New Delhi, March 24 -- Computers that process data and software that power them separately create hundreds of thousands of jobs worldwide, the networking technologies that link the two together are often missed in the buzz.
The world's leading networking equipment company, Cisco Systems, estimates that India is facing a shortage of 70,000 professionals in networking alone, as data centres mushroom and the Internet expands to help businesses and homes alike.
California-based Cisco, which started out with routers and expanded into a range of switches and end-user gear such as conferencing systems, says an increasing trend to outsource IT infrastructure management will only widen the shortfall in the months to come.
Quality networking professionals are a rare species at the global level too. Globally, the shortage is as high as one million.
Apart from maintaining switches and routers, networking experts also take care of security and risk management in data centres and employ "virtualisation" under which a job done by a machine can now be executed through software, enabling easier network management from remote locations. Network architecture, network design, unified communications and cloud computing would also be the trends over the next five years.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Apple's 'iKey' to replace the humble door key
Sun, Mar 7
London, Mar 7 (ANI): Computer giant Apple is set to revolutionize the traditional door key with introduction of a hi-tech alternative nicknamed the 'iKey'.
The technology simply requires the users to enter a pin code and wave the device over an electronic pad beside the door to open it. The same device could be used to unlock cars, front door and gain access to their office. The application states: "The device can communicate with an external device to open a lock. By way of example, the electronic device may be a model of an iPhone.
The device may be attributed with a feature to encrypt any information that passes between the iPhone and the computer-controlled lock for enhancing safety.
London, Mar 7 (ANI): Computer giant Apple is set to revolutionize the traditional door key with introduction of a hi-tech alternative nicknamed the 'iKey'.
The technology simply requires the users to enter a pin code and wave the device over an electronic pad beside the door to open it. The same device could be used to unlock cars, front door and gain access to their office. The application states: "The device can communicate with an external device to open a lock. By way of example, the electronic device may be a model of an iPhone.
The device may be attributed with a feature to encrypt any information that passes between the iPhone and the computer-controlled lock for enhancing safety.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Soon, shoes that may harvest pounding of walking to power mobiles
Tue, Feb 16
Washington, Feb 16 (ANI): Princeton University engineers have developed power-generating rubber films that could be used to harness natural body movements such as breathing and walking to power pacemakers, mobile phones and other electronic devices.
The material, composed of ceramic nanoribbons embedded onto silicone rubber sheets, generates electricity when flexed and is highly efficient at converting mechanical energy to electrical energy.
Shoes made of the material may one day harvest the pounding of walking and running to power mobile electrical devices.
Placed against the lungs, sheets of the material could use breathing motions to power pacemakers, obviating the current need for surgical replacement of the batteries which power the devices.
The Princeton team is the first to successfully combine silicone and nanoribbons of lead zirconate titanate (PZT), a ceramic material that is piezoelectric, meaning it generates an electrical voltage when pressure is applied to it.
Of all piezoelectric materials, PZT is the most efficient, able to convert 80 percent of the mechanical energy applied to it into electrical energy.
"PZT is 100 times more efficient than quartz, another piezoelectric material. You don't generate that much power from walking or breathing, so you want to harness it as efficiently as possible," said Michael McAlpine, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, at Princeton, who led the project.
"The new electricity-harvesting devices could be implanted in the body to perpetually power medical devices, and the body wouldn't reject them," McAlpine said.
Washington, Feb 16 (ANI): Princeton University engineers have developed power-generating rubber films that could be used to harness natural body movements such as breathing and walking to power pacemakers, mobile phones and other electronic devices.
The material, composed of ceramic nanoribbons embedded onto silicone rubber sheets, generates electricity when flexed and is highly efficient at converting mechanical energy to electrical energy.
Shoes made of the material may one day harvest the pounding of walking and running to power mobile electrical devices.
Placed against the lungs, sheets of the material could use breathing motions to power pacemakers, obviating the current need for surgical replacement of the batteries which power the devices.
The Princeton team is the first to successfully combine silicone and nanoribbons of lead zirconate titanate (PZT), a ceramic material that is piezoelectric, meaning it generates an electrical voltage when pressure is applied to it.
Of all piezoelectric materials, PZT is the most efficient, able to convert 80 percent of the mechanical energy applied to it into electrical energy.
"PZT is 100 times more efficient than quartz, another piezoelectric material. You don't generate that much power from walking or breathing, so you want to harness it as efficiently as possible," said Michael McAlpine, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, at Princeton, who led the project.
"The new electricity-harvesting devices could be implanted in the body to perpetually power medical devices, and the body wouldn't reject them," McAlpine said.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Revolutionary devices that will bring Internet access to driver's seat
Sun, Jan 10
London, Jan 10 (ANI): A new generation of computerised dashboard devices that will bring Internet access to the driver's seat are about to be unveiled.
The Wi-Fi-enabled gadgets, which are being developed by technology companies such as Intel and Google in conjunction with car manufacturers, will allow drivers to compose voice-activated e-mails on the move, call up restaurant reviews as they reach their destination and use 3D maps to navigate while their passengers watch movies.
The devices will go on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. However, motoring organisations have warned the so-called "infotainment" systems will distract drivers and increase the risk of accidents.
London, Jan 10 (ANI): A new generation of computerised dashboard devices that will bring Internet access to the driver's seat are about to be unveiled.
The Wi-Fi-enabled gadgets, which are being developed by technology companies such as Intel and Google in conjunction with car manufacturers, will allow drivers to compose voice-activated e-mails on the move, call up restaurant reviews as they reach their destination and use 3D maps to navigate while their passengers watch movies.
The devices will go on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. However, motoring organisations have warned the so-called "infotainment" systems will distract drivers and increase the risk of accidents.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Renault's new concept car unveiled
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday inaugurated the Twizy Z.E. Concept, a new electric car from the stables of Renault, which will be out on Indian roads by 2011.This blue and white coloured car is a two-seater car, which works on the green technology principle.
Welcoming Renault's new car with enthusiasm, Dikshit said that Delhi roads would be much better off with electric cars as this."They are developing this new technology; Renault is introducing this at the automobile exhibition.They are still developing it. It is very beautiful to look at and they are saying it will take them one or one and a half year more to come out, then we will give as many incentives as we can to such cars to run on Delhi roads which do not contribute to the pollution." said Dikshit.
The twizy is classified as a quadracycle and does not need to comply with the full panoply of safety regulations. Since the car does not have doors it minuses the need of an air conditioner. The twizy is a rear wheel drive and weighs 420kg.
It is powered by a 15kW engine that Renault claim produces 20PS of power. The electric motor has range of 100kmph with a top speed of 75kmph. The four wheeled scooter is due for production in late 2011.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Hundred times faster, cooler computers on it's way
Toronto, Dec 16 (IANS) Indian-origin researcher Sanjeev John and his colleague Xun Ma of the University of Toronto have discovered new behaviour of light which could lead to cooler and faster computing. The two quantum optics researchers have discovered 'new behaviours' of light changes within photonic crystals that could lead to faster optical information processing and compact computers that don't overheat.
They discovered that by sculpting a unique artificial vacuum inside a photonic crystal, we can completely control the electronic state of artificial atoms (light) within the vacuum. This discovery can enable photonic computers that are more than a hundred times faster than their electronic counterparts, without heat dissipation issues and other bottlenecks currently faced by electronic computing.
Added Sanjeev John, "We designed a vacuum in which light passes through circuit paths that are one one-hundredth of the thickness of a human hair, and whose character changes drastically and abruptly with the wavelength of the light." "A vacuum experienced by light is not completely empty, and can be made even emptier. It's not the traditional understanding of a vacuum."
Ma said, "In this vacuum, the state of each atom - or quantum dot - can be manipulated with color-coded streams of laser pulses that sequentially excite and de-excite it in trillionths of a second. These quantum dots can in turn control other streams of optical pulses, enabling optical information processing and computing."
Said John, "This new mechanism enables micrometer scale integrated all-optical transistors to perform logic operations over multiple frequency channels in trillionths of a second at microwatt power levels, which are about one millionth of the power required by a household light bulb. That this mechanism allows for computing over many wavelengths as opposed to electronic circuits which use only one channel, would significantly surpass the performance of current day electronic transistors."
They discovered that by sculpting a unique artificial vacuum inside a photonic crystal, we can completely control the electronic state of artificial atoms (light) within the vacuum. This discovery can enable photonic computers that are more than a hundred times faster than their electronic counterparts, without heat dissipation issues and other bottlenecks currently faced by electronic computing.
Added Sanjeev John, "We designed a vacuum in which light passes through circuit paths that are one one-hundredth of the thickness of a human hair, and whose character changes drastically and abruptly with the wavelength of the light." "A vacuum experienced by light is not completely empty, and can be made even emptier. It's not the traditional understanding of a vacuum."
Ma said, "In this vacuum, the state of each atom - or quantum dot - can be manipulated with color-coded streams of laser pulses that sequentially excite and de-excite it in trillionths of a second. These quantum dots can in turn control other streams of optical pulses, enabling optical information processing and computing."
Said John, "This new mechanism enables micrometer scale integrated all-optical transistors to perform logic operations over multiple frequency channels in trillionths of a second at microwatt power levels, which are about one millionth of the power required by a household light bulb. That this mechanism allows for computing over many wavelengths as opposed to electronic circuits which use only one channel, would significantly surpass the performance of current day electronic transistors."
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Soon, Star Trek-style gadget to detect cancer
Mon, Dec 14
London, December 14 (ANI): Scientists are coming up with a new Star Trek-style gadget to detect cancers and other diseases.
A portable biomarker detector being developed by a team at Yale University will be able to identify signs of illness from a sample of blood within 20 minutes.
According to the researchers, the device will come in a size of a paperback book and equipped with a nanosensor so accurate that it can pick up a grain of salt in a swimming pool.
"Doctors could have these small, portable devices in their offices and get nearly instant readings," the Telegraph quoted Dr Tarek Fahmy, a biomedical engineer at Yale University, as saying.
He added: "They could also carry them into the field and test patients on site."
Professor Mark Reed, co-author, added: "Nanosensors have been around for the past decade, but they only worked in controlled, laboratory settings.
"This is the first time we've been able to use them with whole blood, which is a complicated solution containing proteins and ions and other things that affect detection."
Seemingly, the device will be similar to Dr McCoy's tricorder in Star Trek, which is used to scan living or nonliving matter to determine its molecular make-up. (ANI)
London, December 14 (ANI): Scientists are coming up with a new Star Trek-style gadget to detect cancers and other diseases.
A portable biomarker detector being developed by a team at Yale University will be able to identify signs of illness from a sample of blood within 20 minutes.
According to the researchers, the device will come in a size of a paperback book and equipped with a nanosensor so accurate that it can pick up a grain of salt in a swimming pool.
"Doctors could have these small, portable devices in their offices and get nearly instant readings," the Telegraph quoted Dr Tarek Fahmy, a biomedical engineer at Yale University, as saying.
He added: "They could also carry them into the field and test patients on site."
Professor Mark Reed, co-author, added: "Nanosensors have been around for the past decade, but they only worked in controlled, laboratory settings.
"This is the first time we've been able to use them with whole blood, which is a complicated solution containing proteins and ions and other things that affect detection."
Seemingly, the device will be similar to Dr McCoy's tricorder in Star Trek, which is used to scan living or nonliving matter to determine its molecular make-up. (ANI)
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