CiRBA Provides Roadmap to Virtualization and Server
Consolidation
CiRBA's CiRBA data center intelligence solution provides server consolidation
and virtualization analysis, making it easier for you to identify all consolidation
and virtualization opportunities, create step-by-step action plans, and provide
pre- and post-consolidation metrics to quantify cost savings. CiRBA's Vice President
of Marketing, Chuck Tatham, describes the product as bridging the gap between
strategy consulting and execution (i.e., consolidation, virtualization, migration).
Tatham says that the traditional enterprise approach to virtualization uses
basic discovery tools, methodologies, and people with spreadsheets. This can
often lead to one of the biggest challenges organizations face: making the right
choice. Tatham says that each strategy, whether you're performing blade migrations
or consolidating storage, comes with constraints. "Enterprise-wide virtualization
execution is complex, risky, and low impact if not done right," he says. CiRBA
works by analyzing configuration, workload patterns such as CPU utilization
and network and disk IO, and business constraints such as geography, business
services, or maintenance windows. The solution has a new interface and reorganized
menu that makes it easier to find and move between tasks. Enhanced virtual machine
(VM) reporting capabilities provide detailed configuration on a VMware ESX host
server and its guest VMs. Also new to CiRBA is enhanced Active Directory (AD)
integration that makes it easier to manage the importation of AD groups and
users. CiRBA is available in a Department Edition, which is targeted at smaller
organizations that want to focus specifically on virtualization. The Enterprise
Edition is for large organizations that want to analyze heterogeneous data centers
and use multiple consolidation strategies. www.cirba.com,
905-731-0090, 866-731-0090
Encrypt Data on Your IP SAN Appliances
Siafu Software announced that hardware encryption is now standard on all Siafu
Swarm Series IP SAN appliances. Siafu Swarm Series appliances utilize iSCSI
and feature 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption with server
storage consolidation, centralized management, automatic backup, and high availability.
Additional features include advanced disk-to-disk snap-shot functionality for
secondary storage and integrated tape backup for offsite security. The appliances
are available in 1U, 2U, 3U, and 6U configurations with storage capacities ranging
from 1TB to 7.5TB. Pricing for Siafu Swarm appliances starts at $8,995. www.siafusoftware.com,
858-842-2500
Archive Event Logs for Analysis and Storage
NetPro Computing announced LogADmin, the latest addition to the NetPro Active
Directory Administration Suite. LogADmin compresses and archives event logs
for analysis and storage, making it easy for you to create audit histories for
security and compliance. LogADmin compresses event logs in their original format
and uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption to securely consolidate
and archive them. The application's sorting and filtering capabilities simplify
historical forensic analysis, and a single interface is used for log retrieval
and management. You can purchase LogADmin as a standalone solution or as part
of NetPro's Active Directory Administration Suite. www.netpro.com,
800-998-5090
Recover Individual Email Messages and Entire Mailboxes
Revinetix announced RevOS 2.0, the newest version of the proprietary OS for
Revinetix's Sentio and Volo lines of disk-based network backup appliances. New
to RevOS 2.0 is a native Microsoft Exchange Server agent that lets you view,
select, and restore individual email messages as well as entire mailboxes from
live Exchange Server databases. NAS support has been added to the software and
lets you add storage capacity for RAIDprotected file sharing. Additional updates
include improved bare-metal restore capabilities that support a wider range
of hardware, and improved functionality and usability so that you can back up
and clone almost any hard drive. Revinetix also increased its heterogeneous
OS support. www.revinetix.com,
801-263-5116
Migrate Data to and from Physical and Virtual Servers
Acronis announced Acronis Full Circle, a server-migration application that uses
Acronis's Fast Accurate Simple Transmission (FAST) engine technology to move
an entire server's data to and from physical and virtual servers. By using Full
Circle's wizard-based controls, you can customize the migration process and
migrate an entire system or specific files to another server. The software also
gives you the option to migrate live and static data with either an online or
offline migration. Full Circle supports multiple hardware platforms and OSs,
including 32- and 64-bit servers and VMware, Microsoft, and Parallels virtual
environments. For more information, contact Acronis. www.acronis.com,
877-669-9749
Linksys Wireless-N Gigabit Router
Linksys announced its first gigabit wireless-N router, the Wireless-N Gigabit
Router with Storage Link. When teamed with the Linksys Wireless-N Notebook Adapter
or Wireless-N Desktop Adapter, the Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link
can provide as much as four times the range and twelve times the throughput
of standard Wireless-G solutions. You can turn any USB 2.0 storage device into
network-attached storage by plugging the device into the Linksys Wireless-N
Gigabit Router with Storage Link. You can then share the contents of the drive
with everyone on the network. The Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link
also supports VPN pass-through and can serve as a DHCP server and a wireless
Access Point (AP). www.linksys.com,
800-546-5797
Secure Access to Wireless Networks with Biometric Fingerprint
Verification
Shimon Systems announced the Bio-NetGuard Wi-Fi security solution, which uses
biometric fingerprint-verification technology to authenticate users of wireless
networks. Bio-NetGuard is a plug-and-play device that can connect to a Wi-Fi
Access Point (AP) or LAN router and supports most 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g
wireless networks. Bio-NetGuard also supports the nextgeneration Wi-Fi security
standards, Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2).
Bio-NetGuard can secure multiple Wi-Fi APs connected to the same router, which
lets authenticated users easily roam between APs without having to reauthenticate.
Bio-NetGuard is available in a fingerprint-only version or a two-factor fingerprint-and-password
authentication version. www.shimonsystems.com,
408-546-2140
Migrate Exchange Public Folders to SharePoint
Quest Software announced Quest Public Folder Migrator for SharePoint, software
that migrates Microsoft Exchange public folder data to Windows SharePoint Services
and SharePoint Portal Server 2003. Public Folder Migrator manages the migration
process with one console and lets you configure multiple migration jobs, automate
bulk migrations, and synchronize data changes with migrated public folder data
and permissions. You can download a free trial of Public Folder Migrator from
Quest's Web site. www.quest.com,
949-754-8000
An often irreverent look at some of the week's other news, including a Vista Capable dismissal request, Zune price reductions, Morrow musings, Novell and Microsoft sitting in a tree ... two years later, Yahoo!, IE 6 on Windows Mobile, and so much more ...
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