IT Computer Telecom - October 09
Content
IT/ Computer & Telecom Update
OCTOBER, 2009
IT/COMPUTER
SPECIAL SECTION
Los Angeles Times Engineering October 4
EDITORIAL FEATURES
• • Computer – November editorial feature: Extreme-Scale Computing Computerworld – October 12 editorial features: Security Manager’s Journal, Career Watch; October 19 editorial features: Spotlight: Security; Career Watch; October 26 editorial features: Security Manager’s Journal, Career Watch; November 2 editorial features: Technology Feature: Data Center; Security Manager’s Journal, Career Watch Dr. Dobb’s Report – October 26 editorial feature: Cloud Computing Information Week – October 26 editorial feature: Green Issue – Interactive PDF version of the magazine; November 2 editorial feature: When Worlds Collide: Integrating Collaboration, Social Business Software, and Content Management Network World – October 19 editorial feature: New Data Center: Security for the Virtual Enterprise; October 26 editorial feature: Companies to Watch: Open Source Software; November 2 editorial feature: Trend Watch: Mobility/ Smart Phones; November 9 editorial feature: Holiday Gift Guide, Special Focus: VoIP PC Magazine – December editorial feature: Best Products of the Year
• •
•
•
LAYOFFS
MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. O'Fallon, MO Sherman, TX MEMC Electronic Materials announced that it will stop making silicon wafers and ingots at plants in O'Fallon, Mo., and Sherman, Texas, shifting production to other facilities. The company, which is based in O'Fallon, makes silicon wafers and related wafer inputs for the solar and semiconductor industries. The company expects to close portions of the O'Fallon plant as part of a consolidation. The streamlining will take place late this year and early 2011. MEMC said in a news release that 540 employees in Texas and Missouri will be affected by the move. "A small number" of the displaced workers will be offered positions elsewhere in the company. MEMC officials did not respond to a request asking how many local jobs will be lost. In February 2008, the firm laid off 90 workers. Approximate Affected Workforce: 501-1000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Dell, Inc. Round Rock, TX Twin Falls, ID Dell Computer Inc., the world's second-largest computer maker, is closing its Twin Falls customer support call center by January, eliminating 500 jobs that remained at the facility since layoffs began in 2007. The center had opened eight years ago after millions of dollars in enticements from local and state government.
Approximate Affected Workforce: 101-500 The Associated Press State & Local Wire
TRENDS
National Broadband Could Cost $350 Billion
An FCC task force said costs are far higher than available funding, but the plan would produce major economic and social benefits. By W. David Gardner, Information Week, September 30, 2009 The total cost of developing a universal broadband plan for the United States could run as high as $350 billion, but the plan would produce major economic and social benefits ranging from improving healthcare and education to helping people with disabilities and improving public safety programs, according to a report prepared by an FCC task force. The huge price tag dwarfs the $7.2 billion earmarked in President Obama's economic stimulus program. The task force estimated universal broadband deployment costs would range between $20 billion and $350 billion. The highest figure calls for providing service at 100 Mbps or faster. The report, prepared to help FCC commissioners develop a national broadband plan for Congress, was prepared after information and suggestions were acquired from about 230 witnesses who presented evidence and opinion at 26 hearings and workshops. In addition to laying the groundwork for the February report to Congress, the report discussed the present state of broadband in the United States. "Actual broadband speeds lag advertised speeds by at least 50% and possibly more during the busy hours," according to the report. "Peak usage hours, typically 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., create network congestion and speed degradation. About 1% of users drive 20% of traffic, while 20% of users drive up to 80% of traffic." While the definition of broadband can vary greatly, the task force was clear on the issue of spectrum -- much more of the wireless commodity will be needed, particularly as smartphone sales overtake sales of standard phones by 2011. The task force said it is assessing the nation's long-term spectrum needs. In spite of the high cost of bringing universal high-speed broadband to all regions of the country, the task force noted that broadband can offer solutions to some of the country's major challenges. It suggested that broadband would spur telemedicine and improve electronic healthcare records while the energy environment would be helped by broadband-assisted smart grids, smart homes, and smart transportation. In addition, high-speed broadband will benefit the delivery of government services and lead to more transparency in public policy. Also, education will be assisted by digital textbooks and online learning, and disabled people will be helped by specialized hardware and software. Universal broadband, the task force indicated, should also be developed for use by public safety agencies. Presently, the task force said, public safety entities have access only to commercial broadband services.
Personalized Health Project Integrates E-Medical Data, DNA
The Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaboration platform will be used to develop treatments tailored to patients' genetic and other health-related profile. By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee, Information Week, September 30, 2009 Medical research takes a lot of time. Clinical trials and the unfolding of outcomes, like whether a sick patient is cured of an ailment and suffers no reoccurrence months or years later, can take decades. But the collection, sharing, and analysis of data involved with medical research should get much easier. The seeds for significant advancements are being planted now with the push to digitize medical records and other clinical information. In the years to come, there will be undoubtedly many more -- and much richer sources -- of electronic patient data to help medical research efforts. Digitized records about populations of patients -- like those suffering from chronic illnesses such as asthma, degenerative disease like Alzheimer's, and potentially terminal illnesses like cancer -- could aid doctors and researchers in more quickly identifying the best candidates for clinical trials, and help uncover patterns and new insights based on information that in the past might've been forever buried in paper records. Of course, privacy concerns of patients are legit. No one wants unauthorized snoops digging into personal health information. But even the collection of aggregate, deindentified data from e-medical records -- with the consent of patients -- will help researchers in the years to come. Some of the most powerful discoveries will undoubtedly come from analyzing data from patients' e-medical record, plus their genomic information. Personalized medicine promises to use that data analysis to better match patients with the most effective treatments based on individuals' genetic profiles, medical histories, and their other health issues. Such research is underway in places like Coriell Institute for Medical Research, a non-profit, biomedical research institution and a leading biobank resource for human cells and DNA, which is working on a national genomics project with Ohio State University Medical Center, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Cooper University Hospital, Virtua Health, and Helix Health. The Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaboration will create a secure Web-based technology environment for about 100,000 patients who are being recruited by the project partners to provide DNA samples and other medical information. The goal of the project is to better understand how patients' personal genomic information, along with other information contained in e-medical records, can be used to make better decisions about an individual's healthcare. Researchers and healthcare providers will use the platform for developing new medical and therapeutic treatments tailored to patients' genetic and other health-related data.
"CPMC is pioneering the integration of genotypic information and risk reporting into the e-health record," explained Margaret Keller, associate professor, Coriell Institute for Medical Research in Camden, N.J. "The goal is to supplement clinical-based patient data that exists in the EHR, with genetic information," Keller said in an e-mail interview with InformationWeek. Much of this integration will come with the usage of the health industry's HL7 data exchange standard, she said. The genetic information from participating patients will come from DNA samples they'll provide. "Patients will have their sputum DNA extracted and analyzed at Coriell," said Dr. Clay Marsh, director of the Center for Personalized Health Care at Ohio State University, which is looking to enroll within the next three months 1,000 to 2,000 study participants for the project. "Each patient participating will have their own secure portal access site to their own information," he said in an e-mail interview with InformationWeek. "The patients will be able to see their own information, as will their physicians, if they give us consent to include their doctors. Otherwise, they will have access without their physicians," he said. Ohio State University officials and researchers are working with Coriell to clarify the details on how EMR data will be moved to Coriell for the project, he said. "We will protect the identity of all subjects, and with our institutional review board approval, would need clear, informed consent from each individual before moving any EMR data from OSU to Coriell," he said. "In this way, the participants will be in control of the flow and protection of their EMR data related to the study." For the project, risk reporting algorithms that are developed by the CPMC geneticists are transformed and imported into a genetic variant database, explained Keller. "This database contains relative risk values for each single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) that is on the risk report as well as data from existing federated databases," she said. A SNP is a change or variation in a DNA sequence. "In some people, these changes vary from the population at large and segregates to a group of people that have disease or risk of disease at a higher frequency than people without disease or without risk," explained Marsh. "The DNA chips we are using will identify these specific changes, of which a highly specific group will appear on the Web portal that the subjects have access," he said. "By using standard Web-based technologies, such as XML and SOAP, the main data repository is annotated and supplemented with external data sources, furthering the value of the knowledge repository," said Keller.
Data storage for the CPMC project is being handled by a Hewlett-Packard EVA8100 storage array network, which offers a flexible, open, standards-based storage infrastructure enabling an adaptive infrastructure, she said. "We are committed to creating the future of medicine to improve people's lives through personalized medicine," Marsh said in a statement. "Partnerships like this one will allow us and our community to experience the future of medicine today."
TELECOM
EDITORIAL FEATURES
• RCR Wireless News – October 19 editorial features: Best Companies to Work for Special Report; Wireless Networks; Mobile Enterprise – Finance; Mobile Devices; LBS; November 9 editorial features: Wireless Movers & Shakers Special Report; Wireless Networks; Semiconductors; Mobile Applications Development; Mobile Content Electronic Design – November 5 editorial features: Displays; Green Engineering; Digital; Motor Control Point & Counterpoint; November 16 editorial features: Robotics; ESD & Transient Protection; Test; Mobile TV; December 1 editorial features: Best Electronic Design Microwaves & RF – November issue editorial features: Microwave Software; Broadband Technologies; Cables & Connectors; Mining Substrate Material Telecommunications – November editorial feature: Ethernet Adoption Telephony – December editorial feature: Managed Services; Marketing the Quad Play; Location-Based Services Wireless Design & Development – November editorial features: Mobile WiMAX; Automotive Electronics; Timing Devices; RF Components; Electronic Miniaturization; Wireless Sensor Network Wireless Week – November editorial features: Customer Care; Tiered Services; OSS
•
• • • •
•
LAYOFFS
No Layoffs at this time
TRENDS
Improve Employee Collaboration with Open Source Solutions
By Linux, Wireless Week, September 30, 2009 Red Hat announced that Ministerio de Vivienda, Peru's Ministry of Housing, Construction and Sanitation, has implemented Red Hat Enterprise Linux as the operating platform for its new open source communications solution, Zimbra Collaboration Suite.
“We needed a quick-to-deploy and easy-to-manage solution. We assessed several proposals from various vendors, among them, SUSE Linux and Microsoft Windowsbased solutions, but we chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Zimbra Collaboration Suite and Alfresco, for the solutions' cost savings, simplified administration, reliability and quick implementation," said Jaime Honores Coronado, managing director of the General Department of Statistics and Information Systems, Ministerio de Vivienda. The Ministry of Housing, Construction and Sanitation's goal is to promote and improve the development of housing, water and sanitation services throughout Peru by facilitating access to adequate housing and basic services, facilitating the management, growth, preservation, maintenance and protection of population centers. The Ministry's aging and limited e-mail communications platform was based on SUSE Enterprise Linux with Postfix and Horde for Web customers. Users also relied on different versions of Microsoft Outlook to check their email, resulting in challenges due to the platform age and configuration. The platform also caused the need to add an exclusive server allocated to this service. The Ministry’s main problem consisted of the lack of scalability and security, and limited flexibility in management and constrained the user interface. The Ministry made the decision to evaluate solutions to replace its expensive proprietary software for a Web-based e-mail solution with integrated email, calendar and messaging. The Ministry worked with the IT consulting firm Software Libre Andino, a Red Hat and Zimbra partner in Peru, for the evaluation process of replacing its outdated systems. During the evaluation, the Ministry weighed Microsoft Exchange against Zimbra Collaboration Suite, and determined that Zimbra would account for an estimated 30 percent savings compared with Microsoft Outlook. The Ministry selected Red Hat Enterprise Linux with Zimbra Collaboration Suite and began the migration of each account, installation, configuration, start-up and technical and end-user training to the new open source platform. With Zimbra Collaboration Suite, Red Hat Enterprise Linux serves as the primary development and deployment platform for the open source email platform. Zimbra Collaboration Suite integrates email, contacts, shared calendar, voice over IP (VoIP) and online document authoring into a single application with a rich browser-based interface. It is also compatible with all standard email clients and integrates easily with third-party applications.
Although the Ministry's technical staff had minimal experience with a Web-based email technology, Red Hat Consulting experts facilitated a faster implementation and provided the technical staff with the knowledge and tools to effectively manage the new platform. "The high level of know-how and expertise of Red Hat’s consultants, coupled with Red Hat’s local presence, were decisive in making the decision to secure consulting rather than performing these tasks internally. Red Hat, through partner Software Libre Andino, contributed to service deployment, technical and end-user training and the migration of old e-mail accounts, allowing our team to quickly become experts," said Coronado. The Zimbra Collaboration Suite e-mail platform based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux immediately improved the productivity and coordination of the Ministry’s employees by enhancing collaboration and sharing of work agendas. CIO, CTO & Developer Resources “We have achieved a larger physical distribution of our users who are now capable of accessing their e-mail accounts wherever they are. Our investment project coordinators can perform Web queries of their local e-mail, manage their work agendas and refer to the document management system, all in one single platform," said Coronado. "The Zimbra and Red Hat solution provides a cost-effective platform that allows for greater efficiency and a unified email and collaboration platform," said Coronado. "And we also benefited from significant cost savings with Red Hat Enterprise Linux."
Review: 10 Ways to Save on Calling Costs
By Peter Svensson, Wireless Week, September 30, 2009 The cost of making phone calls has been dropping rapidly in the last few years. If you want take full advantage of that, you'll need to try some new things, because the phone companies aren't going to thrust savings on you. Here are 10 tips on how to cut the cost of your phone service. Several services let you use your home broadband line to make and receive calls. Some of them are aimed at replacing your landline outright, while others are designed as complements.
Vonage is the most widely advertised replacement for the home phone line, and the price is more attractive than before. It just squeezed free calls to more than 60 countries into its standard $25-per-month plan, which already included free domestic calling. Vonage sends you an adapter that connects to your broadband line and your old phone. The setup requires that you know where your broadband modem is and how to connect something to it. Vonage gives you a new phone number, or allows you to move over your old number to the service. But if you're not a big overseas caller, there are cheaper alternatives, and in my testing, long-running problems with audio quality and reliability persist, particularly for international calls. Ooma sells a device that's similar to Vonage's adapter, but once you've plunked down $250 for it, domestic calls are free. International calls are billed at low perminute rates. Ooma's audio quality and reliability are much better than Vonage's, but slightly below that of a regular phone line. Like Vonage, Ooma will let you use your old phone number (for a $40 transfer fee). The adapter works as an answering machine too, and you can access your voice mail through a Web browser as well. There's a new model of the Ooma device coming soon that can act as the base station for cordless phones. The price hasn't been announced. The company has hinted that buyers of the new model may need to pay low yearly fees to cover telecom taxes. MagicJack is an up-and-comer, selling a device that plugs into a computer to provide unlimited domestic calls for one year for $40. After that, every year of service costs $20. International calls are billed at low per-minute rates. In our tests, it worked, but not very well — call quality was barely acceptable. The MagicJack device has a phone number and can receive calls, but you can't move your own number to it. The computer needs to be on for the MagicJack to receive calls, so using it as your primary phone line could be a false economy: Leaving your computer on all the time for a year could cost you $300 in electricity. Skype is best known for free computer-to-computer voice and video chatting, but you can make and receive phone calls using this software as well. Outgoing calls
are billed per minute or through monthly unlimited-calling plans. A phone number that can receive incoming calls costs $60 per year. You can't use your old number as your Skype number, and you can't call 911. You can't use your old phone either, but you can buy special Skype phones if you don't want to use a headset and microphone. Overall, Skype isn't much of a replacement for regular phone service, but could be a complement. T-Mobile USA sells a $40 "AtHome" Internet router or adapter to which you can connect a home phone. Unlimited domestic calls are then $10 per month. You can move your old number to the service. The catch? You have to be a T-Mobile wireless subscriber, paying at least $40 per month on a single plan, or $50 per month on a family plan. Also, international rates are high for this sort of service. First, you need to fork over $5 per month just to make international calls, and then you pay rates like 4 cents per minute to Canada, which other providers let you call for free. Prepaid cell phones are marketed mainly to people with poor credit, but many households could save money by going prepaid instead of signing up for long-term contracts. The main limitation of prepaid service is that it's difficult to get featurepacked "smart" phones. Tracfone is the biggest provider of prepaid phone service in the U.S. It sells barebones phones cheaply, and calls cost between 15 cents and 30 cents per minute. If you use your phone for only a few short calls a day, this is a good deal — Tracfone subscribers pay an average of $10 per month. Prepaid service can also be a good thing to give your kids, since they can't run up huge bills. Warning: If you give your landline phone number or e-mail address to Tracfone during the registration process, it will pester you with frequent "special offers." T-Mobile is another big prepaid carrier, and with good reason: its "Pay As You Go" service can cost as little as 10 cents per minute, with none of the daily usage fees other major carriers impose on their prepaid plans. In addition, it's usually possible to use prepaid service on T-Mobile phones whose contracts have expired. For heavy callers, prepaid unlimited plans costing less than $50 per month are available from MetroPCS Communications Inc., Leap Wireless International Inc. (under the Cricket brand) and Sprint Nextel Corp. (under the Boost brand). We tried a MetroPCS phone in New York and didn't have any problems. It worked just like one from a more expensive carrier, including the Web access. The upfront cost
of that device — a touch-screen-equipped Samsung Finesse — is $349. An equivalent phone would cost $50 or $100 when you sign a contract with a major carrier. But you'd come out ahead in less than a year by saving $30 per month on the prepaid service. You also could get a MetroPCS phone for as little as $69. Caveat: MetroPCS and Cricket have limited calling areas compared to the major carriers. If you go outside major cities, you'll pay roaming fees. If you don't want to switch to prepaid, there are still ways of cutting cell phone calling costs, at least for international calls. These services work a bit like calling cards, but are more convenient and won't shortchange you like many calling cards do. Google Voice lets you call internationally at per-minute rates that are much lower than the carriers' prices, and text-message for free. It's designed to be used with a Web browser, but you can use it from your phone too. If you have a BlackBerry or Android phone, you can download an application. If you have a non-"smart" phone, you can call a Google number, then key in the number you want to call, just as if you were using a calling card. Rebtel provides cheap international calls, much like Google Voice, but is easier to use with phones that don't have Web browsers. For each international number you like to call, it gives you a local number you can place in your contact list. When you call that number, Rebtel automatically connects you to the overseas number.
OCTOBER, 2009
IT/COMPUTER
SPECIAL SECTION
Los Angeles Times Engineering October 4
EDITORIAL FEATURES
• • Computer – November editorial feature: Extreme-Scale Computing Computerworld – October 12 editorial features: Security Manager’s Journal, Career Watch; October 19 editorial features: Spotlight: Security; Career Watch; October 26 editorial features: Security Manager’s Journal, Career Watch; November 2 editorial features: Technology Feature: Data Center; Security Manager’s Journal, Career Watch Dr. Dobb’s Report – October 26 editorial feature: Cloud Computing Information Week – October 26 editorial feature: Green Issue – Interactive PDF version of the magazine; November 2 editorial feature: When Worlds Collide: Integrating Collaboration, Social Business Software, and Content Management Network World – October 19 editorial feature: New Data Center: Security for the Virtual Enterprise; October 26 editorial feature: Companies to Watch: Open Source Software; November 2 editorial feature: Trend Watch: Mobility/ Smart Phones; November 9 editorial feature: Holiday Gift Guide, Special Focus: VoIP PC Magazine – December editorial feature: Best Products of the Year
• •
•
•
LAYOFFS
MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. O'Fallon, MO Sherman, TX MEMC Electronic Materials announced that it will stop making silicon wafers and ingots at plants in O'Fallon, Mo., and Sherman, Texas, shifting production to other facilities. The company, which is based in O'Fallon, makes silicon wafers and related wafer inputs for the solar and semiconductor industries. The company expects to close portions of the O'Fallon plant as part of a consolidation. The streamlining will take place late this year and early 2011. MEMC said in a news release that 540 employees in Texas and Missouri will be affected by the move. "A small number" of the displaced workers will be offered positions elsewhere in the company. MEMC officials did not respond to a request asking how many local jobs will be lost. In February 2008, the firm laid off 90 workers. Approximate Affected Workforce: 501-1000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Dell, Inc. Round Rock, TX Twin Falls, ID Dell Computer Inc., the world's second-largest computer maker, is closing its Twin Falls customer support call center by January, eliminating 500 jobs that remained at the facility since layoffs began in 2007. The center had opened eight years ago after millions of dollars in enticements from local and state government.
Approximate Affected Workforce: 101-500 The Associated Press State & Local Wire
TRENDS
National Broadband Could Cost $350 Billion
An FCC task force said costs are far higher than available funding, but the plan would produce major economic and social benefits. By W. David Gardner, Information Week, September 30, 2009 The total cost of developing a universal broadband plan for the United States could run as high as $350 billion, but the plan would produce major economic and social benefits ranging from improving healthcare and education to helping people with disabilities and improving public safety programs, according to a report prepared by an FCC task force. The huge price tag dwarfs the $7.2 billion earmarked in President Obama's economic stimulus program. The task force estimated universal broadband deployment costs would range between $20 billion and $350 billion. The highest figure calls for providing service at 100 Mbps or faster. The report, prepared to help FCC commissioners develop a national broadband plan for Congress, was prepared after information and suggestions were acquired from about 230 witnesses who presented evidence and opinion at 26 hearings and workshops. In addition to laying the groundwork for the February report to Congress, the report discussed the present state of broadband in the United States. "Actual broadband speeds lag advertised speeds by at least 50% and possibly more during the busy hours," according to the report. "Peak usage hours, typically 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., create network congestion and speed degradation. About 1% of users drive 20% of traffic, while 20% of users drive up to 80% of traffic." While the definition of broadband can vary greatly, the task force was clear on the issue of spectrum -- much more of the wireless commodity will be needed, particularly as smartphone sales overtake sales of standard phones by 2011. The task force said it is assessing the nation's long-term spectrum needs. In spite of the high cost of bringing universal high-speed broadband to all regions of the country, the task force noted that broadband can offer solutions to some of the country's major challenges. It suggested that broadband would spur telemedicine and improve electronic healthcare records while the energy environment would be helped by broadband-assisted smart grids, smart homes, and smart transportation. In addition, high-speed broadband will benefit the delivery of government services and lead to more transparency in public policy. Also, education will be assisted by digital textbooks and online learning, and disabled people will be helped by specialized hardware and software. Universal broadband, the task force indicated, should also be developed for use by public safety agencies. Presently, the task force said, public safety entities have access only to commercial broadband services.
Personalized Health Project Integrates E-Medical Data, DNA
The Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaboration platform will be used to develop treatments tailored to patients' genetic and other health-related profile. By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee, Information Week, September 30, 2009 Medical research takes a lot of time. Clinical trials and the unfolding of outcomes, like whether a sick patient is cured of an ailment and suffers no reoccurrence months or years later, can take decades. But the collection, sharing, and analysis of data involved with medical research should get much easier. The seeds for significant advancements are being planted now with the push to digitize medical records and other clinical information. In the years to come, there will be undoubtedly many more -- and much richer sources -- of electronic patient data to help medical research efforts. Digitized records about populations of patients -- like those suffering from chronic illnesses such as asthma, degenerative disease like Alzheimer's, and potentially terminal illnesses like cancer -- could aid doctors and researchers in more quickly identifying the best candidates for clinical trials, and help uncover patterns and new insights based on information that in the past might've been forever buried in paper records. Of course, privacy concerns of patients are legit. No one wants unauthorized snoops digging into personal health information. But even the collection of aggregate, deindentified data from e-medical records -- with the consent of patients -- will help researchers in the years to come. Some of the most powerful discoveries will undoubtedly come from analyzing data from patients' e-medical record, plus their genomic information. Personalized medicine promises to use that data analysis to better match patients with the most effective treatments based on individuals' genetic profiles, medical histories, and their other health issues. Such research is underway in places like Coriell Institute for Medical Research, a non-profit, biomedical research institution and a leading biobank resource for human cells and DNA, which is working on a national genomics project with Ohio State University Medical Center, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Cooper University Hospital, Virtua Health, and Helix Health. The Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaboration will create a secure Web-based technology environment for about 100,000 patients who are being recruited by the project partners to provide DNA samples and other medical information. The goal of the project is to better understand how patients' personal genomic information, along with other information contained in e-medical records, can be used to make better decisions about an individual's healthcare. Researchers and healthcare providers will use the platform for developing new medical and therapeutic treatments tailored to patients' genetic and other health-related data.
"CPMC is pioneering the integration of genotypic information and risk reporting into the e-health record," explained Margaret Keller, associate professor, Coriell Institute for Medical Research in Camden, N.J. "The goal is to supplement clinical-based patient data that exists in the EHR, with genetic information," Keller said in an e-mail interview with InformationWeek. Much of this integration will come with the usage of the health industry's HL7 data exchange standard, she said. The genetic information from participating patients will come from DNA samples they'll provide. "Patients will have their sputum DNA extracted and analyzed at Coriell," said Dr. Clay Marsh, director of the Center for Personalized Health Care at Ohio State University, which is looking to enroll within the next three months 1,000 to 2,000 study participants for the project. "Each patient participating will have their own secure portal access site to their own information," he said in an e-mail interview with InformationWeek. "The patients will be able to see their own information, as will their physicians, if they give us consent to include their doctors. Otherwise, they will have access without their physicians," he said. Ohio State University officials and researchers are working with Coriell to clarify the details on how EMR data will be moved to Coriell for the project, he said. "We will protect the identity of all subjects, and with our institutional review board approval, would need clear, informed consent from each individual before moving any EMR data from OSU to Coriell," he said. "In this way, the participants will be in control of the flow and protection of their EMR data related to the study." For the project, risk reporting algorithms that are developed by the CPMC geneticists are transformed and imported into a genetic variant database, explained Keller. "This database contains relative risk values for each single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) that is on the risk report as well as data from existing federated databases," she said. A SNP is a change or variation in a DNA sequence. "In some people, these changes vary from the population at large and segregates to a group of people that have disease or risk of disease at a higher frequency than people without disease or without risk," explained Marsh. "The DNA chips we are using will identify these specific changes, of which a highly specific group will appear on the Web portal that the subjects have access," he said. "By using standard Web-based technologies, such as XML and SOAP, the main data repository is annotated and supplemented with external data sources, furthering the value of the knowledge repository," said Keller.
Data storage for the CPMC project is being handled by a Hewlett-Packard EVA8100 storage array network, which offers a flexible, open, standards-based storage infrastructure enabling an adaptive infrastructure, she said. "We are committed to creating the future of medicine to improve people's lives through personalized medicine," Marsh said in a statement. "Partnerships like this one will allow us and our community to experience the future of medicine today."
TELECOM
EDITORIAL FEATURES
• RCR Wireless News – October 19 editorial features: Best Companies to Work for Special Report; Wireless Networks; Mobile Enterprise – Finance; Mobile Devices; LBS; November 9 editorial features: Wireless Movers & Shakers Special Report; Wireless Networks; Semiconductors; Mobile Applications Development; Mobile Content Electronic Design – November 5 editorial features: Displays; Green Engineering; Digital; Motor Control Point & Counterpoint; November 16 editorial features: Robotics; ESD & Transient Protection; Test; Mobile TV; December 1 editorial features: Best Electronic Design Microwaves & RF – November issue editorial features: Microwave Software; Broadband Technologies; Cables & Connectors; Mining Substrate Material Telecommunications – November editorial feature: Ethernet Adoption Telephony – December editorial feature: Managed Services; Marketing the Quad Play; Location-Based Services Wireless Design & Development – November editorial features: Mobile WiMAX; Automotive Electronics; Timing Devices; RF Components; Electronic Miniaturization; Wireless Sensor Network Wireless Week – November editorial features: Customer Care; Tiered Services; OSS
•
• • • •
•
LAYOFFS
No Layoffs at this time
TRENDS
Improve Employee Collaboration with Open Source Solutions
By Linux, Wireless Week, September 30, 2009 Red Hat announced that Ministerio de Vivienda, Peru's Ministry of Housing, Construction and Sanitation, has implemented Red Hat Enterprise Linux as the operating platform for its new open source communications solution, Zimbra Collaboration Suite.
“We needed a quick-to-deploy and easy-to-manage solution. We assessed several proposals from various vendors, among them, SUSE Linux and Microsoft Windowsbased solutions, but we chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Zimbra Collaboration Suite and Alfresco, for the solutions' cost savings, simplified administration, reliability and quick implementation," said Jaime Honores Coronado, managing director of the General Department of Statistics and Information Systems, Ministerio de Vivienda. The Ministry of Housing, Construction and Sanitation's goal is to promote and improve the development of housing, water and sanitation services throughout Peru by facilitating access to adequate housing and basic services, facilitating the management, growth, preservation, maintenance and protection of population centers. The Ministry's aging and limited e-mail communications platform was based on SUSE Enterprise Linux with Postfix and Horde for Web customers. Users also relied on different versions of Microsoft Outlook to check their email, resulting in challenges due to the platform age and configuration. The platform also caused the need to add an exclusive server allocated to this service. The Ministry’s main problem consisted of the lack of scalability and security, and limited flexibility in management and constrained the user interface. The Ministry made the decision to evaluate solutions to replace its expensive proprietary software for a Web-based e-mail solution with integrated email, calendar and messaging. The Ministry worked with the IT consulting firm Software Libre Andino, a Red Hat and Zimbra partner in Peru, for the evaluation process of replacing its outdated systems. During the evaluation, the Ministry weighed Microsoft Exchange against Zimbra Collaboration Suite, and determined that Zimbra would account for an estimated 30 percent savings compared with Microsoft Outlook. The Ministry selected Red Hat Enterprise Linux with Zimbra Collaboration Suite and began the migration of each account, installation, configuration, start-up and technical and end-user training to the new open source platform. With Zimbra Collaboration Suite, Red Hat Enterprise Linux serves as the primary development and deployment platform for the open source email platform. Zimbra Collaboration Suite integrates email, contacts, shared calendar, voice over IP (VoIP) and online document authoring into a single application with a rich browser-based interface. It is also compatible with all standard email clients and integrates easily with third-party applications.
Although the Ministry's technical staff had minimal experience with a Web-based email technology, Red Hat Consulting experts facilitated a faster implementation and provided the technical staff with the knowledge and tools to effectively manage the new platform. "The high level of know-how and expertise of Red Hat’s consultants, coupled with Red Hat’s local presence, were decisive in making the decision to secure consulting rather than performing these tasks internally. Red Hat, through partner Software Libre Andino, contributed to service deployment, technical and end-user training and the migration of old e-mail accounts, allowing our team to quickly become experts," said Coronado. The Zimbra Collaboration Suite e-mail platform based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux immediately improved the productivity and coordination of the Ministry’s employees by enhancing collaboration and sharing of work agendas. CIO, CTO & Developer Resources “We have achieved a larger physical distribution of our users who are now capable of accessing their e-mail accounts wherever they are. Our investment project coordinators can perform Web queries of their local e-mail, manage their work agendas and refer to the document management system, all in one single platform," said Coronado. "The Zimbra and Red Hat solution provides a cost-effective platform that allows for greater efficiency and a unified email and collaboration platform," said Coronado. "And we also benefited from significant cost savings with Red Hat Enterprise Linux."
Review: 10 Ways to Save on Calling Costs
By Peter Svensson, Wireless Week, September 30, 2009 The cost of making phone calls has been dropping rapidly in the last few years. If you want take full advantage of that, you'll need to try some new things, because the phone companies aren't going to thrust savings on you. Here are 10 tips on how to cut the cost of your phone service. Several services let you use your home broadband line to make and receive calls. Some of them are aimed at replacing your landline outright, while others are designed as complements.
Vonage is the most widely advertised replacement for the home phone line, and the price is more attractive than before. It just squeezed free calls to more than 60 countries into its standard $25-per-month plan, which already included free domestic calling. Vonage sends you an adapter that connects to your broadband line and your old phone. The setup requires that you know where your broadband modem is and how to connect something to it. Vonage gives you a new phone number, or allows you to move over your old number to the service. But if you're not a big overseas caller, there are cheaper alternatives, and in my testing, long-running problems with audio quality and reliability persist, particularly for international calls. Ooma sells a device that's similar to Vonage's adapter, but once you've plunked down $250 for it, domestic calls are free. International calls are billed at low perminute rates. Ooma's audio quality and reliability are much better than Vonage's, but slightly below that of a regular phone line. Like Vonage, Ooma will let you use your old phone number (for a $40 transfer fee). The adapter works as an answering machine too, and you can access your voice mail through a Web browser as well. There's a new model of the Ooma device coming soon that can act as the base station for cordless phones. The price hasn't been announced. The company has hinted that buyers of the new model may need to pay low yearly fees to cover telecom taxes. MagicJack is an up-and-comer, selling a device that plugs into a computer to provide unlimited domestic calls for one year for $40. After that, every year of service costs $20. International calls are billed at low per-minute rates. In our tests, it worked, but not very well — call quality was barely acceptable. The MagicJack device has a phone number and can receive calls, but you can't move your own number to it. The computer needs to be on for the MagicJack to receive calls, so using it as your primary phone line could be a false economy: Leaving your computer on all the time for a year could cost you $300 in electricity. Skype is best known for free computer-to-computer voice and video chatting, but you can make and receive phone calls using this software as well. Outgoing calls
are billed per minute or through monthly unlimited-calling plans. A phone number that can receive incoming calls costs $60 per year. You can't use your old number as your Skype number, and you can't call 911. You can't use your old phone either, but you can buy special Skype phones if you don't want to use a headset and microphone. Overall, Skype isn't much of a replacement for regular phone service, but could be a complement. T-Mobile USA sells a $40 "AtHome" Internet router or adapter to which you can connect a home phone. Unlimited domestic calls are then $10 per month. You can move your old number to the service. The catch? You have to be a T-Mobile wireless subscriber, paying at least $40 per month on a single plan, or $50 per month on a family plan. Also, international rates are high for this sort of service. First, you need to fork over $5 per month just to make international calls, and then you pay rates like 4 cents per minute to Canada, which other providers let you call for free. Prepaid cell phones are marketed mainly to people with poor credit, but many households could save money by going prepaid instead of signing up for long-term contracts. The main limitation of prepaid service is that it's difficult to get featurepacked "smart" phones. Tracfone is the biggest provider of prepaid phone service in the U.S. It sells barebones phones cheaply, and calls cost between 15 cents and 30 cents per minute. If you use your phone for only a few short calls a day, this is a good deal — Tracfone subscribers pay an average of $10 per month. Prepaid service can also be a good thing to give your kids, since they can't run up huge bills. Warning: If you give your landline phone number or e-mail address to Tracfone during the registration process, it will pester you with frequent "special offers." T-Mobile is another big prepaid carrier, and with good reason: its "Pay As You Go" service can cost as little as 10 cents per minute, with none of the daily usage fees other major carriers impose on their prepaid plans. In addition, it's usually possible to use prepaid service on T-Mobile phones whose contracts have expired. For heavy callers, prepaid unlimited plans costing less than $50 per month are available from MetroPCS Communications Inc., Leap Wireless International Inc. (under the Cricket brand) and Sprint Nextel Corp. (under the Boost brand). We tried a MetroPCS phone in New York and didn't have any problems. It worked just like one from a more expensive carrier, including the Web access. The upfront cost
of that device — a touch-screen-equipped Samsung Finesse — is $349. An equivalent phone would cost $50 or $100 when you sign a contract with a major carrier. But you'd come out ahead in less than a year by saving $30 per month on the prepaid service. You also could get a MetroPCS phone for as little as $69. Caveat: MetroPCS and Cricket have limited calling areas compared to the major carriers. If you go outside major cities, you'll pay roaming fees. If you don't want to switch to prepaid, there are still ways of cutting cell phone calling costs, at least for international calls. These services work a bit like calling cards, but are more convenient and won't shortchange you like many calling cards do. Google Voice lets you call internationally at per-minute rates that are much lower than the carriers' prices, and text-message for free. It's designed to be used with a Web browser, but you can use it from your phone too. If you have a BlackBerry or Android phone, you can download an application. If you have a non-"smart" phone, you can call a Google number, then key in the number you want to call, just as if you were using a calling card. Rebtel provides cheap international calls, much like Google Voice, but is easier to use with phones that don't have Web browsers. For each international number you like to call, it gives you a local number you can place in your contact list. When you call that number, Rebtel automatically connects you to the overseas number.
