BM's more sophisticated WebSphere Premises Server offering reflects a shift in attitude toward radio frequency identification technology. Instead of stewing over whether it's even possible to implement RFID at a reasonable cost, companies are now accepting it as a given -- and exploring how they can get the most out of their investments.
IBM Latest News about IBM is unveiling upgrades to its WebSphere Premises Server at Impact, its SOA (service-oriented architecture) event taking place in Las Vegas this week.
The buffed-up SOA software -- Version 6.1 -- and IBM's RFID Information Center will be the two main product spotlights at the event, Scott Burroughs, director of sensors and actuators, told CRM Buyer.
The cumulative effect of the improvements is that users will find it far easier to gather, analyze and act upon data from radio frequency identification tags and other sensors, he explained.
Where's the Value?
Acting upon data has become the key focus among users now that most firms that have implemented the technology have become familiar with its capabilities, Burroughs said.
"Users are shifting their focus," he said, "from the notion of 'Does the technology work?' to 'How do I exploit this technology to generate business value?'"
Getting new data from these technologies is no longer enough for users if it doesn't solve the business problem. "Companies want to know how they can act on this new visibility that they have into their supply chains," noted Burroughs.
Location Awareness, Multiple Sensors
IBM has added a new location awareness feature to the server Rackspace now offers green hosting solutions at the same cost without sacrificing performance. Make the eco-friendly choice. and says the technology in this version is better able to combine data from sensors that have multiple purposes.
In particular, the ability to detect relevant events for a business -- say a shipment of perishables that has been placed in a storage unit that is not temperature controlled -- is much easier with this application, Burroughs said, as such process rules no longer require custom coding.
"We used to have to build SOA integration capabilities. Now we have just made it part of the product through a new set of interfaces," he pointed out.
Changes to the server include the following:
* The ability to manage multiple sensor technologies in one application: passive RFID for object identification; active RFID for location information; and other types of sensors for such condition information as temperature, vibration and humidity;
* Real-time location tracking services that support the use of active RFID technologies to monitor for incidents in refineries, plants and office New HP LaserJet P4014n Printer Starting at $699 after $100 instant savings. buildings; and
* An event-processing engine that can establish business rules that act upon events the sensors report.
Eleven RFID device manufacturers have been validated on WebSphere Premises Server 6.1: Alien Technology, CAEN, Eurotech, FEIG Electronic, Impinj, Intermec, Motorola, Reva, Sirit, Tagsys and Wavetrend.
Source:technewsworld.com/story/62481.html
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Windows Small Business Server Support Services
Although the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference held here July 7-10 was the company’s opportunity to introduce the technologies to its partners, Microsoft will officially launch SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 Nov. 12, said Steven VanRoekel, senior director of Windows Server Solutions at Microsoft.
“We’re showcasing the Windows Server Solutions family” here, VanRoekel told eWEEK in a July 9 meeting at the conference. “SBS 2008 and Essential Business Server are tailored for midsized companies and we anticipate we’ll see a lot of companies deploying it, and it will be growing into more opportunity for us to sell into more situations where in the past we only had SBS."
SBS 2008, previously known by the code name Cougar, is ideal for organizations with up to 50 PCs, helping them protect business data, expand business productivity and present a professional image to customers, he said.
EBS 2008 is designed for midsize organizations with up to 250 desktops, Microsoft officials said.
Windows business server combines the technologies of Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, Forefront Security for Exchange Server, System Center Essentials 2007, the next version of Internet Security and Acceleration Server and, in the Premium Edition, SQL Server 2008 technology, Microsoft officials said.
Windows Essential Business Server enables organizations to scale up, VanRoekel said.
“The theme is about making complex consumer technology more consumable,” he said. “We go from Windows Home Server, which is five questions during install, to SBS, which is a little more sophisticated, to Essential Business Server, which is 600 pages of documentation."
“We’ve been using Small Business Server 2008 in production since December,” said John Endter, president of Microsoft partner E Squared C. “I recently did three Windows Small Business Server 2003 installs and [am] working with ’08 now; it’s no fun to go back and install 2003. Luckily, the owner of these systems plans to upgrade to ’08 when it ships.”
Endter said the “Essential Business Server takes the Small Business Server concept up one level. Some of our customers have asked for the functionality of Small Business Server, and EBS offers that to the midmarket.”
He also said the licensing terms of Small Business Server 2008 make it flexible for small businesses to use and grow their solutions.
“We have some customers who six months into the deal want to expand, and we offer the ability to grow and scale,” Endter said.
“We made it easy to move and made the price more attractive," VanRoekel said.
Meanwhile, Endter said among the things in Essential Business Server 2008 that his customers had been asking for is the remote Web workplaces capability. “Before this they had to build that on their own,” he said.
Another highly desired feature that is now part of EBS 2008 is “centralized management,” he said. In addition, “Small Business Server has been good for us, and seeing that the midmarket is a great opportunity for us, we expect to do well with the Essential Business Server."
Meanwhile, Microsoft will be releasing SDKs (software development kits) for both SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 within the next few weeks, the company said. Both products have been under evaluation as pre-release versions.
Source: www.eweek.com
“We’re showcasing the Windows Server Solutions family” here, VanRoekel told eWEEK in a July 9 meeting at the conference. “SBS 2008 and Essential Business Server are tailored for midsized companies and we anticipate we’ll see a lot of companies deploying it, and it will be growing into more opportunity for us to sell into more situations where in the past we only had SBS."
SBS 2008, previously known by the code name Cougar, is ideal for organizations with up to 50 PCs, helping them protect business data, expand business productivity and present a professional image to customers, he said.
EBS 2008 is designed for midsize organizations with up to 250 desktops, Microsoft officials said.
Windows business server combines the technologies of Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, Forefront Security for Exchange Server, System Center Essentials 2007, the next version of Internet Security and Acceleration Server and, in the Premium Edition, SQL Server 2008 technology, Microsoft officials said.
Windows Essential Business Server enables organizations to scale up, VanRoekel said.
“The theme is about making complex consumer technology more consumable,” he said. “We go from Windows Home Server, which is five questions during install, to SBS, which is a little more sophisticated, to Essential Business Server, which is 600 pages of documentation."
“We’ve been using Small Business Server 2008 in production since December,” said John Endter, president of Microsoft partner E Squared C. “I recently did three Windows Small Business Server 2003 installs and [am] working with ’08 now; it’s no fun to go back and install 2003. Luckily, the owner of these systems plans to upgrade to ’08 when it ships.”
Endter said the “Essential Business Server takes the Small Business Server concept up one level. Some of our customers have asked for the functionality of Small Business Server, and EBS offers that to the midmarket.”
He also said the licensing terms of Small Business Server 2008 make it flexible for small businesses to use and grow their solutions.
“We have some customers who six months into the deal want to expand, and we offer the ability to grow and scale,” Endter said.
“We made it easy to move and made the price more attractive," VanRoekel said.
Meanwhile, Endter said among the things in Essential Business Server 2008 that his customers had been asking for is the remote Web workplaces capability. “Before this they had to build that on their own,” he said.
Another highly desired feature that is now part of EBS 2008 is “centralized management,” he said. In addition, “Small Business Server has been good for us, and seeing that the midmarket is a great opportunity for us, we expect to do well with the Essential Business Server."
Meanwhile, Microsoft will be releasing SDKs (software development kits) for both SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 within the next few weeks, the company said. Both products have been under evaluation as pre-release versions.
Source: www.eweek.com
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Microsoft Home Server
The Small Business Technology blog talks about Microsoft Home Server. While this server is designed for the home, it also will work for the small business that only has a couple of computers.
Home Server fills a niche that previously was not being served. Microsoft does offer Small Business Server and while it is designed for companies with under 75 employees, it is more sophisticated than most starts up need or may need for many years.
One of the nice features in Home Server is that it will monitor the health of your pc and insure that such important items as your security software is up to date. In addition you can set it up to automatically back up files for your pc's every day so that you do not lose any important data.
Another nice feature is that you can remotely access your information. For example say you are on a business trip, you can access reports, invoices, order forms or any other data you might need without having to download everything to your mobile device or laptop.
For small start ups this may be a good tool to deal with your small network until your needs become greater.
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