Simplifying IT Management
Hewlett-Packard’s HP OneView simplifies IT management by
providing software-defined templates that provide users with faster
provisioning, greater consistency and fewer errors. These templates
include software-defined resources, such as workflows, scripts, configuration profiles and groups, allowing administrators to capture
best practices in networking, storage, hardware configuration and
operating system build and configuration, while still allowing for
customization specific to the environment they want to build. HP
OneView’s software-defined templates give administrators the ability
to specify the desired configuration of their environment and then let
HP OneView automate the process of making it happen, guaranteeing
compliance and consistency.
◗ Hewlett-Packard, www.hp.com
Radiation Emergency Training in an App
Image Insight Inc.’s GammaPix Sim App ushers a new paradigm
in training first responders to address radiation-related emergencies.
Current training methods for such high-concern events are inadequate due to source-strength limitations associated with safety, cost
and logistic constraints. Radioactivity emergency response training
is usually conducted with live sources at special locations. The Coun-terterrorism Operations Support (CTOS) Center for Radiological/
Nuclear Training at the Nevada National Security Site offers training designed “to prevent, mitigate or respond to terrorists use of
radiological or nuclear weapons of mass destruction.” Except for
awareness-level and online courses, all CTOS courses use radioactive material. For safety reasons, the sources are much smaller than
those encountered in real emergencies. GammaPix Sim installed on
unmodified smartphones, together with GammaPix Command serv-er-side software, complements such training by providing real-time
communication and realistically sized simulated sources. The system
allows real-time monitoring of the first responder’s and the incident
commander’s performance/training. Exercises can be conducted
safely, at low cost and with maximum convenience, at users’ specific
locations.
◗ Image Insight Inc., www.imageinsightinc.com
Text Flash
Studies show that television viewers are distracted by mobile devices
every two to four minutes. To help bridge the discontinuity between
traditional and mobile media, the Institute for Information Industry’s 2TVNow platform allows audiences to automatically receive
synchronized and contextually relevant contents on their connected
smart devices while they watch TV. 2TVNow has an easy-to-use
content management system for content providers and advertisers to
deliver compelling companion experiences for their programs and ad
campaigns. 2TVNow technology automatically recognizes the content
which TV viewers are watching on big screen, and delivers relevant
services to the viewers’ second screen synchronously.
◗ Institute for Information Industry, www.iii.org.tw
Public Transit on Demand
Existing public transportation services are generally based on regular
operation of transit vehicles along a route based on pre-defined stops
and schedules according to a published public transport timetable.
The major challenge of existing public transportation services is
pre-defined transportation services aren’t flexible enough to meet
diversified user requirements. A regular bus service may not be as
viable for disabled passengers. Developed by the Institute for Information Industry (III), Bus on Demand (BOD) is aimed at bringing
on-demand features to public transportation by providing passengers
with stop-to-stop (near door-to-door) services with bus fares. Under
the sponsorship of the Taichung city government in Taiwan, BOD has
been adopted by Ubus, a municipal bus company, as “Bright-1” for trials in Taichung Industrial Park for making convenience trip for commuters. The results show signs of improvement over passenger experience and fleet operations. As a result, the BOD service provides more
effective, efficient and personalized public transportation services.
◗ Institute for Information Industry, www.iii.org.tw
Energy Management System
Achieving the goal of supplying power using 100% renewable energy,
the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research’s INER Energy Management System (iEMS) can efficiently and intelligently regulate renewable energy generation, load demand response and battery charging
to smoothly operate in standalone and grid-tied modes. Additionally,
iEMS can collect data from microgrid systems and use them to make
decisions on power charging mechanism by considering battery life
and load demand response to enable long-term standalone operation. Provided the system operates under the proposed management
modes, the power required by load can be completely and stably
supplied by renewable energy generation. Currently, the system is
employed at the intelligent microgrid demonstration site of Linpien
Wetland in Pingtung County in Taiwan.
◗ Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, www.iner.gov.tw
Workflow Sharing
The cost of bringing a new drug to FDA submission is nearly $3
billion. A key component is experimental reproducibility and data
integrity. Label Independent Inc.’s Visual Assay allows scientists to
capture experimental methods in real time and communicate it to
improve reproducibility. Visual Assay is a tablet-based collaboration
tool used for method workflow development and managing, capturing and sharing assay data in real time. It fosters communication, collaboration and integration between research scientists and managers,
internally and externally. Visual Assay is compatible with existing data
and compound management tools. Developed by scientists for scientists, Visual Assay is designed to support scientists, lab managers and
IT departments in life science, health care and business operations.
◗ Label Independent Inc., www.LabelIndependent.com
Mass Spec on the Web
Using cutting-edge mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) technology,
scientists can study tissues, cell cultures and bacterial colonies in
unprecedented detail at the molecular level. As the mass and spatial
resolution of these instruments increase over time, so do the number of pixels in MS images and the size of the data sets. Most MSI
data sets range from tens of gigabytes to several terabytes in size.
The massive size of these data sets means very basic tasks become
insurmountable challenges. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s OpenMSI is a Cloud-based platform that allows users to
