Amazon just announced that Amazon EC2 will soon run Windows Server and SQL Server. The announcement was made to Amazon Web Services developers this morning. This announcement may be partly in response to Microsoft who has been building a hosted development platform of their own. In fact, Microsoft is expected to announce the hosted platform officially at its Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles. Bob Muglia, Senior Vice President of Microsoft's Server and Tools Business, will keynote and is expected to unveil Microsoft's cloud computing solution.

According to an Amazon representative, starting later this Fall, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) will offer you the ability to run Microsoft Windows Server or Microsoft SQL Server. Today, you can choose from a variety of Unix-based operating systems, and soon you will be able to configure your instances to run the Windows Server operating system. In addition, you will be able to use SQL Server as another option within Amazon EC2 for running relational databases.

Amazon EC2 running Windows Server or SQL Server will allow you to deploy ASP.NET web sites, high performance computing clusters, and other Windows-based applications. Amazon said, "By choosing Amazon EC2 as the deployment environment for your Windows-based applications, you will be able to take advantage of Amazon's proven scalability and reliability, as well as the cost-effective, pay-as-you-go pricing model offered by Amazon Web Services."

They added, "Our goal is to support any and all of the programming models, operating systems and database servers that you need for building applications on our cloud computing platform. The ability to run a Windows environment within Amazon EC2 has been one of our most requested features, and we are excited to be able to provide this capability. We are currently operating a private beta of Amazon EC2 running Windows Server and SQL Server."

Check out http://aws.amazon.com/windows if you are interested in being notified later this Fall when the offering is released.

Just a break from your daily VoIP and gadgets news fix to announce my wife is pregnant with our second child.

And in case you were wondering what our first child looks like, here's a few photos of our 2.5 year old daughter Megan, who has perhaps the brightest bluest eyes I've seen in my life - not that I'm biased or anything...

In case you haven't heard, some hackers hacked into Governor Sarah Palin's Yahoo! email account. Some of the emails were posted to Wikileaks.org, a site that posts leaked information. Well, apparently the popularity of Sarah Palin must have brought down Wikileaks, since I can't get to their website.

I'm guessing all the media coverage and pointing to the Wikileaks site must have overwhelmed their website with too much traffic. The Palin Phenomenon continues! Whether you love or hate Sarah, there is no doubt that she has changed the political landscape for this election cycle and perhaps forever. It's quite apparent that conservative women can now also make the national spotlight previously held only by moderate to liberal women (aka Democrats).

here's the URL if you want to be a voyeur and read Sarah's emails. (when the site comes back up that is)

http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin_Yahoo_account_2008

Of course, if you're a conspiracy theorist then President George Bush, the CIA, or the FBI shut down Wikileaks.

Comcast is about to be punished for messing with its customers Internet traffic, including messing with P2P traffic and reportedly even VoIP traffic. Apparently, Comcast making nice nice with Vonage wasn't enough to appease the FCC. This news wire reports that "A majority of members of the Federal Communications Commission have cast votes in favor of punishing Comcast Corp. for blocking subscribers' Internet traffic, an agency official said".

Ouch! Looks like Comcast has finally got their comeuppance!

Some BroadSoft, Fonality, and ITEXPO news all rolled in one. First, TMC put out a release about BroadSoft keynoting the next ITEXPO, the leading VoIP conference:

The energy behind the upcoming ITEXPO West 2008 (www.ITEXPO.com), the industry's only Major Communications event taking place this Fall, continues to grow everyday. The most recent news - Broadsoft CEO, Michael Tessler, has committed to delivering a keynote speech, which will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008, at 3 p.m. at the Los Angeles Convention Center. This news, while significant, is only one of many reasons not to miss this year's conference. For a full agenda, please visit: http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference/west-08/w08-conferences.aspx.

BroadSoft, a SIP-based service provider, also announced today that they've teamed up with Fonality to offer managed IP PBX for service providers. BroadSoft certified that Fonality with BroadWorks, annd Fonality Welcomes BroadSoft into its FACE Program.

Fonality®, the leading provider of open-source phone systems, and BroadSoft Inc., the leading provider of VoIP application software, announced today that the two companies have certified their products to work together, enabling service providers to market and deploy Fonality to their small and medium-sized business (SMB) customers with confidence. BroadSoft®, which provides VoIP applications and SIP trunking to seven of the top 10 and 13 of the 25 largest carriers worldwide, has completed certification of Fonality trixbox® Pro and PBXtra® with BroadWorks®, BroadSoft's industry-leading VoIP application platform for fixed-line and wireless service providers. BroadSoft has also joined the Fonality Authorized Certified Ecosystem (FACE).

BroadWorks offers a range of carrier-grade applications that includes hosted PBX, unified communications, mobile PBX, business trunking, and residential broadband. Fonality products include a family of open-source-based, hybrid-hosted IP PBX offerings tailored for SMBs. By certifying the products together, the companies offer service providers a complete line of hosted and premise-based unified communications offerings for customers of all sizes.

"By collaborating with Fonality, we're giving service providers a way to go to market quickly with fully integrated, market-tested offerings for smaller companies," said Leslie Ferry, Vice President of Marketing for BroadSoft. "Service providers can now take new products to their customers with the confidence that comes from knowing that both companies' solutions will work together seamlessly."

"BroadSoft is the dominant VoIP platform deployed by service providers and MSOs," said Chris Vuillaume, Vice President of Business Development and Channels at Fonality. "Their certification is an important stamp of approval for Fonality products and expands our market opportunity to include Tier 1 and Tier 2 providers."

Fonality business phone systems are designed for modern workplaces, accommodating companies that have a mix of office, mobile and home-based workers. Fonality solutions support both VoIP calling and traditional phone lines, allowing a smooth transition for businesses upgrading their calling services. Its patented, hybrid-hosted architecture allows employee identity to be maintained as they travel between work, home and hotels. Fonality products, when paired with the award-winning HUD® presence software, provide a unified view of Instant Messaging, e-mail and calling for all fixed and mobile workers.

Not to be outdone by technology, Pope Benedict XVI (yes, that Pope) recently sent his first SMS to thousands of World Youth Day pilgrims who signed up to receive divine direction via technology.

And this text messaging will become a daily deed!

As part of the Catholic festival in Australia, Telstra erected eight temporary base stations to allow young pilgrims to send text messages to family and friends.

Four giant digital "prayer wall'' screens have also been erected at the Sydney Opera House, the Domain, Darling Harbour and Randwick Racecourse.

Pilgrims who sign up will also be able to send a message to the giant prayer walls.

Read all about it here.

XO Communications is one of the largest Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) in the country. XO provides voice, data and IP services to businesses and other telecommunications companies in 75 metropolitan markets across the United States. XO Communications offers businesses advanced IP and networking solutions to maximize performance and simplify management of their networks. They also offer SIP services, hosted IP-PBX functionality (the XO One iPBX 50 powered by Avaya IP Office), VoIP origination/termination, SIP trunking, and more.

One of their flagship products, the XO IP VPN is a network-based Wide Area Network (WAN) solution delivered over the XO nationwide IP network. It's a solution aptly suited to businesses with multiple sites. The IP VPN is an advanced network allowing for faster application deployment, lower network operating costs, robust Class of Service (CoS) capabilities, and more access options than traditional WAN services.

Further, the data is segregated from other customers and the public internet. Importantly, XO offers competitive Service Level Agreements (SLAs) on packet loss and jitter.XO provides secure communications for multi-site networks, delivered over the XO private, MPLS-enabled IP backbone.

I find it interesting that XO uses IP MPLS services rather than Ethernet VPLS services. IP MPLS uses multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) over a public or private Internet connection. The advantage is that it an support any-to-any connectivity with CoS/QoS. MPLS's class of service (CoS) tagging and prioritization of network traffic, makes it easy to specify which applications should have priority. Packet classification makes an MPLS network especially important to customers that need to ensure the performance of low-latency applications such as VoIP. Additionally, MPLS carriers can offer tiered prices for each CoS tier. The disadvantage of MPLS is that it's a costly transition and complex operation.

Ethernet VPLS services on the other hand use virtual private LAN service (VPLS) over a carrier Ethernet network to provide a WAN that is configured like a LAN. The advantage is that it's simple, supports any-to-any connectivity with CoS/QoS and has lower total cost of ownership (TCO) than MPLS. But if XO built out their IP MPLS infrastructure already, it probably doesn't make sense to switch to Ethernet VPLS.

In any event, XO utilizes a nationwide OC-192 Tier 1 network along with a sizable fiber optic network, including an 18,000 route-mile inter-city network and more than 9,000 route-miles within 40 major metropolitan markets. XO claims they carry more than 15 billion minutes of VoIP traffic across its network each year.

The XO MPLS IP VPN service is a network-based Wide Area Network (WAN) solution delivered over the XO nationwide IP network. The IP VPN offers multi-site businesses more bandwidth for the dollar, faster application deployment, lower network operating costs, robust Class of Service.

Finally, XO has an IP VPN channel on TMCnet worth checking out with some good resources on IP VPNs. It includes a link for signing up for an IP VPN newsletter, news on various IP VPN industry happenings, IP VPN whitepapers, webcasts, and customer profiles. Go check it out.

Microsoft will start selling its Office programs to consumers on a subscription basis starting in mid-July. According to the news, it's a a bid to reach "thrifty PC buyers" who would otherwise pass on the software.

The software bundle, formerly code-named "Albany" , includes Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, giving them the latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Additionally it comes with Microsoft's Live OneCare computer security software, Windows Live tools, such as Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Photo Gallery, and will be sold at Circuit City stores for $69.99 per year.

Bryson Gordon, a group product manager for the Office group, said in an interview that the agreement with Circuit City Stores Inc. is not exclusive, and that the bundle will be available at other retailers and on PCs sold by the likes of Dell Inc. in the future.

The Microsoft Equipt bundle includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, plus OneCare and a handful of existing free Windows Live applications.

Buying those programs the traditional way would cost about $200. Further the news says consumers who want to replace Office 2007 with "Office 14," rumored to be set for a 2009 release, would have to pay full price and not an upgrade price. That should rankle a few feathers if indeed true. Contrast that with the subscription model, where upgrading to a new version is included in the annual cost.

Obviously, with security & anti-virus features built into OneCare, this also puts Equipts squarely in the sights of popular subscription-based security programs such as McAfee and Symantec. It's worth mentioning that Equipt can be installed on up to three computers.

Of course, for free you can install and use Open Office for your Office productivity suite. Then you can install ClamAV, a free open source anti-virus tool, or even AVG Free Edition. So if Microsoft is targeting the "thrifty" they may not get many takers. Then again, people will pay for stuff if it's good quality and cheap.

Check out Microsoft's site for more

Starbucks, the gourmet coffee retailer said today that it had drastically increased the number of stores it plans to close, citing in part continued weakness in the U.S. economy. Starbucks now plans to close 600 stores in the United States, up from its previous plans to close 100 stores. Additionally, StarBucks said it now plans to open fewer than 200 stores in its coming fiscal year.

Apparently, with high prices for oil, gas, and food, something had to give -- luxury items like $4 cups of coffee were apparently the first to go.

Where does one get a caffeine fix now? I guess Dunkin Donuts. Wonder how their stock is doing today? Probably shot up.

Also, I wonder if high oil prices wasn't the cause, but perhaps this...

The entire cocoa genome (DNA) is being sequenced and analyzed as part of a project to help create stronger, healthier cocoa crops. Cocoa, of course s the key ingredient in chocolate. Through the collaboration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), IBM and the world's largest chocolate company Mars, scientists hope to increase the crop's yield, as well as pest and disease resistance and increased water and nutrient use efficiency. While cocoa is not grown in the U.S., IBM reports for every dollar of cocoa imported, between one and two dollars of domestic agricultural products (like corn and wheat) are used in the making of chocolate products. This is the first time all three entities, USDA-ARS, IBM and Mars, have collaborated on a crop-related project.

A stronger, healthier genetically modified cocoa bean that results in more chocolate supply and therefore cheaper chocolate is all well & good, but if you mess with the flavor, you will die. No seriously. I will hunt you down and I will kill you. Ok, I jest... a little. Me a chocoholic? You betcha!