Verizon

Wall Street Crisis, Enterprise Technology and Cloud Computing

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I just read a great overview on "The Tech Fallout from the Wall Street Crisis" posted by Rich Miller at the Data Center Knowledge site.   Here are four of the six key points Rich makes:

  • North American financial companies will slash their IT spending
    27.3 percent to $17.6 billion next year, down from $24.2 billion in
    2007, according to updated projectionsfrom
    the Tabb Group, which tracks technology on Wall Street. The vast
    majority of that decline will be spending reductions due to the
    failures of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and the sale of Merrill
    Lynch, Tabb predicted.

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This entry was posted in chief technology officer, Cloud, collaboration, Computer Security, CTO, Cyber War, Disruptive IT, Enterprise, Google, Gourley, microsoft, Social Computing, Sun Ray, Technology Leadership, The Future of Technology, Thin Client, Verizon, Vision, Web 2.0, Web Services, Web/Tech, Weblogs.

Thin Client Laptops: Functionality, Security, Mobility

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For the past few weeks I've been using a unique device — a totally stateless laptop. 

It is the Tadpole M1400 Ultra-Thin Client Wireless Sun Ray.  

Here are some things this device can enable for enterprise users:

– Enhanced security.  If the laptop is lost/stolen/attacked no data is lost.  The data is never in the laptop, it remains in your enterprise.

– Enhanced functionality. All users everywhere can get upgrades to the latest software instantly. Upgrades happen in the server room, not by downloading apps to every device.  And multiple domains can be presented to one laptop.

– Enhanced flexibility.  All users everywhere can get access to presentations of operating system environments they need.  Depending on what the enterprise chooses, users can be presented with MS Windows, Mac OS, Solaris or Linux desktops. 

– Enhanced mobility.  Like any other laptop, this device is designed to be mobile.  It can connect to the grid over WiFi, 3G card, or if you desire, an Ethernet cable. I've tested it using WiFi at home and on the road and the performance is great. 

Concerning speed and 3G: I tested the Tadpole thin client using 3G (using a Qualcomm 3G CDMA card on the Verizon Broadband Access network).  When you have to use it, 3G delivers ok performance, but just like with fat client laptops or iPhones, 3G speeds can leave you wanting more (faster networks are coming quickly, see: How fast is 3G and what is 3.5G and when will 4G be here? ).  

If you are a CTO/CIO/enterprise technologist you can probably already understand the power and potential of the "stateless laptop."  Having one in my hands just brings that home to me. This is a way to deliver significantly enhanced security and enterprise-class functionality/power to mobile users.  And since it can be done in a way that reduces cost it makes this a compelling approach.

I wonder, what could the role of this new device be in the federal government's Cyber Initiative (see Protecting Federal Networks Against Cyber Attack) ?  Or what the role might be in reducing cyber crime?   I'll leave those for topics of future posts.

This entry was posted in chief technology officer, Cloud, Cyber Initiative, Enterprise, Sun, Sun Ray, Thin Client, Verizon.

How fast is 3G and what is 3.5G and when will 4G be here?

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Most enterprise CTOs are very interested in the "cloud" and ways to tap
into cloud-based resources.   An interesting aspect of this discussion
has been how to access the cloud while on the move.   Today's cellular
networks support that access today, and future enhancements are making
that support even better and much much faster. 

How much faster? I'll try to put that in context in this post.

Early 3G network to had a download speed of 384kbits per second and an
upload speed of 192Kbits per second.  The wireless router you might
have in your home, by contrast, might have a speed of 54Mbits per
second.  So, about 140 times faster.  

But the 3G networks in place today use new transmission algorithms that
enable much faster throughput.  Here is a little more context from
vendor pages:. 

Verizon asserts their broadband access, based on CDMA2000 1x EVDO (Code
Division Multiple Access Evolution-Data Only) provides download speeds
of up to 1.4Mbits/s and uploads of up to 800kbits/s.

AT&T is leveraging its GPRS technology called EDGE to deliver
higher speeds that Verizon's.  AT&T's EDGE delivers speeds of
around 1.7Mbits/s and upload of around 1.2Mbits/s.

Sprint asserts that its broadband cards delivery 350-500kbps but then say you might get a peak of 3.1Mbps.  I wonder if or how often that happens. 

What's coming next:

A key emerging protocol is HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access).  HSDPA is
sometimes called 3.5G.  This protocol is in the HSPA (High Speed Packet
Access) family and allows download of up to 14.4Mbits/s download and
5.8Mbits/s upload.   Now this is getting interesting.  

HSPA+ allows speeds of up to 42Mbits/s.  This is almost what you would
expect to see in your home wireless LAN.  The next step is a project
called Long Term Evolution.  This LTE will start with providing
150Mbits/s to handheld devices and soon thereafter expect protocols and
algorithms to increase that upto 1gig of bits per second to your mobile
device. 

When will these new protocols and speeds be available to consumers? 
The answer is, the best roadmaps I have seen are all tightly held insider
views, but if you look at what is being rolled out right now we should
expect a continuing stream of announcements that brings the timing of
these new protocols more into focus.   Public information show many
vendors moving to the first version of LTE by 2011.  Indications I'm
getting are that it
will be accelerated into 2009.

So, brace yourself for the innovation that will drive in the devices that connect to the cloud through cellular.

This entry was posted in Cloud, collaboration, CTO, Disruptive IT, innovation, R&D, The Future of Technology, Thin Client, Verizon, Vision.