Crumbs
Rich T finds some tasty titbits you might have missed in the week's news
Tuesday 15 April 2008, 8:54 AM
Unexpected Wi-Fi surprises
There are many perils IT departments face in rolling out a Wi-Fi network - not least ensuring there are no blackspots in places that need coverage, ensuring sufficient capacity right the way across the premises and making sure unwanted devices don't attach to the network.
But the University of Birmingham recently encountered a different kind of problem in rolling out their wireless LAN. Having talked to the guys in IT who designed the network, I found they've got the technical aspects sussed. But they were taken somewhat aback when they were asked to turn the network off.
Why? Because one senior visitor to the University was complaining that she suffered from electrosensitivity to Wi-Fi and that she wanted the signals turned off for her arrival.
This could have been an utter nuisance for the IT department, had they had to visit each access point to turn it off. Fortunately, they'd designed the network to use power over ethernet and so they simply cut the power from the required ports to take down the Wi-Fi network in the required areas.
One happy IT department, one happy visitor.
But the University's stories do beg the question: have any other ZDNet readers faced any odd requests to meddle with their WiFi network? We'd be interested to hear your experiences.
Tuesday 22 January 2008, 6:01 PM
Chambers' replacement takes centre stage at Cisco Networkers
There's no John Chambers at Cisco's huge company showcase in Barcelona this week, Cisco Networkers.
Networkers - which pulls together key company executives with Cisco's channel partners and major customers - kicked off with a host of tech sessions on Monday.
But the real show starter was today.
Chambers has found a more than adequate replacement in the shape of European president Chris Dedicoat, who delivered the opening keynote this morning.
The words 'ignite' and 'innovation' are decked everywhere here at Barcelona's International Convention Centre, and Dedicoat's jovial speech followed those themes closely.
British-born Dedicoat was keen to prove how essential ICT is economic growth.
He highlighted concerns over just how few IT graduates universities are turning out, and he argued how Europe is falling behind the US in productivity. Time to do something about that, he urged.
Cue Cisco, which is in a perfect position to do something about that, he explained.
Out came the statistics.
Fact number 1. 4200 patents: the top technology patent holder in the world.
Fact number 2. Cisco has 22,000 engineers, all innovating. (He also snuck in the fact that if you work for Cisco, and sign off the rights to your idea, a creation that yields a healthy new business line will net you quarter of a million bucks. Not bad for a staff perk).
Fact number 3. 125 companies purchased. And that truly is a role call of some of the biggest innovators in ICT.
Delegates were then baffled by Dedicoat's retraction of fact number 1. A bar chart he whacked up on the big screen confirmed that in fact Alcatel-Lucent filed 20percent more patents last year, and that Cisco came only fifth.
Dedicoat's explanation that Cisco's patents were of a higher quality didn't wash.
Dedicoat changed tack by demonstrating some of the key technologies Cisco sees as important in the future.
Digital signage is one. It works like this: advertisers connect their ad hoardings to the internet. Using near-field communications, or a similar short-range radio technology, the hoardings detect who is passing close by, and display an advert which that user might be interested in.
In his example, a woman walking a dog was showed an advert for pet food.
Quite how the individual would be recognised wasn't explained. To do so would have opened up a hatful of privacy concerns, as well as some difficult technical issues.
But Dedicoat was keen to outline that Cisco believes this will be a key technology in the future.
Near-field communications got another mention later in the demo as Dedicoat used his phone to gain entry to his hotel room. NFC is coming along leaps and bounds and has been included in Nokia mobile phones containing built-in Oyster cards for use on London's Tube.
There were plenty of mentions of rapidly increasing bandwidth and the need for networks to grow in size to accomodate spiralling growth in video.
Cue Cisco's latest buzzword, TelePresence.
TelePresence, Cisco's high end video conferencing technology, is becoming increasingly high on its agenda, as I blogged yesterday.
The difference between TelePresence and other vendors' videoconferencing systems, is that TelePresence is high res (each screen uses 5Mbps of bandwidth) and it uses some top-end audio and visual equipment, as well as a dedicated rooom.
There's a full three-screen TelePresence setup being demoed in a meeting room here, with a single screen on the exhibition floor, and Cisco has put in the bandwidth to prove just how hi-res it is.
Also proving the demand for video, Cisco says, is IP-based surveillance.
Dedicoat emphasised how 90percent of CCTV cameras still run over analogue circuits, and how those cameras could integrate with corporate networks if they ran over IP.
It makes sound technical sense, of course. It'll just take a hefty round of technology refreshes for it to happen.
Of course it's in Cisco's interests to talk up businesses' requirements of video, but, quibbling over the precise figures aside, it's seems pretty much bang on with its predictions.
Monday 21 January 2008, 3:46 PM
Behind the scenes at Cisco Networkers
I've just checked in at the busy Cisco Networkers conference - the twice-yearly show which brings the networking giant together with its channel, customers and more than a few interested third parties as well.
From today through Thursday is the European showcase, which has returned to Barcelona after 14 years away.
And although the event hasn't properly kicked off yet, it's looking like an eventful one, with an estimated 1,000 delegates already through the doors.
Officially Cisco is going to make two news announcements here. One will surround what Cisco calls an extension to its application acceleration products, which it calls WAAS (wide area application services).
This extension should give businesses the ability to accelerate applications out to their remote workers. Previously WAAS was only an option for accelerating applications to remote offices where a WAAS appliance needed to be installed.
Some people I've spoken to are questioning how integrated this new WAAS is going to be with the old WAAS, and how far behind Cisco are in this market. There are several pioneers which are somewhat more quick of foot than Cisco, Riverbed and Bluecoat being two.
The announcement's not yet out, so there's a bit of guessing going on as to the technical details, so I'll come back with some firmer details later in the show.
Cisco's also planning an announcement concerning an extension to its Catalyst switching portfolio. Ears to the ground here when that announcement is made.
What else is Cisco likely to be trumpeting here? Well, it's bigging up BT. The two companies have for many years been close on IP telephony - one of Cisco's biggest markets, with BT selling huge amounts of Cisco gear.
But now the two are working closely together on TelePresence - Cisco's top end videoconferencing technology, which sells for us to £150,000 a site.
In December, Cisco signed up BT as a TelePresence reseller, and BT was the carrier network of choice when Cisco demonstrated how TelePresence could work across the internet with other vendors' equipment.
BT's also up for an innovation award here for its 21st Century Network, its £10bn network upgrade which is supposed to be completed within the next three years. It will be interesting to see whether it wins.
It's got some stern competition: Orange Slovakia, Telecom Namibia, and, er, BT Italy. Looks an odds-on victory I'd say.
Cisco's keen to get the eyes of the world on TelePresence during Networkers, and BT's been elevated to the status of 'Official TelePresence Partner' here as well as having branding everywhere.
There'll be no John Chambers unfortunately, but we will see Chris Dedicoat, Cisco's president of European markets, who will be keynoting tomorrow.
Chambers will have to wait till the US version of Networkers in Orlando in June for his appearance.
Cisco's also making a push to promote green technology, although I'm starting to see through it already. Apparently we've all convened on the warmest corner of Europe in January (and yes, it's 18 deg C with broad sunshine) because Barcelona has a "proactive approach to the environment". Is that the only reason?
What I'm rather more sure about is the lack of wires round here. Everywhere I've been so far is wireless, and that's quite amazing for a company which has made most of its bucks from cabled infrastructure.
Of course it now has three wireless brands to sell - the old Linksys, Aironet and Airespace portfolios. Perhaps the prevalence of wireless LANs here is a sign that it's shipping serious amounts of this kit. I'll try to pin Cisco down on whether that's the case later.
I was also struck by a prominent ad in the event guide urging customers to look out for fake Cisco hardware. It's got a photo of two switches side-by-side with the caption: 'One of these ads is fake'. I can't tell the difference.
Software piracy has for many years been a problem. But with Cisco the clear market leader for routers and switches, could it be falling victim to the copycats too?
Monday 10 December 2007, 5:04 PM
Cisco's rare move to embrace interoperability
My colleague David Meyer reported today on Cisco's move to create interoperability between its high-end video conferencing systems, called TelePresence, and video conferencing systems from other vendors.
It's early days to establish just how many systems Telepresence will interoperate with - Cisco says it'll be all major systems - but this is a good step in the right direction for a company which has never really favoured interoperability with other vendors' products.
Cisco has of course boasted huge market share in most of the markets in which it operates, and so it could easily view interoperability as a quick way to lose market share.
So what are its reasons for introducing interoperability for Telepresence? Could it be the potential to open up a larger market by allowing IT professionals to mix-and-match video conferencing systems successfully? Or could it be that Cisco simply is not selling enough of them in a proprietary state?
Each three-screen Telepresence system (the larger model of the two on offer) costs around £150,000 per site, which sounds a huge cost inhibitor for most potential customers.
But Cisco did say today that, one year after the system's formal launch, it had sold TelePresence to 100 customers, spread across 40 countries.
One of its marquee customers, Cisco said, is Proctor and Gamble, the chocolate-to-sanitary towels multinational, which has bought 40 of the products.
TelePresence has "the potential to transform traditional work and travel habits," said Proctor & Gamble's director of strategic products Laurie Heltsey. "It allows us to really 'be there' without leaving here."
I've tested TelePresence and it's undoubtedly one of the best video conferencing experiences I've had.
Whether it's worth money like that is another thing, but at least now users shouldn't experience Cisco lock-in.
Monday 10 December 2007, 3:43 PM
Google recognised for promoting women in IT
Google has been recognised as the employer who has done the most to promote the careers of women in IT.
The recognition was made last Thursday by the British Computer Society at its annual awards event at London's Grosvenor House Hotel.
Google beat off competition from, among others, Microsoft, Guardian News & Media, Nominet and Accenture to win the accolade.
The BCS also granted two awards to BT.
Al-Noor Ramji, BT's chief information officer and the man charged with heading up the design of all BT's networks - including the often criticised £10bn 21CN national network - won the IT leader of the year award.
BT was also presented with the Best Use of Green Technology trophy for the way it is starting to implement the datacentres behind 21CN.
The telco is aiming to reduce its datacentre-related carbon emissions by 80 percent over the next nine years.
CNET Networks, the parent company of ZDNet.co.uk, boasts its own awards event, the CNET Networks UK Technology Awards, which is held in Central London in September each year.
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