Servers, storage, peripherals lead FOSE debuts

While most vendors at the FOSE trade show last week highlighted agency partnerships instead of products, a handful of vendors unfurled announcements.

For its part, Hewlett-Packard Co. debuted new capabilities in diverse areas. The hardware giant, for instance, touted the formation of a new consortium designed to spur Linux and Intel Corp. Itanium-based processing solutions.

HP also debuted a suite of multifunction products, including three LaserJet multifunction printers. Moreover, HP unveiled new server and storage products designed to enhance the company's new HP IA-32 line, along with developments to its Unix server line.

Security-related products included Sybari Software Inc.'s launch of its latest version of Antigen for Exchange, an e-mail, content management antivirus solution.

And encryption company Thales debuted a version of its hardware modules to support the new Advanced Encryption Standard.

On the storage front, Exabyte Corp. announced VXA AutoPak 1x10, a new storage autoloader designed for government users.

Meanwhile, Zzyzx Peripherals Inc. is preparing to release the second generation of its RuggedRAID FC, a military-grade fiber channel Redundant Array of Independent Disks solution, said Gino Fontana, marketing director.

"The military is really looking at the [commercial off-the-shelf] product environment," said Fontana, who added that the upcoming product will have more capacity and a denser footprint.

On the networking side, convergence company Polycom Inc. took the wraps off VoicePlus, a conferencing system designed to combine voice, video and Web capabilities.

"We are now entering the voice market," said Jim Thomas, director of product marketing at Polycom. The company has cut its teeth on the videoconferencing side of the business but plans by the end of the second quarter to continue building out a total unified conferencing platform.

Building on the wireless momentum now sweeping through government, infrastructure management company mFormation Technologies Corp. piggybacked on Blackberry maker, Research In Motion Ltd.'s FOSE space.

"Post 9/11, there has been a push to mobilize government," said mFormation chief executive officer Ron Pettengill.

MFormation within a month expects to unveil a new version of its Enterprise Manager wireless infrastructure software, which enables agencies to control wireless assets and monitor networks through a Web interface.

Jones is a freelance writer based in Vienna, Va.