PALO ALTO, Calif., May 12, 2009 - HP today announced a first-of-its-kind server-based solution designed to dramatically speed business transactions within the SAP NetWeaver® Process Integration (SAP NetWeaver PI) technology. By speeding the mapping of XML messages sized from 7 to 15 megabytes, the new HP XML Accelerator can be a key element of success for retailers, manufacturers and other enterprises in high-transaction industries. For customers such as these, the rapid processing of business transactions is critical to driving supply-chain efficiencies and improving customer satisfaction. As the industry's only server-based XML accelerator designed to support SAP® solution-based landscapes, the new HP Extensible Markup Language (XML) Accelerator for use with SAP NetWeaver PI creates a more efficient, high-performance business process. It does this by significantly speeding up the execution of mapping programs within SAP NetWeaver PI, and, as a result, the latency is reduced, driving faster business value. For example, the HP XML Accelerator can help large transportation companies from slowing their conveyer belts as it allows the associated data collection to keep up with the activities. The solution also can speed customer activation for telecommunications providers. The improvements in both scenarios are accomplished by the faster processing of XML transactions associated with business processes. The HP solution lowers technology costs from the data center to the supply chain by delivering up to a 700 percent improvement in latency, or the length of time it takes to process a single XML message. It also provides up to a 400 percent increase in throughput, or the volume of messages processed. This improved, predictable performance allows customers to better handle high volume and large messages. As a result, new high-value SAP solution-based projects can be implemented quickly to increase efficiencies. For example, food and beverage companies can deploy new ap
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. » 5/7/2009 » Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS) today announced new advanced certifications targeted at engineers and architects specializing in advanced virtualization solutions. A hot growth area, virtualization technologies help enterprises become more agile, reduce costs and deliver optimal service levels. The updated certifications are Citrix Certified Enterprise Engineer (CCEE) for Virtualization and Citrix Certified Integration Architect (CCIA) for Virtualization. As enterprises continue to build out their virtualization strategies, they are requiring IT professionals at all levels to have top skills to support this growth. According to a recent article in Virtualization Review, Dice.com reported that the number of jobs for general virtualization skills advertised from January 2008 through the first week of November 2008 increased by 37 percent, when during the same period the total job count was down 12 percent. The new certifications from Citrix are more relevant than ever and will allow qualified professionals to validate their skill sets, which is especially important in today's competitive job market. The current CCEA and CCIA have been recognized year after year as top-earning IT certifications, and recently earned two spots in Foote Partners' debut Hot List of top certified skills. The new CCEE and CCIA expand on the foundation of administrator-level certifications already built to provide IT professionals looking to develop their career in virtualization with a clear certification path. "While developing the content and requirements for the new CCEE and CCIA certifications, we took great care in ensuring they reflected today's environment and job roles by doing a lot of listening," said Julieann Scalisi, managing director of Worldwide Education for Citrix. "First, we needed to ensure that we understood what was most important in terms of the skills needed to be successful. Then, we built the testing of those skills into the ce
Windows 7 Release Candidate is available for download. Feel free to grab it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx
Brandon LeBlanc announced the availability of Windows Vista SP2 on the official Windows Blog: Today we are announcing the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. SP2 represents the latest step in Microsoft's commitment to continuous improvement. It includes all updates that have been delivered since SP1, as well as support for new types of hardware and emerging hardware standards. As we have mentioned before, here are some of the key benefits of Windows Vista SP2: Windows Search 4.0 for faster and improved relevancy in searches Bluetooth 2.1 Feature Pack supporting the most recent specification for Bluetooth Technology Ability to record data on to Blu-Ray media natively in Windows Vista Adds Windows Connect Now (WCN) to simplify Wi-Fi Configuration Windows Vista SP2 enables the exFAT file system to support UTC timestamps, which allows correct file synchronization across time zones. And since it comes with a single installer for both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, SP2 will be easy for IT Pros to manage, deploy, and support. For a complete overview of the changes introduced in SP2 for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, check out thenotable changes document on TechNet. Business customers with Windows Vista will find that the transition from Windows Vista to Windows 7 will be significantly more straightforward due to the high degree of compatibility between Windows Vista and Windows 7. If your Windows Vista SP1 deployment is already underway we recommend you continue with SP1 as planned. Then you can deploy SP2 using your systems management infrastructure. If you are in the early stages of deployment or still planning Windows Vista deployment our best advice is that you plan on testing and deploying Windows Vista SP2. For more, I suggest reading this blog post from Gavriella Schuster in regards to guidance on Windows deployments. We expect Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 SP2 to be publicly ava
REDMOND, Wash. — April 28, 2009 — As part of its efforts to continually improve its products and make them more useful for customers, Microsoft periodically releases update packages known as "service packs." Service packs deliver product updates and selected enhancements, without the complete overhaul of releasing a new version. Today the availability of Service Pack 2 (SP2) for the 2007 Microsoft Office system was announced. The service pack includes major performance enhancements for Office applications, most notably Microsoft Office Outlook, as well as Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. One big benefit is SP2's boost to interoperability — with this release, Office supports additional built-in file formats such as PDF and ODF. PressPass talked with Jane Liles, group program manager, Office Sustained Engineering, to discuss what customers can expect from Service Pack 2, how the improvements will provide added value, and how Microsoft is increasing its commitment to interoperability. PressPass: Why should someone download this service pack for Office 2007? Liles: This release builds on customer feedback and offers enhanced stability for Outlook, calendaring reliability, and many more improvements to applications that run on both PCs and servers. Microsoft has also been working hard to build interoperability into its products across the board, and so Office now also includes additional file-format support, which makes it much easier for customers to work with different file formats in the same application. PressPass: What are the main improvements that customers will notice with SP2? Liles: Users should notice the improved performance and stability of Outlook, better charting functionality in Excel, and more control over the appearance of SmartArt graphics. On the server side, IT professionals will notice several enhancements to the security and performance of SharePoint Server 2007, including support for read-only content databases, improvements to forms-based