Andrew Garcia

IT Planner : 5 Steps to Unified Communications”> Unified communications is one of those technology terms that means different things to different people. Nonetheless, it is ultimately a driver for better business processes. Properly implemented, unified communications, or UC for short, will bring together people (both internal and external to the company), applications and data […]

AT&Ts new Tilt smart phone is billed as the Swiss Army knife of mobile devices, as it can do a little bit of everything. And, indeed, just like a Swiss Army knife, the Tilt performs myriad tasks adequately while at the same time feeling overly large and bulky in the pocket. Based on Windows Mobile […]

This post is written from the perspective of an old stick-in-the-mud, which I apparently became at some point but hadn’t noticed until now. A couple days ago, the stars aligned to the point where I decided it was finally time to hack my iPhone. The Jailbreak hacking process had gotten “click-this-link” simple, some cool-sounding applications […]

Microsoft’s recent announcement of its new System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 should be a galvanizing moment for the mobile security industry. While the market still has not opened up as much as expected—largely due to a threat landscape that still hasn’t truly evolved (but undoubtedly will)—the idea of a large vendor with deep pockets […]

Symantec’s Mobile Security Suite 5.0 provides a good mix of security features for devices based on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0, but the product ultimately misses the mark due to clumsy management tools and a complete lack of integrated cross-platform support that would certainly be compelling in an increasingly crowded but compartmentalized marketplace. Mobile Security Suite […]

Within the last few days, Google added IMAP support to Gmail, giving users the option to keep messages on the server with third-party mail clients, rather than downloading via POP3. Thankfully this support is also extended to domains hosted via Gmail as well, so personal e-mail domains are now working beautifully with devices like the […]

The primary running tenet of Steve Ballmer’s keynote at CTIA was one of convergence, in this case between the commercial and consumer-oriented demands placed on today’s smart phone. Ballmer’s basic point was that it is crazy to have two devices (one personal, one corporate), and that users need to have all the functions merged seamlessly […]

During today’s CTIA keynote address in San Francisco, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the company’s new management solution for mobile devices, System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008. As a quick take, I would say Microsoft’s tool looks like a significant advancement in the ability to take control of and quickly advance the capabilities of Windows […]

In a recent conversation with Palm, I learned that Palm will be embracing Microsoft’s new System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008, but that embrace only extends to a limited number of devices right off the bat. Specifically, Palm announced it is working with AT&T to provide an update to Treo 750 devices in order to […]

10 Things You Should Know About 802.11n 802.11n can operate in either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz band-conferring more deployment flexibility by allowing implementers to get away from common sources of interference. IT buyers should be aware that almost all 802.11n clients based on CardBus or Expre 10 Things You Should Know About 802.11n – 40MHz […]

I’ve been testing Microsoft’s Office Communications Server 2007 in our San Francisco labs for the last couple of weeks. We will have a review online later this month, but in the meantime I’ve posted some screen shots here, to go with related coverage from Microsoft’s launch event in San Francisco. My early impressions are that […]

While Research In Motion has been a little slow to add wireless LAN capabilities to its smart-phone portfolio, the companys first stab at it—the BlackBerry 8820—really nails the details as a Wi-Fi device. With its superior e-mail capabilities, a good mix of applications and good (but not great) connectivity options, the 8820 is definitely worth […]