Zimbra Collaboration Suite is a successful open-source collaboration application that includes email, calendaring, file sharing, chat and video chat. Zimbra's developer, Synacor, Inc., recently released two new Zimbra-related offerings, namely Zimbra Open Source Support (ZOSS) and Zimbra Suite Plus. The first offering, ZOSS, is a new global program for the 400+ million Zimbra users that takes Zimbra Open Source Edition deployments to the business-ready level. Private and secure, ZOSS offers support to users worldwide in their local language, during their business hours and by experts who understand their business needs and culture. The second offering, Zimbra Suite Plus, has been upgraded with a palette of new features. This modular add-on that extends Zimbra Server's capabilities on Zimbra Open Source or Network Edition now offers new and innovative tools, such as Zimbra Backup Plus, Admin Plus, HSM Plus and Mobile Plus.
IT operations seeking to optimize valuable data-center rack space while improving efficiency are the target customers sought by Equus Computer Systems, Inc., for its “unique” new 1.5U server with data transfer rates of 12GiB/s. With two drive drawers each supporting eight 3.5" hot-swappable SAS/SATA hard drives and delivering up to 160TB of drive storage in a compact form factor, Equus' server also supports two internal 2.5" SSD drives, meaning it can scale out to 16 data drives while still providing a separate redundant OS volume. Equus observes that the 1.5U server can accommodate 33% more drives than a typical 2U server while using 25% less rack space. The availability of two drive drawers means drive failure will not bring down the server. Users simply can pull out the drive drawer and remove the failed drive while the rest of the drives in the drawer remain online. The flexible 1.5U server is a great fit for academia, medical, enterprise or content delivery applications, and it functions well for object-oriented storage or as database, file or analytic servers.
Powered by Ubuntu and Robot Operating System (ROS), the Parrot S.L.A.M.dunk open development hardware and software kit enables drones to transform into smart robots. Parrot's S.L.A.M.dunk (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) technology enables the design of advanced applications that enable the drone to understand and map its surroundings in 3D and self-navigate in environments with multiple barriers or lack of a GPS signal. Because Parrot S.L.A.M.dunk exploits ROS, the leading Linux-based versatile robotic development environment, it can be used not only for standard drone applications but also for a much wider set of “robots”—that is, flying wings, articulated arms and roving robots. Parrot S.L.A.M.dunk applications include autonomous navigation for drones and robots, 3D mapping, obstacle avoidance, prototyping of drones and robotic solutions and data gathering via the stereo camera and sensor array (IMU, barometer, magnetometer, ultrasound). Parrot asserts that it developed Parrot S.L.A.M.dunk to be as easy and user-friendly as possible for developers, researchers, integrators and academics.
Telco TV/OTT and IPTV operators must deal with the fact that many IP transport streams are asynchronous. This makes the streams prone to poor video quality due to jitter if they are sent to Program Clock Reference (PCR)-compliant devices. A new corrective solution for this challenge is DVEO's Jitter Box IP/IP, a low-power, Linux-based IP PCR jitter-correction appliance. Designed for telco TV/OTT and IPTV operators, the Jitter Box IP/IP corrects the PCR in IP video transport streams so IP streams can be jitter-free and interoperate with PCR-sensitive devices, such as modulators, muxers, decoders and encapsulators. If an IP stream is not compliant, the Jitter Box IP/IP can make it so. Jitter Box IP/IP also features a web-based GUI that is manageable from anywhere, adds DVEO.
Though short of Mr Torvalds' aim of world domination, FutureVault, Inc., has set the ambitious goal to “change the way business is done” with its FutureVault digital collaborative vault application. Described by its developer as “at the epicenter of a brand new disruptive category in the financial services world”, FutureVault allows users to deposit, store and manage important financial, legal and personal documents digitally by means of a white-label, cloud-based, SaaS platform. FutureVault is a solution for banks and other financial institutions used to acquire, retain and reward their customers while yielding valuable data and analytics. With robust features around secure sharing, collaboration and organization, FutureVault, Inc., calls its solution “an incredibly 'sticky' tool to connect and stay connected with clients in order to increase both trust and opportunity between all parties”. The company predicts that “Within 15 years, it will be unheard of not to have all of one's personal, financial and legal documents deposited in a product like FutureVault.”
Part of the joy of owning a custom-built PC is building it yourself, notes CORSAIR. (Oh, do we agree!) In an effort to promote endless PC-making joy, CORSAIR developed the new Carbide Air 740 PC case that “offers remarkable cooling performance and the flexibility to handle even the most ambitious enthusiast system builds”. The Carbide Air 740 features CORSAIR's innovative dual-chamber Direct Airflow Path design, innovative cooling capabilities, unique bold design and a stunningly tinted, fully removable side-windowed panel. An evolution of the well received CORSAIR Carbide Air 540, the Carbide Air 740's Direct Airflow Path design fully utilizes the space within the case by splitting the system's hardware between two compartments. The main chamber houses the core heat generating system components—motherboard, CPU, graphics cards and memory—while the rear chamber mounts the 3.5in/2.5in drive bays and the PSU. This arrangement, claims CORSAIR, maximizes the airflow from the three pre-installed 140mm fans, delivering unparalleled, unimpeded airflow through the main compartment. Drive cages and cables are neatly tucked away and don't interfere with airflow, all without compromising storage capacity. To maximize the coolness of running so cool, the Carbide Air 740's enormous, hinged and fully removable side panel is perfect for showing off those amazing builds and setups.
The adoption of OpenStack in production environments has burgeoned, necessitating increased requirements for enhanced management and seamlessly integrated enterprise capabilities. Numerous enterprises worldwide rely on Red Hat's offerings in the OpenStack space—that is, Red Hat OpenStack Platform, a highly scalable, open Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform designed to deploy, scale and manage private cloud, public cloud and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) environments. The updated Red Hat OpenStack Platform 9, based on the “Mitaka” release from the upstream OpenStack community, brings technical updates across the board, encompassing nearly all of the major OpenStack projects, and features integrated management for OpenStack through Red Hat CloudForms. Red Hat OpenStack Platform 9 builds on the proven, trusted foundation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux to provide critical dependencies needed in production OpenStack environments centered around service functionality, third-party drivers, and system performance and security.
Forensic image acquisition is an important part of the process of after-the-fact incident response and evidence collection. Digital forensic investigators acquire, preserve and manage digital evidence as part of criminal and civil court cases; they examine violations of organizational policy; and they analyze cyber attacks. Author Bruce Nikkel, in his new book Practical Forensic Imaging, takes an in-depth look into how to secure and manage digital evidence using Linux command-line tools. This essential guide walks readers through the entire forensic acquisition process and covers a wide range of practical scenarios and situations related to the imaging of storage media. Readers learn how to perform critical tasks, such as performing forensic imaging of modern and legacy storage technologies; protecting evidence media from accidental modification; managing large forensic image files; preserving and verifying evidence integrity with cryptographic and other tools; working with newer drive and interface technologies; managing drive security and acquiring usable images from more complex or challenging situations, such as RAID systems, virtual machine images and damaged media. With its unique focus on digital forensic acquisition and evidence preservation, Practical Forensic Imaging is a valuable resource for experienced digital forensic investigators wanting to advance their Linux skills and experienced Linux administrators wanting to learn digital forensics.
