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Apple released details of iOS 11.3 unusually early with the aim of stemming complaints that the company slowed down older iPhones and iPads. With the 11.3 update to iOS, Apple is giving that control to users.
Also in the update are enhanced augmented reality features and a new health records feature that enables iOS Health users to download their electronic medical records to their mobile device for safekeeping and portability.
Cisco on Jan. 24 announced its intention to acquire privately held server security startup Skyport. A Cisco spokesperson told eWEEK that the deal is expected to close in Cisco’s 2018 fiscal third quarter, but that “Cisco will not sell the existing Skyport Systems offers.
Cisco will support the installed Skyport Systems customer base through contract termination dates.” Rob Salvagno, head of corporate development and Cisco Investments, said “Cisco [will] utilize Skyport’s intellectual property, seasoned software and network expertise to accelerate priority areas across multiple Cisco portfolios.”
Providing end-to-end assurance for server and software security integrity is critically important in the modern threat environment. As a much larger and diversified company, Cisco will use Skyport’s innovations in its data center products, including the UCS server portfolio. Financial terms of Cisco’s Skyport acquisition are not being publicly disclosed.
NextWave Safety Solutions on Jan. 25 released two virtual reality training modules to help organizations eliminate workplace accidents. “Hazard ID” and “Forklift,” along with customized safety programs that include on-site predictive analytics support, help recognize potential hazards before accidents occur.
NextWave claims that insufficient safety standards and antiquated training and management processes cost more than 337,000 lives and $3 trillion last year alone in the U.S. So, the company is using a home-built analytics engine and VR experiences to bring transparency and preparedness to save lives and money in the safety industry, involving jobs in construction, mining, oil rigs and law enforcement.
Leading the VR team is the creator of Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar Games co-founder and former CTO Gary J. Foreman, who is applying his 20-plus years’ experience designing virtual worlds to creating lifelike workplace scenarios.
Google’s parent company Alphabet has launched Chronicle, an independent business unit that will use Google’s considerable computing and storage infrastructure and machine learning technologies to help organizations better investigate and analyze data from their security systems.
VirusTotal, a free malware scanning service that Google acquired in 2012, has also become part of Chronicle and will continue to be available. Chronicle’s analytics service addresses the challenge that many organizations face in identifying the security issues that really matter amid the vast volumes of log and alert data generated daily by cyber-security and other IT systems.
Chronicle CEO Stephen Gillett said many organizations can only review around a few hundred alerts daily at most and do not store important security-related data to cut costs. This causes critical information gaps, allowing intruders to break into networks and remain undetected for long periods of time.