DataPlex website designers and software engineers tied together several web technologies to launch Dynaroll Corporation’s new state-of-the-art website. Dynaroll’s website is now the most extensive destination for all things ball bearings: for ordering ball bearings, learning more about ball bearings, using ball bearings in assemblies, assembly production and qualification, and torque testing. It consists of over 400 pages of technical information and bearing data.
This is a sidebar to our Article “Exploring Cloud Computing“.
Here is a rundown on most of the current issues concerning cloud computing:
Security – While a leading edge cloud services provider will employ data storage and transmission encryption, user authentication, and authorization (data access) practices, many people worry about the vulnerability of remote data to such criminals as hackers, thieves, and disgruntled employees. Cloud providers are enormously sensitive to this issue and apply substantial resources to mitigating concern.
Reliability – Some people worry also about whether a cloud service provider is financially stable and whether their data storage system is trustworthy. Most cloud providers attempt to mollify this concern by using redundant storage techniques, but it is still possible that a service could crash or go out of business, leaving users with limited or no access to their data. A diversification of providers can help alleviate this concern, albeit at a higher cost.
Ownership – Once data has been relegated to the cloud, some people worry that they could lose some or all of their rights or be unable to protect the rights of their customers. Many cloud providers are addressing this issue with well-crafted user-sided agreements. That said, users would be wise to seek advice from their favorite legal representative. Never use a provider who, in their terms of service, lays any kind of ownership claim over your data.
Data Backup – Cloud providers employ redundant servers and routine data backup processes, but some people worry about being able to control their own backups. Many providers are now offering data dumps onto media or allowing users to back up data through regular downloads.
Data Portability and Conversion – Some people are concerned that, should they wish to switch providers, they may have difficulty transferring data. Porting and converting data is highly dependent on the nature of the cloud provider’s data retrieval format, particular in cases where the format cannot be easily discovered. As service competition grows and open standards become established, the data portability issue will ease, and conversion processes will become available supporting the more popular cloud providers. Worst case, a cloud subscriber will have to pay for some custom data conversion.
Multiplatform Support – More an issue for IT departments using managed services is how the cloud-based service integrates across different platforms and operating systems, e.g. OS X, Windows, Linux and thin-clients. Usually, some customized adaption of the service takes care of any problem. Multiplatform support requirements will ease as more user interfaces become web-based.
Intellectual Property – A company invents something new and it uses cloud services as part of the invention. Is the invention still patentable? Does the cloud provider have any claim on the invention? Can they provide similar services to competitors? All good questions and answerable on a case-by-case basis.
Once someone understands that cloud computing potentially suffers from much of the same fate as proprietary systems, the question becomes “do the advantages of using the cloud outweigh my concerns?” For low-risk operations and for insensitive information, the answer can easily be “yes.” Realize that cloud-based services can be backed-up, verified, double-checked, and made more secure by combining them with traditional non-cloud IT processes.
This is a sidebar to our Article “Exploring Cloud Computing“.
Here is a list of the five most common types of cloud computing.
Software as a Service (SaaS) – a single application, library of applications, an API of web services, infrasructure or development platform users who are not necessarily aware of one another interact with through their browsers; Salesforce.com, Google Apps and Zoho Apps are a few examples. Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) are closely related derivatives of SaaS.
Utility Computing – specialized apps coupled with dynamically reconfigurable resources with often a significant reliance on virtualization for ease of maintenance, portability and scalability.
Managed Services – piecemeal software extensions for existing IT departments such as virus scanners for email or remote desktop managers.
Service Commerce Platforms – a hybrid of SaaS and Managed Services presenting an automated service bureau. Think ADP.
Internet Integration – a combination of any or all of the above, from the same or different providers over a common “service bus,” today in its infancy. The “bus” is a standardized data transfer subsystem which allows different providers’ service elements to be plugged in and swapped out, allowing data to be shared across different providers and giving competitive choice to the user.
These services are provided by “cloud service providers,” also called “cloud vendors” or “cloud providers” for short. A “public cloud” provider is one who purveys services to pretty much anyone on the Internet. The largest public cloud provider in the world is amazon.com’s Amazon Web Services. A “private cloud” is a proprietary network or a data center that supplies hosted services to a limited number of other organizations or people. When public cloud resources are used to create a private cloud, the result is called a “virtual private cloud.” Private or public, cloud computing provides easy, scalable access to computing resources and IT services.
We have been awarded the contract to create a police department electronic field-reporting system (EFRS) where officers in the field enter incident information directly into a computer instead of onto paper for later transcription. EFRS taps into the Emergency 911 System as well as the Ticketing System to populate as many data fields automatically as possible, saving the officers time and effort.
EFRS uses our new AmpUp enterprise tool for fast enterprise systems deployment. For this brand new system, we used AmpUp to take the MySQL database schema we created to automatically create data entry forms and reports. We touched up the field placement and substituted some forms based on Microsoft Word.
Learn more about our Enterprise System services.
Learn more about our AmpUp tool.
Posted in AmpUp, Enterprises, News, Software Development
Volume 4, Number 1
Could You Be Using It Someday?
We have entered an era of Things Cloud: “cloud storage,” “cloud computing,” or, just simply “the cloud,” referring to how IT personnel often represent the Internet in their diagrams. Are there opportunities to save money or get improved processes by moving to the cloud? In our analysis, we find that the answer is a qualified “probably so.”
The Cloud
Most business have already encounter the first embodiment of the cloud, “cloud storage,” also know widely as “online storage,” where data is kept not on your local computer but “somewhere” on the Internet, often accessed through a web portal that serves as a user interface for storage and retrieval. Flikr, Gmail, Facebook, and Remote Backup are examples of large implementations of cloud storage. While cloud storage has been around for a while, the cloud-based concept is in the process of evolving into not just providing data storage but operations on that data as well. We’ve entered the age of “cloud computing.”
Posted in Articles, Business, Computers, Enterprises, Networks & Servers, Systems, Website Design
Tagged backup, cloud computing, cloud storage, cloud strategy, data conversion, diversification, intellectual property, ownership, patents, portability, redundancy, reliability, SaaS, scaleability, security, Service Commerce Platforms, Software as a Service, the cloud, Utility Computing, virtualization
Will Motorola’s Droid or Google’s Nexus One trump Apple’s iPhone?
The latest entries into the mobile computing market are the Motorola’s Droid and Google’s Nexus One, both based on Google’s powerful new Android 2.0 Operating System. Some reviewers have called these smartphones “iPhone killers.” Are they really? What does Android represent to mobile computing?
The Droid and Nexus One are both very capable devices, and they outperform the iPhone in several ways. Some if not most of their specifications indeed surpass those of the iPhone 3GS, Apple’s most recent offering, which, by the way, isn’t terribly surprising for two-year newer smartphone designs.
The Android devices tout a larger screen size, the ability to replace batteries, better voice control, application multitasking, turn-by-turn navigation like a standalone GPS device, and a less restrictive app marketplace. The iPhone has much more and better managed memory, seamless integration with its iTunes and app stores, a more protective app marketplace, a more fluid gesture-based interface, and a greater variety of more polished apps.
At DataPlex, we think of Android 2.o devices as different animals, less as direct competition for the iPhone and more as a gap-filler, particular for Verizon, the cellphone carrier that desperately needed a smartphone facelift. Many people will select Verizon smartphones because of their high-quality 3G network which is arguable better than that of AT&T, the iPhone’s exclusive carrier. Others will cite the lack of availability of add-on apps for the Android devices as compared to the enormous quantity and variety of apps available for the iPhone.
We see the Droid and Nexus One dropping into the space between the uber-business-focused Blackberry and the sleek, arty iPhone, and some new apps will just make more sense for the Android platform than they will on those for other smartphones. Android will help make more accessible business and enterprise applications.
Don’t feel bad for Apple. Apple has never sought purely to dominate a market. Rather, it looks to make its offerings attractive and easy-to-use, particularly with the overall intent of integrating them seamlessly with the rest of its product line. Alternately, the Droid and Nexus One come across as capable, feature rich devices, but ones with some rough edges and some complexity in the veins of the longstanding PC vs. Mac debate. Apple has its followers and the attraction of its more polished market. Rumor has it that Apple will releasing its next iPhone version mid-2010, that is, after it releases its also-rumored tablet. Don’t be surprised if it incorporates some of Android’s new features.
To learn more about the differences between the Droid, Nexus One and the iPhone, read the following posts. As you mull over what they say, you’ll identify with what is important to you.
The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg on his first impressions of Google’s Nexus One as compared to the iPhone:
http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20100105/googles-nexus-one-is-bold-new-face-in-super-smartphones/
GoGrid’s Technology Evangelist Michael Sheenan reports on a week he spent with the Droid:
http://www.hightechdad.com/2009/11/20/a-week-with-the-verizonmotorola-droid-by-an-iphone-addict/
Here, Technologist and TV Journalist Shelly Palmer provides a clear report card comparison of the iPhone, Droid and RIM Blackberry:
Ars Technica has posted a very complete and technical analysis of the Droid sprinkled with comparisons to the iPhone:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/reviews/2009/12/review-of-the-motorola-droid.ars/
A bunch of pictures of the Nexus One:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/01/photo-gallery-googles-nexus-one.ars
Also, don’t forget that the Droid and Nexus One are only the first swath of Android 2.0 devices rolling out over the next several months, so be sure to watch for the latest in smartphone offerings. A good site to do that is:
Should you like any advice on your smartphone selection, feel free to drop me a note. Also, if you’d like to stay on top of things electronic from my perspective, you are invited to follow me on Twitter @DataPlexCEO.
Posted in Business, Computers, Consumer Electronics, Enterprises, Hardware Design, News
Tagged Android, Android 2.0, Apple, Apple iPhone, AT&T, Blackberry, Droid, Google, Mobile Computing, Motorola, Nexus, Nexus One, SmartPhone, Verizon
One of our clients noticed that his website wasn’t showing up on smartphones and other mobile devices. The problem was that his website used Adobe’s Flash which doesn’t render properly or at all on some mobile devices. We describe a solution in this first of a two-part series.
The Problem
Adobe Flash (formerly from MacroMedia) is a mature and dominate technology platform for showing animation on and providing high-end user interfaces for websites. Before smartphones, Flash could claim upwards of 99% browser penetration.
Flash’s penetration has been poor with smartphones. Up until recently, no smartphone supported Flash, and even today, only a limited number of smartphones support all the core features of Flash.
With the growing dominance of mobile smartphones, some companies whose websites rely on Flash are realizing that they cannot adequately reach their customer base. Companies that invested tidy sums in making their website into state-of-the-art user experiences are finding that a growing number of their customers are unable to interact with their sites from Flash-incompatible smartphones.
This is a problem that will eventually get corrected. While there seems to be some political posturing between Adobe and Apple with regards to bringing Flash to the iPhone, Adobe and ARM, the processor company behind most smartphones, are wrapping up a technology collaboration announced in November 2008 to bring Flash to most other ARM-powered devices by late 2009 or early 2010, and we are already seeing the results of that collaboration. We think it is clear that Apple will be forced to tag along at the end of the day.
Which smartphones support Flash? Basically, the iPhone browser does not while some of its apps do, the Palm Pre is about to, and all the Android 2.0 devices such as Motorola’s Droid and Google’s Nexus One do and will. Unfortunately, there are more iPhones than anything else, so this presents serious problems for existing websites that utilize Flash.
The Solution
If a website has just one or a few small Flash elements for effect but most of the site including the home page is non-Flash, e.g. HTML, then it would show the occasional blank space where the Flash animation would go. If a website’s home page or other web pages are completely Flash, or if the website relies solely on Flash for site navigation, then it may be mostly unusable.
In either case, the website would benefit from having some non-Flash-based alternatives dropped in and activated when a Flash player is not available. While the alternatives make not be as “flashy” (sorry), this quick solution will make a website more smartphone compatible.
DataPlex engineers know how to install alternatives to Flash into a website. Contact us for more information.
There is another, more clever technical solution which keeps some if not all of the “flashiness.” You can read about here in Part II (coming February 2010).
Posted in Business, Mobile Computing, Website Design
Tagged Adobe, Android, Apple iPhone, Flash, Google Nexus One, HTML, Macromedia, Motorola Droid, Palm Pre, SmartPhone
DataPlex engineers designed several generations of “doctor tracking systems,” systems that consist of sensors and keypads around a medical facility that are used to keep track of the location of doctors, nurses and other staff members. Doctor tracking systems are also called “personnel tracking systems” when they are used in non-medical facilities.
The first generation system, designed for Dr. Bosley of Bosley Medical of Beverly Hills, California, used room telephones, light bars and specially designed keypads. As doctors, nurses and staff members moved about, they would press a button to inform the system about their location so that they could be located at a moments notice. Dr. Bosley reported an astounding simultaneous increase in staff efficiency and patient satisfactions as doctors were able to more quickly get to them and answer their calls.
Display panels in the rooms would inform a doctor as to the queue of rooms for him or her to visit so the he or she would not have to take the extra time to return to a clerical station. Also, the display panels would beep to alert doctors to emergency, highly urgent or expiring timer situations.
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The second and third generation systems leveraged infrared technology and relieved the users from having to press any keys. Badges that the doctors wear broadcast infrared signals that are picked up by infrared receivers that had been installed in the facility’s drop ceiling.
The fourth and latest generation of the Doctor Tracking Systems uses radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. While originally eschewed because of their signals’ ability to penetrate walls and be picked up by sensors in other rooms, technology evolved so that this “overage” actually became an advantage and that a doctor’s location could be even more closely pinpointed. (This proved to be lifesaving in one case when a doctor collapsed out of people’s view but by way of the tracking system was found in enough time to get medical attention.) This generation system also supports voice intercom.
These systems have IT features that allow facilities to make better and faster decisions, such as when a patient should be revisited or when to clean up a room, and have tracking integrated with their enterprise systems so that doctors’ room visits can be correlated with patient billing. We see other potential uses of this technology to track medicine dispensing and to better improve the workflow around a medical facility.
Posted in Business, Enterprises, Hardware Design, Systems, Uncategorized
Tagged doctor tracking system, infrared, personnel tracking system, RFID, workflow
Volume 3, Number 5
What Mobile Computing means to Consumers and the Enterprise
The arrival of the next generation of smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone and the G1 based on Google’s Android technology heralds a new era in mobile computing. But what does this mean to consumers, and how do enterprises leverage these new devices without sacrificing security?
These are good questions, but let me start out by saying what this article is not. This article is not a review or endorsement of either the iPhone or the G1 phone or any other smartphone as there are simply too many features that matter disproportionately to different types of users. Besides, there are already plenty of reviews on the specific devices.
Instead, this article abstracts the notion of mobile computing and suggests ways it can and will enhance our lives, whether we are consumers checking our email and stock market investments or as members of a business, collaborating with our peers while away from the office.
Posted in Articles, Consumer Electronics, Enterprises, iPhone/iTouch
Tagged Business, enterprise, G1, iPhone, iTouch, LinkedIn, Mobile Computing, peripherals, servers, smartphones
DataPlex engineers were hired by a small, fledgling company known as “3D Systems” that had a lab curiosity that they needed to turn into a product. DataPlex principals Harry Tarnoff, Warren Juran, Stuart Spence, Richard Harlow and David Remba all contributed to getting 3D Systems’ initial “stereolithography” products designed, built and out into the hands of customers, customers which were the first of what are now known as the “rapid prototyping” and “3D printing” markets. Read all about it here.
As part of the design effort, it was DataPlex CEO Harry Tarnoff that, against many odds, pushed stereolithography for medical applications. The result was the use of CAT scans to build models of human anatomy, get more accurate medical results while at the same time reducing the need for surgery. The premier issue of UCLA Magazine featured one such medical application:
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| Click cover for a larger view. |
The caption for the cover read as follows:
Computer generated, three-dimensional models developed by N.J. Mankovich, Ph.D., UCLA Radiology, surround Thomas Faraguna, whose fractured skull was replaced by a prosthesis designed with the aid of such tools… As example of tomorrow’s high-tech, whereby an exact duplicate of a patient’s bone is created by computer-guided laser, thus insuring an exact prothesis fit before surgery.
Posted in Hardware Design, High-Performance, News, Systems
Tagged 3D printing, 3D Systems, medical, rapid prototyping, stereolithography