CMS Speeds Desktop Backups
New Velocity series uses Serial ATA for faster data transfer.

Edward N. Albro, PCWorld.com
Wednesday, November 19, 2003

LAS VEGAS -- Impatient PC users with large hard drives to protect have a new option for backing up their desktop. CMS Products is unveiling its Velocity series of backup systems at the Comdex trade show here this week.

The series includes external hard drives that use the new Serial ATA interface to speed backups, along with CMS's BounceBack software to manage the backup process. Velocity is the first external backup system to use Serial ATA, according to Mike LaPeters, the company's vice president of sales.

Velocity systems can move data as fast as 1.5GB per minute, if the host computer incorporates Serial ATA on the motherboard, LaPeters says. That's more than three times as fast as data transfer using USB 2.0 or Firewire interfaces, he says.

PCs without integrated Serial ATA must use a separate PCI controller card, priced separately at $79. Those PCs should see data transfer rates of about 700MB to 1GB per minute, LaPeters says.

A Velocity system with an 80GB hard drive, BounceBack software, cables, and a PCI pass-through card (necessary for connecting the hard drive to the system) will list for $299. The price rises to $399 for a 120GB system, and to $549 for a 200GB system. The Velocity systems will be available in December.

Software Side

The BounceBack software is designed to make a full, uncompressed backup of an entire hard drive, including the operating system. It then makes regular incremental changes to that data.

The backup copy is bootable, meaning that you can be up and running quickly even if your internal hard drive fails completely, LaPeters says. To demonstrate, he removed the internal hard drive of a Dell desktop system at CMS's booth here. When he attempted to boot up the system, it stalled, saying it couldn't find the hard drive.

With a few keystrokes, LaPeters directed the system to boot from the external hard drive and about a minute later the PC appeared to be working as usual.

Velocity's backup software also supports versioning, allowing users to keep multiple versions of important documents and restore earlier versions of documents that go through multiple edits.

AT&T Looks Into the Wireless Future
Past predictions went too far, but the industry has come a long way, exec says.

Joris Evers, IDG News Service
Wednesday, November 19, 2003

LAS VEGAS -- Three years ago, John Zeglis, chairman and chief executive officer of AT&T Wireless Services, predicted a world in which chairs, clothes, and air fresheners combine with wireless networks to "deliver a total sensory experience." This week, he admitted that prediction may have been over the top.

Still, the wireless industry has come a long way in the past three years, he said Tuesday during his keynote address at the Comdex trade show here.

"The line between audacious vision and over-the-top hype can be fairly thin and easy to cross," he said. What has come true is that user numbers have grown significantly and available bandwidth for data services has increased.

Plenty of work remains to be done, according to Zeglis. He called upon other operators to cooperate more on interoperability and standards and said the U.S. government should free up more radio spectrum for wireless carriers, two calls to action that Zeglis also made in his first keynote here, back in 2000.

Making Predictions

Looking a bit into the future, Zeglis repeated what many wireless carriers and mobile phone makers have already said. "Wireless is going to displace wired big time," he said.

Already five percent of wireless users say they don't have a wired line, according to Zeglis. To increase that, AT&T Wireless is hatching a plan to make landlines redundant, but not the phones already on the kitchen wall, on the desk, or installed in the basement. When the customer is at home, all calls to the cell phone could be forwarded to a base station device via Bluetooth. That base station would be plugged in to a regular phone jack and would forward the calls to wired phones around the house, Zeglis said.

Also, this setup would allow users to dial out from those regular phones, but using the mobile phone network instead of a landline carrier, he said. Furthermore, with distinctive ringing tones, multiple cell phones could be associated with one base station.

On the EDGE

Before taking the stage for the keynote, Zeglis appeared at a news conference announcing AT&T Wireless' new EDGE service, which the company says allows users to transfer data with average speeds of between 100 kilobits per second and 130 kbps.

AT&T Wireless is committed to delivering faster data transfer speeds over its network, but it will take time. "We are firmly committed to the full 3G path," Zeglis said. But with today's financial realities, the network won't be upgraded until the operator has made money on its last upgrade and has a solid business plan for the next step up, he said.

AT&T has committed to delivering full 3G support in four main U.S. cities by the end of next year. That means upgrading its network to WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) technology, also known as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System.)

 

Xcelsius Enlivens Excel
Spreadsheet add-on brings Flash support to work-sheets.

Edward N. Albro, PCWorld.com
Wednesday, November 19, 2003

LAS VEGAS -- An Excel add-on that literally adds Flash to the dull black boxes of a spreadsheet is making its debut here at Comdex this week.

 Xcelsius Professional is designed for the dedicated numbers-cruncher who knows great data can get lost in grey worksheets.

The program enables users with no knowledge of programming to create Flash versions of their Microsoft Excel files, says Santiago Becerra Sr., president of Infommersion Infommersion, the company behind Xcelsius. The accessory helps transform the rows and columns of a profit and loss statement into colorful gauges, sliders, or other objects.

Infommersion launched the $195 standard version of the program in July. The new $495 professional edition is being shown here. It requires Windows 2000 or XP and Microsoft Office 2000, XP, or 2003.

Software Specs

Creating an Xcelsius file appeared relatively easy in Becerra's quick demonstration. You choose any of 36 available graphical components, such as graphs, pie charts, and sliders, and drag the object onto your workspace. You can click on the object and associate it with any data field from your spreadsheet.

You can also apply logic to the object, for instance, having the dial become red as the underlying numbers go below zero.

The Flash file imports not only the data in the Excel file, but the formulas as well, which means users can change values in the file and see the other figures react to that change. Want to know how much overseas sales must improve for your company to start showing a profit? Drag the sales slider until the overall profit and loss gauge dials into the black.

The professional edition adds the capability to continuously refresh data by connecting to an XML database via the Web. It will also automatically update its data when there are changes to the original Excel spreadsheet. With the standard version, users must click a button to prompt the program to refresh the data.

After you've tweaked the numbers in Xcelsius, you can export the data back to your original Excel spreadsheet or into a new file.

Other Connections

To view or interact with a file produced by Xcelsius, you don't need the software.

Any computer (including Macs and Linux systems), handheld, or other device with the free Macromedia Flash 6 player can view and interact with Xcelsius files. With a single click, the program will drop a file into a Powerpoint presentation or an Outlook e-mail message.

Much of the technology behind Xcelsius comes from graphics advances made by game developers, Becerra says. Infommersion's chief technical officer is Becerra's son, Santi Becerra Jr., who worked on popular PC games, including Midtown Madness and Midtown Madness 2, as well as Playstation 2 games, including Midnight Club.

 

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