Unicenter Database Management solutions
UPS management
Server cabinets
WLAN and broadband
Sniffer enhancements
A raptor in the network
AMD's moves
Internet traffic scan

Unicenter Database Management solutions
Computer Associates (CA) recently released five new enhanced tools as part of the Unicenter Database Management solutions for Distributed RDBMS. The tools integrate with the Unicenter Database Management console to make the IT operations more efficient, to ensure optimum database availability and performance.

According to CA the new products have been enhanced with across-the-board feature upgrades and extended platform support. Unicenter DBA v5.2 provides advanced management of heterogeneous databases. Unicenter Enterprise DBA v5.2 provides advanced database administration for large scale Oracle database implementations. Unicenter Database Analyzer v2.2 collects and provides the information administrators need to make decisions about the administration of business-critical Oracle databases—including growth, organization and performance.

Unicenter TSreorg v3.1 enables companies to achieve and maintain peak performance and availability of critical databases by reducing fragmentation without requiring long application outages. Unicenter Fast Unload v4.1 provides a fast, reliable, and efficient way to extract large amounts of data from diverse databases.

The new releases include expanded platform support for Oracle9i, AIX 5L, and Windows XP. Several new features like DB2 UDB connectivity, fast data migration, multi-threading and caching for fast object retrieval, and simplified common installation have been added to the suite.

Contact:
Computer Associates
India Pvt. Ltd. Sarjan Plaza, 3rd floor
100, Dr. Annie Besant Road, Worli
Mumbai-400 018
Tel: 22-4980720 Ext.267
Fax: 22-4981979
Website: www.ca.com

UPS management
Aftek Infosys Limited released the wireless version of Powersafe, a robust UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) management solution that enables organizations to ensure performance and availability of UPS devices distributed throughout the enterprise.

The new release will enable IT administrators to monitor and control UPS hardware from a variety of wireless devices like cell phones and PDAs. Powersafe is ca smart certified and uses components of Unicenter, the family of e-business infrastructure management solutions from Computer Associates.

Powersafe works through the centralized Unicenter console to instantly notify administrators of UPS issues while enabling them to take immediate corrective action without leaving their desks.

Contact:
Aftek Infosys Limited
Aftek House, 265 V.S.Marg
Shivaji Park, Dadar
Mumbai-400 028
Tel: 22-4454016 Fax: 22-4603628
Website: www.aftek.com

Server cabinets
HMPL (Hulasi Metals Pvt. Ltd.) has launched Hanut "Extra-Deep" Server cabinets for rack mount servers. The server cabinets have been designed to meet rack installation and housing requirements of rack-mountable servers and other IT equipment like switches, NASs, and hubs. The cabinets are 900 mm deep, allowing more space for routing cables. Front to back server grade ventilation is ensured with an 'airmax' front and rear door which has a perforated area of 64 percent. The server cabinets are available in 42U and 22U mounting space model.

Contact:
Hulasi Metals Pvt. Ltd. (HMPL)
F-111, 112 Kartarpura Indl Area
Bais Godam, Jaipur-302006
Tel: 141-211115 Fax: 141-212888
Website: www.hanut-india.com

WLAN and broadband
Surecom has launched a couple of WLAN PCI/PCMCIA cards and an Internet Broadband Router. The 11 Mbps WLAN (Wireless LAN) PCI/PCMCIA cards are called EP-9320 and EP-9427. They support data rates ranging between 11 Mbps, 5.5 Mbps, 2 Mbps, and 1 Mbps over Ethernet. They automatically fall back to lower data rates in noisy environments using DSSS (Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum) technology. The products are IEEE 802.11b direct sequence high-rate compatible. They also have 40-bit and 128-bit WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) encryption function with built-in PCB patch diversity antenna support.

The EP-9500 11 Mbps Wireless Access Point links computers equipped with WLAN PCMCIA Card/USB adapters to an Ethernet network. The device is able to open network resources to temporary workgroups and mobile users. It can provide network access in hard-to-wire areas like factory floors and shipping and receiving departments. The device needs only one ISP account for LAN users to access the Internet and provides an extra RS-232 Port for line redundancy.

The EP-9510 Wireless Access Point Router aims to provide robust IP routing service. Users can migrate from basic WAN access to more advanced VPN and SLA (Service Level Agreement) managed solutions with a single purpose IP Service platform. It also provides clients with filtering functions, hacker attack monitoring and logging, protocol inspection for SMTP, POP3, and EPT for the firewall function. The hardware has RC4 WEP built in to secure encryption during wireless data communications. It can also support auto fallback data rate functions for long distance communications.

The product uses NAT (Network Address Translation) to provide a natural firewall by keeping individual IP address hidden from the outside world. It supports packet filter functions that allow you to control data and enhances firewall security.

Contact:
Ace Microelectronics
B-120, Kalkaji, Near NehruPlace
New Delhi-110019
Tel: 11-6227054/58 Fax: 11-6227055
Website: www.acemicroindia.com

Sniffer enhancements
Sniffer technologies, a division of Network Associates, has announced a technology enhancement to its Sniffer Wireless and Sniffer Portable product lines. The wireless solutions will now enable organizations to ensure the vitality of enterprise wireless services by providing insight into the network security and performance. To enhance the security of 802.11b networks, the Sniffer Wireless solution allows only authorized users to access the network. The technology enhancements include throughput reporting to maximize bandwidth capabilities, automatic channel surfing and decryption using WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) for real-time and post capture analysis.

Sniffer Portable solutions enhance management capabilities for high-speed networks, including interfaces for key network topologies like Gigabit Ethernet and full duplex Fast Ethernet. It also provides over 30 security-related alarms and filtering capabilities that can detect and address malicious network activity like network-based worms and password cracking.

Contact:
Network Associates (SEA) Pte. Ltd.
Emgeen Chambers, 4th Floor
10, Vidyanagari Marg
Kalina, Snatacruz (E)
Mumbai-400 098
Tel: 22-6935278 Fax: 22-6147078
Website: www.nai.com
www.sniffer.com

A raptor in the network
Symantec Corporation launched VelociRaptor 1.5, a new version of the VelociRaptor family of firewall and VPN appliances. The company says that VelociRaptor now provides support for AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) and new proxy functions to secure video conferencing. In addition, VelociRaptor offers the ability to extend the appliance's scalability and eliminate network downtime by integrating high availability/load balancing.

Symantec says, that the product offers security by incorporating a hybrid security architecture. Unlike other firewalls that require users to open holes into their networks to support video conferencing, VelociRaptor claims to extend security with its full-application inspection proxy functions for video conferencing and application sharing (H.323, RTSP). The product's scanning function prevents unauthorized access to private networks and confidential information by ensuring data is validated at all seven levels of the protocol stack.

VelociRaptor claims to offer advanced full-inspection engines and automated system hardening to provide more comprehensive protection against complex Internet threats like Code Red and Nimda, than traditional stateful inspection firewalls.

VelociRaptor also claims to integrate Symantec's proxy secured VPN technology that includes the latest AES to provide high-level VPN security at speeds three-times faster than conventional 3DES (Triple DES - Desktop Encryption Standard) technology. With its standards-based gateway-to-gateway VPN, VelociRaptor aims to extend enterprise networks and delivers secure site-to-site remote access to corporate LANs.

The product will be offered in three different models to accommodate varying license and performance needs. VelociRaptor 1100 is available at a suggested retail price of Rs. 3,25,000 and provides a 100-node license. VelociRaptor 1200 is available at a suggested retail price of Rs. 7,25,000 and provides a 250-node license. VelociRaptor 1300 is available at a suggested retail price of Rs. 10,80,000 and provides an unlimited node license.

Contact:
Symantec
Suite # 801, Sunteck Centrako, MMTC Building,
Bandra Kurla Complex,
Bandra (East), Mumbai-400 051
Tel.: 22-6570658 Fax: 22-6570671
Website: www.symantec.com

AMD's moves
AMD will offer Opteron a 64-bit processor in the first half of next year. The company says it is an eighth-generation enterprise class processor for servers and workstations, formerly code-named "SledgeHammer." The AMD Opteron processor claims to provide investment protection, running existing 32-bit applications and offering customers a seamless transition to 64-bit technology.

The AMD Opteron processor will also incorporate a technology called HyperTransport, which the company says will help eliminate or reduce system bottlenecks, enable better efficiency, and increase throughput to improve overall system performance.

With three HyperTransport interconnects, the AMD Opteron processor aims to be able to provide up to 19.2 Gbps aggregate bandwidth for server systems, which is up to six times the throughput of the majority of today's server processors.

HyperTransport technology is a high-speed, high-performance, point-to-point link for integrated circuits, and is designed to helps reduce the number of buses while providing a high-performance link for PCs, workstations and servers, numerous embedded applications, and multiprocessing systems. It is designed to allow chips inside of PCs, networking and communications devices to communicate with each other up to 48 times faster than with some existing bus technologies.

The product is planned to effectively compete against the Intel Xeon and Itanium processors. Unlike the proprietary solutions that currently dominate the 64-bit computing market, AMD's 64-bit solution is based on the industry-standard x86 instruction set, on which many PCs run.

AMD also announced that it will collaborate with Microsoft to incorporate 64-bit support for the future 8th-generation AMD Athlon and AMD Opteron processors into the Windows OS. AMD Opteron processors are also planned to be supported by 64-bit operating systems from major Linux vendors.

Contact:
Avnet Max Ltd.
5 Siri Fort Road, New Delhi 110 049
Tel: 11-6250250 till 6250254
Fax: 11-6258804
Website: www.amd.com

Internet traffic scan
MicroWorld has launched MicroWorld-Winsock Layer (MWL), a technology used to scan Internet traffic on a real-time basis. According to MicroWorld this new concept will change the manner in which the content security threats are tackled in the digital world.

MWL is placed above the Winsock layer and acts as a 'transparent gatekeeper'. All data packets coming on different TCP/IP ports are assembled here. All e-mail & Web traffic, FTP & ICQ traffic along with the attachments passes through numerous filters. The different filters check the validity of the file content and issue dynamic notification.

The MWL technology screens all the data flowing to-and-from the Internet, allowing it to process the data without the knowledge of the applications. It allows dynamic compression and decompression facilities of data flow between the Internet and the user's computer in order to maximize effective bandwidth usage.

Contact:
MicroWorld Technologies Inc.
Plot no. 80, Road no. 15, MIDC
Marol, Andheri (E), Mumbai-93
Tel: 22-8265701 Fax: 22-8304750
Website: www.mwti.net