K9s Called to Tech Show
Comdex is going to the dogs—the bomb-sniffing dogs. In addition to the normal panoply of high-tech gadgets, the annual Las Vegas techfest last week featured a noticeable police presence with K9 security.
Two German shepherds stood next to the doors outside a keynote speech, quickly sniffing all bags going in. The dogs were so efficient that before one speech, the human guard manning a metal detector simply waved people through the machine after the dogs had taken their whiffs.
A phalanx of police motorcycles lined up in front of the convention center, and a special security patrol at Microsofts suite at the Marriott checked photo IDs to make sure that the face matched the badge.
Even so, security was hardly airtight. A door in the back of the Las Vegas Convention Center was unguarded and unlocked. Experienced showgoers used it to avoid the long lines and crowds at the secured entrances.
Storage Sales Slump in 2001
Data storage revenues are forecast to shrink this year but should rebound over the next three, according to a report released last week by International Data Corp.
The worldwide market for disk storage hardware, software and services will shrink about 6 percent this year, to $57 billion, but will grow to $70.6 billion in 2004, IDC said.
Direct-attached storage devices will account for about two-thirds of all storage sales this year but only about one-third in 2005.
Conversely, network-attached storage will more than double its market share to 19 percent, and storage area networks will almost double to nearly 47 percent of the market in 2005, the report said.