Amazing Technological Advancements Of 2008


Amazing Technological Advancements Of 2008

You may remember the things that seemed impossible when you were a child: talking to somebody on the other side of the world, for free and anytime you like was probably one of them, along with a cure for AIDS, and being invisible. All of these boundaries have been broken, completely or at least in effect. Surely we will be flying, teleporting and living to our two-hundredth birthdays, within the next century! However, sometimes the simplest advances are the most amazing, not least because they are actually here, now. In this article we look at some amazing advancements in technology from 2008, specifically with regard to computer hardware, software, network performance management and information technology infrastructure.

Do you remember the science fiction movies where messages are projected onto walls, or even into the middles of rooms like in Star Wars? Well, the first steps to that technology have been unveiled by Microsoft at the CEO Summit in Washington recently. Microsoft has developed laser technology that can turn any surface into a touchscreen, and allow you to interact with a central computer, even on the internet. This information technology infrastructure means you could be having chat conversations on the kitchen bench while cooking, or reading emails in the shower, before long. We aim higher than even Bill Gates comment that we should “Think about the whiteboard in your office becoming intelligent”.

Not likely to be hailed as a genius breakthrough by consumers, but perhaps the savior of the music industry, is a new digital fingerprinting technology being developed primarily by LTU technologies. Long has law enforcement and information technology consultants thrown their hands up in helplessness at the problems of piracy of music and video content, saying there is juts no way to control it. However, digital fingerprinting could save the music and video industries millions of dollars every year. Key identifiers in a file are pattern matched against a central database – if a pattern is copyrighted, it can’t be uploaded. This information technology infrastructure also has the potential to do wonders for network performance management, as traffic levels drop.

Sometimes the most amazing advancements are also the ones that you didn’t realize weren’t yet possible. Ordinary people have heard of wireless technology, and immediately assumed they could be surfing the internet from their laptop while skydiving, travelling the countryside, or out in deep dark forests.

The reality is a lot more sober – however, there has recently been an amazing new development in wireless information technology infrastructure that allows delivery of audio and video content to passengers on the Singapore Flyer, the world’s tallest observation deck. It was previously impossible to get data reliably through such a tall, large and dense structure, which was also continuously moving. However, an IT consulting firm has developed solutions which allow just that. Laptops while skydiving are one step closer, at least!

New wireless sensor technology might also help track both computational loads on large mainframes, and the heat distribution of your house. Microsoft has developed very cheap wireless sensors that can be used to collect and transmit data, as well as controlling environments. For about $3 a sensor, in the future you could have an automatically, perfectly climate controlled home. No more chilly hallways and dank corners!

While we aren’t teleporting or outliving turtles yet, it seems that it certainly won’t be long.

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  1. #1 by ?????? on June 12th, 2010

    Com Sci. – way better than IT, if you can handle more math
    I.T. – easier, but more of a general view on programming and stuff

  2. #2 by VBnewbieANDherHubby on June 12th, 2010

    You have to create a dialing plan that will allow dialing between locations using intra office virtual connections. When you dial an extension it will have to connect to the correct virtual connection that will connec to the appropriate remote location.

  3. #3 by Youssef (Just a Question) on June 13th, 2010

    Internet speeds vary greatly over the U.S.A. because the country is just too big to put in a single fast infrastructure. Instead, we use a mix of the existing ones. Some people are getting up to 50Mbps through Fiber Optics while others are stuck with about 700 Kbps DSL lines or even 56 Kbps dial-up.

  4. #4 by nawaz on June 14th, 2010

    infra = hardware, software implementation and execution
    archi = planning more advancement and working on feedback to enhance capabilities, next generation infrastructure

  5. #5 by Kristan on June 14th, 2010

    Infrastructure can be defined as the basic physical and organisational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise…
    (wikipedia)

    Technology is the practical application of science to commerce or industry, and… engineering: the discipline dealing with the art or science of applying scientific knowledge to practical problems

    Infrastructure is based on physical buildings, technology/engineering can be much more broad.

  6. #6 by superhomer1221 on June 14th, 2010

    Build a web site
    – Include designing the web site content
    – Purchasing shopping cart systems (like what eBay has)

    Hardware
    – You need server-grade equipment (e.g. HP DL3xx series)
    – Operating system for the servers. Linux, Microsoft, etc
    – Database Software. SQL (Windows), Oracle
    – Web Server. IIS (Windows), Apache (Windows/Unix)
    – Routers. Suggest a router with firewalling software in it.
    – Switches. So that all your servers can connect into the same network.
    – SSL certificates to secure the transactions to your web site
    – A facility to host all of this. Servers pull quite a bit of power. – Find a colocation / data center facility like Equinix. They can provide power/facility and also bandwidth to the Internet. You usually page a price per megabit per month.

  7. #7 by kanute on June 15th, 2010

    Personally.. I think 802.11n should be fine.
    UWB is still pretty new, so not many vendors have a ton of experience with it. UWB is usually 10-30 feet only.

    Mesh is usually for blanketing a large area – like all of downtown, in a network and have people roam from AP to AP.

    Not familiar with Zigbee

    I'm impressed by Cisco's managed APs for simplicity and security.
    They have 802.11n protocol APs.

    I got a technology demo from them and it was impressive.

    1) You purchase a controller unit for the size of the network you need, let's say 6 Access Points.
    2) Each AP plugs into the controller and gets it configuration information from the controller. You only administer the controller..the APs are "dumb" — if someone steals an AP, they don't have ANY of your security info, because the AP looses its configure when disconnected from the controller.
    3) Each AP can have a Private internal network and a public network which are separate. So you can give guests access without having them connected to your internal network.
    4) APs communicate with each other and increase or decrease their Output to get "optimal coverage"
    5) People can roam from AP to AP without loosing connection
    6) APs can actually detect and alert you if someone plugs in an "unapproved" wireless AP in your environment (like someone hooking up a Linksys router in a conference room)
    7) APs can perform "denial of service" attacks against unapproved wireless routers to keep people from connecting to them. They do this WHILE they are still servicing other clients.
    8) the APs can use "power over ethernet" so you don't have to run power cables to each one. They can also be mounted to the ceiling.. so they are unintrusive.
    9) You can also use RFID tags to track computers and laptops and PEOPLE if they have RFIDs in their ID badges.

    I'm not a Cisco sales rep.. I'm just really impressed with their products.
    Of course.. I don't know your budget.. to do things the "Cisco way" costs money, $$

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