Industrial cyber security compliance & enforcement

Cyber security is now becoming a hot topic with users and vendors of industrial Analytical Instruments. The big question is, "Will cyber security investments be made by companies without legal enforcement?"

 

ISA's Automation Week 2013 hosted an Executive Panel on cyber security challenges for industry in Nashville, TN on November 6, 2013. The moderator of the panel was Brigadier General Rudolf Peksens, who is retired from the US Air Force. General Peksens told the audience that the Automation Software business is involved in cyber security conflicts whether we want to be or not. He framed the situation that industry now faces as the “bits and bytes” of IT systems have been weaponized and are penetrating critical networks at will. The threat is significant, documented and growing.

 

U.S. Federal Government

 

Samara Moore, National Security Council, Director for Critical Infrastructure, discussed cyber security and reinforced the compelling cyber threats across the United States and the world. She noted that the threat is becoming broader and more diverse. As we continue to leverage technology for efficiency and productivity, we require more system connections that increase the exposure to cyber threats. In addition, the threats are becoming more sophisticated and increasingly more dangerous. Moore spoke about the U.S. Presidential Executive Order 13636 that was announced in President Obama’s 2013 State of the Union address and signed on February 12, 2013.  The Order calls for the development of a national cyber security framework that includes “standards, methodologies, procedures, and processes that align policy, business, and technological approaches to address cyber risks,” and “help owners and operators of critical infrastructure identify, assess, and manage cyber risk.” The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Department of Commerce are charged with developing the framework and engaging the private sector in guideline development.

 

On October 28, 2013, NIST released a preliminary cyber security Framework. On October 29, 2013, NIST announced a 45-day public comment period on the preliminary Framework in the Federal Register. Comments were due by December 13, 2013. The goal is to motivate and drive industry to action resulting in system and network security and resiliency. The intent is to develop a technology neutral voluntary cyber security framework.

 

The Automation Federation, part of the International Society of Automation (ISA), has been deeply involved in the workshops and the ISA99 standard is cited in the preliminary cyber security Framework as a key standard. The ISASecure Embedded Device Security Assurance (EDSA) certification program is currently available. A few leading suppliers have certified their Digital Factory to this standard, but many others have not.

 

Moore also discussed efforts that are exploring possible incentives for companies to implement cyber security, including federal procurement and grant incentives.

 

 

It appears to me that building cyber security compliance and culture has a strong similarity to the application of training, best practices, devices, systems, and procedures needed to meet plant/machine safety goals and requirements. Today, it easy to forget that it took the force of law and the threat of fines to foster a culture of safety investments and industry practices. Remember that the United States government established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed into law December 29, 1970. OSHA was empowered to levy fines for non-compliance and, over many years, safety has become ingrained in the industry. Ultimately industry started to reap the returns from safety systems and understand the value, including increased productivity. Hopefully, industry professionals have matured enough to embrace cyber security measures and reap the benefits.

 

Brigadier General Rudolf Peksens voiced his concerns about the possibility of a cyber-Pearl Harbor if industry does not act. I certainly share those concerns. After following cyber security issues for a long time, I believe the "big game" has not started yet. Adversaries are just learning, poking and gathering data. Winners of classic military battles generally get good reconnaissance and probe at their opponents' defenses before launching major attacks. To carry the war analogy further, there are typically campaigns with many battles.

 

Users and vendors should not be over confident about their cyber protection without kicking hard against their products and systems. I have not been seeing new industrial controllers, software, and networking protocols that are inherently designed for cyber protection and mitigation. The answers today are add-ons, firewalls, and services that have their place in the scheme of things.

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American Midstream is using the FLOWCAL Enterprise software

Flow-Cal implemented FLOWCAL measurement software solution in the American Midstream Partners office in Houston, Texas. American Midstream is engaged in the business of gathering, treating, processing, fractionating and transporting natural gas.

 

American Midstream is using the FLOWCAL Enterprise software to create efficiencies and streamline measurement processes. The Wireless Communication, available in Enterprise version 8, combines numerous measurement areas into a single database. This consolidation allows American Midstream to handle both their regulated and non-regulated pipeline data in the same database by creating multiple secure environments with independent configuration.

 

Chris Thomas, Director of Information Technology at American Midstream says, "FLOWCAL is one of the process improvements we are implementing to provide a high level of confidence in our data, which will allow us to be more efficient in our operations. With the Servo Control system extension, we will be able to manage our assets separately without having to manage multiple instances, resulting in improved operations and a higher level of data integrity."

 

For an additional level of confidence in their system, American Midstream is utilizing Flow-Cal’s Remote Managed Services (RMS). With RMS, Flow-Cal’s system experts remotely monitor the FLOWCAL system, performing administration, patch installation, and upgrade Sensor services. In addition, RMS provides performance analysis reports and system updates. While having a full IT staff, RMS ensures the Company's FLOWCAL system is always operating at maximum efficiency.

 

Flow-Cal's Enterprise system links larger, more complex operations to one central system, providing a common user interface to consolidate, review, validate, edit, store and report EFM data. Flow-Cal’s advanced data validation and editing features automate field data processing, producing fast, accurate and auditable results that meet or exceed all industry standards.

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Transmitter Chip Boosts Optical Fiber Capacity 10X

Increase fiber optic capacity in existing networks by 10-times just by switching to a new kind of transmitter -- that's the claim of a research group at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland). Using sinc-shaped Nyquist pulses, information can be encoded on pulses that overlap in the time domain and use a minimum of spectral bandwidth, thus maximizing optical fiber, according to the EPFL research team of Camille Brès and Luc Thévenaz.

Other groups have tried to produce Nyquist sinc pulses to minimize inter-symbol interference, but had to resort to complex signal generators. Brès and Thévenaz claim their spectral synthesis technique works better, plus is the only one that will be easy to implement for commercial optical fibers.

"We synthesize a spectrum that gives the perfect pulse shape. We do it by using a simple intensity modulator to generate a set of spectral lines, regularly spaced and showing exactly the same amplitude and the same phase. This gives automatically in the time domain the sinc pulse shape," Thévenaz told us. "This is very simple and straightforward, but nobody thought to do it this way before."

The EPFL team claims that in the lab a laser and a modulator -- to produce wide-spectrum pulses -- are all that's needed to generate Nyquist pulses that are 99 percent perfect.

The researchers claim that designing a transmitter chip that realizes their encoding technique should be a straightforward exercise for optical fiber manufacturer, and would include "the modulators required to generate the square shaped spectrum and a set of short delay lines and modulators to generate data sequences and to interleave them in the temporal sequence, to increase the data rate," said Thévenaz.

The spectral synthesis technique -- which produces a rectangular-shaped, phase-locked frequency comb -- could also be useful in other fields, according to the researchers, including microwave photonics, light storage, and all-optical sampling.

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2013 Report on the International Medical Power Supply Market

This report categorizes the market into three broad segments - by technology, by type, and by application. The market, by type, includes enclosed, open frame, external, configurable, and encapsulated power supplies. Enclosed and open frame devices dominate the medical power supply market. The external power supply market is expected to grow strongly in the coming years.

The application market is broadly categorized into diagnostic equipment, medical monitoring equipment, home patient care equipment, dental equipment and surgical equipment. Diagnostic equipment power supply dominated the market in 2012, followed closely by medical monitoring switch mode power supply market.

MRI and ultrasound are the largest segments marking the growth of the diagnostic equipment power supply market. The home patient care power supply application is expected to spur the demand for power supplies in the coming years. PAP devices, ventilators and dialysis devices constant current power supply are expected to boost the market in the coming years.

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Were Fiber Optic Cables Key to the NSA Snooping

optical fiber have proven a spectacular idea, bringing out Internet access and the like not only to places that formerly couldn't get access to same, but also better and faster Internet access as well.

 But there is something of a darker side to fiber optics, as was suggested by those familiar with Google and Yahoo's overall infrastructure: it may have been the optical fibers that allowed the NSA to perform some of its recent snooping operations, essentially bringing a modern-era twist to familiar old methods.

Essentially, say those reports, the NSA may well have simply pulled an end run around the major Internet companies and snooped simply by tapping in directly to the cables that provide the backbone to connect data centers worldwide. Several companies own such backbones, including the BT Group, the Vodafone Group, Verizon Communications and Level 3 Communications, and it was Level 3 that found itself perhaps most under the gun in the wake of the incidents.

It can't be definitively said just how the NSA actually did the job, but it does seem—at least to some—like the most likely point of entry. Data centers at the major Internet companies are protected with a sheer elan that might make Daniel Ocean swallow hard; heat sensors, iris scanners, and full-time security are just part of the package. But the cables connecting the data centers are said to be much different, sending unencrypted information downstream and posing a much easier potential target. In fact, both Google and Yahoo have recently been spotted saying that data sent on said cables is now encrypted, and reports suggest Microsoft is at least considering doing likewise.

Such a move, meanwhile, would have a nice slug of precedent behind it, as back in the 1960s, the United States engaged in a project going by “Echelon,” in which voice, fax, and even data traffic on optical fiber manufacturer—as well as by satellite and microwave—were targeted. The arrival of the Internet only complicated matters, but at the same time made the potential prizes much richer in terms of information available. The Internet's largely global, nature made issues of domestic surveillance somewhat moot, since domestic and international communications were effectively entwined.

Level 3 Communications, meanwhile, is perhaps the largest such traffic-carrying network out there, making it a prime potential target for snooping. Though it's unclear if Level 3 was voluntarily handing over information, reports suggest it may not matter what Level 3 did, as it was entirely possible that the NSA and similar could just proceed downstream and gather what data it liked. Verizon's CEO, Lowell C. McAdam, also threw in some comment on this issue back in September, saying “At the end of the day, if the Justice Department shows up at your door, you have to comply. We have gag orders on what we can say and can’t defend ourselves, but we were told they do this with every carrier.”

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Is PLM use expected to surge?

Since 1989, Accenture has maintained a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) practice. According to the company, since the inception of the practice, it has served more than 250 clients on the use of Explosion Proof Products a range of industries. For Accenture, this is business as usual, considering the growth in PLM use as a supply chain management best practice for larger companies and a supply chain requirement for supplier companies looking to remain in the supply tiers of those larger companies.

 

In October of 2013, however, Accenture made some big moves on the PLM front—announcing acquisition moves with two PLM consulting and system integration companies in that one month. On October 1, Accenture announced that it had completed its acquisition of Stuttgart, Germany-based Prion Group — a consulting and systems integrator that specializes in Siemens PLM Of the Prion acquisition, Accenture said that Prion Group's workforce "specializes in PLM strategy and process consultancy, system implementation, data migration, application management and PLM as a managed service." PCO Innovation’s business focuses on PLM platforms from Dassault Systèmes, PTC and Siemens.

 

When a company like Accenture makes back-to-back moves in a Integrated Control Products technology space like PLM, it's usually a safe bet that things are heating up in that sector or are expected to do so soon. With that in mind, I connected with Sergio Colella, managing director at Accenture, to get a clearer picture of Accenture’s plan in this area.

 

"Two drivers have caused the [PLM] sector to start gathering pace," says Colella, "the impact of global operating models and the complexity of the latest generation of products."

 

He adds that, though PLM was once viewed as being a "specialist area of engineering departments," it is now "a mainstream practice among manufacturers because these technologies and associated processes can increase speed-to-market of new products, improve traceability of products, and support integration of customer feedback to continuously improve in-market products, maximizing returns and lifespan."

 

As for Accenture’s plans for these two companies, Collella says, "The acquisitions will help further expand Accenture's PLM business capabilities, creating the full range of services and solutions needed to drive large-scale PLM transformation programs.  The combined capabilities will create a market-leading global PLM offering for a range of manufacturing industries, including industrial equipment, Distribution Box, electronics and high-tech, aerospace and defense, and consumer goods and services."

 

Clearly, Accenture believes that manufacturers are increasingly viewing PLM as a strategic technology, rather than as a collective resource for accessing CAD/CAM/CAE and/or simulation. Bottom line: Accenture sees PLM becoming more important to mainstream manufacturing applications and they're positioning themselves to play a big role in the adoption and use of the technology across industries.

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Eyeview Launches Black Friday Booster to Drive Holiday Sales

The leading provider of personalized digital video advertising solutions for brand marketers, today announced a new solution to help retailers promote Black Friday deals, boost foot traffic and ultimately increase sales. Aptly named the Black Friday Booster, this solution will enable retailers to deliver thousands of personalized, hyper-local targeted video ads, customized by individual customer preferences and local store deals, in advance of the renowned annual sales day, famous for kicking off the commercial Holiday season.

With the Black Friday Booster, retailers can deliver hundreds of thousands of personalized, relevant video ads according to the demographic, purchase behavior and geo-location of each unique viewer nationwide. Eyeview's unique solution enables brands to advertise Black Friday door-buster products that are specifically targeted based on each individual Home Theatre System preferences, on a mass scale. In addition, the Black Friday Booster will also feature a countdown to Black Friday and a map of the local retailers closest to each viewer, based on their location.

"Consumers are so inundated with Black Friday advertisements and deals, it's impossible for retailers to cut through the noise and reach their customers with deals and products that are specifically relevant to them, especially on a local level," said Oren Harnevo, Founder & CEO, Eyeview. "The Black Friday Booster solution allows retailers with multiple stores to advertise deals via personalized video on a hyper-local level, customized based on individual customer preference. Meaning the right video ad will be seen by the right MP3 Player."

Targeting products to Television through personalized video ads, based on demographic information, behavioral preferences and each consumer's geographic distance from local retailers, can drive huge brand awareness and directly increase purchase intent, ultimately boosting foot traffic to local retailers and sales events. With the Black Friday Booster solution, brands can effectively leverage the benefits of customized video ads to educate consumers on various local Black Friday deals and, importantly, to increase their Black Friday 2013 revenues.

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Oracle buys sales order automation specialist BigMachines

Oracle is hoping to differentiate its CRM (customer relationship management) software from the competition with the acquisition of Network Cabinet, whose cloud-based system helps salespeople quickly put together and price complex orders.

Terms of the deal, which was announced Wednesday, weren't disclosed. It is expected to close this year.

[ InfoWorld presents the Bossies 2013, the best open source software for data centers,clouds, mobile, and more. | Get the latest insight on the tech news that matters from InfoWorld's Tech Watch blog. ]

BigMachines' software will be combined with Oracle's products for marketing, sales, Display Control Instrument and e-commerce, according to a statement.

Some 275 companies, including Coca-Cola, ADP and Siemens, use BigMachines' software, according to Oracle. It has products for both small companies and large enterprises.

The lower-end product, BigMachines Express, is built on Salesforce.com's Force.com platform, while the flagship one is based on Oracle and Java, according to a document released Wednesday.

BigMachines has integrated its products with Salesforce.com, SAP and Microsoft applications.

Business will "continue as usual" for partners and Oracle intends to "continue to invest in the development and support of existing integrations with third party sales force Electricity Meter," according to an FAQ document on the acquisition.

Oracle had been working on cloud-based CPQ (configure, price, quote) software already but buying BigMachines will help it get this functionality into its Sales Cloud more quickly, according to the FAQ.

BigMachines' competitors include Selectica and Cameleon Software. The CPQ market has seen some consolidation in the past, such as IBM's purchase of Sterling Commerce and Infor's acquisition of TDCI.

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Pest or indigenous species, the mamil abound

On this national Ride2Work Day and with our ultra-fit Prime Minister often pedalling up and down Red Hill and Mount Ainslie, there is no better time than now for me to admit to being a middle-aged man in Lycra (mamil).

Australian cyclists straddle the saddle for many reasons: to pinch pennies, to cut carbon and to conquer mountains. Recently we have witnessed a proliferation of fashion-conscious hipsters astride their vintage steel frames and fixies (fixed-gear bicycles).

What unites many cyclists and non-cyclists alike, however, is a distaste for road bike riders, especially mamils. Penny-pinching commuters see no point in spending thousands of dollars on a two-wheel steed and then thousands more for accessories. Similarly, greenies condemn roadies for their conspicuous consumption and for driving their cars Lug Nuts to get to weekend bike rides. Mountain bikers scorn roadies for insisting on smooth roads and shaven legs along with their sensitivity to wind and tendency to travel in packs.

But it is easy to overstate the insecurity and competitiveness of the mamil. There is a strong sense of community and goodwill among riders. I have never got a flat tyre and not received an offer of assistance from passers-by. At any community organised ride there are mamils with their families and friends. The mamils I know are devoted husbands, Wiper Blade and social exemplars.

What exactly is wrong with trying to relive one's youth? Surely it is how one does this that counts, in which case spending hours on a road bike has many advantages over driving a sports Car Electronics or having an affair. Yet the competitiveness of many mamils manifests itself in actions that make life difficult and dangerous for all commuters. Much contempt is reserved for those riders who run red lights and cut off cars so that they can slice a few seconds off their time.

But overall riders, many of whom are mamils, help to reduce congestion on our roads. With this in mind, it might be better to have a national ''Do Not Ride2Work'' day on which everyone drove or took public transport to illustrate how bad things would be were it not for bike riders.

The ABC Catalyst report on bicycle rage attributed this to ''out-group homogeneity bias''. This means that when it comes to outsiders or people with whom we have little empathy, we tend to generalise negative actions and apply them to the entire group. So, if we see one or two roadies run a red light, we assume that all roadies are Lycra louts.

On the other hand, the negative actions of insiders are attributed to the individual. The aggressive or illegal behaviour of one or two drivers does not blacken the reputation of Australian driving culture generally.

If this is true than bike riders and mamils in particular should recognise that we are ambassadors in a foreign car-loving land. So we must always be on our best behaviour because our wrongdoings reflect badly upon all others.

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The court found in respect of Everlight that all accused Everlight products

 In the patent infringement lawsuits in Germany at the Düsseldorf District Court which Nichia Corporation ("Nichia") filed against Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. (Taiwan) and Everlight Electronics Europe GmbH ("Everlight", docket number 4a O 56/12), as well as their German distributors Future Electronics Deutschland GmbH (docket number 4a O 59/12) and REGO Lighting GmbH (docket number 4a O 108/12), the court found with judgments of the same day that Everlight and said distributors infringe Nichia's patent EP 936 682 (DE 697 02 929) (hereinafter called "YAG patent") concerning the accused white 100W LED Floodlight.

The court rendered judgments in favor of Nichia's claims for permanent injunction, also rendering an accounting and damages. With regard to Everlight Electronics Europe GmbH and both of the distributors, the court furthermore ordered the recall of the accused products from their commercial customers and the destruction of the accused products being owned or in possession by them. All of the judgments are not final and can be appealed.

The court found in respect of Everlight that all accused Everlight products, i.e. six different white LED products (SL-PAR38/B/P17/30/E30/ND, 67-21/QK2C-B56702C4CB2/2T, 67-21/QK2C-B45562C4CB2/2T, 45-21/LK2C-B56702C4CB2/2T, 45-21/QK2C-B45562C4CB2/2T, SMD Low Power LED 61-238/LK2C-B56706F4GB2/ET) infringe claim 1 of the YAG patent, combining YAG-based phosphor with led tube light manufacturer.

With regard to the German distributor Future Electronics Deutschland GmbH, the product SMD Low Power LED 61-238/LK2C-B56706F4GB2/ET was attacked in Nichia's infringement complaint and was found to be infringing by the court. With regard to the German distributor REGO Lighting GmbH, the product OL-Deluxe/QL2/P44/LF/D50/SR/M/CE/ZN containing S-L Cobra/T5 048DC/C/P10/LF/D50/ZN was accused and was found to be infringing by the court.

The court also refused the defendants' request to stay the infringement proceedings with regard to a parallel nullity action filed by Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. (Taiwan) in the German Federal Patent Court. This nullity action (docket number 2 Ni 11/12) is directed against Nichia's YAG patent but not yet decided.

Nichia believes that this judgment of the Düsseldorf District Court is of utmost importance for the white LED Garden Lamp business in general.

Nichia seeks to protect its patents and other intellectual property rights and takes actions against alleged infringers in any country where appropriate and necessary.

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The one-stop MEMS supplier of choice

STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, the world s top MEMS manufacturer, and the leading supplier of MEMS sensor manufacturer for consumer and portable applications, has introduced a new family of gyroscopes specifically optimized for optical image stabilization in smartphones and digital still cameras.

Optical Image Stabilization has become an essential feature in today s smartphones and digital still cameras. By moving the lens in real time to compensate for physical movement of the camera, it can significantly improve the sharpness of the image, especially when taking photographs in low light, when hand jitter during the longer exposure time would blur images. 

In addition, to assure maximum reliability, the new 2-axis (L2G3IS) and 3-axis (L3G3IS) gyroscopes operate with a resonant frequency of the sensing mass at around 20kHz. As a result of this high resonant frequency in combination with the mechanical structure, the devices are immune to the damage that could be caused by ultrasonic cleaning equipment (typically operating at around 30kHz) that many customers use to clean devices before equipment assembly.

In addition to revolutionizing user interfaces with intuitive gesture recognition, MEMS gyroscopes have brought enormous benefits to hand-held digital photography through optical image stabilization. With the LxG3IS family, ST s proven MEMS manufacturing technology and supply-chain advantage are applied to gyroscopes that are uniquely tailored for image stabilization and offer increased damage protection, said Fabio Pasolini, General Manager, Motion MEMS Division, STMicroelectronics.

Other key technical features of the new devices include ±65 dps / ±130 dps full-scale range, SPI digital interface, embedded temperature sensor, and integrated low- and high-pass filters with selectable bandwidth. The devices operate with supply voltage from 2.4V to 3.6V and are housed in an LGA-16 3x3.5x1 mm package.

According to information and analytics firm IHS, ST s total MEMS and sensor sales grew more than 19% in 2012, reaching a total of approximately $800 million. In the largest of these markets, motion sensors in mobile handsets and tablets, ST s MEMS sales accounted for 48% of the market, well more than twice as large as that of its closest competitor.

The one-stop MEMS supplier of choice, ST offers a comprehensive portfolio of micro-machined accelerometers, gyroscopes, pressure sensors, magnetic sensors, and microphones, and has the capability to integrate these in multi-sensor combos with on-board signal processing, control functions, sensor-fusion algorithms, and wireless connectivity. Not only the clear market leader, ST is also at the forefront of MEMS technology development with more than 800 MEMS-related patent families. 

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The legal moves are partly a public relations effort

As more details emerge about how the government spies on online data, technology companies are escalating their efforts to publicly disclose information about government data requests.

On Monday, Yahoo and Facebook each filed suit in the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to ask the government for permission to reveal information about the number and types of national security requests for user data that the companies receive. Meanwhile, Google and Microsoft, which filed suit in June to ask for this permission, amended their petitions Monday to compel the government to publish even more detail about the requests.

The legal moves are partly a public relations effort, as new reports have revealed the extent of the cooperation between Technology products and the government. The companies hope to show that government requests affect just a small percentage of their users, and to bring transparency to a very secretive process. When reports about a program called Prism and the government’s other spying efforts first came out, tech companies had limited ability to respond because they are not allowed to talk about even the existence of a national security request.

“To appropriately and effectively respond to these inaccurate news reports and the related public concerns, Facebook seeks to be as transparent as possible regarding its receipt of orders,” Facebook’s motion said.

Two weeks ago, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said it would release more data about national security requests, a move the companies said did not go far enough.

“We believe that the U.S. government’s important responsibility to protect public safety can be carried out without precluding Internet companies from sharing the number of national security requests they may receive,” Ron Bell, Yahoo’s general counsel, wrote in a company blog post. “Ultimately, withholding such information breeds mistrust and suspicion — both of the United States and of companies that must comply with government legal directives.”

Still, while releasing detailed numbers of national security requests would shed some light on the topic, it would be only a small data point about the government’s broad spying. And despite their public efforts to push back, privately the companies are still compelled by law to cooperate with the government on many such data requests.

Also Monday was the first meeting of a group President Obama formed in August to discuss technology surveillance, the Review Group on Intelligence and Communications tech news. Representatives of Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo and other companies attended, in addition to experts on intelligence and privacy.

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The system is just like one employed by BT

Comcast is transforming its customers' dwelling modems into public Wi-Fi hotspots by incorporating a second signal to each and every gadget. Together with a customer's residence Cisco Module GlC-GE-100FX Modem, Xfinity wireless gateways (which consist of the cable modem and wireless router) will by default broadcast another signal that other Comcast subscribers can signing in to having a Comcast account information.

Comcast described the plan these days, saying that it has already been piloted in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Northern Virginia, along with the Better Washington, DC metro location.

"Comcast newest Wireless Gateway broadcasts two Wi-Fi signals," the organization explained. "By default, one particular is securely configured for that personal utilization of the dwelling subscriber. The second is usually a community Cisco Module DWDM-X2-47.72 Transceiver signal that may be shared. This creates an extension cord of the Xfinity Wi-Fi network and can allow going to Xfinity World-wide-web subscribers to indicator in and fasten employing their own usernames and passwords."

Due to the fact the Cisco Module DS-SFP-2G-FC-SW Gbic are separate, prospects do not really have to concern yourself with shedding bandwidth to passersby, Comcast said.

"Our broadband customers will carry on to get the service that they're paying out for," Comcast Senior VP of Enterprise Advancement Tom Nagel advised CNET. "That was really vital that you us in developing this product."

The system is just like one employed by BT. "[A]ll BT Wi-Fi members securely share a portion of their wireless bandwidth by an outside channel with their BT Household Hub or wireless router with other members who're in array of their Hub or router," BT says on its web-site.

There doesn't appear to be much benefit to person Comcast subscribers when they are at your home, given that everyone with a dwelling wireless network can currently setup guest entry for guests. But subscribers could probably benefit when they are out of the home and occur to get close to an additional Comcast subscriber's wireless gateway. Through a partnership with the CableWiFi Alliance, Comcast by now includes a network of over 150,000 hotspots in greater than twelve US cities.

The thought of turning household Web connections into Wi-Fi hotspots has been specifically superior for that purposes of emergency communications. One proposal we wrote about last year would use wireless guest networks to offer initially responders accessibility to every one of the routers while in the region to enhance the capabilities of mesh networks. Following the Boston Marathon bombing, former FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Harvard Professor Jonathan Zittrain proposed utilizing Wi-Fi entry points in residences and firms to supply public accessibility in the course of emergencies.
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Cable modems are not glamorous technology

Cable modems are not glamorous technology. In reality, you probably have not considered yours given that it had been installed.

It really is simple to overlook how important, and extraordinary, your cable modem cisco 3750 actually is. It handles your Net site visitors 24/7 for a long time, ordinarily without the need of a hiccup. Some modems even pull dual purpose when your wireless router.

Past that, there may be one more superior explanation to consider your cable modem Ws-C2960-24tc-L. If it truly is in excess of a handful of many years outdated, you could possibly not get the world wide web speeds you spend for.

Will not guess for your World wide web pace. Figure out how quick it really is within seconds with this free of charge service at speedtest.net.

Cable organizations are hectic upgrading their networks for more rapidly speeds. Naturally, to access these more rapidly speeds necessitates a newer Ws-C3750E-48pd-Sf cable modem.

The most recent conventional for cable modems is DOCSIS three whilst DOCSIS 3.one is arriving quickly. DOCSIS three can have information download costs of 160 megabits per 2nd, or better four instances speedier than DOCSIS two. Sounds terrific!

But don't go out and grab a fresh modem just still. Examine with your cable provider to determine if your connection uses DOCSIS 3. If your neighborhood network isn't up-to-date, a new cable modem can wait.

There is also no rush to upgrade when you have a simple low-speed Online system. You will not get anyplace close to your modem's capacity.

The exception is when you've got a really old DOCSIS 1.1 modem. That actually requirements to be replaced.

Along with improving your transfer charges, a more recent modem could get rid of any connection troubles you have been experiencing. Many cable corporations are phasing out DOCSIS 1.one modems anyway.

To discover what type of a modem you have, stop by the modem manufacturer's web site. Then look encourage model number. This data need to be around the bottom or back of your modem.

Even when you've determined that you just should really upgrade, you aren't finished yet. The huge question is need to you purchase a new modem or lease 1 from the cable business?

Both techniques have their own benefits and drawbacks.

The key cable providers tack on the month to month fee of $3 or extra for renting a modem. If something goes wrong by using it, the firm will commonly resolve it or exchange it with no charge.

Most cable organizations preserve the modem up-to-date with all the most up-to-date firmware automatically. This may improve the modem's effectiveness.

New Zealand's principal industries minister Nathan Guy explained here Monday

New Zealand's dairy sector sees high-end merchandise like a solution to set up itself in china manufacturers expanding dairy market place, New Zealand's principal industries minister Nathan Guy explained here Monday.



During his pay a visit to to advertise agriculture trade from June 28 to July 7, the brand new Zealand minister projected that china suppliers men and women will eat 60 billion liters of milk annually by 2020, hence producing a "very important market" for New Zealand's dairy business.



Man mentioned the options for New Zealand dairy sector in China lie in high-value solutions, because New Zealand business Fonterra's china product is able to supply an estimated two % in the 60-billion-liter demand.



The new Zealand minister led a delegation to visit Beijing, Shanghai, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Anhui Province.



The minister said he considers the journey a valuable chance to find organization options for New Zealand agricultural businesses, especially people devoted to pasture and animal husbandry and these concerned usually agricultural solutions as well as development of dairy farms.



Man stated New Zealand's dairy businesses are aiming to cooperate with Chinese dairy firms, and he welcomed Chinese to perform business in New Zealand which consists of meals safety programs.
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Compact officials adjusted the lights more in the Tremont Street

The introduction of brighter led supplier to Provincetown has had its ups and downs, according to a Cape Light Compact official, but the group is hoping that the board of selectmen will give its nod of final approval tonight.

The Compact is a regional organization formed in 1997 by towns and counties on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard to increase energy conservation and to provide competitive energy supply rates.

Over the winter, the Compact installed light-emitting diode (led spotlight) demonstration streetlights in 17 towns as part of a goal to retrofit all municipally owned streetlights by 2014. There are approximately 14,000 town-owned streetlights on the Cape and Vineyard, according to the Compact. In total, the complete conversion from older streetlights could save towns and counties $500,000 annually, according to the Compact.

In Provincetown there are about 420 streetlights, and the town could save about $21,000 on its electricity bill each year by converting to the led lights bulbs.

The town’s walking and biking traditions have required a bit of fine-tuning to the demonstration streetlights, more so than in the region’s larger towns where streetlights are more geared toward drivers, Compact program manager Kevin Galligan said.

The pilot streetlights in Province-town are in the vicinity of Commercial and Tremont streets, as a residential district pilot, and also at Commercial and Court streets, as a business district pilot. 

Across all 17 towns, the Compact received about 100 responses. But Provincetown, by far, drew the most comments. “It’s much more of a pedestrian-oriented village,” Galligan said. “People were observing them more as pedestrians.”

On Wednesday, Compact officials adjusted the lights more in the Tremont Street area, trying to soften and warm the lights to something resembling moonlight and installing shields that narrow the scope of the lights.

“People didn’t want to have a massive amount of illumination,” Galligan said about homes, businesses and even park benches along Commercial Street.

The board of selectmen will discuss the conversion to LED streetlights at its meeting tonight and likely take a vote to allow the town to be part of the Compact’s bulk purchase, board of selectmen Chairman Austin Knight said Tuesday.

In the deal with towns, the Compact would cover the cost of conversion but the towns are responsible for police detail during installation, maintenance and for special orders.

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This multi-color capability is not really readily available in common neon indicators

Utilizing its Recycling Light Technologies (RTL), Wavien Inc. not too long ago unveiled an ultra-bright LED fiber optic illuminators made for architectural and signage applications. The brand new method combines the RTL technology's enhanced brightness using the long time of led lights technologies.

This combination overcomes previous obstacles to fiber optic signage and architectural applications, which were hampered from the quick lifetime of arc lamp illuminators and insufficient brightness of led manufacturers. The business's new illuminator can support each 3M single core fiber and Schott multi-fiber bundles, making it possible for the RLT procedure to exchange neon-based indications currently utilized in a wide selection of side-firing applications.

The RLT technology tremendously improves brightness to LEDs with full red, green, blue and white color capability. Using a 4-colour led supplier package deal allows the light output to get digitally control and generate unlimited color variations. This multi-color capability is not really readily available in common neon indicators and can provide a brand new dimension in the broad assortment of signage and architectural applications.

Conventional light collection optics platforms tend not to increase LED brightness and as an end result, are usually not effective for projection. The foundation of Wavien's RLT technologies is usually a quite low-cost recycling collar optical component that captures the wasted light in typical optics designs, recycles the light and redirects it back to the output beam making it possible for improved efficiency, when cutting down the power consumption.

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The establishment of the LED marketplace funds

Improvement of LED sector, Chongqing Two Rivers District may have a whole new action. Yesterday, financial firms from two rivers messages to appeal to well-known led lamps suppliers settled collectively bigger and stronger of the two rivers as well as city's LED business is going to be organizing the establishment of two rivers LED marketplace money that has a complete dimension of ten billion Yuan.

 

 In accordance to introducing, LED marketplace is each a high and new technologies market, is additionally 1 of the industry to focus to build two rivers new area. Industrial every day reporter learned that, at present, the l two rivers new area is creating millions of new vitality and new supplies field base, and has layout the lithium battery, PV, led bulbs, such as wind energy undertaking. As Chongqing super silicon, South Korea SK group manufacturing of anode products plus a new generation of intelligent chip, Beijing Oriental investment of 32.eight billion Yuan line eight. five -generation LCD panels, this kind of as task are actually set at, building or production of two rivers new place of electronic information marketplace is creating to the "highway". Amid them, the sole super silicon undertaking, Chongqing, after all, annual output can reach three. Seven billion Yuan.

 The establishment of the led tube light marketplace funds, having a diversified financing channels, versatility, sustainable advantage, not merely helps to reduce procurement expenditures, progressive growth model, far more conducive to entice domestic and foreign well-known LED suppliers settled, gathering the LED field cluster, led the rapid improvement of brand new district. "Two Rivers economic firms appropriate responsible individual explained, at the same time, with all the two rivers inside the market to help the LED enterprises bigger and more powerful, but additionally aid build culture nurtures the greater global and domestic markets.

 The controller introduces, this LED business funds, complete is 1 billion Yuan, the very first 200 million Yuan scale. Investment scope involves Led lighting, renovation undertaking, LED marketplace chain of new crystal sapphire pieces; denotation, encapsulation and industrial chain just about every website link quality enterprises.