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Ultrafast opens the door to new Broadband 20/20 services and significant revenue growth November 23, 2015, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico ??? Bringing optical fiber speeds and applications to customers around the world became significantly more achievable for service providers this week, as the Broadband Forum completed innovative work on the management of Fiber to the Distribution Point (FTTdp). Managing fiber-fed nodes in the periphery of the access network using advanced software-based techniques not only opens the way to ultrafast broadband services but also provides further stimulus for developing technologies such as G.fast ??? which achieves fiber-like speeds over shorter distances for customers connected by copper cables. At the Broadband Forum???s quarterly meeting in Mexico, the first gathering of the Forum since the highly successful launch of its Broadband 20/20 vision, it was agreed that the FTTdp YANG management model was ready for release exclusively to members for testing in network equipment. This is the Forum???s first software project written in the YANG modelling language. ???This is great news for our members whether they be service providers, vendors or test houses,??? said Broadband Forum CEO Robin Mersh. ???By adopting YANG modelling we are in the process of moving the management of FTTdp from the drawing board into the network, helping to drive open interoperability between different devices. This means service providers can offer competitive ultrafast services such as G.fast.??? G.fast is an area of considerable activity within the Forum. Next in the series of plug-fests, the Forum???s approved test house University of New Hampshire Interoperability Labs (UNH-IOL) will stage the latest G.fast plug-fest ??? paving the way to the industry???s first certifications. At the Forum???s meeting in Mexico, one of the leading lights in G.fast development, Board Member Les Brown, was presented with a Distinguished Service Award, only presented to individuals who have provided a major influence on the direction and success of broadband development. As Director of Access Standards for Huawei, Brown has more than 34 years of experience in wireline data communications technologies. ???The success of the Forum in accelerating broadband innovation would not be possible if it weren???t for the expertise and energy of its members,??? said Kevin Foster, Chairman of the Broadband Forum. ???When the Broadband Forum started there were less than a million broadband connections and now there are more than 750 million. This is an extraordinary achievement and one that would not be possible without the hard work and commitment of our members, like Les, on our various projects.??? The Forum???s Broadband 20/20 vision, leveraging the innovative use of NFV, SDN, ultrafast access, Internet of Things (IoT) and, when formally defined, 5G, in the home, small business and multiuser infrastructure of the broadband network, was launched globally only last month.
As more IoT devices come online, mobile operators are virtualizing their subscriber repositories REDWOOD CITY, Calif.??? 19 November, 2015 ??? Openwave Mobility, a software innovator enabling operators to manage and monetize encrypted mobile data, today announced that three Tier-1 operators have deployed its Subscriber Data Management (SDM) solutions. This validates the need for solutions that can help operators manage and monetize the Internet of Things (IoT) along with their subscriber data. According to Infonetics Research, the worldwide SDM market grew 29 percent in 2014 over 2013, to $1.4 billion. And ABI Research estimates 41 billion connected devices by 2020. Reflecting this recent growth, Openwave Mobility maintains the largest SDM/UDR (User Data Repository) deployment in the world with over 130 million subscribers at a Tier-1 operator in North America. The SDM solutions are also being deployed with a Tier-1 operator in Japan, and one of the largest group operators based in Europe. SDM is being utilized by these operators to address critical use cases such as UDR and identity management solutions. Some of these operators are now looking to deploy IoT devices. Openwave Mobility launched the industry???s first Subscriber Data Federator (SDF) earlier this year, which enables operators to manage diverse and siloed data stores through Data Federation. SDF has a flexible interface between data silos allowing for a consolidated view of all subscriber data that can be accessed by all authorized applications. This situation is arising with increasing frequency as IoT connected devices often arise in groups with their own dedicated and streamlined data stores. In addition, Openwave Mobility has deployed its Smart User Repository (SUR) with several operators. SUR seeks to provide centralized management of all subscriber data. This allows operators to reduce service innovation cycles by exploiting common subscriber information. In the latest market inflexion Openwave Mobility is now seeing huge interest in its Identity Management solution, which puts mobile operators right at the center of the drive for subscribers to have a single protected identity as they move between applications, networks and IoT devices. ???Farsighted mobile operators understand that IoT will continue to generate a flood of devices or so called ???USERS??? for service providers,??? said Indranil Chatterjee, Vice President Strategy and Marketing at Openwave Mobility. ???They are starting to plan how best to manage the ever growing scale of users and how they can store, manage and monetize it. We are thrilled that our SDM solutions have been globally embraced by leading Tier-1 operators in North America, Europe and Japan. In fact, one of the Tier-1 operators has deployed our fully virtualized SDM solution in their private cloud to scale up and manage hundreds of millions of IoT end points.??? An infographic on the journey to subscriber data management is available for download. Visit www.owmobility.com or contact [email protected] for more information.
New cloud service to save housing associations over ??100,000 pa in operational costs Bracknell, Thursday 19th November 2015: Google for Work Premier Partner, Ancoris, has today announced the launch of Ancoris Maps for Housing, an online mapping and visualisation solution for housing associations, available on an annual subscription basis. Ancoris Maps for Housing gives housing association workers access to live data from their existing systems such as property types, voids, rent arrears, housing officer patches, administration boundaries and maintenance status, which are then overlaid securely on a familiar Google Map. The online service helps housing associations to reduce costs, improve decision making and enhance tenant satisfaction. Examples include: increasing the number of property and tenant visits by letting, rent, maintenance and estate officers through improved travel planning.ensuring gas safety checks are valid, and repairs are done on time by allocating appropriate staff based on location.reducing rent arrears by visualising information to plan and take preventative action.allocating property to the right tenant by matching customer needs to local areas.The solution combines operational data with location elements and is accessible from any device, web and mobile. This data can be filtered and analysed to identify trends and patterns to help improve housing association performance. In addition, when staff are in the field, they can optimise travel planning from the map, and easily contact tenants, contractors or other workers. Jon Cocker, Director of Business Technology at Waterloo Housing, said after a successful pilot: ???Ancoris Maps for Housing has given both directors and housing officers a much clearer picture of our housing stock to help make smarter decisions and improve productivity. 94% of our users said mapping would be a vital tool moving forward???. ???We want to help housing associations experience the transformative nature of going digital with applications based on the simplicity of Google Maps??? commented Ancoris CEO David McLeman. ???With continued pressure on housing, we can support Housing Associations as they carry out their vital role in communities, with relevant information and data to help them make better decisions for tenants.???
Integration with Docker, VMware and Microsoft SQL among key advancements in software for flagship computer systems London, UK, November 18, 2015 ??? Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) today announced new software developments, including integration with Docker containers, VMware management and Microsoft SQL databases, that advance its flagship ClearPath Forward??? computer systems. The new capabilities are designed to evolve ClearPath Forward systems further into open, software-driven platforms that serve as hubs in hybrid software-defined data centers. The new software capabilities boost application performance on ClearPath Forward systems, streamline management of enterprise-wide IT infrastructure, bolster data protection for critical workloads, expand support for widely used third-party virtualisation technologies, and simplify application development. With this move, Unisys has fully integrated the capabilities of its Forward platform ??? previously offered separately for Linux and Microsoft Windows applications ??? into the ClearPath line, capitalising on the systems??? common software-based fabric computing architecture. The key ClearPath Forward software advancements announced today are: Multiple secure fabric partitions providing data isolation and enhanced security;Integration with Docker containers and VMware management for virtualization;Data exchange between ClearPath and Microsoft SQL databases;Application Integration Services that simplify development of cross-platform applications;Ethernet gateway switching for interoperability with existing data centers.???Redefining the ClearPath Forward line as a software-driven platform is a cornerstone of the Unisys technology strategy,??? said Tarek El-Sadany, senior vice president, Technology, and chief technology officer, Unisys. ???We recognise that software provides the greatest added value to our ClearPath Forward clients, and we are committed to continually providing new capabilities that enable their systems to serve as the foundation for fully integrated, enterprise-wide hybrid computing infrastructure. Those enhancements will make it easier for our clients to deliver critical business services to their customers faster, at significantly lower capital and operational cost, while building on their long-term IT investments.??? The software-based ClearPath Forward fabric runs on Intel Xeon processors. The fabric links all computing resources and components via a high-speed interconnect, with Unisys secure partitioning (s-Par??) software managing all application workloads. Each partition is a software-defined blade with dedicated processing, memory and input/output resources for each workload, eliminating contention among applications for computing resources and enabling fast, predictable application performance with exceptional security. Each ClearPath Forward system can support nodes running either the Unisys MCP or OS 2200 operating environment, as well as those running Linux or Windows. Applications running in all environments on a given system can interoperate over the fabric. Enhancements Boost Workload Capacity and Security, Simplify ManagementThe new secure fabrics capability speeds up traffic across the fabric and boosts security for sensitive workloads and associated data as well. The capability enables users to designate up to 118 secure fabric pipes for priority access to additional application resources and provide extra security. For example, a human resources or healthcare application using sensitive data would be an ideal candidate to be moved from a separate server to a ClearPath Forward partition within a secure fabric. Secure fabrics use remote direct memory access (RDMA) protocols for memory-to-memory communication to deliver performance enhancements. For extra workload and data protection, secure fabrics delegate authentication to a separate, ???out of band??? administrative network, providing virtual LAN (VLAN) capabilities without security risks. The Unisys Stealth??? solution provides an option for additional security, complementing secure fabrics and the unmatched security of OS 2200 and MCP. Docker and VMware integration expand the options for making ClearPath Forward systems part of extended enterprise IT infrastructures. The ClearPath Forward system???s new integration with the popular, container-based Docker platform enables multiple applications to run in their own containers within a single partition under one copy of the operating system ??? unlike standard virtualised environments, which require a copy of the operating system per virtual machine. This increases workload density on a ClearPath Forward system while reducing resource overhead, increases security for Docker workloads through ???out of band??? authentication, and simplifies infrastructure administration. An application programming interface (API) enables the VMware vCenter Server to see Windows and Linux partitions in the ClearPath Forward fabric, so administrators can view partition status and fabric health, manage executing workloads and provision new ones. This capability not only simplifies management of the infrastructure, but also expands the number of virtual servers it can support for critical business operations. The Unisys Data Exchange solution speeds operations by reducing the need for batch processing and enabling applications to post data in near real time to Microsoft SQL databases and the native ClearPath Forward MCP DMSII or OS 2200 RDMS databases. This enhancement is especially valuable for advanced data analytics, because in-memory applications such as those written for the SAP HANA platform require more and faster real-time processing. Data Exchange offers a bidirectional capability for MCP and an outbound one for OS 2200, so applications can extract data from a ClearPath database and send it to an analytics database. The analytics database can in turn send back requested data to MCP applications. ClearPath Forward Application Integration Services can accelerate application development and promote interoperability in a distributed, heterogeneous application environment. The services provide API that enable applications running in one operating environment to access applications, data files and other resources running in a different one. For example, Microsoft .NET developers can write applications that call on MCP or OS 2200 transactions or files. Distributed applications deployed across the Windows and MCP or OS 2200 environments can take advantage of the high-speed interconnect in the ClearPath Forward fabric to interoperate quickly and transparently. Ethernet Gateway switching connects ClearPath Forward systems directly to Ethernet backbones in existing data centers through secure fabrics. This capability furthers the creation of enterprise-wide hybrid computing infrastructures and enables consolidated, flexible management of all data center resources.
Cambridge UK, 17 November 2015 ??? The industry standard tool for SQL Server version control now features improved Git integration, making it even easier to use. SQL Source Control v4.1 has just been released and allows users to commit to a local Git repository, and push and pull from remote Git repositories from within SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). An SSMS plug-in that links databases to version control systems, SQL Source Control gives users the ability to version control database schemas and reference data, roll back changes, and maintain the referential integrity of databases. Improving the existing Git support is the latest step in a long line of updates to the tool that have already included object locking to prevent changes from being overwritten, and UI improvements to make configuration easier. It follows the increasing adoption of Git and, in particular, the announcement in the Eclipse Community Survey 2014 that Git had overtaken SVN as the most popular version control system. To increase support for distributed version control systems like Git, the development team at Redgate Software had to do some complicated work behind the scenes. SQL Source Control was originally designed to work with a centralized version control system, and adding the extra stage of working with a local Git repository had a big impact on the user workflow and way code is shared and tested. While a lot of effort has enabled these latest improvements in the software, the user interface has deliberately been designed to make it intuitively simple. The result is that rather than having to leave SSMS and use a tool like SourceTree to push to and pull from remote Git repositories, Git users can do it with one tool they are already familiar with and use every day. The work has also opened the door to giving Git users access to a version control revision history of any database or database object linked to a Git repository from within SSMS. This enables them to see each database revision in version control, know who made each revision and when they made it, understand which objects were changed in each commit, and view the SQL differences for each object. Mickey Stuewe, a Senior Database Developer, is excited at the development. ???I???ve used SQL Source Control for five years because it handles the script side of things so well. Like many developers, I???ve grown to like Git rather than SVN because the branching features are better. Now I can use two of my favorite pieces of software together.??? Development of SQL Source Control continues at Redgate and future releases will include further enhancements to migrations feature as well as major improvements to the Commit tab performance.
Enhanced product extends businesses??? ability to manage and control software vulnerability threats comprehensively across their entire application estates Maidenhead, U.K. & Copenhagen, Denmark ??? November 10, 2015: Flexera Software, the leading provider of next-generation software licensing, compliance, security and installation solutions for application producers and enterprises, today announced Vulnerability Intelligence Manager 2016, the latest version of its Software Vulnerability Management product. The new release enhances businesses??? ability to manage and control software vulnerability threats comprehensively across their entire application estates, as cybercrime reaches critical mass and organisations realise the need to respond to the increasing threat of breaches. ???In the past years, cybercrime against corporations, organisations and government institutions has become a recognised security threat, and the importance of managing software vulnerabilities is an aspect of security that is receiving acute attention in organisations around the world. Software vulnerabilities are by far the most common entry point for cyber attackers to gain access to the IT infrastructure of any organisation,??? said Santeri Kangas, Vice President and Chief Architect of Enterprise Products at Flexera Software. ???Consequently, it is necessary to receive vulnerability intelligence for all the products that make up the organisation???s software infrastructure, in order for security professionals to assess, prioritise and mitigate the risk to the business. Vulnerability Intelligence Manager 2016 is the only product that can deliver verified vulnerability intelligence for all systems and applications in the environment, thereby effectively reducing the attack surface for cybercriminals.??? New capabilities in Vulnerability Intelligence Manager 2016 include information on alleged vulnerabilities that did not pass the validation criteria by Secunia Research and are therefore not categorised as having a security impact. This benefits customers who need to document decisions to not act on possible vulnerabilities for compliance or auditing purposes. Another new feature enables importing software inventories from Microsoft System Center 2012 to correlate vulnerability intelligence with asset lists, thereby reducing time required to mitigate threat and exposure to incidents and breaches. Verified Intelligence for All Systems and ApplicationsCovering more than 50,000 software systems and applications, Vulnerability Intelligence Manager 2016 provides the most comprehensive intelligence about software vulnerabilities available to organisations, ensuring that all security threats can be dealt with before the IT infrastructure is compromised by cybercriminals. Through verified vulnerability intelligence covering all applications and systems across all platforms, it effectively reduces the attack surface for cybercriminals, drives prioritisation by handling intelligence, workflows, tickets and alerts, and documents the steps to mitigate the risk of costly breaches. ???We???re very happy to successfully launch this new version of Vulnerability Intelligence Manager ??? formerly a Secunia product ??? under the Flexera Software brand. The quality of the vulnerability intelligence delivered by Secunia Research is the backbone of the product, and this release demonstrates Flexera Software???s commitment to invest, innovate and deliver the market-leading vulnerability intelligence solutions enterprises have come to expect and demand,??? said Maureen Polte, Vice President of Product Management for Software Vulnerability Management at Flexera Software. Resources:Learn more Flexera Software???s Software Vulnerability Management Solutions: Vulnerability Intelligence ManagerCorporate Software InspectorPersonal Software InspectorRequest a free trial here: http://secunia.com/products/corporate/vim/trial.
New features enable universal debug capability with interworking between legacy signal-based architectures and advanced message-based systems CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, 5th November 2015UltraSoC, the leading provider of on-chip monitoring and analytics solutions for complex systems-on-chip (SoCs), today announced significant enhancements to its product, allowing users to integrate legacy signal-based systems with the company???s message-based architecture. The new capabilities are particularly beneficial to SoC designers working with the range of processor cores from ARM and its associated debug system, CoreSight. UltraSoC???s vendor-independent technology allows engineering teams to understand what is really happening inside the SoC, non-intrusively and at wirespeed. This enables them to control and monitor the behavior of any on-chip structure ??? be that a processor, third-party block, custom logic or bus ??? in active operation. Such capabilities are essential for the engineers whose task it is to ensure that the device and its software are functioning correctly. The features announced today provide a bridge between UltraSoC???s infrastructure and traditional signal-based systems such as CoreSight, so UltraSoC provides truly universal debug capabilities with faster, more reliable development and performance profiling. ???UltraSoC is a 21st-century solution to the growing crisis in chip design,??? said Rupert Baines, UltraSoC CEO. ???Modern SoCs are massively sophisticated, and are just too complex for architects to fully understand or predict using traditional debug techniques. The world has moved away from a signal-based approach to message-based architectures: the success of network-on-chip (NoC) companies such as Sonics, Arteris and NetSpeed is testimony to this. But customers have made substantial investments ??? both in terms of dollars and in intellectual property ??? in the older signal-based technologies. We bridge that gap, with a ???smart??? vendor-neutral approach that helps developers who employ IP from several different suppliers, or who need more than simple CPU monitoring to debug and optimize their designs.??? By interworking smoothly with signal-based products such as CoreSight, UltraSoC enables a holistic and fully-featured solution for on-chip debug and performance analysis, including monitoring of custom logic; transactions on common bus structures such as AXI and OCP; monitoring of processors, including ARM, MIPS and XTensa cores; support for custom logic; deadlock detection; optimization; and generation of meaningful performance metrics such as latency and best/worst/average utilization. The UltraSoc functionality is non-intrusive, operates at system speed and integrates functionality to intelligently filter signals to reduce trace bandwidth and efficiently highlight problems. Today???s enhancements to the UltraSoC IP portfolio include a new trace receiver module within UltraSoC???s silicon IP offering, which enables data captured within the signal-based system (for instance ARM???s Trace Bus (ATB) for data captured within CoreSight about the operation of an ARM processor) to be transferred to the UltraSoC infrastructure and integrated with corresponding information from the wider system. The complementary trace communicator functionality is also supported, with UltraSoC messages ??? such as information from other vendors??? IP or from custom logic ??? sending information into the signal-based sub-system. With standard features such as run control, alongside more sophisticated functions such as cross-triggering, conditional-trace triggering and trace filtering, as well as automated statistics and logic, this provides a much more capable infrastructure than was previously possible. Engineers can use UltraSoC to replace legacy solutions (whether in-house or CoreSight); or the technology can be deployed as a fully compatible ???wrapper??? to extend them, integrating them with other parts of the system and enabling a unified, coherent solution across the whole SoC. UltraSoC will be demonstrating these new capabilities for the first time in public at ARM TechCon (Booth 215, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, 10 ??? 12 November 2015) and subsequently at Semisrael Expo (Booth 27, Avenue Convention Center, Airport City, Israel, 17 November 2015). Booth #215, ARM TechCon, Santa Clara Convention Center, 10 ??? 12 November 2015Booth #27, Semisrael Expo, Avenue Convention Center, Airport City, Israel, 17 November 2015
04/11/15 Manchester, UK – For organisations looking to switch to a virtualized, cloud-computing environment, VXL Software???s new CloudDesktop??? PC repurposing software delivers a more viable solution to that of a legacy PC infrastructure. Having to continually invest in and provide support for an older business PC network can often become unsustainable for organisations. Combined with the existing investment of a large PC infrastructure, VXL???s CloudDesktop??? represents an easy-to-deploy and low cost alternative featuring VXL Software???s latest Gio 6 Linux based operating system. By extending the life of legacy PC???s as re-configured and fully-optimized thin client devices, VXL???s CloudDesktop??? offers a seamless PC-to-thin client transition strategy without the cost of acquiring new hardware and maximising the existing investment. Requiring very modest RAM and memory (min 1GB respectively) to run virtual applications, legacy PCs can be converted into fully functional thin clients in minutes and at a fraction of the cost of buying new thin clients. Gaining all the benefits of virtualized computing, including better security, zero viruses and low power consumption, CloudDesktop provides a unique stepping stone solution from traditional fat PCs to thin clients. Compatible with a wide range of the industry protocols, including Citrix, VMware and Microsoft, VXL???s CloudDesktop???, runs on X86 base PC???s and supports Intel, AMD and VIA processors. Extremely easy to configure and set-up in minutes, VXL???s CloudDesktop??? can be deployed via USB, CD-ROM / DVD or remotely using management tools and is available in both French and German language versions. CloudDesktop???s integral USB Device Manager also controls which USB devices can be used, not only the type and manufacturer but also the make and model, while the Repository Manager provides App store-like convenience for deploying different protocols and applications. Incorporating support for VXL???s Fusion Universal Device Manager (UDM), CloudDesktop??? also offers organisations the ability to construct an effective and managed solution. Furthermore, as the devices are centrally managed, all software updates can be simultaneously deployed without having to undertake time consuming individual tasks. Commenting on the launch, Frank Noon VP Worldwide Sales, added ???Under the current business climate, organisations constantly have to balance the need to replace ageing PCs against the constraints of a tough economic outlook and stretched IT budgets. VXL???s CloudDesktop??? PC Repurposing software offers an effective and sustainable solution at a fraction of the cost???. VXL CloudDesktop??? PC repurposing software is available now, at $36.99 per licence and includes one year maintenance and support. In addition to English, CloudDesktop is also available in French and German language versions. ENDS Please contact Ian Cope, Marketing Manager at [email protected]. For more information, please visit: www.vxlsoftware.com/clouddesktop