windows 7 released tomorrow!

Its the release everyone has known about for ages, and as of tomorrow its finally available for retail purchase. I have been using as my main desktop since the release of the rtm both on my laptop and my media center pc at home.

Happily i can report (for the first time in a long time after being burnt in the past by new releases) that i'm still not having any major issues. The only current problem i am seeing is with firefox freezing. This is only a minor issue, and i believe its primarily going to be fixed by release 3.6.

its worth taking a look at Chrome Plus - http://www.chromeplus.org/ This takes the great google chrome browser and adds ietab. This is particularly useful allowing you to use the browser interface to access ie based websites such as Microsoft CRM or Outlook webaccess etc.

Energywise - Cisco's award winning energy saving technology

Cisco Energywise (http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10195/index.html) is a technology that allows owners of catalyst switches to monitor and actively reduce power consumption. With the correct application this allows a system administrator of a cisco based network to implement policies to manage power usage. Policies can be applied to throughout the network via catalyst switches. Here's a relatively painless flash demo: http://www.cisco.com/cdc_content_elements/flash/netsys/energywise/demo.html

Whilst with a smaller business this may seem a relatively unnecessary, Cisco has built energy efficiency functionality into its small business range of switches (formerly known as linksys).

object firewalls in cisco ios

Cisco firewalls were traditionally based on the old pix (currently the asa series), but a lot of people don't realise that the cisco ios firewall has the same capabilities and more including the same security certifications.

whilst the ASA series is an excellent option, many companies will save by implementing Cisco IOS based devices, because of the cheaper costs, but also because of the enhanced features available throughout.

More recently 12.4.20T onwards marks the integration of object based firewalls. These simplify access lists by allowing the reference to groupings of IP/networks and services.

We recently deployed this for a particularly complex set-up and were very pleased with the significant time savings, as were the internal IT team at the client.

here's an example of how it works:

object-group network MYSERVERS

description bank of smtp servers

host 192.168.1.2

host 192.168.1.5

!

ip access-list extended OUTSIDE

permit tcp any object-group MYSERVERS eq smtp

deny tcp any any eq smtp log

permit ip any any

!

interface fastethernet0/0

ip access-group OUTSIDE in

android phone

recently i've been playing with phones and have been lucky enough to get hold of the new android g3 devices the htc hero. From a business perspective these are essentially cheaper iphones using google's open source operating system. They are usually available for free on a business contract and unlike the iphone (currently although this is changing by the end of this year) they are available from multiple providers.

From our perspective they have the following important business features:
synchronise with microsoft exchange (htc have written an application that allows activesync to work through the internet - not all android devices have this). Importantly this removes the need for e.g. blackberry enterprise server or email subscriptions from your provider

built in wireless including bluetooth - obvious requirement to reduce data costs - reliability and ease of use is a factor here and i found some issues initially - upon unlocking the screen it would sometimes fail at connecting the bluetooth or wireless. This was fixed by a firmware update which has improved overall reliablity - check the version is 2.73 or above. Both before and afterward i found it would connect to my aging parrot bluetooth carkit wireless was easy to use and has worked first time on every connection.

phone use - no problems reported - seamlessly works with 3g and standard - its easy to disable data services whilst roaming (single checkbox in the settings) preventing unexpected bills. Call quality is fine. Battery usage is acceptable at a couple of days. The unusual looking charging input is actually a standard mini-usb so it can use standard charging methods. The touch screen is responsive and speaker volume acceptable. The buttons and lip at the bottom of the phone are actually handy on a phone.

applications - android marketplace has a wealth of free applications. It is definately worth considering a navigation package as the onboard compass and gps is very accurate. Google maps works very well, but i am not keen on paying for the data. Copilot 8 and sygic mobile maps work very well. My preference is definately the sygic option as its maps are superior. Both are cheap and useable with pedestrian options - i was able to use to find locations in Barcelona and London. Beware if navigating the alps in winter though as some higher roads become ski pistes!
There are also plenty of business applications including a free cisco vpn client. Internet browsing is also very good with the newer generation browsers allowing native internet browsing including facebook etc. two-fingered zoom in and out make browsing a breeze. overall navigation is very good including the on-screen-keyboard which can be calibrated if you have fat thumbs like me. Its worth noting that contacts can be integrated with facebook and its easy to implement multiple contact info per user. sms etc

It also automatically chains together sms from the same contact which is handy

overall therefore an excellent phone - easy to use, reliable and whilst overall it would benefit from a slightly larger screen i have no problem recommending for business use.