CA Announces Cloud Management Strategy

Islandia, New York-headquartered CA Technologies Inc unrevealed its strategy for entering the booming domain of cloud computing at a recently concluded CA World 2010 gathering of stakeholders of the company.

CA has announced it will set aside funds and resources for the development of a Cloud management suite that will have the following four key products:

1. CA Cloud Insight, which enable customers to assess internal and external IT services relative to the priorities set by their business. The “insight” will make it possible to identify which resources in the cloud best meet their present requirements in a more informed and objective manner.

2. CA Cloud Compose, which will present the user with a catalog of reusable software components, and make it possible for the user to build a compute cloud from commodity hardware and composite services for themselves or for their customers.

3. CA Cloud Optimize, which will provide the user the tools necessary to fine-tune their external and internal infrastructure and services.

4. CA Cloud Orchestrate, which will provide workflow control and policy-based automation of changes to service infrastructures based on inputs from CA Cloud Insight.

The company is planning to utilize the technology made available from its recent acquisitions – 3Tera, Oblicore and Cassatt for the development of the new suite.

Read more about the strategic moves being made by an IT biggie to penetrate a new niche domain, here.

Microsoft Communicator Mobile For Nokia Devices Released

Redmond, Washington-headquartered Microsoft Corporation has released the Communicator Mobile software exclusively for Nokia’s mobile devices. The software is available for download from Nokia’s online Ovi Store. It is compatible with Nokia’s Symbian operating system, and has been designed around the architecture of most popular Nokia E-series mobile phones, especially the E72 and E52.

The application allows for collaborative communication between Nokia mobile users. The names and statuses of fellow users is embedded into the device’s contact database; and so whenever a colleague becomes available, their status is updated in the app. The application also suggests the best way to communicate with the colleague: instant messaging, phone call, or e-mail. The software is useful in an enterprise environment where fellow workers and colleagues are always on the move, by providing everybody with a common base to remain in touch.

Besides the Communicator Mobile, Nokia has also been using Microsoft technologies for its other functionality. For example, Nokia has deployed Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to optimize direct access to email and other personal information that a mobile user keys in on their device.

The Communicator Mobile will now be pre-installed on select Nokia devices, including the soon-to-be-launched E5.

 Read more about the outcome of the latest collaborative effort between Microsoft and Nokia, here.

Eee PC Seashell Netbook From Asus

Taipei, Taiwan-headquartered ASUSTeK Computer Inc has announced the launch of a new family of netbooks. These netbooks are called “Eee PC Seashell”.

Some models of the new netbooks are: 1005PE, 1005PR, and 1001P. The 1005PR model is available at the starting price of USD 399.99.

These models are built on Atom processor N450. Storage is provided by hard drive with capacity of 250GB. The screen is 10.1″ LED backlit and is capable of high-definition resolution of 1,366X768. The netbooks also incorporate Broadcom’s chip BCM70015, which is a crystal HD accelerator, which are known for delivering HD content at very low power demands. The netbooks have the standard 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth v2.1 wireless connectivity. Battery life of up to 11 hours is available.

On the software front, the Eee PC Seashell netbooks feature dual operating systems: Windows 7 (Starter Edition) and Express Gate. Express Gate, previously known as “Splashtop”, is a Linux OS developed by DeviceVM, and comes pre-installed in certain of Asus’ motherboards. With Express Gate, users can begin to surf the web and perform internet tasks within few seconds of powering on the machine.

Read more about a new netbook launched in the market by Asus, here.

VideoCore From Broadcom Supports WebM Specs

Irvine, California-headquartered Broadcom Corporation has announced that it has developed a new family of processors that are in the domain of mobile multimedia, and that support the WebM video specifications. The new family is called “VideoCore”, and the chip number is BCM2763.

The VideoCore family is geared to playback WebM video content at full resolution, and it can support myriad variety of smart-feature and smartphone displays. For this purpose, the VideoCore processor deploys a hybrid architecture whose hardware accelerators are programmable. The reasoning behind this programmability is to develop and support new audio and video codecs. The BCM2763 VideoCore IV processor has the capability to support WebM video up to WVGA (800X640) resolution, working at 30fps. Smartphones with BCM2763 processor can playback WebM videos for up to 8 hours, while HDTVs connected through an HDMI interface with a BCM2763 chip installed in it can playback WebM videos for up to 14 hours.

The WebM multimedia format is in the final stages of being released to the market. IT biggies such as Broadcom and Google are working on the specifications.

Read more about how Broadcom is moving quickly to maintain its leadership position in emerging markets, here.

Adobe Launches New Version Of E-learning Suite

San Jose, California-headquartered Adobe Inc has announced the availability of the next higher version of its e-learning suite. While a new product purchase costs USD 1,799, an upgrade from the earlier version will cost USD 599 onwards.

Called Adobe eLearning Suite 2, this upgraded version includes Adobe’s Flash Professional CS5, Dreamweaver CS5, Photoshop CS5 Extended, Acrobat 9 Pro, Presenter 7 and Soundbooth CS5.

The new version is now compatible with Mac at the native level.

The eLearning Suite 2 allows professionals in the e-learning arena to build software demonstrations, interactive simulations, branching scenarios and quizzes to their courseware without having to do any programming whatsoever, which is possible to the underlying Captivate 5 software by Adobe. The software has an intuitive user interface making it simpler and easier for the courseware designer to begin their work from day one. There is now an expanded asset library and a range of customizable widgets that allow the creation of tables and graphical buttons quickly.

Another feature that e-learning content authors will be introduced to in the new version is Object Style editing, which makes it easier for them to make changes to their elements and propagate the changes throughout the project with just a click or two.

Read more about the latest version of Adobe’s popular e-learning suite, here.

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