Hot News:
New Product Releases / Announcements Heat Up This Summer

Usually summer brings slow downs in product offerings and releases, but 2004 seems to be the exception, with a plethora of new hardware, acquisitions and technology releases being announced now or effective later this year. Always one to look forward, I find much of what is coming down the pipe to be good, some items which raise concerns, but all which pique my attention.

Intel Releasing New Processors / Chip Sets
Intel is releasing their new Prescott Pentium 4 processors. These processors will use a new number system as well as some new technology. In addition to the Prescott Pentium 4 processors, Intel released the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition processor. The fastest chip is the Pentium 4 560 processor at 3.6GHz, followed by the 550 processor at 3.4GHz, the 540 processor at 3.2GHz, the 530 processor at 3GHz, and the 520 processor at 2.8GHz with the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition clocking in at 3.4GHz. The Extreme and the five new Prescott Pentium 4 processors that use a new packaging technology called LGA775 (land grid array packaging with 775 pins. Intel had mentioned that their new chip sets would incorporate WAP technology on the motherboard for these new configurations, but they have now announced that this will be rolled out slowly due to short supply on the chip that makes this possible. The 915 and 925 chip sets introduce new technologies to consumer desktop PCs, including the PCI Express interconnect technology and support for DDR2 (double data rate 2) memory. PCI Express promises to help improve overall system performance and pave the way for future expansion cards such as HDTV (high-definition television) tuners or advanced graphics technology.

Macrovision to acquire InstallShield
Macrovision Corp., the software license management and media copy prevention company, plans to buy InstallShield Software Corp. If you have ever installed software and have seen the InstallShield Wizard, then you have used the InstallShield product. Macrovision technology is known for different version of anti-copy / anti-piracy protection schemes for software and media of different kinds. Macrovision indicated that they intend to continue developing the InstallShield product line. The boards of both Macrovision and InstallShield have agreed to the deal, which Macrovision indicated they expect will close in the third quarter of 2004.

Spyware Bill Approved by U.S. House subcommittee
SPY ACT bill has been approved by a U.S House subcommittee. SPY ACT, or the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act also requires software that collects the personal information of computer users to notify the users of its installation, to get the users' consent before installation, and to provide users with easy uninstall options. The Bill allows for fines up to $3 million for collecting personal information, diverting browsers. Sounds like a good idea, but so did CAN-SPAM, and has anyone seen less SPAM as a result of its enactment?


WiMax Gaining Steam
WiMax, an emerging technology that has a promise of unseating Wi-Fi in some of its implementations (okay, so you thought I could not go without mentioning Wi-Fi!) is gaining steam. This wireless technology uses microwave frequency spectrum utilizing the 802.16 standard. Unlike Wi-Fi, whose deployment has been in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz spectrum, WiMax is based on standards that allow for any frequency band between 2 GHz and 11 GHz. The WiMax Forum is narrowing range by developing profiles that will identify and earmark specific spectrum bands for specific applications. The first profiles are expected around the September 2004 time frame. The WiMax Forum is lining up around three bands: one around 5.8 GHz, which is unlicensed in many countries; a second around 3.5 GHz, unavailable in North America but licensed in other regions; and a third around 2.5 GHz, licensed in the U.S. and much of the Americas for use in these profiles. WiMax has the advantage of distance. What Wi-Fi did for the LAN, longer-range WiMax could do for metropolitan areas and last-mile access to subscribers. It initially will use the IEEE 802.16d specification. This will allow for support of connections to fixed locations at typical speeds from 300K to 2M bit/sec, over a range of as much as 30 miles. A later version of WiMax, based on the 802.16e standard, which might be completed in about a year, is being designed to support mobility. But don’t look for the people who are working with and developing Wi-Fi technology to take this lying down! Sky Pilot, a vendor working on extending the range of Wi-Fi has announced an offering that lets enterprises and service providers extend the less than 100-foot (30-meter) standard range of 802.11a (Wi-Fi) up to between 2 miles (3.2km) and 20 miles (32 km) depending on configuration. Do you think security will be a concern for that technology!

Have A Question Or Comment?
We always like to get your feedback. After all, helping you to understand the issue at hand or new technology will result in better decisions, better connectivity, increased productivity and ultimately better security for hardware and software environments! If you have questions or comments about this article, contact me (JohnBoline@hagerman.com).

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