Welcome to the July JPY plc newsletter. For more information on any news item, click on the appropriate link, call us on 0208-390-8487 (overseas callers replace initial 0 with 0044) or visit our main website for other contact details. If you wish to be removed from our mailing list, then please just ask.

In this issue...

• HELIOS gets into the game
• HELIOS next generation software announced
• PresSTORE nomination and update
• Canto Cumulus 7.5 released
• Adobe CS3 integration planned for Cumulus
• New MRX™ pricing plus bounce management
• David Fox captivates Cambridge with Linux/HELIOS on PS3
• Well I never thought of that...
• JPY Sponsors 2007 Dordogne Jazz Summer School

HELIOS gets into the game

HELIOS stunned many last month when it announced to the world it had added a new test drive platform to the already extensive range. The latest addition is the PlayStation 3™ (PS3), more usually used as a games console. The PS3 houses the amazing Cell processor, which is powerful enough to run the HELIOS suite of applications comfortably, though there are restrictions on memory.

The idea isn't as crazy as it might first seem, as the PS3 makes for a very affordable and compact demo server. To that end, attendees at the HELIOS distributor conference were presented with PS3 demo units in flight cases so that they could show off HELIOS at customer sites.

For the curious, HELIOS also provided a free download of the HELIOS Test Drive, and the Yellow Dog Linux required to run on the PS3. However, if you are interested in seeing HELIOS on the PS3 in action, just contact Kevan Hamman at JPY and he'll be happy to arrange a demo. You can see our official press release here.

HELIOS next generation software announced

At the recent HELIOS distributors' meeting held in Hannover, Helmut Tschemernjak, President of HELIOS announced the imminent arrival of HELIOS UB+, the next generation of the HELIOS software suite. This new version will incorporate many enhanced components and you can get an overview from the JPY press announcement, or watch the 20 minute movie of Helmut's presentation.

One of the big new features of UB+ is a faster and more customisable version of WebShare. Boasting a completely new Web 2.0 interface, WebShare UB+ will soon include custom branding capabilities, improved audit trail and faster file searching.

With on-the-fly ZIP compression and decompression, which already makes WebShare UB+ the fastest and most secure remote file transfer and management application, WebShare UB+ is now the best looking. Also WebShare UB+ includes a server-based file search using a SQL database, which makes finding remote files much faster. A real convenience is the option of previewing PDF, QuarkXPress and InDesign documents without having to download them.

The UB+ Test Drive is now available from the HELIOS website (www.helios.com), or you can have a personal demo if you contact Kevan Hamman at JPY.

PresSTORE nomination and update

PresSTORE continues to rack up industry accolades with a nomination for the Techworld Awards. PresSTORE is in the final five for the Storage Management Product of the Year. The awards are held annually and highlight the leading enterprise products in the IT industry.

However, Archiware is not resting on its laurels, and continues to improve PresSTORE. June saw the latest release, version 2.3.10, with a number of small but useful tweaks. Included is the automatic repair of improperly closed volumes and CLI tests to measure networks speeds. It also improves the interaction between PresSTORE and HELIOS volumes.

Canto Cumulus 7.5 released

Canto has extended the capabilities of Cumulus 7, with the latest 7.5 update. It offers enhanced support for Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Adobe InDesign CS3.

There are also a number of user requested updates included, along with better performance and reliability. So now version 7.5 can perform user-defined trigger actions, such as email a specific person if a specific situation arises - for example, a delay in the workflow.

For Mac users, there is now support for metadata in Apple's iWork suite, including Keynote and Pages documents. Also another 50 RAW data formats have been added to support new camera models. This brings the total to 185 models supported.

You can download the full list of new features from here.

Adobe CS3 integration planned for Cumulus

Canto has also announced plans to integrate Cumulus with the latest Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications. Based on the Adobe Version Cue SDK, the integration will mean that people outside the Version Cue workgroup will be able to access Version Cue assets without having the Adobe software.

New MRX™ pricing plus bounce management

In anticipation of the next release of our Mail Management system, MRX,™ we are pleased to announce a new (lower) pricing structure.

MRX™ was originally developed by JPY for its in-house mail management and based around a proprietory database using native client applications for MacOS and Windows. However, so many JPY customers were impressed by the functionality of MRX™ that we decided to turn it into a generic product. Part of that process has been to move towards an "open" database product and web clients. With this transition almost complete, we will be able to remove a significant proportion the intrinsic cost of MRX and hence reduce pricing to the end-user.

Meanwhile, we are continuing to enhance the functionality of MRX™ and the next major feature is "bounce management". This is the process of dealing with bounced mails to maintain the integrity of your mailing lists without manually poring over hundreds of rejections. While this is essentially a rule-based process, it can only be effective by analysing literally hundreds of thousands of mail responses. This we have already done and build the rules into every copy of MRX™.

David Fox captivates Cambridge with Linux/HELIOS on PS3

David Fox, JPY's technical wizard was recently invited by the University of Cambridge to speak at their newly formed Cambridge for Scientific Computing interdisciplinary group. The talk was on the subject of running Linux and HELIOS on the PlayStation 3™.

As you might imagine, there is intensive use of computers in the University and this group exchanges information and collaborates on the use of new technologies. Noticing JPY's recent announcement of the HELIOS YD Linux distribution for PlayStation 3™, they asked us to join them. Much interest was shown following the talk at a workshop session where attendees were able to sample the platform for themselves. Cambridge University can see the future potential for a cheap system with the Cell processor and were particularly keen to learn from our experience with this platform.

David was also joined by Alex Griekspoor reporting back from the Apple WWDC07.

Well I never thought of that...

Here's our regular feature for using JPY products you have already bought - in ways you hadn't already thought!

Saving to local disk? Remove all the risk!

While most network administrators will request that everyone repeats the mantra 'save anything that matters on the server', it's not always that simple.

Traditionally, saving important documents on the server has been viewed as a good discipline. The server is backed up daily to tape and the chances of losing valuable work are minimised. There is always the opportunity to recall work from the backup should something get lost.

However, as the size of files increases, it's becoming more common for work to be saved onto the local hard disk and then copied back to the server later - perhaps at the end of the day - if the user remembers! Add to this the fact that both Quark and Adobe are actively recommending 'Save to local drive and then copy to server' in numerous tech-info documents on their websites - and we have a potential problem on our hands.

The perfect solution here is to use PresSTORE Synchronise to regularly synchronise 'work in progress' areas from users local disks back to the server automatically. This can happen at regular intervals and even be configured to keep several versions of documents as they change through the day. Everything important then gets included in the server backup, and users have the added benefit of access to old versions of files that they would have otherwise irretrievably overwritten.

JPY Sponsors 2007 Dordogne Jazz Summer School

JPY is pleased to sponsor this year's Dordogne International Jazz Summer School held at the Chateau de Monteton situated in the historic region of Aquitaine in the south west of France. The Dordogne Jazz Summer School is now in its 6th year and provides a week of total immersion in improvisation for young and not so young musicians. The JPY sponsorship will give assisted places on the course to young musicians who would not otherwise be able to attend.

JPY Newsletter

July 2007