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895.1 Hot Topics
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The Market for Scanners
895.2 Story of the Issue
895.3 Animation
895.4 Fab 
Komatsu Silicon America Suspends Second Phase Operations -- Announces Layoffs
Samsung Develops New Chip Manufacturing Technology
895.5 Internet
The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition Surpasses 250,000 Subscribers
Adobe announces results of SeniorNet survey
895.6 Interactive Television
895.7 E-Commerce
IPNet Launches eCommerce Partners Program
Quote.com Offers Education in Online Trading
895.8 Video
895.9 Standards
895.10 Standards
895.11 Human Interface --------------------------------------
The Market for 3D Scanners
By Amanda Rogos
(October 9)The scanner supplier market is saturated with companies producing similar products with different features. For this reason, many of the companies involved in this market believe that the next couple years will be a pivotal point in their future. Some predict recession, some predict growth, but most agree that the future will be unsteady and weaker companies will disappear.
Almost all products target the high-end professional markets although specific market segments vary. At the top of the pricing spectrum, are Cyra Technologies and CyberOptics Corporation. Cyra's product Cyrax is priced at $150,000 and is intended for large/distant objects that need to be converted into 3D CAD models. CyberOptics's CyberScan Vantage is $500,000 and does dimensional measurement for industrial applications like production quality control.
Digibotics, Inc. produces a product aimed at engineering and industrial applications. Their Digibot series, starts at $50,000
for Digibot II, a desktop model and the price rises accordingly
with their other models developed for increasingly larger and
heavier industrial parts/applications.A variety of scanners are available in the $20,000 range.
Cyberware's Model 15, priced at $22,900 was developed for medical research, reverse engineering, and object digitization. Faro
Technologies has developed the FaroArm, to measure complex
surfaces. The FaroArm has two price points, $24,900 for a
Sterling version or, $44,900 for a Gold version that offers
better accuracy ratings. Visual Interface's Virtuoso, priced at
$29,500 was developed for a range of applications including
modeling/animation, medical imaging, non-contact measuring,
art/antique imaging, multimedia/electronic publishing, and
forensic animation. RealScan 3D from Real 3D is $27,500 and
targeted for manufacturing, medical, multimedia/web, animation
and 3D archiving. The last product in this range, is the Handheld
Laser Scanner from Polhemus. It is $29,995 and is used to scan
non-metallic opaque objects in CAD, scientific visualization, and
simulation or computer graphics animation applications.InSpeck's product falls in the middle of most categories at
$16,900. 3D Capturor was developed for use in 3D artistry,
specifically computer animation, post-production and special
effects, multimedia, and personalized computer products.At the lower end of the pricing spectrum there are a variety of
options as well. RevWorks from Design Automation is priced at
$3,995 with an additional optional 2-3 day training priced at
$950. This product was developed for reverse engineering
applications such as mold makers, tools and die, and automotive
and rapid prototyping applications.Geometrix, another company in this price category, targets their
product, 3Scan at professional 3D content creators, specifically
film and broadcast, interactive game development,
architecture/mechanical CAD, and virtual reality/simulations.
3Scan is one of the first scanners in an emerging market of video
scanners and is priced at $7,495. Next is InHarmony, for $9,950. InHarmony's product Venus 3D was developed for 3D modeling in animation, interactive 3D game design, and cyberspace 3D displays.K2T, Inc. is a company that has gone about marketing these
products in a different way. The company has found that most
companies are not willing to spend a lot for something they have
not tried, therefore K2T rents/leases their SceneModeler products on a per job basis. 3D Pipeline has had the same idea. Their Cave Scanner product is used as part of an overall contract. The product, which is a radial ultrasonic scanner, is used in geometric capture of cave and mining passageways. Other applications include game environment building, finite element and airflow analysis, hydrogeology, inventory management, restoration previews and virtual visits.Because the market is just emerging, there are also competitive
products that have not been released yet. Realiz is coming out
with StereoModeler, their hardware-free 3D scanner in Q1 1999. This product was developed for use in special effects, video games, virtual studios, and industry applications.The WAVE Report found a scanner market that is a narrow niche oriented one. The target segments include the medical,
media/animation, or CAD/architectural sectors. As a result, we
see future growth as limited, at least in the near term. Price
elasticity in the market, i.e., the ability to expand the market
based on significant declines in prices, especially at consumer
levels, has yet to be shown. There are no products at these price
levels and it is unclear that consumers will respond to the 3D
scanner market the way they have the 2D scanner market. Thus,
near term hopes for a "hockey stick" market growth phenomena, in 3D scanners, should be taken as dim.The WAVE Report attended the 11th Annual Microprocessor Forum. It was a first class conference laden with new product
announcements, technical details and ready access to individuals
doing actual chip design. This is not a 3D conference, however,
there is a section on 3D which we reported on a key announcement in WAVE#894. The best source of the specifics of the conference will be subsequent issues of the Microprocessor Report by MDR and we will not dwell into the details of the chips that were announced. Consistent the style of the WAVE Report will provide just a snapshot of what we found most important.Keynote - Brian Halla - Chairman, President & CEO, National
SemiconductorThis is the 4th time over the last year that we have heard his
presentation which combines the PC on a Chip, the Information Age and National's Vision. We were disappointed. Brian is a
compelling speaker and pulls his audience into his topics.
However, as National gets ready to deliver its PC on a Chip the
middle of next year the company needs to transition from a vision
to how its strategy will work in the market. Brian's talk was
noticeably lacking in the details on the chip status, what it
will be used for, the potential market and the role this strategy
will play at National. As the company struggles to make a profit
on a quarterly basis one expects that a vision will eventually
result in a bottom line contribution. There was no bridge in the
presentation between today's realities be it chips, the market or
profitability and Brian's forward look.He did surface one interesting observation at the end of the
talk. The semiconductor industry is facing a glut of capacity in
the microprocessor business as the X86 becomes a commodity. What to do with all those chips? All the more reason for Brian to explain what National will do to create demand with its products.Intel on Katmai New Instructions
Intel's extension to its microprocessors for 3D is called Katmai
New Instructions (KNI) and the first chip to include these will
be Tanner, to be launched in Q1 1999. This is a set of SIMD based floating point instructions that will support video encode and decode, motion compensation computation, and 3D geometry calculations. Initially KNI will only surface in the performance sector of the market, i.e. it will not come out on the Celeron processors which compete in the low priced segments. As a result, Intel will leave a gapping hole in the market for AMD and Cyrix to fill with its 3DNow! instructions.AMD - K7 Announcement
AMD continues it direct assault on Intel in the market with the
K7 chip. This chip is its 7th generation X86 design and moves AMD off the low end of the market. With the K7 AMD see its ability to now compete in the workstation and server markets. The chip due in H1 1999 will run at 500MHz and above using .25 micron process technology. It uses the Slot 1 Mechanical configuration but the DEC EV6 electrical bus. The die size is 184 sq. mm.Cyrix Jalapeno and M3
This is a new X86 core which will run at 600MHz and above based on .18 micron process technology. The first expression of the core on a complete chip will be in M3. What is unique about M3 is that there will be included Direct Rambus memory controller and 3D. The graphics unit on chip will include both a set up engine and the rasterizer. No comments were made on 3D performance. This chip also has a Unified Memory Architecture. The M3 fits on 120 sq. mm. with .18 micron technology. Samples are due in Q4 1999.
WinChip 4
The design philosophy driving WinChip design is the smallest
possible die size. For example, WinChip 2 with 3Dnow! is only 58 sq. mm. at .25 micron. WinChip 4 is the next generation chip also optimized for low cost - it will operate at 500MHz in .25 micron and above at .18 micron. The die size target in .18 micron is 60 sq. mm and less than 100 sq. mm. in .25 micron. A key design feature is the large on chip L1 cache, 128 KB and no L2 cache. Production is scheduled for H2 1999 for .25 micron and H1 2000 for .18 micron.Philips TriMedia CPU64
Philips announced its latest version of the TriMedia chip. This
chip has twice the performance of the CPU32 version and will be implemented in .18 micron. The clock speed target is 300 MHz and it has 7 million transistors. Engineering samples are due in mid-2000. Target markets are "high-end video and DTV." Clearing avoiding the PC space we wonder if this chip will only exist in niche markets within Philips products.MDR View of the 3D Market
Peter Glaskowsky gave a blunt overview of the 3D market. It
described how nothing makes sense. Points raised include the fact that the market is limited to games and the professional 3D
market is not growing. From the chip perspective the 3D design
time is stretching out of control. The IP, patent and litigation
issues, are stretching the industry thin. He ended his talk with
an appeal to end the madness.Right on - this is a set of concerns well aware to WAVE Report
readers.Mitsubishi - VolumePro
Mitsubishi announced the first chip for volume rendering. The
chip will fit into a PC, The first version, vg500, is in .35
micron technology with a 13.65 mm side on the die. It will
process a 256 X 256 X 256 cube.ATI - Rage 128
Various facts: done in .25 micron process, die size 9.2 mm on a
side, 8 m transistors total, 2.5 m transistors in the 3D module.
125 MHz clock for memory and 100MHz pipeline clock. Price $20 - $30.***NewTek releases OpenGL for the Mac
(September 21)NewTek announced availability of the Mac OpenGL update for
LightWave 3D 5.6. As a result, Macintosh users of NewTek's 3D animation products gain access to OpenGLEnhancements using Mac OpenGL include:
- Full color background images in Layout
- Faster screen redraw
- More accurate lighting model
- More accurate real time texture map viewing
- Viewable real-time Sky Tracer environments
- Optional QuickDraw 3D still available
- Increased support for 3rd party tools requiring Open GL
- iMac compatibleThe LightWave 3D 5.6 Mac OpenGL upgrade is available now at no charge for registered users of LightWave 3D 5.5 and 5.6 from NewTek's web site.
***TSMC Validates Simplex Interconnect Extraction Software Using
New Cosmic Standard
(September 14)Simplex Solutions, Inc. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) announced that TSMC has validated the accuracy of Simplex "Fire & Ice" extraction tools with silicon.
TSMC found the results to be within 10 percent of silicon
measurements on a test chip manufactured with TSMC's 0.25 micron logic process. TSMC is the first semiconductor foundry to successfully use the COSMIC approach on a 0.25 micron process.The test chip used the COSMIC standard, which is an "active"
approach to measuring capacitance at the femtoFarad level. COSMIC uses an on-chip sensor circuit for the measurements, achieving accurate capacitance values that are 1,000 times finer than can be obtained with other, passive approaches. The passive approach, which measures capacitances accurately to only the picoFarad range, is not sufficient for the microscopic scale of deep submicron wires in today's chips.Simplex Solutions, Inc. is has products in the market for deep
submicron full-chip interconnect verification. The company
currently develops full-chip IC extraction and analysis software,
used worldwide by companies developing microprocessors and
integrated circuits (ICs) to ensure chip performance and
reliability. Simplex works closely with semiconductor foundries
Chartered, IBM, NEC, TSMC, Toshiba and UMC to develop extraction models and validate extraction accuracy.***Komatsu Silicon America Suspends Second Phase Operations --
Announces Layoffs
(September 8)Komatsu Silicon America (KSA), a subsidiary of Komatsu Electronic Metals Co., in Japan, announced it will suspend second phase operations at its silicon wafer plant here, due to current difficult business conditions in the semiconductor industry.
KSA recently completed a $400 million manufacturing complex in Hillsboro to produce 200 mm (8-inch) silicon wafers for the
semiconductor industry. KSA President and CEO, John Matlock, said the move will necessitate the layoff of approximately 120 of the company's 220 Hillsboro employees. "Effective immediately," said Matlock, "KSA will suspend the startup of the CZ and PW operations.Operations of Phase One, a process known as 'epitaxial silicon',
will continue to run." The shutdown involves the 42,000-square
foot crystal production building (CZ) and the 140,000-square-foot polished wafer facility. The announcement means effectively eliminating all jobs related to the CZ and PW operations. Support groups staffing will be reduced accordingly. While the duration of the current semiconductor business downturn cannot be predicted with accuracy, Matlock said the shutdown is expected to remain in effect for about two years.In a related action, Komatsu Silicon USA, a silicon sales company now based in San Jose, CA, will be merged into Komatsu Silicon America. This will result in approximately 10 jobs in marketing and customer service being relocated to the Hillsboro location.
Komatsu began construction of the silicon wafer plant in October, 1995 at the 93-acre Hillsboro site in Dawson Creek Park. Epitaxial processing of wafers began in 1997. CZ and PW operations were in a testing and qualification phase at the time
of this announcement.***Samsung Develops New Chip Manufacturing Technology
(September 14)Newsbytes reports that Samsung Electronics has developed a
process for manufacturing chips that allow for a 25 percent
increase in performance over comparable chips produced with
current technology. Samsung said it will use the new process to
make the next-generation of Alpha processors, which it produces under license from Compaq Computer.The new production system uses Fully Depleted Silicon on
Insulator (FD-SOI), a technology which requires minimal extra
design work but makes for significant savings in energy usage and improves signal transmission speed. Samsung said it can be easily applied to existing chips and allows operation on a one volt power supply.When coupled with a 0.25 micron production process, FD-SOI
enables the manufacture of central processors with operating
speeds over 1 gigahertz and above. It is also suitable for use
with next-generation copper chips and can be used to produce CPUs with operating speeds of 1.25 gigahertz when manufactured using a 0.18 micron process.***Internet2 announces initiative to Accelerate
(September 28)The Internet2 project announced the Internet2 Middleware
Initiative to accelerate the development of advanced network
applications. As part of this new initiative, IBM will provide
its state-of-the art high-speed storage devices to the Internet2
Distributed Storage Infrastructure initiative (I2-DSI).
Additional support for the I2-DSI will be provided by StorageTek, a new Internet2 corporate sponsor, as well as Cisco Systems, Sun and Novell. In addition, IBM will contribute a host of advanced supercomputer and video technology to the International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR) for the Internet2 Digital Video Network initiative (I2-IDV), which will develop and deploy advanced network technology to establish a national, higher education video network service.The Internet2 Middleware Initiative will define a suite of
enhanced network services that will serve as building blocks for
the advanced research and education applications being developed at Internet2 universities. These services include digital audio and video frameworks, storage systems, security network quality of service, multicast, directories and others. The Internet2 project and its members will develop specific implementations
based on standards set by existing organizations.The I2-DSI initiative will develop and refine advanced server
system technology located throughout the network to store and
deliver efficiently terabytes of data to users at any Internet2
campus. It is led by Dr. Micah Beck, Research Associate Professor and Dr. Terry Moore, Associate Director at University of Tennessee's Innovative Computing Laboratory, and Dr. Bert
Dempsey, Associate Professor of Information Science at the
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Corporate partners
will help realize the Internet2 project's goal of making these
new technologies widely available to the global Internet. I2-DVN is a collaborative effort among several high-performance network video initiatives at Internet2 institutions, including the
International Center for Advanced Internet Research (iCAIR), the Research TV Consortium, the Southern University Research
Association's (SURA) Southern Crossroads Video Initiative.I2-DVN will establish a national, higher education video network service by developing scalable and easy-to-use applications to
deliver live or stored streaming and interactive digital video.
These applications will provide video quality comparable to high
definition television. I2-DVN will gather, store and establish a
means to license and distribute content for courses, informal
lectures, documentaries, video conferences among Internet2 member institutions and will dramatically reduce the cost of producing and distributing highly specialized content. Also, I2-DVN will develop archive and search capabilities for video libraries.http://www.internet2.edu
http://www.ibm.com
http://www.storagetek.com
http://www.utk.edu
http://www.nwu.edu
http://www.washington.edu/researchtv***The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition Surpasses 250,000
Subscribers
(September 8)Dow Jones & Company announced that The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition has reached more than 250,000 paying subscribers. This comes less than four months after the site reached the 200,000 subscriber mark.
The Interactive Journal also released the results of its most recent in-depth subscriber study, Key findings of the study include:
-- Average annual income for an Interactive Journal subscriber is $133,000.
-- 95% of subscribers have a computer in the household.
-- 67% maintain a home office.
-- The average value of subscribers' investment holdings is $270,900, with the average subscriber making 26 securities transactions within the last year.
-- 92% use the Internet to research products online and 76% say they have purchased a product online.
-- Interactive Journal subscribers also comprise a unique
audience: 68% do not subscribe to any print edition of The Wall Street Journal.Annual subscriptions to The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition cost $49. Subscribers to any print edition of the Journal, or Barron's, can subscribe to The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition for $29.
***Adobe announces results of SeniorNet survey
(September 11)Adobe Systems has recently conducted a survey of SeniorNet users. Among the surveys key findings were:
- Eighty percent (80%) of respondents currently own a color printer, and 7% plan to buy one in the near future;
- Forty-nine percent (49%) own a scanner, and 19% plan to purchase one;
- Thirty-nine percent (39%) use a photo-editing program, and 15% plan to buy one;
- Twelve percent (12%) have a digital camera, and 27% intend to buy one;
- The most popular use (47%) of a photo-editing software program is to prepare photos for a personal Web site;
- The second-most popular use (13%) of a photo-editing package is to "have fun with photos," followed by incorporating photos into template-based projects (11%), e-mailing photos (10%), and retouching photos (10%).
- An overwhelming majority -- 81.6% -- said they would be interested in a graphics workshop.
The survey of 1,040 adults aged 50 and over was conducted by Adobe Systems and SeniorNet between June 15 and August 15, 1998, at SeniorNet's Web site (http://www.seniornet.org). The questions were designed to gauge how frequently older adults use computers to scan, edit, manipulate, and print digital photos and incorporate them into creative projects.
***nCUBE Breaks the 5,000 Stream Barrier
(September 8)nCUBE has demonstrated the delivery of 5,120 concurrent 3 Mbps (Megabit per second) streams of broadcast-quality MPEG-2 video content. The 5,120 streams were delivered both from a single piece of content and from 4,000 individual pieces of content. Each of the streams was being controlled by random VCR-like commands (pause, rewind, fast- forward, etc.).
In response to a customer order for a 5,000 stream system, nCUBE built the system that ran the 5,120 stream load. The system, which was running Oracle Corporation's Oracle Video Server software, delivered the video over 128 OC-3s that were terminated by ForeRunnerLE 155 ATM switches. The new delivery record was verified using FORE System Inc.'s ForeView network management software to analyze each OC-3 and the virtual circuits they contained. A PC-based video client, capable of scanning multiple virtual circuits on an OC-3, and set-top boxes from Acorn Group plc. and Stellar One Corp. were used to validate the video on the OC-3 outputs. nCUBE simulated a real-world user environment by issuing random VCR commands to determine how the MediaCUBE would handle the load. Visual inspection and computer monitoring verified that the server was delivering the correct output consistently over a 70-hour period.
Copies of the nCUBE white paper documenting the delivery of 5,120 concurrent 3 Mbps MPEG-2 video streams are available upon request.
***Barnes & Noble, Inc. and Bertelsmann Announce Joint Venture
(October 7)Bertelsmann AG has announced an agreement with Barnes & Noble, Inc. to establish a joint venture with its subsidiary, barnesandnoble.com. Under the agreement, Bertelsmann will pay $200 million for a 50% stake in the barnesandnoble.com joint venture. Each party will also contribute $100 million to the
capital of the venture.Bertelsmann will still proceed with the launch of BooksOnline its own company, in several European countries. The site will network with barnesnoble.com in order to expand its product offerings.
According to Media Matrix, barnesandnoble.com has become the 6th largest e-commerce Web site, with over 700,000 customers in 175 countries. The site has generated sales of $22 million in the last six months ending August 1st. The on-site store offers over 650,000 titles and can access over 2.5 million additional titles from publisher imprints.
***IPNet Launches eCommerce Partners Program
(October 6)IPNet Solutions, Inc. has announced that Kirk Jones with join the company as Director of Channels and will be responsible for IPNet's eCommerce Partners Program. The program will focus on expanding relationships with consulting and integration firms,
ISVs, and system and IP service providers.These bi-directional partnerships will help IPNet expand the product and service offerings of its Enterprise eCommerce Solutions. These software solutions integrate a business' supply-chain with Enterprise EDI, logistics sharing and distribution, web forms, real-time order management, and data exchange.
***Quote.com Offers Education in Online Trading
(October 8)Quote.com Inc. has announced the launch of The Quote.com Investors On-Ramp, designed to educate investors on the process of financial management. The site was developed in partnership with Gomez Advisors and is sponsored by Discover Brokerage.
The On-Ramp guides investors through the process of investing online, and includes opening an account, conducting research, executing a trade, and analyzing a portfolio. The site also offers a link to Gomez Advisors' "The Reluctant Investor," columns covering business and investment issues.
***DMI Reduces Prices on Gallea up to 33%
(October 12)Digital Marketing International announced, lower prices on CFE Gallea video graphics engines for the Mac and PC platforms.
Under the new structure, pricing for the PC version of Gallea starts at $3950 for the basic product. Optional on-board memory and a variety of input and output modules can raise the price to approximately $9500.
Turnkey PC-based systems are also available. CFE Intelligent Studio Systems can be purchased starting at under $10,000 with standard input and output. For full D1 support, DMI offers turnkey systems starting at under $12,000.
On the Macintosh side, three Gallea hardware and software bundles are available that include 32 MegaBytes (MB) of on-board memory. RGB and Alpha output is priced at $4995, RGB plus Component (YUV) I/O is $5995 and support for uncompressed D1 I/O is $8995.
The Gallea is a single slot PCI bus card that supports all popular video formats. It includes mixing, fading, and keying functions as standard features and is the only Macintosh solution that supports full resolution, uncompressed digital video capture and playback using high-speed disk arrays. The Gallea incorporates CFE's patented DVES(R) (Digital Video Editing System) architecture, which provides advanced capabilities for the manipulation of digital video. This high-speed processing power makes the Gallea ideally suited for broadcast video
applications. Up to 128 MegaBytes (MB) of standard DRAM SIMMs may be added to any Gallea, organized as two memory planes of up to
64 MB each.***ARM Joins Bluetooth Consortium
(September 18)ARM announced its support of the Bluetooth wireless technology program, an initiative devised by industry leaders Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Nokia, and Toshiba to revolutionize wireless connectivity
for personal and business mobile devices.The open specification for this technology, code-named "Bluetooth" is being developed through the combined contributions of the members of the Special Interest Group (SIG). Formed in early 1998, the SIG is a result of the commitment by the five founding companies to develop the concept towards a technology standard.
Enabling voice and data transmission via wireless, short-range radio, this technology will allow users to connect a wide range of devices, without the need for cables, expanding communications capabilities for mobile computers, mobile phones and other mobile devices, both in and out of the office.
As a member of the Early Adopters program, ARM is actively working to support the core technology together with the five companies that combined their individual specialist expertise to create this innovative technology. Key members of the "Bluetooth" SIG include Ericsson, who has contributed the basic radio technology expertise; Toshiba and IBM, who are developing a common specification for integrating "Bluetooth" technology into mobile devices; Intel who is contributing its advanced chip and software expertise; and Nokia, who contributes its expertise in radio technology and mobile handset software.
The move to implement "Bluetooth" is expected to grow the market for personal mobile devices and increase airtime usage for mobile data transfer. To date over 90 companies have joined the "Bluetooth" SIG program.
***Intel Builds on Wired for Management Baseline Specification
(September 14)Intel announced the release of the Wired for Management Baseline specification 2.0. The specification builds upon the existing specification to add manageability capabilities for desktop, mobile and server systems.
Products incorporating the new WFM specification are anticipated to be available in 1999 and will be compatible with the hundreds of Wired for Management-enabled hardware and software products now available.
The new specification provides improved operating system and system update capabilities, more control over network booting, improved remote management and off-hours maintenance, easier
troubleshooting for support personnel, and integration capabilities with help desk applications.The new specification includes improvements and additions for each of Wired for Management's four basic management capabilities: hardware instrumentation for diagnostics and asset
management, universal network boot, remote wake-up, and power management. System Component InstrumentationWBEM will give WFM-enabled systems uniform access by management applications to management information from a variety of sources, such as DMI, SNMP and operating system-specific component
instrumentation. Cross-mappers that allow WFM-enabled platforms to be managed by both DMI and WBEM applications will be made
available in Windows NT 5.0.The new WFM specification also requires dynamic instrumentation, which assures that system component information is kept up-to-date when devices, such as USB peripherals or hot swappable
server drives, are added to or removed from systems that are running.Built-in universal network boot allows FM-enabled systems to connect over the network to management servers before the operating system starts running. This enables remote diagnostics, automatic operating system and system component updating each time the system is booted, and operating system and software installation.
The new specification extends universal network boot support to mobile systems, allowing remote installation of software and diagnosis of system problems.
The WFM specification also includes optional certificate-based security for authenticating network booting. This will help ensure that systems booting from the network use only IT-approved boot images. Remote Wake-up and Power Management
Designed for off-hours and remote system maintenance, the WFM specification remote wake-up capability has been updated to include support for "instantly available" systems and auto return to low power features. These capabilities automatically return the system to a low power state for energy conservation.
The new specification also supports APCI power management, a consistent way to wake up the system and put it back to sleep. ACPI standardizes many data and control interfaces, providing more consistent and predictable power management.
A new "wake-on ring" capability allows systems to be awakened from a sleep state by a telephone line instead of a LAN. This capability is expected to be most widely used for mobile systems, which typically are not connected to the LAN, to provide software
updates and troubleshooting.The enhanced specification also requires support for Magic Packet and packet filtering, which will provide flexible solutions for administering and waking up systems on the LAN and over the WAN.
The new WFM specification also recommends an automated Trouble Ticket Agent that supports the Solution Exchange Standard and the Service Incident Exchange Standard developed and supported by the Customer Support Consortium and DMTF. Systems incorporating the Trouble Ticket Agent will be able to gather accurate and instant incident information at the time a problem is detected on the client or server, and report that information to the many help desk products supporting these standards. This will allow IT to
provide faster and more effective support.***Cross Pen and IBM announce CrossPad XP
(September 28)The Cross Pen Computing Group (PCG), a division of the A.T. Cross Company introduced the CrossPad XP expanding the PDN (Portable Digital Notepad) category it created. Co-developed with IBM, the product combines a lightweight hardware design with software enhancements facilitating electronic organizing and sharing of handwritten notes or diagrams.
Cross Pen Computing Group and IBM pioneered the development of PDNs. Like the CrossPad, CrossPad XP transforms how users store, organize and share notes so they can write in ink on a standard notepad and simultaneously create a digital copy of these notes. When uploaded to their PC, the user's "digital notes" can be filed, reorganized, faxed, e-mailed or printed in handwritten form in virtually all Windows 95, 98 and Windows NT 4.0 applications.
Also, announced today by IBM is a software developers kit (SDK) that will enable companies to create forms and applications for use with the popular CrossPad and CrossPad XP. With this toolkit, developers can create customized forms for specific industries including legal, medical, insurance, finance, government and transportation.
Responding to customer requests for a product the size of the memo pad, the CrossPad XP holds a standard 6" x 9" notepad. Built for portability, the 11.875" X 7.75" X .875" CrossPad XP weighs only 1.5 pounds, is more compact and 30% lighter than the original CrossPad. It contains 1 MB of flash ROM, which stores over 80 pages of single-spaced notes or up to 160 pages of loose notes, sketches and diagrams. Both the new CrossPad XP and the existing CrossPad will now ship with the redesigned CrossWriter II digital pen, which provides a more natural, quality writing experience. Additionally, the CrossPad XP will feature a spring-loaded, snap-in penholder to ensure that the CrossWriter II is always within reach.
CrossPad XP will feature the latest upgrade of IBM(R) Ink Manager software, Ink Manager 1.5. Among the enhancements are: -- Self-Executable Ink Manager viewer allows users to e-mail notes to other Windows users, even if they don't have Ink Manager. -- The ability to save notes in .ps, .tif, .jpg, or .bmp formats enables the user to export notes and sketches to their most frequently used applications. -- Thumbnail view of notebook makes it easier to organize, copy and send multiple pages of notes. It also offers greater flexibility to sort notes, select multiple pages, and drag and drop selections into various notebooks.
The new software will be available to existing CrossPad users who can download the new version of IBM Ink Manager 1.5 from the Cross PCG website.
The CrossPad XP package includes IBM Ink Manager 1.5 software, the CrossWriter II digital pen, four AAA batteries for the pad and one AAAA battery for the pen, a serial cable that connects to the PC and five replacement ink cartridges, each with an 80-page capacity. CrossPad XP has a one-year limited warranty.
System requirements include Windows 95, 98 or NT 4.0, Pentium or better processor, 50 MB of hard disk space during the installation process (30 MB after installation is complete), 16 MB RAM minimum (32 MB recommended for Windows 95 and 98, required for NT 4.0), one available 9-pin COM port and a CD- ROM drive.
In the U.S., CrossPad XP will be available in October for $399 (MSRP) at major computer retail stores and catalogs including Staples, Comp USA, Computer City, MicroCenter, Computer Discount Warehouse, Micro Warehouse, and PC Connection. In Canada, CrossPad is being sold through Tech Data and Ingram Canada.
Additional replacement ink cartridges and a specially designed leather CrossPad portfolio are available in retail stores. A new selection of ink cartridges as well as a wide range of accessories are available through the CrossPad accessories catalog or via the Cross Pen Computing Group website.
IBM's CrossPad (SDK) will be available for developers to download from the IBM Research Web site http://www.research.ibm.com/electricInk at no cost. The final SDK will be released in Q4 1998. Currently a beta version of the toolkit and information on IBM's Ink Manager software is available on the Web.
Cross PCG will launch a new website in October. The website will promote greater interactivity by providing the following
enhancements to the current website.
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