Test Centre Briefs: A roundup of hot new products

Netgear Launches Sub-US$500 ProSafe Firewall Product

Netgear, a maker of security, networking and storage products, launched its ProSafe Quad WAN Gigabit SSL VPN firewall, also known as the SRX5308--a product it said is a business firewall that provides more than 1 Gbps performance for less than US$500--offering both speed and price advantages. The SRX5308 firewall supports up to 125 IPsec VPN tunnels and 50 SSL VPN tunnels simultaneously, Netgear said, adding that it provides "enhanced protection from network security threats."

Netgear said the SRX5308 provides "a hardware-accelerated data flow architecture that enables 1 Gbps LAN-to-WAN of stateful firewall throughput"--speed that would make it a high-performing solution for small or midsize businesses. In addition to performance and price, Netgear is pitching the product's ease-of-deployment. It said the SRX5308 ships with an "Auto Detect" that connects quickly to an ISP, a GUI-based control centre, an installation wizard and an IPsec VPN wizard.

Canonical Launches Ubuntu 10.04

Canonical, the company that oversees development of the Ubuntu Linux operating system and related technologies, launched version 10.04 of the OS--armed with new cloud integration and a new look and feel.

After months of alpha and beta testing, Ubuntu 10.04, formerly known as "Lucid Lynx," is integrated with access to Ubuntu One--Mozilla's cloud file storage service, as well as a beta version of Ubuntu One Music Store, which the company is lining up to eventually compete with online music stores from Apple, Amazon.com and others.

Ubuntu 10.04 also provides a look and feel that's more reminiscent of Apple's OS X interface and less reminiscent of Microsoft's Windows graphical user interface. Canonical said another aim with Ubuntu 10.04 was to speed up boot times and performance; through beta testing the company managed to deliver an OS that could provide sub-15-second boot time on industry-standard PCs running dual-core processors and 2 GB of memory with hard disk drives--much faster than systems running Windows with an HDD and about on par with high-performance systems build with Solid State Drives and running Windows.

Like all versions of Ubuntu, Ubuntu 10.04 is free for download and customisation.

Oki Data Delivers New Printers

Oki Data launched two new series of digital color printers for midsize or larger workgroups, building on what the CRN Test Centre has previously found to be a strong product line.

The new digital color printers include the C610 and C711 series. The C610 is more compact than earlier printer versions delivered by Oki Data Americas, with a form factor of 17.1 x 21.5 x 13.5 inches, and speeds of 32 ppm color and 34 ppm black, the company said. The C610 has a 75,000-page monthly duty cycle. The C610n (Network Standard) printer starts out the line at a list price of US$699, the company said.

The C711 Series is slightly larger, at a form factor of 17.1 x 21.5 x 15.3 inches, with speeds of 34 ppm color and 36 ppm in black. It's got a 100,000-page monthly duty cycle, Oki Data said. The C711n starts this line out with a list price of US$1,099.