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A federal appeals court handed Google a setback in a patent fight on Wednesday, Dec 26, tossing out part of a summary judgment in Google’s favor in a lawsuit filed by Hyperphrase Technologies.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit revived part of HyperPhrase Technologies’ lawsuit, throwing out a lower court ruling that Google’s AutoLink feature didn’t infringe the company’s patents.

As part of the Google toolbar, AutoLink gives users more information than standard links. It recognizes data such as addresses and book titles, then provides links to online maps or books at Amazon.com.

The appeals court ruled that Google’s immensely profitable AdSense did not infringe on Hyperphrase’s patents. It handed down a split decision on AutoLink, agreeing that Google did not infringe, as claimed, on one of the Hyperphrase patents. But it vacated a summary judgment in Google’s favor on two others and sent it back to the Wisconsin district court.

HyperPhrase claimed in an April 2006 suit that Google used its inventions without permission. It sought cash compensation and an order blocking Mountain View, Calif.-based Google from using the technology.

More at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruling here (in pdf).

BRACKNELL, UK –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 21, `07 — Dell has signed an agreement to acquire privately held The Networked Storage Company (TNWSC), a leading IT consultancy, that specializes in transitioning customers to proven, simplified and cost-efficient IT data storage solutions.

Terms were not disclosed and the purchase will not be final until all closing conditions are met. TNWSC is based in Epsom, United Kingdom.

TNWSC’s unique Point of Proof methodology provides an auditable end-to-end process to evaluate, select and implement proven solutions that deliver robust, simplified and cost-effective IT infrastructures.

The approach, primarily implemented with storage networks, can be extended across the entire IT environment, helping to reduce overall costs and complexity of IT infrastructure maintenance and management. TNWSC has a blue chip customer base including several of Europe’s leading

More at BusinessWire, Dell.com/ics.

SANTA CLARA, Calif — On Tuesday Dec 18, Intel released a software initiator package to drive the development of Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) solutions for the Linux operating system.

FCoE is a proposed specification that will allow Fibre Channel SAN traffic to run over Ethernet. By consolidating LAN and SAN traffic onto a single fabric, FCoE will simplify network infrastructure in the datacenter.

The FCoE software package is now available for download at Open-FCoE.org and can be modified according to the terms of the GPLv2 license. As part of the package, Intel has included a target simulator, so Linux developers can test and modify the FCoE software stack. Open-FCoE.org is open to all FCoE developers for source code download, code contribution and feedback.

Cisco Systems submitted the initial FCoE proposal to the Fibre Channel standards body, T11, in April. As a member of the T11, Intel is committed to working with Cisco and other companies to drive industry enablement of FCoE.

“Fiber Channel over Ethernet will be a key capability for our customers offering seamless server and storage access in the data center,” said Jayshree Ullal, senior vice president of the Data Center, Switching and Services Group at Cisco Systems. “The emergence of 10 Gigabit Ethernet bandwidth combined with Cisco’s proposed extensions to Ethernet, enables a lossless and resilient fabric for Data Center I/O consolidation. Cisco is pleased to see Intel taking a leadership role in FCoE.”

The new FCoE initiator code is based on a specification being developed by the T11 in the FC-BB-5 work group. The FCoE specification is expected to be completed in 2008. More at Intel.

On Dec 13, Udi Manber, VP Engineering at Google announced - Knol - a knowledge project.

On official Google blog he elaborates, “The web contains an enormous amount of information, and Google has helped to make that information more easily accessible by providing pretty good search facilities. But not everything is written nor is everything well organized to make it easily discoverable.

There are millions of people who possess useful knowledge that they would love to share, and there are billions of people who can benefit from it. We believe that many do not share that knowledge today simply because it is not easy enough to do that. The challenge posed to us by Larry, Sergey and Eric was to find a way to help people share their knowledge. This is our main goal.”

Manber further goes on, “Earlier this week, we started inviting a selected group of people to try a new, free tool that we are calling “Knol“, which stands for a unit of knowledge. Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it.

The tool is still in development and this is just the first phase of testing. For now, using it is by invitation only. But we wanted to share with everyone the basic premises and goals behind this project.

The key idea behind the knol project is to highlight authors.

At the heart, a knol is just a web page; we use the word “knol” as the name of the project and as an instance of an article interchangeably.

It is well-organized, nicely presented, and has a distinct look and feel, but it is still just a web page. Google will provide easy-to-use tools for writing, editing, and so on, and it will provide free hosting of the content. Writers only need to write; we’ll do the rest.

Once testing is completed, participation in knols will be completely open, and we cannot expect that all of them will be of high quality. Our job in Search Quality will be to rank the knols appropriately when they appear in Google search results.

We are quite experienced with ranking web pages, and we feel confident that we will be up to the challenge. We are very excited by the potential to substantially increase the dissemination of knowledge.

We do not want to build a walled garden of content; we want to disseminate it as widely as possible. Google will not ask for any exclusivity on any of this content and will make that content available to any other search engine.

As always, a picture is worth a thousands words, so an example of a knol is here.” More at Official GoogleBlog.

REDMOND, Wash — Dec 13, `07 — Microsoft this morning delivered a holiday surprise for customers and partners, unveiling a public beta for its hypervisor-based server virtualization technology called Hyper-V, a feature with some versions of Windows Server 2008.

Customers and partners today can download Windows Server 2008 RC1 Enterprise with the beta version of Hyper-V to evaluate the new technology, test applications and plan future consolidation, business continuity and high-availability projects. The beta was previously expected to be ready in the first quarter of 2008 with the release to manufacturing (RTM) of Windows Server 2008. The beta is available for download at Microsoft.com/ws08eval.

Windows Server 2008 Moves Closer to Launch
The release of the Hyper-V beta marks another significant milestone for Windows Server 2008 as it approaches final release by the “Heroes Happen Here” launch in Los Angeles on Feb. 27, 2008. The launch, featuring Windows Server 2008, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, will mark the largest enterprise launch for the Redmond, Wash.-based company and is just one of many events planned for a worldwide rollout. So far, almost 2 million customers around the world have obtained Windows Server 2008 evaluation code.

More at Microsoft.

Boise, Idaho — Micron Technology on Wednesday, Dec 12, announced production sampling of its new 1Gb DDR2 device fabricated on 68-nanometer DRAM process technology.

The new process, coupled with Micron’s 6F² technology, has enabled the world’s smallest production 1Gb DDR2 memory with a die size of just 56mm². Mass production of its new 68nm 1 Gb DDR2 products is expected to begin early next year, with DDR3 and other low-power DRAM products expected to follow in the second half of the year.

This new advanced memory technology will be targeted at server, mobile and other computing applications where the benefits of reduced die size, faster speeds and lower power consumption are most critical.

Upcoming DDR3 products developed on the new process will allow for speeds up to 1600 megabits per second (Mbps). The 68nm process also provides approximately 20 percent lower power consumption when compared to previous process generations.

Future DDR3 chips designed on the 68nm process will join Micron’s Aspen Memory family of energy-efficient products, which are specifically designed for applications where power reduction is desired such as data center servers and notebook computers. More at Micron.

OAKLAND, Calif — Ask.com a search engine owned by IAC on Tuesday, Dec 11, announced the launch of AskEraser, the first product to give consumers privacy control over their online searches.

When enabled by the user, AskEraser completely deletes all future search queries and associated cookie information from Ask.com servers, including IP address, User ID, Session ID, and the complete text of their queries.

An AskEraser link is featured prominently in the upper right corner of the Ask.com homepage and search results pages - clearly and constantly indicating to the user that their search activity will be ‘erased’ from Ask.com servers. AskEraser remains ‘on’ for searches conducted across Ask.com’s major search verticals: Web, Images, AskCity, News, Blogs, Video, and Maps & Directions - and can be turned ‘on’ or ‘off’ by the user at anytime.

“For people who worry about their online privacy, AskEraser now gives them control of their search information,” said Jim Lanzone, CEO of Ask.com. “AskEraser is simple, straightforward, and easy-to-use. It is an idea whose time has come.”

Earlier this year, Ask.com also announced that it is implementing a new data retention policy to disassociate search history from IP address and User ID after 18 months.

In addition, Ask.com has taken steps to further industry collaboration and dialogue on privacy issues. In July, Ask.com and Microsoft joined together in urging the online industry to develop global privacy principles for data collection, use and protection related to searching and online advertising.

AskEraser launched Tuesday in the United States and in the United Kingdom - and will be deployed globally in 2008. More at Ask.com.

Microsoft delivers next milestone for highly anticipated Windows Server 2008, makes RC1 (release candidate one) ready for testing; industry readies for worldwide launch wave with “Heroes Happen Here” launch theme.

REDMOND, Wash — Dec 5, 2007 — Reaching a major milestone in development, Microsoft today made available the Windows Server 2008 release candidate one (RC1) for customers to download and evaluate.

In addition, Microsoft committed more than $150 million (U.S.) worldwide for outreach and demand generation to IT professionals and developers, and disclosed additional details and partner programs in preparation for the “Heroes Happen Here” launch events, beginning on Feb. 27, 2008, in Los Angeles.

Windows Server 2008 RC1
Windows Server 2008, which is scheduled to release to manufacturing (RTM) by the Feb. 27 launch event, reached the RC1 milestone today and is available to customers for download at Microsoft.com/ws08eval.

With RC1, Microsoft is enhancing Group Policy with Group Policy Preferences, formerly known as PolicyMaker Standard Edition and Policy Share Manager. As the code approaches final signoff, RC1 is one of the last opportunities for customers and partners to evaluate it and provide feedback. So far, more than 1.8 million customers have obtained Windows Server 2008 evaluation code.

Industry Partners Kick Off Windows Server 2008 Launch Wave
As the industry gears up for the new enterprise and developer platform, thousands of industry partners have been working with Microsoft on product testing and evaluation, and are currently developing new applications, device drivers, services and solutions.

Ten partners in particular — Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Citrix Systems, Dell, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, Intel, Quest Software, SAP AG and Unisys — have already invested significant time and resources to be platinum sponsors of the upcoming launch, demonstrating their strong support for and excitement about Microsoft’s next-generation products.

To date more than 140,000 IT professionals and developers have been trained on Windows Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008, and 3,100 certifications have been granted on Windows Server 2008. More at Microsoft.

Round Rock, Texas — Nov 27, ‘07 — Dell today will help simplify enterprise search for U.S. customers by selling the Google Search Appliance and the Google Mini , through Dell’s direct corporate and public sales organizations ( see dell.com/googlesearch).

The Google Search Appliance starts at $30,000 and the Google Mini starts at $1,995. Both search appliances are covered by Google warranty and support services.

“Google’s turnkey search appliances align well with Dell’s priority to simplify information technology in the data center”, said Terry Klein, Dell vice president, Americas Advanced Solutions Group

The Google Search Appliance, with its distinctive bezel and yellow chassis, is designed for larger enterprises, while the blue Google Mini is targeted for the small and medium business market.

These appliances deliver relevant search results from information sources within a company’s firewall. Companies can also design their own interface that users recognize from their familiarity with Google.com, without compromising existing corporate security requirements.

Since 2006, Dell’s OEM Industry Solutions Group has coordinated with Google on the customization of Dell PowerEdgeTM 2950 servers to form the foundation for the yellow Google Search Appliance (GSA). More at Dell, Dell.com/GoogleSearch.

Reuters is reporting on EU’s Google probe. “The European Union’s data watchdog will take another few months to decide whether Google Inc or other Web search engines may be violating EU privacy laws, a participant in the watchdog’s meeting said on Wednesday.The EU body, made up of national protection supervisors of the bloc’s 27 member states, said earlier this year that Google seemed to be failing to respect EU privacy and expanded its investigation in June to other Web search engines.

“We have written to Google to say that we are continuing our work, that it is not limited to Google, and that we will adopt an opinion at the beginning of 2008,” the official said after the so-called Article 29 Committee met on Wednesday.

“We want to adopt a comprehensive opinion, saying how long they can keep data, and which ones,” the official said.

When users carry out searches, Google gathers information about their tastes, interests and beliefs that could potentially be used by third parties, such as advertisers, but the company says it never passes on the data.

Google wrote to the EU data watchdog in June saying the company was ready to curtail the time it stored user data to a year and a half.

More at Reuters…

Jeremy Reimer of ARS Technica writes detailed article on Google patent “Datacenter-In-A-Shipping-container” which is similar to Sun’s Project BlackBox. “Google has received a patent from the USPTO for the concept of a “mobile datacenter” stored in a standard shipping container and equipped with multiple racks of high-powered servers with its own internal cooling system.The patent, which was originally filed on December 30, 2003, by Google employees William H. Whitted and Gerald Aigner, sounds very similar to Sun’s Project Blackbox, which currently exists in real life and not just on paper. One difference in the patent is that whereas Blackbox consists of a single mobile data center, Google’s idea is for “at least one modular computing module” with “an interconnecting module to interconnect a plurality of the modular computing modules.” Other than that, many of the aspects of the design are similar: configurable rackspace for servers with human access, an integrated power and cooling system to feed the beast, and the configuration of the shipping container for transport. According to Robert Cringely, the idea may have originally come from Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive, as a way of replicating the archive around the world.”

Also on the same story Martin Veitch of theInquirer writes, “GOOGLE HAS gained a US patent for a modular datacentre, suggesting a possible move into IT services, or perhaps more likely, a way to build internal efficiency.According to the patent, “The modular design enables the modules to be cost effectively built at a factory and easily transported to and deployed at a data center site.” Sun’s Blackbox got a lot of press last year as an elegant, branded crate (or as elegant a crate as a crate can be) but these things have been around for a long time with big IT firms offering similar services on customer demand.

So how come Google got the patent? Maybe because it’s working with Sun so closely that it was involved in Blackbox design? Maybe because others saw the concept as not patent-able? Or because they felt that other patents will have predated it? One of these, a combination or some, or, quite possibly, none of the above would appear to be the answer.

The intriguing long-shot possibility is that Google will make a stealth move into IT services. Disguised by the infinite riches of search and ad-related revenue, Google is already building a sizeable enterprise business with search appliances, Google Docs productivity programs, and geospatial software. It recently signed a deal with services giant Capgemini to push Docs to big business.”

More at ARS Technica, theInquirer…