Censorship and promotion

When will the Ministry of Truth learn that in today's connected world, the best way to promote something is by banning it?

Take, for instance, Giles Ungpakorn's Red Siam blog. It is banned in Thailand and going to wdpress.blog.co.uk will instead take you to w3.mict.go.th or a fake 404 page depending on the time of day it seems. Yet that has not stopped a lot of relatively low tech people I know using their email to forward his blog entries out of curiosity.

I recently received Giles' scathing attack on the NGO movement on its support of the Yellow Shirt movement. That was one of his more reasonable (read: less crazy) and well written blog entries it must be said.

However, dear Abhisit, might I suggest that the best way to get rid of him, politically speaking, is to unblock his blog and let everyone see for himself how insane some of his ideas are? By blocking it, the government is tantamount to admitting it is fearing him and giving him an air of mystique that he does not deserve.

Take, for instance, his recent post regarding the Swine Flu. A short excerpt follows:

5. ยาฆ่าไวรัสที่ใช้ได้มีแค่สองชนิด ที่รู้จักกันดีคือ Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) ซึ่งรัฐบาลไทยสะสมไว้ไม่พอ รัฐบาลตะวันตกสะสมไว้สำหรับ 25% ของประชากรและกำลังผลิตเพิ่ม แต่ในไทยไม่ได้เตรียมการถึงขนาดนี้ (ประเทศไทยจะต้องมียานี้อย่างน้อย 175 ล้านเม็ดถึงจะเพียงพอ) และคนที่จะได้ยาคงเป็นพวกอำมาตย์และผู้มีเส้นสาย นอกจากนี้ถ้ามันระบาดร้ายแรงในไทย มันจะกลายเป็นอีกข้ออ้างหนึ่งที่จะใช้อำนาจเผด็จการและทหาร อาจมีการล้อมปิดหมู่บ้านหรือชุมชน

Apologies that it is in Thai. However, despite his protests and passport that purport otherwise, Thai seems to be his first language.

In a nutshell, Giles says that Thailand is not stocking or producing enough of the medication needed to combat an epidemic, thus it will be the elite who gets the medication and that the government may use the epidemic as an excuse to send the army in to take care of small remote villages.

Er yes, I am sure that the government would use the epidemic as an excuse to let only the rich survive and send the army in to sterilise and kill all the poor red-shirt villagers. That sounds so reasonable. Maybe Giles' has been watching too many zombie movies now that he lives in exile there.

Or take Giles' take of the 6 October student protest massacre in his blog entry of 15 April. Let's just say that repeating what he has to say will probably land me in jail and therein lies another point to ponder. By censoring Giles' website, the government is effectively protecting him for further lese majeste lawsuits. The point whether such a lawsuit is good or bad notwithstanding, censorship protects the writer from further lawsuits. Think about it.

Censoring of views and opinions is bullying. It only creates sympathy for those on the receiving end, it does not work anyway and besides, with comments like this, Giles is probably his own worst enemy.

Finally, on a side note, it is odd to see Giles name himself wdpress. Wordpress is the name of a popular blog engine and host. Was he naive enough to think that a generic blog name would keep his Red Siam (as he signs himself) entries off the radar? If so, we are truly witnessing a war of the ancients; of an Orwellian Ministry of Truth and a communist-era misinformation insurgent. Which perhaps is indeed what this war is all about.

Don Sambandaraksa

Sun launches MySQL 5.4 preview, no word on Oracle takeover

Sun Microsystems Announces MySQL 5.4 - Up To 90% Faster Response Times and Scalability; Up to 16-way x86 Servers and 64-way CMT Servers

Organizations can Achieve Breakthrough Performance and Scalability Gains while Saving Millions of Dollars with the World's Most Popular Open Source Database

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAVA) today announced MySQL 5.4, a new version of the world's most popular open source database, designed to deliver significant performance and scalability improvements to MySQL applications. A preview version of MySQL 5.4 is available now for download at http://www.mysql.com/5.4.

Today's announcement was made at the seventh annual MySQL Conference & Expo being held this week at the Santa Clara Convention Center. With more than 2,000 attendees, it is the world's largest event for open source database developers, DBAs, vendors and corporate IT managers.

MySQL 5.4 includes performance and scalability improvements enabling the InnoDB storage engine to scale up to 16-way x86 servers and 64-way CMT servers. MySQL 5.4 also includes new subquery optimizations and JOIN improvements, resulting in 90% better response times for certain queries*. These performance and scalability gains are transparent and don't require any additional application or SQL coding to take advantage of them.

In the conference's opening keynote, Karen Tegan Padir, vice president of Sun's MySQL and Software Infrastructure Group, addressed the MySQL community, "Without any modifications to your applications, MySQL 5.4 will transparently increase the performance and scalability of your applications, to enable them to scale under more demanding user and data processing loads. MySQL 5.4 is also better suited for scale-up deployments on SMP systems. Please download today's preview version and send us your feedback - we want this to be the fastest, highest-quality release of MySQL ever."

"Our initial tests of MySQL 5.4 show our application performance is up to 40% faster right out-of-the-box," said Phil Hildebrand, manager of Database & Deployments at thePlatform. "We'll continue to follow this release closely for additional improvements."

MySQL 5.4 Features & Benefits

A number of new enterprise features and compelling fixes are planned for MySQL 5.4, including:

* Scalability improvements -- these fixes allow the InnoDB storage engine to scale up to 16-way x86 servers and 64-way CMT servers, more than doubling its previous capability;

* Subquery optimizations -- improves the performance of analytic query operations, with some subqueries now executing in a fraction of the time compared to previous MySQL versions;

* New query algorithms -- utilizes main memory to speed up the execution time of multi-way joins, especially for MySQL Cluster because the number of round-trips between the server and cluster nodes is minimized;

* Improved stored procedures -- enables more robust error management through the implementation of the SIGNAL/RESIGNAL functions, so applications can more easily rely on stored procedures for business logic;

* Improved prepared statements -- Output parameters will now be supported in prepared statements, which increases their functionality;

* Improved Information Schema -- provides more metadata access to parameters and data return types that stored procedures use, which allows much more information to be made available for developers using connectors such as ODBC and JDBC;

* Improved DTrace support -- improves diagnostics and troubleshooting capabilities for MySQL on the Solaris Operating System.

Supported Platforms & Availability

MySQL 5.4 will be generally available for a wide variety of hardware and software platforms, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SuSE Enterprise Linux, Microsoft Windows, Sun Solaris 10 Operating System, Mac OS X, Free BSD, HP-UX, IBM AIX, IBM i5/OS and other popular Linux distributions.

The preview version of MySQL 5.4 is currently available for download at http://www.mysql.com/5.4 for 64-bit versions of the Linux and Solaris 10 Operating Systems. Based on community feedback, an estimated release date for the GA version will be announced later this year.

From Sun Thailand

ATTO and Hitachi GST hit 6 Gb/s SAS

ATTO Technology and Hitachi GST Demonstrate 6Gb/s SAS Interoperability for High-Performance Storage Environments

6Gb/s SAS Industry Leaders Deliver Compatible, High-Performance

Storage Solutions for OEM and Worldwide Distribution Channels

Amherst, NY and San Jose, CA (April 28, 2009) – ATTO Technology and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced interoperability of their respective 6Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) products designed for use in high-performance server and storage applications. The combination of ATTO ExpressSAS Host Bus Adapters with Hitachi Ultrastar C10K300 hard drives deliver fast 6Gb/s data transfers for high I/O enterprise environments. The new 6Gb/s SAS interface delivers 100 percent faster data throughput than previously available using a 3Gb/s SAS interconnect. The companies began working together early in the development of 6Gb/s SAS to share design implementations and debug information, as well as conduct extensive testing to ensure an interoperable solution that delivers compatibility and overall system performance.

ATTO 6Gb/s ExpressSAS host adapters are available in five models, in both 8- and 16-port configurations, providing 600MB/s connectivity per port with support for up to 512 physical devices; and, are a perfect compliment to the dual-ported Hitachi Ultrastar C10K300 hard drives offered in 147GB and 300GB capacities. Both ATTO and Hitachi designed their products with advanced technology that addresses the need for low latency environments, enabling customers to access data more quickly and efficiently.

The established relationship between ATTO and Hitachi GST ensures a solid foundation for stable and consistent interoperability across product offerings. This interoperable solution offers connectivity for a wide range of enterprise-class applications, including data warehousing, data-intensive content-on-demand, multi-stream video, and disk-based backup. The impressive transfer rate of the new SAS interface operating at 6Gb/s is ideal for meeting these challenges.

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The new serial interface also offers backward compatibility with existing 3Gb/s products to provide customers with exceptional configuration flexibility, investment protection, and a simplified path for users to migrate to 6Gb/s platforms. ATTO ExpressSAS HBAs and Hitachi hard drives are now shipping to OEM and distribution customers worldwide.

“ATTO and Hitachi GST have industry-proven experience in developing high-performance solutions for the digital media and IT markets. This introduction of 6Gb/s technology, combining ATTO ExpressSAS with Hitachi Ultrastar drives, provides customers with an ideal solution for high-bandwidth storage applications," said Timothy Klein, President and CEO at ATTO Technology. "Together, Hitachi and ATTO have delivered a fast and robust SAS storage solution.”

“We are pleased to collaborate with ATTO Technology to demonstrate interoperability between our respective products and underscore the numerous benefits of the new serial interconnect,” said Brendan Collins, vice president, Product Marketing, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. “The 6Gb/s SAS interface delivers outstanding performance that is well-suited to meet the requirements of today’s most demanding enterprise server and storage applications. Our first 6Gb/s SAS product, the Hitachi Ultrastar C10K300, is delivering impressive performance benchmarks and receiving an extremely favorable response from customers.”

Qualcomm launches Gobi 3G-cum-GPS

Qualcomm has launched its new Gobi embedded 3G + GPS device for OEMs to put in their laptops. By and large it is nothing radical and something that is not that relevant to Thailand as few notebooks are even offered with 3G modules, the lack of 3G being one obvious reason. Of more interest is the gpsOneXTRA..

Qualcomm’s Gobi Embedded 3G Module Enables Notebooks with Location-Based Services from Top Software Providers

— Microsoft, DeLorme and Absolute Software among Companies

Leveraging GPS Capability of Gobi Module —

bANGKOK — April 28, 2009 — Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies, products and services, today announced that its Gobi™ embedded 3G module is enabling a wide range of location-based services on notebooks and mobile computers. Leading software companies - including Microsoft, DeLorme and Absolute® Software - are leveraging the ability of Qualcomm's Gobi module to bring GPS positioning capabilities to notebook computers, netbooks and mobile Internet devices.

“Leading OEMs now offer a wide range of notebooks and netbooks with Qualcomm's Gobi module for multi-mode mobile broadband connectivity and GPS,” said Mike Concannon, senior vice president of connectivity for Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. “This provides a key opportunity for software companies to develop applications for notebooks that bring navigation and other location-aware services to consumers and businesses.”

Applications leveraging the GPS capabilities of Qualcomm's Gobi module include products targeted for consumers and for enterprises, including:

• From Microsoft: Streets & Trips travel and map software for consumers; Mappoint business mapping and analysis software
• From DeLorme — the innovation leader in mapmaking technology since 1976, and a pioneering GPS provider for more than 12 years — three different options are available, all with up-to-date cartographic detail, automatic routing, and high-end GIS capabilities:
• Street Atlas USA for street-level navigation in the U.S. and Canada, and four million places of interest
• Topo USA for street-level data of the U.S. and Canada, four million places of interest, and topographic maps with land use and land cover detail
• XMap for GIS mapping professionals and mobile workforces
• From Absolute: Computrace® LoJack® for Laptops for computer theft recovery; Computrace® Complete for persistent IT asset management, real-time data security, geolocation and theft recovery capabilities.

The recently announced Gobi2000™ module, expected to launch in commercial devices this summer, builds on the multi-mode broadband capabilities of the first-generation Gobi1000™ module to deliver enhanced positioning capabilities with Assisted-GPS (A-GPS ) and gpsOneXTRA™ Assistance Technology, which delivers enhanced operation for standalone-GPS via assistance data when A-GPS is not available.

Source: TQPR

NComputing does 4 for 1 virtual desktops for cash strapped times

They said that 2009 would be the year where virtualisation goes beyond the data centre and hits the desktop. That said, NComputing's approach does sound quite different from that of Citrix and HP's desktop blades.

NComputing Builds on Ultra Low-Cost Computing Success with New X-series Desktop Virtualization Kit

NComputing launches new X350 kit as adoption of its virtual desktops accelerates

Bangkok, April 24, 2009 – The global economic slowdown is driving a surge of sales in ultra low-cost computing. And now NComputing, the market leader, has added another compelling offering to its award-winning X-series product line. The new X350 is designed specifically for organizations that want to economically and efficiently add users for the lowest cost and best performance.

Built to accommodate popular slim-line PCs, the X350 kit, with a list price of THB3,900 per user, turns one PC into four virtual desktops – each delivering rich multimedia performance and full-screen video. With a second X350 kit, a total of seven users can share a single PC. The X350 is a lower-cost, low-profile version of the highly successful NComputing X550, which supports up to 11 users on a full-sized PC. And like all NComputing solutions, the X350 features the award-winning NComputing vSpace™ desktop virtualization software.

“Now more than ever, customers need to lower their computing costs,” said Stephen Dukker, CEO and chairman of NComputing. “Customer IT and finance departments agree that NComputing delivers the performance their users need while saving money today and in long-term maintenance and energy costs. The X350 continues our tradition of unmatched computing value.”

IBM Watson

Earlier today, IBM Thailand sent me this YouTube video press release on its latest project, Watson. The project is innovative, and so is delivering a press release via YouTube.

Double standards at CAT

CAT blocks Dtac's request for 3G shortly after approving TrueMove's request for the same.

The Nation recently ran a story on how former state enterprise CAT Telecom recently, finally, refused a request from number two telco Dtac to launch a 3G service on the 850 MHz band that it currently uses for 1G AMPS, citing that it would be considered a concession amendment that falls under article 22 of the Public-Private Joint Venture act.

What the story did not mention was that when TOT partner AIS made the same request, TOT decided it was not an amendment and that it was a network upgrade and hence AIS was allowed to launch 3G on its existing, if somewhat cramped, 900MHz spectrum. CAT also recently allowed TrueMove to launch trial 3G services on the same 850MHz that Dtac wants.

A while back, I talked to Dtac CEO Torre Johnsen who put things in a somewhat different light.

Dtac was the first of the Thai Telcos who, fed up with the delay that the NTC was having getting its 2.1 GHz 3G act together, wanted to do in-band migration and go for 850 MHz 3G on frequencies it was already using for the 1G AMPS network. Dtac told, not asked, but told CAT it would be performing a network upgrade. CAT had other ideas and came back with all sorts of demands, such as asking Dtac to move its frequencies a bit so that another 5MHz slot could be squeezed in for TrueMove and that CAT, not Dtac, would be the point of call termination for the new 3G network.

In other words, no, Dtac could not just upgrade their network, but would have to move over so that TrueMove could have a say and also bend over so that CAT could control who gets the calls and how.

Dtac's point of view was that upgrading a network with existing frequencies should have been legal and within the existing agreement and that the matter would not have to go to the section 22 committee. On the contrary, asking Dtac to move over and give TrueMove space would definitely be considered a new agreement and would have to go to section 22.

Indeed, when AIS later asked its concession holder TOT the same question, TOT deemed it was a network upgrade and that led to Thailand's first 3G 900MHz cell up in Chiang Mai. Ironically now that TrueMove is using that bit of 2.5 MHz spectrum that Dtac claims it owns, both TrueMove and AIS now have 850 and 900 MHz 3G live in Bangkok, but Dtac still has yet to launch.

The mess leads to a much bigger question: Who runs the show in Thailand? We are supposed to have an independent regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (as per the 1997 constitution) or its replacement National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) as per the 2007 constitution (or, to be precise, as per the interpretation of the 2007 constitution in the pending Frequency Allocation Act, but that is getting a bit too detailed); we are supposed to have privatised the Telephone Organisation of Thailand and the Communications Authority of Thailand and thus move to a free market. But the truth is that the real power still lies in the hands of CAT / TOT and that they continue to act as a government regulator when the time suits them, and as a private entity when the government breathes down the neck.

Thailand seemed to have already decided, once in 1997 and the other in 2007, that the country would be on the way to a free market economy with a liberalised telecom sector. Obviously someone forgot to tell CAT and TOT. Worse, someone also forgot to tell the governments that we have had in the past decade as the Anti-Monopololy act explicitly excludes former state enterprises from the anti-competition legislation.

Today we are in a mess. A mess to the tune of 50 billion Baht a year that these competitors / regulators / privatised entities suck up dry; money that should be returned to the government coffers so that it could be spent strategically by the real regulator in a way that benefits all 60 million people, not just the 17,000 or so employees of the de facto regulator.

Freedom Against Censorship Thailand CENSORED!

Reposted from FACT's website.

Freedom Against Censorship Thailand CENSORED!
26-04-09

If you can read this, YOU PROBABLY AREN’T IN THAILAND!

If you live in Thailand and are a FACT reader, you probably don’t use TOT ADSL, Kasetsart University or Buddy Broadband as your ISP. All three of those ISPs have been blocking FACT since at least noon on April 25 and at least TOT was redirecting users via transparent proxy to a blank blockpage at Thailand’s ICT ministry.

Will FACT readers please keep us informed if and when FACTsite http://facthai.wordpress.com is blocked by other ISPs. Please let us know by email: facthai@gmail.com. Please include your mobile number so we can call you back.

We need to know if KU and Buddy and perhaps other ISPs are redirecting users by transparent proxy to http://w3.mict.go.th, as is TOT.

The fact that THREE ISPs are now blocking FACTsite indicates that the blocking order did, in fact, come from MICT and is not just an ISP decision.

This means that probably more ISPs will start to block FACTsite as the MICT ”request” is implemented by them. Some may be inefficient and not get around to blocking; others may simply ignore MICT’s “request”.

It is HIGHLY unlikely that MICT sought a court order to block FACTsite. Therefore, we have a good basis for a court case. FACT would like to become the second legal website in Thailand after Midnight University!

In any case, the first step is a letter of complaint to MICT and the three ISPs. We shall also get on the phone to all four on Monday.

Can some FACT readers please let us know if FACT’s RSS feed is still sending to subscribers?

Thanks for your help and support. FACT readers should use proxies and VPN till we get a new, mirrored website up. (This is the same way we’ll continue to post.)

Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) has prepared a formal letter of complaint to send to Ranongruk Suwanachee, ICT minister, and the CEOs of the three ISPs:

Freedom Against Censorship Thailand

กลุ่มเสรีภาพต่อต้านการเซ็นเซอร์แห่งประเทศไทย

April 25, 2009

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Formal Letter of Complaint Over Website Blocking

Cease and Desist Order

It has been brought to our attention that, on April 25, 2009, the WordPress blogsite of Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) http://facthai.wordpress.com was inaccessible to subscribers of the Telephone Organisation of Thailand’s ADSL Internet service (2009.04.25 13:07; 2009.04.25 17:15; 2009.04.25 17:33; 2009.04.25 21:49), Kasetsart University (2009.04.25 14:32), and Buddy Broadband (2009.04.26 02:16). Our website was apparently accessible from many other ISPs in Thailand. Users of TOT ADSL, Kasetsart University, and Buddy Broadband attempting to access FACT’s website were redirected by transparent proxy to http://w3.mict.go.th, indicating that FACT’s website was blocked by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.

Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) is a non-political, non-partisan, public non-governmental organisation providing information on censorship issues in Thailand and worldwide. FACT is a network of more than 900 citizens concerned over censorship issues.

I am FACT’s coordinator and registered owner of FACT’s website http://facthai.wordpress.com.

If the ICT ministry and/or TOT is blocking FACT’s website http://facthai.wordpress.com, we require you to provide a copy of the court order authorising censorship of our website along with complete reasons for such censorship. If there is no such court order, the ICT ministry and/or TOT is acting illegally under the requirements of the Computer-Related Crimes Act 2007 and must immediately restore access to our website by all Internet users.

Should you fail to provide us with the relevant court orders and reasons for blocking FACT’s website, we will take legal action against you.

We expect your prompt reply and the removal of any block against FACT’s website.

Sincerely,

CJ Hinke

Box 31, Udomsuk Post Office

Bangkok 10261 Thailand

http://facthai.wordpress.com

telephone. +66-7-976-1880 email. facthai@gmail.com

IBM Thailand launches lower end Xeon blades and racks for the poor SMEs

Bangkok – April 23, 2009: IBM Thailand unveiled new generation of Intel Xeon processor 5500 series-based System x™ servers and software that would equip Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with the strength to brave the current economic challenges while being able to more easily roll out virtualized computing and significantly reduce growing operating costs with higher performance, simplified management and increased utilization.

With the current economic downturn, many SMEs find it a mandatory task to reduce cost, improve their operation efficiency as well as enhance their competency in order to survive and beat the economic recession. In order to achieve this objective, many SMEs realize that they need to be equipped with the powerful tools and one of them is the right IT solutions that are efficient yet affordable and easy to manage. With this requirement of SMEs in mind, IBM has put tremendous effort by leveraging state of the art technologies used in designing data centers for large corporation and deployed them in BladeCenter and System x, the IBM’s Intel-based servers, to create a dynamic infrastructure for SMEs. In addition, in order to help enable a more dynamic infrastructure, IBM’s four new x86 rack servers and blades feature unique designs – such as lower wattage requirements – that can slash energy costs up to 93 percent. At the same time, the new System x servers boast double the compute performance in some models, and support more memory, storage and I/O to help customers of all sizes ease the transition to highly efficient virtualized computing resources. System x blades and racks lead the industry with 96GB to 1TB memory options.

“The current economic downturn has sent seismic tremor throughout every segment of the business and SMEs are no exception. This has pushed them to the point where they all need to take whatever action that can help them beat the crisis and survive. With this challenge in mind, SMEs need to be equipped with the right tools that can help them save cost, improve operation efficiency and also enhance their competitiveness. Obviously, the efficient yet affordable and cost-saving IT solution is one of those tools” said Tanapong Ittisakulchai, Country Manager, Systems and Technology Group, IBM Thailand Co., Ltd. “With the launch of the new generation of IBM BladeCenter and System x, our range of Intel-based servers, today, we are strongly confident that it would equip SMEs with the strength to weather the current economic storm and help them achieve their business objectives in the long run.” added Mr. Tanapong.

In addition to the hardware innovations, IBM also announced new management software to complement Systems Director 6.1, which enables clients to automatically manage virtual and physical assets across platforms. IBM Power Systems, System z, storage and non-IBM x86 servers are all supported, with a potential cost savings in management costs of up to 44 percent.

New IBM Servers: Lower Ownership Costs Through Innovation

This new generation of System x technology maximizes the power and performance with a new generation of intelligent server processors – the Intel® Xeon® Processor 5500 series.

IBM BladeCenter HS22

A no-compromise blade with breakneck speed, the two-socket IBM BladeCenter HS22 offers outstanding performance, flexible configuration options and simple management in an efficient server designed to run a broad range of workloads. Among other features, the completely revamped HS22 features three times as much memory as its predecessor, which allows the HS22 to process twice as many transactions per minute. In fact, customers can achieve as high as a 11-to-1 consolidation ratio migrating older rack and blade servers onto HS22 blades, while saving over 93 percent in energy costs alone. In addition, two hot-swap internal storage bays offer customers a choice of SAS, SATA, or solid state options. The HS22 offers best-in-class reliability and is fully compatible with all BladeCenter enterprise and office chassis, protecting the investments customers have already made in BladeCenter.

IBM System x3650 M2 and x3550 M2

Built with all-new, energy-smart designs to simplify power distribution and reduce energy loss, these two-socket enterprise servers feature lower wattage, highly efficient power supplies exceeding the “80 Plus Gold” standard, counter-rotating fans, altimeters, and advanced power management. These innovations translate into reducing energy consumption and lowering annual energy costs for a single enterprise class data center. They also feature outstanding performance delivering computing speeds up to 6.4GT/s, design redundancy and unique security options.

Systems Management Leadership

IBM Thailand today also announced key system management upgrades designed to complement its new generation of x86 systems and help IT managers orchestrate the unique workload demands of modern businesses.

IBM Systems Director 6.1

The new IBM Systems Director 6.1 provides powerful tools for managing both physical and virtual resources and features an easy-to-use, web-based interface with integrated wizards/tutorials, such as Systems Director Active Energy Manager. It delivers broad cross-platform support including IBM Power Systems, System z, storage and non-IBM x86 servers, with a potential cost savings that can reach 34.5 percent for Windows servers and 43.8 percent for Linux x86 servers.

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)

IBM is offering next-generation BIOS -- the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) – to provide a consistent BIOS across its portfolio and to allow for more detailed remote-configuration options.

Integrated Management Module (IMM)

The Integrated Management Module (IMM) combines diagnostics, virtual presence and remote control to manage, monitor, troubleshoot and repair from any corner of the world. Its standards-based alerting also enables “out-of-the-box” integration into enterprise management environments and provides a single firmware stack for all IMM based systems.

IBM ToolsCenter

The IBM ToolsCenter initiative simplifies the acquisition and usage of single system management tools with a single webpage to acquire tools. It establishes a common look and feel across the entire tool set, this maximizes efficiency and reduces training cost. The latest addition to the ToolsCenter portfolio, IBM bootable media creator is used to create custom bootable media (CD, DVD or USB key) with updates for clients systems.

Thaicom President steps down.

Shinsat President Damrong Kasemsate has resigned from Temasek-owned Thaicom/Shin Satellite, effective 13 April. No reason was given.

Nokia E75 launched at 17,600 Baht.

Email the way you want with Nokia E75
The first device with Nokia Messaging

Bangkok, 23 April 2009 – Nokia today unveiled a new addition to its Eseries range, the full QWERTY Nokia E75, which is the first to ship with the company’s new email user interface to offer a richer messaging experience. Nokia E75 comes with Nokia Messaging that, when added to the company’s corporate email clients, gives people the most efficient solution for accessing the world’s consumers and corporate emails on the go.

“In today’s climate, the costs and benefits of technology are under closer scrutiny and email is an essential driver of efficiency and productivity. Efficiency is about doing more with less and focusing on what’s truly essential,” says Mr.Shumit Kapoor, General Manager, Nokia (Thailand) ltd. “With direct access to Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes, companies can potentially save up to a third of their operating costs as there’s no need for middleware or additional servers.”

Nokia Messaging is a service that opens up the world's leading consumer email accounts - including Yahoo! Mail®, Gmail and Windows Live Hotmail - and is joined by Nokia's corporate email clients, Mail for Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes Traveler.

With the latest Eseries devices, people will no longer need to boot up a PC to get a full desktop email experience. The enhanced email UI includes folder and HTML email support, expandable views and sorting capability by date, sender and size, as well as the most commonly used email functions just a single click away. In addition to emails, the devices also offer improved calendar capability, as well as contacts and task management.

“With the Nokia E75 we took a lot of inspiration from the successful Nokia Communicator series. Owners of the Nokia Communicator range of devices loved the messaging functionality a full keyboard provided, but also often used the traditional phone keypad. With the Nokia E75 we kept these essential ingredients, significantly upgraded all of the features and made it as compact and efficient as possible,” says Mr.Shumit Kapoor, General Manager, Nokia (Thailand) ltd.

“Complementing this with Nokia Messaging”, continues Mr.Kapoor, “we have made the setting up of email on your choice of a Nokia device really simple. Nokia’s aim is to make mobile email easily discoverable and available to everyone, no matter what their preference of device and service are. We believe that potentially, mobile email can become as ubiquitous as voice and SMS communications.”

Added to the free Nokia Messaging subscription, Nokia E75 comes with full Nokia Maps and assisted GPS with integrated 3-month license for turn-by-turn navigation, and free usage of Ovi Files 1GB for 1 year. Another important feature of the Nokia E75 is that important files stored on a PC can be remotely managed and shared, even when your PC is switched off.

The new handset comes in the wake of the most successful year for Eseries to date, with more than 10 million units shipped in 2008. “With companies looking to consolidate costs and assets, and with the number of email-enabled devices in the Nokia range and our direct access model, Nokia looks set to continue this performance in 2009,” concludes Mr.Kapoor.

To educate target consumers about Nokia E75 and Nokia Messaging, Nokia will conduct roadshow activities to meet target groups at office buildings throughout Bangkok from April 20 – May 2, 2009.

The Nokia E75 is available now at 17, 600 THB.

Source: Burson Marstellar.

Oracle to buy Sun for 7.4 billion

From Oracle: On April 20, 2009, Oracle announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Sun Microsystems (Sun). The proposed transaction is subject to Sun stockholder approval, certain regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Until the deal closes, each company will continue to operate independently, and it is business as usual.

The acquisition combines best-in-class enterprise software and mission-critical computing systems. Oracle plans to engineer and deliver an integrated system—applications to disk—where all the pieces fit and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves. Customers benefit as their system integration costs go down while system performance, reliability and security go up.

Oracle's press release.
Sun's press release.

Nokia E75 launch date set

Nokia Thailand are to launch the slide-out Qwerty E75 messaging phone on Thursday, April 23. The launch will also feature the Nokia Messaging application that has been available to download in beta for sometime.



Source: Burson-Marstellar. Pictures from Nokia.

TrueMove Touch Sim partners with 94° coffee for 5% discount

Touch SIM by TrueMove Joins With 94° Coffee To Offer 5% Discount To Welcome the Summer, Reinforce Best Value with “Touch For Calling Credit” by Offering Free Calling Bonus For Every Payment with Touch SIM

Bangkok—April 20, 2009 – TrueMoney, with Piyachart Ratanaprasartporn (right), General Manager of True Money Co., Ltd., has joined with 94° Coffee, with Parit Anugulthanakarn, (left) General Manager of Ultimate Beverage Products Co., Ltd, to please coffee lovers by offering an immediate 5% discount on every menu item simply by paying the bill with TrueMove’s convenient Touch SIM. All customers have to do is swipe the Touch SIM at the Touch reading machine found at branches of 94° Degree Coffee that have joined the program. TrueMove customers can enjoy their favorite beverage with savings from today until December 31, 2009.

With the exclusive “Touch for Calling Credit” offer, Touch SIM customers will receive a refund of the calling credit every time they pay the bill with Touch SIM, which means More Touch, Best Value.

Touch SIM by TrueMove is an innovative award-winning SIM developed by TrueMoney for TrueMove mobile phones. Supporting Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, Touch SIM can be used conveniently and securely in various lifestyle applications and services including personal data storage and identification as well as financial transactions, all done easily with just a single touch or swipe of the mobile phone.

The Touch SIM costs 149 Baht from TrueMove shops.

Source: Burson-Marstellar

PC market declines 5% in Q109 amid market pressure, Lenovo, HP strong.

IDC has announced that the PC market has shrunk by five percent year on year compared to Q08 by value, though total shipments came in close to expectations thanks to strong demand for notebooks in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The notebook sector posted 12 percent YOY growth.

The report noted that Lenovo remained the market leader, while HP surprised the market watchers by actually posting a year on year gain under these difficult conditions.

Source: IDC.

Nokia announces Worms World Party multiplayer on N-Gage

N-Gage Opens Up a Whole New Can of Worms



Gamers should prepare for prolonged worm warfare this spring as the world’s wackiest invertebrates crawl back onto N-Gage.

Stunningly rendered in classic 2D style and boasting an ultra-atmospheric audio experience, Worms World Party takes full advantage of the N-Gage’s unrivalled gaming capabilities, bringing back the side-splitting Worm animations and introducing new, zany voice taunts to rub rivals’ faces in the mud.

Combatants can either get their hands dirty by waging war on wily worms with improved AI in single-player fire-fights or take their wormfest worldwide in 4-way, real-time multiplayer death matches on N-Gage Arena, where, as well as checking out the high scores and easily setting up matchups, they’ll be able to rack up N-Gage Points for impressive achievements.

With over 20 weapons, including the timeless Super Sheep and Holy Hand Grenades, a multitude of game options and 6 level themes inspired by the very best of the Worms series, it’s time to unearth Worms World Party on N-Gage.

Worms World Party is now available at http://www.n-gage.com

Source: Burson-Marstellar.

Sun expands partnership programme to cut costs tailor local offerings

Sun Microsystems has confirmed a change in the ownership of the existing Sun entity in Thailand which until now been operating as a wholly owned company since 1998. The Sun Equity Partner programme is a form of joint venture that Sun claims is aimed at providing a better, more customised service in each country. No details were given as to the local partner or the amount of money that is involved in the transaction.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sun Microsystems Strengthens Presence in Thailand via Sun Equity Partner (SEP) Business Model

Move Positions Sun for Growth in Key Emerging Markets While Meeting Customer Needs for Innovations

Bangkok, 20 April 2009 – Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) today announced the implementation of the Sun Equity Partner (SEP) business model to manage its operations in Thailand. This follows an earlier announcement about Sun's establishment of the SEP model in Malaysia. SEP is a worldwide joint-venture program designed to efficiently expand Sun's presence and enhance growth in key markets via strategic investments with select partners. The program is modelled on a concept that empowers partners to manage a Sun-branded operation while leveraging their know-how and market reach to facilitate customers' access to Sun's cutting-edge offerings.

Sun has been servicing customers in Thailand since 1995 and via a fully-owned operation in the country since 1998. This market continues to show promising signs of growth for Sun and is a key part of the company's global growth strategy. The implementation of Sun's SEP business model in Thailand is intended to further expand Sun’s presence and position the company to seize opportunities generated by the country's growing demand for network computing services and solutions.

Sun has invited a select group of partners to jointly explore opportunities to grow Sun's business in Thailand. The partnership with the eventual partner selected under the SEP business model will involve a change in ownership structure in the existing Sun entity.

"The establishment of the Sun Equity Partner model reflects Sun's continued commitment to Thailand's economy," said Peter Ryan, Executive Vice President, Global Sales and Services, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Investing with a leading partner allows Sun to quickly expand coverage in growth markets, provide local expertise to our customers and contribute to global business communities."

The SEP program will continue to cement Sun's position as a leader in network computing in the market. It will contribute to customers' adoption of Sun Microsystems' comprehensive portfolio of software and systems solutions, including the Solaris(tm) Operating System, Java(tm) technologies, open software offerings, and the industry's fastest, most scalable and energy-efficient systems, as well as professional training and services.

"We are excited about the opportunities that our SEP program presents to our current business in Thailand. Our existing customers and partners will benefit from the SEP program. Not only will this program continue to bring them Sun’s world-class products, services and technologies, it will also offer them enhanced support as well as added regional expertise and coverage from a top partner,” said Lionel Lim, President, Asia Pacific, Sun Microsystems.

“The SEP program will help drive greater growth for the country's information and communications technology industry. Our strengthened presence will facilitate further upgrades in the IT skills and technology adoption by local partners and communities," said Gan Boon San, President, Asia South, Sun Microsystems.

The SEP program was modeled after the highly successful joint-venture partnerships in Indonesia and the Philippines in the past several years. Both regions now support hundreds of Sun-focused sales and services professionals, and serve key customers and partners. The SEP program was officially launched in February 2008 and has been established successfully in Vietnam. There are plans for further expansion of Sun's global presence via the SEP model in key markets in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Europe.

Source: PR-One.

Sun to sell off operations in Thailand

A little bird told me...

That Sun Microsystems is going to sell off its operations in Thailand to management / partners. If true, this would not be the first. Atos Origin also recently sold off its operations here to local management. The financial crisis continues to take its toll.

That said, it is odd as Sun, through its partner network, has had a reputation of being very strong in the government sector, one sector that is probably going to boom given the stimulus package that will be used to prop up the economy.

TrueMove HSPA cell in Muang Thong Thani quietly goes live

Reports are coming in that telco TrueMove today went live with a 850MHz 3G HSPA cell in the Muang Thong Thani area. One of the first lucky people who found out Tweeted that it was faster than his home ADSL connection, though that will probably change as more people find out.

This adds to the already decent 850MHz 3G coverage True has in central Bangkok.

Source: klaikong

Sun announces upgrade of VirtualBox, local pricing of enterprise edition at 1,068 Baht / user / year

New Sun VirtualBox Release Supports Open Virtualization Format And Virtual Appliances

Huge Community Adoption Continues For Sun VirtualBox – Surpasses 11 Million Downloads Worldwide and 3.5 Million Registrations

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) today announced the availability of Sun VirtualBox(TM) 2.2, the latest release of its high performance, free and open source virtualization software. VirtualBox 2.2 introduces support for the new Open Virtualization Format (OVF) standard, as well as significant performance enhancements and updates. To download the freely available Sun VirtualBox software, visit: http://www.sun.com/software/products/virtualbox/get.jsp.

OVF is a Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) standard that enables virtual machines or appliances to be imported and exported. Virtual appliances are one or more virtual machines that are pre-installed and configured so they can be shared, published and distributed. VirtualBox 2.2 software enables users to build virtual machines or appliances and effortlessly export them from a development environment and import them into a production environment. Support for OVF also helps to ensure VirtualBox 2.2 software is interoperable with other technologies that follow the standard.

“We continue to see great momentum for VirtualBox, through huge adoption numbers, as well as the speed and frequency of technology releases. VirtualBox has always been a fantastic tool for developers to create multiple virtual machines, network them together and deploy them using nearly any operating system. Now, with the new import and export features of the VirtualBox 2.2 release, users can quickly and easily put their development environments into production – on the desktop, the server or even in the cloud, “ said Jim McHugh, vice president Datacenter Software marketing at Sun.

“The addition of support for virtual appliances in the latest VirtualBox software release is great for us and our customers who want to rapidly move from development to production, and upgrade production environments easily and quickly,” said Lars-Thorsten Sudmann, managing director ITProtect GmbH & Co. KG, an information, communication and security consulting firm based in Europe.

A key component of Sun's industry-leading desktop-to-datacenter virtualization portfolio, VirtualBox software has been rapidly growing in popularity, surpassing 11 million downloads worldwide, 3.5 million registrations since October 2007, with in excess of 25,000 downloads a day. A mere 50 megabyte download, VirtualBox software is incredibly compact and efficient and installs in less than five minutes.

Additional features of VirtualBox 2.2 software include:

· Hypervisor optimizations to make this the fastest VirtualBox release available to date

· 3D graphics acceleration for Linux and Solaris(TM) applications using OpenGL(R), allowing a whole new class of applications to run in a virtual machine

· Support for Snow Leopard, Apple's forthcoming 64 bit platform

· Increased maximum memory size of guests to 16Gb RAM

· New host-interface networking mode, which makes it easier than ever before to run server applications in virtual machines

Pricing and Availability

VirtualBox software is free of charge for personal use. For wider deployments within an organisation Enterprise subscriptions are also available, starting at 1,068 baht per user per year, which includes 24/7 premium support from Sun's technical team. Discounts are available based on volume. To sign up for an enterprise support subscription, visit: http://www.sun.com/software/products/virtualbox/get.jsp. For partners wishing to redistribute the VirtualBox technology as part of their own solution Sun offers a comprehensive OEM licensing program.

Seagate to sponsor KU's Crystal Brain Camp

Seagate continues its high profile string of corporate social responsibility, this time with younger 10 to 13 year old students in the 22nd Kasetsart Crystal Brain Camp.

Seagate Technology ( Thailand ) Limited is partnering with Kasetsart University for “The 22nd Crystal Brain Camp Kasetsart-Seagate” on Wednesday, April 22 this year at Kasetsart University's Kampangsaen campus.

The 22nd Crystal Brain Camp Kasetsart-Seagate provides young children nationwide aged between 10 to 13 years old with opportunities to spend their summer vacation in a fruitful way. Camp activities have been changed and developed every year. This year’s camp primarily focuses on enabling young children to take part in protecting our world with green technology, reducing the impact of global warming through various science and technology-based activities and presenting their video and multimedia works.

Via Watcharee PR Consultants.

Nokia says sales up, neglects to mention profit down.

Nokia Thailand has issued a press release championing how the Finnish mobile phone giant has seen its net sales increase by 79% year on year while elsewhere, AP points out that Nokia's profit has nosedived 90 percent.

Nokia reports Q1 2009 net sales of EUR 9.3 billion (433 billion baht)

Services net sales of EUR 150 million, up 79%

Bangkok: 17 April 2009 – Nokia, the world leader in mobile communications, today announced its business operation result for the ffirst quarter of 2009. Nokia Q1 2009 net sales were EUR 9.3 billion (433 billion baht). - Services net sales of EUR 150 million (billings of EUR 166 million), up 79% year on year. Nokia estimated mobile device market share of 37% in Q1 2009, unchanged from Q4 2008.

"In what has been an exceptionally tough environment, we continue to invest in a focused manner in consumer Internet services delivered across our broad portfolio of mobile devices. Combined, these solutions will drive our future growth. As an example in Q1, I am especially pleased with the performance of our first mass market touch product, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. Together with Comes With Music, it is a great example of Nokia providing solutions that consumers value," said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia CEO.

In the area of music, Nokia benefited from a strong performance by the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, its first mass market touch product, which shipped 2.6 million units during the quarter. More than 3 million units have shipped since the device's launch in late November last year. During the first quarter, Nokia further strengthened its offering of devices optimized for music, announcing the 5730 XpressMusic, the Nokia 5330 XpressMusic and the Nokia 5030. Nokia also extended its Comes With Music service - an 'all-you-can-eat' music offer where users can download freely from millions of tracks for a pre-defined period of time and keep those tracks once the period is up - to Australia and Singapore. Additionally, Nokia extended Nokia Music Store, its chain of digital music stores, to 18 countries.

Of the total industry mobile device volumes, converged mobile device industry volumes in the first quarter 2009 increased to 36.0 million units, based on Nokia's preliminary estimate, compared with an estimated 33.3 million units in the first quarter 2008. Our own converged mobile device volumes were 13.7 million units in the first quarter 2009, compared with 14.6 million units in the first quarter 2008 and 15.1 million units in the fourth quarter 2008. We shipped approximately 5 million Nokia Nseries and over 3 million Nokia Eseries devices during the first quarter 2009.

Nokia expects industry mobile device volumes in the second quarter 2009 to be at approximately the same level or up slightly sequentially. Nokia expects its mobile device market share in the second quarter 2009 to increase sequentially and continues to target an increase in its market share in mobile devices in 2009.

* Exchange rate Baht 46.65 per Euro 1, as of April 17, 2009.

IBM announces SMB solutions in face of economic slowdown

IBM Thailand is responding to the economic downturn by focusing its efforts on the SMB with new solutions for back office, retail management, accounting, marketing, manufacturing under its new "Mobile Office Express" moniker.

Thai SMEs leverage IT to spur Business Growth

Select IBM solutions to enhance business, reduce cost and tackle business problems

April 17, 2009 – New generation of SMEs nationwide admitted that IT solutions from IBM help make business management easy, cost-saving and fast-growing. IBM announced its plan to further penetrate the market in its full capacity and gain access to its SME prospects all over the country after its success from ‘Mobile Office Express’ roadshow delivered fast-affordable-simple solutions to upcountry last year.

Parnsiree Amatayakul, Territory Executive, General Business, IBM Thailand Co., Ltd. said “The continuous growth of SMEs amid the economical challenge these days is a critical factor of the national economy. It stimulates investment, job creation and income production. From the IBM Mobile Office Express launch last year, IBM has delivered fast-affordable-simple business-driven IT solutions that help enabling Thai SMEs to enhance their business productivity and profitability. We received warm welcome from the SME market and glad to learn that our clients realized the importance and benefits of IT in enhancing business efficiency. Besides, we had discussed with business executives from various industries and found that they had 3 principle needs which are IT optimization and cost saving, innovation for business value, and business continuity and security. IBM understands their concerns and prepares our working teams to meet and help them so as the SMEs can continue growing within the challenging economy this year.”

Retail business is a type of business with comparatively high competition. The competitive edge is to give excellent services in order to reach the customers’ highest satisfactory level. Hence, Information technology is employed to support data management for business decision-making. The effective technology shall create quick-moving, cost-saving and fast-growing business.

Mr. Kittipop Arsirapongpisit, Managing Director, Chiangrai Sahathaweekit (1993) Company Limited and owner of Phowadol Resort & Spa Chaingrai said “Participating the launching project of ‘Mobile Office Express’ that IBM held in Chiang Mai last year has changed my point of view. I used to believe that IBM products were suitable for big organizations and that the products were very expensive. But IBM has proposed suitable solution for the growing SME businesses like ours. It is the type of business that keeps its main focus on the effectiveness of data management. Our company has decided to select IBM to implement solutions to manage data for our finance and inventory since last year. Now our business can move forward in all aspects with highly effective IT system that is so easy to maintain and monitor. The decision to select the products and services from IBM and to appoint them as our partner is value for money and they have considerably contributed their effort to our business”.

A vision of Ampo Mall management is to become an all-inclusive shopping center in Ayutthaya with continuous business expansion. The company also stresses on the importance of technological investment. Today the company has taken one step forward by placing trust on IBM to help developing its back-office system in the hope to meet its customers’ requirements and to provide better services.

Mr. Teera Ampornpruet, Managing Director of Ampotrade Company Limited said “Ampo Mall regards customer satisfaction as the most interest. Our management has decided to develop and migrate the existing system to the IBM’s server. The application we are using is one of the products launched under the ‘Mobile Office Express' project. It functions to process the customer’s purchase and service usage behavioral data. With such system, the company can utilize the data to improve the service in a fast and precise way. The result is the customers enjoy our service and Ampo Mall can keep our customer base. The success is reflected in our today’s business.”

Mr. Chaiyot Sereeyothin, Managing Director of Khon Kaen Fishing Net Factory Company Limited, one of the SME businesses who selected solution under the IBM Express Advantage said “ With our vision to become a leader and the biggest network of fishing net, seine, and agricultural net manufacturer and distributor, the company has developed its business continually. It also stresses much importance on the IT investment. Today the company has made a progress and implemented IBM solution to manage its accounting, marketing, and manufacturing, as well as maitenance systems. Today, the company has a plan to totally replace its IT system and use all IBM products in the long run. We are impressed by the high product quality and excellent after-sale service by IBM. We particularly appreciate the installment payment option. It allows us to develop the system and make gradually make a payment at the same time. Therefore, there is no cost and expense hindrance. We believe that a good partner like IBM will support our back office system so as it runs smoothly with efficiency and this will make us gain an edge against our business competitors.”

Parnsiree Amatayakul, Territory Executive, General Business, IBM Thailand Co., Ltd. added that “From the success of IBM Express Advantage last year, IBM is delighted to have seen our SME customers leverage our products and services for their business success. This year, IBM has prepared an on-going scheme to help the SMEs nationwide survive the economical crisis and generate business successful outcome. The new project will be soon introduced in the second quarter this year.”

Via IBM PR.