grow and cover a wide area, then Draft N makes sense.”

About 2484 days ago Computer Security

Data Lockdown

When it comes to data security, peace of mind is fleeting at best. Just when you’ve sequestered your precious information behind the highest wall money can buy, some malevolent hacker inevitably figures out a way to undermine your plan. Or one of your software vendors announces a security flaw that needs immediate patching. Perhaps that explains why security spending is the fastest-growing part of IT spending, according to market researcher International Data Corp. The information security industry is also complex, especially for those who are less than tech savvy. Do you need a software firewall? A hardware firewall? Both? The fact is, while there are scores and scores of so-called solutions, none of them can solve every potential security problem facing today’s Web-driven businesses. But there are some great systems; here are six that we like the best. Best for… Cleaning up your e-mail system Trend Micro Client Server Messaging Security for SMB What it does: Viruses, spam, and phishing are the three-headed monster of e-mail. Trend Micro helps tame the beast. The company constantly monitors e-mail threats, sending software updates to fend off viruses, quarantine spam, and foil phishers. What’s cool: Trend Micro’s system installs updates automatically and will do so as often as you like–even as frequently as once an hour–on all PCs and servers on a network, including those in remote locations. It notifies you if there’s an unusual amount of spam coming in or efforts to phish for employee data. Trend Micro also removes viruses should your system become infected. Drawbacks: The SMB client server runs on Microsoft’s Exchange server, so non-Exchange users need a different product. It also does not block spyware or unwanted content (though Trend Micro has other products that do both). Price: $241 a year (for five users) to $44,100 a year (for 1,000 users) Best for… Wireless users Meru Networks MC500 and AP200 What it does: These days, more computer users are being linked via in-house wireless networks. Meru, which makes components for corporate wireless networks, offers supercharged security protocols and data encryption to ensure that hackers can’t sit in your parking lot and read your e-mail. What’s cool: Most wireless networking equipment will detect an attempt by an unauthorized or unknown user to get access to your network. Meru’s security equipment goes even further, jamming and scrambling those rogue signals. Drawbacks: Meru can secure your company’s wireless network, but you can’t take it with you on the road. In other words, e-mail sent from public wireless networks (say, from home or the local Starbucks) is not protected. Price: Starts at $2,300, for a network of about 10 people Best for… Backing it all up SonicWall CDP 2440i What it does: Say a virus gets inside your network and corrupts your data. SonicWall’s CDP (for continuous data protection) is a giant hard drive that constantly saves the data on your network, allowing you to restore a clean version of all the data on every networked PC at the click of a button. What’s cool: SonicWall uses hard drives rather than the tape used by many other data backup providers. Simply connect SonicWall’s CDP to your network and it captures data and gives it a time stamp every time someone saves. That’s true for workers on the road too, as long as they’re connected to the network. SonicWall’s hard drive also sends an encrypted copy of its data to a bombproof location in case of emergency. Drawbacks: The backup system works only with data that’s on a company network. So if a notebook is stolen, you can recapture its data from its last save–but you can’t keep the data off the streets. Price: $1,999 (for a 192-gigabyte hard drive) to $7,999 (for a rack-mounted 1.2-terabyte drive) Best for… Handing off the problem to someone else Nexum FirstDefense for SMBs What it does: If you can’t afford an in-house security specialist, outsource the task to Nexum, which will set up a comprehensive security system and run and monitor it, 24 hours a day. What’s cool: Nexum consultants and engineers will inspect your network and systems for security weak points and then fix them. The company handles every element of security, from vulnerability scanning to putting a lid on spam. It also makes sure that all of your security products are up to date. Drawbacks: Outsourcing means giving up control as well as headaches. Another issue is that outsourcers work only with certain products; Nexum, for example, does not work with SonicWall firewalls. So if you have a security infrastructure in place, you may need to purchase new equipment. Price: $200 to $1,500 a month, depending on the size and complexity of the client Best for… An all-in-one solution Fortinet FortiGate-60M What it does: FortiGate combines hardware and software in a single box to provide a one-stop shop for basic business security. It includes a firewall, antivirus software, tools to detect if people are trying to invade your network, tools to stop them, content filtering, and features to boost network performance. What’s cool: Despite all the features, FortiGate is simple to manage. And as your company’s needs change, there’s an entire family of products to help you, for example, add wireless capabilities or more users. Drawbacks: Convenience has its price. In other words, all-in-one products generally are good at everything but great at nothing. Price: $895 Best for… Managing software updates Shavlik HFNetChkPro What it does: Software changes fast, and no one has time to track all the updates and security patches that vendors seem to be releasing on a daily basis. Shavlik’s software tracks patches offered by leading software vendors–including Microsoft, Apache, and the Firefox browser–and makes sure you know about them. What’s cool: When software patches and updates are released, Shavlik’s HFNetChkPro automatically installs them on every computer on a company’s network. In most cases, users won’t even know their computers are being updated, though Shavlik’s software issues a message if a patch is significant enough to require a reboot. Drawbacks: Shavlik systems can be difficult to deploy across multiple locations; to do so, you may need to purchase separate licenses for the product. Price: From $93 for five users to $14,685 for 999 users, plus an annual maintenance fee of 25 percent of the cost

About 2484 days ago Data Security

Data Lockdown

When it comes to data security, peace of mind is fleeting at best. Just when you’ve sequestered your precious information behind the highest wall money can buy, some malevolent hacker inevitably figures out a way to undermine your plan. Or one of your software vendors announces a security flaw that needs immediate patching. Perhaps that explains why security spending is the fastest-growing part of IT spending, according to market researcher International Data Corp. The information security industry is also complex, especially for those who are less than tech savvy. Do you need a software firewall? A hardware firewall? Both? The fact is, while there are scores and scores of so-called solutions, none of them can solve every potential security problem facing today’s Web-driven businesses. But there are some great systems; here are six that we like the best. Best for… Cleaning up your e-mail system Trend Micro Client Server Messaging Security for SMB What it does: Viruses, spam, and phishing are the three-headed monster of e-mail. Trend Micro helps tame the beast. The company constantly monitors e-mail threats, sending software updates to fend off viruses, quarantine spam, and foil phishers. What’s cool: Trend Micro’s system installs updates automatically and will do so as often as you like–even as frequently as once an hour–on all PCs and servers on a network, including those in remote locations. It notifies you if there’s an unusual amount of spam coming in or efforts to phish for employee data. Trend Micro also removes viruses should your system become infected. Drawbacks: The SMB client server runs on Microsoft’s Exchange server, so non-Exchange users need a different product. It also does not block spyware or unwanted content (though Trend Micro has other products that do both). Price: $241 a year (for five users) to $44,100 a year (for 1,000 users) Best for… Wireless users Meru Networks MC500 and AP200 What it does: These days, more computer users are being linked via in-house wireless networks. Meru, which makes components for corporate wireless networks, offers supercharged security protocols and data encryption to ensure that hackers can’t sit in your parking lot and read your e-mail. What’s cool: Most wireless networking equipment will detect an attempt by an unauthorized or unknown user to get access to your network. Meru’s security equipment goes even further, jamming and scrambling those rogue signals. Drawbacks: Meru can secure your company’s wireless network, but you can’t take it with you on the road. In other words, e-mail sent from public wireless networks (say, from home or the local Starbucks) is not protected. Price: Starts at $2,300, for a network of about 10 people Best for… Backing it all up SonicWall CDP 2440i What it does: Say a virus gets inside your network and corrupts your data. SonicWall’s CDP (for continuous data protection) is a giant hard drive that constantly saves the data on your network, allowing you to restore a clean version of all the data on every networked PC at the click of a button. What’s cool: SonicWall uses hard drives rather than the tape used by many other data backup providers. Simply connect SonicWall’s CDP to your network and it captures data and gives it a time stamp every time someone saves. That’s true for workers on the road too, as long as they’re connected to the network. SonicWall’s hard drive also sends an encrypted copy of its data to a bombproof location in case of emergency. Drawbacks: The backup system works only with data that’s on a company network. So if a notebook is stolen, you can recapture its data from its last save–but you can’t keep the data off the streets. Price: $1,999 (for a 192-gigabyte hard drive) to $7,999 (for a rack-mounted 1.2-terabyte drive) Best for… Handing off the problem to someone else Nexum FirstDefense for SMBs What it does: If you can’t afford an in-house security specialist, outsource the task to Nexum, which will set up a comprehensive security system and run and monitor it, 24 hours a day. What’s cool: Nexum consultants and engineers will inspect your network and systems for security weak points and then fix them. The company handles every element of security, from vulnerability scanning to putting a lid on spam. It also makes sure that all of your security products are up to date. Drawbacks: Outsourcing means giving up control as well as headaches. Another issue is that outsourcers work only with certain products; Nexum, for example, does not work with SonicWall firewalls. So if you have a security infrastructure in place, you may need to purchase new equipment. Price: $200 to $1,500 a month, depending on the size and complexity of the client Best for… An all-in-one solution Fortinet FortiGate-60M What it does: FortiGate combines hardware and software in a single box to provide a one-stop shop for basic business security. It includes a firewall, antivirus software, tools to detect if people are trying to invade your network, tools to stop them, content filtering, and features to boost network performance. What’s cool: Despite all the features, FortiGate is simple to manage. And as your company’s needs change, there’s an entire family of products to help you, for example, add wireless capabilities or more users. Drawbacks: Convenience has its price. In other words, all-in-one products generally are good at everything but great at nothing. Price: $895 Best for… Managing software updates Shavlik HFNetChkPro What it does: Software changes fast, and no one has time to track all the updates and security patches that vendors seem to be releasing on a daily basis. Shavlik’s software tracks patches offered by leading software vendors–including Microsoft, Apache, and the Firefox browser–and makes sure you know about them. What’s cool: When software patches and updates are released, Shavlik’s HFNetChkPro automatically installs them on every computer on a company’s network. In most cases, users won’t even know their computers are being updated, though Shavlik’s software issues a message if a patch is significant enough to require a reboot. Drawbacks: Shavlik systems can be difficult to deploy across multiple locations; to do so, you may need to purchase separate licenses for the product. Price: From $93 for five users to $14,685 for 999 users, plus an annual maintenance fee of 25 percent of the cost

About 2576 days ago Telecom and Wireless

I’ll Be Watching You

I get 10 megabits of Internet data per second on my cable modem, 400 minutes a month of cell phone time, and more than 200 channels of TV, along with all the Wi-Fi my laptop can pick up. But what I really want is to know where my 17-year-old is on Saturday night. And apparently I’m not alone. A Boston University survey found that nearly a third of adults say they would be likely to use technology that would keep them apprised of the location of loved ones. But why stop there? What about colleagues, employees, customers? Tracking them could be pretty useful, too. It turns out you can track them. And you probably will. The “can” part is pretty straightforward. No matter how you connect to the computing and communications grid–via cell phone in a car, PDA in a mall, laptop in a Starbucks–you’re leaving an electronic trail, and there are services that can pick up that trail and plot your location on a map. These services are now, or soon will be, serving that information up to others at little or no cost. The “will” part is a little harder to grasp. The notion of tracking people’s movements, after all, is more than a little creepy. The idea that businesses might do it to employees or even the general public seems an outright violation of privacy. Indeed, labor and privacy advocates have decried the recent trend of companies electronically monitoring employees to make sure they’re not sneaking into bars, padding travel expenses, or moonlighting on company time. But managers who think the point of electronic tracking is to police their employees are being as shortsighted as teachers who think the point of the Internet is to make it easier to catch students who plagiarize. In fact, once employees and customers understand the sorts of services and capabilities that being tracked makes possible, many will ask to be tracked. The companies that figure this out first will have a leg up–and some may even be able to build new businesses around people-tracking. One pioneer in this area is the consultancy Accenture. The company has 130 employees in research labs in Chicago, Palo Alto, and the south of France, about half of whom have agreed to be tracked throughout the day by a combination of technologies, including Web cameras and badges that emit radio signals. It sounds like the devious scheme of a paranoid manager, but mistrust has nothing to do with it. Instead, the company’s goal is to foster better collaboration between employees who are constantly moving between floors, buildings, and even countries, says Anatole Gershman, the director of the labs. Anyone in any of the Accenture lab buildings can call up a map of the various campuses and see at a glance where anyone else is, and who else is with him or her, so that getting hold of the right people in the right place at the right time no longer is a hit-or-miss affair. Collaboration between employees at the different Accenture labs has more than tripled since the tracking capabilities were installed, according to Gershman, often because merely noting the presence of someone triggers an interest in contacting that person. What’s more, he adds, analyzing records of where employees spend their time helps optimize decisions about hiring, employee assignments, facilities planning, and travel budgets. Why would customers agree to be tracked? Because it might enable them to get products or services they can’t refuse. This kind of monitoring is perfectly legal and can be dictated as part of any employment contract. But it’s not just for the guy at his desk who wants to know where everyone else is; it’s also helpful for the employee who’s doing the walking around in a building or across a corporate campus. “People want to know where things are in relation to them when they’re not at their desks,” says Michael Nova, founder and CEO of Kiyon, a La Jolla, California, company that has developed wireless network technology designed to overcome the spotty coverage of conventional wireless networks inside buildings. Kiyon’s network can track the location of any device, such as a laptop or PDA, that taps in–and Nova expects that to be one of the technology’s key selling points. He notes that employees often waste time hunting for colleagues or for things. Since the location of objects can be tracked by noting in a database where they’re stored or by slapping a radio chip onto them, the network could quickly direct an employee to that archived box of signed contracts. The technology can become even more helpful for an employee visiting one of his or her company’s less familiar facilities, or if the company maintains a sprawling campus. The biggest payoff of all may go to employees on the road. Trucking and delivery companies have been tracking their drivers for years to make sure routes are covered efficiently. Companies can use tracking to fine-tune the placement and travel of their field reps to help them reach the most customers. In the past, that would have required a special GPS device and a service costing $60 per month per person or more. But now people can be tracked through their ordinary cell phones for as little as $15 a month. Nextel already offers tracking services in the U.S.–which is far behind Europe in this regard–and other cell phone carriers are rolling out similar offerings. Meanwhile, location-aware cell phones will soon offer traveling employees a variety of services, ranging from finding a nearby restaurant complete with turn-by-turn directions to telling him or her the location of nearby colleagues and customers. That’s pretty handy for on-the-road managers who don’t have a staff of assistants and travel agents working out these sorts of details for them. The services can even be set up to sound an alert when certain people are within several blocks, encouraging impromptu meetings. And in case of an emergency, there’ll be a lot less confusion over who is where. Why would your customers and potential customers agree to be tracked? Because by knowing where they are, you might be able to offer products or services they can’t refuse. If you’re a real estate broker, you could send an alert to the cell phones of house-hunters who happen to be within a mile of on-the-market homes that meet their criteria. If you’re an insurance agent, you could let clients know their driving patterns qualify them for a discount. If you’re in retail or hospitality, you could send out offers of discounts to the cell phones of passersby. “Today companies are effectively blind, pushing services at people who aren’t in the right context to receive them,” says Accenture’s Gershman. “The game changes when you don’t have to wonder where they are and what they’re doing.” Even simply knowing where your customers are logging on from can help make a tighter connection. “You can marry that with demographic information and get a pretty good guess about age range and income level,” says Ted Morgan, founder and CEO of Skyhook Wireless, based in Boston. Skyhook spent two years sending more than 100 people out to drive in and around major U.S. cities, with equipment that mapped all the wireless networks they encountered. Now the company can identify computer locations based on those wireless signals and is offering free software that turns an ordinary Internet browser into one that knows where it is. As a result, Skyhook can provide companies with the opportunity to place ads that are customized to the user’s location–here’s the neighborhood pizza parlor, here’s the sort of car that people in your neighborhood are buying. That customization even follows laptop users around in their travels. “If it doesn’t cost you anything, why wouldn’t you want more customized information?” asks Morgan. And that’s the bottom line: People-tracking will work only if the people believe it’s in their interest to be tracked. I think the advantages outweigh the risks. But making that case could take some time. Meanwhile, if someone can help me convince my 17-year-old that he’ll appreciate being tracked by me, I’d appreciate it. David H. Freedman (whatsnext@inc.com), a Boston-based writer and Inc. contributing editor, is the author of several books about business and technology.

About 2696 days ago Business Software

With Few Options, Rural Businesses Forced to Find Their Own Internet Access

Jan. 20, 2006 — While the Internet’s reach continues to spread, the majority of small businesses located in rural areas — two-thirds — still do not have terrestrial broadband access to the Internet, according to a new study. The study, released by Hughes Network Systems and Survey.com in January, surveyed 250 small businesses nationwide, to gauge their knowledge of the broadband Internet options that are available to them. HNS, based in Germantown, Md., provides satellite broadband Internet access worldwide – an option that residents and businesses in rural areas sometimes pursue because they don’t have terrestrial DSL or cable access. “There’s no one place to go to learn how to hook your business up to broadband,” said Peter Gulla, vice president of marketing for HNS. He blames the lack of broadband Internet use among small businesses on the fact that it’s difficult for these businesses to learn about their Internet access options. According to research conducted by the Small Business Administration in March 2004, the majority of small businesses use dial-up services to connect to the Internet. Though ordinary phone lines transmit the DSL signal, telephone service providers must add special equipment to their existing phone hubs to enable DSL to transmit. The equipment isn’t cheap, which keeps service providers from upgrading in rural areas. “It comes down to population density,” said Josh Holbrook, an analyst with the Yankee Group, a research firm based in Boston. The smaller the population that would benefit from DSL, the less likely a service provider will invest the money into DSL equipment. Small rural businesses “are at a competitive disadvantage because they can’t use the same applications” as businesses with high speed Internet, Holbrook said. In northern New Hampshire, the Colebrook Development Corporation, a volunteer community organization, is taking matters into its own hands. The CDC is building a wireless broadband network in Colebrook, a border town with Vermont and in close proximity to Maine. Larry Rappaport, a Colebrook selectman and manager for the wireless project, said that the CDC is two months away from launching the five wireless hubs in the area. Funds for the project were secured by Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) as well as from local private grants. “I’m concerned with the economic direction in the northern counties of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine,” Rappaport said. With manufacturing jobs leaving the community, Rappaport said the CDC wants to make sure residents can use the Internet to start businesses and continue to earn a living. The Lyndon Freighthouse in Lyndonville, Vt., owned and operated by the Paris family, recently hooked up to the Internet with a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Small Business Development Center. The grant was awarded to 12 towns in the Northern Kingdom region of Vermont — part of a two-year study to see how small businesses would improve with broadband access. The SBDC chose the Lyndon Freighthouse because it’s a relatively new business; the freighthouse itself is a historic landmark dating back to 1868. Eric and Cathy Paris bought the building in 1999 that now houses a gallery, ice cream parlor, full-service restaurant, gift shop, and a Starbucks. The grant allowed the Parises to buy the equipment needed to offer wireless Internet in their space, through a DSL line provided by Verizon. Visitors are able to access the Internet free for an hour; unlimited access is available with a purchase of food, beverage, or ice cream at the Freighthouse. The signal reaches as far as the picnic tables outside on the deck. The Parises also purchased three used laptops for people to use who don’t own their own. “It has been bringing in people we didn’t see before, for both business and personal reasons,” Cathy Paris said. Paris has noticed that customers of all ages are taking advantage of their wireless hotspot — families, visiting businesspeople, college students, and vacationers in town skiing. “We wouldn’t have stepped forward to buy the equipment without the grant,” Paris said.

About 2910 days ago Telecom and Wireless

The “Always On” Economy

I don’t envy science-fiction writers. After all, it’s getting pretty hard to stay ahead of the curve these days. Take The Golden Age, the acclaimed novel by John C. Wright. Published in 2002, the novel describes a future 10,000 years away in which people are shadowed at all times by a computer assistant ever ready to deliver dazzling tableaux of information and entertainment, as well as crystal-clear, three-dimensional visual connections to others. As it turns out, we may not have to wait 10 millennia to see Wright’s vision come to life. Three years should do it. When it comes to telecommunications, it’s hard not to feel as if we’re catching up with our own imaginations. Broadband Internet access hurls multimegabyte files at us in seconds, hand-held devices give us our e-mail on the run, Wi-Fi hot spots put us into the office network while enjoying lattes at Starbucks — mobile phones can even determine our exact location and relay it to the police in an emergency. But the networked present is about to look as out of date as a 200-pound Pong console would to a PlayStation Portable-packing teenager. A host of new technologies is on the verge of creating a new, even faster-moving “always on” business culture, in which anyone anywhere can reach out and touch almost anyone or anything else — and not just in text, snapshots, or murky video. At first ding, this might sound like your worst nightmare, especially if you already grumble about our BlackBerry culture. In reality, though, the next wave of electronic connectivity may feel less invasive, and a lot more human, than the current one — especially to the employees, suppliers, and customers of companies that master it. What will that brave new world of telecommunications look like? My guess is it will look a lot like this: 10 a.m. You’re at the airport waiting to board when you get a video call on your mobile phone from a major customer in Europe. You can tell from a twitch of his lips and his finger-tapping that he’s losing patience with the project delays. Your relaxed smile reassures him some, but not as much as the video clips you zap him of the completed mockup that came in from the subcontractors in Bangalore two hours ago. Such a scene is closer than you think. “The quality of PC videoconferencing is becoming amazing,” says Malachy Moynihan, a vice president at Linksys, in Irvine, Calif. New technology already developed by Apple and others relays about 250 times more data than you get with conventional video connections. And such transmissions will look great on the next generation of high-resolution mobile smart phones, thanks to new mobile networks already coming online that send data up to 500 times faster than conventional mobile connections, making even cable modems seem logy. 11:30 a.m. During the flight, you connect your notebook, via the aircraft’s local area network, to the screens of engineers in Minneapolis and Copenhagen, and the three of you collaboratively tweak three-dimensional blueprints of a complex new design. As you move your mouse to suggest a change, a supercomputer 2,500 miles away adjusts the design on everyone’s screen. Later, you review some freshly updated reports and video clips sent by employees and subcontractors scattered around the planet, all of which were blasted wirelessly onto your laptop just before you stepped on the plane. In fact, high-end computing vendor Silicon Graphics in Mountain View, Calif., already sells software that allows a PC user to manipulate ultracomplex images via remote supercomputer. Meanwhile, “infostations” at airports, gas stations, and other hot spots will soon use super-high-speed short-range signals to blast huge files onto passing notebook PCs and mobile devices. As for broadband networks on planes, Lufthansa has offered them for more than a year, and other airlines, including Japan Air and Scandinavian Airlines, are following suit. 2:15 p.m. You land and head over to a branch office, where you take a meeting with other top managers. Because your mobile phone now runs on a supersmart network, the device recognizes your location and knows from prior experience that you rarely take calls when you’re in this particular conference room. It knows not to interrupt you now, instead taking video messages or routing calls to others in the company. But suddenly your phone does chime — it’s a major customer in South America, someone worth interrupting a meeting for. The smart, always-on infrastructure will provide people with unprecedented control over who will be able to reach them and in what circumstances, according to Alain Briancon, chief technology officer at InterDigital, a wireless technology and applications developer in King of Prussia, Pa. Within the next five years, telecommunications networks will be able to recognize patterns in your phone use, understanding which calls you always accept and which are screened — taking into account time of day, location, and even, by noting the location of their phones, who you’re with. 5:20 p.m. In a taxi on the way back to the airport, you replenish your phone’s fuel cell with a razor-blade-size cartridge and reach your son on the school bus to ask him how the game went. Not so well, he says, beaming you a video clip taken by a teammate’s mom that clearly shows the referee wrongly calling him out of bounds on a key play. After commiserating, you call your daughter. She points her mobile phone at the math homework she’s stuck on, and you help her spot the mistake in her work. You reach your wife driving back from work; she suggests you tap into the local news back home, which is just now showing a news clip of the damage from a fire across town. Video-quality mobile phone access will become so inexpensive that you’ll probably want to give it to all your family and employees. Not only that, you won’t need separate wire phone or broadband services — you’ll do it all through a mobile network, for maybe $80 a month combined. “You’ll be able to stop thinking about what it costs to make a call or send a message,” says Michael Gold, senior research engineer at SRI Consulting Business Intelligence in Menlo Park, Calif. As for fuel-cell-powered phones, disposable fuel cells are about to hit the market as a replacement for phone batteries; refillables are a year or so off, and thumbnail-size micro-jet-engine power generators now under development at MIT and elsewhere are about five years off. 7:00 p.m. Back at the airport, your flight delayed, too tired to work, you download a movie that isn’t in theaters yet — it’s been released on the network first. The picture quality, however, is better than that in your local movie theater, which, unlike your phone, has not yet been upgraded to high definition and surround sound. Your network holds all but urgent or family calls and messages while you enjoy the show. Entertainment already dominates data usage on phones, and phone fun is only going to get bigger with rich broadband access as users fill their downtime with multimedia sports clips, 3-D games, and, of course, music. Some new music already is going straight to mobile phones. Robbie Williams’s greatest hits collection, for example, was released on memory card in December in the United Kingdom. Music videos are starting to do the same. The new, more intense, more discriminating level of interaction coming to a pocket near you may well prove so compelling that some businesses will want to restructure themselves around it. There will be a lot of ways to do it: Create closer collaborations between more geographically scattered employees and partners; develop deeper and more frequent connections with customers via always-on video selling, training, and service; even sell services delivered by mobile broadband networks. “The number of applications is going to explode,” says Sanjay Mehta, marketing director for Portal Software in Cupertino, Calif. Sci-fi author Wright needn’t fret about all this stunning progress robbing The Golden Age of its futuristic punch — he was smart enough to work in some interstellar travel. Now, there’s a technology that will safely lag our imaginations for decades, if not millennia. But here’s a bet: By the time we do make it to the stars, our phones will work there. David H. Freedman, a Boston-based writer and Inc. contributing editor, is the author of several books about business and technology.