Product Central

Before Christmas, Sandra Vogel wrote about 3's MiFi device, a £49.99 (PAYG) Huawei-made portable HSPA modem/Wi-Fi router about the size of a small smartphone.

Over the holiday period, I've been looking at a similar device from Novatel Wireless, called the Intelligent Mobile Hotspot 2352 — which also, confusingly, uses 'MiFi' branding.

Like the 3 MiFi/Huawei E5830, the IMH 2352 includes an HSPA modem (7.2Mbps down, 5.76Mbps up), a SIM card slot (ours came with a Vodafone card), an 802.11b/g wireless router (allowing up to 5 device connections), a microSD card slot (ours came with a 2GB card), a Micro-USB port and a Li-ion battery (1,530mAh). Unlike the 3/Huawei product, the IMH 2352 also packs a GPS receiver so that connected devices can make use of location-based services. In the box you get the modem/router itself, an AC adapter, a PC connection cable and a printed quick-start guide.



I've used the IMH 2352 most with my company-issue HTC S620 Windows Mobile smartphone, to deliver a fast mobile broadband connection to this GPRS/EDGE phone, chiefly for a better browsing experience while commuting. This it does with no trouble: LEDs on the unit keep you informed as to connection and Wi-Fi status, a touch on the modem's power button waking it up if it's gone into standby mode. When you need to tweak settings, the router's setup page is accessible both over Wi-Fi and when the device is used via a direct USB connection. Unfortunately, the 2352's Wi-Fi is disabled in USB Modem Mode, so you can't easily share its HSPA connectivity while recharging the device. Battery life is quoted at around four hours' active use and 40 hours on standby.

This is a very useful device — far more functional and convenient than your average mobile broadband dongle, although it did get quite warm after a while in use. However, the combination of a microSD slot that accepts cards up to 16GB and the ability to connect up to five devices over Wi-Fi makes this a handy portable NAS, on top of the HSPA modem. It's not cheap though: SIM-free from Expansys, it'll cost you £209.99 (inc. VAT). The device is also available through Carphone Warehouse
on T-Mobile and Vodafone, with prices dependent on data caps.

Data Robotics, the company behind the Drobo range of 'self-managing, self-healing storage solutions' for small businesses and creative professionals, has launched two new additions to its product line — one aimed at each of its target markets.

Drobo Elite
For SMEs looking to implement an iSCSI SAN, the 8-drive Drobo Elite extends the functionality of the Editors' Choice-winning Drobo Pro to include multi-host support for consolidating storage across several servers (up to 16). Unlike the Drobo Pro, which has one Gigabit Ethernet port (plus FireWire 800 and USB 2.0), the Elite has two GbE ports for extra performance — up to 50 percent according to Data Robotics — and redundancy. As on the Pro, Data Robotics' BeyondRAID technology supports dual-disk (RAID 6-style) redundancy, but the Elite also supports up to 255 Smart Volumes compared to the Pro's 16. Smart Volumes are virtual (16TB) volumes to which BeyondRAID assigns — and reclaims — data blocks as required.


Drobo Elite: 8 drives, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, multi-host support.

The Drobo Elite costs from £2,179 (ex. VAT) and will be available from selected direct marketers, resellers and integrators.

Drobo S
Aimed primarily at creative professionals requiring fast direct-attached storage on the desktop, the new Drobo S is a step up from the original Drobo product. The headline feature on the Drobo S is the addition of an eSATA port for a 50 percent claimed performance improvement over FireWire 800. The Drobo S also accommodates five drives compared to the Drobo's four, giving a maximum physical capacity of 10TB with today's 2TB drives. Dual drive redundancy is now supported for extra data protection, along with up to 15 Smart Volumes.


Drobo S: 5 drives; eSATA, FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 ports; dual-disk redundancy support

The Drobo S costs from £509 (ex. VAT) and will be available from online retailers and direct marketers.

Here's how Data Robotics' product line-up now looks:



Recent Data Robotics developments include certification for VMware virtual machines to operate on the Drobo Pro, the raising of $10 million in a fifth round of venture capital funding and the launch of a European online store.

A few weeks ago I met with Craig Malloy, co-founder and CEO of high-definition videoconferencing specialist LifeSize Communications, as the company was introducing its Skype-compatible Passport product. Naturally the conversation touched on Cisco's recent purchase of Tandberg. I asked Craig, somewhat flippantly, 'What if someone came waving $3 billion at you?', to which he replied, 'I guess we'd be acquired'. As it turns out, $405 million did the job, as this is the sum that Logitech is paying, in cash, for the company.

LifeSize and Logitech clearly fit well together: Logitech is a $2.2 billion peripherals company with 8,000 employees and a sales footprint in over 100 countries; LifeSize is a $90 million HD videoconferencing specialist with about 300 employees and a customer base that takes in enterprises, SMEs, healthcare, education and government. We've reviewed LifeSize kit and been impressed with its value for money compared to traditional 'telepresence' offerings. With Logitech's muscle behind it, LifeSize — which will retain its name and operate as a separate division under Malloy — looks well placed to improve its position in the business videoconferencing market.

Following Cisco/Tandberg and now Logitech/LifeSize, some observers are asking whether the remaining independent videoconferencing specialist, Polycom, will be the next to be snapped up. With 2008 revenues of $1.1 billion, it'll be a lot more expensive than LifeSize, that's for sure.

In a statement, Steve Leyland, Polycom's general manager EMEA, said: "Today’s news is further evidence that visual communications is on the cusp of going mainstream. Polycom is the market-share leader in the industry with the most comprehensive solution for video-enabling businesses of all sizes, and remains focused on delivering the best open, standards-based solutions to our customers. Polycom is well positioned to lead this market from a technology, financial and execution standpoint. We see this as creating additional opportunities for Polycom and our partners as the only independent video solution provider of scale".

Windows 7 launches officially next week (22 October), and to mark the upcoming event, three bulky packages arrive from publisher Wiley. Yes, Windows 7's assault on the world's forests is underway.



First out of the heavy-duty jiffy bag is Windows 7 Secrets (£29.99) by Paul Thurrott (he of the SuperSite for Windows) and Rafael Rivera (who is behind the techie WithinWindows blog). Weighing in at 1.58kg and 1,080 pages, there's more here than most users could possibly want — and it's definitely user-focused: the chapter entitled 'IT Pro: Windows 7 at Work' starts on page 984. But do you really want to thumb through a weighty tome such as this rather than explore the authors' web sites? We do appreciate the writing style, though. Here's Thurrott and Rivera on IE: 'To say that Internet Explorer has an ignoble history is perhaps an understatement'. Can't argue with that.

And so to the second tome, Windows 7 Bible (£26.99) by Jim Boyce. This pips Windows 7 Secrets by clocking up 1,248 pages and tipping the scales at 1.6kg. That's pretty much a small tree (a sapling anyway) all on its own. Another user-focused book, 'Bible' is drier in tone than 'Secrets' (as befits a Bible) and there's not even a nod towards the IT pro, but otherwise it's equally comprehensive.

Wiley has no fewer than 20 books on its site with 'Windows 7' in the title. It even segments the 'silver surfer' market, with Computing with Windows 7 For the Older and Wiser and Windows 7 For Seniors For Dummies. You'll certainly be a lot older if you plough through this list. Wiser? We can't possibly comment.

Amazon UK currently lists about 90 Windows 7-related books. Let's make some (tenuous) calculations. The two tomes mentioned above run to about 1,200 pages and weigh 1.6kg, which gives us 1.33g of paper per page of Windows 7 wisdom. If we assume an average of 500 pages per Windows 7 book, that gives us 60kg of paper for one complete 90-book Windows 7 library. Print runs? No idea, but let's be conservative and say 1,000 copies of each book. That gives us a grand total of 60 metric tons of paper devoted to Microsoft's upcoming OS.

Now Wikipedia tells us (I said these calculations were tenuous) that it takes about 24 trees to produce a ton of paper using chemical pulping or 12 if mechanical pulping is used. Let's assume a mixture of methods and go for 18 trees per ton of paper. Still with me? So it looks like the entire English-language Windows 7 oeuvre will cost the planet around 60x18=1,080 trees.

So think carefully before you turn over a new leaf, branch out from XP or Vista, and go rooting around for printed info on the latest Windows.

To 30, St Mary Axe, a.k.a The Gherkin, to meet Craig Malloy, CEO of High-Definition (HD) videoconferencing specialists LifeSize in their swanky new UK office. Before getting down to the journalistic business, I (like most visitors) just had to go up to the 40th floor and gawp at the view — which was splendid in today's perfect weather:



LifeSize, which was co-founded by Malloy back in 2003, is currently talking up its new Passport product, which aims to put 'telepresence in the palm of your hand' and will ship in November. Aimed at primarily at small businesses, remote offices and teleworkers, the 450g Passport codec is certainly smaller and lighter than the last bit of LifeSize kit we looked at, the 1.29kg Express. You could certainly envisage packing the £1,829 Passport model with the Focus camera/microphone combo in a travel bag if necessary.


LifeSize Passport with the Focus camera/microphone costs £1,829

If you need more functionality from the camera — perhaps for surveillance purposes — there's a more upmarket £2,559 model with a Pan-Tilt-Zoom camera and separate MicPod microphone.


LifeSize Passport with the Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera and MicPod microphone costs £2,559 (monitor not included)

The demo in LifeSize's office showed off a new feature introduced in Passport — Skype integration. All of the usual video and audio standards are supported, but Skype support (currently audio only, with HD video due 'fairly soon' according to Malloy) will make it easier for users to deal with firewall issues when setting up their communications links.

The telepresence (HD videoconferencing) market is in a state of flux right now, following Cisco's $3 billion purchase of Tandberg. The SME market looks to be a key battleground for the new Cisco/Tandberg group, LifeSize and the other key player in this market, PolyCom.

Although the price of LifeSize Passport hardly makes it an impulse buy, it looks competitive compared to rival offerings. We're hoping to get hold of a review unit soon, so look out for a full evaluation in due course.