Redmond is expected to unveil plans for new server developed with AT&T Wireless at next week's Mobility Developer Conference. At the Microsoft Mobility Developer Conference in New Orleans next week, Microsoft is expected to provide an update and possibly beta code for its Microsoft Enterprise Location Server (MELS) product.
Microsoft and AT&T Wireless offered a first demo of MELS in September last year. The pair showed how Microsoft's .Net technologies, such as the .Net Compact Framework and XML Web services, like MapPoint.Net, could be combined with AT&T's wireless service to provide a development platform for location-aware applications.
Redmond is beginning to lay the groundwork for self-configuration and -management of Windows-based applications. Microsoft is readying two new technologies that it says will provide the company with the same kind of self-configuration and -management capabilities that IBM has been touting for the past several years. Microsoft is branding its autonomic-computing strategy as "Dynamic Systems Initiative." The company plans to fill out the details of its strategy next week at the Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas.
"You need a very rapid infrastructure to bring system on line in real-time," explains Bob O'Brien, group product manager for Windows Server.
Intel unleashed its Centrino mobile computing platform Wednesday, ushering in a new era of ultra-mobile yet ultra-powerful notebook computers. Unlike previous mobile efforts from Intel, the Centrino chipset offers Pentium 4-level performance without any of the traditional tradeoffs of heat, weight, and battery life. The Centrino chipset is powered by the new Pentium-M processor, which can run at speeds up to 1.6 GHz, as well as integrated wireless capabilities. Those two features, Intel says, make the Centrino perfectly situated to address the needs of the mobile workforce.
Microsoft on Thursday added Creative Technologies to its stable of manufacturers developing Media2Go portable devices that are capable of playing digital video and music. Microsoft made the Creative Media2Go announcement at CeBit 2003 in Hannover, Germany.
Creative will join iRiver, Samsung, Sanyo and ViewSonic, which also plan to develop Media2Go devices. But Creative's success in delivering PC audio and video technologies makes the company's support potentially the biggest endorsement to date for Media2Go, say analysts.
"Creative has done a great job over the years in terms of trying to turn some of those portable technologies into great products," said Stephen Baker, analyst at market research firm NPDTechworld. "They've always had a great design flare, and they have strong technology areas such as sound and graphics they can bring to bear as well."
Microsoft will deliver Internet SCSI (iSCSI) support in June as an add-in for Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional. The driver will be free and available as a download, Microsoft said Wednesday.
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) recently ratified iSCSI, an IP-based storage networking standard expected to broaden the use of Storage Area Networks by allowing storage traffic to be piped over ubiquitous Ethernet infrastructures rather than over more expensive Fibre Channel networks. Microsoft quotes Gartner as saying iSCSI will be the most common method for connecting servers to SANs by 2006, providing the technology for 1.5 million servers connections.
PC manufacturers are coming out with a slew of new notebooks containing Intel's Pentium-M processor, and executives claim that the underlying technology goes a long way toward improving the laptop experience. Over the next day or so, Dell Computer, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and others will start selling new notebooks for the business and consumer markets that feature the Pentium-M, an energy-efficient notebook processor. Because it consumes less energy, the chip produces less heat, meaning notebooks weigh less--they don't need as many fans or heat sinks. And Pentium-M notebooks generally run four or more hours on a single battery charge, longer than typical laptops in the past.
Personal computer peripheral maker Logitech and Microsoft are working together to provide a co-branded Webcam interface to the Redmond, Wash.-based software behemoth's MSN Messenger IM network client. The move brings legitimacy to Logitech's IM Video Companion application, which the Fremont, Calif.-based firm -- a leader in the low-cost personal PC video camera space with about half of the market share -- had been offering for free to users of its Webcams since last year. The program works with third-party cameras as well as those sold by Logitech.
Microsoft on Wednesday added broader language support to its Smart Display and Tablet PC technologies and announced a manufacturing deal with Packard Bell. Packard Bell, NEC's consumer PC division, joins Samsung, ViewSonic and other display makers in manufacturing so-called smart displays. Packard Bell plans to start selling a 10-inch smart display in Europe by the end of the first half of the year. Microsoft has also greatly expanded language support for tablet PCs, with the beta release of Multilingual User Interface & Recognizer Pack (MUIRP). The final version is scheduled for July release. Smart Display-based and Tablet PC-based products let consumers and business people access information using a stylus instead of a keyboard and mouse, although there are major functionality differences between the two tabletlike devices.
Microsoft is preparing to launch the next version of its Windows Automotive platform on March 26. Microsoft will take the wraps off its new system at the Microsoft Automotive Executive Summit in Dearborn, Mich., company officials say. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will likely handle the unveiling honors. Microsoft is expected to follow up with similar launches in Europe and Asia during the third week in April. Windows Automotive is not designed to power cars. Instead, it controls less mission-critical functions, like navigation, on-board e-mail, audio/visual entertainment and the like.
A group of computer hobbyists has resumed its effort to crack the main security code for Microsoft's Xbox video game console. The Neo Project, a group that uses distributed computing techniques to crack security challenges, on Wednesday began offering software for its "Operation Project X."
Distributed computing, best known by the Seti@Home project searching for signs of extraterrestrial life, divvies up complex computing tasks among myriad computers. The Neo Project software will use thousands of PCs to try to guess the 2,048-bit encryption code used by the Xbox, an approach that could take years to yield results.