Day 2 of Demo: Mobile Takes Center Stage

A VOIP softphone aims to be everything Skype is not in the enterprise; Boston-Power and Alcatel-Lucent Ventures target laptop performance and security.

PALM DESERT, Calif.—Targeting enterprises with mobile assets, companies at the Demo conference here demonstrated a number of products designed to bring increased manageability, storage and even longevity to laptops, cell phones and another devices.

Some debuts were software-based and focused on securing enterprise VOIP (voice over IP) calls. There was a large contingent of hardware products, too, ranging from a new laptop battery to a third-generation laptop card that will allow IT managers to secure laptops remotely.

Click here to read about the plans of the Microsoft-Nortel VOIP alliance.

Nuvoiz launched a VOIP softphone; company executives said the device meets enterprise requirements that Skype does not. The Nuvoiz SoftPhone, which can be used on PCs and PDAs, supports SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol), and is designed for large enterprise deployments.

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Nuvoiz also introduced the Nuvoiz VOIP Network Controller, a system that allows IT departments to manage VOIP deployment and calls and network administration. Both the softphone and the network controller are available now.

Meanwhile, Boston-Power debuted Sonata, a lithium-ion battery that can be recharged to 80 percent capacity in 30 minutes and is designed to last for the lifetime of a notebook computer. (Boston-Power executives estimate that lifetime at about three years.)

Lithium-ion battery technology is expected to remain dominant, despite an outbreak of notebook fires. Read more here.

Boston-Power has a partnership with Hewlett-Packard, and Boston-Power executives said the first notebooks using Sonata will ship this summer. The battery is designed to be used in existing notebooks, as well.

Alcatel-Lucent Ventures unveiled Project Evros, a 3G-based PCMCIA card that has its own battery, memory, processor, Linux operating system and software. The card can be used by IT managers to remotely manage a laptop regardless of the laptops power state.

The Evros card offers remote protection capabilities, and supports remote erase, automatic VPN, GPS device location tracking and patch installations. At this point, the card is not an Alcatel-Lucent product but a technology that can be licensed by third parties, brought to market by Alcatel-Lucent or spun out into an independent company, officials said.

Senior Writer Anne Chen can be reached at anne_chen@ziffdavis.com.

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