D-Link Announces Integrated Cloud Backup for Its Sharecenter Storage Solution

D-Link, the worldwide leader in innovative home and business networking, and CTERA Networks, an innovator in cloud storage services, announced that the D-Link ShareCenter Network Attached Storage solution has been enhanced with an integrated online backup service by CTERA.

Ideal for the data protection needs of "prosumers" and home offices, the online backup service safeguards against data loss and enables data recovery in case of disaster.

The online backup service offers D-Link 2-Bay ShareCenter users built-in offsite data protection that doesn't require PC software installation and works automatically directly from the NAS appliance. Differential backups and data compression are used to ensure quick and efficient backup. Users can automatically and securely back up data to reliable cloud storage and recover and access their files using a Web browser from anywhere, at any time. They can also roll back their stored files to previous versions, up to 30 days old.

Unlike existing PC-based online backup services, the solution does not limit data backup to a single PC. Rather, it lets users backup all their important files from any PC to their D-Link DNS-323 NAS unit and safeguard them locally and remotely on the "cloud," with no limitations on file size, file type or the number of PCs on the network.

The DNS-323 is part of the D-Link ShareCenter product line that provides greater performance, flexibility and protection against content loss than ordinary external hard drives.

Key Features and Benefits:
Easy setup -- no PC software installation required
Fully automated online backup
Unlimited file types and file sizes
Incremental, compressed transmission with block-level data de-duplication
AES-256 encryption with customer specific secret key, plus 128-bit SSL
Retains previous file versions for up to 30 days
Access and restore files from anywhere using a Web-based portal

Online backup for D-Link's DNS-323 will be available in June 2010. All new and existing DNS-323 owners are entitled to a free 30-day trial. Annual plans are available starting from $99 per year. Pay-as-you-go plans are also available, starting from $4.99 a month. To sign up for the new online backup service, click here. More information on D-Link's ShareCenter product offerings is available here.

Triggers & Inhibitors for CE Purchases

New research from Parks Associates examines the decision-making process of today's consumers and key factors that trigger or inhibit purchasing. Price isn't the only important factor, especially as people buy more fun, high-tech devices such as gaming consoles, HD DVD players, photo printers, etc.

The Changing Consumer Electronics Purchase Process survey provides greater definition and measurement of purchase intentions as well as key barriers to technology adoption. The analysis measures the impact of information resources and word-of-mouth endorsements, explains the research and evaluation steps for a product purchase, and links the purchase decision steps into an evaluative metric that identifies critical steps.

Results of the survey will be highlighted at the CONNECTIONS Conference and CONNECTIONS Europe Summit Series.

Summary information from Day 2: CONNECTIONS™ May 2007, hosted in Santa Clara, CA.

Lunch Keynote — Intersection of Art and Science: The Digital Disruption of Entertainment

Lunch Sponsored by HomePNA

Presented by: Daniel Scheinman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cisco Media Solutions Group, Cisco Systems, Inc.

“We stand at one of the most exciting times in our industry,” said Scheinman as he began his address. The disruptions to the advertising, media, and communications industries, brought by growing broadband Internet access, the digitization of content, and the empowerment of the consumer, are building (and growing) a $1.2 trillion business. Industries, he noted, are being reshaped and creating enormous economic value.

Scheinman covered three main areas in his keynote address: 1) What the recent disruptions mean for the technology industry; 2) What the impact will and should be for media companies; and 3) Cisco’s role in shaping the industry.

As you look at previous eras of major technological innovation, we are just now exiting a the “WAN/LAN” timeframe and entering into a new age of consumer empowerment. This new area will be characterized by very different flows of innovation, said Scheinman. Previously, you could count on technology development flowing from universities, to money center banks, to enterprise, service providers, and finally the consumer. Now, he says, many of today’s innovations are initiated at the consumer and service provider space, and are just now being adopted by the enterprise. Two relevant examples he used were high-definition television and community-oriented networking. Cisco today has 1,500 employees using a third-party community networking site such as Facebook because the company has not yet developed its own internal community solution.

This new age of consumer empowerment will mean even stronger growth for companies in the technology space, said Scheinman. If you look at projections for worldwide revenues for communications, IT, and electronics purchases, it’s a trillion-dollar market, growing at about 5% annually. When you add in the consumer, he expects growth to jump to 10% annually, driven in large part by more rapid-than-expected surges in broadband growth in India and China. “Consumer-oriented technology,” he noted, “will become an important center for profits and revenue.”

The challenge that the empowered consumer brings to content creators is acute, Scheinman noted. Not only are the expecting higher-quality offerings, but content enjoyment is characterized by a massive increase in content availability, plus ever-increasing freedom in how and where consumers enjoy it. The increasing fragmentation of time and space is a huge challenge for the content industry, Scheinman noted, because they lack the fundamental ability to truly connect one-one-one with their audience. In the old days, the connection was generally made at retail or other third-party outlets, leaving the studios to dictate the terms in which they would distribute content. Now, the industry is at a distinct disadvantage in the consumer-as-center-of-the-world model in which we find ourselves.

Two fundamental questions that the content industry needs to answer are 1) What do people want; and 2) Where will they find it? Scheinman says that the answer to these questions lies in a significant opportunity – building communities around content. This is nothing new. After all, we had the water cooler back in the days when the broadcasters and studios were dictating the how and when terms of content enjoyment. Today, younger consumers especially are showing the first indications that entertainment tomorrow will be less about “collecting” than “community.”

Cisco’s role in the new era of community and personalized distribution of content will be significant, Scheinman predicts. The opportunities for the company in the new era lie in three specific areas – Distribute, Connect, and Discover. With its next-gen IP network, Cisco has a strong position in the distribution space, he notes. Now, with Scientific-Atlanta and Linksys as Cisco brands, Scheinman notes that consumers stand about a 50% chance of connecting through the Internet with either of those to companies’ products.

It’s the Discover phase that Dan says is the big challenge and opportunity for Cisco. The company that wins in providing best-of-class solutions for Discover will be solving two fundamental challenges facing the industry:

• How does anyone find anything (and why should they have to work to do so); and
• How do companies build a brand?

One relevant example that Scheinman discussed to answer these to questions is the work that the company did in helping the National Hockey League develop its community-oriented Website. One key and surprising finding for the NHL was the realization that far more than 10% of its fans are female, shattering preconceived notions about what the NHL’s core fan base looks like. These findings prove that successful online community development can lead to surprising results and to business growth, Scheinman said.

In conclusion, Scheinman noted that Cisco has an incredible presence at retail with Linksys and with the service provider community with Scientific-Atlanta. “If we can build the third leg with the content owners,” he said, “we’ll be very successful as a company.”