Intel demonstrates Light Peak - twice as fast as USB 3.0Light Peak currently runs at 10Gbps, a fraction over twice as fast as USB 3.0, and Intel have suggested that the optical cable technology could be tweaked to 100Gbps. Cable lengths can run to 100 meters, and the cables can pass signals from multiple protocols. One interconnect could carry USB 3.0 data along with HDMI signals to a monitor for example.
The Beijing demo used a USB-sized port which carried the usual USB copper cable in addition to the new Light Peak signal, making for a painless upgrade path. For the future, the Light Peak port could be much smaller, good news for phones, cameras etc.
David Izen: Partner, systems, quality, procedures, ER-6n, MP33, 1dIII, philadelphia cream cheese, beardies, 1990C4Cab, rhythm-free zone, ribena
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New technology is constantly paraded through the halls of Technica and you'd think this week's arrival in outlets of the next-generation Audio-Visual amplifiers would be met with universal excitement, but not so.
Sky are very close to rolling out 3D services via existing Sky HD boxes and have already demonstrated 3D sports transmissions in adverts and in selected venues - Technica had a tour of a 3D-ready OB van, courtesy of long-time client Telegenic.
With news that 3D TV sets are likely to land on shelves this summer at estimated start prices around £2,000, the prediction was that 3D would hit the ground running.
Not all is rosy however. Current generation AV receivers switch video source via the extremely convenient HDMI cable. Connect the amp to your TV via one HDMI cable, connect Blu-Ray, Sky HD, PS3 and XBox 360 similarly to the amp and you can switch between sources with the amp's remote. However, to provide 3D you will need an HDMI 1.4-equipped amplifier, and most of the new features introduced in HDMI 1.4 will require a new HDMI chip and will be beyond any firmware upgrade. Recent adopters of HDMI AV amps will have to replace their fairly new kit with the latest 1.4 versions in order to pass signals between source and TV. Naturally if you're going straight from source to TV without amp you won't have an issue - if the TV can show 3D it will be equipped with HDMI 1.4 anyway, and we know the Sky HD boxes will be fine - just be sure to buy an HDMI 1.4 cable, avoiding the earlier 1.3 and below cables and now the Micro HDMI plug (soon to appear on mobiles and cameras) and even the automotive application plug.
HDMI 1.4 does more than just 3D of course. There's an integrated ethernet channel (saving using a hub to link your source devices together, though that was unlikely to phase too many), and a number of 3D formats have been defined and catered for. There's also support for a massive 4,096 x 2,160 pixel resolution at 24Hz, so the future of 'Super HD' begins to roll before vanilla HD is out of diapers. There's also support for an audio return channel, so data from the target (TV) can also be sent back to the amp (for TV's with built-in tuners for example) and extended support for larger colour spaces which should help colour reproduction when viewing your PC or PS3 slideshows on the TV.
So the good news: If you've not taken the plunge and bought an HD TV or HDMI amp yet, well done you. There will be some cracking kit out soon.
If you've bought either, well, it probably wasn't the first time and most likely won't be the last we get stung by technology improving radically in double quick time. 3D amp, Super HD TV and a stack of HDMI 1.4 cables are on the wish list.
David Izen: Partner, systems, quality, procedures, ER-6n, MP33, 1dIII, philadelphia cream cheese, beardies, 1990C4Cab, rhythm-free zone, ribena
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The Partners and staff of Technica Solutions are fortunate to count many charities as clients. We offer support to these organisations at reduced charity rates.
Giving something backHowever, sometimes we want to go that little bit further. So over the last few years we have been giving both our time and donating equipment to a wonderful local primary school called EJPS.
As well as supporting all the school's computers, we have also donated a 12 station ICT suite, pictured below. This comprises 12 workstations, a server and various peripherals.
The school is due to start work on a new £5million state-of-the-art building. But until then the suite is located in one of the old buildings on their site. That doesn't stop the staff and pupils making full use of the facility.
It is great when we pop in and see our donations and hard work being used and enjoyed.
Jason Ozin is a well-known IT professional, technical architect and joint owner of Technica Solutions - www.technicasolutions.co.uk. Jason consults leading UK and international enterprises on real world technical and IT issues. Jason specialises in business infrastructure and IT security matters.
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As we roll out more and more virtualized environments, including our own (all of the in-house servers at Technica are virtual machines running on Microsoft Hyper-V), we come across tweaks that make an engineer's job easier.
We started to virtualize some of the servers in one of our hosting centres and found that BlueOnyx, a CentOS Linux hosting platform that we use for hosting some clients' sites, gained hours per day, due to the way that the guest OS responds to the virtualized clock.
The official Microsoft solution is to add
clock=pitto the kernel lines in the grub start-up file called menu.lst
As you might have guessed, this made no difference at all to the time drift.
We found eventually that the proper solution is as follows:
Add to the end of each kernel line in /boot/grub/menu.lst
(remember to including the kernel line you will find in the comments at the top, so that new kernels inherit the argument)
this string:
processor.max_cstate=1 clock=pmtmr divider=10You may also want to update the Linux OS's clock with a trusted time source weekly.
We do this by editing root's crontab:
crontab -e (allows you to edit crontab in vi)
# update clock every Sun at 13:00
0 13 * * 0 /usr/sbin/ntpdate -s -b -u pool.ntp.org
# sync hardware clock 5 mins later
5 13 * * 0 /sbin/hwclock –-systohc
We hope this little snippet from our in-house knowledge-base helps a few of you who find yourself stuck in the same position.
If you have need for Virtualization consultancy or advice, please feel free to get in touch.
Jason Ozin is a well-known IT professional, technical architect and joint owner of Technica Solutions - www.technicasolutions.co.uk. Jason consults leading UK and international enterprises on real world technical and IT issues. Jason specialises in business infrastructure and IT security matters.
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It was interesting to see Apple clean up again in a Consumer Reports magazine study into after-sales service. As happened last year, Apple’s overall ranking for problem solving, phone waits, phone staff and online support put the company head and shoulders above their nearest rival – 32 percentage points clear on desktops and 26 percentage points up on laptops.
Those firmly ensconced in the PC camp deride Apple for the limited choice available when specifying and configuring a Mac, but it is exactly those restrictions that make it possible for Apple’s support team to offer such accurate and effective after-sales support. It's pretty tough to find a poor processor or GPU these days and we're close to 4GB RAM being a standard offering; sacrificing variety on hardware for quality support makes plenty of sense to me.
At Technica we’ve been aware for quite some time that providing a number of standardised core solutions, covering not just desktops and laptops but servers and infrastructure too, help us to offer our clients exactly the levels of service they need and now expect. From the support engineers’ viewpoint, fewer variables, along with confidence in proactive maintenance, undoubtedly lead to greater familiarity and security that queries can be dealt with efficiently and with extremely high client satisfaction.
David Izen: Partner, systems, quality, procedures, ER-6n, MP33, 1dIII, philadelphia cream cheese, beardies, 1990C4Cab, rhythm-free zone, ribena
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Everyone who knows me knows how super fit I am and how well suited my body shape is to climbing down, through and back out of the Grand Canyon, over four days with nights under canvas and days navigating steep inclines. No showers or proper toilets and I've been told that my Blackberry won't work....
You can read more about it here and hopefully be persuaded to sponsor me.
Jason Ozin is a well-known IT professional, technical architect and joint owner of Technica Solutions - www.technicasolutions.co.uk. Jason consults leading UK and international enterprises on real world technical and IT issues. Jason specialises in business infrastructure and IT security matters. Jason does not specialise in doing exercise!
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Good morning,
Welcome!Today Technica would like to welcome VAT Advice Line as our newest client.
VAT Advice Line Limited provides independent, quality VAT consultancy advice to small, medium and large businesses both in the UK and abroad.
Craig Fisher is a partner in Technica Solutions - www.technicasolutions.co.uk and is highly regarded as a sales expert. He is regularly asked to speak at many events on the subject of generating new business.
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This is an email we received from one of our clients after a support call...
Magic,
You guys are like wizards in normal clothing.
Cheers.
Mark
Craig Fisher is a partner in Technica Solutions - www.technicasolutions.co.uk and is highly regarded as a sales expert. He is regularly asked to speak at many events on the subject of generating new business.
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I am delighted to announce that Technica Solutions have moved in to our new 3500 square foot offices in Borehamwood.
Please feel free to pop by and see our new home.
T 020 8236 9160
F 020 8236 9161
Skype technicasolutions
E info@technicasolutions.co.uk
4 Hamilton Business Park
Stirling Way
Borehamwood
WD6 2FR
Craig Fisher is a partner in Technica Solutions - www.technicasolutions.co.uk and is highly regarded as a sales expert. He is regularly asked to speak at many events on the subject of generating new business.
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Just a quick entry to welcome our newest clients to the Technica family. They are:
Europe Economics
Aid to the Church in need
Kitchen Ergonomics
The Cookie Club
Craig Fisher is a partner in Technica Solutions - www.technicasolutions.co.uk and is highly regarded as a sales expert. He is regularly asked to speak at many events on the subject of generating new business.
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