>> A Platform Increasing Storage Efficiency and Reducing The Total Cost of Ownership
Hitachi Data Systems Korea (HDS Korea) held a press conference announcing its "Tagmastore Universal Storage Platform," which significantly increases storage efficiency under the enterprise storage environment and reduces the total cost of ownership. And, a new software product enabling super storage (32pb maximum) within a storage system was also introduced by HDS Korea.
According to HDS Korea, whose CEO is Neijel Parsons, Tagmastore USP integrates heterogeneous storage which allows dataduplication of the storage-agnostic and segregates internal and external storage resources logically. "USP opened a door based on its powerful architecture imaginary duplication which is a revolutionary step in the industry. The Application Optimized Storage method supports a steady application of optimized storage. As a result, information infra framework has been installed and in turn, clients can now expect millions of dollars in cost savings," forecasted Tom Zack, Vice President, HDS Asia-pacific and Latin America, regional sales and technical operation.
Tagmastoretm USP storage comprises Tagmastoretm USP 100, 600 and 1100, 332 TB formations. When connected to external storage, 32 FT enhancement is enabled. In addition, HP and SUN storage can be used via fiber-channel connections. The independent software service entity Itcentrix asserts that automated USP and its related software will lower an enterprise user's TCO by as much as 40 percent.
Hitachi Universal Volume Manager, Hitachi Virtual Partition manager and Hitachi Universal Replicator applications are part of the package. HDS Korea aims to grow to become a major player in the domestic enterprise storage market through its Tagmastoretm USP.
Lee Il Heang, managing director of LGIBM's PC business division, said that with the rise of the "digital nomad," more PC users have touted Centrino notebook models with wireless LAN and long-lasting battery functions. "The launch of lead cable processor-based Centrino computers, a step ahead of rivals, will consolidate our leading position in market," he added.
by Hong Suk-un, Editor/swhong@ittimes.co.kr
Reinforced Acceleration & SSL VPN Function Offered with 9000 Series
>> Features Web, TCP Compression Functions
Netscaler (www.netscaler.com/korea) announced that the company now offers reinforced acceleration as well as SSL VPN function with its 9000 series, the company's application transmission system.
The newly reinforced acceleration function is an application content policy engine (AppExpert) that allows managers to be able to use and conveniently manage application data compression (AppCompress), application content caching (AppCache), and application requesting.
The reinforced SSL VPN solution along with an acceleration function allows web-based as well as TCP protocol-based applications to be transmitted faster and safer by being integrated with application data compression (AppCompress). In addition, the SSL VPN can connect simultaneously to a maximum of 5,000 users.
Netscaler expects that reinforced application performance acceleration as well as its SSL VPN solution would serve to strengthen its leadership in the domestic market.
Handysoft gets Groupware order from National Election Commission
>> As Part of "New Electronic Document System" Construction Businesses
Corporate software specialist firm Handysoft, has supplied the company's BizFlow groupware to the National Election Commission as a result of bidding through the Public Procurement Service.
Handysoft said it won the order on the basis of its groupware construction experience and its technological capability it has accumulated in the government public market.
A Handysoft spokesperson noted "Handysoft will develop the groupware market by introducing new technologies and technology grafting," adding that the company has a 70percent share of the government/public institution groupware market.
The National Election Commission introduced Handysoft's groupware as part of a new electronic information system. Work on the project will commence at the end of August 2004 and is scheduled to open at the beginning of next year.
Securesoft Acquires KT Mark for "Absolute IPS 2004" KT Mark
>> New Technology Acquisition is An Indispensible Condition for Entry into Public Security Market
Securesoft (www.securesoft.com), an integration security special firm, has acquired the KT mark for the company's high-performance intrusion prevention system.
This system is a network security product that prevents attacks in advance by intercepting in real-time after accurately detecting hacking or abnormal packets.
Applied by Securesoft to an Absolute IPS launched in June, this technology can deal with packets of up to 7 different classes at a time while maintaining a 10Gbps rotary speed and the surrounding hardware logic. In addition, it comes with control functions such as IPFTM (Infrastructure Protection Filtering), P2P, Messenger, and anti-spam.
Securesoft gauges that new technology authentification acquisition will be an indispensable condition for entry into the public security market as it will become compulsory next year for consideration under government procurement programs.
Applications for the KT mark have been made for some 115 technologies of which 37 were approved in the first test and 29 in the second test. Having acquired the KT mark, Securesoft plans to consolidate its position in the intrusion prevention market.
Maxtor Korea Establishes Its Integration A/S Center
>> Customer Satisfaction Maximized with Direct A/S Offering
Hard disk specialist firm Maxtor Korea, is now able to provide after/service (A/S) directly to its customers. On September 1 Maxtor Korea formally opened its integration after/service (A/S) center to offer greater convenience to its customers nationwide.
A Maxtor Korea spokesperson said, "Consumers will be able to purchase products with an easy mind since the inconvenience they experienced in dealing with agents for A/S is now over."
As a customer service tailored to Korean circumstances, Maxtor A/S has been dubbed "MaxService." Work was begun last January to devise MaxService to satisfy the needs of customers began full-scale operation in September.
Customers can request A/S through MaxService by calling 1544-7120 anywhere in the country or visiting one of 8 Maxtor A/S centers in the country directly. They are located in Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon, and Chungju including 3 in Seoul: 2 in Yongsan plus 1 in Seocho International Electronics Center.
Customers can directly make inquiries to Maxtor A/S call centers regardless of the agency they purchased their Maxtor equipment from.
Country manager Kang Dae-won of Maxtor Korea said, "Maxtor Korea test marketed its A/S centers over a 100-day period to provide not only an excellent range of products, but also give customers an upgraded level of support service".
He added that it is significant that a manufacturer, not an import company or an agent, is providing direct A/S support for the first time for a foreign-made hard disk firm.
Mr. Kang further noted that Maxtor Korea will respond to customer complaints, adding that with the establishment of the Maxtor A/S center providing the momentum, the company plans to build a direct A/S system.
Maxtor in the meantime, in recognition of its products' excellent performance as well as general safety, plans to boost its brand awareness through its policy of strengthening A/S while continuously boosting its level of technology support and service for customers in the years ahead.
Western Digital Aims to Take Enterprise Server-market by Storm
>> Diversification Strategy Planned for CE Market
Hard-disk drive company Western Digital Korea (www.wdc.co.kr) is promoting corporate-oriented HDDs to penetrate the rapidly increasing domestic enterprise server market via its WD Caviar RAID Edition and WD Raptor. Western Digital says that capitalizing upon its sizeable market presence to lure potential customers such as Eslim Korea, Digital Henge, and Uniwide with its Caviar RAID Edition, has strengthened the company position by increasing its market share in the backup server market.
Although Western Digital Korea was founded in January 2002, its revenue for 2003 amounted to a staggering $104 million. The company said that since last year it has been paying close attention to the error-recovery and customer feedback, embedding it into its newly-introduced products.
Western Digital said its newly-introduced corporate WD Caviar RE was suitable for email, file, web, back-up and imaging operations, and that at 7,200 RPM and one million-hour MTBF, it exceed the performances of ordinary HDDs as did its rate of Time Limited Error Recovery as applied to Raid, an excellent design-fit for the corporate environment.
The SATA inter-face type WD Raptor 74GB is equipped with the following: a 1.2- million hour Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF), 10,000 RPM, a 4.5ms average search length, a five-year warranty, RAFF technology to maintain hard-drive performance in a vibration-environment and TCQ technology to boost search speed.
Western Digital Korea speculates that it will capture a significant portion of the HDD market via the SATA method which is rapidly-gaining popularity compared to its costly SCSI counterparts. The company plans to form a strategic partnership with well-known companies such as eSlim Korea, Digital Henge and Uniwide to boost its market share in domestic market.
"Stability and high-storage capacity can be characterized as the strong-points of Western Digital Korea. Equipped with WD Caviar RE, the super-performance optimal conditions it creates are expected to produce significant market developments for Western Digital Korea soon," a spokesman said.
In accordance with the growing demand within the consumer electronic product market, Western Digital Korea also plans to differentiate its products in the notebook market with a 2.5-inch FDD debut, plus enter the domestic retail sector as well as OEM supply to LG in near future.
by Hong Suk-un, Editor/swhong@ittimes.co.kr
Cisco Announces Security Integration Router
>> Managed Services Embodiment in a Simple Platform
Cisco Systems Korea(www.cisco.com/kr) launched an integration service router that can offer several advanced services including wire-speed data transmission, video, plus managed services for communication firms.
The router is available in the 1800, 2800, and 3800 series and offers its own safeguard network security concept that intercepts perceived elements that threaten to obstruct network information flows in advance.
A member of the Cisco Korea Tech- Ops team explained that the product groups provide the most comprehensive security service for business. In particular, these product groups contain the Cisco Security Device Manager, a software-based VPN, a firewall, intrusion detection as well as a prevention system. Furthermore, these product groups support a voice service technology too.
A Cisco Systems Korea executive said, "This is the first time that a router has succeeded in handling functions such as security, voice, screen and data in a simple platform," adding that the product could enable the company to strengthen its market leadership.
Samsung SDS, IBM Korea work together to boost enterprise Linux solutions
>> Joint Task Force in Works
Samsung SDS and IBM Korea have signed an MOU to boost sales of enterprise Linux solutions. Through the MOU, the two companies will collaborate to grow the Linux market. Specifically, the two will establish a task force to jointly develop IBM platform based Linux solutions customized to each industry or business and launch a joint sales and marketing drive.
In addition, the Information Technology Institute of Samsung SDS and the Linux Technology Center of IBM will jointly create a technological foothold that is necessary for the joint business effort to operate.
"By jointly developing Linux solutions with IBM, which has long enjoyed a successful Linux- based businesses overseas, Samsung SDS will benefit from having expanded business resources at its disposal and reduce the time-to-market," said Lee gye-shik, director of the Samsung SDS research center. "Through their cooperation, the two companies, which are top in their respective fields of technological competence will further develop domestic Linux business model."
MicroSoft Launches 'Virtual Server 2005'
>> Dramatic Reduction in Operating Server Distribution Time Expected
MicroSoft has finalized the development of the new "Virtual Server 2005," which makes use of several operating systems in a single server and began domestic sales September 1. Virtual Server 2005 is a most cost-effective virtual machine solution designed for the Windows Server 2003 platform to increase operational efficiency in software test and development, legacy application migration, and server consolidation scenarios.
MicroSoft expects that the virtual server will reduce the server distribution time sharply by 50~95 percent and the necessary number of servers by 50-80 percent through integration. MicroSoft Korea held a seminar in August for IT administrators, technology support engineers and software developers to promote Virtual Server 2005 and explain server integration in which interest has heightened recently.
Kim Sung-jae, server products director of the MicroSoft Korea marketing division said, "The virtual server and PC are creating a different IT environment for users and providing the opportunity to test complicated environments prior to their full operation by IT personnel."
In this manner, enterprise IT investment costs will be cut and system development and introduction will be more stable, he added.
He went on to say that until now, customers have hesitated to replace server operating systems due to concerns of cost, efficiency and compatibility with existing applications. The Virtual Server 2005, on the other hand, is expected to overcome such problems.
MicroSoft Korea is offering the Virtual Server 2005 RC at no charge via its website. The software is still in its development stage. Microsoft will complete development, testing, and certification before making the final version of Virtual Server 2005 available later in 2004.
Sun Microsystems & Hanyang Univ. to Set up Techno MBA Graduate School
>> A New Initiative in Nurturing IT Specialized Personnel
Sun Microsystems Korea (kr.sun.com) has concluded an agreement with the University of Hanyang to establish the "Sun-Hanyang University Techno MBA Course." Through this strategic tie-up, Sun Microsystems Korea and Hanyang University have agreed to offer regular graduate school courses geared to nurturing future leaders of the IT industry by developing their capability in both IT and business administration.
Moreover, Sun Microsystems Korea and Hanyang University plan to establish an educational/industrial cooperative model through this tie-up. In particular, Sun Microsystems Korea explained that the company judged it will be possible to nurture higher working-level personnel by combining Hanyang University graduate school's top-grade management practical courses with Sun's core IT technology.
Sun Microsystems Korea plans to focus on Java and Solaris in constructing educational courses plus other IT-related topics in conjunction with the University of Hanyang. Sun will also provide lecture materials and offer information on its products and technology.
President Chong Yang Kim of Hanyang University said, "Through this arrangement, Hanyang University and Sun Microsystems Korea have created an advanced form of educational-industrial nexus ion program by jointly nurturing IT leadership and pursuing global technology leadership". The Sun- Hanyang University Techno MBA course is scheduled to begin at the commencement of the spring semester of next year.
Software Developers Demand from Response from PDMC on Streaming Issue
>> Request Official Answer Be Sent to MIC
Amid the intellectual property rights (IPR) controversy surrounding software streaming services, both domestic and foreign software development companies have faulted the decision process undertaken by the Program Deliberation and Mediation Committee (PDMC).
Microsoft Korea, Macro Media Korea, Sejoong Namo Interactive, Adobe, Auto Desk, Intelli Korea and Haan Soft sent a letter of inquiry to the PDMC and the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) through a legal firm in early August, and plans to send a second letter to MIC shortly.
The letter requested an explanation for the legal background to transmission and copying rights as part of the decision arrived at by the PDMC in August on the use of software streaming services. Their request was prompted by the PDMC's interpretation that entities wishing to use the software can access it without the permission of the program copyright-holders. Regarding the possibility of copyright infringement, the companies specifically requested a clarification of PDMC's legal explanation of "temporary copies."
On the PDMC's comment that software streaming technology is positively utilized in the U.S., Japan and other major countries, the letter asked if PDMC had collected information on relevant cases and confirmed authorized contracts among the firms concerned.
The letter also pointed out the PDMC's failures to include software developers in its deliberation meetings, consider the impact of its decision on pending criminal cases, or even report its deliberations to the copyright holding companies most affected. The letter also asked why the Committee did not make any recommendation to Softonnet, a holder of rights to streaming technology, while making a significant number of recommendations to other software copyright holders.
The letter followed the announcement of a report entitled, "Legal Research for Software Streaming Technology" by a Hanyang University law professor, which criticizes the legal underpinnings of the PDMC's determinations.
The Software Developers Council said through its lawyer, "The software industry has contributed a great deal to national industrial development through its vast investments, and has since emerged as a key industry." By ignoring the security of copyrights, the decision by the PDMC threatens the very survival of the software industry and as such doesn't make any sense, the council stressed. Alarmed by this inappropriate treatment, domestic and foreign software development companies have joined forces in order to prompt public awareness of this threat to IPR, the Council explained.
In response, the PDMC said the Software Developers Council should have made efforts to find clear solutions to the software streaming issue from the beginning through negotiations in order to help users to access software easily and inexpensively and devise incentives for developers to encourage them to maintain a steady flow of innovation.
Korea EMC Takes Medium NAS Market by Storm
>> Launches New Family of Medium NAS Products with iSCSI Access Support
Korea EMC has launched new family of medium NAS storage products that support iSCSI access and feature improved administrative capability. The newly launched products include the "Celerra NS500" medium NAS storage, and the "Celerra NA704G" medium NAS gateway.
Korea EMC is focusing on launching new-medium NAS products and aggressive marketing to reinforce its leadership in the NAS market. This year the company already launched new Celerra NS700, NS700G and NetWin110.
Korea EMC explained that the Celerra NS500 integrates NAS gateway and storage to provide low prices with broad service capability and flexible configuration. When configured with a single data mover, the price of product is 24 percent lower than FAS270 from Network Appliances.
Celerra NS704G is a new product from NAS gateway to provide improved cluster performance. Existing customers using Celerra NS600G and 700G will find it easy to upgrade to the new product. Korea EMC said Celerra NS704G offers 65 percent higher performance at a 30 percent lower price comparing with its counterpart, the FAS960C from Network Appliances. It is also offers 68 percent higher performance at a 53 percent lower price compared with the total storage NAS gateway 500G from IBM.
Together with the two new products, the company also introduced the new DART operating system (EMC NAS Products Operating System) which includes the performance-improved "Celerra Manager Basic Edition" and iSCSI access support.
"Korea EMC has reinforced its leadership in the large and medium NAS markets," said Kim Kyeong-jin, CEO of Korea EMC. "This achievement results from the efforts to provides an optimized solution for customers, reinforcing our NAS technological support system and launching an aggressive sales and marketing campaign in which we introduced 9 new medium NAS products."
According to the IDC report, "2004 2Q Global Disk Storage System Market Research," Korea EMC recorded a remarkable growth in sales in major global markets. In particular, sales of its external disk storage system took off to widen the gap with its competitors.
Brocade Supplies Intelligent SAN Router via OEM Partners
>> Brocade Supplies Intelligent SAN Router via OEM Partners Providing Silkworm Multi-Protocol Router and SAN Connection Solutions
Brocade Korea (www.brocadekorea. com), a SAN infrastructure provider, announced it will supply its Brocade Silkworm MultiProtocol Router through its OEM partners including EMC, HP and StorageTech.
The intelligent SAN routing platform guarantees the integration of enterprise resources, convenient data migration and remote connection. In addition, it integrates multi-vendor infrastructures and multiprotocol environment to improve and simplify the SAN infrastructure management.
"The multi-protocol router is a robust solution which shares resources across the overall SAN fabric to save capital and operating costs," said Deb Dutta, general manager of Brocade for Asia-Pacific and Japan. "Enterprises can implement a new level of consolidation with the solution that will be supplied through our OEM partners."
Hauri Provides Security Solution for Paran.com
>> Integrated Security Services Available Including Hacking Tool, Keyboard Security and Windows OS Security
Hauri (www.hauri.co.kr), an antivirus solution developer, signed a contract with "Paran.com" (www.paran.com), a portal site of the KTH to supply its integrated on-line security solution services such as "Live Call" and "Live Call Sweet," and an anti-virus engine, "Virobot SDK." The service began September 1, 2004.
Users of Paran.com have a comprehensive on-line security service to detect viruses and hacking tools. The service also includes keyboard security and Windows OS security services. The Virobot vaccine scan all e-mails sent and received to detect the malicious programs of attached files. Users can remove such programs before they open the attached files.
"Recently, commercial and financial transactions executed through Internet portal sites are on the increase. In addition, individual spaces such as blogs are popular. In this situation the threat of information leakage is also increased," said Kwon Seokcheol, CEO of Hauri. "To prevent the attacks by malicious programs, users have to install security software in their PCs and use it regularly."
SGI Korea Completes the KBS Daily Life Information Archive System
>> Acceleration of the Fusion of Broadcasting and Multimedia
SGI Korea has completed the KBS Daily Life I n f o r m a t i o n Archive System using its media servers and archive solutions. The newly constructed digital broadcasting archive system automatically ingests daily life contents from KBS programs and archives them in the SAN-based central storage and tape library where they can be accessed through the Internet, a PDA, DMB or mobile phones. KBS began developing the system at the end of last year and completed a pilot operation this year.
The KBS Daily Life Information Archive System has been constructed with MSB 380 (media server), CXFS (file sharing system), SAN 2000 (specialized storage device) from the SGI and m-Archive from MBN Tech. SGI Korea said the Unixbased equipment features tight security and encountered no problems caused by malicious programs during the pilot operation from March to the present.
"With the construction of the KBS Daily Life Information Archive System, users have easy access to the content and can utilize the information in their daily lives," said Jang Gyu-dong of the KBS Multimedia Team. "The archived contents can be provided at any time and place via PCs, PDAs and even digital TVs. The system will be used as content development sources for DMB."
Netapp is Tops in World NAS, iSCSI Market
>> Commands 37.2 percent of Global Market in 2nd Qtr.
I T research institute, International Data Corporation (IDC) said in its 2004 second-quarter storage market data release that a domestic enterprise network storage concern, Network Appliance (Netapp) achieved a year-onyear growth of 9.6 percent in the global network storage market. According to the IDC report, Netapp registered a 26.5 percent sales expansion during the second half, compared to the global average of 17.9 percent.
During the first half of 2004, Netapp took 46.9 percent of the global iSCSI market in terms of sales and 57.4 percent in terms of TB (terabyte), maintaining its leadership in the market. The company also led its rivals in the NAS market in sales and TB during the second half of 2004. Netapp claimed a 37.2-percent market share, up 15.8 percentage points from the second quarter of 2003 and 6.1 percentage points from the previous quarter.
SAP Adds Customer Support Center in China
>> Part of Its "Active Global Support Program"
Total business solution provider, SAP has set up its new Global Support Center in Dalian, China. The new establishment will act as a customer support hub in the Asia-Pacific region to support services to SAP customers in major purchasing nations in the region such as Korea, China and Japan. About 4,200 SAP customers in the Asia-Pacific region will get support from experts in vernacular languages.
The Global Support Center in China is part of the SAP Active Global Support Program, a network to provide aroundthe- clock services to SAP customers around the world. Its global network already extends to Ireland, Spain, Austria and India.
Over 130 staffers with a fluent command of Chinese, Korean, Japanese and English will be located in the new outlet in China. The multinational customer support team in the center, which cost $12 million to establish, will consist of the incumbent SAP personnel plus new employees. Services ranging from planning, consulting, operation, upgrades, online monitoring including sustainable maintenance and repair, problem solving, remote maintenance and repair and knowledge sharing, will be provided so that SAP solutions will be optimized to customers.
Gerhard Oswald, vice chairman of SAP, said that effective customer support with integral service and solutions necessary for sustainable growth of customers and reduction of operating costs is the basic task of the SAP global support program. The SAP Global Support Center in Dalian will be staffed with seasoned personnel who understand regional culture and business well and speak vernacular languages fluently, he added.
Han Ui Nyung, president and CEO of SAP Korea, said that as domestic SAP customers will be provided with upgraded services from the Dalian center throughout the year, the job of the customer support department in SAP Korea will differ by focusing on customized services tailored for each customer.
Sun Microsystems Korea Reveals Investor Protective Outsourcing Model
>> Based on Subscription Model, Cooperating with Domestic SI Firms
Sun Microsystems Korea held a seminar on the theme of "SI Industry's Global Trend and Challenges" and unveiled its IT outsourcing business model. Larry Singer, Sun Microsystems' senior vice president for strategic business, said that in line with the expanding global business scope, the SI industry's service boundary has also expanded around the world. "Global strategy becomes more and more integral in order for us to be a competitive SI company as we look to advance overseas," he added.
He announced that Sun Microsystems has developed an outsourcing business model through cooperation with SI companies. Sun's outsourcing business is designed to cope elastically with a rapidly changing environment while helping cutting fixed asset investment of customers since it is based on a subscription price model. At the same time, it will not limit the scope of options of customers and SI companies.
The premise of a subscription price model is the purchase of a certain service or solution during a certain period of time. By purchasing computing capability rather than hardware, it will help alleviate the burden of fixed asset investment and ease risks regarding IT operation and administration.
Oracle Consolidates Leadership in Application Server
>> Based on Superiority of Application Server 10g
Oracle enjoys fastest growth pace in application server market due to the superiority of its latest product, Oracle Application Server 10g, the company said. Oracle has supplied application servers to various lines of businesses ranging from financing, manufacturing, public, retail/wholesale, service, telecommunications and transportation, and secured 20,000 customer companies around the world and supported business operations for them.
Especially, after the launch of the Application Server 10g, demand for Oracle servers has surged, making Oracle to grow far higher than an industry average of 15 percent, the company explained, quoting data from IDC. Yoon Moon Seok, CEO and president of Oracle Korea, said that superb product power and lots of capable partners combined to help Oracle make its mark in the application server market. Oracle Korea will continue to expand its market, armed with high competitiveness of Oracle Application Server 10g, its flexibility and expandibility, and also will focus on securing more cooperative partners.
Radware Enhances Function of Oracle Solution
>> Carries Out Test for Traffic Management Solution
An intelligent application switch supplier, Radware Korea, joined hands with an enterprise solution specialist, Oracle, and completed compatibility test with its products. With the cooperation, Radware will be able to link its traffic management solution with standard-based integrated Grid software platform, Oracle application server 10g. Radware solutions that completed tests include L4/L7 switches, Web Server Director (WSD), Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and an accelerator, CertainT 100 (CT-100). Radware revealed that as a result of compatibility test, WSD and CT- 100, by linking with Oracle Application Server 10g, found to process web application development and placement promptly, and reduce time and cost for system integration. Generally, they showed high-end function in the Grid computing environment, the company said.
By linking with Oracle Application Server 10g, Radware's WSD insures high function, stability of applications, server farm's security and optimized operation, prevention of Internet service halt caused by server bottleneck and system downtime, and intrusion-proof function for IP applications such as online data base and e-mail.
Chung Yun Yeon, CEO and president of Radware Korea, said that through the compatibility test and cooperative tie, the inter-operation between Radware's traffic management solution and integrated platform for Oracle's Grid computing was proven. Therefore, customers of the both companies can easily strengthen their application function and security for improved consistency and efficiency of their businesses, he added.
HP Korea Enters Digital Printing Market with "Indigo" Tech.
>> Signs Sales Agency Contract with Lojit
HP Korea has advanced into the domestic digital printer market with seven models of its "HP Indigo Press." Using digital printing technology, non-experts will be able to publish magazines, brochures and posters through simple computer work, at costs 50 percent below those charged by specialized printing shops, the company explained. HP took over Indigo, a firm that specialized in large-scale digital color printing in 2002, and signed up sales agency Lojit Corp. to sell seven digital printing models in the domestic market, including the HP Indigo Press 3050.
HP Korea and Lojit Corp. plan to promote the product line through road shows and demonstration sessions. HP Indigo is a next-generation printing machine that integrates multi-level manual work procedures of analog offset printing machines into a streamlined digital process.
Separately, HP Korea commenced its "photo calendar service" in August that uses HP Indigo digital printing and is available through the digital photo portal, www.hpphoto.co.kr. HP Photo plans to expand services to include photo albums, photo postcards and photo name cards.
Lee Ki Bong, HP Korea's imaging printing group director, said that HP Indigo makes customized, economical and small-quantity printing possible. At a time when interest in effective business communications is becoming greater due to the economic recession, it is anticipated that the digital printing market will undergo fast growth, he added.
CA declares 2005 a "Year of Development"
Computer Associates (CA) stressed at its annual shareholders' meeting held recently that it would take enormous opportunity in the software world in the coming years. Lewis S. Ranieri, CEO and chairman of Computer Associates Worldwide said, "CA has led the world market in one of the business fields that are developing most rapidly." The administrative software has recorded a 19-percent average growth in new license sales in recent years, outbidding that of application sector, and the market will amount to $45 billion by 2007, he explained.
He added that CA is now at the top in the world's enterprise security, operation and management and asset management markets, and will surely keep the leading post in the coming years. CA has strategy for growth and leadership, and technology, product and manpower that make them possible, he claimed.
BT EXACT Recognizes Excellent Performance of Juniper Networks T640 Routing Platform
Juniper Networks announced that as a result of a test by BT Exact, the excellent performance of its T640 routing platform has been demonstrated. A BT Exact spokesperson said, "We tested the T640 twice and we confirm its excellent comprehensive performance of T640 on both occasions."
SPC Moves to New Premises
The Korea Software Property-right Council (www.spc.or.kr) has moved to new offices. An SPC official said, "Because SPC's software property management consulting service for corporations has expanded, space has become restricted." The SPC's new address is Suite 11, 26/F Prime Center, 546-4, Gui-dong, Gwangjingu, Seoul. For more information, call (02) 3424-2970.
LGIBM to be Merged Into LG Elect., IBM Korea after Separation
>> Sales Agents, Other Customers Will Not be Affected by Change
LGIBM announced recently 14 that the company will be merged into LG Electronics and IBM Korea after separating its business divisions.
LGIBM was established in November 1996 between IBM Korea and LG Electronics with a capitalization of 24.3 billion won in an equity ratio of 51:49 with. Sources from the joint venture said that during the eight years since its establishment, the domestic personal computer (PC) market underwent drastic change. The market totally opened up to foreign makers and the current situation provides new opportunities for the two companies to grow.
The two partners plan to start the separation from October 1 and finalize the relocation of LGIBM workers and provide support to maintain the operation of sales agencies, their distribution network and aftersales service by the end of this year. There will be no cutback in any sales networks or in customer services.
According to the plan, each PC division of LGIBM will go to the hands of the originating company. The server division of the e-server X-series computers, ThinkPad notebook and ThinkCenter desk-top PC divisions will be under the control of IBM Korea, while X-Note notebook computer, MultiNet desktop PC divisions will be merged into LG Electronics.LGIBM's regular staff members will be offered job transfers by either company depending on product line that he (or she) is engaged in at present. LGIBM said that as opposed to general business liquidation cases, the de-merger will not cause any problems with regard to sales, marketing and after-sales services to existing customers since all its businesses will be transferred to the two parent companies.
Meanwhile, IBM Korea and LG Electronics will be managed independently, while the two will continue to cooperate in the area of technology exchange to promote the establishment of international IT standards.
Coconut, McAfee Korea Cooperate in Promoting "DS Migration"
>> Will Grant Discount to Existing IDS Customers
An information protection firm, Coconut, will hold a grand promotional event for intrusion detection system (IDS) migration in cooperation with McAfee Korea as the first marketing drive aiming to activate its security solution channel business in the second half. Through the promotional event, Coconut and McAfee Korea aspire to leap onto a leading company in the IPS market that emerged as the fiercest battleground.
Coconut signed a sales agency contract for network IPS, "McAfee IntruShield," with McAfee Korea in May, and has explored aggressively the domestic IPS solution market.
The IDS migration promotion will be carried out towards a way to combine strengths of McAfee's IntruShield and service technology power of Coconut. The two partners expect that this promotional event will be a good opportunity to purchase McAfee's high-functional IPS to existing IDS customers that hope to introduce IPS but hesitate due to high costs.
If the existing IDS users want to buy McAfee IntruShield IPS during the promotion, they can get discount as much as up to 50 percent of their IDS purchasing prices. And, additional security services such as vulnerability advice, distribution of user definition rule for emergency vulnerability, Keep Alive and SMS notification will be provided to new customers.
Coconut aims to secure 200 more customer firms through the promotional event which will continue through December and hopes to create more demand for IPS from as many industries as possible.
Total Rental Portal, "Rentalnjoy" Opens
>> Will Provide "One-stop" Service to All Products
Aspecialized rental service company, R&Tech inaugurated a total rental portal site, www.rentalnjoy.com, which adopts an advanced computing system. Rentalnjoy provides rental services for goods as well as gives various kinds of rental-related information. Other rental firms deal with one specialty item per firm, but Rentalnjoy offers many other items ranging from computers, event goods, daily necessities, sports/leisure goods and heavy equipment. And it also advocates a total rental service that handles all the rental-related processes from product search to payment.
The rental portal includes a corner to recommend suitable products to each customer, for example, who want to decorate offices and is preparing large-scale event. Rentalnjoy introduced mileage services for the first time in the industry to provide preferential services to frequent buyers. Its customer-oriented services also include the publishing of Rental Webzine and consulting services by rental products planners to help customers pick most suitable goods.
Celebrating the opening of the portal site, R&Tech will host the "Ultra-Light Flight Riding," SegWay and camping car riding events for the new members and those who leave some notes on the portal. Kim Hee Soo, president of R&Tech, said that when R&Tech began operations in June 2000, the rental industry's most competitive edge was low price, but now the situations changed. R&Tech opened a total rental portal site for the first time in Korea and operates huge technical center in efforts to improve service quality, the president said, adding that the company plans to foster more rental planning experts to provide economical and high-quality services to customers.
KDC Holds Commemorative Ceremony on Occasion of Its 32nd Anniversary
>> Declares Itself a "Leading Domestic IT Corporation"
KDC Information and Communications Co., the flagship of the KDC Group, held a commemorative event September 15 to celebrate the 32nd anniversary of the Group's founding as the first domestic network corporation in 1972.
The KDC Group also held an awards ceremony as part of the event to acknowledge long-service employees, including Vice President Kim Sang-jin who has worked for the company for twenty years.
In addition to thanking long-service staff, KDC used the opportunity to announce its commitment to reinventing itself as a leading IT corporation and thereby represent the Korean industry globally, noting that the company has served as a growth engine for the development of Korea IT industry by specializing in this area for past 32 years.
KDC Group chairman, Kim Tae-sub emphasized, "Let us become a leading corporation by consolidating all our efforts and capabilities to create an advanced business model because we are heading into an era that will demand the ability to create new value in all areas."
KDC Information and Communications Co. determined last year that specialization in integration IT solutions through internal or external management innovation would be the Group's growth strategy.
In regard to its NI business, the Group is placing priority on BCN as well as security and multimedia (VoIP/Video) in the interests of developing next-generation networks.
In particular, KDC will concentrate its investment in its core capability to selectively boost exports of its NI and DVR solutions to overseas communication business providers or builders of corporate networks.
Soft Forum Signs 4.3-Bil. Won Supply Contract with Ezone
APKI (Public Key Infrastructure) security solution provider, Soft Forum has signed a 4.3-billion won supply contract with Ezone. The products to be supplied include the security certification solutions "XecureProxy," "XecureCA," "XecureOCSP," and associated hardware. The products are intended to support Ezone's new services.
Ahn Lab. Builds On-demand Security System for LG.Philips LCD
>> Prepares Long-term Anti-virus Measures for Tech. Industry
Leading information protection company, Ahn Lab has completed an anti-virus consulting project for LG.Philips LCD involving its AhnLab personalized ondemand security services.
Through a five-week consulting process, Ahn Lab presented guidelines for deploying seamless anti-virus measures through scientific analysis in a multidimensional approach such as process, information technology, plus prevention control, and also devised a step-by-step three-year action plan so that it could set up a high-level security system for its advanced TFT-LCD technology and facilities.
"AhnLab personalized on-demand security services" consist of a wide-range of services ranging from anti-virus and security consulting and BS7799 consulting, to security audit, hacking simulation, and virus prevention according to each phase of its security packages such as design-solution building, emergency response, checking and audit. In the wake of this project, Ahn Lab plans to promote far more strategic and systematical security measures to large companies, public organizations and financial firms.
Ahn Lab vice president Kim Churl Soo said that more systematical security measures in the network environment are urgent due to the emergence of more complicated and intelligent security threats. "As enterprise demand for optimized security solutions from design to postmanagement is increasing, the ondemand security service market will expand sharply," he commented.
Meanwhile, Ahn Lab said that its flagship line, the V3Pro 2004 will begin providing full-scale support to Microsoft's Windows XP SP2 that was rolled out in August. Ahn Lab unveiled its V3Pro 2004 patch file with an enhanced support function for Windows XP SP2 through its web site. The patch file enables the Windows Security Center in Windows XP SP2 to keep abreast of Ahn Lab products.
Sejoong Namo Overhauls Organization
>> Spins Off QA Division, Treats Biz Divisions as Individual Performance Centers
Sejoong Namo Interactive has spun off its QA (quality assurance) business division as its first internal venture, while introducing an independent accounting system under which outcomes would be assessed according to the performance of each business unit. Sejoong Namo provided part of the capital for the spun-off QA division now known as Diamond Soft.
Diamond Soft is staffed by QA experts who have five years experience on average in IT quality management and testing. The company is responsible for testing software functions, and stimulating improvements in the product development process, while making efforts to upgrade quality and productivity.
Armed with years of QA experience in a variety of QA package products and accumulated expertise in product technology management and testing, the company plans to aggressively explore the IT product quality management market.
In order to boost sales and profitability, Sejoong Namo introduced its "division company" system under which the company realigned itself vertically as per its marketing, development and customer support departments with each individual unit assessed on its own performance.
Kim Sang Bae, president of Sejoong Namo Interactive, said that in the wake of the separation of the QA division, the company plans to follow suit for other divisions. At the same time, the company will continue to build competency within each business division and complement this initiative with a comprehensive incentive goal-based incentive system, Mr. Kim said. Diamond Soft also plans to branch out into overseas markets and will expand its business scope to encompass technology consulting for software products from its current focus on current technology management.
Seagate Celebrates Start of 5-Yr. Guarantee Service
>> Hosts 2 Promotional Events for Younger Customers
Hard-disc drive maker, Seagate Technology held two special promotional events for young people from August 30 through September 15, celebrating the introduction of its fiveyear guarantee service.
Seagate had announced the beginning of the exceptional service, far longer than the standard one year, for HDDs intended for desk-top and notebook PCs and enterprise embedded models, in all markets around the world.
The first promotional event was held with the participation of Disneyland Japan Hi-Five Festival in which visitors together with Segate customers had the opportunity to win trips to the Tokyo-based theme park. The second event was the "Sea Mania Club Party." Sea Mania is the fan club for Sea Gate. The party was the Club's first official offline meeting and held to celebrate the launches of both Sea Mania and the fiveyear guarantee service.
Through the promotional events, Seagate aimed to highlight the reliability of its products and connect with its younger customers.
[Personnel Movement]
Brocade Korea Names a Director as Acting Branch Manager
>> New Market Active Pioneerng with SAN Market Superiority Base
Brocade Korea announced that director Kwon Won Sang has served as branch manager from August 1. The acting manager joined Brocade Korea in May 2001 as director in charge of channel operations, and has worked as a chief director from October 2003. "Broad Korea has kept its dominant post in the market powered by high growth of SAN and brocade industries at home and abroad," he said. "Our company will make efforts to strengthen all the business areas of Broad Korea through enhanced partnership with domestic and foreign business partners and customer firms, and based on leading position in the SAN sector, it will aggressively explore new markets with new products such as SAN router and strategies.
Microsoft Korea Promotes 7 to Director - level
>> Regular-Term Promotion Gazetting
Microsoft Korea carried out regular personnel reshuffle for the fiscal year of 2005 (July 1, 2004-June 30, 2005), which promoted seven general manager to directors. But there is no business rearrangement from the personnel change, the company said. The seven promoted are Kim Sung Jae, a BMO (marketing division) server business manager, An Sang Gyu, an R&D (software research center) manager, Lee Dae Yul, an EPG (enterprise customer division) manager, Lee Hyuck Soo, an SMS&P (general customer division) manager, Chung Nam Hee, an HR (human resources division) manager, Choi Yong Joon, a BMO manager and Choi Ji Whan, an R&D manager.
[Interview]
Secure Computing Corp. Launches Full-scale Campaign in korean Market
>> Web-Filtering, User Authentification System, and Proxy Firewals
Secure Computing has positioned itself well in the local market since it was established two years ago. However, the company announced September 16 it would begin an aggressive campaign to expand its presence. Secure Computing Vice President, Asia/Pacific explained to Korea IT Times the reason why the campaign is being launched now.
by Lee Kwang-jae, Reporter / voxpop@ittimes.co.kr
Q. First off, please give our readers an overview of Secure Computing.
A. Secure Computing is a total security solution firm that offers all security solutions including IDS, IPS, VPN, anti-spam, and antivirus. The company started as the Secure Computing Technology Center of Honeywell in 1984. Prior to its spin off, the Center received a major boost when the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) requested that it protect its Unix system.
Secure Computing concentrates on three core technologies: web filtering solutions: user authentification systems; and proxy-based firewalls.
Our customers encompass the entire industry field such as smaller companies as well as communication business providers, finance institutions, and the public sector. It is of note that public institutions in several countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and China are adopting our products on the basis of the expertise we gained with the NSA.
Q. What products have you launched in Korea
A. Secure Computing has three leading products. First, our "Sidewinder G2" is a security installation that is an outgrowth of the established firewall application. This piece of equipment offers application proxy, full firewall inspection, IDS, IPS, IPsec VPN as a basically-loaded function and further, according to customer demand, SSL VPN, anti-virus, anti-spam, and a Web content filtering function with add-on.
Second, "Safeword" is a solution that was devised to aid user authentification, authority establishment, and management. As an eventsynchronized mode one-time password solution, Safeword's core technology enables network resource management through its own LDAP server. The third product is "Smartfilter," a Webfiltering solution.
Q. How is Secure Computing responding to trends in the world security solution market
A. Secure Computing holds its "CIO Summit" every year, inviting Chief Information Officers from top corporations. Opinions that are commonly expressed at this gathering are that there are too many types of equipment being offered for network security. One product that is spoken well off in this context is Sidewinder G2. This product is a "one-does-it-all-solution" that embodies in one piece of equipment all functions that users want.
Q. Would you touch upon the comparative superiority that Sidewinder G2 offers compared to competing types of security equipment
A. Additional functions can be grafted onto Sidewinder G2 according to customer needs. In addition, Sidewinder G2 is an excellent piece of equipment in terms of security by being successfully evaluated by the NAS at the Common Criteria EAL 4+ level in August this year.
Q. Could you elaborate on Secure Computing's long-term strategy
A. Korea is an awfully important market for us as it is for many other corporations. This is not a matter of merely market scale, but diversity of experience available in the Korean market can be used as very important data for other markets. However, for all that the domestic security industry is superb I don't understand why domestic security firms haven't ventured into the international arena more boldly. Secure Computing will introduce new programs to stimulate domestic demand.
