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BUSINESS SOFTWARE IN THE CLOUD

The Benefits Of Software As A Service

DATA ARCHIVING DECISIONS

Weigh Compliance & Common Sens*

CRM,YES OR NO? A Small B 1 "

TECHNOLOGY FOR BUSINESS

September 201 1 Vol.9lss.9 | pctoday.com

Mark

On Big Data
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TECHNOLOGY FOR BUSINESS

www.pctoday.com

ON THE COVER

Table Of Contents
Volume 9 • Issue 9 • September 201 1

IN THIS ISSUE

Essential Business Tech

Technology intelligence for

executives, professionals,

and entrepreneurs

Mobile Office

Highly useful information for
conducting business on the road

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IN BRIEF

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Google

MOTOROLA

I Google To Buy
Motorola Mobility

Shares in Motorola
Mobility have done
well since Google's an-
nouncement that it
would buy the com-
pany for $12.5 billion
in cash. According to
Motorola Mobility, the
company has about
17,000 patents, which
will be vital for Google
as it continues to shield
itself from litigation
over its Android mobile
operating system from
competitors, including
Apple and Microsoft.
Google expects to com-
plete the acquisition
in early 2012. It is the
largest buyout for
Google; the largest pre-
vious deal was the $3.2
billion acquisition of
DoubleClick in 2008.

I Adobe Buys
E-signature Company

Adobe Systems announced
it had acquired Palo Alto,
Calif.,-based EchoSign, which
offers digital signature services
for the Web and a variety of
platforms. Adobe will add
EchoSign-based digital sig-
nature capabilities to its own
document exchange services
platform. In doing this, Adobe
says it "will be addressing the
need to provide better cus-
tomer experiences by signifi-
cantly reducing the time, cost,
and complexity associated with
having a document signed."

I Oracle To Buy CRM Company

Oracle announced it had en-
tered into an agreement to
purchase the San Bruno, Calif .,-
based InQuira by year's end.
InQuira provides CRM solu-
tions to the banking, insurance,
manufacturing, retail, tech-
nology, and telecom industries.
"We expect InQuira to be the
centerpiece for Oracle Fusion
CRM Service," said Anthony
Lye, senior VP of Oracle CRM,
in a statement. "With InQuira,
Oracle will provide an inte-
grated suite of proven solutions
that deliver a comprehensive
and highly personalized experi-
ence for every customer, across
all channels." Terms of the deal
were not disclosed.

I Dell & Cloudera Aim To
Simplify Hadoop

For organiza-
tions that use
(or wish to use)
the open-source
Apache Hadoop
framework for
processing large
data sets, Dell
and Cloudera

have collaborated to simplify
the deployment, configuration,
and management processes
associated with using Hadoop.
The combined product offering
is geared toward finance,
retail, utility, Internet, and
other industries and includes
Cloudera's CDH Hadoop
distribution and Cloudera
Enterprise along with Dell's
Crowbar software and
PowerEdge C2100 server.

■ CA To Buy Web
Site Performance
Monitoring Company

WatchMouse, a nine-year-
old Web site performance
monitoring company with
offices in the Netherlands
and San Francisco, ensures
that businesses' Web sites
are thoroughly tested for fast
page loading and response
times, 24/7 availability, and
easy and proper functionality
for Web sites and Web apps.
Unified management company
Nimsoft, which is owned by
CA Technologies, will acquire
WatchMouse. According to
CA, WatchMouse will become
part of its CA Application Per-
formance Management solu-
tion. Terms of the deal were
not disclosed.

■ Belkin & ClearCube Partner
For Virtual Desktops

Government agencies have
increasingly

looked to virtualization
services to provide greater
employee access and si-
multaneously reduce costs.
In response to this trend,
Belkin and ClearCube an-
nounced a partnership to
deliver "zero client" virtual
desktop products for gov-
ernment use. The offering
includes Belkin's Advanced
Secure DVI-I Keyboard-
Video-Mouse switches and
ClearCube's ClientCube
solution; the combination
lets users securely switch
between physical (local) and
virtual desktops, thus pro-
viding what Belkin describes
as "secure access to multiple
systems and different classes
of networks from a single
user console."

I LTE 4G Continues To Expand

To update our ongoing cov-
erage of 4G developments,
we have two news items
worth noting. Clearwire,
a long-time proponent of
WiMAX 4G, announced its
plans to embrace LTE (Long
Term Evolution) 4G and add
LTE-Advanced capabilities
to its network; Clearwire
reiterated its ongoing sup-
port for WiMAX. And in
other news, Verizon Wireless
announced that its LTE net-
work now covers fully half of
the U.S. population.

Dell's PowerEdge C2100 rack server is part of a new Apache Hadoop package from Dell and Cloudera.

4 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

IN BRIEF

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

I Patriot Releases SSDs With
Record-Breaking Performance

Patriot Memory's newest line of
SSDs (solid-state drives) all use
the SandForce SF-2200 processor
(also new) to achieve 555MBps
read speeds and 520MBps write
speeds. Each drive in the Patriot
Wildfire series is the standard
2.5-inch size and uses the SATA
6Gbps interface. The SSDs are
currently available in 120GB
and 240GB capacities; a 480GB
version is "coming soon," ac-
cording to Patriot.

Patriot Memory's Wildfire series of
SSDs offer super-fast performance in
capacities up to 480GB.

I Barracuda Doubles Capacity
For Cloud Storage Offering

The Barracuda Backup Service,
a Web-based product Barracuda
Networks offers in conjunc-
tion with its Barracuda Backup
Server, is still available for a flat
rate of $50 per month, but the
company recently announced
that the capacity provided at
that rate has doubled to 200GB.
Barracuda's Gary Suter said
in a statement that the change
is being made to address the
needs of today's businesses.
"Data usage is increasing
quickly," he says, "while IT

budgets are falling under con-
siderable pressure."

I Google Buys G.co Domain

Google provided some added
publicity to a company called
.CO Internet SAS with its pur-
chase of the G.co URL for an un-
disclosed sum. As an offshoot of
this purchase, Google now offers
a public URL shortener (along the
lines of Bit.ly or TinyURL.com)
at goo.gl, which shortens URLs
to include a g.co suffix. This is a
boost for .CO Internet SAS, which
sells and promotes the use of the
.co domain suffix; its most note-
worthy customer prior to Google
is Overstock.com.

■ RIM Provides BlackBerry
Management Tools For
Small Businesses

Small businesses generally have
little or no IT staffing, and yet they
require many of the same mobile
tools for success that larger busi-
nesses employ. With that in mind,
Research In Motion launched
BlackBerry Management Center,
a free cloud service geared to-
ward businesses with three to 100
employees. The service provides
companies with administrative
controls, such as remote trouble-
shooting and software updating,
in a fashion that doesn't require a
great deal of technical knowledge
from the administrators.

I HP Does Turnaround In
Mobile Market

With Google's Android OS
pushing ahead of Apple's iPhone
in some categories, and Google
facing lawsuits over patent in-
fringement allegations related to
Android, it seemed like an oppor-
tune time for HP to launch its new
webOS smartphone. But within
weeks of heralding a new global
push for the webOS 3.0 operating

system, HP announced it will end
its mobile (tablets, smartphones)
business. HP is reportedly also
considering a sell-off of its PC
business. HP is now refocusing
its primary efforts on technology
services for businesses.

■ Web.com Group Gobbles
Network Solutions For $560M

Web.com Group, which offers
services that help SMBs build,
improve, and market their Web
sites, has agreed to acquire
Network Solutions for $560 mil-
lion in cash and stock. Network
Solutions is a comprehensive
Internet solutions company, of-
fering everything from domain
names and hosting to security
and marketing services. The
acquisition stands to "dramati-
cally expand our scale," said
David Brown, chairman and
CEO of Web.com Group, "and
further expand our market
share as the nationally recog-
nized go-to provider of online
marketing solutions specifically
tailored to small and medium-
sized businesses."

The Pre 3 smartphone is the first to
use HP's webOS 3.0, but looks to be
the last HP smartphone.

I Lawson Adds Software
For Greater Mobile Access

Lawson Software has re-
leased three new mobile
software titles, each with
different target users but
all designed to provide
employees with greater
mobile access to certain
business systems. The
new releases are Lawson
Mobile Employee, which
works with the company's
desktop HR software to
provide "select human
resource information" to
managers and employees
via mobile devices; Lawson
Mobile Requisitions,
for creating requisitions
away from the office; and
Lawson Cloverleaf Global
Monitor Mobile, for mobile
monitoring of Cloverleaf
environments.

PC Today / September 2011 5

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IN BRIEF

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

STARTUPS

Merchant Report ingi Customer Spend Levels

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Bloomspot offers merchants
and customers a performance-
based online offer platform.
Merchants can view informa-
tion about customer behavior.

I Startup Offers Price
Monitoring Service

To help automate the
manual process of
monitoring competi-
tors' pricing, startup
BlackLocus offers a
pricing as a service
geared toward online
retailers. Its Web-based
program analyzes the
competitive landscape
for an online retailer's
products, providing
information on compo-
nents such as pricing
and shipping cost, with
a dashboard and alerts.
The company says the
resulting insight into
the competitive land-
scape helps online
stores optimize pricing
and rank favorably in
price comparisons. The
company also plans to
integrate its product
into shopping cart
systems. BlackLocus
recently raised $2.5
million in Series A
funding. DFJ Mercury
and Silverton Partners
co-led the round, with
additional investment
from Innovation Works.

I Bloomspot Closes
On Additional
Funding

In an effort to
extend the sus-
tainability of the
existing daily deal
model, Bloomspot
has created a perfor-
mance-based online
offer platform. The
company integrates its product,
with consumer and merchant
permission, with credit card
information to reward patrons
for ongoing loyalty to local busi-
nesses and provides customer
spending and repeat visit infor-
mation to merchants. The goal is
to give merchants visibility into
customer behavior and ensure
profitability around each promo-
tion. Bloomspot recently closed
$35 million in series B financing,
co-led by InterWest Partners and
Columbia Capital. Also partici-
pating in the round were Menlo
Ventures, True Ventures, QED
Investors, and Harrison Metal,
as well as individuals including
Erik Blachford, Chairman of
Butterfield & Robinson and
former CEO of Expedia, and
Gary Parsons, former Chairman
of Sirius XM Radio. Additionally,
the company closed $5 million
of venture debt from Western
Technology Investment.

I Absorb.com Channels
Hurricane Experience For
Disaster Recovery

Startup Absorb.com is head-
quartered in New Orleans for
more than one reason. New
Orleans is where the company's
founders — Steve Palacios,
Stacy Molinary, and Frank
Otillo — call home, but it's also a
symbol of lessons learned from
disaster. Absorb. corn's founders
examined what worked and

what failed to work for busi-
ness continuity services when
Hurricane Katrina struck, and
drew from that as a point of de-
parture for their company; one
key finding was that in many
instances equipment failure
wasn't taken into account. The
result is Absorb.com's office
virtualization service, which
uses multilayered security, en-
cryption, and remote data du-
plication to ensure continuous
service. With a growing client
list, Absorb.com is a company
to watch.

I Palo Alto Networks
Hires New President

Palo Alto Networks an-
nounced the appointment of
Mark D. McLaughlin as presi-
dent and CEO of the company.
The announce-
ment follows
McLaughlin's
resignation
as president
and CEO of
Internet infra-
structure services com-
pany VeriSign. The company
also announced that when its
fiscal year ended July 31, it
doubled its employee count.
Palo Alto Networks creates en-
terprise firewall security prod-
ucts and technologies with the
ability to control applications,
users, and content.

I Kimbia Secures
Series B Funding

Kimbia, an Austin, Texas,-based
developer of a Web-based fund-
raising and event management
software solution, has secured
more than $4 million in a Series
B round of financing led by S3
Ventures. Kimbia provides fund-
raisers, event organizers, and so-
cial advocates with a Web-based

control panel they can customize
to set up and distribute online
credit card donation and regis-
tration forms. The company says
its platform is used by more than
1,100 customers, including non-
profits and political candidates.

I Former NASA CTO Creates
Cloud Computing Startup

Former NASA CTO Chris Kemp
recently announced his new
company, Nebula, which will
sell a ready-built appliance for
companies to more easily create
and manage private cloud com-
puting infrastructures. Based
in Palo Alto, Calif., Nebula is
privately held and venture-
funded by Kleiner Perkins
Caufield & Byers and Highland
Capital Partners. Other investors
include Google's first investors,
Andy Bechtolsheim, David

O nebula

Nebula, a startup company founded
by former NASA CTO Chris Kemp,
offers a new appliance for private
cloud computing environments.

Cheriton, and Ram Shriram.
Nebula's product takes multiple
open-source technologies and
integrates them into one service.
The appliance incorporates and
builds on OpenStack, an open-
source, standards-based cloud
platform used at NASA and
other large cloud service pro-
viders. In addition to supporting
standard commodity servers
from today's enterprise vendors,
Nebula will support Facebook's
Open Compute platform. The
company says that its products
will enable enterprises to deploy
inexpensive servers and lower
the adoption barrier to private
cloud computing.

8 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

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IN BRIEF

TECHNOLOGY NEWS

I BPM Spending To
Increase In 2011

Many companies
worldwide will look
to increase their
overall spending on
BPM (business pro-
cess management) in
2011, according to a
recent Gartner survey.
Of those responding
to Gartner, 54% say
they plan to increase
spending by at least
5%. And 20% of those
respondents plan to in-
crease their BPM bud-
gets by 10% or more.

1 4G Wholesale
Subscriptions To
See Massive Growth
By 2016

ABI Research reported
recently that there
will be more than 100
million 4G wholesale
subscribers by 2016,
a significant increase
over the approximately
3.8 million subscribers
in 2010. ABI says cur-
rent revenue is driven
by WiMAX providers,
but the future will see
LTE manufacturers
take the lead and as-
sist with increasing
revenue. The growth
will help speed up the
innovation of mobile
devices, as well.

STATS

I Tablets Will Help Push Mobile Broadband Market Forward

By the end of 2011, mobile broadband device shipments will
have increased by 57.8% and the main factor is the growth in
sales of tablets, according to a report by IHS iSuppli Wireless
Communications. Tablet shipments are expected to reach 58.9
million devices in 2011, which is an increase of 239.3% over last
year. Other products in the mobile broadband category include
notebooks and ereaders. Below is a chart that shows the ex-
pected growth of the mobile broadband market through 2015.

Worldwide Mobile Broadband Device Shipment Forecast

Source: IHS iSuppli Research, July 201 1

I Many Employees Say They Will Work On Vacation

Although summer vacations are meant for relaxation and re-
charging, 46% of people taking a holiday say they will work while
they are away from the office, according to a survey by Harris
Interactive. This includes checking email and voicemail as well as
placing or receiving phone calls. Women are less likely to work on
vacation than men, with 37% of women saying they will work com-
pared to 54% of men. Harris Interactive also found that the older
employees get, the less likely they are to take a vacation.

Any Mobile Device

Laptops

^M Yes ^m No

Smartphones

Yes ^B No

Tablets

I SaaS Revenue
On The Rise

According to Gartner,
revenue for the SaaS in-
dustry is set to hit $12.1
billion this year, which is
an increase of more than
$2 billion compared to

2010. And that growth is
set to continue in coming
years, culminating with
$21.3 billion of projected
total revenue in 2015.
The largest segment of
the SaaS industry, in
terms of total revenue,

is CRM (customer rela-
tionship management),
which Gartner forecasts
to reach $3.8 billion by

2011. The CCC (content,
communications, and col-
laboration) market will
be close behind with $3.3
billion in 2011 projected
revenue.

I LTE Revenues Will Grow
Over Next Five Years

The LTE equipment in-
dustry, which deals with
mobile network infra-
structure, will increase
by a compound annual
growth rate of 81% and
hit $8 billion in revenue
by 2015, according to a
study by Dell'Oro Group.
DeH'Oro also reports
that the revenue from
WCDMA will account for
more than 70% of total
revenues in that time,
and mobile infrastructure
revenues, as a whole,
will grow at a rate of
4%, which shows how
much mobile companies
are focusing on new
LTE technology.

10 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

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ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

Ken Bado

CEO, MarkLogic

BIG DATA

PROBLEMS?

MarkLogic Solves Them

If your organization makes critical decisions based
on data that doesn't translate into the rows and
columns of a spreadsheet, then you already
know you have a Big Data problem. As hundreds
of its customers in industries including financial
services, healthcare, government, and media can
attest, MarkLogic (www.marklogic.com) is in the
business of solving Big Data problems. We spoke
with MarkLogic's president and CEO Ken Bado to
learn more about how MarkLogic customers are
driving revenue and growth through transformative
Big Data Analytics enabled by MarkLogic products,
services, and partners.

Could you explain what unstructured
data is and why it's important for busi-
nesses to understand?
Bado: Let's define unstructured data
and what that means. Unstructured
data is the information we create every
day. It consists of Word documents,
PDFs, text messages, cable, communi-
cations, video, audio, etc. The reason
we call it unstructured is because it
doesn't fit into the rows and columns
of a traditional relational database,
which requires a schema to under-
stand what those connections might
be. Unstructured data is simply more
random in nature.

And here's the alarming statistic:
at least 80% of the data that's being created today
is unstructured data, and it's growing exponen-
tially. Data is expected to grow 800% over the
next five years, and 80% of the data will be un-
structured. So when you do analysis, you typi-
cally do it on the data you know, which fits into
the rows and columns, but you're missing the
other 80% of it. The question is this: How do
you store, retrieve, and analyze the enormous
amounts of unstructured data, which is inher-
ently Big Data, coming at us every day? The an-
swer is MarkLogic.

Can you explain in layman's terms the
core of MarkLogic's business?
Bado: MarkLogic is all about the information that
businesses, organizations, and government agen-
cies don't know they have. But when they sud-
denly have access to it, it helps them make critical
decisions, find root causes of problems, and even
save lives.

MarkLogic is very strong in the intelligence
community of the United States government. As
you might imagine, the three-letter agencies you
know well are capturing information all the time,
from many sources, in many formats, and in many
languages. In technical terms, it's petabyte-scale
amounts of information, which is a thousand times
more than a terabyte.

So, organizations have all this information that
they need to be able to easily get into the system
and access it very quickly because timeliness is
critical. Then, it's important to be able to do ana-
lytics on that data to make smart decisions, such as
monitoring watch lists for airplanes or in-field in-
telligence for battle. Those are very good examples
of what MarkLogic is doing today.

What types of business problems make
MarkLogic an ideal solution?
Bado: Think about commodity trading, such
as oil. The price of crude oil varies based on
a number of factors including supply and de-
mand, weather conditions, political conditions,
who's buying, who's not buying, who's selling,
and those kinds of things. Much of this oil is
in transit. It's usually drilled in one place and
delivered someplace else. So you have all these
variables that affect when to buy and when to
sell. And information is coming in from multiple
sources that you may not have even thought
about, and it's changing every single second.
MarkLogic is the company that takes these chal-
lenges and helps organizations look at them and
then make better business decisions that affect
the bottom line.

12 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

Compared to those of its competitors, what are the
chief benefits of using MarkLogic's products?
Bado: MarkLogic does three things extremely
well, whereas most companies only do one thing
really well. The first is the ability to quickly and
easily feed the information to MarkLogic Server.
Oftentimes, a company will say, "OK, we want to
put this into the database," and the IT department
will say, "Fine, what's your schema?" or "We'll de-
fine the schema," and they get back
to you with an estimate of when
they can do that in a week's time.
So we're good at easily getting mas-
sive amounts of information to the
server. We run on standard hard-
ware, no supercomputers or any-
thing like that.

Secondly, MarkLogic excels at
letting an organization access and
retrieve that data very quickly in
real time, with sub-second response time.

The third area is probably the most important.
It's not what you know, it's how you apply what
you know. The ability to get the right information
and do analytics so you can make mission critical
decisions or, in many cases, look at the root cause of
issues. Even though 80% of the data's unstructured,
you may only need 10% of it, but which 10%? So you
have to put it all in there and then go from there.

To what extent do customers rely on your con-
sulting services to get started with MarkLogic?
Bado: Consulting services at MarkLogic provide
our customers with a level of customization. The
consulting group is a relatively small part of our
business, less than 20%. I like to think of them like
the Navy Seals, true special operations forces. The
rest of the work is performed by system integra-
tors in the marketplace; for example, Cognizant,
Accenture, those kinds of folks. But customers
who would use us specifically are either pushing
the technology envelope so we can link it in with
our R&D group and perhaps add some of these
things to our product or there are certain cus-
tomers, due to the nature of their business, who
want to deal with us directly. Generally our con-
sulting group exists to help customers get value
from the product as quickly as possible.

What does MarkLogic offer in the way

of training and ongoing support?

Bado: Training is part of our standard offering, both

in-person and online. We also have a robust support

offering because most of our customers are doing

mission-critical work. An application going down is

Even though
80% of
the data's
unstructured,
you may only
need 10% of it,
but which 10%?

simply not an option. That's why we offer 24/7 sup-
port for those who need it. We also have a hotline,
and some customers will have MarkLogic personnel
onsite, assisting them on a day-to-day basis.

What is MarkLogic doing for people who are on
the go?

Bado: The publishing industry has spent a lot of
time using MarkLogic to customize their product
for their customer base. One form of
that can be bringing pieces of con-
tent together to create a new pub-
lication for delivery, but it can also
be taking that same deliverable and
sending it out through five or 10 dif-
ferent channels. Some of those chan-
nels have been mobile for a number
of years now. Mobile is just another
form of customization for us, and
we've been enabling it for years.
Imagine the complexity of taking a magazine, a full
magazine or newspaper, and making it available on
a mobile device. That's what MarkLogic enables.
So if you've ever watched the TV show "24," Jack
Bauer is always able to access all kinds of infor-
mation on his mobile device. Again, that's what
MarkLogic can do.

Is MarkLogic's growth mainly in the U.S.?
What are your plans for global expansion?
Bado: We've had a European operation now for a
little over two years with headquarters in London,
and it's beginning to show significant growth,
largely in the financial services area. We're adding
more people in London, we have people in
Germany, and we're adding people in the Nordic
region. We will be expanding into Japan in the
next couple of months through partnerships in
the financial services space, and I expect we'll
announce more Asia expansion in the next six
months or so.

What does MarkLogic offer in terms of a Big
Data solution?

Bado: Big Data is a very interesting term. For our
customers, it's important to think of it as a lot
of data; that's why we use the word "petabyte"
to describe it. Historically, in the relational da-
tabase area, a terabyte was considered a lot. So
MarkLogic lets users store massive amounts of
data and retrieve it in sub-second response time.
It's about getting to the right data at the right
time. Again, if 80% of data is unstructured, it's
the information you don't know that'll get you the
answers you need for success. ▲

PC Today / September 2011 13

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

KEY POINTS

▲ SaaS (software as a ser-
vice) refers to software that
runs and is maintained "in
the cloud/' outside your
on-premise systems.

A SaaS can be cheaper
and more flexible than
off-the-shelf software
packages.

▲ Before you sign on for
SaaS, make sure your ven-
dor offers comprehensive,
round-the-clock coverage.

▲ It might be wise to "de-
centralize" your SaaS to
avoid putting all your data
eggs in one basket.

Software

At Your Service

SaaS Could Save Your
Business Time & Hassles

If you're a business owner, it's likely that you've
run across the term SaaS (software as a ser-
vice). As a way to save your business time
and money, it's a name you might want to get
acquainted with.

Sometimes referred to as software on demand
or software in the cloud, SaaS is a software delivery
model in which virtually none of the software you
use resides on your own computer. The software
and its associated data are hosted centrally, and
users access all of it using a Web-connected PC or
a thin client system (a computer whose functions
mostly run elsewhere, such as on a server or, in the
case of cloud computing, on the Internet).

SaaS differs from two other common cloud-
based delivery methods mostly in degree. PaaS
(platform as a service) is a hosted set of appli-
cations, frameworks, and tools that run on a
hardware /virtual system managed by a vendor;
Microsoft's Windows Azure platform is an ex-
ample. IaaS (infrastructure as a service) is the most

hands-on for administrators; it lets them manage
applications, data, and operating system, leaving
servers, storage, and networking to a vendor.

But SaaS puts everything related to an applica-
tion in the hands of a vendor. A simple example of
SaaS is Google's Gmail, which asks nothing of the
user but to use it; all maintenance and updating is
done at the vendor level.

Whether SaaS is appropriate for your business
depends on how much control you want over your
company's computing.

"With many SaaS services, a customer will input
corporate data into an off-site application hosted on

14 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

the SaaS vendor's own data centers," notes Margo
Brown, a manager with UK-based Softwarel20
(www.softwarel20.co.uk). "This loss of control
over their own data is a critical feature that all cus-
tomers must appreciate when it comes to reviewing
the small print of contractual terms."

Despite such caveats — more of which we'll ad-
dress later — the potential impact of SaaS is bright.
Research company Gartner (www.gartner.com)
has predicted that by the end of 2011, one quarter
of all new business software will be delivered via
SaaS. By 2012, according to an IDC (www.idc.com)
forecast, 85% of all new software brought to the
market will be delivered as a service rather than as
a physical product.

What's behind the growth? Ease of use and
reduced cost are near the top of the list, not just
for customers but also for providers. Sarah P.
Sain, business development and education man-
ager for Duncan, S.C.,-based CQ Media Networks
(www.cqmedia.net), says the SaaS versions of her
company's software include all updates, player
licenses, and technical support. It's sold via an-
nual subscription, meaning the software is always
current and the company is always available for
technical support.

"When I communicate with my audience and
potential buyers, I explain that the SaaS model
is a way to utilize the software via the Web, and
without having to maintain the software on their
own internal server," says Sain. "SaaS is a service
for the end user. We're taking care of the software
for them. We're making it accessible to them via the
Web. We're making all of the best changes we pos-
sibly can. And we're giving them access to all of it."

A Lot To Like

Let's walk through a typical scenario of SaaS de-
ployment. Say you have a sales staff that's spread
out across several states. None of them have an
office as such, but no matter: sales meetings can
held by using online conferencing software that
resides in the cloud. They also are able to use SaaS
for online document storage, and they have access
to your company's CRM (customer relationship
management) system and financial performance
management software.

With team members constantly on the go, cen-
trally located software allows them to be more
nimble and worry less about problems with
software on their own computers. Everything is
loaded, updated, and maintained at a central, off-
site location.

Jamison Roof, an IT consultant with the
Cambridge, Mass., -based PA Consulting Group

The SaaS model is a way to uti-
lize the software via the Web."

Sarah P. Sain,

business development and education manager,
CQ Media Networks

(www.paconsulting.com), remarks that SaaS is
growing in popularity for a number of good rea-
sons. For instance, a SaaS solution can enable a
business to quickly maximize the value of software
while reducing costs at the same time. It does this
by minimizing the need to spend money and re-
sources on functions such as administration and
technical support.

"A large and complex conventional system in
a large organization may require resources from
four or five different groups to use and main-
tain, introducing costs and inefficiencies at each
touch point," says Roof. "An SaaS solution could
provide benefits like sharing and leveraging of re-
sources, consistency of customer experience, and
a single accountable owner of service with service
level agreements."

Here is another advantage of SaaS to consider:
SMBs that want to play on the same field as big en-
terprise can use SaaS technologies to scale, compete

a You always have the most
up-to-date product, and many
companies allow you to upgrade and
downgrade your plan."

Ada Chen Rekhi,

head of user growth, Connected

with the large firms, and gain market presence in
back-office operations.

In addition, according to Peter Tarhanidis, also
with PA Consulting, the total cost of ownership
in SaaS is structured as a low initial capital cost,
bringing users immediate value. "For organizations
that strive for an ISO quality management system,
SaaS can provide the ability to capture and analyze
data and information to enable a factual approach
to decision making to improve business outcomes
and future planning," adds Tarhanidis.

Typically, SaaS models provide lower total cost of
ownership because of economies of scale, says Ted
Green, CEO of Ann Arbor, Mich.,-based Greenview
Data (www.greenviewdata.com). "You also have
highly trained, specialized staff members who are
experts in their product. [They are] maintaining the

PC Today / September 2011 15

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

a Internal security policies of the
provider must be top-notch to
prevent unauthorized users from ex-
posing your data."

Ted Green,

CEO, Greenvkw Data

infrastructure and aiding in uptime, rapid deployment
of bug fixes and patches, and so on"

SaaS "can be significantly cheaper and offer more
flexibility than an off-the-shelf product," agrees Ada
Chen Rekhi, head of user growth at San Francisco-
based Connected (www.connectedhq.com). "This is
because you always have the most up-to-date product,
and many companies allow you to upgrade and down-
grade your plan over time to suit your business."

Not A Cure-Ail

But before you convert all your software to the
cloud, keep in mind that SaaS isn't for everyone
and isn't meant to be a cure-all. As with any out-
sourced service, you need to make sure you get all
the right people involved in the process — meaning
your IT folks, the business group, and anyone else
who will use the service.

Mark A. Gilmore, president of Wired Integrations
(www.wiredint.com), a Silicon Valley strategic tech-
nology consulting firm, suggests asking a lot of
questions about how the service works, its support

PLANNING STAGES

CDW surveyed 1,200 IT professionals and found that 38% of organizations have a written stra-
tegic plan for adopting cloud computing services (50% did not; 12% were unsure). The survey
also revealed various stages of planning across organizations, as these figures indicate.

33% 31% 22%

Planning Discovering Im p| em enting

Source: CDW 201 1 Cloud Computing Tracking Poll

Not considering

Maintaining

structure, and the service provider's operating hours
for support and the application itself.

"You may be going from an internal app that you
can use at your leisure to a service that is only avail-
able during normal business hours and is done after
hours and on the weekend," Gilmore points out.
"What are their technical support hours? I can tell
you from experience that some of the major service
providers for SaaS don't provide 24/7 support on
many of their applications. That often comes as a
shock to people who haven't done their homework."

Another potential con to SaaS that business owners
should keep an eye on involves the issue of security. If
you're transporting data, especially information that

should be considered secure, there must be a secure
tunnel (such as a Web page that uses a URL beginning
with "https://") from your site to the SaaS provider,
according to Green. "Additionally, internal security
policies of the provider must be top-notch to prevent
unauthorized users from exposing your data," Green
adds, citing the recent hack of Sony that put so many
PS3 players out of commission.

As you look into SaaS options, another thing
some experts advise is that you consider decen-
tralizing your SaaS service. This can be more
reliable, secure, and durable than the centralized
approach because the data is already distrib-
uted across multiple locations and regions — not
something that is done as an additional step, ac-
cording to Bassam Tabbara, CTO and co-founder
of Seattle-based Symform (www.symform.com).
It also can often be done at a fraction of the cost
of traditional storage solutions.

"Don't rely on just one data center," says Tabbara,
who says the Amazon customers who went com-
pletely offline earlier this year and might have suf-
fered data loss were relying on a single data center.

"Companies should keep in mind that the cloud
does not automatically replace good engineering,
and putting your entire application in a single
centralized data center is not good engineering," he
adds. "If anything catastrophic happens, your data
is gone, and so are your customers."

Nick Mehta, CEO of Torrance, Calif.,-based
LiveOffice (www.liveoffice.com), agrees that you
shouldn't put all of your data in one basket. "While
having multiple production clouds and instant
failover isn't always technically or financially prac-
tical," he says, "it's downright scary to think the
only copy of your company's data lives with one
cloud provider — no matter how reliable and scal-
able that cloud provider is."

Worth The Investment

Overall, SaaS is well worth investigating if your
company is the type that doesn't want to spend too
much time tweaking and maintaining software.
SaaS can allow you to "outsource" functions of the
IT department, meaning you can better allocate
resources and costs to other projects that generate
revenue. But as with any other crucial service, shop
around, get referrals, and make sure you know
what you're getting — and not getting — before you
sign on the dotted line.

"Customer support should always be No. 1,
especially for non-techie business owners," says
Green. "If you don't have an on-site support staff,
you need experts available 24/7/365 to answer
your questions for you." ▲

16 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

Structured data is only
the tip of the iceberg

Data will grow 800% in the next five years, nearly all of it unstructured.
Unstructured information is Big Data. It's that simple.

Learn why MarkLogic is the total solution to the Big Data problem.

marklogic.com +1877 992 8885 sales@marklogic.com

MarkLogic

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

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SaaS For Business

A Quick Guide To The Possibilities

KEY POINTS

▲ Reflecting its importance
in business productivity,
"collaboration" may be
one of the most common
terms in SaaS products;
vendors use it to describe
just about every

SaaS offering.

A Cloud-based SaaS
applications provide
24/7 access, allowing
your workforce to use
company-approved tools
from any location that can
connect to the Internet.

▲ SaaS applications may
be enterprise wide, tying
all business operations
together, or they may
target specific business
operations or functions.

A Some SaaS offerings
are large-scale systems
that require enterprise
or operational shifts in
processes, but many may
be implemented with little
cost or effort.

Shopping for SaaS (software as a service)
providers is a bit like shopping for anything
else. There are so many possibilities it can
be a little overwhelming. We can't tell you which
services are (and aren't) right for your business, but
we can help you navigate the aisles, so to speak,
with this A to Z (well, make that C to W) guide.

Collaboration

Collaboration products can be as simple as office
applications shifted to the cloud. Individual em-
ployees and teams of users can access documents,
as well as co-author documents, make corrections,
keep abreast of schedules, and target milestones.

While collaboration products may be the eas-
iest SaaS components to understand, they may
also consume the most resources. More employees
use basic collaboration tools than any other SaaS
component. Moving office applications from the
desktop to the cloud is an attractive prospect, but
be sure to explore how it will affect your network's
performance, in bandwidth and cost, before you
make the move.

Content Management Systems

CMS (content management system) is a hosted
system for collaboration on published content. These

services are most often used to publish and manage
internal and external Web sites.

CMS is usually broken into two parts. A tech-
nical group creates templates, forms, and Web-
based applications, and a non-technical group
creates the content, using the forms and templates.
CMS lets internal teams produce and manage their
own Web-based products and services, from mar-
keting campaigns and technical support, to news
and documentation.

Customer Relationship Management

CRM (customer relationship management)
makes it easy for sales, marketing, technical sup-
port, customer service, shipping, and other groups
to work together to ensure the best overall experi-
ence for your customers.

CRM systems are often organized by modules
designed for specific tasks and groups. For ex-
ample, a marketing module may help your staff
identify and target new clients, generate leads, and
manage marketing campaigns. A customer service
module may track known product issues, identify
customers, and initiate customer service inquiries,
as well as track follow-ups.

Because all of the modules use the same central-
ized database, information from one module can

18 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

propagate to other modules. For example, a sale
in process can alert customer support to prepare
training materials.

Document Management

All businesses rely on the ability to organize
and access the thousands of documents they gen-
erate daily, weekly, or monthly. Document man-
agement systems can control access to current and
historical documents, manage release and revi-
sion processes, and provide storage and backup
services. Do you have a salesperson in the field
pitching a product, in need of one more docu-
ment to clinch the deal? A document management
system provides fingertip access. Are tech support
personnel out on a troubleshooting call, only to
discover they brought the wrong schematics? All
it takes is a couple of keystrokes on a laptop, and
the correct drawings are on hand.

Email, along with calendar and contact man-
agement, is one of the core parts of many SaaS
products. It's usually offered as a Web-based ser-
vice that supports many standard email clients.
The question isn't whether an SaaS email system
meets your needs, but whether there's any ben-
efit to switching from your current system.

Email systems may be tightly integrated with
other SaaS products you will be using, which
may be one reason to make a switch. There are
other benefits to SaaS email products, including
predictable costs, integrated spam and malware
protection, and an end to the need to purchase
and upgrade hardware for archival storage.

Employee Performance Management

EPM (employee performance management) ser-
vices can provide the tools your HR team needs
to monitor, manage, and evaluate the performance
of your workforce. Some provide training tools to
ramp up workforce performance.

EPM services may also let you set up pay-for-
performance systems and define reward programs,
as well as customize such programs by location,
team, or group. Some services let you set compen-
sation budgets based on bottom-up or top-down
funding, or just about any method you can define.

Employee Self Service

ESS (employee self-service) systems are designed
to let employees take care of routine tasks directly,
without the intervention of an HR staff member.

Simple ESS packages let employees complete
and submit time sheets, vacation requests, and

expense reports. More complex packages offer elec-
tronic signatures for W-4 forms, direct deposit
signup, employee handbooks, and training comple-
tion forms. The result: your workforce is more
independent, HR wastes less time on routine tasks,
and your company generates less paperwork.

Enterprise Resource Planning

One of the larger SaaS offerings, ERP (enterprise
resource planning) systems can integrate a few or
all areas of your company, to allow a smooth ex-
change of information.

ERP systems usually use a
single database that is updated
in real-time and follows infor-
mation through various busi-
ness processes. One problem
with implementing an ERP
system is that you may not have
in place the processes necessary to make the best
use of the data mining, information, and other
capabilities the system provides. ERP systems also
tend to eliminate any islands of information within
a business. This benefits the company in the long
run, but it can be difficult to convince the islands to
use the system properly.

Expense Management

Expense management systems cover a wide
array of products that sometimes specialize; ex-
amples include systems for evaluating and control-
ling a company's telecommunications costs on a
per-employee or per-group basis. Other systems
are more general, with the goal of providing effi-
cient and timely methods for employees to generate
accurate expense reports, update them easily, and
monitor their progress through the business.

Besides automating the expense process, ex-
pense management solutions let companies create
and reinforce expense policies, create audit trails,
and spot possible fraud.

Financial/Accounting

The benefits of financial/accounting SaaS systems
are that you can access them from anywhere; someone
else worries about data storage and backup; and your
accounting software is always up-to-date with the
latest federal, state, and local tax changes.

When integrated with other SaaS services, fi-
nancial/accounting systems let you collaborate on
financial projects. Consider the last time you sent a
budgetary spreadsheet around for review and up-
dates. After it exchanged hands a few times, you no
doubt lost track of which copy was the most recent,
who had made changes, and who had accepted the

Email, along with calendar
and contact management,
is one of the core parts
of many SaaS products.

PC Today/ September 2011 19

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

Sales automation may be

one of the most popular

categories of SaaS.

spreadsheet as is. Financial /accounting modules
make it easy to keep track of changes, suggestions,
and sign-offs.

Marketing Automation

The marketing automation category is some-
what fractured, encompassing many different
services. The single common theme is marketing
analytics, the ability to collect marketing-related
data and generate in-depth and timely analysis. In
many cases, the analysis is real-time, or very near.

Marketing automation systems are also avail-
able for lead generation, scoring, and nurturing.
Some modules target one or more aspects of mar-
keting; others are part of a CRM or ERP system
that integrates marketing, sales, shipping, and
customer service to provide enterprise-level data
and analysis.

Project Management

Project management systems provide a broad
method of collaborating on projects, and can in-
clude partners, suppliers, and even customers. The
ability to track an entire project, including supply
chain and manufacturing services, and allow cus-
tomers to see how you're progressing on their
project can be empowering for everyone involved.

Project management systems may focus on spe-
cific industries or be more general in nature.

Sales Automation

Sales automation may be one of the most pop-
ular categories of SaaS. In addition to helping you
qualify leads, when extended through
inventory and the shipping chain, they
can provide key data to help sales
managers make quick decisions on
pricing and inventory questions that
can make or break a sale.
When used correctly, sales automation systems
can increase the productivity of your sales team,
increase profits by decreasing acquisition costs, and
increase customer retention rates by reducing after-
sale issues.

Sales automation offerings are usually combined
with other SaaS categories to produce complete
marketing, sales, and customer service systems.

Supply Chain Planning & Management

SCP (supply chain planning) and SCM (supply
chain management) systems monitor the complete
product-creation process, including materials,
work-in-process, inventory, shipping, and delivery.

These systems require collaboration between all
members of the supply chain. This is particularly

important when demand management is a key
component of your supply chain planning. SCP
and SCM systems can provide near real-time data
and analysis, so you can monitor the entire produc-
tion process, with an eye toward meeting schedules
and controlling costs.

Talent Management

Talent management is a specialized area of em-
ployee performance management. While some
EPM systems include talent management modules,
most break it out as a separate service.

Talent management services usually include
multiple components; talent acquisition, perfor-
mance/talent management, and compensation are
just a few examples. These services can help you
identify and recruit talent, retain and nurture top
performers, and create pay packages based on spe-
cific criteria.

Transportation Management

Transportation management services help you
manage short- and long-term planning and acquisi-
tion, optimize transportation assets, and manage
the use of assets locally, regionally, or globally.
They cover nearly all forms of transportation, in-
cluding ocean, air, rail, truckload, partial truckload,
parcel, and private fleet; they can also be tailored to
meet specific needs.

Most transportation management systems offer
route and cost optimization, third-party access by
customers or suppliers, procurement and planning
capabilities, and real-time analysis of transporta-
tion services.

Warehouse Management

Warehouse management can cover everything
from basic workforce scheduling and management
to inventory and transportation. Beyond the basics,
warehouse management systems can monitor and
control picking systems and packing processes,
support multiple customers with different practices
and process requirements, and supply real-time
data to third parties.

Web Conferencing

Web conferencing applications let you work
remotely with team members, clients, and sup-
pliers. Most support collaboration in presenta-
tions, real-time voice and text chatting, and the
ability to share a whiteboard or work collabora-
tively on a slide or other image. Most Web con-
ferencing applications also let you stream video
and send or exchange files. These systems are
the next best thing to being there. ▲

20 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

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ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

KEY POINTS

A The first question to ask is,
will you completely replace
locally installed software or
just add new capabilities via
cloud software?

A Make sure to prepare
the workforce for the
changes that moving to
cloud services will impose
on work processes.

A Ask service providers
for references and talk
to them about SLAs and
redundancy options.

A Find a cloud software
provider that offers suf-
ficient support and educa-
tion to meet your needs.

Moving Software

TO THE CLOUD

Some Important Considerations

Transitioning from locally installed software
to cloud software services can have a positive
impact on both your bottom line and produc-
tivity. However, the move to cloud software will also
have a big impact on the way that you'll do business,
so it's important to be prepared for the challenges as-
sociated with making the switch. Here, we'll examine
some of the key issues you're likely to face when
moving to the cloud for business applications.

Fundamental Considerations

Are you moving to cloud software because you're
looking to completely replace the software you're
currently using, or will the cloud software be used
to add a new capability that the locally installed soft-
ware doesn't provide? If you're just adding a new
revenue-producing feature, such as contact manage-
ment or the ability to create Web sites, it won't have
as big of an impact on the entire organization.

Complete software replacement is usually an
IT-related decision. Robert Mahowald, research

a You'll need to ask yourself where
the data is located, where does
it need to go, and how does it integrate
with the new service."

Robert Mahowald,

research vice president, SaaS and cloud services, IDC

vice president for SaaS and cloud services at IDC
(www.idc.com), explains that "There's agreements
with end-of-life or out-of-date equipment and
other challenges. By working with the IT depart-
ment, the process usually goes pretty smoothly
when replacing software with cloud services, be-
cause they understand what they need to spin
down in preparation for the change."

You'll also want to talk with IT about the tools
cloud services offer that are related to your compa-
ny's line of business, because they may often be du-
plicated in the locally installed software that already
exists in the organization. "I was recently talking
with a company that uses SAP throughout the orga-
nization for ERP, human capital management, and
some CRM," says Mahowald. "They needed new
capabilities that IT couldn't build fast enough, and
the sales team had recently brought in cloud CRM.
The company opted to use the cloud CRM for the
new feature, rather than waiting for IT to build the
necessary revenue-building application."

Mahowald's example also points out that
you'll need to examine how fast the service will
need to be implemented, as well as whom it will
ultimately serve in both the short and long run
for the organization. Ask yourself, what are the
chief goals the cloud software will serve, and
will it do a better job than the software we have
now? By unifying the organization under one
common platform, you'll likely be able to more
effectively manage and utilize the information

22 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

provided by the application — in addition to re-
ducing software costs. But if the processes don't
improve the effectiveness of your employees,
the locally installed software may be a better
way to go for the time being.

Changes

Moving your software to a cloud service will af-
fect, to some degree, the way your company does
business. 'Typically, the big changes will be to the
user interface and functionality that they have access
to," says Mahowald. "With a cloud service, content
will be accessed through the browser, so they'll not be
able to do a lot of offline work without some kind of
workaround." The transition becomes more difficult
with organizations that use highly customized ap-
plications, rather than software with a more standard
interface and design, because the cloud service (or IT
staff) will need to build in custom fields and tabs that
may not work exactly like the old method did.

Planning Matters

"Be prepared to level set your organization for
change. For example," Mahowald explains, "there
will be changes in support, as you'll now likely be
using the cloud service's help desk. The ability to
make changes or improve things in the software
will now be run through your cloud services pro-
vider." This will require some accommodation.
Also, as changes roll out from the service provider
(as opposed to on a schedule set by your company),
employees will need to receive the appropriate up-
date information and possibly additional training.

License Costs

Amy Konary, research vice president, soft-
ware licensing, provisioning, and delivery at IDC,
explains, "From a cost perspective, customers
should look out over a five-year horizon and un-
derstand adoption over that time. In the case of
perpetual licenses, you typically buy everything
you need for the next several years up front. With
subscriptions, you buy over time."

With cloud subscriptions, you'll have no separate
maintenance charge. Another benefit is that with
cloud applications, you'll be able to shift focus and
resources away from internal maintenance to produc-
tive tasks. "The ROI percentage is going to rest on the
company being able to take advantage of this poten-
tial productivity increase," says Konary.

Data Migration

Question your potential cloud software provider
about how they can help migrate your existing soft-
ware and data to the cloud. "A substantial number

of the new deployments require the services of a
third-party integrator who can do things like data
integration, process integration, and governance,"
says Mahowald.

££ From a cost perspective,

customers should look out over
a five-year horizon and understand
adoption over that time."

Amy Konary,

research vice president, software licensing,
provisioning, and delivery, IDC

The key items to integrate are your data and
key business processes, because those tasks will
take the majority of upfront work to get up and
running before the service is turned on. "You'll need
to ask yourself where the data is located, where
does it need to go, and how does it integrate with
the new service," says Mahowald. "And at the end
of the day, does this process make us do business
better? Otherwise, you won't be gaining anything by
moving to the cloud service."

Comparing Providers

You'll want to ask potential providers for ref-
erences. "Figure out if the company has met
the service levels," says Mahowald, "and in
cases where they haven't, [find out] how well
have they mediated that. You'll also want to
know what kind of redundancy is built into their
system, so if a node goes down, they'll be able
to return service without the loss of business
continuity." For redundancy, ask the provider
about where the primary, secondary, and tertiary
backups are located. You should also compare
the SLAs between the various options to ensure
that your organization's software will be consis-
tently available.

Troubleshooting & Training

With support, you'll find that most cloud
software providers include basic support, and
the provider will educate an IT person to be-
come the local admin. Mahowald adds, "It's not
the best idea, because you're essentially taking
that person's time and turning them into a ser-
vice desk. I would look for a good level 1 sup-
port at the service provider, as well as one with
a fairly quick response time." Some employee
and IT staff training will also be built into the
cost of the cloud software service. You'll want to
ask how often you can come back for training-
related issues. ▲

PC Today / September 2011 23

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

SaaS Brings

CHANGE TO IT

Business & IT Lock Horns On This Building Trend

KEY POINTS

▲ SaaS integration
removes traditional IT
responsibilities but creates
new requirements based
on service delivery

and communication
with vendors.

▲ Opinions on potential
SaaS adoption can vary
based on existing IT skills
and background, as well as
understanding by business
managers of the technology's
value and impact.

▲ Business managers tend
to be the primary drivers of
SaaS, but IT professionals can
also support its integration
due to its ability to remove
busy tasks.

▲ Licensing issues can
abound with SaaS due to
complex issues around
in-house ownership,
management, and vendor
policies.

Once considered the big bad wolf at the
door by many IT professionals, SaaS
(software as a service) is now a seeming-
ly welcome presence in many enterprises. At
least, that's how its presence might appear from
the outside, but lurking on the inside of organi-
zations that adopt SaaS are often confusion and
even contention between business and IT groups
looking to find the right fit for these services. As
SaaS rides the burgeoning online trend into the
future, businesses will increasingly grapple with
the potential impact of these solutions on their
IT departments.

"SaaS isn't so much changing IT as compli-
cating IT," says Scott Lever, managing consultant
with PA Consulting Group (www.paconsulting
.com). "SaaS is great in concept and, in some
cases, great in execution. But it's a mixed blessing
for CIOs. SaaS solutions tend to cut across other
enterprise initiatives CIOs are trying to drive
forward, such as application and infrastructure
consolidation efforts, single sign-on and user
authentication efforts, standardization, and en-
terprise security. SaaS initiatives are frequently
driven by business executives without the full
participation of IT, creating conflict."

a IT professionals tend to be a
bit more realistic about the ad-
vantages and disadvantages of SaaS.
But a business manager has to sort
out the legitimate concerns from a fear
about SaaS challenging the IT model."

Scott Lever,

managing consultant, PA Consulting Group

The lure of significant cost savings and other
benefits might tempt business groups to rush
SaaS deployments, but lost in those plans is the
understanding that IT still retains primary re-
sponsibilities around these technologies. These
tasks might not resemble conventional IT tasks,
but they remain critical not only to the success
of SaaS, but also to the IT organization and busi-
ness as a whole.

Impending Impact

The basic premise behind SaaS typically holds
that IT no longer is required to perform hands-on
duties with in-house software and other pieces of
the conventional IT puzzle. Although that might
ring true to a certain extent, SaaS integration gener-
ally doesn't mean that IT has fewer responsibilities.
Instead, requirements shift to a more service-ori-
ented approach — assuming that current IT per-
sonnel are up to that task.

"SaaS for IT allows the IT department to focus
more on delivering service and value to the busi-
ness rather than keeping management tools up
and running," says Craig McDonogh, director of
product management for ServiceNow (www.ser
vice-now.com). "SaaS helps IT transform from a
traditional role of infrastructure caretaker towards
a new role of service broker. By necessity, as a
broker, IT builds a much better understanding of
relationships with the business."

That traditional "caretaker" role can be dimin-
ished with an increased presence of SaaS, which
shoulders the burden typically associated with soft-
ware integration. For example, Mike Meikle, CEO
of the Hawkthorne Group (www.mikemeikle.com),
illustrates the example of a potential SaaS customer
looking to procure a CRM tool. With a client/ server

24 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

or self-hosted Web application model, this cus-
tomer would need to obtain the software and hard-
ware, install and maintain the system, and train the
support staff and user community on the package.

"This process could take over a year to com-
plete. Also, this is a capital- and resource-intensive
process that comes with a significant amount of risk
due to the cost expended just to bring the solution
to a usable state. With a SaaS CRM solution, the
customer would choose a provider of the software,
sign a contract, and begin using the solution after
training," Meikle explains.

In theory, SaaS eases the traditional software
integration process, but reality can paint a far dif-
ferent picture. According to Larry Scinto, managing
consultant with PA Consulting Group, SaaS ven-
dors might promise business users and executives
a hassle-free, complete solution, but these services
can present challenges for larger IT departments
and global companies that must integrate data,
information, and workflows between SaaS applica-
tions and other corporate /business applications
and processes. As a result, fully leveraged SaaS
requires IT personnel to have strong information/
technical architecture and data management skills.

Inside SaaS Support

As the SaaS evolution — or perhaps revolu-
tion — continues, the scale of opinion among IT
managers toward these technologies isn't tip-
ping heavily in one direction or another. In many
cases, the prevailing attitude toward a potential
SaaS influx depends on the background and skills
of the managers and their departments. Jason
Wisdom, president of Wisdom Consulting (www
.jasonwisdom.com), notes that network-oriented
IT managers tend to lean toward SaaS due to
its more centralized control, while data-oriented
managers can be skeptical because SaaS places
data control (including security and uptime) out-
side of company walls.

"The other thing about SaaS is that customiza-
tion can be difficult. Some in-house installations
come with source code, so that over three to five
years, enhancements can be made by in-house staff,
adapting to desired features and other systems.
Some IT shops tend to run extremely customized
systems — especially larger organizations that have
been running and customizing their system since
[the late '90s]," Wisdom says.

However, IT managers aren't unaware of the
positive impact on risk and costs, which can boost
their overall attitude toward the trend. According
to Meikle, cost and risk are reduced through less
capital expenditures, the flexibility to change a

solution if it doesn't fit the enterprise, and the re-
duction of IT involvement in day-to-day systems
operations. On the other hand, the prospect of risk
can also have an adverse affect in terms of influ-
encing IT opinion.

"Those who worry about IT risk and compliance
are very cautious about SaaS models because so
much is outside the control of the IT department,"
Lever says. "Industries that are risk adverse and

1 1 SaaS gives IT access to tools

that just work, naturally allowing
IT to provide a higher level of service.
But IT transformation is not achieved
overnight."

Craig McDonogh,

director of product management, ServiceNow

driven by regulation and compliance concerns — oil
and gas, finance, and life sciences — are typically
early adopters of new technologies, but with SaaS
they are largely taking it slowly or letting it be used
in areas far away from the core business. Privacy
concerns are also slowing its adoption in certain
business functions, such as HR and finance."

Trend Drivers

Business managers understandably favor af-
fordable, effective IT solutions, so it's no surprise
they tend to be the primary drivers of SaaS in
organizations. Scinto says that business managers
can see SaaS as a way to "get what they can't"
from IT, particularly when vendors push solutions
that are functional, simple to understand, and
relatively affordable. This inherent value isn't al-
ways lost on IT professionals, though, even when
such services can loom as a potential replacement
for tasks or even personnel.

"Some IT professionals who have had expe-
rience with SaaS applications understand how
they can reduce costs and reallocate resources by
adopting SaaS," McDonogh says. "Other IT pro-
fessionals are more skeptical of SaaS because they
have seen it used in parts of the business to create
'shadow' IT organizations — like in the sales force —
and take control away from IT. On the other hand,
some business managers who have used SaaS to ac-
celerate their own processes are advocates of SaaS
and drive it into IT."

Although SaaS can create an intimidating rift be-
tween management and IT, experts agree that these
groups should work together to extract the most
value from SaaS. The prospect of SaaS deployment

PC Today / September 2011 25

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

can spawn concerns around office politics, jobs, costs,
risks, and overall pros and cons, Scinto says, but none
of these issues can be addressed only by IT managers
or only by business managers. Furthermore, neither
group should assume that the other is necessarily for
or against the possible introduction of SaaS.

"Proactive IT managers like the possibilities
SaaS offers for non-core applications and func-

a With a SaaS solution, IT staff
are responsible for working with
the vendor on support, enhancements,
and training. They no longer manage
the day-to-day system operations and
maintenance, which consume a large
portion of available IT resources."

Mike Meikle,

CEO, Hawkthowe Group

a SaaS involves a different set
of tasks and challenges from
hosted software. Server setup and
maintenance are not as important;
however, integration and API work
is generally increased, especially in
custom-tailored environments."

Jason Wisdom,

president, Wisdom Consulting

tions, because SaaS alleviates headaches, enables
IT strategic focus on key business improvement
opportunities, and provides more transparent and
easier charge-backs for services. We've also seen
several business groups resist SaaS once they re-
alize they will actually have to pay for use rather
than just demand IT deliver everything for free,"
Scinto says.

Licensing Anxiety

Other issues, such as licensing and training,
also inevitably combine to transform IT depart-
ments that bring SaaS into their fold. On the li-
censing front, businesses won't encounter the
piracy concerns typically associated with in-house
software installations, because access control is
granted by service providers on a per-user or
per-use basis.

Conversely, Wisdom notes that various levels
of fraud can still haunt IT departments that are
overseeing the use of SaaS applications, including
multiple users logging into a one-user account or

multiple companies pooling together for one um-
brella subscription.

Other licensing challenges can arise when SaaS
applications are integrated with other (non-SaaS)
applications, Scinto says. Similarly, SaaS solutions
that bundle many applications can cause problems
when license ownership and management respon-
sibilities are spread among many internal IT man-
agers and even third-party SaaS vendors, he adds.
Although the core model of SaaS should lead to a
better licensing process in theory, not all vendors are
helping the cause.

"It is very important to note that not all SaaS ven-
dors have chosen to provide a simple approach to
licensing," McDonogh says. "Some have merely ex-
tended their legacy models to a hosted environment
they call 'the cloud' yet still charge for mobile clients,
file storage, reporting, etc. . . . Traditional legacy
software licensing models tend to be convoluted
and impossible to manage, with multiple levels of
licensing for applications, servers, users, processes,
nodes, devices, and so on. Moving to SaaS should be
seen as an opportunity to fix this."

SaaS throws another wrench into the IT engine
when it comes to training and support. According to
Scinto, there has been a large increase in service desk
and service management requirements due to SaaS,
just as with any outsourcing. This leads to a signifi-
cant amount of communications and change man-
agement across both business and IT stakeholders,
he says, and more training and customer support
will be needed as business users seek to tweak and
customize SaaS workflows, outputs, reports, and
other elements.

"This will require IT support and education, as
traditional SaaS solutions look to provide a stan-
dardized set of workflows /outputs," Scinto says.
"Stakeholder expectations need to be managed to
understand that there are flexibility tradeoffs with
SaaS. Configuration options will not meet all busi-
ness customization requirements or desires. This
is an important point to take into account when
evaluating SaaS opportunities. Applications and IT
solutions that require future changes or customiza-
tions may not be good SaaS candidates."

Meikle adds that more mature organizations
use a SaaS model to free up IT staff to work on
more tailored solutions for their customers that
provide additional profit. Further, while some
businesses will deploy their IT staff as business
liaisons for the new systems, others look to SaaS
to reduce training costs by placing the business
support burden directly on the SaaS vendor and
moving the remaining IT staff into other projects
or support areas. ▲

26 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

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ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

KEY POINTS

▲ Determining locations
for stores of archival data
depends on a company's
existing data demands
and its ability to vet
hosted providers.

A Storage hosting providers
eliminate the need for discrete
archival hardware and associ-
ated licenses but can present
performance and security
problems in certain instances.

▲ Deduplication and
compression are key
parts of an archival
arsenal for companies
looking to make the most
of their storage capacity.

▲ Communication among
business units and well-
formed policies can go a long
way toward ensuring compa-
nies can meet their current
and future archival needs.

ARCHIVAL

Expert Advice For Successful Data Storage

Like postal carriers facing a seemingly infinite deluge
of mail, IT managers constantly grapple with the
unending influx of data. As a result, archiving has
quickly grown into a necessity at organizations of all
sizes, but determining how and where to store data
can be a menacing challenge, particularly considering
the horde of archiving strategies available today.

28 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

Because data archiving ultimately affects every
aspect of an organization, it's critical to understand
that archiving can't effectively exist on an IT island.
Although IT departments generally oversee the tech-
nical details behind archiving, smart businesses get
nearly everyone involved to ensure that data ar-
chiving needs are identified and met through strate-
gies that work best for a particular environment.

"Data archiving is a critical aspect of IT that most
business units do not understand and typically do not
care to," explains Lance Reese, president of Silver Peak
Consulting (www.silverpeakconsulting.com). "The
key is to build relationships with the business unit
owners and work with them to meet their storage and
archiving needs while remaining true to a visionary
and fiscally responsible technology roadmap. There are
many solutions; involve your business counterparts in
the decisions and you will see dramatically improved
buy-in, understanding, and respect."

Location, Location, Location

Regardless of a company's business, the value of
its data is immeasurable due not only to its ties to
communication, strategy, and goals, but also to the
ever-increasing demands of regulatory compliance.
The sheer magnitude of data in any given company
generally requires archiving to keep systems run-
ning efficiently and to keep recent data easily avail-
able. The science behind data archiving is populated
with a variety of theories, approaches, and tech-
nologies, but one of the most basic issues companies

ivm

must face is whether to archive data locally, at a
remote location, or with a hosting provider.

Businesses that have multiple locations may
choose to archive data at one site for all of its lo-
cations, but this strategy requires that the chosen
location is equipped to handle not only a massive
amount of data, but also potential disasters or other
emergencies that could impact the stored data. These
same businesses, as well as businesses with a single
location, can also choose to hire a hosted service to
archive data, but numerous factors can play into the
decision for or against the hosted option.

"There are advantages and disadvantages to using
hosted services, and both sides of the argument must

a Data requirements continue
to grow, mostly because of
duplication."

Lance Reese,

president, Silver Peak Consulting

be looked at before making a decision," says Robby
Wright, chief technical consultant with Abtech Systems
(www.abtechsystems.com). "Hosted services have the
advantage of your never having to purchase hardware
and licensing to run your applications. Most hosting
facilities are very secure and have redundancies that the
average business can't afford. Your application is usu-
ally hosted on reasonably up-to-date equipment. You
will also need to purchase any necessary system admin-
istration help, depending on your hosting contract."

But downsides also lurk within the hosting route.
For example, Wright notes that customers are essen-
tially locked in to the hosting provider's services, and
because applications are often hosted on a virtual-
ized server farm along with applications from many
other companies, the burst speed provided by a local
dedicated computer isn't always available. Further,
he says that customers need to pay for burst network
traffic, required data capacity, and adequate network
bandwidth to meet the needs of their facilities.

Security concerns always surround archived data,
but these concerns can become amplified when the
data resides off premises. According to Reese, busi-
nesses should choose local archiving if they can af-
ford it, because the security complications that stem
from outside services have yet to be resolved. "With
the increased cyber attacks, online services that store
archived data are . . . likely and lucrative target[s]
for cyber espionage efforts. Keeping the solutions in-
house will eliminate many of the uncertainties that
come from outside vendors," he says.

Granted, plenty of businesses use hosted archiving
services without issue, and cloud providers con-
tinue to improve upon security on a regular basis.
Miles Kelly, senior director of product marketing
at Riverbed (www.riverbed.com), recommends en-
suring that a hosting provider uses encryption, es-
pecially if data security is a critical requirement. On
the performance front, he suggests evaluating data
retrieval performance requirements relative to the
performance of accessing data from a hosting pro-
vider. Also, he says, determine whether the provider
leverages both disk and tape for data storage, as this
will impact the speed of data retrieval.

Battling The Data Bulge

As costs for storage capacity continue to plunge,
many companies technically have loads of archival

PERFORM DUE DILIGENCE

Service providers exist for al-
most every IT-related task, but
some assume a deeper role in
business functions than others.
Data archiving is one such
example, because businesses
typically expect a third-party
provider to store their data
for the long haul rather than
a short period. According to
MacFarland Consulting's
(www.macfarlandconsulting
.com) Anne MacFarland, this
means performing due diligence
on the provider before em-
ploying its services.

"It sounds brutal to say,
'Negotiate the divorce before
you get married,' but in the
case of outsourcing an archive,
you want at least a strong and
detailed prenup and preferably
some specific kinds of reporting
on who has accessed the ar-
chive and for what — if only to
determine what information
actually does have a long tail of
reuse. A business archive is not
merely a curated asset; it must
be useful and used," she says.

Due diligence can also be
useful for companies that store
their archives on premises.
MacFarland advises sticking
to open standards and formats
with broad multivendor sup-
port whenever possible. Instead
of taking a chance on secret
archival formulas, veer toward
the tried and true, such as the
recommendations set forth by
the SNIA (Storage Networking
Industry Association).

PC Today / September 2011 29

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

KEY TERMS

Navigating the dense wa-
ters of data archiving can
be a daunting experience
without an understanding
of the technologies and
concepts that crowd those
waters. Here are some
key terms in the data
archiving field.

▲ compression: Reduces
the size of data stores by
encoding information
with fewer bits than the
original version.

▲ deduplication: Tech-
nologies and processes
designed to eliminate
redundant data in archives
and other storage.

▲ hosted: Archives stored
with a third-party provider,
which has facilities specifi-
cally built for data storage.

▲ local: Archives stored
on in-house storage serv-
ers, providing fast access
to stored data but often
costing more than hosted
solutions.

▲ remote: Archives stored
at an offsite location the
company owns.

space. But if they're not using it efficiently, the capacity
can diminish far more quickly than it should, in turn
driving home the need for a better archival strategy.
Wright notes that small or even midsized businesses
that aren't using enormous amounts of space can get
away with simply archiving and /or deleting data that
is no longer used. But for others, innovative archival-
specific technologies are increasingly necessary to
make the most out of their existing capacity.

"Discovering the extent of business data and
the multiple copies, shadow copies, and the ancient
backups, and deleting the surplus, can recover space,"
advises Anne MacFarland of MacFarland Consulting
(www.macfarlandconsulting.com). "Deduplication
and compression technologies reduce the bulk of
data and can be [used] without impairing its quality.
However, for long-term retention, the algorithms for
compression, deduplication, and restoration must be
stored with the data in a way that allows the data to
be opened and read. Some applications and platforms
support this capability."

According to Kelly, deduplication is especially
useful when it finds the same data patterns in ar-
chives or other storage platforms, such as the same
files, directories, and file systems. Using this tech-
nology, businesses can realize data reduction 20 times
greater than what they obtain from other means — or
more, in some cases — and can extend that reduction
by applying compression on disks separately or in
conjunction with deduplication, he says.

"Tier 2 storage has become so inexpensive that
maximizing data space is not difficult if the CIO is

11 Cloud storage is a growing and

increasingly viable option for
backup and archiving, and many ven-
dors have overcome security and lock-
in concerns."

Miles Kelly,

senior director of product marketing, Riverbed

a Long-term retention of valuable
business data is not like putting
a book on a shelf and expecting it to
be there when you want it. It requires a
long-term commitment to governance,
administration, and infrastructure."

Anne MacFarland,

MacFarland Consulting

creative," Reese adds. "Deduplication, secondary
market storage, and virtual storage solutions are
three relatively inexpensive ways to deal with the
hardware. The complications come from the time it
takes to perform the archiving process; businesses are
not tolerant of downtime for backups or system main-
tenance. Focus on the architecture and timing more
than the hardware. The equipment is a commodity —
innovative solutions to organize, catalog, and manage
the data for your specific applications are not."

Power In The Plan

Even for companies equipped with mountains
of capacity, at some point the data will catch up
and force new investments or strategies around
archiving. Because basic storage is cheaper than
ever, some businesses tend to be sloppy in their
archival approach, leading to many duplicates
of the same data throughout various archives.
Deduplication and other methods certainly help
to curtail this problem, but companywide pol-
icies and planning can also help to solve the
inevitable quandary of increasing data against
diminishing capacity.

"Databases are not being architected as efficiently
as they were when storage was at a premium, and
most companies have multiple copies of data that
the IT department is unable to manage or catalog
effectively. The most successful method of managing
this is to put the burden of expense back onto the
individual business units that request and use the
storage. The billing should be burdened completely
with requirements for archival, staffing, network
requirements," Reese says.

When business units are expected to share in the
expenses surrounding data archiving, their steward-
ship improves substantially, Reese says, and they will
more effectively manage their own requirements and
expectations. Kelly adds that businesses should create
storage quotas with hard limits to manage the amount
of new data that is created. These expectations and
limits can be part of a wide-ranging archival strategy
that helps to ensure that capacity will always be avail-
able when it's required.

"Too many companies look at their existing
storage requirements and assume that buying that
and a little more is sufficient. To do it correctly, you
need to create a plan that starts where you are now
and allows for planned expansion. Storage systems
that allow for the addition of additional storage
capacity without shutting down the storage system
and adequate redundancy to avoid unplanned out-
ages are critical in today's environment. A good
storage system makes it easy to rack and connect
new disk space," Wright says. ▲

30 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

Online Storage

Consumer Options, Enterprise Effects

Consumers have more or less fallen in love with
cloud storage services, and it's easy to see why:
They provide an invaluable service by giving
users access to their files from any Internet connec-
tion; they're easy to use; and, in many cases, they have
free options in addition to paid service plans. There
are dozens of services you can use, including Apple's
iCloud, Box, Dropbox, SugarSync, and Symform.

It's little wonder that demand for cloud storage
would grow in the business sector, as well. However,
there are some very different considerations between
what consumers and businesses need and want.

Not The Same Game

Fang Zhang, storage analyst with IHS iSuppli
(www.isuppli.com), says consumer Web storage
evolved from Gmail, Amazon, eBay, and the like to
services such as iCloud, Facebook, and YouTube.
She adds, "When Amazon decided to transition from
Web selling to Web storage, or Google from email
and search to Web storage," says Zhang, "it marked
the transition from consumer Web-based storage to
business /enterprise Web-based storage." Now those
companies actually offer a new business model for
other companies to leverage.

However, Bassam Tabbara, CTO and co-founder
of cloud storage provider Symform (www.symform
.com), points out that there are differences between
consumer and business cloud storage. "Everything
from speed, to reliability, to security — we're de-
signed to handle business-class data," Tabbara says
of Symform. "Not just photos and documents, but
your company secrets."

Indeed, there are big differences when it comes to
business-class cloud storage vs. consumer-oriented
Web-based storage. With businesses, "you need to
think about volume snapshots, and backing up da-
tabases and email servers, versioning, file retentions,
and archiving," says Tabbara. The differences, he
adds, "are not related to the back-end architecture —
it's more about the bells and whistles around it."

"Privacy /security is the No. 1 concern for business
storage," notes Zhang, and for good reason. A breach
of data or even the unavailability of data due to server
downtime can dramatically affect a business — much
more so than it would affect a typical consumer.
"Other concerns include regulation, standard, host
company credibility, reliability, extendibility, etc."

Positives & Pitfalls

By dint of the differences between the require-
ments and practicalities of consumer as opposed
to business cloud storage, there are both positives
and potential negatives associated with using cloud
storage for a business.

Cost, for one, is a huge factor. Running a data
center is extremely expensive; it requires moun-
tains of hardware and software, extensive energy
costs, and personnel to monitor and manage the
facility. Those costs get passed on to the user — or

a Everything from speed, to
reliability, to security— we're
designed to handle business-class
data: Not just photos and docu-
ments, but your company secrets."

Bassam Tabbara,

CTO and co-founder, Symform

in the case of business cloud storage, the company
paying for the service.

"There really haven't been any good ways to
monetize [cloud storage] besides having people
pay for it," says Tabbara. In other words, at this
point no one has figured out how to pay for the
costs of storage. For example, it's hard to find an
agreeable way to put ads in peoples' storage areas.
As a result, the costs for X number of gigabytes
with local storage and the same number in cloud
storage are wildly different.

Of course, for many companies, the costs may be
well worth it. "Especially for the small and median
companies /business which do not have a sufficient
budget to cover their entire IT requirements (dedi-
cated people, latest hardware and software), online
storage can provide all the services with control-
lable cost", says Zhang.

Another possible issue is losing control of
company information to a third party, in the
form of data breaches or outages, but also as it
pertains to getting your data back if you want
to change providers. And of course, privacy and
security are at the front of every IT administra-
tor's mind.

However, increasingly, companies are springing up
to deliver cloud storage solutions businesses need. A

PC Today / September 2011 31

Software: Build Or Buy?

Is In-House Software Development Worthwhile?

Software may be among the most complex of
intellectual undertakings. It's so complicated,
in fact, that — unlike a bridge, a building, or
an automobile — it simply cannot be guaranteed to
perform as designed, which is why software " warran-
ties" are usually limited to media replacement. It's not
so much that developers are sloppy — although that's
sometimes the case — it's that it's almost impossible
to build systems that aren't fragile to some degree.
(Thus, Gerald Weinberg's famous Second Law of
Programming: "If builders built houses the way pro-
grammers built programs, the first woodpecker to
come along would destroy civilization.")

And yet, today's businesses quite literally run on
software. The question is, if there exists no appro-
priate off-the-shelf solution, where should you get
your software? Which is the smart business move:
building that software in-house or outsourcing it? If
it's as complicated an undertaking as it's said to be,
is it better to create your system in-house and control
every aspect of the project? Or is it smarter to hand it
off to an experienced development shop?

The answer, at least, isn't nearly as complicated as
the question. It may boil down to something as simple
as your company's pedigree and business model.

In-House Development: Expensive & Risky

"The decision that needs to be made," said the
manager of a Northern California software and ser-
vices provider, "is whether in-house development
will make the company better at its core competency

or whether it will divert resources from the pri-
mary goals and mission of the company."

Generally speaking, say many practitioners — in-
cluding the manager with whom we spoke — unless
your company is actually in the business of creating
software, it's best to leave the actual implementation
to experts, especially if you're working in a regulated
industry, such as banking or healthcare. "I would
recommend that they contract with someone with
specific expertise in the field and the commitment to
maintaining the software and keeping up to date with
regulatory and compliance changes," he says.

Software is not simply complex — it's also ex-
pensive, partly because there are always too many
stakeholders, many of whom have conflicting ideas
about the software's general purpose and specific
feature-set. The old adage is that with software,
you can have quality, speed, or a robust feature-set:
Pick two; getting all three is often impossible and
always costly.

How costly? No one knows, because each project
is different. However, you can count on it being
more expensive than you had planned. As one soft-
ware development text puts it, "The estimation of
software development cost remains one of the most
vexing problems in software engineering." At its
core, development cost estimates are a manpower
issue — some part of the cost estimation comes down
to guessing (and it truly is guesswork, at least in the
early stages of the project) how many people will
have to work on the project and for how long.

32 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

Experts say that there are ways
to tame those costs, of course, and
tactics that can minimize their esca-
lation. Two widely accepted recom-
mendations stand out. First, insist
on well-documented and agreed-
upon specifications. Second, ensure
that change-control procedures
are in place. (These recommendations are important
enough that we'll revisit them shortly.)

No matter how you approach it, software develop-
ment is a difficult, time-consuming, and expensive
undertaking. It requires specific resources, sophisti-
cated tools, skilled staff, and an entire development
infrastructure; and not every company can afford to
devote those resources to a software project.

"Smaller companies would do mostly out-
sourcing/' says a spokesperson for a large New
York-based publisher, "unless it's a company
whose business is developing software."

Outsourcing Issues

What many C-level execs seem to fear most
about outsourcing software development (or any-
thing else, for that matter) is loss of control in terms
of both delivery and decision-making. This is a
valid issue, say experts, but building regular over-
sight into the outsourced process — and insisting
on a certain amount of transparency from the con-
tractor — can mitigate such concerns.

Anand Sanwal, CEO of CB Insights (www.cbin
sights.com), says that from an investor's perspec-
tive, the people putting money into a company
often like to see development occurring in-house, at
least when it's a technology company.

"Investors' views on in-house development vs.
outsourcing are not homogeneous, of course," says
Sanwal. "They'll be influenced by factors such as
the company's industry and focus, the investors'
own background /pedigree (finance vs. engineering
backgrounds, for example) and what has worked
and not worked for them in the past. But generally
speaking, if the company's primary advantage will
be driven by its technology, there will be a prefer-
ence for in-house development from the start."

In fact, says Sanwal, engineering-oriented
founders have a distinct advantage in terms of
fundraising, acquisition opportunities, and the like.

"At present," says Sanwal, "there is definitely a
preference among investors for technical founders,
which implies that development of at least the ver-
sion 1.0 product is not just being done in-house but
is actually driven by the founder. Investors increas-
ingly prefer at least some portion of the founding
team to be engineering-focused."

Big Enough To Play Either Way

There are advantages to each approach, of course,
depending on the situation — and some companies
are large enough to play the game both ways, de-
veloping some systems in-house and outsourcing
others. In fact, if you have the financial wherewithal,
sometimes the answer is to simply buy the company
that has the technology you're after.

That was the case with a certain New York pub-
lisher. "Obviously, we look at our resources," says
a company representative. "We know where our
strengths are, and in a lot of cases — especially for cus-
tomer-facing product — we've simply acquired compa-
nies that have a product that we think has some legs.
That way, we acquire the technology, we acquire the
people, and now we have the expertise in-house."

First, Define What It Is That You Want

There's no one answer to the dilemma, of
course. It seems to come down to whether investing
in in-house development is seen as something that
will contribute to the company's focus or whether
the resource-intensive demands of software devel-
opment would instead distract from that focus.

However, it turns out that the two recommenda-
tions noted earlier about well-documented specifica-
tions and solid change-control procedures apply either
way. It doesn't matter whether an in-house team is
building your software or whether you intend to out-
source it. Either way, the first thing you need to do is
define the project, and you need to do so very explicitly.
If you don't, then — as any developer will tell you —
what you get back (from either source) will not be
what you thought you had asked for. Secondly, good
change-control procedures will ensure that everyone
understands the costs (in time, money, and features) of
deciding to modify or expand that definition. It's pos-
sible that if this one important lesson is taken to heart,
you'll get the most out of your software investment,
regardless of whether it's in-house or outsourced. ▲

PC Today / September 2011 33

For Small Busin

Market, Socialize, Network

anaging social media for a small business
can seem like taming a technology beast.
And it's the kind of beast that may appear
to be smarter than you at times. But, with some
basic education and communication skills, you can
learn to be a master of social media.

Whether your enterprise is utilizing up-to-date
social media strategies in multiple departments
or you're in the process of initially establishing
your brand through social networking, there's no
denying that the social media landscape rapidly
evolves. So, we've talked to some experts about

a Doing social media marketing
the right way requires two sets
of skills: technical and marketing
skills. On Facebook, for instance,
you need to be able to develop
custom applications and tabs to
'brand' your page and support your
overall marketing message."

Amine Rahal,

founder and CEO oflronMonk Solutions

how to maintain the effectiveness of your social
media marketing efforts.

We'll give you the skinny on marketing a product
or service, cultivating company-to-customer relation-
ships, and making the most of the connections with
your Fans, Followers, Members, and Connections on
Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedln. And, you may dis-
cover that these topics aren't mutually exclusive.

For Products & Services

A small business typically retains its local cli-
entele by offering the best value for the customer's
money. But when it comes to your Web site and
social network, you want to employ social media
marketing tactics that continually offer an incentive
for customers to keep interacting, paying attention
to new posts, and ultimately coming back to your
physical or virtual marketplace.

Likes, app platforms & promotions. Facebook is
where you'll want to take advantage of the various
platforms with which you can announce, target, dis-
cuss, link, and share. Amine Rahal, founder and CEO
of IronMonk Solutions (www.ironmonk.net), points
out the ways your profile should clearly present your
product or service. "On Facebook, you have the ability

34 September 201

ctoday.com

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

of creating a custom HTML /CSS landing page for
your fan page, which is great for presenting your latest
products/services. You should also take advantage of
the Facebook Ads platform, which is a true gold mine
for SMBs right now. It gives you the ability of targeting
people by age, location, interests, likes, marital status,
college or work info, and more/'

In conjunction with these suggestions, you can
make the jump between your Facebook page and
Web site more seamless. According to the founder
of Brandignity (www.brandignity.com), Maciej
Fita, you can start by "incorporating a Facebook
'Like' box on the Web site where it can be visible on
every page of the site."

"Since such a large community of people are logged
in to their Facebook accounts at any given moment that
Facebook Like box gives your visitors the opportunity
to become a fan of your company fan page with just
one click. Entice people to become a fan by offering
special Facebook discounts that will only be visible on
your business Facebook fan page to trigger a stronger
interest for people to become fans," says Fita.

Furthermore, Fita says you can import blog post
links on your wall as you write them, create dis-
cussions to reinforce the humanity of your busi-
ness, provide discounts on your page, and post
links from other resources your online community
would benefit from.

Hashtags & retweets. Twitter isn't Facebook,
so there's no reason to treat it as such. The micro-
blogging site Twitter is actually all about "finding
the right people, following them and engaging
in conversations with them," says Rahal. To pro-
mote your own product or service, you can look
for hashtag topics (topical words preceded by the
number sign, such as "#tech") related to your in-
dustry and hashtag the topic in your own tweet.
To continually participate in this short-verse dis-
cussion, Fita says to post links to your blog posts,
strike up "©mention" conversations (this is how
you reply to or contact another Twitter user), and
retweet helpful topics so you can be a friendly busi-
ness that responds to its audience and fosters that
"warm and fuzzy social feeling."

B2C Connections

The relationship metaphor easily applies to com-
pany-customer rapport. And while the concepts
are simple, carrying them out requires consistency.
And, whatever you do, don't singularly rely on
self-aggrandizement.

"Content is king/' This phrase may ring true, but
content only works if it's both relevant and persistent.
Even if you're posting to thousands of fans or fol-
lowers, says Rahal, it's useless unless you're engaging

a If you are in a niche or space
that tends to be very busy, your
social media approach could be the
communication that differentiates you
from your competition. Social media
really helps you become a brand online
and not just a logo and Web site."

Maciej Fita,

founder of Brandignity

them with useful and interesting content regularly. "Be
careful though, you don't want to come across as being
too 'commercial' with your content," Rahal adds.

Stay personal. According to Fita, it all comes
down to being active, personable, and friendly.
"Keep in mind that the social media space is not
all about self-promotion. You have to be willing to
share with your community and that sometimes
involves sharing material and information from
other like-minded individuals, Web sites, and busi-
nesses," Fita explains.

The Professional Network

Business is networking, some say. Then again,
others tell you to target your industry and make
connections. And still more suggest taking time
to create an approach that works best for you. No
matter what angle you employ, you can at least
start with these tips.

Link up by joining groups. Not a part of
Linkedln yet? Join up. Some professional groups
have more than 100,000 members, which means
"the [possibility] of qualified eyeballs to hit your
content is very high," Fita says. Moreover, you can
become a member of a group that's relevant to your
industry or simply create your own and invite your
contact list, Rahal says. He also suggests posting
blog articles, involving yourself in industry-based
groups, and steadily establishing yourself as an au-
thority in your industry. Also, don't forget to con-
nect your Twitter and Linkedln accounts, so your
Twitter feed appears on your Linkedln profile.

Play it safe. As much as online social spaces can
feel like virtual playgrounds for adults, there are
some "mustn'ts" you want to adhere to. Carmen
Skipworth, U.S. and Canada sales executive for
Yousocial social networking services (www.youso
cial.us), offers the following tips to be successful at
professional networking: "Don't mix personal stuff
with professional. Don't post sensitive content. Use
social networks only to share experience and to get
new ideas. Keep it short and simple." ▲

PC Today / September 2011 35

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

Customer Relationshi

H^M

How Much Technology Support Do You Need?

When William Barada, VP of Indianapolis-
based employment screening firm
Barada Associates (www.baradainc
.com), began looking for a CRM (customer rela-
tionship management) solution, he was amazed at
how complicated the decision was. Barada wanted
to aggregate and organize all the data about his
prospects and clients — from proposal and con-
tract documents to emails and professional pref-
erences — into a single database that was easily
accessible no matter where he or his personnel
might be. He had explored Microsoft Outlook and
CMS (content management system) software, but
nothing he evaluated could elegantly and intui-
tively manage his entire universe of client data.

His search propelled him to explore CRM technol-
ogies, which offer more depth and functionality than
CMS solutions. A year later, Barada is still looking,
and he's not alone. A 2009 survey by sales man-
agement solution provider Avidian Technologies
reported that among SMBs that were involved with
CRM technologies, 32% were in the product selection

or discussion stage. A full 70% of the SMBs surveyed
weren't even sure what CRM was.

Defining CRM

CRM is hard to define fully and even harder
to shoehorn into a technology category. There are
more than a dozen different definitions of CRM
online, some of which referenced CRM as a tech-
nology. At a fundamental level, CRM is the disci-
pline or activity of managing customer interaction
to foster strong relationships. For SMBs, the ques-
tion is, what does that involve?

Is good contact management essential to CRM?
Certainly, and we agree with Barada that man-
agement should enable you to aggregate, orga-
nize, and preferably analyze that customer data,
as well. Good customer service and communica-
tion are important to that goal, also. The Internet
has complicated matters considerably, because
issues like social media and the need to build
relationships with faceless, online customers also
come into play.

36 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

What They Think You Need

Perhaps because CRM is such a buzzword right
now, we found developers of everything from CMS
systems to social media managers categorizing
their offerings as CRM — or at least referencing
the acronym somewhere. Further muddying the
waters, CRM is often a component of massive plat-
forms that also include supply chain management,
human resources, financials, and so on.

In the middle lie CRM systems that incorporate
contact, service, and communication, but often do
so in every way possible — with call center manage-
ment, for example, or e-commerce integration. With
all of these solutions, developers hope to convince
you that you need everything they have to offer.

"There's a bit of an arms race in this arena.
Everybody is one-upping everybody else," Barada
says." They are all trying to create what they think
other people want." Derek Miner, CEO of CRM pro-
vider Ivinex (www.ivinex.com), agrees and says a
challenge for SMBs is finding a solution that is "meth-
odology agnostic," with no hard-coded structure they
must adapt to (or pay a fortune to customize).

Finding What You Really Need

We are not implying that multi-faceted offer-
ings are a bad choice. Some businesses may want
an all-in-one CRM solution that incorporates sales,
service, marketing, call center, social media integra-
tion, and even partner relationship management.
Some may even want CRM as part of a comprehen-
sive business management platform.

Others, like Barada, may just want to archive,
manage, and leverage contact data to foster cus-
tomer loyalty and drive sales. The point is you
don't have to be locked into an all-encompassing or
expensive solution to achieve its benefits. The trick
is to ask yourself — and the solution provider — the
right questions, up front. Some of the issues experts
recommend you consider are:

Cloud vs. on-premise. SaaS (software as a service)
solutions give you a cloud-based interface that lets you
access your data anywhere, anytime. SaaS tends to be
less expensive, per seat, but you lose control of who
has your data. If you choose a cloud-based solution,
ensure your provider follows best practices for data se-
curity, redundancy, and backup. Some companies offer
both cloud and on-premise options, which lets you
change your mind without starting over again. You
can expect to pay more for on-premise service.

Customization. Can you build or customize your
interface, fields, and relationships without paying
extra? (Relationships are the rules by which datasets,
such as products or contacts, interact with one an-
other.) "Can you live with a hard-coded process where

you get a lead, you convert it to a contact, etc.?" Miner
asks. The most modular solutions, he says, "let you
set up your own dashboards and data sets and choose
which business processes to automate."

Feature set. Within what timeframe, if at all, do
you see yourself needing sales automation, call center
support, marketing automation, channel /partner/
vendor management, and /or social media integra-
tion? Research each of these functions and prioritize
them by importance. Do you like the idea of uniting
financials, human resources, ERP, or other business
management components?

Integration. Do you live and die by your Outlook
calendar? What about Google apps or your iPhone?
Don't assume all CRM products offer a mobile app
and /or integrate with Outlook or other office produc-
tivity tools. The same is true of hardware. If you want
to tie your CRM solution to your telephony system,
make sure the CRM provider supports it. Make a list
of what matters to you and don't be led astray.

Social media. Do you have the time and re-
sources to engage with social media? If so, having
it integrate with your CRM software can be pow-
erful. Some CRM solutions have APIs (application
programming interfaces) that harvest the entire
universe of social media conversations. They let
you analyze the behaviors of your customers — for
example, finding out who is an "influencer" of
others, or tracking the chatter about your products
compared to those of your competition. (These fea-
tures are available in standalone tools, too.)

Web orientation. If you garner leads or sell a lot
of products online, your CRM software should be
Internet savvy. "When a customer purchases a product
online, the transaction can automatically be updated in
the contact record, so moving forward you have an up-
to-date purchasing history and behavioral data," says
Greg Head, chief marketing officer of CRM provider
Infusionsoft (www.infusionsoft.com).

The Right Choice

The concept of "CRM" is applied to a broad array
of solutions, from "contact managers on steroids" to
full-fledged sales, support, and e-marketing suites.
In reality, every successful company engages in
customer relationship management at some level.
We all know a dog-eared Rolodex or 3 x 5-inch index
cards don't get the job done anymore.

So, where do you go from there? "Every com-
pany is unique," says Miner. "Instead of trying to
take your business model and make it work with
certain software, you should be able to take your
model and achieve success with an architecture
that works with your process." Until you fine one,
Miner says, keep looking. ▲

PC Today / September 2011 37

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

Business Software

The Latest Releases & Updates

Apple's new OS X Lion is
available only via download
and offers features appealing
to business.

othing ever stays the same, certainly not
in the world of business-related software.
Attempting to manage a business while
keeping track of new and updated software releases
is enough to try anyone's patience, so we'll give you a
hand by letting you know what's available.

Quest Software vRanger Update

Quest Software has announced the availability
of Quest vRanger 5.2, the latest addition to the
company's virtual data protection systems. The
new release is aimed at simplifying and acceler-
ating VMware backup, replication, and recovery
while significantly reducing storage requirements
and providing additional reliability and scal-
ability. Version 5.2 now offers full VMware ESX
and ESXi support, as well as VMware HotAdd
support for faster speeds when making network
backups of ESXi. The application also can now run
as a low-resource usage virtual appliance when
replicating ESXi vir-
tual machine data.
vRanger continues
to offer active block
mapping technol-
ogy and support of
VMware's changed
block tracking vS-
torage API.

OS X Lion

With more than
250 new features and
enhancements, the recent release of Apple's newest
Mac OS could definitely impact your business.
Several features lend themselves to Mac or mixed
Mac /Windows business environments: The updated
OS features AirDrop, a fast, simple way to transfer
files wirelessly from one Mac to another; Multiuser
Remote Access, offering the ability to log in re-
motely and use a Mac without interrupting another
user who might be working on the same system;
File Vault 2, allowing you to encrypt your hard drive;
Application Sandboxing, which restricts what ap-
plications can do within the operating system; and
an Online Account Manager that lets you manage
multiple online accounts from one location.

Motionsoft MoSo

Rockville, Md., -based Motionsoft has released
MoSo, an online member and facility management
solution intended to help businesses operate within
a cost-effective, easily-updated cloud infrastructure.
The modularly built business-management suite in-
corporates Motionsoft's existing member management
technology, providing what the company says will be
"a more productive and capable online experience for
both members and staff." If your business acquires,
manages, and tracks members, MoSo may be able to
provide a set of cloud-based tools to help you do so
more efficiently. In addition to member relationship
management functionality and billing and financial
services, the MoSo suite features the myClub member
portal for online sales, booking, and member services,
as well as Facebook and Twitter integration.

Parallels Desktop 6 For Mac Enterprise Edition

Parallels has long been known as the premier
tool for running Windows and Mac applications
side-by-side on a Mac without having to reboot.
The new version enables IT departments to support
Windows-based business apps for Mac users, pro-
viding them with a configurable, policy-compliant
tool. Macs are becoming much more common in
the workplace — thanks in part to the burgeoning
demand for Apple mobile products such as iPhone
and iPads — so many businesses are seeking tools
that allow Macs to run popular Windows busi-
ness applications: And one way to do that is to run
Windows itself on the Mac hardware.

Hyland Software Agile OnBase v11

Version 11 of Hy land's OnBase focuses on mo-
bile enterprise content management, collabora-
tion, and agility, with the goal of helping users be
responsive to changing business environments.
Hyland has added inherent intelligent indexing
and automated redaction functionality to its im-
aging and capture software; the application can
now handle business documents such as invoices,
transcripts, and healthcare documentation. OnBase
vll.O also offers data-level integration with Datatel,
Lawson, and PeopleSoft, in addition to its existing
SAP integration, and it now enables users to start
a workflow or execute other workflow tasks in

38 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

Outlook. Hyland has also added integration points
with selected fax providers, including Softlinx's
Replifax, Esker's Esker Fax, and Biscom's Faxcom.

Oracle Security Patch

Oracle has released a security patch that fixes
78 vulnerability issues, including 23 fixes for Sun
products and 13 for Oracle Database Server. The
company said that problems with hundreds of
its products could be remedied, since some of the
vulnerabilities addressed in the update can affect
multiple products. The largest number of fixes
applied to the Oracle Sun Products Suite; nine of
those vulnerabilities can be remotely exploited
over a network, even without a username and
password. A partial list of affected products in-
cludes: CMDB Metadata & Instance APIs, Content
Management, Core RDBMS, Database Vault,
Enterprise Manager Console, Event management,
Instance Management, Oracle Universal Installer,
Schema Management, Security Framework,
Security Management, and XML Developer Kit.

Ellie Mae 2011 Summer Release
Of Encompass360

If you use software for mortgage bankers,
community banks, credit unions, and other
lenders, you'll be interested in this new release of
Encompass360. The update includes compliance
upgrades, increased eFolder capabilities, new tools
to help maximize trade management, multiple per-
sona pipeline views, new ZIP code database con-
figurations, and other tools designed to help users
better fulfill their daily operations. Enhancements
include the ability to track eFolder events using the
history tab, which marks a screen displaying all
events associated with selected documents, files,
or conditions; create custom eFolder and pipeline
views; synchronize sell-side lock and trade data;
and apply compound filters that reflect price ad-
justments for loan trades, as required by investors.

Harmon. ie For SharePoint 3.0

Israeli software company Harmon.ie has released
a new version of its email plug-in. The new release
adds social and collaborative features to Outlook,
Google Docs, and Lotus Notes, letting users collabo-
rate with colleagues and external contacts on Outlook
without leaving the email interface. Within Outlook,
business users can share documents and track docu-
ment updates; post and check colleagues' real-time
status; initiate phone /chat/ video/ email commu-
nications; and more. Users can now see an activity
stream that can provide both document and people
status updates from their networks, and they can

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open documents that are posted without leaving the
email interface. The new version can recommend
additional connections
based on users' contact his-
tory, including email, chat,
and document co-editing.
Users can call, chat, and
initiate videoconferences
within that activity stream.

SAP Business
One Update

SAP has announced
the release of version
8.81 of its SAP Business
One ERP (enterprise re-
source planning) software for SMEs, which the
company says acts as a single integrated busi-
ness management application. The latest release,
aimed at integrating core business functions
across the entire company — including financials,
sales, customer relationship management, inven-
tory, and operations — boasts numerous improve-
ments, including improved mobility, simpler
development of partner applications, and added
social networking capabilities. SAP Business
One 8.81 also features an integration framework
that the company says makes it possible for cus-
tomers to obtain con-
stant access to their data
through the software.

Teambox Version 3.0

The new release of
Teambox is intended to
increase productivity
and quality of work by
allowing users to man-
age different workflows,
communicate, and move
between projects in an
engaging manner. The
interface includes a
Private Elements fea-
ture, which lets users
restrict certain individ-
uals from internal con-
versations, and the application is integrated with
Google Docs, allowing for automatic updates. The
online project collaboration software for project
managers, contractors, freelancers, and teams is
free for as many as three projects, and features
support for activity streams, threaded conversa-
tions and commenting, inbox management and
alerts, and RSS feeds. ▲

■ Q

J - J = © - o ■;

Harmon.ie adds social networking
to existing communication tools,
including Outlook and Google Docs.

NOlIIIIWHVCT

Teambox is a complete
open-source project management
suite based in the cloud.

PC Today / September 2011 39

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

Greenovations

Energy-Conscious Tech

devices that make

our lives easier

also produce some

effects on the

atelv, manv

consumer elec-

are working

to create products

ductive while

demands to lessen

the environment.

Here, we take a
look at the new-

est environmei

New Energy Star Rating

The EPA announced that it added the Most Efficient rating to the Energy Star standard to identify prod-
ucts that "demonstrate efficiency performance that is truly exceptional, inspirational, or leading edge."
Energy Star will provide Most Efficient ratings
for clothes washers, heating and cooling equip-
ment, televisions, and refrigerators and freezers.
An Energy Star accredited lab must be used to
test the equipment for it to be given the Most
Efficient designation. Consumers can identify
the products using the Most Efficient logo.

ENERGY STAR

Most Efficient

www.energystar.gov

AT&T & Bloom Energy Fuel Cells

Bloom Energy will be installing its "Bloom Boxes," which are energy servers that use fuel cell technology, in
11 AT&T sites in California. The reliable power from the Bloom Boxes will reduce C0 2 emissions by around
50% when compared to the grid, and deliver 7.5 megawatts of affordable power. Other benefits include the
almost no particulate emissions of nitrogen, sulfur, and other smog-forming chemicals. In all, the 11 Bloom
Boxes should produce 62 million kWh (kilowatt-hours) of energy each year — the equivalent of the energy
needed to power 5,600 homes. The Bloom Boxes are a stack of fuel cells that work together to convert air
and natural gas into electricity.

Capture Energy From Air

Researchers at Georgia Tech have discovered a way to capture and use the electromagnetic energy that's
transmitted through the air, such as radio and television transmissions, satellite communications, and
cell phone networks. The researchers believe that the ambient energy can be used to power networks

of wireless sensors, microprocessors,
and communication chips. In testing,
the scientists were able to combine en-
ergy scavenging sensors and antennas
onto paper and other flexible polymers,
which could be ideal for tasks such
as RFID (radio frequency identifica-
tion) tagging for shipping or for self-
powered wireless sensors for chemicals
or heat. Ambient energy could also
be used as a power backup that could
send wireless distress signals or main-
tain critical functions.

Optimize Energy Across The Business

Schneider Electric and Cisco have partnered to save energy by monitoring and managing energy consump-
tion within all building assets. The combined solution will use Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure technology
that delivers energy management for power, data centers, processes and machines, building controls,
and physical security into a single framework. Cisco will integrate its EnergyWise technology into the
EcoStruxure to let you manage the energy for the electricity using devices in your company. For example,

40 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

ESSENTIAL BUSINESS TECH

EXECUTIVES, PROFESSIONALS & ENTREPRENEURS

you can control the power to HVAC, lighting, security, PCs, and other IT de-
vices. The ability to monitor, control, and report energy usage across the entire
business area will let you more intelligently utilize the energy and benefit from
new sources of energy savings.

Zero Client Monitor

Samsung and Cisco have partnered to create a virtual desktop infrastructure,
which means that employee workstations would consist solely of a monitor,
keyboard, and mouse. Samsung recently released its NC220, which is a monitor
that receives power and data over a standard Ethernet cable. Cisco's virtual
client functionality is built right into the monitor, so there's no need for a local
desktop computer or notebook because all data is sent from the server. The low-
power LED panel in the NC220 uses a maximum of 51 watts of power, which is significantly
less power than workstations with a traditional computer and monitor setup. The NC220
can also integrate with Cisco IP phone for greater savings.

New Cooling Technology

The Air Bearing Heat Exchanger from Sandia National Laboratories is a new type of air cooler for computers
and other microelectronics that could significantly reduce the amount of energy needed to cool processors.
With a traditional CPU cooler, there's a grouping of fins that cool air is blown across, which requires a separate
fan, to dissipate heat. The major downfall of the fin design is that there's a layer of hot air that sticks to the fins,
and the fins can also collect dust that reduces effectiveness over time. The Air Bearing Heat Exchanger builds
the fan and cooling fins into the heatsink, so in effect it's a spinning heatsink. The centrifugal force reduces
the hot air barrier by up to 10 times, thus increasing cooling performance. There's also no need for heat pipes,
which allows the CPU cooler to be much smaller than today's air coolers.

Solar Tablet Case

The Spark Solar Tablet Case from Voltaic Systems can provide one hour of video playback on the iPad
for every hour the case is in direct sunlight. The tablet case can also charge the BlackBerry Playbook,
T-Mobile G-Slate, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Asus Transformer, and other handheld devices, such as smart-
phones. Solar panels in the tablet case generate as much as 8W of power, and
you can access battery power from the internal battery that is fully charged
after 10 hours in direct sunlight. Voltaic indicates that the Spark Solar
Tablet Case stores enough energy to fully charge an iPad. If the sun
isn't out and you want to charge the case, you can do so via the USB
ports. To help you store cables and power adapters, there's a built-in
mesh pocket. We also like that the case's shell is made from recycled
PET (pop bottles).

New Coolcentric Cooler

Coolcentric is a company that makes cooling products for data centers,
and it recently announced the RDHx (Rear Door Heat Exchanger),
which replaces the standard rear door of an IT rack enclosure with pas-
sive liquid cooling technology. Coolcentric indicates that the RDHx can
reduce data center power costs for cooling by up to 90% when compared
to traditional IT cooling options. The chilled water inside the RDHx circulates to
provide cooling directly at the equipment source, so you don't need to incorporate ducting,
chimneys, end of row doors, pressurized raised floors, or hot-aisle /cold-aisle setups. Another benefit is that
there are no fans, which further reduces energy consumption and noise, as well as the need for air handling.
Hot air exhausted by the rack-mounted equipment will pass through the RDHx, which dissipates the heat
so that cool air can flow around the rack into the rest of the data center.

PC Today / September 2011 41

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

KEY POINTS

▲ The integration of per-
sonal mobile devices (aka
BYOD) into the workplace
is an inescapable issue
that companies of all
sizes must address in their
devices strategies.

A Expanding your strategy
to include a BYOD compo-
nent will result in produc-
tivity enhancements and
may reduce mobile device
expenditures, as well.

▲ User policies — even if
very short and basic — must
define the parameters for
personnel, and companies
must ensure everyone reads
and signs off on them.

A Firms whose policies
are outdated or out of sync
should begin tweaking
them immediately to
reduce their risk of corpo-
rate exposure.

s Your Mobile Strategy

UP TO DATE?

Attitude Shifts Create Challenges & Opportunities

Just a few years ago, mobile strategies for busi-
nesses were fairly simple. Industry wisdom
suggested that businesses give employees a
BlackBerry, if anything, and use (or pay for third-party
hosting of) a BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) to
manage them. Since many employees' personal phones
were just that — phones — rather than mini mobile com-
puters, businesses pretty much ignored them.

Fast forward to the present, and you'll find that the
situation has changed dramatically. A prolonged reces-
sion and the explosion of iOS (Apple) and Android
(Google) smartphones has completely upset the busi-
ness mobile phone cart. BlackBerry-maker Research
in Motion has seen its sales drop sharply, with market
share dropping from more than 50% in 2009 to just
under 25% in May 2011 per industry analyst comScore.

a Small businesses may try to
manage their mobile devices
in-house with fewer resources, so they
are not as comfortable with allowing a
wide array of devices."

Greg Potter,

research analyst, In-Stat

During the same period, businesses have become
increasingly reliant on mobile devices. According
to a May 2011 survey by McAfee and Carnegie
Mellon University, 49% of respondents claimed to
be "very" or "extremely" reliant on mobile devices,
and that reliance has increased in the past year to
70%. Furthermore, workers are increasingly bringing
personal devices to work and, according to an April
2011 report commissioned by Unisys and conducted
by IDC, using them at twice the rate reported by
employers. It's clear that companies of every size are
grappling with how to adapt or create a mobile policy
strategy that is nimble and flexible and encourages
productivity while protecting company interests.

Strategy vs. Policy

For the purposes of this article, strategy is your
total plan for deploying, managing, and securing
mobile devices in the workplace. Policy, which we
consider to be the specific ground rules by which
employees may use mobile devices, is a big part of
strategy. However, strategy also requires decisions
about which devices you'll purchase and how you
will manage them, whether or not employees can use
their own devices, how you will handle maintenance
and lifecycle replacements, and what happens to

42 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

devices when they become lost, stolen, or obsolete, or
when an employee leaves the company.

Ready, Set, Strategize

So do you have a formal strategy in place? Have
you updated it recently or do you plan to do so soon?
According to Greg Potter, research analyst with In-Stat
(www.instat.com), small businesses are more likely
than their enterprise brethren to have inflexible or
outdated strategies and policies for mobile devices — if
they have any at all. They are also less likely to support
a BYOD (bring your own device) strategy.

"I believe the majority of small businesses are pur-
chasing phones rather than letting employees bring
their own devices," says Potter. "Enterprises have
better IT departments and economies of scale." Potter
notes that enterprises can usually afford to either
deploy robust in-house management of devices as
part of their strategies, or use third-party hardware or
software solutions for device management (including
not only security, but also inventory and lifecycle
management). "Small businesses may try to manage
their mobile devices in-house with fewer resources,
so they are not as comfortable with allowing a wide
array of devices," says Potter.

Even among medium-sized and larger firms,
adapting strategies to match realities has been
slow. According to the Unisys/IDC report cited
earlier, fewer than half of employers allow per-
sonnel to use their smartphones to access business
systems. This is despite the fact that 96% of mobile
workers under age 45 have a smartphone (and 91%
of those over 55 have one), according to a survey by
enterprise mobility services provider iPass.

Whether or not to permit network access from em-
ployee devices is a crucial decision because the types
of devices you allow — and how you provide them (or
don't) — is the key driver for the rest of your mobile
device strategy.

Bring It

BYOD is garnering more attention right now than
any other aspect of mobile device strategy. In fact,
everyone with whom we spoke considers it an ines-
capable aspect of mobile policy strategy.

John Herrema, senior VP of corporate strategy
for mobile device management provider Good
Technology (www.good.com), says, "[Our] customers
increasingly understand that if they don't proactively
define their corporate BYOD policy, then end users
will do it for them — without their participation and
without consideration for the company's security,
compliance, and data loss prevention requirements."

Herrema adds, "When virtually every one of
your employees owns an iPhone, iPad, or Android

device, you really have no choice but to develop a
BYOD policy and strategy." Herrema is right; the
Unisys-IDC study we cited indicates 95% of informa-
tion workers have used at least one personal device in
conjunction with their work.

Forcing employees to use a specific device is not
the best choice in terms of productivity, either, ac-
cording to Allen Nogee, research director with In-Stat.
"Most people do not like carrying two phones, and if

a The blending of business and
personal is very fuzzy and it is
only getting fuzzier as we go forward."

Allen Nogee,

research director, In-Stat

they carry one after hours it will likely be personal,"
he says. "That means they cannot conduct business
after hours, which companies love them doing. The
blending of business and personal is very fuzzy and it
is only getting fuzzier as we go forward."

If you are not convinced yet, consider this: Per the
McAfee survey, 63% of employees are using business-
issued devices for personal activities. So, either way,
you cannot escape addressing the merger of personal
and business in the smartphone era.

a When virtually every one of your
employees owns an iPhone,
iPad, or Android device, you really have
no choice but to develop a BYOD policy
and strategy."

John Herrema,

senior VP of corporate strategy, Good Technology

Financial Modeling

If BYOD is a given, how does that affect your finan-
cial model? That depends on your needs and budget,
but everyone says finances should be incorporated into
your strategy. Potter says BYOD can substantially re-
duce device expenditures, freeing up money for other
things, including more robust device management.

San Francisco-based Active Interest Media (www
.aimmedia.com), an early adopter of BYOD, lets em-
ployees bring their own devices to work at their own
expense. "Our policy is 'in exchange for us allowing
you to bring your device and us setting it up, you pro-
vide the device and we cover up to half of the monthly
data plan, ,,, says Nelson Saenz, director of IT.

Potter says businesses that want to purchase and
provide devices can do so inexpensively by negotiating

PC Today / September 2011 43

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

with carriers. However, he says it's not really necessary
if employers address the other aspects of letting em-
ployees BYOD. He also points out that providing de-
vices leads to expenses in another area — maintenance
and lifecycle replacement.

Replace Or Repair It

Businesses should ensure their strategy addresses
whether or not they will underwrite the cost of war-
ranty protection for device repair and /or replacement,
Potter says. "The lifecycle of a smartphone is roughly
18-32 months. If a company-supplied phone breaks,
the firm should have service plans set up through the
carriers. If an employee brought it, then the employee
is usually responsible for anything that breaks." Saenz
says the latter is ATMs approach, and he has not expe-
rienced any pushback.

Manage It

One of the most crucial components of your
strategy is device management and security. Many
larger firms use third-party providers, such as Good
Technology, for Android and iOS devices, and run
BES for BlackBerrys. Saenz likes this approach be-
cause it's easy and it effectively provides a default
user policy as part of the service. Numerous companies
provide third-party management and administration

SMARTPHONE AND
HANDSET SPENDING

According to a 201 report from electronics
industry research firm ELECTRONICS. CA
PUBLICATIONS, smartphone and handset
purchases by businesses will drop between
2009 and 2014. This is likely a result, at least
in part, of the consumerization of IT.

Smartphone Spending
By 5-99 Employee Firms

Handset Spending
By All Firms

Current 2014

SMARTPHONES & TABLETS FOR BUSINESS

According to the results of the Unisys/IDC report, use of smartphones and tablets by
employees for business purposes is nearly twice what IT managers believe.

■ 2011 i Worker survey

■ 2011 Business Survey

Chart data source: IDC

80%

70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

69%

347o

"!" 6%

^^M

Smartphones

Tablets

of devices, and even large enterprises with the ap-
propriate resources are finding it easier and more
efficient to outsource management tasks, often to
Web-based solutions. However, for small companies
these solutions can be cost-prohibitive.

Nogee says management and security are work-
able for even the smallest of firms. He points out that
there are device security solutions available at every
level, starting with the native support for remote lock
and wipe available in most smartphones. He also says
developing a clear, if short, device user policy and
getting employees to read and sign it is a strategic
component that cannot be overlooked. "If someone
wants to intentionally get around the system, they
will/' says Nogee. "But having clear rules makes it
easier for people to do the right thing/'

Work With It

One of the least addressed but most contentious
aspects of mobile device strategy is app usage. Mobile
workers want to use Facebook and Twitter to reach
customers on their devices, but company policy
might forbid using these "social" apps. If they find a
time management application, they want to down-
load and use it— without having to get it cleared first.

In the Unisys /IDC survey, users rated their or-
ganizations' support for consumer applications and
other enhancers such as social media between 2.4
and 2.8 on a 5-point scale. Their ranking of corporate
content/app creation was equally dismal — 2.5 out of
5. Fortunately, third-party vendors are making great
strides in facilitating the process of connecting mobile
users to corporate applications and other resources.

Once such company is Webalo (www.webalo
.com). The company offers a Web-based environ-
ment that guides administrators, step-by-step,
through the process of connecting to enterprise re-
sources, choosing the content and tasks that users
want to access on their smartphones, and generating
an interface for mobile users' devices through which
they can connect directly and securely.

Plan For It

If you've realized that you're missing some big
pieces of the mobile device strategy puzzle, start
changing that, right now. Make a plan, with a time-
line, for addressing BYOD. Consider the management
implications and benefits such as cost savings and
incorporate those into your strategy at the same time.

In exchange, you'll gain substantial increases in
worker satisfaction and productivity. After all, 35% of
mobile workers report checking their email as the first
thing they do in the morning before anything else — in-
cluding getting dressed or eating breakfast. Wouldn't
you prefer it's your business email they are checking? ▲

44 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

Mobile Device Security

Avoid Cracks In Your Mobile Armor

obile devices are popular targets for spy-
ware, malware, and theft. It's important
to make sure you have the best possible
security measures in place to avoid damage, data
loss, and more. Here are 10 tips that will help you
keep your mobile devices safe.

1 . Update your device's software. Mobile devices
have multiple security features built into their oper-
ating systems and software. One of the best ways to
keep your phone safe is to make sure your OS and
firmware are up-to-date.

2. Lock your device with a password. Most de-
vices have some type of password feature that
will prevent others from accessing them. Some of
these password protection measures even have the
ability to lock your device or delete all of its data
after too many failed password attempts.

3. Don't install apps from unknown vendors.

Read customer reviews and research app makers
before downloading anything. Most apps are
screened and safe, but there is always a chance that
a potentially malicious app can get through.

4. Install trusted security apps with features
that will complement your device's built-in
tools. For instance, Trend Micro's Mobile Security
app (one-year subscription, $29.99; free 30-day
trial available; us.trendmicro.com) includes anti-

malware, Web security, and more for
Android devices.

5. If you're using a business smart-
phone or tablet, make sure you know
your company's policies and whether
or not information sent to and from
your device is encrypted. Encryption is
a great way to secure transmissions and
prevent data loss.

6. Many businesspeople use their mobile
devices to access private company net-
works. If you do this, make sure you sign
out after use and don't stay connected to
the network for longer than necessary.

7. Avoid storing critical information
on your mobile device as much as
possible. If it's a laptop or tablet, that's difficult
to avoid so encryption and password protection
may be the best options. For smartphones, try not
to save important documents, credit card infor-
mation, or other data on the device, at least not
without a proper backup.

8. Don't save passwords on your mobile device
and make sure you sign out of all accounts after
use. Erase your Internet browsing history peri-
odically, as this will prevent saved passwords from
getting stolen if you lose your device.

Trend Micro's Mobile
Security app for Android
devices adds an extra level of
protection with tools, such as
anti-malware, Web browsing
security, call and text mes-
sage filtering, and security
passwords.

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■

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Find My iPhone, from Apple, works with iPhones and iPads so you
can locate your device and remotely wipe the hard drive if it gets lost
or stolen.

9. Install a tracking app or location software so
you can track your device if it is lost or stolen.

Apple created a free app called Find My iPhone
(which also works with iPads) that will let you
track the location of your iOS devices. This type
of app can be helpful if you accidently leave your
device in a coffee shop or other location.

10. Install a data-wipe app on your mobile device.

If worse comes to worse and you believe your de-
vice may be permanently lost or stolen, it's good
to be able to remotely wipe the data from it as a
last resort. Find My iPhone does exactly that in ad-
dition to locating your device. Mobile devices can
be replaced, but it's crucial to protect the sensitive
information stored on them. ▲

PC Today / September 2011 45

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

0% In The Market

For Tablet Computers?

Best Buy For Business™ Offers Some Advice

Tablet computers are great tools for busi-
ness, but there are many factors you should
consider before buying a tablet (or a fleet
of tablets) for you or your company. According to
Best Buy For Business, it is important to begin by
considering the ways in which a tablet would im-
prove mobility and productivity — both inside and
outside of the office — based on how you work now.

How To Meet Your Own Needs

Start, for example, by considering your office
environment: What products, software, and services
are already in use that a tablet must be able to inte-
grate with? What capabilities do you expect a tablet
to add to the mix? Then, consider working beyond
the office: What must a tablet be able to do to make it
worthwhile for your company's employees? Which
accessories, connectivity options, storage, and apps
are required for maximum mobile productivity?

In terms of hardware, there are some areas in
which there is little difference between tablets.
Processors and memory, for example, don't vary
greatly from one model to another. In other areas

. . . there are distinct differences to look for, such as storage
capabilities, display size and weight, video and display, and battery.

R BUSINESS

there are distinct differences to look for, such as
storage capabilities (the typical range is between 16
and 64GB built in, but also look for the ability to add
storage cards or plug in an external drive via USB),
display size and weight (these are often linked, as
larger displays typically add more heft), video and
display (video and Web rendering, as well as reso-
lution, vary), and battery (most models advertise
between four and 10 hours per charge).

It's All About OS & Apps

Companies today have a constellation of com-
puting devices from which to choose: desktops, lap-
tops, and smartphones, as well as tablets. The key
to making them all work well for your company is
to make sure they all work well together. If your
company already manages smartphones running a

given platform — Android, BlackBerry, iOS, webOS,
or Windows Phone 7, for instance — it can be easier to
choose tablets that run corresponding OSes. Doing so
simplifies integration, deployment, and management.

And then there are apps, which make tablets so
versatile and valuable for business. Tablets usually
have a few built-in productivity apps, such as a
Web browser and email client. Business users may
want to access Web-based email and install a file
manager and notepad. There are thousands of ad-
ditional apps available for every type of tablet that
will turn them into productivity machines.

On iPad, for example, Best Buy For Business
recommends the office suite for iOS, including
Numbers, Pages, and Keynote. Android has a
variety of office suites, including Quickoffice,
Documents To Go, and Web-based Google Docs,
that make working on the go much easier. And
Windows-based tablets support mobile versions of
Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. There is also a wide
range of productivity apps available for BlackBerry
and webOS, and there are apps for all platforms that
can sync with popular desktop business software.

Tablet Services From Best Buy For Business

Product support doesn't stop after you pur-
chase a tablet. Geek Squad® offers an onsite setup
service so you can get devices running and ready
to use quickly, plus services that can help improve
your tablet and protect it for years to come.

Geek Squad Black Tie™ Protection plans can
cover a range of issues from normal wear and tear
and battery replacement to accidental damage
from handling and power surges. And if your
tablet is ever lost or stolen, Geek Squad has a
Locked & Found service that helps lock your
tablet from use, track it down, and have it re-
turned to you with as little hassle as possible.

Try Before You Buy

Best Buy For Business recommends that, whatever
your particular requirements, you get some hands-on
time with tablets before you decide what to purchase.
Visit any Best Buy® store to get a feel for the latest tab-
lets and advice from Best Buy associates. ▲

46 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

© 201 1 BBY Solutions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. | BEST BUY, the BEST BUY logo, the tag design, BEST BUY FOR BUSINESS and GEEK SQUAD are trademarks of BBY
Solutions, Inc. | Geek Squad Black Tie Protection plans are available at a variety of prices and coverage levels. Additional terms and conditions apply. Please refer to the
actual plan terms and conditions for a complete description of the limitations of the offer.

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FOR BUSINESS

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

The State Of 4G

Where It's At & Where It's Going

The buzz around 4G has been building for
the last few years. Wireless providers have
been promising better network connec-
tions, better data transfer speeds, and an overall
highly improved mobile experience. The wireless

a This [4G] revolution suddenly
becomes compelling for a whole
new world of applications on phones
—but also with newer, non-traditional
ways of connecting things wirelessly."

Jeffrey Nelson

executive director of corporate communications,
Verizon Wireless

carriers have started rolling out their 4G networks
and a continuous stream of new products is being
released to take advantage of everything 4G has
to offer.

However, some questions remain. Why has it
taken so long to update wireless networks to 4G?
What are its real benefits? What should mobile
users expect from 4G in the near future? Well an-
swer these questions and get you up to speed on
the current state of 4G technology.

Early Struggles & Recent Breakthroughs

The biggest challenges facing 4G in the be-
ginning were updating the existing infrastruc-
ture; adding new technology, towers, etc.; and
extending the range of the network so it could
reach the maximum amount of customers. And
although the process has become easier over
time, some wireless carriers are still trying to
overcome obstacles.

"We continue to work through some issues/'
said Jeffrey Nelson, executive director of corporate
communications at Verizon Wireless. 'The biggest
backhaul has been in some smaller communities

48 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

and in more rural areas, but we're ahead of the
schedule we set for ourselves back in 2009."

But even though companies are facing this
struggle and many others, Verizon claims its 4G LTE
network covers 110 million Americans in 38 "major
metro areas" with plans to extend that number to
76 soon, and Sprint claims that its own 4G network
covers 130 million Americans in 71 markets. The fact
that the technology behind 4G networks was only
announced as recently as five years ago shows how
much of an emphasis companies are placing on 4G.
And if the numbers are any indication, these carriers
are succeeding at providing 4G coverage to as many
people as possible and there are still regions that they
hope to reach in the very near future.

Definition & Benefits

The term "4G" literally translates to fourth gen-
eration, meaning it is the fourth and most recent
wireless standard. 4G networks are being designed
to provide mobile broadband speeds that are up to
10 times faster than 3G and give users the ability
to use smartphones, laptops, netbooks, and tab-
lets with connections a little closer to what they
would expect at home. Data transfer speeds will
also be improved and many carriers claim that 4G
speeds can top out at over 10Mbps with around 4
to 6Mbps being the average data transfer speed that
most users should expect. In short, 4G will make
surfing the Web, watching videos, checking email,
and making phone calls a faster overall experience.

But speed isn't the only benefit that 4G provides.
Sprint, for instance, lets users connect up to eight
devices from one access point, whether it is a mo-
bile hotspot or other device. "All of our 4G smart-
phones function as a hotspot allowing connectivity
for anywhere from five to eight devices," said Todd
Rowley, vice president, 4G wholesale and business
development at Sprint.

The faster speeds and better connections
could also lead to new software and applications.
According to Nelson, there is only so much that
carriers can do to encourage the growth of 4G and
it really comes down to third-party device manu-
facturers and app developers "to meet the demands
of new markets." And some of these new markets
can use 4G technology to improve communication
and make conferencing faster and easier.

"4G allows for a smoother video viewing experi-
ence, making remote videoconferencing a realistic
option," said Rowley. "Since the network better
serves data needs for consumers and businesses, a
variety of categories can benefit, such as healthcare
and wellness, public safety, sustainability, and con-
nected transportation."

Devices

Because 4G networks offer different speeds and
connection types than their 3G counterparts, 4G
devices also have to be manufactured differently
to meet the network's potentials. New radios and
antennas have been integrated into phones so they
have the best possible connection to the network.
Some tablets, laptops, and netbooks have new
built-in 4G capabilities so they can connect directly
to the Internet without the use of a hotspot.

Because 4G networks can provide higher-quality
video and let devices be even more multifunctional
than they currently are, the design of 4G devices
also needs to change. Rowley said that these de-
vices need to feature "bigger display screens, faster
processors, more powerful batteries, and larger

a Wireless technologies set the
rhythm of our world. Speed and
mobility mean everything here. The
faster you can do something and the
more places you can do it from, the
better off you'll be in this world."

Todd Rowley

vice president, 4G wholesale and business development,

Sprint

memory" so that users can have the "ultimate high-
bandwidth multimedia experience."

Smartphones were among the first 4G devices to
be introduced and have been taking advantage of 4G
networks for the longest time, but there has been a re-
cent surge in the tablet market and many new tablets
are 4G-compatible out of the box. The introduction of
mobile hotspots that use wireless mobile networks
to provide a Wi-Fi connection to multiple devices
has made it easier to connect Wi-Fi-only laptops, net-
books, and tablets to 4G networks.

The Future Of 4G

4G networks will only continue to get better as
time goes on and companies learn how to use its
full potential. And as 4G becomes available in more
areas, people should expect to see more devices,
software, and applications that take advantage of it.
Network speeds will increase and, in fact, there are
some recently released and soon to be released 4G
modems that could someday be an alternative to
landline-based Internet services.

The future of 4G is dependent upon the apps and
devices that will be released in the coming years. One
thing is for certain, the consumer and business worlds
are moving closer to being completely wireless-based
and 4G is another step in that direction. ▲

PC Today / September 2011 49

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

For Your Tablet

The Latest Software & Updates

Have you been
waiting for Skype for
the iPad? It's finally
here, and you can
place Internet calls,
chat face-to-face,
or instant message
from your i Pad 2.

The tablet market and, along with it, the
market for tablet apps are growing each
day. With your busy schedule in mind, we
scouted the app stores and compiled a list of some
of the most important and useful apps, tablet OS
updates, and app tweaks.

Android Rolls Out Several
Honeycomb Updates

Android (www.android.com) developers have
announced additions to the Honeycomb plat-
form, making the 3.2 version an incremental re-
lease. The update optimizes the operating system
so it can provide a more consistent user experi-
ence across a broad range of tablets. For any apps
that aren't designed for tablet-sized interfaces,
Honeycomb 3.2 incorporates a new "compat-
ibility zoom mode" to scale pixels for a larger
screen. This alteration is available in the System
bar via the Menu icon. Android 3.2 also makes it
possible to use SD loading directly to any apps
that support SD cards.

Motorola Xoom Receives Android 3.2

Verizon Wireless (www.verizonwireless.
com) had made available the HTJ85 update for
the Motorola Xoom tablet. Customers who down-
load the Xoom update will enjoy the new screen
scaling compatibility mode (in
addition to sub-window and
drop-down menu doubling),
SD card support for multimedia
uploads, and SD card writing
via PC or Mac connection.
Adaptive streaming for movies
will include automatic bit rate
adjustment based on band-
width. Verizon has made im-
provements to movie rental app
stability and screen resizing ca-
pabilities when watching films
using an HDMI connection. Users should notice
ActiveSync and security enhancements, as well.

Google Launches
Tablet-Friendly Search Interface

Browsing Google (www.google.com) search re-
sults on a tablet just got a lot easier. Based on the

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Google has modified its search pane so tablet users can
navigate more easily.

evolution of the overall Google design and ex-
perience, Google says it has changed the layout
of its search engine for easier tablet navigation.
Users will see large text, buttons, and other touch-
sensitive targets, whether viewing the display in
landscape or portrait view. Touch the Search drop-
down menu and you can quickly access result
categories for Images, Videos, News, Shopping,
Books, Places, Blogs, Discussions, Recipes, and
Patents. Image previews should appear larger, load
faster, and scroll without delay. This design will be
available for iPad as well as Android devices using
Honeycomb 3.1/3.2.

Skype Comes To The iPad

Compatible with iPad 2 running iOS 4.0 or later,
the new Skype app (free; www.skype.com) lets
users make voice calls, engage in video chats, or
exchange instant messages via Wi-Fi or 3G. Current
Skype account holders can simply sign in with their
Skype username and password, and then browse
recent calls or instant messages in History. Free
features include face-to-face and back camera func-
tionality, Skype-to-Skype calling, and emoticons
for instant messages. By paying additional fees you

50 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

Android 3.2 is now available for the Motorola Xoom tablet.
This update to Honeycomb features screen scaling compatibility,
multimedia SD card uploads, and adaptive stream for movies.

can get an online number from Skype for your iPad
and call landlines or mobile devices.

HP TouchPad Owners Can Update To
WebOS 3.0.2

The webOS 3.0.2 upgrade improves the opera-
tional stability and security of the HP TouchPad (www
.hpwebos.com). Bug fixes and enhancements apply
to the Calendar, Email, Music, Photos & Videos, Text
Assist, and Web. Users will experience quicker Just
Type event search and creation. In Email you'll be able
to scroll faster and better manage Draft and Outbox
views. The update also cuts down on the number of
audio skips when you're running other apps. You can
set wallpapers and work with individual photos and
albums more quickly. And when you text, you should
notice more streamlined auto-corrections. Lastly,
browser fixes include greater scrolling compatibility on
Web pages and better playback of HTML5 video.

Pandigital Announces
A Triple Tablet Release

A new family of media tablets from Pandigital
(www.pandigital.net) is on the tablet market, and
they come with a load of multimedia capabilities. The
series includes the Pandigital Wi-Fi-enabled Planet
($189), Nova ($189), and Star ($159); a fourth tablet,
SuperNova, should be in stores after press time.
Sporting 7-inch color touchscreens, the first three tab-
lets include the Cortex A9 processor, 3D graphics, and
up to 32GB of memory card support. Both the Planet
and Star run the Android 2.2 OS, while the Nova
operates with Android 2.3. The former two also have
a display resolution of 600 x 800, whereas the Star
sports an 800 x 480 widescreen display. Each model
includes apps and content from Barnes & Noble's
eStore, the Getjar free app store, and Facebook,
among others, as well as Email, Music, Camera,
ES File Explorer, U-Player (YouTube access), and
OfficeSuite Viewer apps. The tablet also includes
HDMI output for large-screen viewing.

OS 1.0.7 Update Available
For BlackBerry Playbook

BlackBerry's OS 1.0.7 update brings several
enhancements and features to the BlackBerry
PlayBook (www.rim.com). The update makes
it possible to save attachments to an SD card or to
your BlackBerry smartphone's internal memory via
the BlackBerry Bridge app on your tablet. When the
app is bridged, you're able to retrieve email attachment
ZIP files (or download them from an email to your
BlackBerry's SD card) and then extract compressed
contents for viewing or editing on your PlayBook.
PlayBook users now have portrait and landscape sup-
port for images snapped with the PlayBook or im-
ported from your computer. The update lets you pinch
to zoom to watch videos in greater detail, as well.
BlackBerry also added support for 15 new languages.

Evernote Now Optimized For Android Tablets

Evernote (free; www.evernote.com) released a ver-
sion of its organizational note-taking app that's de-
signed especially for Android-based tablets. The Home
screen offers a Snippet View interface so you can
browse and add notes. When you tap the New Note
button and open a blank note, you'll see more buttons
on the bottom of the virtual keyboard purposed for
taking a photo, recording audio, and attaching a file.
Single note view reveals individual notes and sidebars
you can scroll through to see more information, and
then you can share your notes via Facebook, another
Android app, or via email. Tapping the map icon in a
note will review the Map View screen, so you can find
the locations of the notes
you've saved.

Zinio Newsstand
App Android-
Compatible

In mid-June Zinio
(free; www.zinio.com)
announced that its app
for periodicals was
available for Android
3.0 Honeycomb tablets.
Now, anyone with an
Android 2.2 Froyo or 2.3
Gingerbread tablet can
use Zinio's app. With a
selection of more than
100,000 issues from 1,000
magazine publishers, Zinio
users can interact with rich
media pages and infographics. Zinio's
version update also fixes some general bugs
and supports the "move to SD card" feature. ▲

The BlackBerry PlayBook is
now running the Tablet OS
1.0.7, which adds more data
transfer capabilities thanks
to the BlackBerry Bridge app.

PC Today / September 2011 51

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

The Future Of
Universal Chargers

One Cable For All

Although attempts have been made to create
universal chargers in the past, many of us
still find ourselves traveling with multiple
chargers for all of our portable devices. "The problem
with chargers for mobile devices has been that every
time you buy a new device, you need a new charger.
This means enormous amounts of waste. We are
all familiar with the drawer at home filled with
chargers from different manufacturers," says Toby
Johnson, senior communications officer for the ITU

a The goal is a detachable cable
with standardized end connec-
tors that will allow connection to de-
vices, including all mobile phones and
other handheld devices."

Toby Johnson,

senior communications officer, International Telecommunica-
tions Union Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

(International Telecommunications Union; www.itu
.int) Telecommunication Standardization Bureau. In
this article, we'll examine what issues have plagued
universal chargers in the past and how companies are
moving to more truly universal power.

Power Problems

As of October 2009, there were around 30 different
types of mobile phone connectors on the market.
And the sheer number of different power connec-
tors meant that any universal charger must include
(or make optional) a wide variety of adapters, be-
cause a single device would have been too bulky if
it had every mobile connector built into the charger.
Additionally, any universal charger design would
need to be adaptable enough to support any fu-
ture standards that may come along, so removable
adapters also made sense to provide future support.

To fix the problem, the ITU approved the
Universal Charging Solution, which was designed by
the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission)
and GSM A (Groupe Speciale Mobile Association).

The new standard for power connectors in mobile
devices meant that mobile phone operators moved to
a micro-USB plug on mobile phones. Now, popular
vendors such as HTC, LG, Nokia, Samsung, and
Vodafone all support the micro-USB standard. The
full scale adoption of micro-USB has helped to reduce
waste by cutting down on the number of chargers
produced and thrown away when people buy a new
mobile phone.

However, there's still some charger fragmentation
in the market, and for every vendor who opts for a
proprietary connector, the more adapters a universal
charger will need to offer. For example, the various
Apple devices available today all use the Apple Dock
Connector, rather than the micro-USB standard.
Other types of devices, such as tablets and portable
music or video players, have suffered from a lack of a
single standard. Fortunately, the ITU has recently up-
dated its one-size-fits-all universal charging standard
to cover a wider variety of devices.

The new Universal Charging Solution is, says
Johnson, "a detachable cable with standardized end
connectors that will allow connection to devices,
including all mobile phones and other handheld
devices — MP3/MP4 players, tablet computers, cam-
eras, wireless headphones, GPS devices, etc. This
also means that it can be used for data transfer,
avoiding an unnecessary duplicate cable and thus
further reducing costs and e-waste." Johnson goes
on to say, "This standard will put an end to the uni-
versal charger problem by offering a one-size-fits-all
product. It means the potential elimination of 51,000
metric tons of redundant chargers, and a subsequent
reduction of 13.6 million metric tons in greenhouse
gas emissions each year."

A New Eco-Friendly Standard

Besides lowering waste by reducing the number
of chargers created, the ITU has also made efforts
to decrease the no-load power consumption of the
universal charger. Johnson explains, "ITU mem-
bership also agreed to specify a no-load power
consumption of the power adapter below 0.03W,

52 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

The ITU's Universal Charging Solution hopes to
reduce your pile of chargers to a single cable.

which is the most efficient available today." The
ITU expects that the chargers built according to
the new standard will be safer and use eco-friendly
materials, and the user guide will remind people to
unplug their chargers when not in use to reduce the
environmental impact of charging.

Another reason to like the new ITU standard is
that the recommended charging current has been
increased (from 750mA to 1500mA), so you'll spend
a lot less time waiting for your mobile devices to
charge. "We have seen strong industry support and
expect that products using the charger will be avail-
able within a year. Companies including Telecom
Italia, France Telecom-Orange, China Academy of
Telecommunication Research, Research In Motion,
Swisscom, Belgacom, AT&T, Telefonica, TDC,
Huawei, TeliaSonera, and Al Telekom Austria have
already committed to the standard," says Johnson.

A European Standard

In 2009, the CENELEC (European Committee
for Electrotechnical Standardization) and the ETSI
(European Telecommunications Standards Institute)
reached a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding)
with 14 of the world's leading mobile phone pro-
ducers where they would all agree to use the same

chargers for their mobile phones sold in the European
Union. The CENELEC's initiative to create the MoU
was adopted by the IEC, who helped to come up with
the micro-USB power standard.

As of January 2011, the CENELEC published
the new standard for the micro-USB power for
mobile phones. Thus, now all data-enabled mobile
phones sold in Europe will use the same charger
for both power and data transmission with other
USB devices. No matter if you purchase a different
brand of phone, you'll be able to use the micro-USB
charger that worked with your old phone.

Final Thoughts

As vendors continue to adopt the same power
standards for all portable devices, the simpler it
will be for universal charger manufacturers to pro-
vide us with power for multiple devices. No longer
will you need to invest in power chargers that
include an entire packet of power adapters, be-
cause a single standard that everyone adopts will
eliminate the need for the ever-changing power. It's
hoped that one day everyone will be able to carry
a single cable that will meet all of our charging
needs, in which case you'd no longer need a uni-
versal charger. ▲

MP3 PLAYER

TABLET PC

CAMERA

WIRELESS
HEADPHONES

The ITU hopes that all of
these devices will soon uti-
lize the Universal Charging
Solution standard.

SMARTPHONE

PC Today / September 2011 53

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

For Your Smartphone

The Latest Software & Updates

Dolphin's newest version
includes a variety of cool
new features.

You probably rely on your smartphone for
many things, but with new software and
updates, you can improve both the effi-
ciency and functionality of your mobile phone.
Here, well detail the most popular newly released
software and key updates to help you maximize
your smartphone's ability to help you on the road.

New For Android

Travelocity released the Travelocity app (free;
www.travelocity.com) for Android to let you view
your trips and itineraries. For Flight, you'll be able to
check flight status, discover TSA security wait times,
and learn about FAA airport delays. With Hotels,
you'll be able to find nearby hotels or in specific cities,
and you'll be able to sort the lists by price, distance,
and reviews. There's also a Destinations section that's
filled with city guides, restaurant listings, night life
options, and local events.

MoboTap announced version 6.0 of the Dolphin
(free; www.dolphin-browser.com) browser, and
the update includes a variety of new features. One
of the improvements was Dolphin Gesture, which
detects URL links and allows you to open
Web sites with one click. Another new feature
is called Dolphin Webzine, where Web pages
are displayed as a series of thumbnail images.
You can scroll through the Web page using
the intuitive touch interface.

Google+ (free; www.google.com) is now
available for Android, letting users share
information about themselves with specific
groups of people. The app includes many
of the components of the online service, in-
cluding Circles (share thoughts with sets of
friends), Stream (get updates from various
Circle groups), Instant Upload (move the photos
and videos on your phone to Google+ albums),
and Huddle (group messaging for everyone in
the circle).

New For BlackBerry

Need a way to take note of how long you've
been working or figure out your billable hours?
Punch In Punch Out ($1.99 from BlackBerry App

World; www.mellisdesigns.com) from Mellisde-
signs is a time tracking system for projects and cli-
ents. For example, you can keep track of your client
roster (on individual digital business cards), file
projects (put each into a digital folder), and create
job lists (use sticky notes for each step of a project)
within the app. You can digitally clock in when
you start work and clock out when you're finished.

ticketmaster

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The Fraggles

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Sacramento, CA

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The Almond Brothers

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Ticketmaster For BlackBerry 2.0 lets you
tickets for local events.

search and purchase

Punch In Punch Out will automatically come up
with your billable hours for the given task.

It can be tough to line up entertainment for cli-
ents when you're on the go. Ticketmaster recently
released a beta of Ticketmaster For BlackBerry 2.0
(free; www.ticketmaster.com), which includes a
number of upgrades to help you find events where
you are. For example, Ticketmaster 2.0 can use the
GPS signal on your BlackBerry to refine the list of
events where you are located. You can filter events
by date to within the next 31 days. Once selected,
you can pay and confirm order details within the
Ticketmaster app.

iVoiceNote ($2.99; www.idong.ca) from iDong lets
you record voice notes in your BlackBerry calendar,
so you can create voice reminders and tasks with full
details. Rather than create and click through long
sentences of text notes, you'll just need to click one
button to make a voice note and one to listen to your
voice note. You can set the voice note to occur at a
specific day and time, as well.

54 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

New For iOS

Shape Services released Business Card Reader

($0.99; www.shapeservices.com) for the iPhone,
which is an app that scans business cards and uses
character recognition to enter the information on
the card into your iPhone's address book. Business
Card Reader lets you save the
contact into your groups. Access
the built-in browser and you can
locate the contact's Linkedln pro-
file and incorporate it into your
address book. Scanned busi-
ness cards are also kept on the
phone's memory, so you can look
back for other contact details.

FutureTap announced ver-
sion 3.7 for Where To? ($2.99;
www.futuretap.com), which is
designed to quickly find places,
businesses, and entertainment.
Where To? features more than
700 local categories, and it can
locate more than 2,400 brands.
The app is also capable of super-
imposing the images onto the
iPhone's live camera video. New
features in Where To? 3.7 include
the addition of business hours, a directional arrow
on the detail page, and the ability to link the des-
tination to Google Earth. FutureTap indicates that
Where To? supports MotionX GPS drive for direc-
tions in the United States and Canada.

OfficeDrop released the OfficeDrop iPhone
(free; www.officedrop.com) app that lets you turn
your iPhone into a multipage PDF scanner. That
means you can use the iPhone's camera to take
pictures of documents for use as a text-searchable
PDF. After you scan a document, you can apply
labels and share access to the document using
OfficeDrop's cloud filing cabinet.

New For Windows Phone 7

The popular note-taking app Evernote (free; www
.evernote.com) is now available for Windows
Phone 7. Evernote syncs with your online account,
and you'll enjoy Pivot Panels for Notes, Notebooks,
Tags, and Recent Notes. When searching for content,
Evernote can find the text in notes, as well as printed
and handwritten words in images, so you can find
things such as street signs, labels, and name badges.
The app also utilizes Microsoft's Bing Maps to cap-
ture and show where your notes were created. You
can also share notes with Facebook friends.

eWallet GO! ($4.99; www.iliumsoft.com) from
iLium Software provides secure storage for your

New Contact

Business Card Reader is an iPhone app
that scans business cards and uses charac-
ter recognition to input the information
into your iPhone's address book.

key passwords, credit card numbers, and account
information. eWallet GO! can also backup and re-
store your information to Google Docs or Dropbox,
so you'll be able to retrieve it on a PC. iLium
Software encrypts all of your information to make
it so that no one can access the information, even if
you lose your phone. For ease of
use, eWallet GO! offers 29 tem-
plates that let you file your infor-
mation under logical categories.

With Handyscan ($1.99; jdbp
.mobi/handyscan), you can use
your Windows Phone 7 device
as a document scanner and doc-
ument keeper. Key features in-
clude the ability to scan any type
of physical document, optimize
the scanned image to fit your
display, and crop the content.
You can scan multiple pages per
document and save it as a single
file. Scanned documents can be
sent to others via email in either
JPG or PDF format. You can also
scan signatures and electroni-
cally sign documents with your
scanned signature.

New For Multiple OSes

Spotify is a new audio streaming service, and
the Spotify Mobile (free; www.spotify.com) app

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is now available for specific iPhone, Android,
Symbian, and Windows Phone 7 devices. Users
with a free account can wirelessly sync all your
music files, and you can log in to Spotify to search
for tracks. Premium ($9.99 per month) account
users will have access to the Spotify music account
library and the ability to work in an offline mode.
An ad-free Unlimited ($4.99 per month) version is
also available. ▲

Evernote takes advantage of
Windows Phone 7's Pivot Panels
to provide quick access to Notes,
Notebooks, Tags, and Recent Notes.

PC Today / September 2011 55

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

IPHONE APPS

Numbers

Eye-Catching Spreadsheets Designed To Impress

Imagine you have to give a presenta-
tion about your company's quarterly
sales in 20 minutes and all you have is
a list of statistics, no computer, and no-
where to go. Your first instinct may be
to run. But if you own an iPhone with
Apple's Numbers app installed, you
have a much better alternative.

Numbers is a spreadsheet builder with
style. It lets you take any type of in-
formation and put it into a spread-
sheet with accompanying tables,
charts, and more. Entering data is
easy because the app has a specially
designed keyboard with different
input formats and you can enter
text, dates, and other types of infor-
mation. Plus, Numbers has more
than 250 functions, so you'll be able
to easily find the formulas you need.

After entering your data into one
of Apple's 16 included templates,
you can spruce up your spreadsheet
with pie charts, bar graphs, or line
graphs. You can add graphics, im-
ages, and other media to improve the
overall presentation value of your spread-
sheet. The app automatically saves your
project every time you make a change,
so if your phone crashes or you forget to
save, you won't lose any of your work.

Perhaps the best feature of Numbers,
especially for the last-minute presenter,
is the ability to export your spreadsheets
to Numbers '09, Microsoft Excel, or a
PDF. When you're done, you can send
the file to yourself or others via email.
Or, if you have AirPrint capabilities
on your Wi-Fi network, you can print
your spreadsheets wirelessly using a
network-connected printer.

Numbers makes it simple to design
creative spreadsheets on the fly, so your
next impromptu presentation can run a
bit more smoothly. The app also runs
on the iPad and iPod touch.

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56 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

IPHONE APPS

Bitzer Mobile App

Enterprise Mobility Made Easier

Although the use of mobile devices and
connectivity tools, such as 3G and VPN,
lets mobile professionals stay connected
and productive when they are away from
the office, true enterprise mobility is often
an elusive goal for companies. The Bitzer
Mobile App from Bitzer Mobile makes ac-
cessing your company's applications and
data using a mobile device simple.

An administrator downloads an
MVL (Mobile Virtual Layer) package
called "Hello Enterprise" and copies
the code to the company Web server.
Users can download the Bitzer Mo-
bile App on their mobile devices,
launch the app, and log in with their
corporate credentials to access corpo-
rate apps and data.

The Bitzer Mobile App is essen-
tially an EVC (Enterprise Virtual-
App Container), which is a tool that
connects to Web apps through the
MVL and lets users connect na-
tively. After users make the con-
nection, administrators can then
manage each user. For example,
admins can make certain apps avail-
able to certain users based on their roles.
Administrators can manage the MLV in
the cloud or on-premises, depending on
the enterprise's preferences.

Security when connecting remotely is
always a concern, so Bitzer Mobile App
employs a number of security measures.
These include local device data-store en-
cryption, password protection on devices
and the network, single sign-on, certifi-
cate-based server authentication, remote
locking and wiping capabilities, and more.

A lone MVL supports multiple plat-
forms, so remote users can connect with
the mobile device of their choice.

The Bitzer Mobile App takes remote
enterprise mobility to a new level by
giving users native and powerful access to
a company's applications and data.

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PC Today / September 2011 57

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

IPHONE APPS

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Agenda Calendar

$2.99 • 0.8MB
Agenda Calendar (Rel. Aug. 3, 2011) from Savvy
Apps is much more than just a calendar app. You
can add phone numbers and addresses to ap-
pointment and make calls or get directions with
one click.

Pocket Informant
(Calendar & Tasks)

$22.99 • 8.5MB
Pocket Informant (Rel. March 11, 2011) from Web
Information Solutions is highly customizable and
features a calendar, location-based task tracking, and
much more.

99 • 3.2MB

RealVNC's VNC Viewer (Rel. Jan. 28, 2011) lets
you access programs, settings, and a variety of
information on your desktop computer from your
iPhone. Now you can be as productive as possible
when away from your computer.

fc d

Outlook Mail Pro

$7.99 • 4.7MB
Code Before Dawn's Outlook Mail Pro (Rel. Aug. 5,
2011) gives you an easy to use and highly functional
interface for reading and sending emails. It supports
Exchange 2003, 2007, and 2010.

Air Sharing Pro

$6.99 • 14.9MB
Air Sharing Pro (Rel. May 11, 2011) from Avatron
Software lets you turn your iPhone into a wireless
external hard drive for storing and viewing docu-
ments. You can also print and share documents.

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SplashID Safe For iPhone

$9.99 -3MB
SplashID Safe for iPhone (Rel. Aug. 10, 2011) from
SplashData safely stores usernames, passwords,
credit card numbers, account information, and other
sensitive data.

58 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

BLACKBERRY APPS

Panaton Conferencing

Road-Ready Conference Calling

Sometimes it's imperative to gather
members of your team during off-hours.
With its newly released conference calling
solution, Panaton aims to take the hassle
out of doing so. The Panaton Conferencing
app uses an Internet-based system that lets
participants join in using their desktop
computers or mobile devices without
having to supply a related PIN, dial mul-
tiple numbers, or perform other steps.
The app supports Windows, Mac
OS X, and Linux OSes and Windows
Mobile, Android, and JavaME devices.

Sign up for the free version of the
app and you can create and test a
specific number of conference calls,
lasting five minutes each, and sup-
porting a limited number of partici-
pants. Standard ($20 monthly) and
Extended ($35 monthly) plans provide
unlimited calling and such additional
features as support for as many as 12
participants, SMS conference notifica-
tions, the ability to record calls and
access call histories, and more.

Overall, the main thrust of this app is
to make starting, managing, and partici-
pating in conference calls from anywhere
easy. As long as Panaton Conferencing can
identify the caller ID and phone number
you enter for participants when they dial
in to a conference, they are automatically
entered into the call. International calls
are supported, but a valid email address
is required for any participant calling from
a country that doesn't use the +1 interna-
tional call prefix.

Initiating calls involves selecting a
participant's phone number (if available)
from an address book or manually en-
tering a phone number, clicking a green
handset button, and waiting for Panaton
to call the organizer (you) first and then
the other participants. You can also
schedule calls, for which Panaton sends
email notifications to participants.

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PC Today / September 2011 59

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

BLACKBERRY APPS

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J e-Mobile Email

$19.99 -368KB
e-Mobile Software's e-Mobile Email (Rel. June
27, 2011) provides a Microsoft Outlook-like
interface for sorting messages; selecting views;
replying to messages; creating templates
manually or via saved messages; and more.

y Checklists

$1.99 -206KB
Checklists (Rel. June 7, 2011) from Bulbera
manages multiple task lists for your business
trips, vacations, and so on. You can save lists
as templates, sync between templates and lists,
share lists, back up and restore lists, and more.

Call Reminder Notes

$1.99 -309KB
Finmouse Call Reminder Notes (Rel. June 16,
2011) lets you attach a note next to a contact's
name as a reminder. An exclamation point
icon signifies an active reminder, which dis-
plays on-screen during the call.

__y PDF Creator Ultimate

$1.99 -374KB
Ice Cold Apps' PDF Creator Ultimate (Rel.
June 9, 2011) converts images taken with a
BlackBerry's camera or loaded from memory
into PDFs for sharing via email.

J Offline Viewer

Free - 209KB
For BlackBerry PlayBooks, Offline Viewer (Rel.
May 24, 2011) from Aftab enables saving Web
pages to local memory for viewing offline.
Note that downloading pages isn't supported.

MessageForward

$4.99 - 46KB
S4BB Limited's MessageForward (Rel. June
26, 2011) automatically forwards incoming
SMS messages to any email address, backs up
incoming texts, and more.

60 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

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MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

62 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

Paste Here button from the bottom of the screen.
Do this for any notifications and alarms you want
to access from the default menus, making sure to
add the audio files to the respective folders you
just created.

Now you need to unmount and remount your
SD card to make the phone aware of the new files.
Back on the Home screen, press the Menu button.
Tap Settings, Storage, and Unmount SD Card. Tap
OK to complete the operation, then tap Mount SD
Card. Now you can quickly access the ringtones,
alarms, and notifications.

To add a ringtone to a contact, for instance, tap
the dialer icon from the Home screen, press and
hold a contact, and select View Contact. Press the
Menu button, tap Options, and then tap Ringtone.
You'll find that any audio file you dropped into
your Ringtones folder will appear here among the
preinstalled ringtones.

To access the Notifications, press the Menu but-
ton from the Home screen, tap Settings, and then
tap Sound. Scroll to and tap Notification Ring-
tone. Here you'll find any audio file you dropped
into your new Notifications folder.

To find the alarms you just added, access the
apps tray and launch your alarm, clock, or timer
application (will vary by phone). When choosing
an alarm sound (sometimes called Alarm Ring-
tone), you should find your newly added alarms
in the list of default chimes.

■ BlackBerry

ENABLE MASS STORAGE MODE

One of the easiest ways to get files on and
off of your BlackBerry is to enable Mass Stor-
age Mode. With this feature enabled, you can
directly access the microSD card installed in
your BlackBerry, navigate the files, and drag and
drop files without needing to run the BlackBerry
Desktop Manager or other media management
utility. It's a great timesaver.

Video Camera Options

Video Light On

Color Effect Normal!

Video Format Normal (240 x 180)
Folder

L.dia Card/BlackBerry /videos/

FORGOTTEN LOCK PATTERN

If you protect your Android device with a lock pattern, forgetting it can
keep you from accessing your device for anything beyond making emergen-
cy calls. To disable the pattern, just input the wrong pattern five times in suc-
cession, then tap the Forgot Pattern button when it appears (after 30 seconds).
Then, input the Gmail account username and password that corresponds to
the phone's primary account. If you don't have access information, a hard
reset is your only recourse.

Keep your videos or photos organized by changing
their default folders.

To enable Mass Storage Mode, con-
nect your BlackBerry to your PC with
the USB cable. If you see a prompt
asking whether you want to turn on
Mass Storage Mode, select Yes; if you
are not prompted, go to the Home
screen, select Options, select Memo-
ry, and then check your settings. You
should have Media Card Support
set to On, Mass Storage Mode Sup-
port set to On, and Auto Enable Mass
Storage Mode When Connected set to
Yes. Press the Escape key, select Save,
and then press the Escape key again
until you get to the Home screen. To
access the files on the memory card
from the PC, open My Computer (Windows XP)
or Computer (Vista /Windows 7) and then look
in the Removable Devices or Devices With Re-
movable Storage submenus. Double-click the one
labeled BlackBerry.

Now you can open folders such as Music, Pic-
tures, Ringtones, Documents, and Videos, and then
just drag and drop files from a location on your PC
to the BlackBerry. You can also take this opportu-
nity to create new folders and rearrange items as
you see fit.

CHANGE VIDEOS DIRECTORY

Changing the directory into which your videos
are saved is very similar to changing your photo
directory. By default, videos are saved to the micro
SD card in the BLACKBERRY \ VIDEOS directory.
To make a new Videos subfolder, select the Video
Camera icon, press the Menu key, select Options,
highlight the folder icon, and press the trackpad
or trackball. Next, press the Menu key and select
New Folder. Type a name for the folder and then
select OK. Here, too, you can drill down into a
folder tree by selecting the folder, pressing the
trackball or trackpad, and then selecting Open.
You also can back out by selecting the Up folder
and then choosing the Up option. When you've

Brightness

Auto -Brightness

Turning down screen brightness is
a good way to prolong battery life.

PC Today / September 2011 63

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

Fetch New Data

New data will be pushed to your i Phone
from the server.

Fetch

The schedule below is used when push is
off or for applications which do not
support push. For better battery life, fetch
less frequently.

Every 15 Minutes
Every 30 Minutes
Hourly
Manually

Disable Push to lighten your
battery's burden.

selected the folder into which you want new vid-
eos stored, just press the Escape key, select Save,
and then return to the Home Screen.

■ iPhone

BATTERY-SAVING TIPS

Whether you're using your iPhone or not, the
Wi-Fi radio is constantly scanning in the back-
ground and slowly draining your battery To turn
off Wi-Fi, tap Settings, Wi-Fi, and slide the switch
to the Off position.

Turning off 3G is a great way to conserve bat-
tery life, as well. To do this, tap Settings, General,
Network, and set Enable 3G to Off. EDGE (En-
hanced Data for GSM Evolution) and GPRS (Gen-
eral Packet Radio Service) networks will sub for
your data and voice needs. To kill those (which
effectively turns your iPhone into an
iPod touch), slide the cellular data to
the Off position.

Although disabling 3G and cellular
data does a lot for your battery life, it
can be murder on your mobile produc-
tivity and social life. A better way to re-
claim lost CPU cycles is to disable push
notifications. To do this, tap Settings,
Notifications, and the applications that
support notifications to enable or dis-
able Sounds, Alerts, and Badges. If you
want to do a clean sweep, just turn the
Notifications switch to the Off position.
Then, if you want to see what's new on
Facebook or another push-enabled app,
you can launch it and refresh manually.

Your iPhone is designed to only sip ener-
gy, but you can help it along by auto-locking

Tap Turn On Rotation Lock to
prevent the view from rotating
depending on how you're
holding it.

it whenever you're
not using it.
You might think
that powering the
phone off every
time you don't
need it would help,
but the startup pro-
cess is particularly
taxing on the bat-
tery, and typically
you're better off
just auto-locking
it. To do this, press
the lock button in the
top-right corner of
the iPhone.

If you want to kill every wireless signal your
iPhone emits, you could be looking at a substan-
tial battery-saving step, and it's easy to do: Just
enable Airplane Mode. To do this, tap Settings,
and then slide the switch adjacent to Airplane
Mode to the On position.

Another way to really cut down on excessive
battery drain is to decrease the screen bright-
ness. Tap Settings, tap Brightness, and then drag
the slider to the left to dim the screen brightness.
Turning on Auto-Brightness with the switch on
this screen can also help. Doing this causes the
iPhone to automatically adjust brightness based
on the current ambient light conditions.

You may not be aware that using the iPod
Equalizer settings while listening to music and
other audio content can drain the battery. Disable
the EQ by tapping Settings, iPod, EQ, and Off.
Keep in mind that in order to get the same battery-
conserving effect if you changed your EQ settings
in iTunes, you'll have to set EQ on iPhone to Flat
by tapping Settings, iPod, EQ, and Flat.

Disable Bluetooth to conserve even more en-
ergy by tapping Settings, General, and Bluetooth,
and then sliding the switch to the Off position.

Turn off Location Services by accessing Set-
tings and General and then sliding the Location
Services switch to the Off position.

By default, your iPhone's Mail accounts are
set to push notifications, so you get a heads up
the instant an email arrives. But to save your bat-
tery you might want to fetch at intervals of your
choosing. Access Settings; tap Mail, Contacts, Cal-
endars, and Fetch New Data; and move the slider
adjacent to Push to Off. Now you can use the in-
terval settings below to deliver mail less frequent-
ly. Bumping your mail fetch setting to Hourly will
help a bit, but fetching data manually can mean

64 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

MOBILE OFFICE

BUSINESS ON THE ROAD

even greater battery savings. To fetch new data
manually, tap Manually from the Fetch New Data
screen. (Note that this disables the MobileMe Find
My iPhone feature.)

If you're not inclined to fetch less often, then
consider limiting the email accounts that your
iPhone checks. To turn off an email account, ac-
cess Settings; tap Mail, Contacts, and Calendars;
select an email account; and then set the account
to Off. You can also delete an account by accessing
Settings; tapping Mail, Contacts, and Calendars;
selecting the unnecessary email account; and tap-
ping Delete Account.

If your iPhone battery slips below 50% of its
capacity within your first year, or while your Ap-
pleCare extended warranty is still in effect, you
can have your battery replaced free when you set
up an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar.

■ webOS

ROTATION LOCK ON WEBOS 3.0

Palm Pre and Pixi users don't have much oc-
casion to rotate their devices, but TouchPad users
do. For these devices, HP has
implemented a screen ro-
tation lock for those who
prefer to view apps in
either landscape or por-
trait mode. To perform
this operation, just tap
on the top-right corner of
the screen to bring down
the Connections Menu
and tap Turn On Rota-
tion Lock. You'll know
rotation lock is enabled
when the rotation lock
icon appears in the top-
right of the screen. Tap
it again to access the setting and disable screen
rotation lock.

Windows Phone 7

MICROSOFT WORD MOBILE TIPS

One of the best reasons to opt for A Windows
Phone 7 device is to get your hands on Microsoft's
feature-packed mobile Office suite. Read on for sev-
eral tips that'll make using Word Mobile easy.

Create a new document. To create a new Word
Mobile document, flick left from the Start menu to
access the App list, and then tap Office. Next, flick
the screen to the left to access Documents, tap the
plus sign icon adjacent to New Document, and then
tap Word Document. The on-screen keyboard will
appear and you can begin composing right away.

Universal Search is a very
handy feature for webOS users.

UNIVERSAL SEARCH SHORTCUTS

By now you probably rely on Universal Search on your webOS-based de-
vice for finding most things, but you may not have been using it to quickly
launch apps. Below are a handful of app launching shortcuts you can perform
by simply typing the word using your keypad.

• To launch the Messaging app, type sms or text in the search field.

• To view your webOS App Catalog, type store.

• To see the Clock and Date & Time, just type time.

• To view your Contacts, type add.

• To explore your photo gallery, type pic.

• To tap into your Wi-Fi networking settings, type net.

• To launch the Memos app, type note.

• To view your tasks, type todo.

• To view the Calendar menu, type eve.

Open an existing document. To
view and edit existing Word docu-
ments using Microsoft Word Mo-
bile, swipe your finger to the left
on Start to access the apps list, then
tap Office to launch the application.
Swipe left again to access Docu-
ments, and then tap the document
you want from the list of existing
documents. The documents cre-
ated most recently appear at the top
of the list, so if you're looking for
something you haven't accessed re-
cently, you may need to scroll down.
Once viewing a document, you can
pinch to zoom in and spread your
fingers apart on the screen to zoom
back out.

Add a comment. Another useful
feature of Windows Phone 7 users
is the ability to add comments to
documents. To do this on an exist-
ing document, swipe your finger to the left on
Start to access the apps list, and then tap Office
to launch the application. Swipe left again to ac-
cess Documents, and then tap the document into
which you want to insert a comment. Next tap
the Edit icon (it looks like a pencil) and tap the
word or highlight the several words in the docu-
ments upon which you want to comment and tap
the comment icon, which looks like a speech bub-
ble with a plus sign in it. Type your comment and
tap anywhere else in the document to finish the
comment. To view comments, tap the highlight-
ed portion of the text. The commenter's name
will also appear along with the comment. ▲

Creating new office documents
on your Windows Phone 7 device
is easy.

PC Today / September 2011 65

PERSONAL ELECTRONICS

TECH FOR HOME & LEISURE

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Sony Continues To Walk The Walkman

The Walkman line is one of the most recognizable in
the portable audio space, and Sony just keeps on intro-
ducing models to the family. The latest offerings include
three MP3 players in the A, E, and S Series. All sport a
new design and include Media Go software to move
music, videos, and other content from computer to player.
All also integrate Sony's sound-enhancing Clear Audio
Technologies, which include Digital Sound Enhance-
ment Engine, Clear Stereo, and Clear Bass Audio. Notably,
the NWZ-A860 (8GB, $179; 16GB, $219) and NWZ-S760BT
(8GB, $149) support streaming audio and transferring
photos wirelessly via Bluetooth to compatible wireless
headphones, docks, car audio systems, and so on. Dubbed
an "audiophile's dream," the NWZ-A860 also offers a
2.8-inch touchscreen (400 x 240), includes premium
EX earbuds, and integrates new S-Master MX digital
amplifier technology aimed at reducing noise levels and
distortion. The low-end NWZ-E460, meanwhile, comes in
4GB ($79), 8GB ($89), and 16GB ($109) flavors with five
color choices.

Extra! Extra! AOL Introduces Editions

'The Magazine That Reads You." That's how
AOL bills its much-hyped and recently released
Editions digital magazine (editions.com) for the
iPad. Available as a free app in the App Store,
Editions essentially lets readers construct a person-
alized daily magazine containing global, national,
and local content gleaned from 16 topics, including
business, sports, music, travel, health, entertain-
ment, fashion, and technology, that AOL acquires
from various resources (including non-AOL enti-
ties) to deliver at a time of your choosing. Overall,
the intent is to provide users a magazine-like
format consumable in one sitting, such as during
a commute to work, at lunch, or in bed at night.
Additionally, a Daily Calendar feature will sync
Facebook and iCal events, bookmarking abilities
let you save articles for later reading, and Facebook
and Twitter integration provide sharing abilities.
Reportedly, while Editions doesn't include ad sup-
port now it may down the road.

66 September 2011 / www.

PERSONAL ELECTRONICS

TECH FOR HOME & LEISURE

G-Form Goes Extreme With Portfolio

What's so special about G-Form's Extreme Portfolio ($79.95; www
.g-f orm.com)? According to the company, the ruggedized, lightweight,
and water-resistant shell is the world's first portfolio-styled case for
the iPad that uses its RPT (Reactive Protection Technology), a mix of
Poron XRD material and proprietary G-Form design and technology
that together can absorb 90% of an impact's energy. Put another way,
the Extreme Portfolio "stiffens to act like armor in order to offer a high
level of protection." Working in tandem with the Portfolio's beefed-up
exterior is an internal layer of polycarbonate lined on one side and a
pocket holder on the other. Functionality-wise, beyond reverse-zipping
the front cover behind the iPad, the Portfolio can situate in an A-frame
configuration for iPad easel-like landscape or portrait positioning.
Additionally, G-Form states that owners of numerous non-iPad tablet
models can enlist the Portfolio's protection, as well.

Now, For Your Listening Pleasure

Among audio equipment manufacturers, Bowers & Wilkins (www.bowers-wilkins
.com) rates as one of the most respected. Take one look at the company's new C5
In-Ear Headphones ($179.95) and you get a good idea why. Beyond the one-size-
fits-all proprietary Secure Loop design that fixes the cushioned loop in the ear's
inner ridge, the noise-isolating C5 weights down its inner casing with tungsten
to keep the buds firmly in place. Use of a Micro Porous Filter, meanwhile, "acts
as a sonic diffuser" to "open up the sound," which you can control via the C5's
integrated mic/ remote unit. Microsoft's stately new Xbox 360 Wireless Headset
With Bluetooth ($59.99; www.xbox.com), meanwhile, includes both Xbox and
Bluetooth modes to chat on Xbox Live and hear audio from compatible Bluetooth
devices, including mobile phones. Shipping in November, the headset comes with a
micro USB charging cable, three sizes of ear gels, and an ear loop. Battery power is
rated at eight hours talk and 300 hours standby.

One Remote To Rule All

Among the many enticing features Zerol.tv's new VooMote One
universal remote adapter ($99; www.voomote.tv/en) for the
iPhone and iPod touch offers is the ability to customize a chain
of commands for your TV, DVD player, receiver, stereo, and other
electronics gear. For example, after attaching the adapter and down-
loading a related free app from The App Store, you can configure the
VooMote to, say, power up a TV, DVD player, and surround-sound
stereo system all with one click. Nice. Beyond an easy, wizard-driven
setup touted to take just minutes, Zerol.tv states the VooMote One
can automatically capture 30,000-plus infrared codes from thousands
of devices and currently supports roughly 575 TV, 1,000 cable box/DVR,
and 150 audio/CD brands. Further, if a device's code isn't in the VooMote
One's database, a Teach-in mode enables simply pointing the VooMote One at
the original remote to learn it. A handy Room Control feature, meanwhile, groups
multiple devices together according to the room they're in.

PC Today / September 2011 67

It's safe to say that your daily rou-
tines revolve around what's on
your smartphone, whether you're
organizing a business lunch, com-
pleting a to-do list task, or preparing a
family night activity. But do you also
use your smartphone as a fitness tool
or leave it in the car when you work
out because you think it's impractical?
If you're in the latter group, we'll
show you some accessories that will
help you take advantage of the exer-
cise-friendly capabilities of a smart-
phone. As for the fit and tech-savvy
smartphone users, you'll likely read
about some gear you've never tried.

PERSONAL ELECTRONICS

TECH FOR HOME & LEISURE

Smartphone

ACCESSORIES

[TTji

Vfi]

Gear That's Good To Go

•» r

Do you like to use your music app when
you bike during your lunch break? Try
the durable Ultimate Mobiles Bicycle
Waterproof Case Handlebar Mount and
secure your BlackBerry to your bike.

I J

Bicycle Waterproof Case
Handlebar Mount

Although Ultimate Mobiles' Bicycle

Waterproof Case Handlebar Mount is

intended for the BlackBerry Curve 8300

($43.45; www.ultimate-mobiles.co.uk), its

design could also accommodate various

BlackBerrv models. The mount tilts and

rotates, making it possible to get a direct view
of your phone display, whether you sit low on
your two-wheel or prefer the more athletic high-
riding position. Secure the rubber grip mount
with the anodized screws and your BlackBerry
is ready for the trail. To protect the phone itself,
dress your BlackBerry up in the transparent PVC
waterproof case. Ultimate Mobiles says there's no
reason you can't also use the case when engaging
in other outdoor activities or work.

68 September 2011 / wd

PERSONAL ELECTRONICS

TECH FOR HOME & LEISURE

RoadRunnerGPS For BlackBerry

There are, of course, a lot of apps we could highlight for your fitness regimens,
but we chose RoadRunnerGPS ($3.99, 30-day trial available; www.roadrunner
gps.com) because it's multifunctional. In other words, you don't have to only
be a runner to use it regularly; the device is also recommended for cycling,
canoeing, kayaking, and skiing. RoadRunnerGPS assesses your workout prog-
ress in real time and provides timely feedback statistics. It will keep track of the
distance you traveled, the elapsed time of the workout, your average speed (or
pace), and calories burned. These features are partnered with GPS capabilities
that include a built-in mapping screen that lets you track your current posi-
tion, path, and direction, and an audio guide calculates your time and distance
traveled. You'll be able to back up all your workout data on RoadRunnerGPS'
server and also your training schedule when you sign in to your online ac-
count. Another unique feature gives you the ability to connect with others; for
instance, if you're part of a kayaking group on Facebook (or like to tweet your
post-workout recap), you can post your workout review as an update for your
kayaking friends.

Sports Armband

Every runner can appreciate a sweat-
resistant fitness armband, especially if
it's easy on the wallet. The Arkon Sports
Armband SM-ARMBAND ($14.95; www
.arkon.com) combines both of these qualities
to offer a multi-model smartphone armband. Made of
flexible neoprene material and outfitted with reflective markers
for nighttime jogs, the armband wraps comfortably around your
arm using a hook and loop strap design. The SM-ARMBAND is compatible with
the following list of smartphone brands: Apple (iPhone original, 3G, 3GS, and 4),
BlackBerry (Torch, Curve, Tour, Bold, and Storm), and Motorola (Droid, Droid 2,
and Atrix 4G), and HTC (Sprint EVO 4G, Inspire 4G, and Thunderbolt).

Wahoo Bike Pack

If you're looking for a durable accessory that will protect and keep your iPhone
firmly attached to your bike, then the Wahoo Bike Pack ($149.99; www.wahoo
fitness.com) from Wahoo Fitness is probably a fit for you. The water- and shock-
resistant case comes equipped with a speed and cadence
sensor that receives data through the ANT+ technology.
Your iPhone 3G/3GS/4 rests in a rubber cradle, which sits
in the case back and snaps into the copolymer case cover
to protect your iPhone's display. Attach the bike mount,
fasten the case to your handlebar in portrait or landscape
orientation, and then head out across the city bike paths or
up a mountain trail. The case features an earphone jack,
Micro USB connector, home button activator, and win-
dows for the iPhone 4's front and rear cam-
eras. If you download the free Wahoo
Fitness app to your iPhone, you'll be
able to track your biking activity on a
single dashboard.

Instant Heart Rate Pro

You can work out as long as you like, but if you don't
raise your heart rate to its aerobic target, then you
may not be getting the workout you thought you
were. This is why Azumio Instant Heart Rate (free,
or $2.99 for the Pro version, from Android Market;
99 cents from the Apple App Store; www.azumio
.com) is a smart fitness app. Requiring no additional
hardware, the app reads your heartbeat when you
place and hold the tip of your index finger on the
smartphone's camera for several seconds. Your heart
rate will appear along with a chart displaying each
heartbeat. Because the app utilizes the camera to take
a snapshot of the changing colors on your finger (an
indication of how fast your pulse is beating), it's best
to use the app when you are in a well-lit area. Or,
better yet, use a camera with flash.

DryCASE

T A 7 i i C C 1 ' ' i C i 1

Water sports are off limits for a smartphone,
right? Dry Corp. proves that statement

wrong with its uniquely designed water-
proof, vacuum-sealed DryCASE ($39.99;
www.drycase.com). Slip your iPhone into
the clear case, seal the watertight clasp,
remove the air using the included hand

pump, and your smartphone is waterproof
to 100 feet. The case includes a waterproof
stereo headphone and microphone jack
designed for the company's submersible

DryBUDS earbuds. Surfers, swimmers, and

lot cViotc rc\r\ ch^at"* tno T^tizi A QTh r\r\ ncinrr

Icl oJVLcIo Lctll sLIcllJ 11 lc LjLy\^r\DEj Ull Uolllii

the buoyant armband and enjoy some tunes.
You can also use the case with your MP3
player or digital camera.

The airtight DryCASE protects ■ ' ^^jj^i

your smartphone from water, ' .^IB

making pool time enjoyable

without any concern of acci- ^^

dentally dowsing your phone.

Mir "• '■

J^-Sv^ 4*#

' #

•

V\ ^H ^^r^^M V

:•

m&KmA i * - y ft ***m.

j^fl

«^H

**m

* PC Today/ September 2011 69

PERSONAL ELECTRONICS

TECH FOR HOME & LEISURE

When possible, use chargers
from name-brand, reliable
manufacturers such as
Motorola instead of
inexpensive knock-offs.

Portable
POWER

Caring For Your
Mobile Batteries

o matter how new or expensive a mobile de-
vice is, once the battery runs out of juice you
may as well be toting around a rock. Getting
the most out of your mobile equipment requires
proper battery management, and there are several
things you can do to extend their life and potency.

Although there are several types of portable re-
chargeable batteries, we'll focus on Li-Ion and nickel-
based types. You'll find these batteries mostly in
portable electronic devices such as smartphones, tab-
lets, and laptops.

Basic Care & Feeding

No matter what type of battery your portable de-
vices use, all batteries have some issues in common.
The most important is corrosion, where metals in the
battery oxidize and reduce a battery's life or cause
circuitry within the battery to fail and turn the battery
into an unstable explosive.

Corrosion is exacerbated by heat and humidity,
so whenever possible store batteries in a cool,
dry place. "I compare it to a jug of milk," says
Isador Buchmann, founder and CEO of Cadex
Electronics and author of "Batteries in a
Portable World." "It's an electrochemical
device and corrosion is promoted by tem-
perature and being fully charged," he
says. "Like food, it stays [stable] much
longer if it stays cool." Refrigeration is
OK (but overkill in most circumstances),

and storing batteries in the freezer is not recom-
mended. Never store batteries in a hot car, and
avoid charging them in a car until the interior is
cooled down.

When possible, take the batteries out before storing
the device. This prevents standby features the device
may have from slowly draining the battery and also
eHminates any chance of damage should the batteries
leak inside the device.

You also should store batteries with a par-
tial charge (40% is recommended) as opposed to
fully charged or completely discharged. Cadex
Electronics found that Li-Ion batteries, for ex-
ample, lose 4% of their permanent capacities when
stored for one year with a 40% charge at 77 de-
grees Fahrenheit, but 25% of their permanent
capacities when stored for one year with a 100%
charge at the same temperature. If Li-Ion batteries
are stored with too low a charge, a protection cir-
cuit can kick in after the battery drains below a
certain level, making the battery appear dead.
"Some chargers would wake up the battery but
most of them don't," says Buchmann.

DISCHARGE CYCLES

Charging a Li-Ion bat-
tery before the charge

Depth Of Discharge

1 00%

Discharge Cycle

500

completely runs out can

50%

1,500

increase the battery's life,

25%

2,500

as these figures show:

10%

4,700

Source: Cadex Electronics

70 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

PERSONAL ELECTRONICS

TECH FOR HOME & LEISURE

Avoid Memory Issues

If used improperly, batteries of the past were
prone to developing memory problems where they
would never charge beyond a certain level. Modern
nickel-based batteries still suffer from this to a de-
gree, but Li-Ion batteries do not. If you suspect your
nickel-based battery has developed this problem,
discharge it fully, and then charge it to 100%.

When charging nickel-based batteries it is a
good idea to remove them from the charger once
they are topped off. When fully charged, a nickel-
based battery charger, "goes into a trickle charge,
and a prolonged trickle charge can actually build
up memory in both nickel-metal hydride and
nickel cadmium," says Buchmann.

Although Li-Ion batteries don't have inherent
memory problems, they do suffer from a different
issue that can slowly make it appear they lose their
capacity over time. Their charge is measured using
a coulomb counter, which tracks the charge going
into the battery and the charge produced by the
battery to provide the digital equivalent of a fuel
gauge. Electronic devices use this reading to dis-
play the battery's charge level and perform opera-
tions such as deciding when to automatically shut
down due to a low charge.

"Ideally it should be perfect," says Buchmann.
"However, there are tracking errors because the
amount in and out cannot be measured precisely.
It's about a 1% error, and after months of steady
use at random the error would increase, and the
state of charge indicator would become inaccu-
rate." Buchmann says the fix is to completely
drain the battery every month or two by let-
ting your hardware run on battery power
until it turns off, and then recharge the
battery to full.

Maintain Safety

Using quality chargers is key to
obtaining a full charge and maintaining a
battery's integrity. Good chargers have circuitry in-
tegrated that detects when a battery is fully charged.
When this happens with a Li-Ion battery the charger
turns off completely.

Problems can happen when poorly designed or
broken chargers are used and don't detect that the
battery is fully charged. Buchmann explains that
there have been some low-end chargers that de-
pend on the battery to turn off. "They just keep on
charging, and sometimes the backup [from the bat-
tery's circuitry] isn't there, and they can sometimes
vent flames if that happens," he says.

The result can be dramatic, as you may have seen
watching various videos of laptop batteries exploding.

//,

"The amount of energy that's stored in a battery is on
the order of kilojoules to hundreds of kilojoules to even
megajoules," says David Wetz, an assistant professor
at the University of Texas at Arlington who is cur-
rently conducting battery life research. "So if you try to
release all that energy at once and short-circuit it, those
things explode in a grand fashion." Using quality char-
gers minimizes this potential.

Extend Battery Lifetime

All batteries can only handle so many discharge/
recharge cycles before they no longer hold a charge.
This is mainly caused by the formation of an SEI
(solid electrolyte interface) layer, "which is an oxi-
dation layer that forms on electrodes and increases
the cell resistance with time," says Wetz.

In the case of Li-Ion batteries, you can dramati-
cally extend battery life by charging the battery
before it has fully discharged. Cadex Electronics
analyzed 11 Li-Ion batteries from smartphones and
found that if it were to let the battery discharge
100% before recharging, the battery lasted for 500
discharge /recharge cycles before reaching the end
of its useful life. When Cadex Electronics let a
pack discharge by 50% before recharging, it lasted
for 1,500 discharge/recharge cycles. Recharging
after 25% discharge upped the discharge /recharge
cycles to 2,500, and recharging after 10% dis-
charge extended the life to 4,700 discharge/
recharge cycles.

TEMPERATURE

Battery
Temperature

Permanent Capacity Loss When
Stored At 40% State-of-charge
(Recommended Storage Level)

Permanent Capacity Loss When
Stored At 100% State-of-charge
(Typical User Charge Level)

0°C

2% loss in one year

6% loss in one year

25°C

4% loss in one year

20% loss in one year

40°C

15% loss in one year

35% loss in one year

60°C

25% loss in one year

40% loss in 3 months

Source: Cadex Electronics

Get More From A Charge

Even properly maintained batteries don't neces-
sarily provide the run time advertised by a mobile
device manufacturer, but often that's because users
don't try to maximize battery life. Doing this depends
on the type of mobile device you use, but turning
down screen brightness and turning off all wireless
hardware not currently in use (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cel-
lular, GPS, and so on) can dramatically reduce battery
usage. Adjusting a device so it checks for email or
other updates less often also goes a long way toward
maximizing use between charges. Couple those tips
with good battery maintenance, and your portable
electronics will soldier on long after other people's
devices have gone to the gadget graveyard. ▲

PC Today / September 2011 71

You're in an unfamiliar

city and heading to

an important meeting

when your PND (portable navigation device) starts
causing problems or fails altogether. Navigating by
map in traffic isn't exactly easy. For the short term,
you may be able to use the GPS on your smart-
phone — or pull over and ask directions. In the
long term, you'll want to get that PND back up and
running as soon as possible. We'll help you determine
what might be wrong and suggest possible solutions.

Cope With A Failed

NAVIGATION SYSTEM

Device Won't Start

If your PND does not turn on when you start the car,
the device may have a dead battery. Turning off your
car does not turn off the unit and can cause it to lose
its charge while your car is parked. Be sure to always
turn your PND off when you leave the car. Some PNDs
will not show any visual display until they have charged
for a few minutes.

Dead On The Road

If your PND won't hold a charge, first make sure the
problem is not a loose connection at either end (the PND

or 12-volt adapter port) of the charging cable. Next, switch
the PND charger to an alternate charging port. Most cars
now have a dedicated charging port and a cigarette light-
er input, which work interchangeably. If another port
works, your charging port needs repair. Use the other port
for now.

If using another port doesn't result in a charged PND,
your charger cable is likely faulty or has broken in-
ternal wiring. Switch out the charger for a compatible
car, wall, or PC charger, if your PND came with one.
A PND's charging port often is a standard USB port.
Your mobile phone car charger may work, or you can

72 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

BUSINESS TRAVEL 911

ON-THE-GO TECH SUPPORT

purchase an inexpensive car or wall charger at a
truck stop or drug store. If neither a different
port nor a different charger works, the PND bat-
tery or the device is faulty. You'll want to con-
tact the product's manufacturer for assistance.

Device Stops Responding
Or Reboots Randomly

If the device freezes suddenly or won't start, es-
pecially if you don't think the battery is dead, a soft
reset may help. Many PNDs have a reset button —
often a small hole in the device into which you can
insert a paper clip or other small-diameter object.
(If you cannot locate a soft reset button or are not
comfortable performing this step, seek assistance
on the manufacturer's support Web site.)

Connect the device to a compatible charger and
leave it charging for at least two hours. Discon-
nect the PND from the charger and other elec-
trical connections. If the PND uses a memory card
to hold information, remove it. Depress the reset
button for at least 10 seconds. Press the device's
On/Off switch for at least five seconds. If it starts,
insert the SD card. The device should work now.

If you cannot re-enable your PND with a soft
reset, you may need to download a software up-
date from the manufacturer or perform a hard
reset. Both of these are beyond the scope of this
article due to the specifics involved with different
device models.

Can't Fix Location

If your PND is slow or unable to acquire a sat-
ellite fix on your location, you may want to look
to the sky. If it is cloudy or you are surrounded
by tall trees or buildings, you may be out of luck.
GPS devices require a clear view to the sky before
they can acquire a location and navigate. If all's
clear above, then consider when you used the de-
vice last. If you haven't used your PND for more
than a month, or you have driven more than 500
miles since you had the device turned on, wait a
few more minutes because it will take longer than
normal to fix your location.

If this doesn't work, discontinue using phones
and other wireless devices temporarily. Wireless
devices — especially those with Bluetooth if your
PND has that capability — can cause interference
that prevents the PND from transmitting. If you
cannot resolve the issue, check with the manufac-
turer for a software update.

Can't Find An Address

If your PND appears to work but cannot locate a
specific address, the address may not have existed

when your PND's maps were loaded. The maps
on PNDs may be a year or more old before they
hit the shelves. If you purchased a device when it
was on sale, you may have maps that are two or
more years old. Your PND should have come with
instructions for updating the maps via your PC's
Internet connection or direct satellite link, and you
should do this regularly. There may be a charge for
receiving the update. Alternately, some PNDs use a
navigational service to provide routing. If this is the
case, check with the provider to see whether you
can report the missing road or address.

Route Doesn't Seem Quickest

If your trips take longer than expected, your PND
is likely not optimized to provide the best route
for your needs. Virtually all PNDs let you opt for
either the shortest or fastest route. They can also
overlay that instruction with "route avoidance":
no toll roads, u-turns, highways, or unpaved roads.
Look for a Tools or Settings (or similar) option to
adjust your navigational settings. Also, if your
device offers (and you select) an option for an eco-
friendly route, it may avoid highways, even if you
select to prefer them.

Route Doesn't Avoid Traffic

Many PNDs now can avoid or at least mark
traffic delays. However, if you are consistently
routed into traffic jams, first, check the Tools or
Settings (or similar) options to see if you need to
enable this feature. If not, you may have to pay
for this service. Consult the manufacturer or your
users manual.

Speech Recognition Does Not Work

If the PND you purchased touts speech-
recognition capabilities, but it is not recognizing
your voice out of the box, you'll want to first en-
sure no add-on device, such as a push-to-talk
or Bluetooth headset, is required. Second, some
speech-recognition systems require you to use spe-
cific commands, often the ones you see on-screen
during navigation. Finally, your device may re-
quire training assistance. Refer to the device's users
manual for instructions.

Final Thoughts

Your PND likely has many features you are
not using. While you are troubleshooting, take
the time to update the maps and software and
explore its other features. As a backup, if your
mobile phone has GPS capabilities, learn to use
them, as well. Then, you'll never be without di-
rections again. ▲

▲ A Tools or Settings
option is usually your
portal to adjusting
navigational routing
and avoidance settings.

▲ Many PNDs can now
display or even route
around traffic, but you
may have to turn this
feature on in the device or
pay extra for the capability.

AlfyourPND'scar
charger fails, but it
connects through a
standard USB port, you
may be able to test it using
a generic USB charger. This
TomTom car charger also
has a USB connector.

PC Today / September 2011 73

What should you do

when your smartphone

decides to play dead?

Resist the urge to throw it against the nearest wall
and try one of these techniques instead.

Revive A Dead

SMARTPHONE

Soft Reset

All phones have a soft reset function, which is similar to restarting your computer. Beware that performing a soft reset will cause
you to lose any data that isn't saved, but you will retain information previously stored on your smartphone.

■ MOTOROLA BACKFLIP. Power the phone off. Remove and reinsert the bat-
tery, then power the phone back on.

■ ANDROID (OTHER). All remaining Android models use a simple power
cycle to perform a soft reset. Just turn the phone off and then back on again.

■ BLACKBERRY (QWERTY KEYBOARD). Press and hold the ALT-
CAP-DEL key combination. The display goes black for a second and your
BlackBerry resets.

■ BLACKBERRY (SURETYPE KEYBOARD). Press the ALT-CAP and Right
Shift-DEL keys. When the screen goes blank, release the keys.

■ BLACKBERRY (TOUCHSCREEN). Turn the BlackBerry off and remove the
battery for at least 30 seconds. Reinstall the battery and turn the device back on.

■ IPHONE (ALL MODELS). Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button on
the top of the iPhone and the Home button. Continue to hold both but-
tons (approximately 10 seconds) until the screen goes blank. You'll see
the white Apple logo as the iPhone reboots.

■ NOKIA (ALL MODELS). Power the phone off and remove the
battery for 30 seconds. Reinstall the battery and power the phone
on. Alternately, you can enter the code *#7380# and select Yes.

■ PALM PRE. If the phone's menus are still active, select Device Info,
Reset Options, then select Soft Reset. If the Palm Pre is locked up or
frozen, hold the power button and cycle the ringer button on and off
three times. If that doesn't work, press and hold the Orange, Sym, and
R keys until the device reboots. Turn the phone off, remove the battery
for 10 seconds, reinstall the battery, and power the phone up.

All other smartphones. You can generally perform a soft reset by powering the phone off, removing the battery for 30 seconds, and powering the phone back on.

74 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

BUSINESS TRAVEL 911

ON-THE-GO TECH SUPPORT

Hard Reset

A hard reset is a last-ditch option that returns your phone to its factory settings, which means you will
lose all data and installed applications. Before you perform a hard reset, remove the memory card from
your phone; that way you can recover data from the card later.

■ AT&T TERRESTAR GENUS.

With the device turned off, press
the red power key. When the
TerreStar logo appears, press
and hold the E-Power keys until
a green checkmark appears in
the lower-left corner. Release all
keys. The device will power up
and perform a factory reset.

■ ANDROID (ALL MODELS WITH FUNCTIONING MENU SYS-
TEMS). One of the following menu-based systems for performing a hard
reset should work, depending on the phone and version of Android.
Open the application menu. Tap Settings, SD and Card Storage, Factory
Data Reset, and follow the on-screen instructions.

• From the Home screen, tap Menu, Settings, Privacy, and Factory
Data Reset, and then follow the on-screen instructions.

• From the Home screen, tap Menu, Settings, Security, and Factory
Data Reset, and then follow the on-screen instructions.

When the menu system isn't functional, follow these
phone-specific options to perform a hard reset.

■ DELL VENUE. With the device turned off, press and
hold the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons. Without
releasing the buttons, press and hold the Power button.
When the device configuration screen appears, release
all buttons. Use the Volume Up or Down button to move
the selection to Factory Reset. Press the Camera button to
select the Factory Reset option and start the reset process.

■ GOOGLE NEXUS ONE, NEXUS S. Turn the phone off.
Press and hold Volume Down while you press and release the
Power button. Use the Volume Down button to select Clear
Storage from the list of options. Press the Power button, and con-
firm your selection by pressing the Volume Up button.

■ T-MOBILE COMET. If possible, back up your data to Google's
servers by selecting Privacy from the Settings screen. Select the
Back Up My Data option. When the backup is complete, return
to the Settings screen and select Privacy and Factory Data Reset.
When prompted, tap Reset Phone, then tap Erase Everything.

■ T-MOBILE G2X. If possible, back up your data to Google's
servers by selecting Privacy from the Settings screen. Select
the Back Up My Data option. When the backup is complete,
power off the phone. Press and hold the Power /Lock-Volume
Down keys for at least 15 seconds. The phone should turn
back on and perform a factory reset. If the screen is frozen, or
the phone doesn't turn back on, remove the battery, wait 30 sec-
onds, then reinstall the battery and try again.

■ MOTOROLA DROID. Turn the phone off. Press and hold the
Power-X keys to force the phone into recovery mode. Next, press
and hold the Volume Up-Camera key to display the recovery
menu. Select Wipe Data/Factory Reset from the menu, and then
select Reboot Phone.

■ MOTOROLA DROID PRO, DROID 2 GLOBAL. Select Settings,
Privacy, and Factory Data Reset. When prompted, tap Reset
Phone to erase all data and return the phone to factory conditions.

■ MOTOROLA BACKFLIP. Power the phone off. Press and
hold the Power and Camera buttons. When the phone turns on,
release the Power button but continue to hold the camera button
until prompted to release it. Next, press the Volume Down
button. After 15 seconds, a yellow triangle with an exclamation

point will appear. With your phone closed, tap the bottom-right
corner of the display and select Wipe Data/Factory Reset. Press
OK and follow the on-screen instructions.

■ BLACKBERRY (ALL MODELS). Remove the battery for
30 seconds. Reinstall the battery and turn the phone back on.

■ BLACKBERRY STYLE, BOLD, STORM, CURVE, TOUR,
TORCH. Click the Options icon on the Home screen. Select Se-
curity and then Security Wipe. Select all three of the available
checkboxes to perform a complete wipe and reset the device to
factory condition. Type the word BlackBerry and click Wipe.

■ HTC ARRIVE, HD7, SURROUND. Press Start and tap the
right-facing arrow. Tap Settings, About, and then tap Reset
Your Phone. Tap Yes, and then tap Yes again. If the screen is
frozen, turn the device off. Press and hold the Volume Up-Down
buttons and briefly press the Power key. When the screen dis-
plays instructions for resetting the device, release the Volume
Up-Down buttons.

■ IPHONE (ALL MODELS). From the Home screen, tap
Settings, General, Reset, and Reset All Settings. This action
resets all preferences but retains applications and data. If that
doesn't work, from the Home screen, tap Settings, General,
Reset, Erase All Content, and Settings. This will delete all data
and applications and return the iPhone to factory conditions.

■ NOKIA (ALL MODELS). With your phone powered on or in
standby mode, type *#7370# and select Yes, when prompted. You
may need your Lock Code for confirmation. The default lock code
is 12345. If your phone doesn't turn on, try pressing the On/Off
button, * and 3 simultaneously.

■ MICROSOFT WINDOWS PHONE 7 (ALL MODELS). Press
Start and tap the right-facing arrow. Tap Settings, About, and
Reset Your Phone. Tap Yes, and then tap Yes again.

■ PALM PRE. Open Device Info, tap Phone Reset Options,
and then tap Full Erase twice. If your Palm Pre is frozen, and
you are unable to use the menus to perform a reset, try running
the latest version of webOS Doctor (ws.palm.com/webosdoctor
/sorry htm) to troubleshoot and reset the device. Then follow the
on-screen instructions. ▲

A With your AT&T
TerreStar GENUS turned
off, press the power key.
When the TerreStar logo
appears, press and hold
the E-Power keys until a
checkmark appears, and
then release all keys to
perform a factory reset.

A To perform a hard
reset on a BlackBerry
Style or Bold, tap
Options on the Home
screen, select Security
and Security Wipe.
Select all three of the
available checkboxes,
type BlackBerry, and
click Wipe.

A To reset the
Motorola DROID
Pro or DROID 2
Global, select
Settings, Privacy, and
Factory Data Reset.
Tap Reset Phone to
erase all data and
return your phone to
its default factory state.

PC Today / September 2011 75

BUSINESS TRAVEL 91 1

ON-THE-GOTECH SUPPORT

The Traveler's

911 DIRECTORY

AIRLINES <5

Air Canada

www.aircanada.com
mobile . aircanada. ca
Information and reservations

(888) 247-2262
Baggage information
) 689-2247

American Airlines

www.aa.com; mobile.aa.com
Reservations (800) 433-7300
TDD (800) 543-1586
Flight information (800) 223-5436
Baggage delayed less than five
days (800) 535-5225

Ticket refund requests
(918) 254-3777

British Airways

www.britishairways.com
ba2go.com (mobile)
Information and reservations
(800) 247-9297

Continental Airlines

www.continental.com
pda.continental.com
Reservations to U.S. and Mexico

destinations (800) 523-3273
Reservations to international

destinations (800) 231-0856
TDD (800) 343-9195
Flight information (800) 784-4444

Baggage information

(800) 335-2247
OnePass frequent flyer

assistance (713) 952-1630

Delta Air Lines

www.delta.com
mobile.delta.com
Reservations (800) 221-1212
Flight information (800) 325-1999
Baggage information

(800) 325-8224
SkyMiles members (800) 323-2323

Frontier Airlines

www.frontierairlines.com
Reservations (800) 432-1359
Customer relations (800) 265-5505

JetBlue Airways

www.jetblue.com
mobile.jetblue.com

(800) 538-2583

Lufthansa

www.lufthansa.com
mobile.lufthansa.com
Information and reservations
(800) 399-5838

Southwest Airlines

www.southwest.com
mobile.southwest.com
(800) 435-9792
TDD (800) 533-1305

Spirit Airlines

www.spiritair.com
(800) 772-7117

United Airlines

www.united.com
www.ua2go.com (mobile)
Reservations (800) 864-8331
International reservations

(800) 538-2929
TDD (800) 323-0170

US Airways

www.usairways.com
Reservations to U.S. and Canada

destinations (800) 428-4322
Reservations to international

destinations (800) 622-1015
TDD (800) 245-2966
Customer service (800) 943-5436

VEHICLE

RENTALS

Advantage Rent A Car

www.advantage.com
Reservations (866) 661-2722 or

(210) 344-4712 outside the U.S.
Customer service

(800) 777-5524

Alamo Rent A Car

www.alamo.com

(800) 462-5266
TDD (800) 522-9292

Avis

www.avis.com
mobile.avis.com
Reservations (800) 331-1212
TDD (800) 331-2323
Customer service (800) 352-7900

Budget Rent A Car System

www.budget.com
mobile.budget.com
Reservations in the U.S.

(800) 527-0700
Reservations outside the U.S.

(800) 472-3325
TDD (800) 826-5510
Roadside assistance (800) 354-2847
Customer service (800) 214-6094

Dollar Rent A Car

www.dollar.com
Reservations (800) 800-3665

76 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

BUSINESS TRAVEL 91 1

ON-THE-GOTECH SUPPORT

Reservations outside the U.S.

(800) 800-6000
TDD (800) 232-3301
24-hour roadside assistance

(800) 235-9393

Enterprise Rent-A-Car

www . enterprise .com
Reservations (800) 261-7331
TDD (866) 534-9270

Hertz

www.hertz.com

hertz.mobi

Reservations (800) 654-3131

Reservations outside the U.S.

(800) 654-3001
TDD (800) 654-2280
Extend rental (800) 654-4174
Billing information

(800) 654-4173
Customer relations
) 777-6095

National Car Rental

www.nationalcar.com
(800) 227-7368
TDD (800) 328-6323

Payless Car Rental

www.paylesscarrental.com
(800) 729-5377

Thrifty Car Rental

www.thrifty.com
Reservations (800) 847-4389
Emergency (877) 283-(

TRAVEL

SERVICES

AAA

www.aaa.com
aaa.mobi

Roadside assistance
(800) 222-4357

Expedia

www.expedia.com
(800) 397-3342

Hotwire

www.hotwire.com

(866) 468-9473

OCS (Overseas Citizens

Services) traveler's hotline

(202) 647-5225 or

(888)407-4747
After-hours emergencies

(202) 647-4000

Orbitz

www.orbitz.com

mobile . orbitz . com

) 656-4546

Priceline

www.priceline.com
priceline.mobi
(800) 774-2354

Travelocity

www.travelocity.com
mobile.travelocity.com
(888) 872-8356

HOTELS

Candlewood Suites

www.candlewoodsuites.com
mobile . candlewoodsuites. com
) 226-3539

Chase Suite Hotels

www.woodfinsuitehotels.com
(800) 966-3346

Choice Hotels International

(Cambria Suites, Comfort
Inn, Comfort Suites,
Quality Inn, Sleep Inn,
Clarion, MainStay Suites,
Suburban Extended Stay
Hotel, Econo Lodge, and
Rodeway Inn)

www.choicehotels.com

(877) 424-6423

Courtyard Hotels

www.courtyard . com
courtyard.mobi
) 236-2427

Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts

www.crowneplaza.com
mobile . cro wneplaza . com
(877) 227-6963

Doubletree Hotels

www.doubletree.com
doubletree.mobi

(800) 222-8733

Embassy Suites Hotels

www.embassysuites.com
embassysuites.mobi
(800) 362-2779

Four Seasons
Hotels & Resorts

www.fourseasons.com
mobile . f ourseasons .com
(800) 819-5053

Hampton Inn Hotels
& Suites

www.hamptoninn.com
hamptoninn.mobi
(800) 426-7866

Hawthorn Suites

www.hawthorn.com

(800) 527-1133

Hilton Hotels

www.hilton.com
hilton.mobi
(800) 445-8667

Holiday Inn

www.holidayinn.com
mobile.holidayinn.com
(888) 465-4329

Holiday Inn Express

www.hiexpress.com
mobile .hiexpress . com
(888) 465-4329

Homewood Suites

www.homewoodsuites.com
homewoodsuites.mobi

(800) 225-5466

Hyatt Hotels & Resorts

www.hyatt.com
Hyatt Hotels & Resorts

(888) 591-1234
TDD (800) 228-9548
Hyatt Place (888) 492-8847
Hyatt Summerfield Suites

(866) 974-9288

Marriott

www.marriott.com
marriott.mobi
(888) 236-2427

Park Plaza

www.parkplaza.com
(800) 777-1700

Radisson Hotels & Resorts

www.radisson.com
(888) 201-1718

Ramada Worldwide

www.ramada.com

(800) 272-6232

Renaissance
Hotels & Resorts

www.renaissancehotel.com
(888) 236-2427

Residence Inn

www.residenceinn.com
residenceinn.mobi
(888) 236-2427

Ritz-Carlton Hotels & Resorts

www.ritzcarlton.com
(800) 542-8680

Sheraton Hotels & Resorts

www.sheraton.com

(800) 325-3535

Staybridge Suites

www.staybridge.com
mobile . staybridge .com

(877) 238-8889

Westin Hotels & Resorts

www.westin.com
(800) 937-8461

Wingate Inns

www.wingateinns.com
(800) 228-1000

Woodfin Suite Hotels

www.woodfinsuitehotels.com
(800) 966-3346

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

www.wyndham.com
(877) 999-3223

PC Today / September 2011 77

he Ben

Motorola Builds Another Droid

■ Two years ago Motorola released the Droid, a smartphone with a slide-out
keyboard and Google's Android OS. Now, Motorola Mobility is releasing
its Droid 3, which sports numerous improvements over its predecessors. The
Droid 3's 8MP camera lets you capture still photos or record 1080p HD video.
The smartphone integrates with Google, Exchange, Facebook, Twitter, and
Linkedln, so it's ideal for businesspeople and general consumers alike. Motorola
ships the phone with multiple Google apps installed, including Google
Maps, GTalk, Places, Latitude, Calendar, and more. The Droid 3 has a
1GHz dual-core processor, runs on the Android 2.3 (a.k.a. Gingerbread)
platform, and is ready for use worldwide with a built-in SIM card (reg-
istration required). The phone also features 16GB of internal memory
and can handle an additional 32GB of memory via the microSD card slot.

Lenovo Debuts Its New
Windows 7 Tablet

I Lenovo's new IdeaPad Tablet PI is a productivity machine and enter-
tainment device rolled into one. After all, it's the first tablet we've seen
that has Microsoft Office 2010 and Angry Birds for PC preinstalled. The
PI has a 1.5GHz Intel processor, integrated Intel HD graphics, and up to
2GB of DDR2 memory. You can choose between a 32GB and 64GB SSD,
and the microSD slot provides additional storage capabilities. The tablet
features a 10.1-inch HD multitouch display, USB port, 2MP Web cam,
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections, and up to six hours of battery life. The
Pi's impressive software suite also includes OneKey Rescue System,
Lenovo Energy Management, eBook reader, App Manager, and Arcsoft
TotalMedia Center. Pricing for the PI was not available at press time,
but Lenovo reports the tablet is due out later this year.

78 September 2011 / www.pctoday.com

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