Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Toshiba Laptop business, Toshiba India announced mini-notebook PC Libretto W100 and 13.3-inch laptop Portege R700.Touted as the world’s first dual-touch-screen laptop running Microsoft Windows 7, Libretto W100 features Intel Pentium U5400 and two 7-inch WSVGA dual multi-touch displays. It includes 2GB DDR3 onboard RAM, 62GB SSD, Micro SD/SDHC card reader, 8 cell battery and one USB 2.0 port. The notebook comes with WLAN (802.11 b/g/n) and Bluetooth 2.1 for connectivity. Libretto W100 can mimic both traditional media, opening like a book, and high-tech media, like lifting the lid of a laptop. It also has a virtual software keyboard, built-in accelerometer to automatically switch from book mode to laptop mode.
The next launch, Portégé R700 is claimed to be Toshiba’s thinnest and lightest full-function 13.3-inch laptop and can be configured with Intel Core i5 or Core i3. It has up to 8GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB HDD with 3D impact sensor, 9.5mm DVD Super Slim ODD, three USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA/USB combo port and a multi-card reader. The connectivity options include Bluetooth 2.1, WLAN (802.11 b/g/n) and Gigabit Ethernet LAN.“Toshiba’s pioneering innovation and strength of engineering excellence enables groundbreaking technologies realizing into the designing of laptops in order to deliver an unparalleled blend of high performance, mobility and features to our consumers,” concluded N Sivakumar, General Manager, TIPL, Toshiba India.

Seems like Lenovo India is pursuing the youth segment rather keenly. In addition to sprucing up its consumer line with 12 new products, the PC vendor has also unleashed campaign called What’s your idea of fun?Labeled lifestyle-enablers rather than computing devices, the new product line includes notebooks, netbooks, all-in-ones (AIOs) and desktops.Among the new launches are two new Z-series notebooks—IdeaPad Z460 and IdeaPad Z560;multimedia notebooks IdeaPad Y460 and IdeaPad Y560; netbooks IdeaPad S10-3 Moon and IdeaPad S10-3 Wind; space-saving desktop H320; and four AIOs, IdeaCentre A300, IdeaCentre B500, IdeaCentre B300 and C200. Targeted at the SMB segment, the vendor has also announced ThinkPad Edge desktops with option of 14-inch and 15-inch displays, and two notebooks B460 and V460.
“Lenovo believes in adding value to its consumers’ PC purchases by incorporating many exciting features, rarely seen in such product categories,” said Alex Li, Vice President, Home and SMB, Lenovo India. The products are engineered with features like ergonomically-designed chiclet keyboard, HD display, Dolby headphone technology, JBL speakers, OneKey Theater for enhanced movie experience, Lenovo Quick Start, Lenovo Veriface face recognition and Lenovo OneKey rescue system.
“Lenovo’s strategy for the Indian market is gaining momentum. Since the launch of its consumer brand four years ago, Lenovo has made significant progress in this segment. We believe that the introduction of these feature-rich products across all categories and price bands will go a long way in strengthening Lenovo’s consumer product portfolio in India,” concluded Amar Babu, Managing Director, Lenovo India.

Gigabyte Technology India has introduced a direct DOA (dead on arrival) warranty policy for channels. So far the company was offering DOA service through its distributors, but now this will be directly provided by the company’s national authorized support partners (ASPs), Accel Frontline and Digicare.“Till now a reseller had to go to the dealer and the dealer had to go to the distributor to get the DOA approved and replaced. With direct DOA support, a reseller can henceforth go to the nearest ASP center with an invoice and get the DOA claim approved and processed,” said Rajan Sharma, General Manager, Gigabyte India.The DOA claims apply only to motherboards purchased from Gigabyte’s authorized distributors. A product is deemed DOA if it fails during installation within 45 days of the distributor’s invoice date.The DOA policy is effective from June 21, 2010 in metros, and from July 1, 2010 for other locations in India.

Aten International has announced new addition to its VanCryst Professional Solutions range, audio-video (AV) extender VE200. It allows users to extend the distance between the computer system and the display monitor by up to 150m for video resolutions of 1600x1200 at 60Hz.The VE200 uses Cat 5e cable to connect a local transmitting unit (VE200L) and a remote receiving unit (VE200R). The cabling eliminates bulky traditional cables, and makes for a neat, efficient and uncluttered work environment. With dual AV output, the VE200 supports one local and two remote displays, and offers video quality of up to 1920x1200 at 60Hz at 30m, 1600x1200 at 60Hz at 150m, and 1280x1024 at 60Hz at 200m.The VE200 is equipped with an IR receiver to provide quick and easy video quality adjustment, and also an IR remote control for screen on/off and video adjustment at the remote site. In addition, it provides two RS-232 channels for selection which allows touch screens to be included in the installation, which is especially suitable for interactive.
Priced at Rs 27,000, VE200 is available with Aten’s authorized distributor in India Cubix Micro Systems.

Brocade announced that it has selected Redington India as a national distributor for its complete portfolio of IP/ Ethernet networking solutions.
“Redington’s extensive partner network, credentials and industry experience significantly expand our market penetration potential in India and Saarc, where green field opportunities prevail,” said Charlie Foo, Director, Partner Business Group, Asia-Pacific, Brocade. India represents a significant growth opportunity for Brocade, with an IT market estimated to grow at 13 percent in 2010 for hardware, software and services combined, according to market research firm IDC India. So the distributor agreement with Redington serves as a significant milestone for the storage vendor.As part of its go-to-market strategy, Redington will distribute Brocade IP networking products, which include Layer 2/3 fixed and chassis-based switches, Wireless LAN products, layer 4/7 application delivery switches, network adapters and management systems. Additionally, Redington will also provide Brocade channel partners with pre-sales, technical and post-sales field support, partner rebates, training and channel demand generation activities.“Our partnership with Brocade complements our existing enterprise technology solution vendor portfolio, and also allows us to extend our current end-to-end IT solution expertise and capabilities with mission-critical business continuity and energy efficient solutions,” said Anand Chakravarthy, Head-Strategic Business Unit, Redington India.
Brocade will continue to distribute its storage area networking (SAN) products through Renaissance Softech & Transition Systems. IP/Ethernet networking solutions will also continue to be sold through recently-appointed IP direct VARs SmartLink, Mro-Tek and GLS.

Seems like Lenovo India is pursuing the youth segment rather keenly. In addition to sprucing up its consumer line with 12 new products, the PC vendor has also unleashed campaign called What’s your idea of fun?Labeled lifestyle-enablers rather than computing devices, the new product line includes notebooks, netbooks, all-in-ones (AIOs) and desktops.

Among the new launches are two new Z-series notebooks—IdeaPad Z460 and IdeaPad Z560;multimedia notebooks IdeaPad Y460 and IdeaPad Y560; netbooks IdeaPad S10-3 Moon and IdeaPad S10-3 Wind; space-saving desktop H320; and four AIOs, IdeaCentre A300, IdeaCentre B500, IdeaCentre B300 and C200. Targeted at the SMB segment, the vendor has also announced ThinkPad Edge desktops with option of 14-inch and 15-inch displays, and two notebooks B460 and V460.“Lenovo believes in adding value to its consumers’ PC purchases by incorporating many exciting features, rarely seen in such product categories,” said Alex Li, Vice President, Home and SMB, Lenovo India. The products are engineered with features like ergonomically-designed chiclet keyboard, HD display, Dolby headphone technology, JBL speakers, OneKey Theater for enhanced movie experience, Lenovo Quick Start, Lenovo Veriface face recognition and Lenovo OneKey rescue system.“Lenovo’s strategy for the Indian market is gaining momentum. Since the launch of its consumer brand four years ago, Lenovo has made significant progress in this segment. We believe that the introduction of these feature-rich products across all categories and price bands will go a long way in strengthening Lenovo’s consumer product portfolio in India,” concluded Amar Babu, Managing Director, Lenovo India.

In a bid to further strengthen its display portfolio and grow its market share, Acer India has launched five new TFT monitors—D240H, D241H, B273H, T231H, S243HL.Aimed at the design-conscious, the S243HL, available in black bezel, is thin and light and uses white LED technology for eco-friendly power conservation. The 23-inch T231H features full multi-touch functionality and is compatible with Windows 7. The working angle of this monitor can be adjusted from 5 degrees to 60 degrees to ensure comfort especially during sustained use, whether viewing content or engaging in touch operations. Designed with a hinge mechanism for easy adjustments the display frame is mounted on a crystal-gray foldable allowing the option of wall mounting.A PC monitor, the D241H features Display+ technology which allows Internet connec
tion without a PC. The D240H model has a built-in digital photo frame for displaying photos even when the monitor is not connected to a computer. It is equipped with a card reader, and the 1GB internal storage allows one to save photos on the monitor. This 24-inch full HD monitor sports a bezel and matte-finish rear.
Claimed ideal for office use the B273H monitor features flexible height adjustment, tilt and swivel. Users can tilt the monitor 15 degrees up or 5 degrees down, swivel 35 degrees to the right and to the left, and adjust the height up to 11 cm. Its 16:9 widescreen LCD monitor has a contrast ratio of 80000:1.
“Our Go Big Go Wide strategy has been the driving force in our endeavor to offer the market bigger and wider form factors, and adds value by bringing out the latest technology first to the market. The new models with bigger size and new technology coupled with rich features, stylish looks and attractive pricing, will help Acer maintain our leadership in the segment,” said S Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India. “Since Q3, 2009 we have enjoyed a prime position in the market and the latest IDC India figures peg our market share at 19.5 percent which is an all time high for us in India.”

HP and VMware have jointly introduced integrated storage, desktop and connectivity solutions to help organizations take advantage of cloud computing. The offerings are aimed at helping customers deploy virtualization solutions in Converged Infrastructure framework and transform their data centers to enable cloud computing.HP and VMware have combined VMware vSphere Essentials Plus with the HP P4000 Virtual SAN Appliance (VSA). The HP P4000 is the only software SAN certified as VMware Ready. The new integrated product provides backup and recovery with shared storage capabilities to help SMBs start on the path to cloud-based IT services.
HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) Cluster has been verified to work with VMware vSphere allowing midsize customers to consolidate up to 600 percent more virtualized storage, reduce complexity and lower management costs.
The EVA Cluster enables customers to manage a single resource pool of capacity of up to 2PB (petabyte) and nearly 2,000 drives.The two companies have also jointly launched Converged Infrastructure reference architecture for VMware View featuring the new HP P4800 BladeSystem SAN. This modular server, storage and networking architecture for the enterprise supports 1,600 users at 50 percent less cost and requires 60 percent less space than traditional client virtualization implementations.Also, HP Virtual Connect has been certified to work with VMware vSphere, providing scalability for up to four times more virtual machines per blade, eliminates 95 percent of network access equipment and reduces power and cooling costs by 40 percent with the new HP ProLiant G7 servers.

Corsair Announces New CPU Coolers
Corsair recently announced A50 and A70 CPU coolers aimed at power PCs with specialty applications. The Corsair Cooling Air Series is launched for the first time by Inspan Infotech.Both A50 and A70 are high-performance dual-fan CPU coolers that use thermal engineering technology. They are compatible with all current CPU socket designs, including Intel LGA775, LGA1156 and LGA1366, plus AMD Socket AM2 and Socket AM3.While A50 comes with three 8mm copper direct-contact heat pipes, A70 includes four such heat pipes for efficient heat conduction. The former comes with aluminum fins to make the unit compact and lightweight, for easy installation and maximum airflow.
The A70 has two dual-speed 120mm fans in a push-pull configuration, with multiple speed options allow optimizing the maximum cooling with minimum noise. Rubber mounts reduce noise and vibration.
“These two products are aimed at customer segment that would care for the enhanced performance,” said Sudhir S, Managing Director, Inspan Infotech. “Partners would benefit by creating value customers, who would generally be loyal if found value.”Available with Inspan Infotech, both Corsair A50 and Corsair A70 come with a 2-year warranty and are priced at Rs 3,500 and Rs 4,000 respectively.

Array Networks Launches Remote Desktop Application For iPad
Application delivery software vendor, Array Networks has launched DesktopDirect iPad application that enables full remote desktop access for enterprise users. The solution aims at providing enterprise users direct access to their work computers and all Windows applications via the iPad, without risking data leakage.Designed specifically for the iPad, the solution takes advantage of its full screen size to provide a complete view of remote computer desktops and access to business applications that are not available for the iPad.The application only transmits video, keyboard and mouse information, so Windows compatibility problems and security risks are eliminated completely. Applications and data stay on the office computer, extending existing security and compliance standards to the remote employee’s location.
The DesktopDirect iPad application also supports access for multiple desktops, boosting productivity for even those users managing more than one corporate computer. The application saves time by enabling multi-tasking among corporate computer desktops, and also enables users to access computers when they’re turned off—saving energy costs while providing 24/7 access. “The iPad provides a lightweight, elegant computing platform for consumers,” said Michael Zhao, President and CEO, Array Networks. “With the DesktopDirect iPad application and multi-desktop viewing, businesses can cost-effectively provide those same consumers, who are also their employees, a secure way to get work done from outside the office.”
The DesktopDirect iPad application is currently available on the Apple iTunes Store.