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• PC Applications in The Post-PC Era - 2011.10.06
  Posted by: Nicole Mysliwiec

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  I subscribe to the school of thought that we’re already in the post-PC era, simply based on the number of mobile devices we support. That point may be arguable, but one thing is not up for debate: PC-based applications, specifically those that run on Windows, are going to be around for a very, very long time, especially in large enterprises. Yes, we hear a lot about SaaS and Web-based alternatives, but who among us doesn’t have some legacy software that we have to keep running?

  Most IT teams have struggled to marry new devices, mostly tablets and smartphones with small displays and touch-screen keyboards, with Windows operating systems and the applications that love them. The main sticking point is that Windows is a point-and-click interface. Some smartphones, such as the Motorola Atrix, allow users to dock a phone in a laptop shell, thereby giving access to a full laptop screen and keyboard. Celio offers a Redfly mobile shell and dock. That is, however, another piece of equipment users have to carry. Newer phones also have some sort of video output, like HDMI, that would allow the projection of the phone’s screen onto a larger display, provided such a display is available.

  The form-factor problem is another issue. I don’t believe anyone enjoys working on a Windows desktop from a smartphone screen, so people will still carry multiple devices when they move around — a smartphone, a tablet for meetings or on a plane, maybe a laptop PC or Mac just in case.

  This problem isn’t going to go away anytime soon, especially because vendors like Citrix and Microsoft are releasing software that works or will soon work on any device, from Android to iOS and Windows Mobile Phone, all the way to BlackBerry and HTML5; users will be able to connect to PC-era applications leveraging VDI and other technologies. Your users may like seeing a Windows desktop or application on their favorite mobile devices, but this is just perpetuating the problem.

  In response, many enterprises that have deployed desktop virtualization offer Bluetooth keyboards and mice for their tablet users to maximize the experience, but is that really the solution? There has to be a better way of addressing a PC-era computing architecture with the post-PC-era mobility frenzy.

  We expect more vendors to start playing in this space, and we’d like to offer a suggestion: Figure out a way to zoom and project the keyboard and screen onto a larger surface, like a holographic display, that can be resized and that allows users to control the brightness and contrast. The technology exists. Now all of a sudden, that smartphone and VDI just became the ultimate computing device for PC-era and post-PC-era applications. We can use the full-size keyboard and holographic display when using point-and-click applications like Word or PowerPoint. The phone is always connected with Wi-Fi and 4G connectivity, so all social media and SaaS applications are available. What else would a road warrior need?

  VDI has solved the problem of running Windows apps on smartphones. Now we just need those few missing pieces. We’ll be watching to see what innovations arise.

  As written by Sigma’s Technology Officer, Elias Khnaser, for Information Week

  Posted in: Hp, Virtualization, VTP
• HP E-Series Mobility Portfolio - 2011.03.03
  Posted by: Nicole Mysliwiec

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  HP has launched a new series of access points through a combined development effort with the HP/Colubris development teams. The new access point model numbers are the E-MSM460, E-MSM466 and the E-MSM430.

  HP’s goal is to bring a ‘single pane of glass’ management capability to the wireless and wired networks through integrating the HP Mobility Manager 3.10 into the existing IMC solution. Mobility Manager can be a plugin to an existing PCM+ installation.

  The biggest news to me was the AP MSM466, which is capable of concurrent radio operation in the 5GHz band. This allows the access point to increase the channel capacity to double the supported client count in high density deployments. This published statistics for this access point indicates a maximum performance of 450Mbps per radio. Using two 5GHz radios in an access point is interesting, but there are still a lot of 2.4GHz clients in use on most every WLAN. Having all your clients in a specific area being only 802.lla devices may be a reality for some enterprise deployments, but I’d bet that most have a wireless client mix that can’t be controlled or influenced by the IT department.

  The HP mobility line can support different modes of operation – AP, Mesh and Monitor (packet capture) modes. The new features of the HP mobility hardware producte line are standards based beamforming (explicit) and band steering. There was no mention of the ability to do spectrum analysis with any of the HP access point offerings. The lack of spectrum analysis as part of their product offering does not allow the HP mobility portfolio to identify sources of interference. The HP mobility product line can only adjust the power and channel of the access point in reaction to sources of interference.

  I thought the slide showing the comparison of the HPMSM410 and HPEMSM460 to the CiscoAIR-LAP1142N-A-K9 access point was a little misleading.

  Mostly since the TxR:S numbers for each of the access points are not clearly stated on this slide. The Cisco 1142N access point is a 2×3:2, and the HP MSM410 is a 3×3:2 access point.

  I found it interesting that the MSM410 performed only slightly better than the 1142N even though the radio in the MSM410 has three transmit and three receive antennas. The comparison difference is marked between the E-MSM460 and the Cisco 1142N due to the fact that the E-MSM460 is a 3×3:3 access point. The metrics on this chart show the E-MSM460 providing 150Mbs of throughput at a distance of 230 feet from the access point. This works out to be one access point every 1400 feet. If this distance is to be used as the gauge for the cell edge, that’s a pretty dense access point deployment!

  One thing I found of note was the ability of the access point to be changed into an autonomous access point just by changing the operating mode on the access point from the controller. You’re not required to change the code running on the access point in order to make the access point function independent of the controller.

  The HP mobility solution does not use the CAPWAP standards-based protocol for their controller based solution. HP uses a proprietary wireless protocol that is based on IAPP and using OpenVPN with UDP tunnels in order to simplify network connectivity on LANs using NAT.

  This mobility announcement from HP will be great news for existing HP mobility customers, but I am doubtful that customers with an already deployed WLAN infrastructure will find enough compelling features to make the switch to the new HP E-MSM product line. However, some customers may require the cost benefit of the next day replacement that is part of the HP lifetime warranty.

  Posted in: Hp, Wireless