March 11th, 2005
Best of CeBIT
Dateline CeBIT, Hannover Germany
When visitng CeBIT you are promised three things. Some sun, some rain, and some snow. It is only the second day of this ridiculously large IT and consumer electronics show and we have experienced all three. A common topic of conversation is to move the show to Cannes. Not.
There are over 6,000 exhibitors. So, of course I did not see more than about 1% of the products on display. But these are three things worth taking note of:
1. A small security software developer in South Africa, Trispen, has a VPN server on a disk. A software VPN solution. (I know, so is Checkpoint’s) Similar to the idea of a firewall on a disk, you load the CD onto an Intel machine with two NIC’s, distribute the client software and you have a seamless, secure connection to the office for all of your remote workers and road warriors.
http://attheoffice.trispen.com/
2. A 60 GB, wireless hard drive, powered via USB. Uses a *tiny* USB stick to access it via Bluetooth. From Yakumo.
3. Speaking of USB devices. A start-up in Israel is not at the show but announced funding this week from Intel Ventures. A network based monitor and alerting solution that can tell you about every USB device connected to any machine on your network. USB storage devices are often sited as a threat to your data. You may invest in all sorts of network based devices that prevent critical information from leaving your network but what about those ubiquitous memory sticks? See www.safend.com
Look for pictures from the show later!
Richard Stiennon is an industry consultant. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
