NASA watching “perfect storm” of galactic cosmic rays

Astronauts and satellite integrated circuits are at most risk of an ongoing tempest of galactic cosmic rays that scientists say is at an all-time high. Cosmic rays cause showers of particles when they hit Earth's atmosphere but they pose their greatest health hazard, radiation, to astronauts in space. According to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, galactic cosmic rays come from outside the solar system and are made up of subatomic particles accelerated to almost light speed by distant supernova explosions.

They aren't too healthy for satellites either as a single cosmic ray can disable the unit if one hits an unlucky integrated circuit, NASA said. "In 2009, cosmic ray intensities have increased 19% beyond anything we've seen in the past 50 years," said Richard Mewaldt of Caltech in a release. "The increase is significant, and it could mean we need to re-think how much radiation shielding astronauts take with them on deep-space missions." Network World Extra:  Top 10 cool satellite projects 10 NASA space technologies that may never see the cosmos   NASA says the surge is being caused by what it calls a "solar minimum," a deep lull in solar activity that began around 2007 and continues today. Right now solar activity is as weak as it has been in modern times, setting the stage for what Mewaldt calls "a perfect storm of cosmic rays." Mewaldt also says the solar wind is flagging. "Measurements by the Ulysses spacecraft show that solar wind pressure is at a 50-year low, so the magnetic bubble that protects the solar system is not being inflated as much as usual." A smaller bubble gives cosmic rays a shorter-shot into the solar system. Researchers have long known that cosmic rays go up when solar activity goes down. Once a cosmic ray enters the solar system, it must "swim upstream" against the solar wind. Still the Earth is in no great danger from the cosmic bombardment.

Solar wind speeds have dropped to very low levels in 2008 and 2009, making it easier than usual for a cosmic ray to proceed, he stated. The planet's atmosphere and magnetic field combine to form a formidable shield against space radiation, NASA points out. The study, conducted by the National Academy of Sciences noted that besides emitting a continuous stream of plasma called the solar wind, the sun periodically releases billions of tons of matter called coronal mass ejections. Earlier this year a NASA-funded study looked to show some of the first clear economic data that quantifies the risk extreme weather conditions in space have on the Earth. These immense clouds of material, when directed toward Earth, can cause large magnetic storms in the magnetosphere and upper atmosphere, NASA said.

One of the driving reasons for the study is that the sun, as we mentioned above, is currently near the minimum of its 11-year activity cycle but solar storms will increase in frequency and intensity toward the next solar maximum, expected to occur around 2012. Such space weather can impact the performance and reliability of space-borne and ground-based technological systems, NASA said.

Retailers taking orders for laptops with Core i7 chips

Retailers are now taking orders for what could easily be the world's fastest laptops, powered by Intel's speedy Core i7 desktop processors. The chips, launched in November, were dubbed the "world's fastest chips" by Intel until the company's Xeon server processors were introduced in March. U.S. retailer AVADirect and Canadian retailer Eurocom are offering variants of Clevo's D900F laptop with the Core i7 processor, a chip usually included in high-end gaming desktops. The laptops will come with 17-inch screens and are intended to be desktop replacement PCs. The machines don't skimp on features and include a full array of components one would find in Core i7 desktop systems, according to laptop specifications on the retailers' Web sites.

Laptop hardware usually lags desktop hardware by up to 12 months, so the desktop hardware needed to be redesigned for notebook usage, AVADirect said. AVADirect, in particular, decided not to wait to bring the Core i7 hardware to consumers in a portable form. "While power usage will be higher, AVADirect does not need to wait until Intel or some other company designs and implements mobile offerings of current desktop hardware," AVADirect said in a statement. The laptops come with Core i7 920, 940 and 965 quad-core processors running at speeds from 2.66GHz to 3.2GHz, and include 8MB of L3 cache. The laptops will support up to 6GB of DDR3 memory, which should provide a tremendous performance boost. The laptops draw 130 watts of power, and will come with the X58 chipset and an Nvidia graphics processing unit (GPU) to boost graphics performance. The machines will support up to 1.5TB of RAID hard drive storage and include wireless 802.11a/b/g/n technology.

The price crosses $6,000 for an extravagant configuration that includes the fastest Core i7 965 processor, three 500GB storage drives, internal Bluetooth capabilities, a DVD-RW drive and additional cooling features. They will ship with either Windows Vista or Linux OS. Eurocom's customized Clevo D900F system - which is called the Panther D900F - weighs a whopping 11.9 pounds (5.4 kilograms). With standard components, the D900F laptop's starting price is around US$2,500 on AVADirect's Web site. Intel's Core i7 chips are a significant upgrade over Intel's Core 2 Duo chips, which are currently used in desktops and laptops. Each core will be able to execute two software threads simultaneously, so a laptop with four processor cores could simultaneously run eight threads for quicker application performance. The new chips are built on the Nehalem microarchitecture, which improves system speed and performance-per-watt compared to Intel's earlier Core microarchitecture. Intel has integrated the chips and chipset with QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) technology, which integrates a memory controller and provides a faster pipe for the CPU to communicate with system components like graphics cards.

The chips, code-named Arrandale, will be dual-core and start shipping in the fourth quarter this year, with laptops becoming available in early 2010. Arrandale chips are expected to be faster than existing Core 2 Duo chips and consume less power. Intel later this year intends to introduce new chips for desktops and laptops. However, laptops with Arrandale chips may not match the speeds of Core i7 laptops, considering the chips will be dual-core and built to draw limited amounts of power.

The IT-Lite branch office

This is the third in a series of three newsletters intended to demonstrate that the next generation branch office represents a multi-year migration away from branch offices that are IT-heavy to ones that are IT-lite and that as part of this migration, the WAN plays an ever increasing role in application delivery. Part 1: The Evolving Branch OfficePart 2: Today's branch office There is no doubt that over the next couple of years that relatively few branch offices will truly be server-less. This newsletter will look ahead and will discuss the IT-lite design towards which most IT organizations are migrating. There is also no doubt, however, that as IT organizations continue to adopt an IT-lite branch office design, they will continue to have fewer IT resources in the branch office.

That device could be a router from a vendor such as Cisco, a WAN optimization controller from a company such as Riverbed, or a branch office box from a company such as Microsoft. In many cases, it will be difficult to find a server in a branch office as there will be one primary device in the branch office and it will support myriad functionality. Each branch office employee will continue to have a computing device such as a desktop computer, a laptop or a smartphone. Given the current economic environment and the pressure to minimize business travel and yet maximize collaboration, it is highly likely that most IT organizations will make an ever increasing use of unified communications (UC). Depending on the extent of the deployment of UC, this could cause a dramatic shift in the amount of real-time traffic that the branch office network will have to support. However, due to the ongoing deployment of desktop virtualization, the branch office users' desktop and applications are likely to be stored at a central data center.

Real-time traffic over the WAN poses a challenge because it generally requires higher priority than data applications and can consume significant WAN bandwidth, especially if desktop videoconferencing is involved. This will necessitate the use of a WAN service. Given the momentum in the market, it is also highly likely that over the next few years that branch office employees will increasingly access applications that are acquired from a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider. The question is: Which WAN service? An Internet overlay from a company such as Akamai? The Internet?

An MPLS service? The obvious answer is yes – all of the above. An MPLS service supplemented by WAN optimization functionality? In future newsletters we will come back to this issue and talk more about how we see cloud networking evolving.

Wall Street Beat: IT vendors see return to growth

With quarterly IT sales results pouring in, vendors including IBM, Google, Advanced Micro Devices and Intel appear more confident than ever that the global recession's depressing effects on the tech market are lifting. IBM, the second-biggest IT company in the world behind Hewlett-Packard, reported better-than-expected third-quarter results Thursday. Major U.S. market indexes including the tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped Friday, however, as investors absorbed mixed macroeconomic news. Though revenue dropped 7 percent from a year earlier to US$23.6 billion, it rose 1 percent sequentially from the second quarter and bested the $23.4 billion consensus forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

The company reported its third-quarter net earnings rose to $3.2 billion from $2.8 billion a year earlier. IBM's diverse portfolio of services and its global footprint helped it weather the economic storm this year. More important - in terms of signs of recovery - is that Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge, in a conference call, forecast a return to revenue growth in the fourth quarter. IBM shares slipped by $5.80 to $122.18 in midday trading Friday, however, as investors questioned the extent to which foreign exchange rates factor into the revenue figures. Revenue increases are often seen as the real signal of growth for any company, since earnings can be boosted by cost cuts.

Google, also reporting results Thursday, said revenue for the quarter ending in September jumped 7 percent to $5.94 billion - the Internet ad giant's fastest sales growth rate so far this year. Google, which generates more than 90 percent of its revenue from search-related advertising, is widely seen as a barometer for Internet commerce. It said net earnings were $1.64 billion, a 27 percent jump from last year and on a per-share basis, higher than analyst expectations. "The worst of the recession is clearly behind us," proclaimed CEO Eric Schmidt in a company statement. Google shares bucked the downward market trend Friday, hitting a 52-week high for the company at $554.75 in midday trading. Analysts have for several months forecast a return to growth for the hardware sector.

On the hardware components front, AMD said Thursday that revenue fell in the third quarter, but that it expects sales in the last three months of the year to rise "modestly." Revenue in the quarter dropped 21.3 percent to $1.4 billion from a year ago, but beat the $1.26 billion expected by analysts. IDC said Wednesday that global PC shipments in the third quarter did in fact rise 2.3 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, to 78.1 million units - the first quarter this year in which PC shipments increased compared to 2008. Gartner also said this week that PC shipments rose during the quarter. Rising PC sales are boosting the fortunes of chip companies. Though Gartner's estimate of a 0.5 percent year-over-year growth was smaller than IDC's, its figure for total shipments was higher, at 80.3 million units. "These are good results especially given that PC shipments for the third quarter of 2009 are being compared to a very strong third quarter from 2008," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, in the report. Intel on Tuesday reported strong quarterly results and forecasts that beat industry expectations. Intel forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $10.1 billion "plus or minus $400 million," while analysts had been expecting $9.5 billion. "The timing of Windows 7 is favorable for the industry due to expected economic improvements and an overdue hardware replacement cycle," Gartner's Kitagawa noted.

Intel's revenue of $9.39 billion was up by $1.4 billion compared to the prior quarter, though it was lower than the $10.2 billion in the third quarter last year. Not all vendors are upbeat, however. Though Nokia now expects global, industrywide mobile-device sales to fall by only 7 percent this year - compared to its prior forecast of 10 percent - CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo injected a note of caution in an otherwise upbeat earnings week. "Let's be clear, uncertainty in end-consumer demand remains," said Kallasvuo on a conference call. Nokia on Thursday reported a third-quarter loss of €559 million (US$833 million) mainly due to charges related to its Nokia Siemens networking infrastructure business, which has been losing market share. That uncertainty spooked investors Friday, as markets tumbled. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped by 67.9 points to hit 9997.35 in midafternoon trading, while the Nasdaq Composite dipped 13.08 to 2160.21. IT companies have been riding a wave of optimism recently.

Though most tech leaders were upbeat this week, news about financial and consumer companies - including disappointing earnings results from Bank of America and General Electric - spooked investors. Shares of Nasdaq computer companies are as a group up by 38.25 percent from a year ago, when the U.S. financial sector was crumbling. Whether this trend continues will depend to a large degree on quarterly results from other tech leaders such as Microsoft, BMC, Yahoo and AT&T in the next few weeks. Nasdaq telecom shares are up 32.74 percent from a year ago.

Verizon revenue up slightly in third quarter

Verizon Communications reported revenue of US $27.3 billion for the third quarter of 2009, up 10.2 percent from a year earlier, but up only 0.6 percent if revenue from the January acquisition of competitor AllTel is taken out. Gains in the quarter were largely driven by growth in mobile customers and subscribers for Verizon's Fios fiber-based broadband and television service. Verizon's net income for the quarter was $2.9 billion, down from $3.2 billion in the third quarter of 2008. Adjusted earnings per share were $0.60, beating analyst expectations of $0.59, according to Thomson Reuters.

Verizon CEO and Chairman Ivan Seidenberg cited free cash-flow growth that is 16 percent higher in 2009 than in 2008 as a highlight of the quarter. Verizon Wireless revenue was $15.8 billion for the quarter, up 24.4 percent over last year, or 4.9 percent on a pro forma basis. Free cash flow for the quarter was $10.7 billion, up by $3.3 billion from the third quarter of 2008. "Verizon continues to generate strong cash flow, which we have used in building the foundation for sustainable, long-term share-owner value," he said in a statement. "Even through the worst of the recession, we have continued to raise our dividend and to add new customers, expand markets and grow revenues based on the power and innovation of Verizon's wireless, broadband and global networks." Verizon reported 89 million mobile customers at the end of the quarter, with 1.2 million net additions, excluding acquisitions and adjustments. Wireless data revenue grew to $4.1 billion, up 28.9 percent on a pro forma basis. The company now has 3.3 million Fios Internet customers, up 49.2 percent over a year ago, and 9.2 million broadband subscribers, including DSL (Digital Subscriber Line). Wireline revenue overall was $11.6 billion, down 4.8 percent from the third quarter of 2008. Verizon also saved money by cutting about 5,000 employee and contractor jobs, 4,000 in its wireline division, during the quarter, said John Killian, executive vice president and chief financial officer. Verizon's wireline division added 198,000 new Fios Internet customers and 191,000 new Fios television customers.

The company expects to cut another 4,000 jobs in the fourth quarter, he said. The bad U.S. economy "continues to create headwinds" for the company, but Verizon is taking steps to keep costs down, Killian added. "I'm confident that when the economy gets better, we will see improvement in our results," Killian said during a conference call.

Microsoft 'neutered' UAC in Windows 7, says researcher

Microsoft's decision to reduce the number of annoying security messages that Windows 7 delivers when users install software makes the new operating system more vulnerable to malware infection than Vista, a researcher said today. "UAC was neutered too much by Microsoft," argued Chester Wisniewski, a senior security advisory with Sophos, talking about Windows' Users Account Control (UAC), the security feature Microsoft debuted with Vista. In an effect to quash user complaints - which had condemned the constant intrusions - Microsoft modified UAC so it appears less frequently in Windows 7. That wasn't a good idea, said Wisniewski. "We wanted to know if UAC was going to be effective in Windows 7," he said. "So we grabbed the next 10 [malware] samples that came in and tried them out." The 10 samples, most of them Trojan horses, were loaded onto a clean Windows 7 PC that lacked antivirus software, simulating payloads that an actual exploit would deposit on a compromised computer. UAC prompts users for their consent before allowing tasks such as program and device driver installation to take place.

Wisniewski then ran each piece of malware, as if a user had been duped into launching a file attachment or had surfed to a malicious site and been victimized by an drive-by attack and subsequent silent download. He acknowledged that the test was quick-and-dirty, and didn't accurately portray how secure Windows 7 was overall, or even how well it would withstand attack if protected by antivirus software, even basic programs like Microsoft's free Security Essentials . The point was to see how much Windows 7's reconfigured UAC would help block malware that made it past security software or got by other defensive measures of the operating system, like DEP (Data Execution Protection) and ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization). "UAC is really not protecting users properly," Wisniewski said. "Frankly, people should turn it back into the more aggressive mode, like Vista," he said, speaking of the ability to set the feature's prompting frequency. "And if you find it annoying, you might just as well turn it off, because otherwise it's not doing any good." UAC's effectiveness has been questioned before. Of the 10 samples, two would not run under Windows 7 - not surprising since they were likely designed to execute on the far-more-common Windows XP and Vista - and only one of the remaining eight triggered an UAC prompt, said Wisniewski. Last February, for instance, a developer for a Virginia-based company that sells secure messaging software to the U.S. government and a well-known blogger claimed that a change to UAC 7 could be exploited by attackers to secretly disable the feature. Microsoft first denied that it was a bug, saying instead that it was by design, but then backpedaled and promised to fix the problem .