thePipeline

More power!

So many press release writers use tepid, meaningless clichéd phrases or impenetrable jargon that it's truly refreshing to read this colorful passage:

"IBM [Corp.] is unleashing onto the computing industry the much-anticipated POWER5-based servers with the launch of the new eServer iSeries i5 server."

"Unleashing onto the computing industry" leaps boldly off the page. We'll leave it up to the computing industry to decide whether the new product lives up to that

description.

According to IBM officials, the i5 includes embedded virtualization engine technology and is designed for small and midsize organizations. It can run IBM's operating system, its AIX brand of Unix, Linux or Microsoft Corp.'s Windows.

The company is also adding two new technologies to the server: Memory on Demand and Reserve Capacity on Demand. With those capabilities, users can gain access to additional processing power or memory when they need it.

According to IBM officials, the new server demonstrates company executives' intention to continue to serve the midrange market.

Meanwhile, Pocket PCs can become handheld navigation devices thanks to new technology from Garmin Ltd.'s Garmin International Inc. The company is releasing Que 1620, a version of its new Que software on a CompactFlash card for the Pocket PC.

Que provides high-

performance Global Positioning System navigation, mapping and turn-by-turn navigation. In the handheld device, voice guidance can direct users to an address stored in their contacts file.

When in doubt, upgrade

InetSoft Technology Corp. has released Style Report 6.0, a reporting and analysis tool with some new features.

Called Style Report/Analytic Edition, the new product is built on top of InetSoft's Enterprise Edition. The Analytic Edition, which runs on the Web, breaks up analytic needs into small components. End users will be able to cherry-pick the components that are relevant to what they need and greatly reduce complexity.

InetSoft officials say the product offers simpler but more powerful reporting tools and real-time alerts.

ZyLab Technologies B.V. officials have introduced a new visualization module to enhance the company's document imaging and information retrieval software. The module creates interactive overviews of structured data. Using a tree structure, so named because it shows how various points of data branch off from one another, the system puts all the relevant information for a particular topic on screen at once. Users can then filter down to specific items of interest.

Broadbeam Corp. has released MSS Smart IP 3.0, middleware that helps agencies extend their existing applications to employees using wireless devices. MSS Smart IP addresses security and cost efficiency.

Organizations are able to use their own virtual private network security with MSS Smart IP or the Broadbeam product's security capabilities. The product also brings several cost-saving benefits, including support for multiple networks and better wireless performance.

Taylor Technologies Inc. released Version 4.0.4 of its Rapid Integration Toolkit (RIT) for Web geographic information system (GIS) sites. RIT allows users to develop customized GIS content quickly, according to company officials. The new release runs faster and allows users to copy and paste information, officials said.

Glass Bead Software LLC has released Windows versions of its SnapMail and SnapTalk messaging applications. Intended for internal use, the two products provide peer-to-peer chat, messaging and file-transfer capabilities.

The company had built older versions of the product on the Apple Computer Inc. platform. Now they are cross-platform applications, able to connect MacIntosh and PC users seamlessly. However, the new versions are not compatible with older ones, according to company officials.

Are you being served?

SANZ Inc., a systems integrator and storage consulting firm, has created a compliance consulting service to help customers ensure that they are meeting regulatory mandates for data storage.

SANZ Compliance Consulting Services will combine regulatory analysis, requirements specification, solution design, hardware and software selection and implementation, user training, and annual compliance review into a single process.

The market research firm Input has upgraded its Market Development Service to include new technological capabilities. Subscribers to the firm's Grants program can now get more detailed information for some government contracts, obtain new matching funds and grant duration details, and benefit from improved search capabilities.

Input's Federal IT Market Analysis gives subscribers more ways to filter forecast data so they can isolate points of interest, and a detailed breakdown of the president's information technology budget by department, agency, investment category, investment type, time frame and keyword search.

Let's get small

The new wireless network card from Iogear Inc. is small. So small, in fact, that users can leave it in their laptop PCs all the time.

The Wireless-G Notebook Network Card uses the 802.11g wireless standard and is almost invisible when plugged into the computer's card bus slot.

"The purpose of mobile computing is to make staying connected from any location more convenient," said Miranda Su, Iogear's vice president of sales and marketing. "Having to remove a Wi-Fi network card each time users pack up their notebooks is a nuisance."