IBM and Intel® Drive Adoption of Open Switch Specification for Blade Servers

IBM and Intel Corporation announce that they are extending their collaboration in the blade server market to drive adoption of an open industry specification for blade switches. This will enable switch vendors to maximize return on their research and development by developing products to a single design, reaching more customers with just one product.

Switches are essential components of every blade system, channeling data to and from the server. As part of the agreement announced today, IBM will extend the BladeCenter switch specification for blade servers to the Server Systems Infrastructure (SSI) organization on a royalty-free basis, allowing switch vendors to create one product that works across the BladeCenter and SSI ecosystems and driving more switch products for clients to choose from. The companies also announced plans to work together to establish a third-party Switch Compliance Lab, where the developer community can test and verify their blade server products for BladeCenter and SSI environments.

The announcement today builds upon a history of IBM and Intel collaboration on blade technology -- starting in 2002 with the development of the first BladeCenter servers and continuing in 2006 when IBM, Intel and other industry leaders formed Blade.org, the industry consortium driving open innovation in blade-based solutions that today has over 200 members.

SSI is an industry organization established over 10 years ago to enable server builders to develop compliant and interoperable building blocks for blade, chassis and manageability software technology. The incorporation of the open switch specification into SSI is intended to broaden the market for switch module vendors as they collaborate on SSI-specified blade switch solutions with Intel and IBM. In this segment, Blade Network Technologies, Brocade, NextIO and others have committed their support for the open specification. By extending its switch specification and ecosystem to affiliated members of SSI, IBM is driving greater adoption of BladeCenter-compatible switches.

"The extension of the BladeCenter switch specification and ecosystem to SSI advances open specifications for blade systems," says Alex Yost, vice president of IBM BladeCenter. "Making the switch design in our open BladeCenter specification available to a broader set of vendors demonstrates IBM's commitment to foster openness in the blade server market."

Demand for a common switch specification comes at a time when blade servers are becoming a critical ingredient in IT infrastructure. The availability of the open BladeCenter switch specification to SSI members allows them access to the more than 25 specification-compliant switches on the market today.

"By working with IBM, we have expanded ecosystem support for SSI blade specifications to over 70 vendors," says Kirk Skaugen, General Manager, Server Platforms Group, Intel. "Continued IBM and Intel collaboration will go further to expanding the entire blade server market. This is good for customers who will benefit from increased choice from a breadth of server, networking and storage vendors while enabling each product to maximize return on the R&D invested."

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Microsoft Security Update Turn Pirate's Screen Black

An anti-piracy tactic by Microsoft that turns some computer users' screens black is setting off a wave of unexpected indignation among Chinese consumers, posing renewed problems for the software maker in the huge China market.

In the days since Microsoft deployed an updated anti-piracy tool here, some Chinese have fumed about what they see as an invasion of privacy. Users of legitimate software have been turning their own screens black in protest. One authorized user complained to the police.

"It's a crime," said Beijing lawyer Dong Zhengwei, who filed a complaint against Microsoft with the Public Security Ministry. The ministry hasn't responded.

"The black-screen plan implies that Microsoft can hack all its users, not just the pirates," Dong said. "That's not fair."

Microsoft defended its actions, saying the company complies with Chinese law. It issued a statement late last week promising its anti-piracy campaign would not be used to collect personal information. It is also offering steep discounts on some software to give consumers an affordable legal alternative.

At issue is a software feature that searches for pirated copies of Windows and is part of the XP operating system and Vista. In conducting the search, the tool logs certain information about the personal computer and then notifies the user if it detects illegal copies or counterfeits.

While the tool has been in use for several years, the update released last week by the Internet is more intrusive when it detects a fake copy of XP: it turns the PC's desktop black, replacing the user's background image. A piracy warning appears in the corner of the screen. Though the user can override the blackout, it reappears every 60 minutes.

In all other ways, the blacked-out computer still works. Users not yet affected can avoid getting hit by disabling Windows' automatic update feature, though they will then might miss security updates. For those already hit, software patches to avoid the black screen are already circulating online.

But Chinese computer users' outrage points to continuing problems for the world's largest software maker in what is projected to become the world's biggest computer market.

While Chinese know their Internet is monitored and censored, that rarely creates such a stir. Rather the reaction against Microsoft's Big Brother-esque tactics show Chinese consumers' persisting belief that there's little wrong with buying cut-rate pirated goods.

Knockoff software and electronics are rampant in China. Brand-name computers are sold by retailers with pirated software bundled in, helping to keep prices low. More than 80 percent of personal computer software in China last year was pirated, according to the U.S.-based Business Software Alliance. One in five Chinese consumers do not know they're using pirated software, Microsoft said in a statement.

In an upstairs corner of a Cybermart electronics emporium in downtown Shanghai, saleswoman Jin Li stood in a pink smock under a large Microsoft sign, the shop's counters cluttered with computer parts, mobile phone trinkets and imitation iPods. The shop isn't a licensed Microsoft seller.

"We just wanted to put a brand name up there," Jin said, nodding at the sign.

Customers, she said, have a main complaint about Windows XP. "The real thing is definitely too expensive. They can download it or buy it pirated for 10 yuan," or less than $2, she said. "The real thing is hundreds of yuan. What do you think?"

That easy availability threatens Microsoft's potential profits.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told a business forum last month that China will surpass the United States as the largest consumer market for personal computers within two years. But software piracy in China has undercut sales of the real thing, keeping Microsoft from meeting revenue growth targets, according to Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell.

The focus on the Chinese consumer has grown with the China market. For years, Microsoft aimed its anti-piracy campaigns at businesses, the government and other large customers. Two years ago, the Redmond, Washington-based company began signing deals with computer makers both inside and outside China to install genuine versions of its software before PCs reach the stores.

Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China Ltd., a Beijing tech consulting firm, said the updated Genuine Advantage push is likely an attempt to use shame to target business customers and professionals who do not want to be seen using a fake product.

"There's a little bit of a Big Brother effect," said Clark. "As for the youth, Microsoft probably couldn't win them over in any case."

The move has only increased bitter feelings toward a company perceived by many to charge too much.

"There's absolutely no need for such a monster cash cow like Microsoft to take this obviously dramatic step and make itself the No. 1 enemy of most Chinese PC users," said Steven Lin, a spokesman for the video sharing Web site Youku.com, in an e-mail. "Business/government users are their primary income source in China, how much more can they squeeze from ordinary users who can make on average $500 (3,400 yuan) per month? They're crazy!"

So far, the Chinese government has made no comment, though the Web site of People's Daily, the Communist Party's flagship newspaper, allowed plenty of room for Chinese to vent.

As of Thursday, almost 80 percent of more than 10,000 people responding to a poll on the site said Microsoft should solve the piracy issue by further lowering its prices.

Still, with piracy rampant across the country, lower prices might not be enough.

As the day of the black-screen update loomed in China, a poll taken by the popular Tencent QQ instant messaging system showed 84 percent of the more than 90,000 respondents said they were using pirated software -- and 60 percent said they'd keep doing so.

"Actually, I'll still use pirated software," said 24-year-old Shanghai advertising salesman Tai Chenggong, whose screen turned black this week after downloading a fake copy of Windows for free. "It still works, no problem."

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Sprint to Launch WebCapTel(R) On the Go, for Customers Hearing Loss

Sprint announces the availability of Sprint WebCapTel(R) On the Go, a new, free mobile Web-based service that allows hard of hearing customers to read word-for-word captions on Windows Mobile 6 Web browsers, such as the Diamond by HTC, Mogul by HTC, Palm Treo 800w and the MOTO Q9c by Motorola. In addition, this service is also compatible with the Safari 2.0 Web browser. This new service is expected to help an estimated 30 million Americans with hearing loss.

"Sprint is committed to equal access to all individuals," said Mike Ligas, director of Sprint Relay. "As such, we pride ourselves on offering the newest technology to hard of hearing individuals. This new solution offers the hard of hearing community mobility by being able to read real-time Web-based captions on Windows-enabled mobile devices."

With Sprint WebCapTel On the Go, users can make calls using two phones -- reading captions on a wireless phone and listening and speaking on a second phone. Prior to making a call, the user would log onto www.sprintcaptel.com on one mobile device to read text captions of what the other party is saying. For more information on Sprint's wireless devices and select plans, go to the Sprint Relay Store at www.sprintrelaystore.com.

Sprint WebCapTel On the Go is an extension of Sprint's existing WebCapTel service, which also provides captions during phone calls, but requires a computer with an Internet browser of Internet Explorer 7.0, Firefox 3.0 or Safari 2.0 on which to display the captions. This new and free service is available almost anywhere as long as the wireless device is equipped with Windows Mobile 6 or an Apple Safari Web browser. Sprint WebCapTel On the Go changes spoken words and sounds heard on a telephone into words to read.

"Sprint WebCapTel On the Go allows individuals with hearing loss the mobility that many of us take for granted," said Robert Engelke, president of Ultratec, Inc., the company that developed CapTel technology. "It gives people with hearing loss the independence to make and receive telephone calls without the necessity of wireline phones or computer connectivity."

This free service is available for customers anywhere in the United States and within U.S. Territories. However, calls to or from international locations, such as Canada or Mexico, are not available. To learn more about this free service, visit www.sprintcaptel.com or www.sprintrelay.com/webcaptel.htm

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Sprint and MiCTA to Provide Cost-Effective Wireless Solution to Universities

Sprint today announced the expansion of its existing partnership with MiCTA, a national association of more than 19,500 members from higher education, healthcare, libraries, K-12, government and other non-profit organizations that helps identify and resolve common voice, data and video issues and problems for its membership. Under this new expansion, Sprint will now offer discounted wireless services and solutions to the students of MiCTA higher-education institution members. Sprint, a MiCTA partner since 1989, is also the association's exclusive provider of wireless services and among its preferred list of partners for wireline services as well.

"We are pleased to join with Sprint to offer students discounted wireless services under our Educational Services agreement," said John Sundstrom, president of MiCTA. "Our positive experience with Sprint gives us confidence that students' wireless needs will be well-served through this cooperation."

MiCTA serves as a clearinghouse of information for these technologies, provides information on new products and services and offers these solutions to members at reduced cost and improved quality. With this new expansion, MiCTA's higher-education members will now be able to offer their students with Sprint's differentiated solutions at highly competitive prices. Key benefits include:

-- 10 percent discount for students on their rate plans

-- Waived activation fees for students, an instant savings of $36

-- Additional discounts available for add-on services, including
messaging, Vision Pro Pack and other Vision services

-- Higher education institutions will receive administrative fees
from MiCTA to market the program based on new student
activations

"Sprint has a strong business focus on the education vertical and is always looking for simple and innovative ways to offer the best experience to our higher education customers," said Ed Davalos, national director of education sales at Sprint. "Our expanded partnership with MiCTA is another testament of our continued commitment to this sector and allows us to extend the reach and visibility of our wireless solutions portfolio to additional universities across the country."

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The New 2009 Nissan GT-R Can Tell The Police When You Overspeed

Michael S. Malone

Weires, an attorney who lives in Florida, is apparently something of a car nut and, like most of his peers, he fell in love with the new 2009 Nissan GT-R. Enough in love that he ordered one.

In case you haven't heard about the GT-R, it is basically an ICBM tipped over on its side. It's just an absolute screamer of a car -- 480 HP, 0-60 in a reported 3.2 seconds -- and even at the $82,000 Weires paid for his Super Silver version (Nissan just bumped up the price by seven grand), it is still one of the world's best automobile performance buys.

So you can understand why Weires wanted one of these Ultimate Rice Rockets and plunked down the money in advance.

And then something amazing happened: Suddenly, after years of dreaming about the car after he first saw the concept design, and after months of waiting in line, Weires suddenly canceled his order.

Why? Because he found out that the GT-R is going to have tucked away deep inside and attached to its chassis a black box similar to the ones we always hear about after airplane crashes. Yeah, that's right: an electronic data recorder (EDR) that keeps track of everything from air-bag sensors to throttle controls to engine performance gauges.

Worse, at least to Weires, was that the GT-R contained an even more sophisticated version of EDR called a "Vehicle Status Data Recorder" (VSDR) -- this little baby not only activates when a crash is imminent, but runs all the time.

Think about that for a moment, and then think about your driving history.

Dude, I live in Silicon Valley, the land of the California Rolling Stop, the ignored speed limit signs and the place where the Rice Rocket was invented. And, in this land of automotive scofflaws, I am the guy who a friend once described as "driving like I just robbed a bank."

I have done things with cars that make me burst into sweat just recalling them. And if you are a red-blooded American male -- or, from what I've seen lately, an American teenage girl -- your driving history is probably very similar to mine. And you can understand why a sports car enthusiast and lawyer like Weires might object to having a driving behavior monitor strapped beneath his seat.

The automobile makers tell us not to worry, that these devices are only there to identify design weaknesses in the car so that those problems can be improved in future models. According to AutoWeek magazine, Nissan says that the VSDR in the GT-R does not record sounds or images but "always records and stores vehicle-operating data between periodic inspections, which can assist and be used for servicing, diagnosing and performing warranty repairs."

It was that last part that made Weires jumpy -- and understandably so, once you picture the scenario where the Nissan dealership refuses to honor the warranty on your engine because you over-revved it twice last Thursday.

But I think there's a lot more to worry about. Right now, carmakers also see EDRs and VSDRs as a way to protect themselves in product safety lawsuits. And law enforcement folks understandably like the idea of showing up at an accident scene, plugging in their laptop and downloading information on the final moments before the crash: Did the driver brake? Veer? Why did the side air bags not open? Etc.

It also sounds pretty benign, even useful. But unlike Weires, I'm a technology guy -- and I have a very acute sense of how seemingly harmless new technologies have a tendency to metastasize into something far nastier and, usually, end up invading our privacy or diminishing our freedoms. And, perhaps due to my own driving history, the story of Weires and his black box had sirens going off in my head.

Think of the worst possible scenarios, and whatever you come up with has a good chance of happening. For example, you know those random checkpoint stops that the police set up every year around the holidays to catch drunks. I've never been a big fan of them, mostly for civil liberties reasons, but like most people I endure this little inconvenience for the perceived larger good.

But what about a checkpoint where the cop walks up, plugs his laptop into your car and then tickets you for going over the speed limit three times last week? Put up some "smart" speed signs that send out signals to your car's black box and it would be simple to make the comparison. Like that one?

How about this -- because the black box also records the forces, such as yaw, on the car, the cop could also check the number of times you overstressed the car's suspension and arrest you for reckless driving. Oh, did I mention that there is nothing to keep the black box from recording your conversations in the car, your movements, the places you visited, etc., etc. Drive into the wrong neighborhood and you may void your car insurance -- and do so in real time when your black box gains a wireless "voice."

The car companies and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration assure us that even if they were to gather this information, they would never, ever use it for the wrong reasons. Sure, just like Google promises to never look up your identity and to throw out all search records every six months. Just trust them -- even though, by their very behavior in all of this, the automakers and the NHTSA have already shown that they don't trust you. Oh, did I mention the small print in the owner's manual that says all of your car's black box info belongs to you … except when requested by a court order? I'm sure that makes you feel all safe and warm inside.

So, the solution is to just not buy a Nissan -- right? Well, no. In fact, most U.S. carmakers have already, or are about to, install EDRs. If you've got On-Star in your car, you certainly already have it. And if a car has an EDR, a new federal mandate requires that it monitor 30 different data points by 2012. Take a Ball-peen hammer or a jumper cable to your car's black box and you will be breaking the law.

The good news is that some carmakers have no plans to install EDRs. For some, such as Kia, it's a cost consideration on their low-priced cars. More interesting is at the other end of the spectrum, where Mercedes and other German cars don't carry black boxes because they are deemed to violate privacy laws.

Shouldn't that be some kind of clue? When the Germans -- who, after the Gestapo and the Stasi, know a little something about surveillance and the loss of privacy -- ban these devices, why should we let them into our daily lives?

I'm predicting a run on old cars very soon. Maybe it's finally time to buy that '67 GTO and laugh as I pass all those suckers whose powerful new cars refuse to let them exceed the speed limit.

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