Posts Tagged ‘business’

Survey: Macs cost notably less to support than Windows PCs

// March 16th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

Macs are often the black sheep in the many enterprise environments which have been dominated by Windows for nearly two decades, but the growing consumerization of IT is slowly changing that perception . Though Macs often have a higher up-front price than many business-class PCs, Macs are usually believed to have a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) due to lower support costs. A recent survey of IT professionals in large enterprise environments that have a mix of Macs and PCs overwhelmingly agree that Macs cost less than PCs to support. The Enterprise Desktop Alliance , which seeks to make it easier to integrate Macs in Windows-centric IT deployments, surveyed IT admins from companies that made large deployments, including universities and government agencies. Responses included in EDA’s analysis include those from environments with a mix of Macs and PCs that had a total of 50 servers or over 100 Macs. A majority of respondents said that Macs cost less in terms of time spent troubleshooting, user training, help desk calls, and system configuration. Admins generally agreed that costs related to software licensing and supporting infrastructure were the same between the two platforms. Two-thirds of those managing mixed environments plan to increase the number of Macs deployed in 2010. Twenty-nine percent cited lower TCO as a “key reason” for deploying Macs. Almost half cited lower TCO, ease of support, or a combination of the two as leading factors in Mac adoption. User preference and increased productivity were considered important factors as well. “As a greater percentage of enterprise applications become OS-neutral, the cost to support a more diverse hardware and OS mix will decrease, making Macs a more viable choice for a greater number of users who continue to demand them,” noted Michael Silver, vice president and research director at Gartner, in a recent report on PC trends. Macs tend to be popular among C-level execs, as well as with those in creative departments and developers (especially cross-platform developers). Apple has historically done little to actively develop a traditional strategy to target enterprise deployment. Instead, the company tends to focus on consumers first, and lets individuals drive enterprise demand for its computers and mobile devices. It does, though, make continual small improvements that make it easier to integrate Macs , iPhones , and soon iPads into many corporate environments. Read the comments on this post

Intel goes to Gulftown, launches 6-core Xeons

// March 16th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

Intel has launched its next-generation Xeon 5600 line, the 32nm “Westmere-EP.” The new lineup brings more cores, more threads, Turbo Boost, and more instructions, all in the same socket format and thermal/power envelope as the older Xeon 5500 line. At the top end of the 5600 family is the six-core, 3.33GHz X5680, and at the bottom end is the quad-core, 2.40GHz E5620. All of the parts in the 5600 range are hyperthreaded, have 12MB of cache, and support Intel Turbo Boost, the AES new instructions (AES-NI), and Trusted Execution Technology (TXT). Let’s take each of these features in turn. Read the comments on this post

Intel’s NAS-specific Atom platform hastens PCification

// March 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

Intel’s announcement last week that the company is planning two versions of its Atom processor specifically for the NAS market was easy to overlook. After all, there are a few Atom-based NAS options on the market already, and the new single-core D410 and dual-core D510 aren’t really different from their netbook counterparts in anything other than their target platform. But the roster of vendors that has already signed on to produce Atom-based NAS devices—QNAP, Synology, and LaCie, among others—gives a glimpse at the fact that the home/SOHO NAS market is one place where Intel is definitely poised to take significant marketshare from ARM, and in the near-term. This trend toward x86-based NAS will be great for consumers, because it will hasten NAS’s integration into the home network. First, though, a quick note about the Intel hardware. The main thing that makes the new platform specialized for NAS is the amount of I/O hardware on the southbridge: six PCIe lanes, 12 USB 2.0 ports, a port multiplier function, and eSATA ports. This would be overkill for a netbook (compare Pine Trail’s two PCIe lanes), but for a NAS that may host a number of peripherals, it’s perfect. Read the comments on this post

feature: Safely whitelist your favorite sites and opt out of tracking

// March 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

So there was this article on the Internet recently about how ad blocking is devastating to sites that you love. You may have read it and there’s a good chance that you participated in the frank and lively discussion that took place afterwards. One of the things we learned from all of this is that not all people who use ad blockers are actually out to block our ads, and that many of you didn’t realize that blocking ads hurt us and the other sites you love. Many care deeply about their privacy, personal information, and the well-being of their computers. Many were more than happy to unblock Ars, but many others had difficulty doing so due to the complicated nature of many ad blocking solutions. Dozens of you asked for help, so here it is. Read the comments on this post

0-day exploits for IE flaw another reason to switch to IE 8

// March 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

Microsoft confirmed on Tuesday a new flaw affecting version 6 and 7 of its Internet Explorer web browser that could allow remote code execution. The security advisory noted that targeted attacks using the flaw were already in the wild. This information was confirmed by McAfee , reporting that exploitation of the flaw was originating from the domain topix21century dot com over both HTTP and HTTPS. The drive-by attacks install a backdoor which connects to a command-and-control server. Analysis by Symantec reveals that the exploit works effectively on IE 6. IE 7 tended to crash instead, and IE 8 is, as stated in the Microsoft advisory, immune. The attack loads some malicious code, and then makes repeated changes to the HTML document eventually provoking execution of the malicious code. The best solution is to upgrade to IE 8, as one of the many improvements found in this browser also seals off the security hole. Failing that, enabling Data Execution Prevention in IE 7 should provide some level of mitigation, as the current exploits do not circumvent DEP (though they could probably be combined with DEP bypass techniques ). Removing access to the file iepeers.dll using either of the mechanisms described in Microsoft’s advisory prevents Internet Explorer from loading the flawed code, but may also break print and web folder functionality. Finally, disabling of scripting and ActiveX in the Internet and Local Intranet security zones should also provide protection against exploitation. Microsoft has still made no indication whether this flaw will receive an out-of-band update, but with exploits in the wild and documented analysis of the exploit, clearly this flaw is something that needs fixing, and soon. Read the comments on this post

Bad employee! 12% knowingly violate company IT policies

// March 10th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

By now, it’s practically a mantra that the biggest problem with corporate IT security is the employees themselves. However, we usually assume that’s due to ignorant users or poorly enforced policies. Not so for a chunk of the US working population—according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, 12 percent admitted to knowingly violating IT policy in order to get work done. The survey of 1,347 employed adults was conducted on behalf of Fiberlink , a company that hawks services that “help enterprises connect, control and secure laptops and mobile devices.” Needless to say, the survey results fit perfectly into the company’s agenda, but they are hardly surprising. After all, how many of us know someone who has left a work laptop in an unattended vehicle, sent unencrypted e-mails without permission, or reused the same three passwords over and over instead of choosing new ones every 90 days? Fiberlink CEO Jim Sheward warned of the obvious. “IT departments nationwide spend a lot of time and money on their compliance, usage, and access policies, but they only work if people follow the rules,” he said in an e-mailed statement. [C]ompanies could face dangerous breaches that include the loss of sensitive data, competitive intelligence, or customers’ private information.” Harris’ findings are supported by previous reports saying that leaky employees are a bigger threat than malware , that employees (not hackers) cause the most corporate data loss , and that employees’ online activities pose the greatest threat to IT security. With 12 percent of those people actively working outside of stated IT policy (and plenty more who do so out of ignorance), IT admins certainly have their work cut out for them if they want to maintain a tight ship. Read the comments on this post

Cisco: Internet to change forever Tuesday (place your bets!)

// March 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

Cisco today said that after the close of markets on Tuesday, the company will announce a significant news (we’re guessing a major acquisition) which will “forever change the Internet and its impact on consumers, businesses and governments.” We first learned of the news from MarketWatch . Cisco has been rumored to be about to purchase almost every interesting company in the technology field over the last decade. The company’s closest kept secret has been the degree of real interest it has in EMC. While such an acquisition would be huge in the financial markets, it is unclear why it would forever change the Internet. Also, the rumor mill around that partnership has more or less died. One may feel tempted to think that Cisco wants to get in the bandwidth game, chasing after Google’s recent announcement : a trial of open-access, fiber-to-the-home Internet service at speeds of 1Gbps in select locations. But Cisco claims that they have no interest in being a service provider. David McCulloch, Spokesperson at Cisco, told MarketWatch, “our strategy remains to partner very closely with service providers to enable advanced new telecommunications services versus building out public networks ourselves.” We wonder if they protest too much, especially since the company just said it was also bailing on WiMAX. My bet is that it’s someone in streaming video, or possibly someone in wireless. A streaming video play would make more sense for a company like Cisco. Either they’ve built something, or they’ve bought someone. I know, I know! They are buying Chatroulette ! I kid. So we invite you, for the honor of having great bragging rights, to lay down your bets on just who is going to get a big check from Cisco tomorrow (or more likely, after the deal clears). Or, if you don’t think an acquisition is in the works, what magical announcement might they make? Read the comments on this post

US eases restrictions on Web services exports to Iran, Cuba

// March 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

The US Treasury Department today relaxed export regulations against Iran, Sudan, and Cuba, allowing US companies to provide instant messaging, e-mail, and social networking services to those countries. The goal is to ensure that citizens can “exercise their most basic rights,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin. The new policy provides a general license to tech companies. According to the official rule , they can now export “services incident to the exchange of personal communications over the Internet, such as instant messaging, chat and e-mail, social networking, sharing of photos and movies, Web browsing, and blogging, provided that such services are publicly available at no cost to the user.” Read the comments on this post

Microsoft kills off mid-market Essential Business Server

// March 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

Microsoft’s mid-market server bundle, Essential Business Server, is being discontinued, with no further development after June 30. EBS shipped in November 2008, aimed at organizations with up to 250-300 desktops. The bundle includes a range of Microsoft server products, including Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, Forefront Security, and ISA Server. The discontinuation was announced on the EBS blog . Redmond’s Small Business Server product, aimed at companies with fewer than 75 desktops, has been a significant and popular part of its server software line-up for many years. The company hoped to replicate this small business success with EBS, but after just 16 months has chosen to terminate the package, citing changes in the demands made by the mid-size companies and a desire to streamline its product lineup. The growth of virtualization in this market means that corporate needs are better met by other products in the lineup. An EBS R2 release, updated to include Windows Server 2008 R2 and other technology, was originally expected in the second half of this year. With this announcement, that’s no longer going to happen. Instead, existing customers will be able to replace EBS with the equivalent standalone software for a six-month period from July 1 through to the end of the year. EBS itself will continue to be supported for a further five years. This decision will not have any impact on SBS; an update to that package is expected later this year. Read the comments on this post

The Indie Fund offers cash, wisdom to aspiring game devs

// March 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech News

Making games is expensive. Unfortunately, for independent developers, getting ahold of enough money to actually fund a game can be a daunting task. Enter the Indie Fund . Founded by a who’s who of independent developers, including members of 2D Boy, Capybara Games, and thatgamecompany, the fund is being billed as “a brand new funding source for independent developers” and “a serious alternative to the traditional publisher funding model.” Though further details will be revealed next week at GDC, Ars spoke with 2D Boy’s Ron Carmel and Capy’s Nathan Vella to find out what we can expect from the initiative. Read the comments on this post

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