Email messaging will die within 10 years.

According to research done by TalkTalk and the University of Kent it is clear that the trend of emailing seems to be vanished in the coming years. People are now advancing towards some new and modern ways of effective communication like social networking and instant messaging.

These new trends have badly affected the email communication as they have brought more speed and ease with them. Now a day’s people seems to be less communicating via email as they have got some secure social networks for communication and what would be better than an instant message.

The research carried by the above mentioned organizations found that 15 to 24-year-olds are more reliant on instant messengers like Skype and social networks like Facebook than they are on emails. Professor David Zeitlyn from the University of Kent is of the believe that this trend spells the end for email.

The same is case with Fax as the trends of this technology are also decreasing day by day. The less use of these tools and technologies shows that the new society is advancing very fast towards better ways of communicating with their loved one and this changing trend of technology will give birth to a more perfectly technical generation.


Source:http://www.productusp.com/email-will-be-killed-within-10-years.html

Businesses should make next step from email to instant messaging (IM) to improve security.

The stable growing in Web 2.0 communication services such as instant messaging (IM) and social networking networks - plus client-oriented applications that drive the services - means that heightened levels of vigilance are required against links and messages sent from hacked accounts, according to F-Secure.

According to the IT security and malware specialist, instead of logging in and out of the internet to send their email, many users are now constantly online with their computers and mobile phones.

This is, in part, being driven by the fact that social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have grown rapidly as people are making use of the constant stream of fast communications that they enable.

Sean Sullivan, a security advisor with the Finland-headquartered F-Secure, said that cybercriminals are increasingly seeing opportunities to make money from hacking Facebook and other social networking accounts.

The high level of personal trust within communities of friends on these social networking services, he said, provides them an ideal cover for scams and for spreading malware.

"Email account addresses can be faked and people are used to getting mails from unknown persons, so they are skeptical of links sent via email", he said.

"It is often more difficult to recognise when a member of their social network has been hacked. People have not yet learned to be skeptical of the links forwarded by their `friends' on social networks, which can lead to infection from malware or to websites promoting rogue products", he added.

Sullivan went on to say that instant messaging is fun, personal and useful but everyone should also be aware of the new security risks involved.

"Links sent from hacked accounts and requests for financial help from so-called friends are bound to increase as social networking sites become ever more popular", he said.

Source: http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com

Secure Unified Communications: Secure Connections While on the Move.

Unified Communications routes channels of communication through multiple modalities: email, VoIP, voice mail, cell networks, telepresence, Instant Messaging, etc. Ironically, the greater the number of communication options, the more time-consuming it can be to connect with a specific individual. Also, UC can sometimes present a larger attack surface for those with malicious intent.

Unified Communications (UC) has enormous promise as a coherent, integrated approach to incorporating the full spectrum of business communications modalities, and as direct path to cut through "communications clutter" resulting in accelerated time-to-action. It also offers a cost-effective way to more directly connect the company to its customers, employees to employees, and more tightly bind business partners and suppliers. In the September 2009 Aberdeen Report "Unified Communications: Gaining a Competitive Advantage While on the Move," reducing human latency (the time delay in initiating and reaching a contact) was revealed as a key benefit of UC, resulting in measurably increased efficiency and improved customer Increase Customer Sales with Email Marketing -- Free Trial from VerticalResponse intimacy.

However, these benefits are at risk if the UC ecosystem is not secured from unauthorized use, protected from malware attacks, and compliant with government and industry regulations.

Some of the newest real-time applications of UC are generating the greatest interest -- Voice over IP (VoIP), IP video, presence, instant messaging, Web collaboration -- and they create new security challenges. These challenges are compounded by the expansion of UC capabilities to include mobile endpoints such as smartphones and laptops. Because these devices are typically in motion, their communication paths often traverse the unsecured Internet outside the protection of the organization's firewall, whether via wireless carrier services, WiFi hotspots or other public networks. Securing these new real-time UC applications on mobile endpoints becomes crucial as adoption of UC throughout the enterprise continues apace.

Enterprises extending UC to these devices must contend with security issues such as UC infrastructure authorized access, exposure of enterprise resources and communications to untrusted public and private networks, unsecured physical devices and removable storage media, and uncontrolled or untested applications residing on the devices.
The Rise of Modality Convergence

UC has the potential to increase efficiency, improve customer intimacy and accelerate time-to-resolution for problem-solving and communications.

UC enables optimization of communications routing between several modalities. Examples of UC include receiving voice messages in an email inbox, making phone calls from a laptop computer, transferring calls between a smartphone and a desk phone, and using presence-enabled applications to determine whether the person to be reached is busy, available, in the office or the car, or "Not to be Disturbed."

If an individual or group can be reached by wireless or wireline voice call, voice mail, mobile voice mail, email, mobile email, instant messaging, text messaging, fax, Web conferencing, and now micro-blogging, how does one choose the most time-effective and immediate method of contact?

The irony here is that the greater the number of communications options, the more time-consuming it can be to connect with a specific individual, especially when the available communications modalities are not coordinated or well-integrated. UC therefore becomes increasingly important in mending the fractured digital communications landscape.
Reducing Latency: The Business Value of UC

Reducing human latency is a primary objective of UC. Human latency is defined as the delay in completion of a business process caused by waiting for humans to act on the process.

Best-in-Class companies (those ranking among the top 20 percent across selected performance metrics) were able to reach a designated contact within the organization on the first try 79 percent of the time. This is 39 percent more often than the Industry Average, and more than four times as often as the Laggards. Best-in-Class UC also makes respondents 31 percent faster in their response time to others trying to reach them from both outside as well as inside the organization, more than twice as fast as the Industry Average and over five times that of the Laggards.
Mobile UC

Because UC is ultimately about uniting today's disparate communication modes into an integrated whole, mobility always plays an enabling role. In fact, mobility is the one common denominator in every UC initiative. The recent emergence of the mobile device as the most reliable point of contact for an individual, along with the need to integrate the device into the organization's communications infrastructure, has become one of the primary drivers for increased UC adoption.

Mobile UC is that portion of the UC spectrum dedicated to full UC integration of the mobile client, whether smartphone or laptop softphone. This includes Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC -- see below) and mobile-to-IP-PBX integration. While the number of "road warriors" may diminish due to shrinking travel budgets, it may be the "corridor warrior" carrying their smartphone or laptop from office to conference room and back again who stands to gain the most from an organization's mobile UC initiative.
Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC)

FMC is an important waystation on the path to full mobile UC integration because it unites the carriers' cellular wireless and fixed-line communications infrastructures.

When used with supported dual-mode smartphones (WiFi and cellular being the two modes), it can also allow for a seamless handover of calls-in-progress back and forth between Wireless LAN (WLAN), cellular and wireline networks.

A direct advantage of FMC is the routing of voice calls over the WLAN instead of over the cellular network. This provides a direct cost savings, especially as compared to international mobile roaming charges.
Beyond FMC

Mobile UC goes beyond FMC to connect wireline calls and cellular phones, irrespective of geographical location or wireless carrier. It enables a properly equipped mobile phone to appear as a fully-functional extension on the company voice network or Private Branch eXchange (PBX). Just as with desk-bound callers, this allows for the bridging of calls to cellular telephones, extension dialing, and other advanced features familiar to users of desk phones. Users on cellphones can easily transfer calls, conference with other parties, and toggle between multiple calls. Roaming outside the firewall on a public WiFi network can extend this "virtual office" capability anytime, anywhere.

However, along with these advantages come new security concerns. Strong user and device authentication is needed to prevent unauthorized access to the corporate network. Encryption of calls-in-progress to ensure corporate communications privacy over the public IP networks that the call will traverse is also required.
Protecting the Core Business Infrastructure

With the convergence of so many communications modalities within a unified infrastructure, security of the communications content becomes an essential concern. In the June 2009 report "Mobile Device Management: Bringing Order to Enterprise Mobility Chaos," fierce protection of corporate assets from rogue mobile access emerged as a best practice -- with 78 percent of the Best-in-Class enforcing organizational security compliance standards. This is 15 percent more than Industry Average and 70 percent more than Laggards

Despite this best practice, many organizations aren't as proactively protective of their UC assets as they are of their other corporate assets. It's as if there's less awareness of the potential for security risks in the voice or real-time messaging domain.

To those with malicious intent, converged communications can present a larger attack surface than other forms of data. UC introduces more end-points of different varieties and security postures that present a wider variety of potential security gaps. Once an attacker has compromised one point of vulnerability in a UC environment, other UC applications are immediately put at risk.

Only 38 percent of the Best-in-Class have a comprehensive security capability covering a broad range of UC modalities. Even this low rate of adoption far outpaced that of All Other respondents.
The Importance of Securing Real-Time UC

Real-Time UC is that portion of the UC capabilities spectrum that typically takes place in real-time ("synchronous") versus the usually time-delayed store-and-forward forms ("asynchronous"). Examples of real-time UC include "standard" voice telephony, Voice over IP, IP video, telepresence, instant messaging, presence, and Web collaboration. Unlike the asynchronous forms such as email and voice mail, which are often secured using the vendors' bundled security solution, real-time UC is often not secured unless it is addressed by a third-party or add-on appliance, performing deep-packet inspection, providing real-time encryption and decryption, detecting threats, and managing access control and associated UC security functions.

The technical challenges of encrypting and decrypting streaming or real-time media without introducing an unacceptable delay ("processing latency") are significant. Few solutions available on the market today provide zero-latency, fully encrypted, end-to-end, secure, real-time communications beyond the organization's firewall. Performing UC security at line-speed without unduly burdening the existing infrastructure is no small challenge.

This is precisely where the most significant security vulnerability resides -- when the real-time content crosses over the public Internet in its routing path. The combination of mobility and real-time UC are typically the most-in-demand UC capabilities, and in many cases are the primary drivers for broader UC adoption within the enterprise. This underscores the business-critical nature of incorporating a comprehensive real-time UC security solution.
In Summary

UC has enormous potential to integrate multiple business communications modalities into well-integrated communications pathways to enhance knowledge sharing, streamline operations and efficiency, improve workforce collaboration, and increase customer responsiveness. However, the lack of a comprehensive security solution for real-time UC undermines broader acceptance and penetration of UC within the enterprise. One major security lapse reverses years of progress.

On the other hand, within a well-integrated, real-time, secure environment, trust in new communications modalities can be maintained, and UC's promise of measurable efficiency gains may actually be achieved.


Source:http://www.technewsworld.com/story/68565.html
By Andrew Borg
TechNewsWorld

VMware presents View 4 with software PC-over-IP.

Today VMware presented the most freshest version of their desktop software product, View 4. This new release has two main new features:

* A software-based, PC-over-IP remoting protocol is built-in
* View now runs on vSphere 4. (Completely new feature!!)

The remaining major features of View have not been updated, including:

* View Composer is the same as before.
* Offline VDI is still experimental.
* ThinApp is the same.
* VMware CVP (the client hypervisor) is still not available. (1H10 is the current ETA.)
* Windows 7 is not supported. (It’s there as “experimental.”)
* RTO Software’s Virtual Profiles product (which VMware announced they would OEM), is NOT yet included.

While there are many advantages to basing your VDI infrastructure on vSphere 4 (which we’ll look at later in this article), it looks like the only major new View-specific feature is PC-over-IP (despite the fact there are hundreds of people on the desktop team).

VMware’s software PC-over-IP protocol better be pretty good!
How good is the software PC-over-IP?

I have no idea. I haven’t used it yet. I did just get the release code from VMware for View 4 over the weekend, so Gabe and I will put it through its tests and see if PC-over-IP is as good as VMware claims it is. For the record, I don’t think PC-over-IP has to be as good as HDX—it just has to be good enough for people to use.

And certainly VMware claims it’s ready. Everyone there seems really proud of the work they did getting PC-over-IP to run in software. They claim their implementation works on the LAN and the WAN and across wide samples of latency, bandwidth, and packet loss. They talk about how it’s dynamically adaptive, both changing as network characteristics change and based on what’s on the screen (apps, text, Flash, etc.). VMware also points out that PC-over-IP remotes the entire client experience, so you get stuff like multiple monitors and USB redirection.

The idea for View 4 is that PC-over-IP will replace RDP with TCX as the “go to” protocol for View and will be used by everyone. My understanding is right now there’s only a client for Windows, but they want to release a Mac client in the future. And software and hardware PC-over-IP clients and hosts will be interchangeable, so you could also use a thin client device with a hardware chip in it with the software PC-over-IP of View 4.

In fact VMware is really proud of the ecosystem developing around PC-over-IP, even releasing a press release talking about it. (Although for some reason the first partner mentioned in the PC-over-IP ecosystem press release is Cisco, and after talking about their WAN optimization which has nothing to do with PC-over-IP, they talk about the security of the Nexus 1000V!?! Come on.. this is a press release just about PC-over-IP!) But if you get through that weird Cisco part of the release, you’ll see HP, Dell, Devon IT, and Wyse talking about how they support the protocol.

Obviously View 4 will still support RDP-based connections as well for older or non-Windows clients. VMware had previously some of Wyse’s TCX extensions for RDP to help make it a better experience. I assume that agreement continues, although I don’t know for sure. (I asked on Friday but haven’t yet heard back on that. I’ll update this when I do.)
Running desktops on vSphere 4

VMware will be spending a lot of time talking about how good vSphere 4 is and why it’s the best platform for desktop virtualization.

That may be true, but what’s kind of weird is that other desktop virtualization products like Citrix XenDesktop and Quest vWorkspace also have the ability to run on vSphere. So a “win” for vSphere, while certainly a “win” for VMware, is not necessarily a “win” for View. (Does that make sense?)

I guess really the win for View when it comes to vSphere is that when you buy View, you get the highest-end edition (Enterprise Plus) included with your purchase. (Brilliant move, btw!) Customers who chose vSphere for with non-View VDI products would have to buy vSphere licenses on top of whatever desktop product they’re using. (And vSphere isn’t cheap, starting a $800 per processor and climbing to a whopping $3500 per processor for the Enterprise Plus edition that comes with View!)

And even though there’s nothing stopping customers from buying the $3500 per processor license for their VDI environments, it’s most likely that customers will opt for one of the cheaper editions, believing that most of the high-end virtualization infrastructure features included in the top package don’t really matter for their VDI desktops. So while that might be true, it also means that since both VMware View editions do include the highest end vSphere edition, you really need to look at those features and consider them as part of the value you get with View that you wouldn’t get somewhere else. For example, VMware Distributed Resource Schedule (DRS) watches server load and dynamically moves VMs (via live migration) across physical hosts. This could allow you to consolidate VMs to fewer servers to shut down hosts to save power. And since DRS is part of the super expensive version of vSphere that’s included with View, you could claim that as a feature of View even though it’s technically made possible by the underlying vSphere.

by Brian Madden
Source: http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/

Pidgin. Multi-Protocol Iinstant Messaging Client.

There once was a pidgin, a strange kind of pidgin... I am talking about that latest IM client from the Gaim series, named as Pidgin 2.0.0, which came after a long period of waiting and broke the download tops. Why Pidgin 2.0.0 and not Gaim 2.0.0 is an old story, of which I'm pretty sure you all are aware; the story begins a long time ago, when AOL used to complain about Gaim's original name, GTK+ AOL Instant Messenger. Now, when AOL trademarked the AIM acronym too, Gaim had nothing left to do than change its name again. Pidgin came as the most suitable alternative, as it best describes this application's purpose and usage. The word pidgin defines a second language used as a means of communication between groups of individuals who do not share a common language. Even though it was designed for the Unix-like operating systems, Pidgin can now run on platforms such as Windows, Solaris, SkyOS and Qtopia, beside FreeBSD and Linux of course.

The most popular feature provided by Pidgin would be the support for multiple protocols. Protocols like Yahoo! Messenger, Jabber, IRC, OSCAR (AIM, ICQ), Gadu-Gadu, .NET Messenger Service, Zephyr and others are working just fine with the stable Pidgin 2.0.0 version. Even though it does not offer exotic features, such as webcam support, voice messaging or built-in games, Pidgin gained enough popularity and through this version it has now become the download of the day on many freeware websites.

In order to have Pidgin running on your computer, you must first go through an ordinary manual installation, where you should be asked for some more or less, depending on your system, additional packages. Once you got through with the installation, things become very simple and intuitive. Simple and intuitive are actually the words I also chose to describe this application's interface. With a rather ordinary and not very friendly look, this interface provides a pretty good management and easy access to all of its functions and I must also admit it looks a bit better than the previous version.

At a first run, you will be asked to set up an account, where you will provide all related information, such as protocol, screen name, password, server a.s.o .You can then add (or edit the already existing ones) as many accounts as you want, from the Accounts place on the menu toolbar. You will not need any buddy list import as this is done automatically. It also benefits from a long plug-ins list that should provide you features such as auto-accept file transfer or the possibility to autoreply for
all used protocols. Another thing one could find useful would be, in my opinion, the way it handles the user's privacy. The privacy tool provides a well-defined list from where you can select which users are allowed to contact you and which of them are not. Any change will take place immediately. If you take a look at the Tools you will find also other exciting features provided by Pidgin. The one I liked the most was the Buddy Pounces. This option allows you to set alerts for whenever one or more of your buddies you select signs on/off, becomes idle or goes out of idle, goes away a.s.o. The alert you can set is either a notification or a sound or even a command that would be executed anytime the pounced buddy performs one of the selected actions.

Pidgin also provides an easy way of accessing the configuring panel for your preferences. The Tools -> Preferences path opens a dialog where you can define your own preferences regarding the interface, sounds, network connection or check options such as chats logging or the way according to which your status is turned to idle. This dialog also provides options related to the text formatting, such as font type, size or color. The themes list does not offer you many options by default; you can select the none option which will disable graphical emoticons or the default Hylke Bons, which is pretty simplistic and neither does it come with sophisticated pallet of graphical features. But you can install new themes very easily by simply dragging and then dropping them onto the themes list.

Contact aliasing and grouping multiple buddies into a single contact can also be counted among the enhancements Pidgins enjoys. I could also give it some credit here for the interesting way it manages the conversations using tabbed message windows and to the clever options of hiding/showing the empty groups or the offline users.

The Good

With an impressive power of customization, Pidgin 2.0 comes with all the good stuff provided by the former Gaim. The text-only version, here called Finch (which was formerly known as gaim-text), allows you to chat with your buddies from a command line in the same way as if you were in a graphical environment. The default configuration is worth mentioning too, as I find it very useful. For example when you close it, Pidgin goes to the system tray; in older versions I had to make this happen by myself.

The Bad

What I don't like about this version is that, the same as with the previous ones, it lacks themes, and the user interface is quite simplistic, not to say too standardized to a much too common model. I would also like to mention here the lack of support for webcam or voice messaging.

The Truth

Pidgin is an instant messaging client compatible with a variety of platforms, supporting a wide range of protocols and offering the possibility to log in to multiple accounts simultaneously. It comes with many popular features, such as file transfer and typing notifications but it also brings up unique ones, and a pretty large plug-ins collection.

Source: http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/

Network Software Solutions Presents MyChat 4.3

MyChat is a client-server based chat software, it is perfectly organized for message sending and an exchange of files in a network.

MyChat can be runned in corporate or intranet networks, and also through the Internet.

The product will be useful to the companies to which need a resource of corporate dialogue, but usage of such IM systems, as ICQ is inadmissible because of possibility of information leakage. With MyChat such problems will not be: you install a server and can inspect all.

Possibilities of system will pleasantly surprise even the most exacting users. Program installation, and also its usage will not cause any difficulties.

Built-in FTP server - There is a built in own file multithreaded FTP server in MyChat. It uses for an auto update of clients when new versions are released and for exchanging files between users.

Alert messages - It is possible to send the important message to any amount of people in a chat. Also it is possible to request a confirmation about perusal to be assured that your message has been read.

History of messages - Dialogue history in common and private channels in the convenient form with possibility of search of messages on date, channel or user.

Script engine - With the help of script engine MyChat Script Language the server can handle various events that allows MyChat to co-operate with already working systems in your company.

The panel of contacts - Organize the list of the contacts. MyChat even can create it automatically for you!

Logging of all events - The server can record absolutely all: from system messages to private talks.

User groups - For more floppy control users can be united in various groups. Assign the rights to administrators, operators and usual users!

Obscene words and flood - Effective methods for usage limitation in a chat of obscene lexicon and the warning of spams-dispatches.

Ignoring - Someone too bothers you in a chat? Bring him in the ignore-list, and he cannot disturb you any more.

Nuotex Presents An Instant Messaging Tool For Yahoo Messenger.

BuddyCheck tool will scan the hidden online status of your Yahoo! instant Messenger friends. It will constantly check to see if they are online, even if they are changed status to invisible or are using any hidden mode. It will notify you using a tray area balloon when a contact login on or off. It does this by sending special messages to the Yahoo! Messenger server from a separate account which you must create. You could use your regular Yahoo! Messenger account for this, but this is not recommended since only one application can be logged in at any given time into one account. You can customize the period after which each contact is checked again for change, and you can set individual checking periods for some of your contacts. You can also easily import contacts from any Yahoo! Messenger account that you have.