Cisco - TABPI

NEWS&ANALYSIS
SERVERS
StarView remotely
monitors systems
STARTECH.COM THIS WEEK IS
rolling out a tool designed to
enable IT administrators to manage
and monitor their servers
remotely via the Internet.
The company’s StarView IP2
enables BIOS-level remote control
of a single server or multiple
systems connected to a
KVM switch over TCP/IP. Using
the device, administrators can
reset, reboot and control the
servers through any Web
browser.
The StarView IP2 can support
servers from most vendors,
including Dell, Hewlett-Packard,
IBM and Sun, and is compatible
with most KVM switches,
according to the company.
The device will be available
this week, priced starting at
$999. —Jeffrey Burt
INTERNET
AOL 9.0 beta released
AMERICA ONLINE LAST WEEK MADE
its AOL 9.0 client available to
beta testers.
The software, code-named
Blue Hawaii, is a marked departure
from the last release, AOL
8.0, in offering a skinnable, or
changeable, user interface codenamed
Prescott. With it, AOL
members will have many more
opportunities to customize the
navigation and design of the AOL
client.
AOL 9.0 also introduces a
feature called QuickViews,
which allows members to
obtain information by rolling
their mouse over a feature.
—Craig Newell, ZDI
20 eWEEK n MAY 26, 2003
Nextel targets the enterprise
PUSH-TO-TALK AND VPN
SERVICES ON LINEUP
By Carmen Nobel
Nextel communications
Inc. is taking several
steps to strengthen its
reputation as a company
that caters to the enterprise.
The Reston, Va., company
is rolling out a nationwide version
of its renowned Direct
Connect push-to-talk service,
offering new software based
on technology from IBM, forging
partnerships with enterprise
application companies
and launching new hardware
throughout the year.
“When used properly, it has
the feel of a less disruptive
phone call. I use it especially
for quick questions or checking
if someone is available.”
The service has been credited
for giving the company
a higher average revenue
per user—$67 last quarter—
than its competitors. Other
carriers have voiced vague
plans to offer their own pushto-talk
services, but Nextel
officials shrugged off the idea
that this might make Nextel
lower its prices.
“We don’t think so,” said
Greg Santoro, vice president
The StarView IP2 manages servers. Direct Connect, which lets Nextel’s direct
a phone work like a walkietalkie,
is currently available
only within a customer’s local
calling area. But that will
change this summer. A longdistance
Direct Connect service
is in beta tests in Boston,
Southern California and
Florida. It will be widely available
in those areas by next
month, with service available
to more than half of Nextel’s
coverage area by July and
throughout the United States
by August, officials said.
Nextel plans to offer two
pricing options for Nationwide
Direct Connect: an
unlimited plan for $10 per
month or a pay-as-you-go plan
for 10 cents a minute.
The scanner attachment
will cost $249.
Mobile workers say a direct
connection is simply less of a
hassle than a phone call on
both ends.
“For certain types of communication,
push to talk is
particularly useful,” said
Christopher Bell, chief technology
officer at the People-
2People Group, in Boston.
enterprise connection
� Launching Nationwide Direct
Connect service this summer
� Offering a mobile VPN service
that uses IBM’s WebSphere
Everyplace Connection Manager
� Selling a bar-code scanner
attachment from Symbol for Nextel
phones
of Internet and Wireless
Services at Nextel. “We don’t
think [competitors] can create
a service that meets ours.”
In the meantime, Nextel
last week announced a new
VPN (virtual private network)
service based on IBM’s Web-
Sphere Everyplace Connection
Manager software. The VPN
compresses data up to three
times faster than previous
solutions, Nextel officials said,
and uses several encryption
standards, including Data
Encryption Standard, Triple
DES, RC5 and Advanced
Encryption Standard.
“It finally brings together
encryption and compression,”
Santoro said. “It was
either/or up until now.”
He added that Nextel is
working with several companies
that specialize in corporate
data applications, especially
for creating software
designed to run on the Black-
Berry 6510, an e-mail/phone/
walkie-talkie device that
Research In Motion Ltd. created
for Nextel’s network.
“We’re getting traction with
people who never thought
about using a BlackBerry
before,” especially in vertical
markets, Santoro said.
To that end, Nextel this
month began selling a barcode
scanner attachment
for its i88s and
i58sr phones.
Symbol Technologies
Inc.’s PSM20i
scanner clips on to the
end of the phone. It
weighs 1.4 ounces.
Users scan the bar
codes by pressing the
Direct Connect button
on the side of the
phone and then use
a Java-based application
to send the information
out over the iDEN, or
Integrated Digital Enhanced
Network.
The scanner requires
third-party software from a
company such as AirClic Inc.
to work properly, officials
said.
One device Nextel may not
be offering in the near future
is a phone that offers voice
over IP via 802.11 wireless
LANs. Although company
officials said earlier this year
Nextel and Motorola Inc.
are testing such a product,
Santoro said that the companies
test many things and
that Nextel has yet to commit
to a Wi-Fi phone. ´