FOSE full range

Although the FOSE keynotes and technical sessions are
informative, new products historically have been the real stars of
the show. (FOSE, March 20-22 at the Washington Convention Center,
is run by the 1105 Government Information Group, which also
publishes GCN.) We want to see what is new and test the actual
products to see if they live up to their marketing claims.

Here's a briefing on some of the gear at this year's
expo that has caught GCN's eye as promising:

Wireless

Research in Motion (Booth 2007) will be showing off the
latest BlackBerry, the 8800. This thinnest BlackBerry yet includes
a trackball navigation system and the ability to pinpoint the
user's location via a built-in Global Positioning System
unit. The GPS unit can also be used as an aid for software to
provide directions to a desired location. The device features a
media player for videos and an expandable memory slot. Like
previous models, the 8800 has a full QWERTY keyboard.

Motorola (Booth 2119) will be showcasing a number of new
technologies from its recent acquisition of Symbol Technologies.
One will be the newly unveiled RFS7000 wireless switch. This unit
allows users of wireless WiFi devices to roam across different
subnets. Designed for campus environments, it can handle as many as
5,000 mobile WiFi devices.

Also on display will be the Symbol AP-5181, an access point
designed for outdoor use that can work with multinode and multilink
networks, allowing the creation of mesh networks.

Office productivity

C&S Products (Booth 2646) will be showing its
cordless Konftel 60W Bluetooth-based conference phone.

This phone can connect to telephones with digital output,
computers with Internet telephony capability or Bluetooth-enabled
mobile telephones.

An accompanying switchbox lets users switch between conference
calls and the handset. Extra microphones can be added.

Hewlett-Packard (Booth 1606) will be featuring its
Neoview integrated business intelligence system.

Think of this package as a business intelligence appliance with
an enterprise data warehouse built in. It is scalable up to 128
64-bit Intel Itanium processors and 25TB of storage. Analysis of
database material can be broken into parallel tasks and run across
dozens of processors simultaneously.

Since the unit is preconfigured, little database tuning is
needed. The unit can also run third-party BI tools from companies
such as Oracle, SAS, Business Objects and Cognos.

Edac Systems Inc. (Booth 1223) will be showing its
VeriDact eFOIA suite, software that automates fulfillment of
Electronic Freedom of Information Act requests.

The customized business process management software from
Stellant offers a graphical user interface for workers to route
documents. It handles the capture and indexing of documents and
applies security restrictions as well. You can redact words or
phrases, add reviewer's comments and assign exemption codes.
The software also offers a search mechanism and the ability to
create an audit trail.

Altova (Booth 2437) will be showing off the newest
version of its flagship Extensible Markup Language editor, XML Spy
2007. XML Spy is a graphical user interface for defining XML
schemas and constructing XML documents. It can also be used to
build simple Web services and offers the ability to connect to
databases, and integrate with the Eclipse and Microsoft Visual
Studio.Net development environments.

New for the 2007 version are faster parsing of files, a
redesigned interface for editing Web Services Description Language
files and a more robust Xpath analyzer.

Gateway (Booth 2013) will be introducing its M285-E
Convertible Notebook.

This unit acts as both a notebook PC and a tablet PC. The
display can be swiveled and folded down over the keyboard, letting
you take notes on the 14-inch screen itself.

The machine runs a 1.66-GHz Intel Core Duo processor and comes
with 512MB of RAM. It features a magnesium display enclosure for
enhanced durability.

3M (Booth 414) will be demonstrating its 3M Privacy
Filters which fit over an LCD, rendering data invisible to anyone
not sitting directly in front of the display. The filter is
compatible with both desktop and notebook computers, and
specially-designed tabs that adhere to the display's bezel
allow it to remain in place even when the notebook is closed.

Network tools

CNS Software (Booth 428) will be showing off its WinRadar
Wake-on-LAN software.

This software lets administrators remotely manage desktop
computers. Using this tool, administrators can discover and remove
software on client machines, update user profiles, halt running
processes, boot up or shut down a machine and show user log-on
information.

Of interest to users of Citrix , the company will also be
showing its RecordTS, which can log actions on terminal servers and
Citrix servers. Organizations could monitor user activity and check
for network security.

Safend (Booth 441) has introduced its Safend Protector, a
hardware/software system that monitors network traffic for breaches
in security policy.

The system keeps watch over all interfaces, including physical
ports (USB, serial and parallel connectors), wireless ports (WiFi
and Bluetooth) and removable storage (optical disks, floppy drives
and tape drives).

The software blocks inappropriate traffic based on highly
granular, policy-based rules.

Gold Systems (Booth 2753) will be demonstrating Version 2
of its voice-driven Password Reset software. Users who forget a
password can simply call in to a voice application to obtain a new
temporary password. Authentication is through a set of security
questions provided when the system is first installed; the
administrator picks the level required.

Data Center

Ace Computers (Booth 2710) will be demonstrating what it
claims is one of the smallest portable servers on the market, the
Ace Powerworks 1763.

It weighs less than 20 pounds and measures 9 inches in height,
11.25 inches in width and 15 inches in depth.

It even comes with a carrying handle. It will run Intel Xeon
chips with one to four cores, can hold up to four internal hard
drives and has four PCI or PCI Express slots.

American Power Conversion (Booth 2307) will display
Version 4 of its InfraStruXure Central.

This appliance allows data centers to centrally manage power,
cooling and environmental data.

A central server can be accessed by other consoles in the data
center and, should abnormal conditions arise, can also send out
alert notifications. It can tap data from other APC and third-party
sensor devices and can even work with video feeds.

The company is also showing its InfraStruXure Designer, a free
software program that can be used to design data center floor
layouts.

Mohawk (Booth 836) will be demonstrating its MegaLAN
Indoor/Outdoor CM cable. As the name states, this cable can be used
outdoors as well as in hostile indoor environments where normal
cable would not last for extended periods, such as in moist
environments under floor ducts or between levels of a multistory
building. The cable is offered in both categories 5e and 6.

Rugged computing

Trimble (Booth 1931) will show off the latest versions of
its Recon X-Series handheld computers.

This new series introduces integrated Bluetooth and WiFi
wireless access, allowing users to connect GPS devices, digital
cameras, bar code scanners and other devices to the unit sans
cable. The units have been tested in temperatures as hot as 140
degrees Fahrenheit and as cold as -22 degrees. The models also meet
military specifications for resistance to shock and humidity.

Panasonic (Booth 1814) will be displaying the latest line
of its Toughbook rugged notebook computers. The company claims
CF-30 is the first ruggedized unit with a 1,000-nit LCD (nit being
a measurement of luminosity, or brightness). The company is also
introducing the CF-19, a rugged tablet computer. Both units are
certified to MIL-STD-810F specs and come with a cable lock slot,
Trusted Platform Module security chip and fingerprint scanner.

Storage

Overland Storage (Booth 1517) will be showing its Ultamus
RAID 1200, a storage appliance built for small organizations. The
2U unit can house up to 12 Serial Attached SCSI or Serial ATA
drives, or about 9TB of storage. The units can be yoked together to
offer up to 60 drives, or 45TB of storage. The system uses RAID 6
for data integrity and fast access. It offers basic data snapshots
for point-in-time backups and restores.

Isilon Systems (Booth 1523N) will be demonstrating
Version 4.5 of its new storage file system, OneFS. Version 4.5 lets
Isilon storage systems scale up to 1 petebyte of unified storage in
a single volume and achieve a throughput of 10 Gbps. It features
advanced data protection techniques and will work with the
company's storage cluster systems, including the Isilon IQ
1920, 3000, 6000 and EX 6000.