complete and widely deployed virtualization platform, has been recognized by a number of publications for excellence as a virtualization infrastructure. VMware vSphere 4 provides the foundation to transform data centers into dynamic and simplified cloud infrastructures, enabling organizations to deliver the next generation of flexible, reliable IT services through private clouds, public clouds, and hybrid cloud environments.

Since its launch in May 2009, VMware vSphere 4 has received the following awards:

ChannelWeb – Best Products of 2009

CRN Netherlands – Outstanding Product of the Year 2009

E-Manufacturing – 2009 Editor’s Choice

eWeek UK –  Lab Analysts Choice Awards 2009

InformationWeek – Best of Interop Awards 2009

InfoWorld – 2009 Technology of the Year Award

NetWorld – Product of the Year 2009

PC Pro – Business Software of the Year 2009

SearchServerVirtualization.com – Product of the Year 2009

ZDNet China – 2009 Annual Virtualization Product

Arkeia Network Backup version 8.1 in the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS partner repository, now available on www.ubuntu.com. Arkeia’s products have been packaged with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, the previous Ubuntu distribution with Long Term Support (LTS) release.

Arkeia Software was the first professional network backup solution for Linux and has supported the community since 1999. Today, Arkeia continues to provide the deepest and broadest support for Linux and open source with more than 100 Linux platforms supported. Fully-licensed Arkeia Network Backup, Ubuntu Enterprise Edition can be downloaded from the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS partner repository by using the Synaptic Package Manager or with the ‘apt-get Arkeia’ command.

The free Ubuntu Enterprise Edition license includes:
•    One Arkeia Backup Server running on Ubuntu LTS
•    Two Arkeia Backup Agents for Linux / BSD machines or Windows / Mac desktops
•    Up to 250GB of backup to disk
•    Support of any single tape drive

Between continually (and faster) growing data volumes and the need for primary and backup copies in addition to more copies for compliance, business continuity/disaster recovery, and testing, storage remains a major component of IT budgets.

One product helping to address these storage challenges is DSS V6 (Data Storage Software V6), an integrated file and block storage management operating system from Open-E. Unlike many other storage systems, DSS V6 can handle both NAS (file) and SAN (block) activity and supports iSCSI, InfiniBand, and Fibre Channel functionality all in a single unified storage application for file-sharing and storage consolidation.

DSS V6 also provides a mix of advanced features previously only available to companies with large enterprise budgets, which means a DSS-based solution can be used for storage and back-up activities such as high availability (via Automatic Failover and Failback) and disaster recovery (using Remote Mirroring). The results are greater overall performance and value through better data security, increased fault tolerance, and improved availability.

According to Krzysztof Franek, CEO and president of Open-E, Open-E DSS V6 runs on x86-compatible systems and is based on a Linux kernel, the XFS file system, and a number of Linux components. DSS can run either on bare metal systems or as a virtualized appliance, and DSS combines the ease of use that today’s SMEs want with the advanced features that enterprise users (and many smaller businesses) need. Open-E DSS V6 competes with storage server software, which must be installed on hardware, and with storage appliances. 

More information at  http://en.open-e.com/news/

* Ability to disable encryption on Site-to-Site VPN.
* For DNS based health checks public DNS servers can be included as health check targets.
* Mobile Internet connection can stay disconnected when in standby mode.

Several bug fixes are included too.
Note that all Peplink devices should be running the same firmware version (5.1.2) to participate in the same Site-to-Site VPN network. 

Contact NSS Sales department for more information.

Arkeia Network Backup Version 8.2 offers new agents for backup and recovery of VMware and Hyper-V virtual environments. Also new is support for Microsoft Exchange 2010, SharePoint, and SQL Server, as well as Novell’s, GroupWise, eDirectory and iFolder.

V8.2 is scheduled to be generally available in May 2010. For more information contact us  at sales@nss.gr

Balance 1350 is designed to meet the requirement for gigabit throughput and extra WAN ports. With this new flagship model, you can have up to 1.5Gbps throughput and 13 Internet links. The new Balance 580 is another great choice for aggregating extra WAN links. As a high performance mid-range model, the 580 can support up to 250Mbps throughput and 5 Internet links.

1. Site-to-Site VPN Bandwidth Bonding (available with Peplink Balance 210 or above only)

2. USB 3G Modem Supported (available with Peplink Balance 380 or above only)

3. Turbo-charged User QoS (available with Peplink Balance 210 or above only)

4. Classify users in User Groups for different levels: Manager, Staff, Guest (available with Peplink Balance 380 or above only)

5. Bandwidth Control on a group- and user-level (available with Peplink Balance 380 or above only)

6. Traffic Prioritization (available with Peplink Balance 210 or above only)

7. New Outbound Policy: Overflow (available with Peplink Balance 210 or above only)

8. CPU Utilization & Traffic Metter

9. Read-Only User Account

10. Active Session Filter

11. Client List with Bandwidth Infomation

12. VRRP Slave Configuration Synchronization (available with Peplink Balance 210 or above only)

13. Built-in WINS Server

PRX Traffic Manager Developments

The following new features will be available on all PRX Traffic Managers with the next firmware release due before the end of the first quarter of 2010:

– Realtime host and flow statistics
– Extended read-only SNMP support
– Subprotocols enable operators to treat specific application activities individually, for example Skype: Skype-Out, Skype-Voice; BitTorrent: encrypted, unencrypted; MSN: voice, file transfer.

For more information click here

WebDAV access to file storage and file store ACLs
eDisc (File sharing), making the server essentially a FileServer that customers can access any time, any place

File store subscription
Allows to “subscribe” to others’ files and file store folders

AIRSYNC improvements
Extends AIRSYNC support, so now you can sync two business phones with a more accurate synchronization algorithm

Personal contact details propagation
Extends XMPP supports, making it possible to broadcast your contact details changes (including photo or avatar) to other XIMSS/XMPP users

Calendar Publication
WebCals, a powerful way to Publish or Subscribe to Calendars even if the other party is on Exchange, Notes, or using a Mac

Multi-Party IM
Multi-party IM, or “chat rooms” for groupware and improved team collaboration

HD Voice
Support for HD Voice using iSAC codecs from Global IP Solutions

For more information click here

As the battle for the elusive SMB customer moves into FMC, this whitepaper looks at how HD Voice can differentiate and add value to the network operators’ offerings for business subscribers.

HD Voice is a revolution in telephony that has been decades in the making, and now with virtually ubiquitous high speed internet access, VoIP has found its place. VoIP no longer needs to be considered a cheap or toll-dodging alternative, with HD Voice the value is clear.

To download the White Paper press here

Product release includes over 100 new exciting features, including:

• HD Voice: Experience the new standard of voice communications, with exceptional, high definition clarity.
• Pronto ! 3.0: Including a redesigned user interface, improved chat and calling features and exciting new features such as social networking and Twitter .
• eDisk: Secure file-sharing with industry standard access from PC, Mac and Linux operating systems (WebDAV protocol is implemented).
• Calendar Sharing: Subscribe and publish calendars with colleagues, partners and customers over the internet and mobile networks
• Business Grade IM: Reliable, secure instant messaging with chat room and conversation history.

Some of the highlights for the Business focused products (MessagePlus, VoicePlus for the SMB):

High Definition Voice in both MessagePlus and VoicePlus
Dramatically improved features and usability in Pronto! 3.0, including social networking, Twitter and hundreds of other improvements
VoicePlus now includes a 0x2 cluster configuration as standard and brand new, intuitive user interfaces for self care and domain administration

Starting with a definition of DPI, the white paper explores the DPI application and dispells some of the misconceptions surrounding “net neutrality” and privacy concerns. The potential impact of DPI applications on society is also considered.

To download the white paper click here

The new devices replace PRX-1000 and PRX-1G Traffic Managers. ipoque’s PRX Traffic Manager offers network operators a comprehensive and costeffective bandwidth management solution, enabling them to monitor and control network traffic per application and per subscriber. The solution makes network activities more transparent and is able to prioritize, shape, and optimize classified traffic and helps institutions of all sectors to keep up with the challenges of growing Internet traffic in their networks. PRX Traffic Manager series ranges from the small PRX-20 with 40 Mbit/s throughput to the carrier-grade PRX-10G with proven 75 Gbit/s performance.

http://www.peplink.com/video/

These videos will provide a guided tour to learn of what Peplink Balance does and how it works. This is just the beginning of the video series.  Peplink is in the process of making and adding more interesting videos for you.  Remember to come visit often and check them out!

The new DSS V6 storage management software, with a new architecture, user interface and with more advanced functionality than previous versions, can be easily downloaded from Open-E’s website and installed to any media including internal HDD, RAID Array, USB, SATA and IDE DOM (Disk-On-Module), or any other bootable media.

The Open-E Data Storage Software V6 (DSS V6) is a unified file and block storage management operating system (OS) that offers Network Attached Storage (NAS), iSCSI, InfiniBand and Fibre Channel Storage Area Network (SAN) functionality, while providing superior performance, security, and scalability at a fraction of the cost of alternative storage offerings. Advanced features of Open-E DSS V6 include Data and Volume Replication, Volume Snapshot, Automatic Failover for iSCSI Volumes, WORM and NDMP and built-in virus protection. Designed to be versatile and flexible to support a wide variety of hardware RAID platforms from the industry’s leading vendors, Open-E DSS V6 allow users to combine NAS systems with iSCSI SAN systems, while enabling the connection of multiple Network Interface Controllers, including Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel and InfiniBand. The Open-E DSS V6 supports logical volumes greater than 16TB. The software is available with standard license capacity of 4, 8, and 16TB. Extension keys can be purchased to add additional storage capacities from 2TB to 64TB.

With over 12,000 installations, in over 90 countries, Open-E data storage solutions are used by Fortune 500 customers world-wide, including Lufthansa, Raymond James, Siemens, Samsung, Alcatel-Lucent and Vodafone.

The 10Gbps+ APV6200 series is built on Array’s patent pending SpeedCore™ architecture that takes the mature ArrayOS feature set to a new level. The 2U form factor APV6200 series, utilizing the SpeedCore Architecture, offers the highest Layer 4-7 throughput per watt combined with the lowest cost per megabit of Layer 4-7 traffic processed and lowest cost per SSL transaction offloaded on the market. Consuming no more than 330 watts, the APV6200 is the greenest ADC product available in the 10Gbps+ class.

The APV6200 series is optimized for emerging Web 2.0 applications, multi-media services and hosted cloud centric applications. The products have superb performance to empower service providers and enterprises to quickly roll out content rich multi-media and enterprise applications to a large user base with fewer servers, thereby maximizing investments in application delivery infrastructure. End users get an uncompromised experience without service interruption.

For more information about the APV6200 series press here

ersion 8 capabilities and features are identical across the three deployment alternatives:

• the same Backup Agents are used across all three, giving administrators the flexibility to evolve their servers without modifying their agent machines
• complementary products like Arkeia’s Backup Replication and Arkeia’s Central Management Server work seamlessly across all three backup server deployments, making these advanced capabilities easy to deploy and use
• a consistent and enhanced user interface across deployments means no new learning curve when deployment modes change 

Compared to Arkeia Network Backup v7 and earlier versions, version 8 comes with the following enhancements:

• Virtualized Environment Support
• Introduction of a virtual appliance for ESX and ESXi
• Introduction of a VMware ESX Server agent
• Enhanced Graphical User Interfaceo    Backup Schedule Calendar introduction
• Reorganization of the Menu for a better ergonomy
• Client-server communication simplification with stronger security
• Remove the dependency of name resolution (FQDN)
• Allows the client to connect to the backup server via IP
• Allows the backup server to connect to the client via IP
• Allows Arkeia to bind to a specific IP
• Enhanced handling of client hostname change
• Enhanced software installation options (DNS or IP)
• Lack of client licenses no longer stops the entire backup job if a new client is added
• Enhanced reporting
• Enhanced Alerts logging to the end user
• Enhanced backup error reporting to the end user
• Wiki-based technical documentation
• New platforms supported including SLES 11 and Mandriva 2009 Spring