Posts Tagged ‘Hardware’
Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
By Rich Cheston, Chief Technical Architect, Distinguished Engineer & Master Inventor, Lenovo
 Rich Cheston One constant request computer manufacturers have heard from businesses since the release of the tablet computer has been to make it as secure as a PC. After all, while the device is convenient to use and transport, a tablet issued by a company has some corporate data that is not secured by the Android operating system used in tablets. This limits the technical support and oversight companies can employ in using tablets in their business.
There has been a push to incorporate more enterprise-level security features in response to this plea. Several experts have compared the Android OS to that of PCs and analyzed what gaps existed that needed to be addressed.
There are eight main areas of security improvements that now can be found in tablets as a result of this analysis, and individuals and businesses should seek them out if they want the best protection. The areas are:
1) Encryption – Android is a good OS, but it encrypts only internal storage. Now, removable external devices such as SD cards are safer to use by all parties.
2) Anti-Malware – There are tablets that use security systems to run off Android’s OS in order to provide anti-virus and firewall protection. Additionally, there are websites that offer tablet apps that have been scanned for malware.
3) Data Leakage Protection – With a tablet sporting this feature, IT professionals can disable its devices, including cameras and microphones if deemed necessary, by corporate leadership to prevent loss or exposure of data. Another related security app available for a tablet is sandbox protection, which allows a company to erase corporate data without affecting the user’s personal data, a big advantage for both businesses and their employees over the standard “all data must be wiped” procedure.
4) User Authentication – There is an active credential capability app you can launch to verify who is logging onto the tablet. This prevents casual use of the device at any time.
5) Application Control – Some tablets allow operators to blacklist and whitelist apps. This feature also allows corporations to design their own specific images for the tablet, which many find advantageous for branding themselves for all professional settings.
6) Anti-Theft Technology – Look for tablets where this operates persistently, so if someone jailbreaks the system to download additional apps, it will activate itself automatically and prevent the occurrence.
7) Rooted Device Detection – Similar to the previous feature, this tracks any efforts to eliminate all software/firmware restrictions on the tablet.
8) Backup Recovery and Syncing Program – This does not specifically address malicious security events as does the other features. Instead, it exists to maintain the integrity of the platform.
The initial response to the tablet security measures just released has been very positive. Many corporations like the manageability of these features that assists their IT departments, while consumers find them easy to use as well, including as part of their cloud strategy.
Now that these strong measures are in place for tablets, expect to see more tweaks and enhancements for even better security over the next few years. Let tablet manufactures know any additional suggestions for improvements you have in this area, as this remains a chief concern the industry is addressing.
Rich is the Chief Technical Architect for Lenovo’s Software & Peripherals business unit. In this role, he is responsible for technology strategy and new product innovation. Rich has been in the PC business almost from the beginning and has held key areas of responsibility first in IBM and now Lenovo, such as product strategy, marketing and new product development. He has more than 70 patents or patents pending for areas relating to commercial PCs and achieved the Master Inventor status first within IBM and now Lenovo. www.lenovo.com
Tags: Hardware, Lenovo, Rich Cheston, tablet security improvements, tips on tablet security
Posted in best practices, Hardware, IT, Security, Viewpoint | 1 Comment »
Friday, July 29th, 2011
 Apple's iPhone 4 Global smartphone shipments grew an impressive 76 percent annually to reach a record 110 million units in the second quarter of 2011. Both Apple and Samsung overtook long-time volume leader Nokia for the top two spots in our rankings.
Alex Spektor, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics, said, “Global smartphone shipments grew a healthy 76 percent annually to reach a record 110 million units in Q2 2011. We had previously reported on Apple becoming the largest smartphone vendor in terms of revenue and profits. Now, just four years after the release of the original iPhone, Apple has become the world’s largest smartphone vendor by volume with 18 percent market share. Apple’s growth remained strong as it expanded distribution worldwide, particularly in China and Asia.”
Neil Mawston, director at Strategy Analytics, added, “Samsung overtook Nokia to become the world’s second largest smartphone vendor in Q2 2011. Samsung’s shipments grew a huge 520 percent annually, for 17 percent global smartphone market share. Samsung’s Galaxy portfolio has proven popular, especially the high-tier S2 Android model.”
Tom Kang, director at Strategy Analytics, added, “Having become the first ever vendor to ship 100 million smartphones in a single year during 2010, long-time leader Nokia has slipped two places in our rankings in Q2 2011. The vendor’s 15 percent global smartphone market share is less than half of what it was just one year earlier, as the industry awaits Nokia’s pending transition to Windows Phone 7.”
| Exhibit 1: Global Smartphone Vendor Shipments and Market Share in Q2 2011 |
|
| Global Smartphone Vendor Shipments (Millions of Units) |
Q2 ’10 |
Q2 ’11 |
| Apple |
8.4 |
|
20.3 |
|
| Samsung |
3.1 |
|
19.2 |
|
| Nokia |
23.8 |
|
16.7 |
|
| Others |
27.1 |
|
53.8 |
|
| Total |
62.4 |
|
110.0 |
|
|
|
|
| Global Smartphone Vendor Marketshare % |
Q2 ’10 |
Q2 ’11 |
| Apple |
13.5 |
% |
18.5 |
% |
| Samsung |
5.0 |
% |
17.5 |
% |
| Nokia |
38.1 |
% |
15.2 |
% |
| Others |
43.4 |
% |
48.9 |
% |
| Total |
100.0 |
% |
100.0 |
% |
|
|
|
| Growth Year-over-Year % |
50.4 |
% |
76.3 |
% |
The full report, Apple Becomes World’s No.1 Smartphone Vendor in Q2 2011, is published by the Strategy Analytics Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service.
Tags: Alex Spektor, Apple Inc., Apple largest smartphone vendor, Hardware, mobile, Neil Mawston, Nokia, Samsung, Samsung displaces Nokia, Strategy Analytics, telecom, Tom King
Posted in Apple, Hardware, Mobile, smartphones, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
The number of global smartphone shipments will reach one billion per annum in 2016, up from 302 million in 2010, according to a new report by analyst firm Juniper Research.
Smartphones — traditionally high-end handsets — will make-up the majority of shipments in five years’ time, as this type of device becomes available at lower price points. Competition amongst vendors offering premium smartphones is intense, and so Juniper believes the best opportunity for new players is through economy models (those with an unsubsidised retail value of $150 or less).
Report author Daniel Ashdown explains: “in developed markets, many consumers will want to upgrade from a feature phone to a smartphone, but still pay a feature phone price. In emerging markets though, lower average consumer spending power and lack of operator subsidies will make a low price point essential.” Juniper predicts that open-source operating systems — predominantly Android — combined with the falling cost of key components will make this possible.
However, the market for standard smartphones ($151-$399) and premium smartphones ($400 and above) will remain robust:
- New technologies are arriving on these devices — including NFC, 3D and Biometrics;
- Features of other devices continue to be integrated into smartphones, including gamepads; and,
- Smartphones are reaching the market which can morph into other devices — notably tablets and netbooks.
The report provides substantial primary research on smartphone hardware specifications and analysis of recent trends and developments. Other primary research examines smartphone plans and handset subsidies, and the impact on subscriber retention costs for operators.
A whitepaper The Smartphone Opportunity and further details of the study, ‘Smartphone Evolution Strategies: Premium, Standard and Economy Markets 2011-2016′ are available at www.juniperresearch.com
Tags: Hardware, Juniper Research, mobile, Report, smartphone shipments to hit $1B by 2016
Posted in Hardware, smartphones, Studies, surveys, reports | Comments Off
Friday, June 4th, 2010
 By Allan Maurer
HERNDON, VA – No matter how much anti-virus, adware, and malware software we run, the bad guys seem to be winning the cyber security wars. There is a reason for that. Software can never completely protect a PC from hackers, trojans and viruses because computers were never built with security in mind, says Lou Hughes, CEO of InZero Systems, a Herndon startup which has engineered a device from scratch that corrals the bad guys so they can’t get at your machines.
Hughes, one of three investor-founders of InZero who put more than $10 million into the company, says he was initially skeptical when Dr. Alexander V. Pyntikov, now president and COO of the firm, and Oleksiy Shevchenko, CTO, co-inventors of the device, said it could totally protect a computer against hackers and malware. “I thought their claim was a little outrageous,” he tells us.
Shevchenko came up with the idea for the device when he was a computer engineer in the Ukraine in 2002. Trying to help a policeman friend with security concerns, he junked the typical approach of using software and created a device that acts as a second computer (or sandbox) that sits between an ordinary PC and the Internet.
Hughes, formerly president and COO at Lockheed Martin and before that a vice president at General Motors Corp., is no fool. He did not blindly accept their claims. He was on the board of British Telecom at the time, which does a lot of cyber security work for the British government. “They have a top research lab there, so they tested it for a month and couldn’t break it,” Hughes says.
That intrigued him, so he then took it to colleagues at Lockheed Martin. “They tested it, couldn’t break it.”
Then he took it to a national certification lab, “And they validated it.”
Even more validation
Now convinced the InZero system worked, Hughes decided to invest and the founders created the company in 2004.
Since then, it InZero hired Telos (TLSRP.PK) a computer and network security company to to evaluate the system, which says it couldn’t find a way to circumvent it. Former DARPA Director Anthony J. Tether, told Business Week, “It was very secure.”
Using a hardware device rather than software is a “Radically different approach and a paradigm change,” Hughes notes. Rather than treating malware, viruses and hackers as a disease you cure with injections of software antibodies, the InZero approach walls off the bad guys behind what it says is an impregnable barrier. “It creates a safe area around each computer that cannot be contaminated. We force the Internet through our box. You use your keyboard and screen the way you would normally, but all the data you get from the Net is physically sitting in our gateway unit. In effect, you have a parallel computer.”
It’s not an uncomplicated device, he notes. “It has highly complex architecture with 60 million lines of software code governing it.”
An airlock in space
Hughes says Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff compared it to “An airlock on a spaceship.”
Not only that, Hughes says it will also find and jail malware that may already have infected a computer, preventing any malware from communicating with a hacker or using the machine as a bot.
“We designed it to run the gamut from individual consumer use to highly sophisticated corporate environments,” Hughes says.
The company is looking for investment dollars, but wants it from a firm or firms with expertise in the space, Hughes notes.
Just coming to market this month (June 2010) the system will sell for several hundred dollars for the unit and will require a monthly fee of $20 to $40.
But, says, Hughes, “You can throw all those other security programs away.”
Tags: cybersecurity, DARPA, Hardware, Herndon, Homeland Security, InZero, IT, Lou Hughes, malware, trojans, Virginia, viruses
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
 ATLANTA, DURHAM, NC, MELBOURNE, FL – Mergers and acquisitions across the Southeast are once again proceeding as if the recession is indeed over.
Harris buying SignaCert
Melbourne-Florida-based Harris Corp., which sells IT and communications services, says it is acquiring Oregon-based SignaCert, which makes IT compliance software. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Harris will run the SignaCert business via its DC-based cyber division. SignaCert sells tools that inhibit viruses and malware by only allowing approved software to be used. It raised $8 million in venture backing in 2009 from Arlington-based In-Q-Tel.
CDC Software acquires TradeBeam
Atlanta and Shanghai-based CDC Software Corp. (Nasdaq:CDCS, a hybrid enterprise software provider of on-premise and cloud deployments, has acquired San Mateo, Calif.-based TradeBeam, a provider of on-demand software as a service (SaaS) supply chain visibility and global trade management solutions.
CDC Software and TradeBeam share several common customers, and TradeBeam represents CDC Software’s largest SaaS acquisition to date. This acquisition also represents CDC Software’s latest move in expanding its growing portfolio of cloud-based solutions.
Canon U.S.A. acquires NC-based Tereck Office Solutions
Canon U.S.A. Inc., which sells advanced digital imaging and software solutions, has acquired the assets of Tereck Office Solutions, Inc., based in Durham, North Carolina. It will now be a new, wholly-owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A. No financial details were disclosed.
The North Carolina-based Tereck is an independent value-added reseller of document imaging and print solutions, including imaging hardware and software, printer fleet and facilities management services.
Tags: acquistions, Atlanta, cloud computing, DC, Florida, Hardware, IT, NC
Posted in Acquisitions, Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Hardware, IT, North Carolina | Comments Off
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
 COLUMBIA, MD – Integral Systems, a developer of satellite communications systems, has bought Chantilly-based Sophia Wireless, which sells solid state communications power amplifiers, for $2.5 million in cash.
Integral EVP Stuart Daughtridge said Sophia’s technology provides more power in smaller and lighter designs at lower price points than other commercially available amplifiers.
That makes them ideal for use in vehicle-mounted and airborne applications, the company says.
Tags: Acquisitions, Hardware, Maryland, satellite communications
Posted in Acquisitions, Hardware, Maryland, Potomac | Comments Off
Monday, April 5th, 2010
 Many early adopter types stood in line Saturday to buy the new Apple iPad. Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) said it sold 300,000 the first day they were available Saturday.
The hoopla reminded some of the similar excitement around the 2007 launch of the iPhone.
We’re not sure what all the fuss is about for the iPad. Books do look great on its display and media–if it plays–is also sharp.
Photos also look terrific and many publishers like its form factor, which allows display of magazine and newspaper pages that look like the print versions.
But if you visit a site with Flash video, you’ll only see a black hole where the video should be. The iPad does not play Flash.
The iPad is fast, using Apple’s own special processor, but if the battery dies, you have to replace the entire unit at a $200 cost.
We’re still fond of our netbook, which is a full featured PC. It may not be as flashy as the iPad, but it’s nearly as portable, has a built in keyboard, and isn’t afraid of Flash.
Tags: Apple, Hardware, iPad
Posted in Hardware, IT, Marketing | Comments Off
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
 BALTIMORE, MD – Baltimore-based private equit group Slate Capital Group, has acquired Coastal Business Machines in an asset buy.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
The Randallstown, MD-based company is the world’s largest reconditioning and repair center for uninterruptible power supplies.
CBM says it is the only company in the United States to be factory trained by APC for component level repair, and the company is also North America’s largest after-warranty battery replacement and repair center
Tags: Acquisitions, Hardware, Maryland
Posted in Acquisitions, Hardware, Maryland, Potomac | Comments Off
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
 HANOVER, MD – KEYW Holding Corp. has raised $8 million of a targted $10 million mixed securities offering, according to a regulatory filing. The company sells a variety of IT solutions.
Founded in 2008, KEYW has acquired eight companies, including:
Insight Information Technology, The Analysis Group, Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance Unit, Government Contracting Assets of Leading Edge Design and Systems Inc., Embedded Systems Design Inc., Globecomm Systems (NASDAQ: GCOM), Integrated Computer Concepts, and S&H Enterprises.
KEYW’s business includes capabilities include: hardware and software development, systems engineering and integration, test and evaluation, field support, computer and network operations, information security and specialized training, collaboration and workflow, service-oriented architectures and complex event processing and data acquisitions, embedded systems and network protocols.
www.keywcorp.com
Tags: financing, Hardware, IT, Maryland
Posted in Hardware, IT, Maryland, Money, Potomac | Comments Off
Monday, March 29th, 2010
 RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – Lenovo says that its ThinkStation workstations and ThinkPad mobile workstations are powering the North American Eagle team’s attempt for the title of “fastest vehicle on the planet” with a land speed record of over 800 mph.
The team relies on the workstations for fast, reliable data and graphics-crunching to improve the design of the vehicle before making physical adjustments, helping save valuable time and resources as they race against global competitors to be the first to break the record and claim the international title.
“These workstations are not only helping to engineer the fastest car on the planet, they are developing a design that is safe for the driver inside.”
Saves huge amount of engineering time
“Creating the world’s fastest vehicle requires innovative design, and that challenge can’t be overcome without the use of a powerful workstation, like the ThinkStation workstation,” said Ed Shadle, owner and driver, North American Eagle.
“We can now obtain our test results faster by using a ThinkStation D10 workstation coupled with CATIA software, making it a perfect hub for redesigning parts, evaluating large and complex assemblies, running analyses and assessing multiple designs quickly to save huge amounts of engineering time.”
Ed Shadle created the North American Eagle in 1998 by converting a 1957 Lockheed F-104 Starfighter jet into a vehicle capable of breaking the sound barrier. His team has optimized the vehicle’s design to reach maximum speeds, with a record so far of 400 mph. With the next test run, they expect to reach speeds of 550 mph. For more see this Youtube video.
Extreme speeds generate engineering needs
Going to extreme speeds generates a variety of factors that his volunteer team of engineers and scientists must consider. For example, the degree of aerodynamics can make the difference between crashing into the ground and bulleting into the air.
The North American Eagle team uses the Lenovo ThinkStation D10 workstation for all aspects of the car design, including wheels, brakes, steering and suspension. A 3-D modeling program helps them determine the right materials composition and placement for the wheels to reach speeds of up to 15,000 rpm and for braking that won’t damage the engine. This kind of intensive modeling also helps ensure the steering remains strong and the suspension stays stable at high speeds.
Lenovo’s global headquarters are in Morrisville, NC. The company was formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division.
Tags: Hardware, landspeed record, Lenovo, NC
Posted in Carolinas, Hardware, IT, North Carolina | Comments Off
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