Eweek April 4, 2011

COST based on publicly avail U.S.
info on 2/10/2011 for IBM DB2 Advanced Enterprise Edition + Oracle software w/comparable capabilities. IBM: 100 Processor Value Units. Oracle: assumes 1.0 processor multiplier. Both incl.
Y1 maint/support. PERFORMANCE: www.tpc.org as of 01/26/11 [IBM Power 780 (3 x 64 C)(24 Ch/192 C/768 Th); 10,366,254 tpmC; $1.38/tpmC; avail 10/13/10 v. Oracle SPARC SuperCluster w/T3-4 Servers (27 x 64 C)(108
Ch/1728 C/13824 Th); 30,249,688 tpmC; $1.01/tpmC; avail 6/1/11]. TPC-C is a trademark of Transaction Performance Processing Council. www.sap.com/solutions/benchmark/ as of 01/26/11 [IBM Power 795 (32 P/256 C/1024
Th); 126063 users/2-tier SAP ERP 6.0 pack4/AIX 7.1 + DB2 9.7; cert 2010046 v. Oracle SPARC Enterprise Server M9000 (64 P/256 C/512 Th); 39100 users/2-tier SAP ERP 6.0/Solaris 10, Oracle 10g; cert 2008042]. SAP
is a registered trademark of SAP AG in Germany and several other countries. IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, DB2, Power Systems, Smarter Planet and the planet icon are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp.,
registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml.
International Business Machines Corporation 2011.
The rst thing to consider when thinking about DB2
for your business:

its as low as 1/3 the cost of Oracle Database. Then consider DB2 on
Power Systems
with 3x the performance per core of Oracle Database

on SPARC, in TPC-C and SAP SD benchmarks. Overall, an ironclad case
for IBM. Theres more where that came from, too.
ibm.com/facts
Are you
overpaying
for Oracle
Database?
Hint: youre
overpaying
for Oracle
Database.
Tech In-Depth
Interest in platform as a service
is on the rise, so developers
must ensure that they are mak-
ing the right movesand not
falling into traps of previous
generations of technology.
16
Best of
eWEEK.com
This issue includes a slide-
show featuring Google Maps
images of the devastation in
Japan; and stories about chal-
lenges to HPs cloud and mo-
bile plans, and the possibility
that an Amazon tablet poses a
threat to Apples iPad.
34
3
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contents
This eWEEK
A big issue raised by PAAS and
SAAS is what they mean for operat-
ing systems. In these as a service
services, the OS is meant to be
more or less invisible to developers.
6
eWEEK LABS
Editor in Chief Jason Brooks
Technical Director Cameron Sturdevant
Senior Analyst P. J. Connolly

eWEEK.COM NEWS
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Managing Editor, West Coast John Pallatto
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Labs@Work
Apples iPad 2 has enough features
to make it a useful business tool.
12 HTCs Thunderbolt on Verizons
4G LTE network is frighteningly fast.
15 Get Console lets mobile techs
access Cisco console sessions.
19 CTIAs conference featured next-
generation tablets and smartphones.
20 AT&T/T-Mobile merger will be
debated by federal regulators.
22 Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
adds RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory.
24 Microsofts cloud and mobile
strategy is based on partnerships.
26 OpenSUSE 11.4 offers updated
open-source apps and components.
28 IE9 leverages PC hardware and
Windows 7 for a speedier experience.
30 RSA SecurID breach highlights
danger of advanced persistent threats.
32 vSphere Client for iPad looks
good but lacks management muscle.
33 Cameron Sturdevant wants a
tool to ride herd over his tech devices.
38 P. J. Connolly wonders if Apple
is hostile to enterprise developers.
eWEEK Labs
Products to Watch
Featured products include the Kaviza
VDI-in-a-box 4.0 virtual desktop
solution, 4ipnets HSG200-P Wi-Fi
Hotspot Kit and CloudBerry Labs
Explorer for Amazon S3.
8
contents
19
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eWEEK APRI L 4, 2011

6
Jason
Brooks
This
-
t'|s ee''s cove sto, e ta'e a| at
aot'e s||ce o c|ooo copot|g |t'
a |a| at eatoe ocoseo o |//S
(p|ato as a sev|ce)a poooct tpe
a|eo at abstact|g aa 'aoae ao stac'
aageet |ssoes, |eav|g oeve|opes to
ocos o t'e| app||cat|os (page +6).
|a| |as oot t'e po|seo bee|tsao
potet|a| ||ab|||t|eso |//S sev|ces, ao
oes t|ps to oeve|opes |oo'|g to aoapt
t'e| aes to t'e evo|v|g c|ooo ev|o-
ets. \'at's oe, 'e o|scosses 'at t'e
eegece o |//S |g't ea o |
ov|g oao.
/ b|g |ssoe a|seo b 'as a sev|ce' sev|ces
|s 'at t'e'|| ea o t'e otoe o opeat|g
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sste, '||e peset,
| s eat to be oe
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e'e ea| eoog' a|og
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|s st||| p|et o oo o o|eet|at|o at t'e
opeat|g sste |ae.
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t|o t'at taps t'e c|ooo to |oose |ts CS
t|es, aot'e ||| ta'e aovatage o c|ooo
sev|cessoc' as t'e |ove|| S|S| Stoo|o
sev|ce | testeo t'|s ee' | co,oct|o |t'
opeS|S| ++.+ ev|e (page .6)to
|g oe va|oe oot o t'e| sotae stac's.
3eoo t'e potet|a| o CS-|eve| opt||-
zat|os, 'eep|g a 'ao o t'e |oe |aes
o t'e stac' ||| 'e|p oga|zat|os 'o|o o
|oc'-| to a pat|co|a |//S.
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ev|es \|oos Seve .008 |. Sev|ce
|ac' +, '|c' aoos s|g||cat e v|toa|-
|zat|o capab|||t|es to ||cosot's 'pev|-
so, |c|oo|g soppot o oa|c eo
ao o 'aoae-acce|eateo gap'|cs ove
eote oes'top ||'s (page ..).
/|so | t'|s |ssoe, e 'ave a oooop o
ob||e ev|es ao aa|ses, stat|g o t'e
/pp|e |CS ot |t' |. . Coo||'s ev|e
o /pp|e's e ||ao . (page 8), ev|es o
||ao app||cat|os o ao||ste|g vSp'ee
v|toa||zat|o (page 3.) ao C|sco eto'|g
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ops ao oos o /pp|e's e|at|os'|p |t'
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g|at aga|st Ve|zo \|e|ess ao t'e et-
o' t'at peoeo so e|| | C||t's tests.
'e cost ||| be oe ee |e|ess opt|o
o |o|v|ooa|s ao oga|zat|os, ao |'
st||| ooec|oeo '|c' oo|o be t'e bette
ootcoe. |et e 'o 'at oo t'|' o
t'e oea| at ,boo's@eee'.co.
I;))/ 0EFW )HMXSV MR 'LMIJ .EWSR &VSSOW
GERFIVIEGLIHEXNFVSSOW$I[IIOGSQ
Another slice of cloud
a big issue raised
by as a service
services is what
theyll mean for
the future of
operating
systems.
AVAILABILITY SERVICES
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Building a better cloud takes a revolutionary approach to
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2010 SunGard. SunGard and the SunGard logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SunGard Data Systems Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries.
All other trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
A work of art in secure computing.
Download the white paper
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8
labs
@work
The long haul
AT&T/T-Mobile merger
could take a year 20
A friend strategy
Microsoft seeks cloud
and mobile partners 24
By P. J. Connolly
A
nyone whos ever been in
a bar band will confirm
that its usually better to
be the second act, unless
the opener turns out to be wildly
popular with the first arrivals in the
audience. That seems to hold true
with mobile devices as well: If the
early adopters create the right buzz,
the second iteration doesnt have to
be a dramatic improvement to go
REVIEW: Even without a retina display or top-notch cameras,
the second-generation tablet should be a useful business tool.
over big. The difficult part is avoid-
ing the sophomore slump.
Although the iPad 2 isnt as boffo
compared with the original Apple
tablet as some observers had hoped
it would be, the company has man-
aged the difficult feat of balancing
expectations and economics. The new
model includes front- and rear-facing
cameras and a new dual-core proces-
sor, and it is lighter and thinner than
the original iPad.
The tablet is available in any color
you want, as long as its black or
white. But the pricing hasnt changed
from last year: The iPad 2 starts at
$499 for the WiFi-only 16GB model,
and the top-of-the-line unit (with
WiFi, 3G mobile networking from
AT&T or Verizon, and 64GB of stor-
age memory) still comes in at $829.
I spent the better part of a recent
week with a 64GB unit with WiFi and
AT&T 3G service. The unit shipped to
Apple iPad 2
improves on original
P
H
O
T
O

C
O
U
R
T
E
S
Y

O
F

A
P
P
L
E
It means doctors in Ethiopia will be able to instantly compare this blood sample to over 41,000 HIV treatment
histories to help their patients receive the best treatment regimen possible. The EuResist Network is helping
doctors predict patient response to various HIV treatments with over 78% accuracyoutperforming 9 out of 10
human experts in a recent study. The tool is built on an IBM analytics solution that integrates a variety of disparate
databases onto a flexible IBM DB2
platform to process complex metadata more effectively than anything else

on the market. A smarter organization is built on smarter software, systems and services.
Lets build a smarter planet. ibm.com/hospital
Smarter technology for a Smarter Planet:
What database integration means
to this blood sample.
A data visualization of 41,000
HIV case histories.
The EuResist Network is a nonprot partnership composed of Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden), Max Planck Institute for Informatics (Saarbrcken, Germany), University of Siena (Italy), Informa s.r.l. (Rome, Italy) and University of Cologne
(Germany). The EuResist project has been cofunded by the European Commission. IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, DB2, Smarter Planet and the planet icon are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered in many jurisdictions
worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. International Business Machines Corporation 2010.
labs@work
10
me with iOS 4.3 installed, and when
Apple released iOS 4.3.1 a few days
before writing this, I began using that
version and found no discernible dif-
ference between the two on the iPad
2. However, an older iPad that had
balked at 3G connections following
its upgrade to iOS 4.3 behaved better
once the 4.3.1 update was installed.
All about accessories
The iPad 2 is all about the accesso-
ries. The slimmer body makes many
of last years geegaws, such as
docks and sleeves, obsolete.
Im going to hive off most of
my thoughts in that area into
a blog post, but I wonder when
customers will begin accus-
ing the 31 magnets in the
iPad 2 and its Smart Cover
of wiping bank cards, transit
cards and other media that
use magnetic stripes.
For me, the most exciting
iPad 2 accessory turned out
to be the Apple Digital AV
Adapter, which allows iPads
and the iPhone 4 to output
720p and better digital video to
television sets equipped with
an HDMI interface. Until now, output
from the iPad has been an analog affair,
but this new adapter can make presen-
tations look crisper than ever before.
The new iPad is lighter than the
original by a few ounces. Its notice-
able when you compare the two, but
with the help of a few colleagues, I
conducted some extremely informal
tests to decide if its enough to really
make a difference. Although every-
one in my statistically insignificant
sample could tell that the iPad 2 was
indeed less heavy than the first iPad,
whether it was enough to be noticed by
users who carry it everywhere proved
an almost perfectly split decision.
The front-facing camera in the iPad
2 works at VGA resolution and is
barely adequate for video conferencing.
Images are grainy when the subjects
are still, and when they are moving,
the blur can be downright disorienting.
In addition, the camera sits a little
too high for anyone using the iPad
2 in portrait orientation to hold the
tablet naturally and appear on cam-
era at the same time. Rotating the
iPad into landscape mode makes you
look as if youre constantly looking
off-camera. The rear camera is bet-
ter suited for high-quality stills and
video, but it falls a few megapixels
short of the comparable camera in
last years iPhone 4.
SIM card flaw
Upon reflection, the most serious
flaw I can find in the iPad 2 is in
the design of the SIM card tray. As
in the original iPad, the SIM card
(actually a 3FF-format MicroSIM)
is inserted into the tray from the
front side of the device.
The problem arises when you want
to remove or replace the SIM card. In
order to do so, the SIM extraction tool
must be inserted at an angle that can
only be achieved by orienting the iPad
2 face down. If the SIM card tray is
removed without first returning the
iPad to a face-up position, the card will
simply fall out onto the workbench,
floor or an intermediate surface.
Anyone who has a reason to remove
or replace the SIM card will wonder
why the engineers responsible for the
card tray couldnt have redesigned it to
cradle the card in the same orientation
that one would use for removing the
tray. But Apple has a track record of
making its products deliberately dif-
ficult to service. Also, this hang-up is
likely to affect only users who purchase
a used device, or overseas customers
who regularly take their iPads across
national borders but dont
want to pay data roaming fees.
For mos t Amer i c an
users, this wont be a prob-
lem. The burden of this
blunder will fall more on
the people who service these
devices, who are, in many
cases, employees of Apple,
AT&T or their affiliates.
Otherwise, the iPad 2 is an
improvement over its prede-
cessor in many respects. The
big question in my mind is
whether developers will be
able to take full advantage of
the dual-core processor envi-
ronment upon the expected
release of iOS 5 later this year. If so,
the new CPU and the apparent dou-
bling of the devices working RAM to
512MB should open up significant
new possibilities and provide users
with a more stable platform than the
original iPad, so Im stoked to see what
Apples newest tablet will lead to.
As a business tool, the device is
somewhat of a gadget. What remains
to be seen is what developers can do
with the platform. That, my friends,
is what computing is all about.
Senior Analyst P. J. Connolly can be
reached at pj.connolly@eweek.com.
This story can be found
online at:
tinyurl.com/6z4hgbk
The iPad 2 changes the design of the SIM card tray slightly.
With the original model, the user had to insert the extraction
tool at a right angle to the device, whereas for the iPad 2, the
angle is less intuitive.
labs@work
12
REVIEW: HTCs Thunderbolt on Verizons 4G LTE network is the fastest
phone eWEEK has tested yet.
HTC Thunderbolts speed
lives up to its name
pockets. Blame the heavier battery
used to supply the power demands
of Verizons speedy 4G LTE (Long-
Term Evolution) network.
Like its HTC predecessor, the
EVO 4G has a cute little kickstand
to let users watch videos and other
content with others.
The call quality was fine: There
was no tinniness or echo. However,
Lets get one of the big drawbacks out
of the way: The Thunderbolt is heavy,
weighing 6.23 ounces, thanks to the
larger battery required to handle the
demands of the devices 4G network
capability. This will deter some users
who prefer 4- to 5-ounce phones.
By Clint Boulton
W
hen I first flipped on
the HTC Thunderbolt
and heard its little
signature shout-out,
I laughed. The crash of thunder
accompanied by the lightning bolt
graphic caught me by surprise.
Its pretentious, right? The phone
launches, not with a geeky Droid
pronouncement, but with one of
the most terrifying sounds nature
can muster. Guess what? The joke
was on me because the Thunderbolt
is frighteningly fast for a compact,
albeit hefty gadget with a 1GHz
Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.
The Thunderbolt stands on its
own as king of the speed moun-
tain. While I normally grimace at
the thought of paying $249.99 for a
device plus a two-year data contract,
the speed of the Thunderbolt was
awesome enough to make it worth
while. Ill circle back to specifics on
the speed later.
First, here are some noteworthy
specifications. The device, powered
by the familiar Android 2.2 operating
system, features a comely 4.3-inch
touch-screen WVGA display with
480-by-800 resolution.
The Thunderbolt is 4.75 inches
long by 2.44 inches wide by 0.56
inches thickthicker than the
normal cell phone. At a hefty 6.23
ounces, the gray, plastic-covered
device with a glass screen will cre-
ate a hole in all but the toughest of
Im more of a text guy, so the user
interface is more important to me
than the calls or the dialer.
To that end, the more I use
HTC Android phones, the more
impressed I become by the HTC
Sense interface. The keyboard is a
delight to type on: The device has
big, beautiful buttons that are well-
placed for the most part.
I dont like how the voice search
button is next to the comma but-
ton when I type a text message, but
thats a minor quibble. Thunder-
bolt employs Sense 2.0, with the
lovely FriendStream social network
account aggregator.
The 8-megapixel camera yielded
crisp, clean photos without the delay
I experience on my Motorola Droid
X. Video recorded well in HD 720p.
The 1.3-megapixel front-facing cam-
era enabled solid video chat.
I downloaded the Qik Video
applicationwithin 10 secondsto
begin video chatting. This applica-
tion worked wonderfully, with no
shakiness or delays.
Talking about the network
The Thunderbolt is all about the
network. When Verizon executives
touted their 4G LTE network at the
Consumer Electronics Show in Janu-
ary, their oft-repeated refrain was
that it was 10 times faster than 3G.
(Go to tinyurl.com/4mv9f56 and
tinyurl.com/6bb438h to learn more.)
It actually was faster. Im talking
COST comparison based on publicly available information as of 2/10/2011 for an Oracle Exadata X2-2 HP Full Rack and a full rack of Netezza TwinFin. The cost to acquire Netezza can be as low as 1/6 of Exadata if a client is
acquiring new Oracle database licenses and as low as 1/2 if using existing Oracle database licenses. IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Smarter Planet and the planet icon are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp.,
registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml.
International Business Machines Corporation 2011.
Netezza.
Up and
running in
24 hours,
not 24 days.
Get set up in hours instead of days, and start counting returns in
minutes instead of hours. All with IBMs Netezza data warehouse
appliance for high-performance analytics. It gives you analytics
reports at supersonic speeds. At a fraction of the cost of Oracle
Exadata. Get real, actionable business results fast.
ibm.com/facts
labs@work
14
11-plus M bps for downloads and
4-plus M bps for uploads, both at the
high range of the carriers promise
of 5M to 12M bps down and 2M to
5M bps up.
Whether it was basic Google
searches, multiple YouTube videos
or games launching back to back
to back, the software danced and
sparkled on the screen, thanks to
Verizons 4G LTE. I downloaded a
dozen applications just to watch them
land from the Android Market to the
Thunderbolt in 5 to 10 seconds.
As I was writing this, I received
notifiers for new versions of Google
Books and Facebook for Android,
which I had downloaded to my Droid
X. I entered my Google Account to
port everything downloaded onto my
personal phone to this Thunderbolt
review unit. I clicked install, and the
Books and Facebook applications
updated in 3 seconds.
The bad news is that, just as with
the HTC Evo 4G, the Thunderbolt
burns though the battery quickly. I
recommend that users carry a spare.
I turned on the phone at 8 a.m.
and used it as my mobile hotspot
from 9:30 to 11 a.m. EDT on the
Metro North line from Connecti-
cut to Grand Central Station. From
Fairfield to Greenwich, I used the
hotspot on 3G, but soon after, it
switched to 4G. (Verizon does not
yet offer 4G in Connecticut.) By
the time I arrived, the battery had
burned halfway through.
As I type this at 2:30 p.m. local
time, after dozens of searches, Face-
book and Twitter checkups, and You-
Tube videos watched, the battery
is at 25 percent capacity. If I use it
sparingly, it should get me to 5 p.m.
with no problem.
But that is the problem, isnt it?
Im taking a train home from 5:30
to 7 p.m., and I have to sweat out
whether or not Ill not only have a
working phone, but be able to access
my laptop from the Thunderbolts
hotspot.
Fortunately, I travel with my Droid
X as backup. But we shouldnt have
to carry two phones. Ideally, we
shouldnt have to carry two batter-
ies. Welcome to the curmudgeons
world of technological constraint.
The good news is that my phone
didnt burn up in my pocket the way
the Evo 4G did when I tested it last
spring. So you wont fry eggs on the
Thunderbolt.
To buy or not to buy?
Should you buy this phone? If
speed is of the essence, the Thun-
derbolt answers the callin addi-
tion to the mobile hotspot, a great
8-megapixel camera, a nice appear-
ance and a large screen.
Heres a tip
for consumers
in the hundreds
of markets in
which Verizon
doesn t offer
4G: The phone
on 3G was still
fastnot 4G
fast, but com-
parable in my
opinion to the
speed of t he
dual-core pro-
cessor- based
Motorola Atrix 4G on AT&T s
network.
Even so, you still dont want to buy
the Thunderbolt if you live in a place
where Verizons 4G network doesnt
offer coverage. It would be like buying
a convertible whose top didnt drop.
Would I buy the Thunderbolt?
The Thunderbolt is just a touch
too heavy for me (and I use a Droid
X), and the battery is weak for my
taste. I also wouldnt want to spend
$250 for a phone; $199 is as high
as Id go for hardware.
Batteries will improve enough
to the point at which 4G phones
wont feel like anchors or hot frying
pans. Im in my current contract for
18 more months. I feel confident
that, by then, the 4G phones will be
lighter, faster and cheaper.
Whether that, coupled by any
fallout from the proposed AT&T-
T-Mobile merger (see tinyurl.
com/69glqrj), drives up data-plan
costs remains to be seen.
online at:
tinyurl.com/6f26vp7
Interestingly, while the hotspot is running,
you cant take pictures with the phones
camera ash. It also drains the battery
something erce.
When we tested YouTube on the Thunderbolt, footage of the earth-
quake and tsunami devastation in Japan was popular, as you can
see here. Adobe Flash-based Websites also rendered well.
labs@work
15
I spent the better part of a month
with a prerelease and an official
version of the Get Console software.
Although some people may prefer
using Telnet or SSH (Secure Shell)
to access devices, I found this to be
better in almost every way. Release 1.3
includes the ability to use the Apple
Wireless Keyboarda Bluetooth device
that works with iPad, iPhone and
iPod Touchas an input device that
comes in handy in cramped quarters.
Get Console includes a number
of nifty features that field techs can
use to make their lives simpler. This
includes the ability to send a break
signal during the Cisco devices boot
sequence, logging of session output,
and the ability to edit templates on
Cisco conguration
meets iPad, iPhone
the mobile device and paste them
into the console session.
One feature that could prove quite
useful is the ability to securely share
the console session over the mobile
devices WiFi or 3G connection with
a remote user. They say two heads
are better than one, and this allows
a field tech to consult with a more
experienced tech when needed.
This can be for observation or
remote configuration. Because the
console session is taking place out-
of-band, it doesnt require any con-
nectivity on the part of the device
being configured.
Currently, Amix hosts the remote
sessions on servers in the United
States, the United Kingdom and
the Far East. For those instances
in which a private session server
hosted on the customers network
is preferred, licensing
of the back-end server is
available as well.
Ami x s ot her pl ans
for Get Console include
expanding its range to
other devices that can
be configured through a
serial console, but thats
not as easy as it sounds.
For one thing, Apples poli-
cies for App Store approval
appear to be an issue.
For another, theres
no standard pinout for
RS-232 serial communi-
cations through an RJ-45
plug or jack. According
to the company, Fortinet,
Hewlett-Packard and Juniper sup-
port are the first priority, as these
devices share the Cisco pinout.
Senior Analyst P. J. Connolly can be
reached at pj.connolly@eweek.com.
REVIEW: Get Console lets field techs access
and share Cisco console sessions from an Apple
mobile device.
By P. J. Connolly
I
have met what seems like a few
hundred field techs over the
years Ive spent in IT, and the
one thing they all have in com-
mon is a desire for lighter, more por-
table diagnostic tools. Mobile devices
such as the iPhone and iPad offer
the potential to be an excellent plat-
form for such use, and,
fortunately, service tools
are reaching the point at
which they are becoming
practical to implement
on these devices.
For an example of this
phenomenon, you dont
need to look any further
than the Get Console
app from New Zealands
Amix Capital. Get Console
works on iPad and recent
iPhone and iPod Touch
devices and provides more
than just a vanilla console
connection to Cisco rout-
ers and switches.
Get Console is only
$9.99 in the iTunes App Store, but
it requires a somewhat pricey cable
to connect the Apple devices Dock
Connector to the Cisco hardwares
console port. Redpark Product
Development offers that cable for
$69. Its 6-foot length allows the user
to comfortably access console ports
on Cisco gear no matter where in an
equipment rack it may sit.
online at:
tinyurl.com/4gk7hgc
Amix Capitals Get Console provides a logged console session with
clipboard functions that allow editing on the iPad or iPhone.
tech in-depth
16
By Darryl K. Taft
W
hen it comes to the
alphabet soup of
cloud computing,
at least one vendor
is staying above the
fray. Amazon Web
Services (AWS), whose offerings
include IAAS, PAAS and SAAS
(infrastructure, platform and soft-
ware as a service), is intent on not
being grouped under any particular
label.
We dont spend any time talking
about the acronyms, Andy Jassy,
senior vice president of AWS, told
eWEEK. All those lines will get
blurred over time. Its a construct
to box people in, and it fits some
stack paradigm.
We started with raw storage,
raw compute and raw database in
SimpleDB. Weve added load balanc-
ing, a relational database, Hadoop
and Elastic Map reduce, a manage-
ment GUI. All those lines start to
get blurred, and you can expect to
see additional abstraction from us.
Amazon Web Services objections
aside, the January release of the com-
panys Elastic Beanstalk service offers
an excellent example of PAAS ver-
sus IAAS: Developers upload their
Java applications into the Elastic
Beanstalk service, and Amazon
handles all the capacity provision-
ing, load balancing, auto-scaling
With interest in platform as a service on the rise, what must developers look for
to ensure that they are making the right movesand not falling into traps
of previous generations of technology?
Will PAAS solve
all developer ills?
and application-health-monitoring
details. The PAAS service taps lower-
level AWS services to do the work,
with compute power provided by
Amazons Elastic Compute Cloud,
an archetypal IAAS offering.
If you mapped an existing IT
organization to the new world of
the cloud, your IT operations team
would be the IAAS layer, the stan-
dard applications (email, social,
office, ERP, CRM, etc.) would be
available as SAAS, and the custom
applications would run on a PAAS,
Sacha Labourey, CEO and founder
of Java PAAS player CloudBees, told
eWEEK. All three of them are essen-
tial as companies move toward the
cloud, he said.
Ross Mason, CTO and founder
of MuleSoft, which offers an iPAAS
(integration platform as a service)
solution, explained it this way:
SAAS changes the way we acquire
applications, IAAS changes the way
we deploy and consume infrastruc-
ture, and PAAS changes the way we
build applications.
Platform is the magic word: It
creates a development platform for
building software in the cloud. Its
important to understand that, like
enterprise software platforms, the
PAAS universe is evolving to serve
various development communities,
f or exampl e,
languages, as
well as differ-
ent functions.
P AAS i s
f or devel op-
ers what vi r-
t u a l i z a t i o n
i s for system
administrators, added Bob Bickel,
an adviser at CloudBees and chair-
man at eXo. Virtualization let sys
admins forget about the underlying
servers and share resources a lot
more effectively. PAAS will be the
paas using its own language
and storage mechanism will
generate a pretty extensive
lock-in.sacha labourey, cloudbees
tech in-depth
17
WHAT TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN DEVELOPING FOR PAAS
Patrick Kerpan, president, CTO and co-founder of CohesiveFT, offered a
checklist, or set of rules, that should be followed by every budding developer
contemplating an application development careeror an entrenched one
refreshing an existing application development career in the face of the cloud.
Q There is no metal.
Q Nothing is where you are.
Q Asynchronous and event-oriented behavior is everything for your
application.
Q APIs are everywhere.
Q Long-running transactions will be part of everything, not an exception.
Q Features and functions that appear across a range of devices (including
desktops, kiosks, tablets and smartphones) are collectively the user
interface to your applicationnot different user interfaces.
Q Frameworks that abstract multiple PAAS platforms (which would be
things that Spring and Rails will do) might be the place to focus effort.
Q Dont give up your day job; it will take longer than you think.
same and, in a long-term vision,
will supplant lower layers like OS
and virtualization, [becoming] the
key platform that custom apps and
SAAS are deployed on.
Patrick Kerpan, president, CTO
and co-founder of CohesiveFT, a
maker of onboarding solutions
for cloud computing, told eWEEK,
The significance of PAAS will
be the transition from OS-based
features to network-based features
that take advantage of growing cus-
tomer acceptance of the idea that
their information assets are out
there somewhere and the increas-
ing ability of PAASand applica-
tions built on top of itto seem
more local, controlled and secure.
Applications will be built on net-
work services. This is already hap-
pening. The longest pole in the
tent is the evolution of the mindset
of enterprise IT and ISVs, Kerpan
said. This is a generational thing
and cant be hurried.
Users buying in
Users appear to be buying in.
Charles Teague, CEO of Lose It!,
maker of an iPhone weight-loss
application, said, The CloudBees
PAAS makes it straightforward for
Lose It! to run a high-volume, data-
intense Website handling 15,000
reads per minute with very little
operational overhead. Their technol-
ogy and service have allowed us to
focus on creating the best product
we can.
Mi crosoft s Wi ndows Azure
cloud-computing platformwhich
offers elements of IAAS, SAAS and
PAASalso appeals to users.
For a very small investment,
we can try a new project and see
if it works, close it down tomorrow
or ramp it up immediately, said
Eugene Shustef, chief engineer of
Global Document Outsources at
Xerox. The Windows Azure plat-
form enables us to do that; cloud
computing lowers the barrier to
innovation.
Using Microsoft technology,
Xerox built Xerox Cloud Print, a
cloud-based printing service that
allows users to route a printing
job to any available public printer
directly from their mobile devices.
Now, when employees are traveling
on business, they can do things
such as quickly print a presentation
for the next days client meeting.
By running Windows Azure and
SQL Azure, developers were able
to build Xerox Cloud Print in just
four months, according to Xerox
officials.
This is the big advantage to
developers, MuleSofts Mason said.
With PAAS, they can now spin up
their newest applications in minutes
without going through the usual
rigmarole of installing database,
application runtime and other third-
party software, before writing a line
of code. A PAAS also means that
patches and upgrades are managed
by the PAAS provider, freeing the
developer to think about just one
thingthe app.
Robin Purohit, vice president
and general manager for software
product s at Hewl et t - Packard,
explained it this way: On one hand,
its the holy grail of application
developmentjust code away
and the platform will automati-
cally handle scalability, availabil-
ity, provisioning, upgrades, moni-
toring, etc. Conversely, there is
no free lunch, so developers who
think they can just forget about the
-ilities in their design may be cre-
ating an even tougher-to-manage
application than was previously
possible.
HP CEO Leo Apotheker cited
PAAS as a direction HP will soon
take. Initially, the company will offer
tools supporting PAAS development.
tech in-depth
18
However, think of a developer
building code in a specific language
and packaging it for deployment to
a specific platformfor instance,
an EAR (enterprise archive) or WAR
(Web application archive) file for a
J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise
Edition) container. The platform
(i.e., the J2EE container) provides
a contract about how applications
can use the facilities of the plat-
forms (e.g., security, transactional
integrity or management), and
these facilities are made available
at the time of deployment when
the application binds to them,
Purohit said.
For PAAS, the same type of con-
tract is going to be required even
if PAAS vendors offer language-
agnostic platforms. That way, appli-
cations can bind to facilities in the
platforms that are common to the
applications (even if configured
differently for the application).
Dealing with the myriad combi-
nations and configuration options
of operating systems, hypervisors,
Web servers, app servers, load
balancers, databases and the like
is a huge time sink, said Mike
Piech, vice president of product
management and marketing at
Engine Yard, a provider of Ruby-
based PAAS infrastructure. Being
able to just drop your code onto a
PAAS-based stack thats ready to
run allows developers to focus on
business logic, data models, user
interfaces and key algorithms that
are truly differentiating to their
businesses.
What are the drawbacks?
With all the benefits of PAAS, are
there any drawbacks? For instance,
is lock-in a concern?
There is a strong danger of lock-
in with most PAAS offerings, said
Bryan Che, manager of product
management for cloud computing
at Red Hat. To avoid lock-in, you
must be able to write your app in
the framework/language of your
choice and deploy on the cloud of
your choice.
If you can write only to a propri-
etary API that is available in only one
PAAS, you can never move your app
somewhere else, since those APIs
dont exist elsewhere. Furthermore,
you cant bring existing apps into
that PAAS, since they werent written
for those proprietary APIs.
Microsoft provides partners and
customers with the choice and flex-
ibility to leverage the infrastruc-
ture they already have in place, so
they can utilize their existing skills
and extend their investments to
the cloud, said Prashant Ketkar,
director of product marketing for
Windows Azure at Microsoft.
As part of this, weve embraced
support for open standards and
other development environments as
a platform principle. This includes
support for Java, PHP, Ruby and
Python, as well as the same stan-
dard protocols that advanced the
Web, including HTTP, XML, REST
and SOAP.
The level of lock-in will depend
on the language/environment being
run, the database hosting the data,
etc., CloudBees Labourey said.
When leveraging a Java PAAS stor-
ing its state in a well-known data-
base, the lock-in is typically very
weak as it is relatively easy to rep-
licate a compatible environment
in-house.
However, a PAAS using its own
language and storage mechanism
such as Salesforce.coms own propri-
etary language and databasewill
generate a pretty extensive lock-in.
But this is similar to a company
using something like PowerBuilder
for its developments.
Benjamin Mestrallet, founder
and CEO of eXo added, The
vendor- l ock-
ing risk is at
the IAAS and
SAAS l ayers.
Wi t h PAAS,
vendors try to
attract develop-
ers. Whatever
language they
use to code, those developers work
with open frameworks that PAAS
vendors support.
If we look at the Java PAAS
market, all vendors offer a standard
way to deploy Java applications
(WARs), and unless the developer
is using a dedicated API for storage
or caching (which they do not have
to in existing PAAS), the applica-
tions are portable from one PAAS
to another.
unless the developer is using
a dedicated api for storage or
caching ... the applications are
portable.benjamin mestrallet, exo
online at:
tinyurl.com/5r495zo
labs@work
19
Apples new iPad 2 is selling in blockbuster numbers, but a host of companies at this years CTIA confer-
ence in Orlando, Fla., seemed determined to make their own mark on the burgeoning mobile market,
offering a variety of next-generation tablets and smartphones. These devices feature powerful hardware,
including dual-core processors, and the latest software, including the tablet-optimized Google Android 3.0.
In a bid to appeal to consumers, these tablets and smartphones also include more gimmicky features
such as integrated 3D cameras.
HTC, Samsung, T-Mobile
tablets & smartphones top CTIA
Samsungs Galaxy Tab is now available as the Galaxy
Tab 10.1, a 10.1-inch tablet.
S i lblthGl
The version of the HTC View 4G on
display at CTIA did not seem to be
running Google Android 3.0, code-
named Honeycomb.
The T-Mobile G2x packs an Nvidia
Tegra 2 mobile processor with a dual-
core CPU. Each CPU runs at 1GHz.
Thunderbolts specs boast a 4.3-inch
capacitive touch screen, an 8-mega-
pixel rear-facing camera, a 1.3-mega-
pixel front-facing camera for video
conferencing and Android 2.2.
T
T
At 8.9 inches, the G-Slate walks the middle ground between 7-inch
tablets (such as RIMs upcoming PlayBook) and Samsungs Galaxy
Tab and Apples 9.7-inch iPad.
A
labs@work
20
FCC will be particularly careful,
said Charles King, principal ana-
lyst of Pund-IT Research. Not only
does the deal effectively consolidate
a huge part of the U.S. wireless mar-
ket in the hands of a single vendor,
but AT&Ts wireless plan offerings
and costs differ significantly from
T-Mobiles.
With an eye toward regulators,
AT&T officials have argued that the
deal not only would offer benefits
to customers, shareholders and the
public, but that by being able to more
rapidly build out its network, the com-
pany would be meeting the Obama
administrations demands for a more
connected United States. In addition,
by combining AT&T and T-Mobile,
the deal would ease impending spec-
trum shortages, expand LTE 4G ser-
vice to more Americans, and improve
After fast start, AT&T
and T-Mobile settle
in for a long haul
voice and data service.
Despite the size of the combined
company, competitionnot only
from Verizon Wireless and Sprint,
but also from MetroPCS and Leap
Wirelesswill continue to flourish,
Randall Stephenson, AT&T chair-
man and CEO, said in a conference
call on March 21.
Taking aim at the merger
Those competitors arent so sure.
Executives from rivals have been
quick to take aim at the proposed
merger, arguing that such a massive
AT&T would dominate the wireless
landscape and make a level playing
field impossible.
A combined AT&T and T-Mobile
would be almost three times the
size of Sprint, the third largest wire-
less competitor, Sprint executives
said in a statement released soon
after AT&Ts announcement. If
approved, the merger would result
in a wireless industry dominated
overwhelmingly by two
vert i cal l y i nt egrat ed
companies that control
almost 80 percent of the
U.S. wireless post-paid
market.
The new AT&T would
have about 130 million
subscribers; Verizon
would be a distant sec-
ond with about 101 mil-
lion. Sprint would rank
third with almost 50 million sub-
scribers. Despite those numbers,
Verizon CEO Daniel Mead said dur-
ing a panel at the CTIA Wireless
2011 show that his company sees
no need to buy Sprint to match a
combined AT&T and T-Mobile.
Were extremely confident of
where were at, Mead said, adding
during an interview with Reuters
that Verizon is not interested in
Sprint. We dont need them.
Sprint may not need Verizon,
ANALYSIS: Federal regulators could take up to a
year to scour the proposed $39 billion deal, giving
both competitors and subscribers plenty of time
to think about what a combined AT&T/T-Mobile
will mean to them.
By Jeffrey Burt
A
T&Ts stunning announce-
ment that it intends to
buy rival T-Mobile for
$39 billiona move that
would create by far the largest wire-
less carrier in the United States
immediately sent a ripple through-
out the industry.
Howev er, a s s ud-
den and startling as the
March 20 news was,
the next chapter in the
mega-deal promises to
unfold methodically over
the next 12 months, as
federal regulators debate
the antitrust issues. This
will give customers and
competitors time to mull
over what a combined
AT&T/T-Mobile will mean to them.
Getting the regulatory clearance
wont be easy, according to analysts.
The deal is going to get looked at by
at least the Federal Communications
Commission and the U.S. Depart-
ment of Justice, and given the high
profile of the wireless industry in
todays increasingly mobile world,
the agencies are going to be extra
cautious.
So far as regulatory oversight of
AT&T/T-Mobile goes, I expect the
labs@work
either. Some analysts are speculating
that in order to appease regulators,
AT&T may have to divest a chunk
of T-Mobile subscriberssome
estimating by up to 40 percent.
Those customers could find their
way to Sprint, which reportedly had
been interested in buying T-Mobile
until AT&T jumped in.
The eventual outcome of this
deal could be that AT&T does suc-
cessfully acquire T-Mobile, but is
required to divest perhaps up to half
of T-Mobiles subscribers, according
to a report by Citadel Securities. We
would view this outcome as positive
for Sprint, which we believe would
be a likely bidder for the divested
operations. Although not as favorable
as a straight Sprint/T-Mobile merger
(at a fair valuation), Sprints ability to
acquire some portions of T-Mobile
would help it achieve better scale.
Positive and negative impacts
Should the deal go through, cus-
tomers will see their share of posi-
tive and negative impacts, ranging
from improved service and a greater
number of mobile-device choices
to less innovation, analysts said.
One thing seems certain, though:
T-Mobile subscribers, who have
enjoyed among the lowest prices
in the industry, will see their costs
jump.
T-Mobile charges less than many
major competitors on a number of
plan types. Its possible, even
likely, that after a merger, these
lower rates will continue only until
T-Mobiles contractual obligations
are up, and then theyll rise to the
levels of AT&T and other major
carriers, Consumer Reports Paul
Reynolds said in a blog. The fact
that one fewer major wireless carrier
will be in the national market helps
increase the likelihood of rate hikes.
However, given the expected
lengthy regulatory process, custom-
ers in the short term shouldnt expect
much of anything, said Ken Hyers,
an analyst with Technology Business
Research.
Weve seen AT&T for so long
being characterized as having poor
coverage, and in the short term, that
wont change. These sorts of deals
take about a year, since the regula-
tors need to pore over it, Hyers
said. In the long term, though, itll
improve the quality of the [network]
service AT&T customers receive,
and T-Mobile customers will see
prices increase.
eWEEK writers Nicholas Kolakowski,
Michelle Maisto and Wayne Rash con-
tributed to this article.
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labs@work
22
By Cameron Sturdevant
T
hree-dimensional graphics,
USB redirection, reduced
network bandwidth when
working with graphics-
rich applications, and more flexible
memory usage are all included in
the first service pack for Microsoft
Windows Server 2008 R2.
The muscular Windows Server
2008 R2 Service Pack 1 is of special
interest to IT desktop managers with
strategic, high-performance desktop
virtualization projects on the draw-
ing board, as well as system manag-
ers looking to increase existing vir-
tual server density in the data center.
RemoteFX and Dynamic Mem-
oryboth new features in the Win-
dows Server 2008 R2 SP1take
advantage of the changing data cen-
ter and desktop terrain that places
a primacy on 64-bit architecture.
RemoteFX goes even further by
using workstation-grade high-end
graphics hardware to expand the
envelope for desktop workloads that
can be virtualized and run from the
data center.
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
was released in February and is
available as a no-charge download
from Microsoft.
I tested SP1 on a professional-
grade workstation because a suf-
ficiently powerful graphics card is
not yet part of our standard test
bed. I used a Hewlett-Packard Z800
equipped with two Intel Xeon X5680
REVIEW: Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 adds RemoteFX and
Dynamic Memory to enable high-performance workloads and increase data
center VM density.
RemoteFX and Dynamic Memory
boost Windows Server 2008 R2
With the Nvidia Quadro 5000
hardware, I was able to configure
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 to
provide a 3D virtual adapter to
my users who accessed a Remote
Desktop Connection. Flash videos
and other graphics-intensive photo-
editing tools worked almost the
same when compared side by side
with a physical system running the
same workloads.
Achieving this effect requires
dramatic changes in the server
hardware. Because the graphics
processing for the virtual desktop
takes place on the servernot the
client hardwareIT managers will
need to beef up servers with pro-
fessional-class graphics hardware.
Even the newest systems com-
ing into eWEEK Labs for perfor-
mance tests would have a hard
3.33GHz quad-core processors and
18GB of RAM. I also installed a
top-of-the-line Nvidia Quadro 5000
graphics card to support the rich
graphics capabilities RemoteFX
provides.
Users also need to be running
the latest and greatest version of
Windows 7 on the desktop. I used an
older HP dc7700p desktop system,
which had an Intel Core 2 CPU and
2GB of RAM and ran Windows 7 SP1.
SP1 is needed for those who wish
to take full advantage of RemoteFX.
RemoteFX features
RemoteFX is a set of features in
RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol,
formerly Terminal Services) that I
used in my tests of the beta to look
at rich graphics applications and
USB redirection.
RemoteFX enables enhanced graphics and USB direction for end-user Remote Desktop
connections that run Windows 7 with SP1.
labs@work
23
time squeezing in the needed
graphics card.
With lots of RAM, CPU cores,
hopped-up graphics cards and the
power supplies needed to juice
these super-systems, the thermal
and power gains that server con-
solidation can achieve must now be
thought of as the cushion that will
be used to implement workloads that
RemoteFX capabilities
make possible.
Besides the hardware
requirements, there
is also a fair amount
of server and virtual
machine setup needed
to support the visu-
ally impressive results
offered by RemoteFX.
First, all participating
systems, including cli-
ent devices, need to be
running SP1, whether
on Windows Server 2008
R2 or Windows 7. Only
Windows 7 Enterprise
and Ultimate SKUs are
licensed to take advan-
tage of the RemoteFX
capabilities.
I created Windows 7
virtual machine pools
capable of supporting the Aero inter-
face. These virtual desktop systems
needed to have the RemoteFX dis-
play driver added to them on the
Hyper-V management server.
New directions
I empl oyed RemoteFX USB
redirection to use a USB flash drive
and a USB headset on my test system.
For IT managers who are evaluating
VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure)
technologies, this is a major change
and should be explored as an impor-
tant advance in the Windows Hyper-V
environment.
As with rich graphics, the client
system and the virtual machine
host must be running SP1 to sup-
port USB redirection. First, I had to
make a change to Group Policy in
my test domain to enable RDP redi-
rection of supported USB devices.
On the desktop, I then forced the
Group Policy update and restarted
the system with a Logitech tele-
phone headset and a USB flash
drive connected.
During the Remote Desktop
Connection process, I was pre-
sented with a configuration screen
that allowed me to specify which
USB devices should be available
in the remote session. The devices
worked as expected in my virtual
desktop.
Dynamic Memory
To increase virtual machine den-
sity and stay on par with indus-
try advances, Microsoft added
Dynamic Memory to SP1. The
Dynamic Memory feature enabled
me to pool the memory resources
on my HP Z800 physical host and
then create rules for that memory to
be dynamically added and removed
from my virtual machines.
I first created a group of Windows
Server 2003 R2 virtual systems. I
then installed integration services
on each of these VMs to enable the
Dynamic Memory feature.
For each system, I specified how
much RAM each VM should be
given at start-upalong with a maxi-
mum amount that could
be used, given no other
system constraints. I
also specified a prior-
ity value for memory
allocation when conten-
tion developed involving
other VMs running on
this physical server.
When Dynamic Mem-
ory is enabled on a VM,
new performance moni-
tors are also available.
IT managers will quickly
become accustomed to
checking these perfor-
mance moni t ors, as
Dynamic Configuration
is still as much art as it
is science.
I made changes that
affected the amount of
memory assigned to my
various VMs in accordance with the
memory demand that was reported
to me from the console and the
memory status, which showed the
amount of memory buffer available
to my systems.
IT managers should expect that
it will take at least a week or more
of careful monitoring to get initial
levels correctly set.
can be reached at csturdevant@
eweek.com.
Virtual machine memory management includes setting the maximum
amount of RAM and the amount needed to start the VM.
online at:
tinyurl.com/4kehb2o
labs@work
24
Accordi ng t o anal yt i cs fi rm
comScore, Bing owns 13.6 percent
of the search-engine market, ver-
sus Googles 65.4 percent share.
When you combine Bings share
with Yahoos 16.1 percent stake,
then Microsofts total market share
rises to 29.7 percent.
While those numbers dont exactly
pose an existential threat to Google,
they solidly refute some pundits
early expectations that Bing would
die a quick and messy death soon
after its rollout in summer 2009.
The Yahoo deal also allowed Micro-
soft to gain many of the benefits of
an outright merger at a fraction of
the cost.
Microsoft-Nokia deal
Perhaps encouraged by that
development, Microsoft moved to
Microsofts cloud and mobile
strategy: Partner with everyone
enact a partnership with another
massive player in the tech space:
Nokia. Under the reported terms
of the agreement between the two
companies, Microsoft will pay
the Finnish manufacturer some
$1 billion over five years to manu-
facture handsets running Win-
dows Phone 7. In return, Nokia
will apparently pay Microsoft a
licensing fee for every copy of
Windows Phone 7 installed on
its smartphones.
News of the deal came just as
a comScore report suggested that
Microsofts share of the U.S. smart-
phone platform market dipped 1.7
percentage points between October
2010 and this Januaryfrom 9.7
percent to 8 percent. That lagged
behind Google, which ended Janu-
ary with 31.2 percent of the market;
ANALYSIS: Microsofts partnerships with Yahoo, Nokia and possibly RIM hint
at its broader strategy for conquering the cloud and mobile spaces.
By Nicholas Kolakowski
I
ts no secret that Microsoft
faces a host of challenges as
it attempts to shift its focus
from the traditional and desk-
top-bound to a more cloud-centric,
mobile-focused model. For com-
panies with tens of thousands of
employees and decades worth of
institutional memory, recoding the
corporate DNA to meet new chal-
lenges is an undertaking with a lot of
risk and a high potential for failure.
Given its size and cash flow, as
well as the solidity of its traditional
product lines such as Windows and
Office, Microsoft could have walked
the path to the cloud and mobile
alone. Instead, the company seems
determined to join in massive,
broad-based partnerships with other
tech giantssaving it some cash
and effort, but also placing some
part of its fate in the hands of those
companies ability to execute.
It started, in many ways, with
Yahoo. After tryingand failing
to buy the Web portal company
for $44.6 billion, Microsoft took
a different approach in the sum-
mer of 2009, inking a 10-year deal
in which Microsofts Bing search
engine would power Yahoos back-
end search. The two companies
expect all Yahoo customers and
partners to move to Bing by 2012,
provided the integration continues
to proceed smoothly.
labs@work
25
Research In Motion with 30.4 per-
cent; and Apple with 24.7 percent.
Microsoft is hoping that its new
Windows Phone 7 platform, which
aggregates Web content and appli-
cations into six subject-specific
Hubs, will eventually gain traction
with consumers and businesses
as a viable alternative to Google
Android, RIMs BlackBerry and
Apples iPhone.
However, in the United States
one of Windows Phone
7s chief areas of market
focusthe Nokia deal is
unlikely to have a sub-
stantial effect. According
to comScore, Nokia fails
to place in the U.S. top-five
rankings for either OEMs
or smartphone platforms.
In the OEM scenario, it
ranks behind Samsung,
LG, Motorola and others;
in platforms, its behind
even Palm at 3.2 percent.
But the global scenario
i s markedl y di fferent.
According to data from
analysis firm StatCounter,
Symbian holds some 30.7
percent of the global mar-
ket, ahead of Apple iOS
at 24.6 percent, Android at 15.2
percent and RIM at 14.5 percent.
Should Nokia and Microsoft man-
age to transition the formers soft-
ware platform to Windows Phone 7
with relatively little bleed-off, those
sorts of percentages could trans-
late into a very significant gain for
Microsoft as it seeks to re-establish
its smartphone bona fides.
Despite competing with RIM in
the smartphone arena, Microsoft is
reportedly prepping a partnership
with the Canadian firm over cloud
services. According to a March 17
Bloomberg report, Microsoft will
assist RIM in porting customers
data to the cloud.
Its a more efficient model for
everyone, Jim Tobin, a RIM execu-
tive, told Bloomberg in an interview.
Microsoft has adopted an all-in
strategy with regard to cloud ser-
vices. However, the road map for
those initiatives adoption and rev-
enue remains unclear.
We obviously havent given any
guidance on the revenue of that and
how fast its going to ramp up, Peter
Klein, Microsofts chief financial
officer, told analysts and media dur-
ing a Jan. 27 earnings call. Its one
of those things where its going to
happen, and the exact sort of speed
of the ramp is uncertain. I do believe
that once it starts to accelerate, its
going to accelerate pretty fast.
Microsofts cloud efforts have
largely focused on initiatives such
as Office 365. Its subscription-
based modelwhich allows orga-
nizations to stay up-to-date with the
latest versions of Microsoft Office,
SharePoi nt Onl i ne, Exchange
Online and Lync Onlineis one
shared by other services such
as Azure.
Under the terms of the agree-
ment with RIM, the Canadian
firms upcoming PlayBook tablet
will be capable of displaying Office
365 data from any users Black-
Berry, via a tethering service called
BlackBerry Bridge. (In theory,
BlackBerry Bridge helps keep data
especially secure; removing ones
BlackBerry from tether-
ing range will disappear
the PlayBook applications
related to messaging and
other sensitive features.)
RIMs BlackBerry Enter-
prise Servers will also con-
nect cloud to cloud with
Microsofts data centers
to host Office 365 data on
those BlackBerrys. The
PlayBookwhich relies
on a propri et ary oper-
at i ng syst em based on
software acquired during
RIMs takeover of QNX
Software Systems from
Harman International in
April 2010is expected to
hit store shelves in the
United States and Canada
starting April 19.
Partnerships in the cloud space
could help Microsoft greatly as it
seeks to take on Google, Oracle,
Salesforce.com and other com-
panies determined to carve out
their own territory. But, as with
Nokia and Yahoo, it remains to be
seen whether such partnerships
despite the cost savings versus an
all-out acquisitiontranslate into
longer-term victory.
online at:
tinyurl.com/4ru73gl
Last month, Microsoft announced plans to make Hosted
BlackBerry Service for Exchange Online a free extension
to its Business Productivity Online Suite and to that suites
forthcoming successor, Office 365.
labs@work
26
By Jason Brooks
O
penSUSE 11.4 is a mod-
est new release in the
line of community-ori-
ented, Linux-based oper-
ating systems from Novell and the
openSUSE community, marked by
a raft of newly updated open-source
applications and components.
As with previous openSUSE
releases, this distribution can serve in
roles ranging from desktop to server.
However, where openSUSE (and
its SUSE Linux predecessor) once
stood tall among its Linux rivals, Id
sooner recommend Ubuntu or one
of the Red Hat-based distributions
for most client-to-server uses.
From a desktop perspective, the top
two openSUSE 11.4 highlightsits
inclusion of the Firefox 4 Web browser
and LibreOffice productivity suite
are equally accessible on any other
Linux distribution. For server roles,
openSUSEs 18-month support period
is limiting, given the five- to 10-year
terms available from Ubuntu LTS and
rebranded Red Hat distributions.
With that said, what openSUSE
lacks within the release itself, it
helps make up for in the networked
services that Novell has assembled
around it. In addition, the open-
SUSE project has embarked on a
pair of potentially compelling new
branches of the distribution.
On the services front, Novells
SUSE Studio makes it easy to
REVI EW: This modest new release in the line of community-oriented,
Linux-based operating systems offers newly updated open-source
applications and components.
OpenSUSE 11.4 offers
updated open-source apps
openSUSEs own Factory. Unlike these
under-development releases, Tumble-
weed will include the latest versions of
packages considered to be stable.
Im interested in seeing how well
the project manages to juggle this roll-
ing update scheme moving forward.
Nevertheless, the offer of a reasonably
stable, always up-to-date distribution
should prove attractive to some users.
Potentially much more compelling
than Tumbleweedand definitely
much more challengingis Project
Evergreen, an attempt to extend the
supported life of openSUSE releases
beyond the standard 18 months. Ever-
green bears a strong resemblance to the
ill-fated Fedora Legacy project, which
create openSUSE (or SUSE Linux
Enterprise)-based machine images
through a Web-based tool. Along
similar lines, Novells openSUSE
Build Service offers individuals and
organizations a means of building
and hosting software packages tai-
lored for openSUSE distributions.
The Build Service, which the open-
SUSE project taps to build the dis-
tribution itself, has also been turned
toward launching a new openSUSE
branch, code-named Tumbleweed,
which will provide rolling upgrades
to openSUSE systems.
Most popular distributions include
a rolling development branch, such
as Red Hats Rawhide, Debians Sid or
OpenSUSE 11.4 ships with the LibreOfce productivity suite and Firefox 4 Web browser.
labs@work
27
attempted the same feat for no-longer-
supported Red Hat Linux and Fedora
releases from around 2004 to 2007.
Project Evergreen faces an uphill
battle, but the project has the benefit
of much better package-building
tools than were available to the
Fedora Legacy project. Therefore,
given enough interest and partici-
pation from the openSUSE com-
munity and, ideally, from Novell as
well, Evergreen could significantly
improve the case for openSUSE.
USB, font troubles
My tests of openSUSE 11.4 got off
to a rocky start. After downloading
and verifying the integrity of both the
GNOME and KDE desktop versions
of openSUSE LiveCD media, I was
unable to boot the release from a
USB stick I created as directed by the
documentation on the projects Web-
site. A visit to Novells bug tracker
(http://goo.gl/wBWBe) turned up a
handful of reports on the issue.
In my experience, installing from
USB media is faster, and USB drives
are reusable, so this is the route I nor-
mally choose. However, I instead had to
burn the install image onto a blank CD.
I then installed the release on a dual-
core Dell notebook with 3GB of RAM.
I also tested a trio of 11.4 instances
(one KDE, one GNOME and one head-
less server) that I created in OVF for-
mat using SUSE Studio and deployed
on a VMware vSphere host in our lab.
Wi t h a t e s t
machine up and
running on the
GNOME desktop,
I hit a second sig-
nificant usability
snagthat of poor
font rendering,
particularly in the
Firefox Web browser. In my time cov-
ering Linux, Ive clocked many hours
wrestling with font and other graphics
issues, but for some time now, those
issues have been resolved in most
other Linux flavors I encounter.
I found no shortage of how-
to advice and tips for improving
font appearance on various open-
SUSE versions. Not surprisingly,
this advice changes from release to
release as the underlying compo-
nents change. But I dont see the
point in fiddling with fonts on a
particular distribution when this
issue has been resolved in others.
I upgraded one of my machines to
the projects new Tumbleweed branch,
which, as promised, contained newer
versions of a handful of packages.
These included Version 2.6.38 of the
Linux kernel, compared to the 11.4
default 2.6.37, and LibreOffice 3.3.2,
compared to 3.3.1.
I expect to see
more packages
appear in Tumble-
weed as we move
farther from the
release date of 11.4.
A significant test for Tumbleweed will
come when the major Version 3 update
to the GNOME desktop environment
goes stablelikely several months be-
fore the next full openSUSE release.
Elsewhere on the versioning and
upgrades front, SUSE Studio now
includes an option for upgrading
instances built on an older version
of openSUSE to the current release.
With a click, I upgraded one of my
11.1-based appliances to 11.4.
OpenSUSE 11.4 is available in ver-
sions for x86 and AMD64 systems
and can be freely downloaded from
http://software.opensuse.org/114/
en. The download images available
from this site include a 4.7GB DVD
image that contains the entire dis-
tribution; separate Live CD images
that include the GNOME and KDE
desktop environments; and slim
network-based installer images.
OpenSUSE 11.4 is also available
in a boxed, physical media version
that comes with printed documen-
tation and 90 days of phone-based
installation support for $71.50.
eWEEK Labs Editor in Chief Jason
Brooks can be reached at jbrooks@
eweek.com.
online at:
tinyurl.com/6cjldps
Version 11.4 marks
the debut of a new
rolling-release edition
of openSUSE, called
Tumbleweed.
Novells SUSE Studio
offers an option to
upgrade software ap-
pliances to the latest
version of openSUSE.
labs@work
28
JavaScript engine, to help speed-
ily render rich Web content. In
practice, the browser certainly
feels speedy to use. After a day
of extremely limited eWEEK test-
ing, it has yet to stall or choke
even under the weight of multiple,
element-heavy Websites.
Security features
For the security consciousor
the excessively paranoidInternet
IE9 focuses on
speed, Windows 7
leveraging
Explorer 9 comes with a number
of security and privacy features
designed to impart peace of mind.
InPrivate Browsing, for example,
allows Web surfing without leav-
ing any traces that can be discov-
ered later.
The baked-in SmartScreen Fil-
ter evaluates potentially suspect
Websites based on their reputation
and notifies the user accordingly
with pop-up windows and a list
of suggested actions. (For those
who like to live dangerously, this
feature can be turned off.) In addi-
tion, Tracking Protection lets users
decide which types of information
they want viewable by third parties.
Depending on the settings, block-
ing some content could also limit
what a Website displays.
Wont run on XP
IE9 may operate to best effect
with Windows 7, but it wont run
at all with Windows XP. That could
REVIEW: Microsofts Internet Explorer 9 leverages
both PC hardware and Windows 7 to provide a
speedier and more colorful experience.
By Nicholas Kolakowski
M
icrosoft went simple in
Internet Explorer 9
the latest iteration of
its browser franchise
released March 14stripping down
the user interface and rendering
the frame translucent, the better
to place Websites front-and-center.
But that wasnt the only substantive
change. Microsoft claims, perhaps
inevitably, that this new browser
sets benchmarks for speed, secu-
rity and content support.
If anything, IE9 demonstrates
Microsofts increased ability to boot
a particular platform or applica-
tions abilities by leveraging other
products in its software portfolio.
To wit, IE9 relies on Windows 7
for some of its most eye-popping
features. These include the ability
to drag-and-drop a Website tab to
the Windows 7 taskbar, transform-
ing it into an icon that can, when
right-clicked, open up a jump list
full of one-click links to that Web-
sites most vital content.
Windows 7 users can also Aero
Snap their browser windows to
the left or right of the screen. That
comes in handy when organizing
multiple Websites or trying to view
two Web pages side by side.
IE9 relies on the PCs graphics
processor, along with a revamped
With Aero Snap, Internet Explorer 9 users can pin resized windows to either the left
or right of the screen, or even tear off Website tabs if they want to view a pair of
Websites next to each other.
labs@work
29
prove problematic in the short
term for Microsoft, given that
according to analytics firm Net
Applicationssome 55 percent of
PCs still run XP.
That effectively shuts off IE9
from a substantial portion of per-
sonal computers that continue
to support its rivals, including
Firefox. In this scenario, the best
Microsoft can hope for is that the
migration from XP to Windows 7
continues at a steady rate.
According to Net Applications,
Microsofts share of the browser
market currently stands at 56.77
percent, followed by Firefox at
21.74 percent, Google Chrome at
10.93 percent and Safari at 6.36
percent. For Internet Explorer, that
represents a decline from the 68.46
percent it held in March 2009.
Even as Microsoft begins its
quest to draw users to Internet
Explorer 9, it has advocated that
users cease their rel ationship
with the increasingly antiquated
IE6. Friends dont let friends
use Internet Explorer 6 reads a
specially designed Website, The
Internet Explorer 6 Countdown,
tailor-made by Microsoft for that
purpose. And neither shoul d
acquaintances.
Thats because Microsoft is now
offering, with much fanfare, a
speedier and shinier alternative.
Longer term, Microsoft will
shift its attention toward a mobile
version of Internet Explorer 9, in
order to seize a piece of the bur-
geoning smartphone and tablet
markets. Even in that space, the
company faces aggressive compe-
tition from mobile browsers such
as Opera.
online at:
tinyurl.com/4gfpyb4
A translucent, stripped-down user interface, jump lists and pinned icons all
combine to integrate Internet Explorer 9 thoroughly into the Windows 7 or Vista
interface. However, the new browser is incompatible with Windows XP and its siz-
able number of users.
With IE9, Microsoft also retained some very familiar elements. Many icons look like
slightly cleaned-up versions of their predecessors, and features such as the Favor-
ites bar are still very much present.
labs@work
30
By Fahmida Rashid
W
hile customers are
understandably con-
cerned about the secu-
rity of their SecurID
deployments, the RSA breach is
a wake-up call about the recent
increase in what security experts call
APTs: advanced persistent threats.
Attackers had successfully breached
RSAs networks and stolen infor-
mation related to its SecurID two-
factor authentication
technology, revealed Art
Coviello, the executive
chairman of RSA Secu-
rity, in an open letter to
customers posted on the
RSA Website on March
17. RSA identified the
attack as an APT.
APTs are ongoi ng
attacks where perpetra-
tors probe the target sys-
tems looking for infor-
mation such as source
code and other sensitive intellectual
property. APTs are a new breed
of cyber-adversary and cannot be
addressed in the same way as other
Web threats, Adam Vincent, CTO of
the Public Sector group at Layer 7
Technologies, told eWEEK.
The attackers are well-funded,
highly organized and are most likely
employing new techniquesones
that are probably not protected by
network encryption, firewalls and
other security products, Vincent
ANALYSIS: While security researchers have been talking about advanced
persistent threats for some time, RSAs SecurID breach has thrust APTs to
the forefront as the biggest danger to organizations.
RSA SecurID breach
is a lesson in APTs
guished analyst at Gartner. While OTP
(one-time password) systems raise
the bar for the criminals, they were
vulnerable to compromise even before
the RSA breach, she said. Maybe this
incident will wake up companies to the
need for more controls than just OTP
authentication, she said.
Assuming the attackers stole the
seed values used to generate the
one-time passwords on the SecurID
tokens, a potential scenario has cyber-
criminals leveraging social engi-
neering and spear phishing tactics
to obtain the serial number of the
SecurID token. With that in hand,
attackers can masquerade as the user
to log in to secured networks.
The scenario isnt all that dire: It
just means that RSA customers will
need to replace the tokens, accord-
ing to Kyle Adams, architect and
lead developer at Mykonos Software.
The actual two-factor authentica-
tion technology remains secure, and
its just some key information that
was lost, Adams told eWEEK.
Customers who feel SecurID was
compromised may replace it with
competitor products. In fact, CA has
announced that SecurID customers
can trade in their RSA tokens in a
one-for-one swap for CAs authen-
tication platform, the CA ArcotID
Secure Software Credentials.
said. Security products cant provide
sufficient capabilities to protect an
organization from APTs as the lurk-
ing attackers are often indistinguish-
able from legitimate users, he said.
Operation Aurora, which compro-
mised systems at Google and other
major companies in 2009, was a type
of APT. If Google and Aurora wasnt
enough of a wake-up call, this is another
wake-up call, said Peter Schlampp,
vice president of product management
at Solera Networks.
The general consen-
sus appears to be that
if RSA can fall, theres
little chance for smaller
companies. So organiza-
tions need to do more
than just spend money
to block threats, Chris
Larsen, head security
malware researcher at
Blue Coat Systems, told
eWEEK. They need to
assume they are infected
and invest in security technologies,
such as network forensics and log
management systems, that will allow
them to find the breach, he said.
While RSA has remained silent
about what was stolen, when the data
breach occurred, how attackers got
into the network and how long the
breach lasted, it did recommend that
customers harden their other security
layers in case of a follow-up attack.
A layered security approach is
always best, said Avivah Litan, a distin-
Adam Vincent, CTO,
Layer 7 Technologies
online at:
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Delivering the IT buyers marketing craves, the qualied
leads sales demand and the nancial performance CEOs require.
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or visit www.ziffdavisenterprise.com
Da a
St r ategicService s
Un s urpassedMarketExpertis e
Dy n amicDatabas e
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Wo r ldClassConten t
labs@work
32
that provides vCenter Mobile Access
technologies. After making the con-
nection, I logged in as I would from
a vCenter standard desktop client and
was presented with a view of my data
center, including my ESX host systems.
I tapped on the host system and
saw a view of the CPU and memory
use, along with details about the ESX
physical host and tiles representing
the virtual machines. I was able to see
the total number of virtual machines.
If a VM was powered on, I could
tap a heartbeat icon that would flip
the tile to reveal basic system informa-
tion, including CPU, memory, disk
and network use for that VM. The tile
displayed use data as a trace graph.
VMware vSphere
Client for iPad is
only eye candy
When I tapped on the VM tile
itself, a new view slid into place,
revealing details about the system.
I was able to see which operating
system was installed, as well as the
most recently reported amount of
CPU and memory the VM used.
The client also reported the IP
address, basic status of the VM and
whether VMware tools were installed
on the system.
One of the only things that is
improved in the VMware vSphere
Client for iPad over the standard
desktop client is the VM summary. I
could easily see at a glance the snap-
shot history and comments, as well as
the latest events reported for the VM.
There are three icons along the
bottom of nearly every screen in the
vSphere Client for iPad: info, perfor-
mance and tools. Tapping the info
icon generally showed an overview
summary of resources the ESX phys-
ical host used or, if an individual VM
was selected, the basic system details
of that machine.
Tapping on the performance icon
revealed a detailed usage screen
that showed the amount of CPU,
memory, disk and network band-
width on a trace graph that showed
nearly current reported data along
with a view of recent activity.
The tools icon is a handy addition
to the VMware vSphere Client for
iPad. There are just two tools: ping
and trace route. It was easy to use
these basic network-diagnostic utili-
ties to ping the selected machine and
run a trace route to that system.
To view a related slide show, log
on to http://tinyurl.com/5wuumod.
can be reached at csturdevant@
eweek.com.
REVIEW: Although the VMware vSphere Client for
iPad may look good, it lacks management muscle.
By Cameron Sturdevant
T
he VMware vSphere Client
for iPad is disappointing.
Although the slick Apple
iPad interface shows the
promise of power, the vSphere Client
for iPad will need to bulk up on the
information that IT administrators
need before the iPad application will
be anything more than eye candy.
Missing from this first release are
alarms, the ability to browse data
stores or detailed data center sta-
tistics, and anything other than a
rudimentary ability to put ESX hosts
into maintenance mode for a reboot.
Further, the vSphere Client for iPad
relies on the provided-as-is vCenter
Mobile Access technology, which is
still in technical preview and depends
on community technical support.
Compared with VMwares just-
released, also free and very useful
VMware View Client for iPad, the
VIC (Virtual Infrastructure Client) is
clearly a half-hearted development.
As released, the VMware vSphere
Client for iPad is, at best, a simple
monitor, not a tool for managing a
VMware data center.
VMware vSphere Client for iPad
was released March 21 through the
Apple App Store.
So what can it do?
The VMware vSphere Client for
iPad connected to my vCenter server
via a virtual appliance from VMware
online at:
tinyurl.com/5uyx3x5
Tapping on an ESX host shows physical
machine details (top) and VMs (bottom).
33
labs@workcommentary
For a more unied me
feel spread out at work. Like many IT knowl-
edge workers, I carry a mobile phone and a
tablet, and I have a laptop that uses a desktop
hypervisor, thus making the laptop at least
two or three virtual machines.
Unlike most, I also use a VDI (virtual desktop
infrastructure) session a fair number of times dur-
ing the week. For example, I recently tested, with
a great deal of satisfaction, a Windows 7 desktop
that was running as a VM (virtual machine) in
our VMware infrastructure that I accessed via an
Apple iPad. Calgon, take me away!
Of course, having more places to work means
having more places to customize and control. Im
not just talking about pass-
words (for which there are
well-known technology solu-
tions) or file-sharing technol-
ogies (such as Dropbox) that
are rapidly emerging to solve
the access-from-anywhere
problem.
The problem extends to
application options such as
custom dictionaries, email
signatures, default email accounts and even alert
tones. The veritable explosion of the number of
devices and location options is raising the specter
of user-device-management overload.
What I want is a wherever I work, there I am
environment. To the extent that IT managers can
reduce the time needed for individual technol-
ogy workers to manage the devices they need to
do their jobs is the extent to which ubiquitous
computing will achieve new levels of productivity.
This isnt a new problem. USB flash drives are a
turn-of-the-millennium attempt at file portability.
I have a martini glass full of these devices on my
desk. They are handy for immediate file transfer
but are nearly useless for meaningful anywhere-
access. The main deficiency of USB flash drives is
that you have to remember to take them with you.
There are products available today that are taking
a stab at the problem. Ubuntu One and Dropbox
both use the Web to provide centralized file synchro-
nization. And both services provide backup as well.
As Ive pointed out, however, there are even greater
levels of personalization that I suspect consume a
fair amount of user time that these products do not
touchlikely for good reasons.
Among the many obstacles to providing exten-
sive user customization across device platforms
is the sheer complexity of the problem. With my
three primary physical devices, I use 10 applica-
tions on three different Web browser platforms
and two operating systems.
Customizing the dictionary among Microsoft
Word, Google Docs and the spell checker in my
Samsung Galaxy Tab and my
HTC EVO 4 Android-based
phone presents a very tricky
problem. Add to that com-
plexity the fact that the solu-
tion has to be less expensive
than the value of the time I
would spend fiddling with
the devices, and the situation
is even worse.
I yearn for a central man-
agement tool that would help me ride herd over
my devices. Between the phantom ringing (hear-
ing a device sound when, in fact, it hasnt made
any noise or vibration) and not paying attention
to audible alerts due to a lack of recognition,
its starting to be a real drag for me. Constantly
right-clicking to add specialized tech terms to
dictionaries is also a pain. And customizing email
signatures on my many applications and several
devices is a time-consuming bore.
However, until there is a User Multi-Platform
Custom Personality standard, Ill be playing
Bo Peep to my flock of productivity tools.
Technical Director Cameron Sturdevant can be reached
at csturdevant@eweek.com.
Keeping track of custom dictionaries, email
signatures and alert tones is a nightmare for IT.
Cameron Sturdevant
having more
places to work
means having more
places to customize
and control.
This story can be found online at:
tinyurl.com/6k596ht
of
eWEEK
.
com
best
34
COULD AN AMAZON TABLET
BE AN iPAD KILLER?
HPs PLANS FACE CHALLENGES
STORY
STORY
SLIDESHOW
Google Maps Chart
Japan Devastation
The earthquake that rocked Japan on March 11
triggered tsunamis that ripped across the Pacific
Ocean. Google responded by putting together a crisis
response center, donating $250,000 and loading
Picasa Web Albums with Google Maps content to
show the areas most affected by the disaster.
tinyurl.com/6k37ufb
A
nyone else up for an Android-based Amazon.com
Kindle tablet as a challenger to Apples iPad 2? Analysts
believe its not outside the realm of possibility.
Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps noted that
the Motorola Xoom, HP TouchPad and RIM PlayBook cant
threaten the new iPad 2 because they are too expensive and
cant compete with the Apple Store channel. She polled con-
sumers and found that most people prefer going to an Apple
retail store rather than shop-
ping for tablets or smartphones
in a carrier outlet.
Amazon.com, by contrast,
could create an Android- or
Linux-based tablet to connect
users to Amazons storefront,
including its forthcoming
Android App Store, said Epps.
Users would have access to
the Amazon Prime free shipping and Instant Video service;
the companys recommendation engine for books, music
and other goods; and one-click purchasing.
Epps peers had different takes. Analyst Jack Gold
acknowledged Amazon.coms brand recognition and ability to
sell products, but said the price of the device would be key.
A Kindle-Android device could prove popular, building
on the large installed base of Kindle users, Gold said. And
Amazon clearly has the largest store out there, so that
could be a swaying factor if they got aggressive with offering
special deals on their own device. However, he cautioned
that with all the other tablets coming to market in the near
future, an Amazon.com tablet might get lost in the hype-field.
Analyst Rob Enderle agreed with Epps that if any brand is
going to compete with the iPad, Amazon.com has the best
chance. If a real competitor [to Apple] is ever to emerge,
he said, it likely will come from the service side of the solu-
tion, and Amazon fits that bill nicely.
Gartner analyst Van Baker isnt buying it, telling eWEEK:
It is more likely that Amazon will make the Kindle free to
Amazon Prime subscribers and make their money selling
ebooks rather than introduce a full-featured tablet. They
dont have an app store yet and admittedly that could
change things, but for now, I dont think this makes sense.
To read the full story, go to tinyurl.com/4ox5xrg.
I
n a March 14 press conference, Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo
Apotheker made it clear he intends to take the manufac-
turer in some new and radical directions, ones that will bring
HP in direct competition with both rivals and partners.
When HP completed its $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm
and its webOS mobile operating system, analysts speculated
that HP would port webOS onto smartphones and tablets. In
a Feb. 9 announcement, however, the company suggested it
would install the platform on laptops and desktops as well.
How Microsoft will react to a new entity in its space
remains to be seen, but HP executives are already trying to
paint the relationship as the furthest thing from a competi-
tion. The way we have enabled our webOS technology is to
leverage the entire Microsoft ecosystem, Apotheker said.
Apotheker and other HP executives havent offered a
detailed view of their plans for the cloud space, but it will
likely involve infrastructure and developer services, placing
HP in direct competition with some of the biggest bruisers of
the tech world: Microsoft, Google, Oracle and Amazon.com.
To read the full story, go to tinyurl.com/49wzwdx.
7
Do you resell IT products and services?
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Which of the following describes your role in the IT decision-
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F 02 Evaluate/Specify Brands or Vendors
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F 05 Determine IT Needs
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F 11 Manage Vendor Relationships
F 12 Other Role in IT Decision Making Process
F 99 Not Involved in IT Decision Making Process
How many people are employed in your entire organization?
(Check one only)
1
5
F 14 10,000 or more
F 04 5,000 to 9,999
F 05 1,000 to 4,999
F 06 500 to 999
F 07 100 to 499
F 16 50 to 99
F 19 10 to 49
F 18 1 to 9
1
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NON-COMPUTER INDUSTRY
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(please specify) __________________________
Director/Senior Mgr/Head of:
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products to watch
37
eWEEK editors
recommend new
hardware, software
and services that
enterprise IT decision-
makers should have
on their radar.
To submit a new or newly updated product for consideration, please visit labs.eweek.com
and look for the List your products link at the upper-right corner of the page.
Kaviza VDI-in-a-box 4.0
|av|za V||-|-a-bo +.0 |s a
et-geeat|o v|toa| oes'-
top so|ot|o baseo o a patet-
peo|g S'aeo-|ot'|g g|o
ac'|tectoe t'at |s oes|geo
to cot oo o t'e cost ao
cop|e|t o v|toa| oes'top
|astoctoe. |||'e tao|t|oa| V|| so|ot|os, |av|za |s sa|o to pov|oe '|g'
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a'ee ose epe|ece |t' epaoeo soppot o ob||e oev|ces soc' as
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CloudBerrys Explorer for Amazon S3
C|ooo3e |ab's |p|oe |s oes|geo to a'e aag|g ||es
| /azo S3 stoage eas|e b pov|o|g a ose |teace to
/azo S3 accoots, ||es ao boc'ets. C|ooo3e a||os oses
to aage ||es | a c|ooo ,ost as t'e oo|o o a |oca| copote.
Soe eatoes |c|ooe t'e ab|||t to eg|ste ao coect to
a obe o /azo S3 accoots, o' |t' a obe
o /azo S3 accoots s|o|taeoos|, ast-cop ||es betee
S3 accoots, s'ae boc'ets ao ||es |ocateo o /azo S3
|t' ot'e oses, ceate, bose ao oe|ete S3 boc'ets, cop
ao ove ||es betee /azo S3 ao a |oca| copote, set
op ||e-access pe|ss|os, ao aotoate coo tas's |t'
||cosot |oeS'e||. tinyurl.com/68sgnpz
4ipnets HSG200-P
Wi-Fi Hotspot Kit
'e +|pet SC.00-| 80..++ \|-|| otspot
||t |s oes|geo to be a cost-eect|ve a||-|-oe
so|ot|o eao o 'otspot opeat|o |g't
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|||C, |oe ove |t'eet (|o|) ao ||50
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stoes t'at at to pov|oe sa||, s|g|e-po|t
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t'e '|t |s oes|geo to eab|e accoot geea-
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Setop. tinyurl.com/6knc9pt
38
labs@workcommentary
Apple and developers
t wasnt that long ago that Apple courted
the enterprise IT dollar with rack-mounted
servers, solid and reliable RAID arrays, grid
computing and storage networking. Today,
thats just a memory.
Although Apple continues to maintain and sup-
port server software, such as Xgrid and Xsan, the
hardware is history. But after the first-day sellout
of this years WWDC (Worldwide Developer Con-
ference), Im beginning to wonder if Apple holds
some kind of grudge against enterprise developers.
Apples move away from enterprise hardware
was inevitable as it continues to evolve from being
a company that made computers to one that sells
gadgetsand takes a cut from
the sale of content for those
gadgets. Since the enterprise
never embraced Apples com-
puters, its hard to fault CEO
Steve Jobs and his minions
for returning the favorif that
is indeed whats taking place.
I cant blame Apple for pull-
ing the plug on its server-class hardware. Its hard
to make money in that market in the best of times.
But in contrast to their outright hostility to the
Mac platform, business IT leaders seem to be
embracing Apples mobile devices, especially now
that the iPad is proving its usefulness in enterprise
settings. Corporate developers, who once consid-
ered the idea of coding for the Mac to be a waste of
time, are being asked to take their skills and apply
them to the creation of applications for iOS devices.
With interest in developing iOS applications
for the enterprise at an all-time high, one would
think that this years WWDC would have a lot to
offer corporate developers, but that doesnt seem
to be happening. Apple is following the dollar and
courting game developers instead.
As the blog AppleInsider pointed out shortly after
registrations closed, corporate developers were in all
likelihood shut out from any hope of attending. After
all, it usually takes more than a few hours to get the
permission of ones bosses to attend a show where
fundamental expensesregistration ($1,599), airfare
(lets say $700) and hotel (lets call that $200 per night,
for four or five nights)can easily exceed $3,000.
Its interesting that Apple is happy to charge
corporate developers three times what civilian
developers pay for access to the iOS application-
development program, while effectively not inviting
the former to Apples biggest developer-oriented
clambake. Granted, the enterprise developers arent
shackled by the walled garden that is Apples iTunes
App Store: The iOS Enterprise Program is strictly
aimed at application development for internal con-
sumption; that alone may be worth the extra coin.
Given its fickle behavior in years past, Apple
might be doing enterprise
developers a favor by exclud-
ing them from WWDC. After
all, when the iPhone debuted,
Web-based applications were
the new hotness, and devel-
opers were told that Apple
had no plans to extend Cocoa
to mobile devices.
Fast-forward to today. Web applications are yes-
terdays news, and Cocoa Touch is where its at for
iOS. It also turns out that the applications that use
the embedded iOS Web viewer cant leverage the
performance optimizations that Apple has built
into the mobile version of its Safari Web browser.
It may be that by skipping WWDC, enterprise
developers can resist the lure of Apples famed
reality-distortion field and focus on the needs of
their internal customers. Given the way RIM and
Mozilla have embraced Android, thats looking like
the better bet for mobile enterprise applications.
Even so, it would be nice of Apple to admit that it
views the enterprise as irrelevant, when so much of
its income is derived from games and pop stars.
Senior Technical Analyst P. J. Connolly can be reached
at pj.connolly@eweek.com.
apple is following
the dollar and
courting game
developers.
Im beginning to wonder if Apple has a
grudge against enterprise developers.
P. J. Connolly
This story can be found online at:
tinyurl.com/4mr756l
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'
For doloils on cloim subslonliolions, visil hp.com,go,ollicioncios4
Pricos shown oro HP Dirocl pricos, rosollor ond roloil pricos moy vory. Pricos shown oro sub|ocl
lo chongo, ond do nol includo opplicoblo slolo ond locol loxos or shipping lo rocipionls oddross.
Cllors connol bo combinod wilh ony olhor ollor or discounl ond oro good whilo supplios losl.
All loolurod ovoiloblo ollors in U.S. only. Sovings bosod on HP publishod lisl prico ol conliguro-
lo-ordor oquivolonl [HP ProLionl DL385 C/ sorvor: $3,04/ - $448 = SmorlBuy prico $2,5PP).
Finoncing ovoiloblo lhrough Howloll-Pockord Finonciol Sorvicos Compony ond ils subsidiorios
[HPFSC) lo quoliliod commorciol cuslomors in lho U.S. ond is sub|ocl lo crodil opprovol ond
oxoculion ol slondord HPFSC documonlolion. Pricos shown oro bosod on o looso 48 monlhs in lorm
wilh o loir morkol voluo purchoso oplion ol lho ond ol lho lorm, ond oro volid lhrough Docombor 31,
2011. Clhor chorgos ond roslriclions moy opply. HPFSC rosorvos lho righl lo chongo or concol lhis
progrom ol ony limo wilhoul nolico.
2011 Howloll-Pockord Dovolopmonl Compony, L.P. lho inlormolion conloinod horoin is sub|ocl lo
chongo wilhoul nolico. lho only worronlios lor HP producls ond sorvicos oro sol lorlh in lho oxpross
worronly slolomonls occomponying such producls ond sorvicos. Molhing horoin should bo conslruod os
consliluling on oddilionol worronly. HP sholl nol bo lioblo lor lochnicol or odiloriol orrors or omissions
conloinod horoin.
AMD, lho AMD Arrow logo, AMD Cploron, ond combinolions lhorool, oro lrodomorks ol AMD.

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COST based on publicly avail U.S.

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eWEEK APRI L 4, 2011

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