I first got my IBM High Rate Wireless LAN Gateway in late 2001 and have been using it non-stop ever since.  This was back in the heady days of wireless when 802.11b was the hottest thing going, with 802.11a on the horizon.  With my ThinkPad T23 (one of the best ThinkPads ever) and its built in Wi-Fi capabilities, I wanted to be able to connect wirelessly at home.

If you ever owned this gateway, you know that it was built like a tank.  It was manufactured for IBM by Delta and contained a firewall with stateful packet inspection – high falutin’ language saying that it was darn secure against hackers of the day (and still pretty effective today too).

It’s been a silent companion ever since.  Aside from an occasional pull on the power plug to recycle it, the thing just works.  And yet its time has come, for I’m trying out a new piece of Lenovo Hardware, our recently announced IdeaCentre D400 Home Server.

Long time readers will know that I’ve played around with the idea of getting NAS (Network Attached Storage) box before.  I never actually got anything.  I never could find one that I liked that had all of the features I wanted.  Not to mention, the prices for NAS are outrageous for what you get.

When our D400 became available, I jumped at the chance to try it out.  The specs are modest:  Atom N230 processor, two 1 TB drives, 1GB of memory, Gigabit Ethernet, all running Windows Home Server (based on Windows Server 2003 code).  It doesn’t sound like much, but a home server is not designed to be a computing machine.  No, a Home Server is designed to be a storage and media serving machine.  To accomplish this task, it has hot swap bays for four-2TB drives for a mind blowing total of 8TB of potential storage capacity.  (I don’t see why drives bigger than 2TB wouldn’t work too.)  Plus, unlike most NAS solutions, the drives don’t have to be matched, so I have a lot of flexibility for future expansion options.

When properly configured, this IdeaCentre D400 Home Server should be capable of multiple things. 

1. It will silently and automatically back up all of my home computers, allowing for a complete bare metal restore.  It will keep multiple incremental backups and age them automatically.
2. It will aggregate, index, and distribute all kinds of media – pictures, music, videos, TV shows etc. and then stream them to any PC on my network that asks for them
3. I can set it up as a bit torrent client, keeping all of that traffic off of my main PCs.
4. I can access everything remotely using a password protected login, so I’ve got access to anything anywhere.  This should prove to be quite useful for long hotel nights in foreign hotel rooms where I can’t sleep and my only TV choices are between Al Jazeera and Italian soap operas with German sub titles.
5. I’m not sure if I can set it up as a print server yet.  I hope so.

I say “should” because my promise of value has yet to be realized. It is not the D400’s fault. I place the blame on my router.  It was developed in a much simpler time before UPnP, WPA encryption (I’m running WEP) and Gigabit Ethernet.

Setting the D400 up required a bit of homework.  Evidently my Motorola cable modem likes to act as a DHCP server in certain cases.  I wasn’t able to get my home server recognized until I unplugged my cable modem.  (I only had to do that for initial setup.  Every time since, my network configures properly.)

Once setup, since my router is not UPnP capable, I would have had to configure it manually for remote access.  The directions give some help, but mostly assume that you have an UPnP router (most of them are), so they weren’t quite as helpful as I would have liked.  Rather than mess with it, I just laid that idea aside for a while.

I tried multiple times to get a base backup of my main PC.  The backup would launch, but it never would complete.  I realize that 600GB+ sounds like a lot to copy, but it really isn’t that much.  However, a 100Mb connection requires HOURS to move that much data. The backup would get about 60% complete and then die when something went into low power mode.

After the third failed backup, I came to the conclusion that for this to be practical, I really needed Gigabit Ethernet.  Add to this my lack of UPnP support, and I decided that my best bet was to get a new router. 

If you haven’t used it before, I highly recommend SmallNetBuilder.  It has the most comprehensive set of wireless router reviews that I’ve found.  I finally decided on a Netgear WNDR3700 series router for its high throughput and dual band capabilities.  This was important to me for several reasons:  One, I don’t want to upgrade again for a while.  Two, I want to try to stream media to a Lenovo IdeaCentre Q700 Home Theater PC.  I need good wireless streaming capability because the WAF (wife acceptance factor) precludes me from stringing Ethernet cable around the house.  I also picked up a refurbished 802.11n USB Linksys wireless adapter which seemed reasonable for $30.  (More on the Q700 in a future post.)

The router should arrive late this week and I’ll try again to get everything working. In the meantime, I’ve been busying myself learning about power management for Home Servers.  I definitely will not leave this machine on 24/7.  Lenovo’s D400 does ship with a highly regarded LightsOut plugin for Home Server which will power down the server on a schedule.  That said, I am concerned with how much power it draws in operation.  I’ll probably hook up a KillAWatt meter to see how much.

More to come on this.

As I promised after the last Windows 7 Enhanced Experience post, we are following it up with a second installment.  We also know that there will be lots of discussion and questions, so I’ve worked conjunction with Mark Hopkins to continue the discussion on our Lenovo forums in a limited time “event.”  To help make this more than just an average collection of topics, we’ve arranged for engineers and other experts to regularly log on and help answer your questions.

To whet your appetite, here are two clips to kick it off.

In this first clip, you’ll find out more specifics of makes Lenovo’s Windows 7 Enhanced Experience different from other vendors.  This isn’t just a marketing claim.

Learn about all of the work done to improve Lenovo’s ThinkVantage Technologies.

Over on the boards, I’ve posted clips from that interview covering the following topics:

• Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)
• Older Think systems and Windows 7
• Machines bought with Vista with a free upgrade to Windows 7
• Why Lenovo’s Windows 7 Experience is different from other vendors
• Specific examples of Lenovo’s Enhanced Experience work
• Enhanced Experience and ThinkVantage Technologies tuned for speed
• “Crapware”
• Info for corporate customers and those that “blow away the preload”
• “Delay” isnt’ a marketing term
• Beyond today’s Enhanced Experience and looking ahead to Windows 8
• One more thing…

I realize that some of you will want to see all of these clips in one video vs. watching them in separate sections.  I’ll post one joined video after a suitable time.  For now, I’m keeping them separate to hopefully get you to browse the forums and engage with the community.

Come join in the discussion on Lenovo’s Windows 7 Enhanced Experience and watch the rest of the videos there.  (You’ll find all of them together on page 1 of the thread.)

Also, John Mese has put together this summary chart.  Refer back to it after watching the videos and you’ll be able to understand exactly which Enhanced Experience benefits you can expect on your Lenovo system.

Thanks for joining us today.

If there is interest, we plan to do a second installment with another engineer who has worked closely on the “velocity” project.  Let us know your questions and we’ll try to get some of them answered.

Many of our business customers don’t care about benchmarks as Microsoft Office is fast enough as it is.  But nearly everyone wants faster boot and reboot speed.  They also want their system to shut down  and suspend faster.

Rebooting is a fact of life.  Install a new piece of hardware and odds are that you’ll have to reboot.  If Adobe decides to push down the fifth Acrobat security patch in a week, you’ll have to reboot.  Sun Java updater – reboot.  Anti-virus patch that goes beyond virus updates, reboot. 

You get my point.

Now imagine you’re a corporate user whose IT team has just rolled out a full hard drive software encryption product.  Statistically you’ve got a 3 year old notebook with a 5400 rpm drive running Windows XP.  I pity you.  Your average boot time just went from 3.5 minutes to over 6.  Your shutdown takes three minutes.  You reboot an average of three times per week.  In other words, in round numbers, waiting for your PC to shut down and start up is costing you an hour of your life per work week.

Conservatively, $20/hr. employee x 1 hr/week lost productivity x 4 hours/month x 12 months/year, means that you’re paid $960 a year just to wait for your PC.  Your company has a thousand workers just like you and is therefore wasting just under $1 million per year because none of them can work done because they’re all waiting for their PCs.  No wonder coffee at the office canteen costs so much.  Your company has to recoup the cost of all of you not doing anything.  (Corrected to fix a stupid math error.  Thanks MathGuy!)

Even in a Windows 7 world, reboots are not going away, but they can be made significantly faster.  To that end, our software engineers have been hard at work tuning our preload so that Lenovo machines running Windows 7 will have some of the lowest boot and shutdown times in the industry.

At Intel’s Developer Forum last week, the Phoenix BIOS team showed a proof of concept system which loaded Windows 7 in under 10 seconds!  I doubt your ThinkPad will be quite that fast, but personally, I’m able to reboot in well under a minute using our standard customer preload.

Take a look at the scale of these improvements below.  Since our preloads and benchmarks are not yet final, I had to cut off the scale of these charts (sorry).  But even just looking at the length of the lines tells a good story. 

• T400s (notebook) – Using an SSD will give you the best performance overall – even better than most desktops.
• SL410 (notebook)– This machine used a spinning drive and boot time was reduced by about one third.
• A58/M58e (desktop) – Compared to running XP, boot time is cut roughly in half
• M58p (desktop) – This is our vPro enabled desktop tuned more for corporate stability/manageability than speed.  Still, using Windows 7 makes this class of machine scream.

The Intel Developer Forum example above suggests some BIOS tweaks you can do to speed up your boot time.  First, if you’re a home user and have a Centrino Pro or vPro system, go into BIOS and turn off iAMT (vPro) support.  On a corporate network, vPro can provide significant benefits.  For a home user, it’s worthless.  By doing so, you’ll save about 2 seconds of boot time. 

While you’re in BIOS, look at your boot device list.  Do you REALLY still need your system to search for an LS-120 drive on startup?  How about that USB floppy?  All an average user really needs is boot support for DVD drives, USB memory sticks, and their HDD.  Your system will go through line by line of each of these items until it finds something with a boot sector.  This adds boot time.

If you’re a Lenovo user, you can usually just set the system to boot from the HDD only.  If you need to boot from a memory stick (or anything else) you can always press F12 when you turn your system on and boot from anything you’d like.

Last, if  you don’t need serial or parallel port support, turn those off too.  They’re legacy ports which require certain amounts of hardware initialization in a specific order which also takes time.  I can’t promise you’ll notice the difference, but why encumber yourself if you don’t have to?

Oh, and one last thing – if you’re running a modern system with Windows 7, in my opinion, don’t bother with Microsoft’s “Hybrid Sleep” or hibernation any longer.  On the rare times I turn my system off, I’ve found that rebooting my system is far faster than coming out of hibernate.  Plus I get the benefits of a fresh start. I suspect you’ll notice the same.

When we announced the ThinkPad T400s several weeks ago, we also announced our new ThinkPad Series 3 docking solutions.  As we refresh our ThinkPad lineup with new 2010 models, all of them that feature full bottom docking connectors will use this new design.  Unfortunately, the newer ThinkPads won’t be able to use the older docking stations and vice versa.  However, the change does allow us to make some significant improvements.

What’s new:

• Usability – The new Port Replicator, Mini Dock, and Mini Dock Plus all feature pressure plates that firmly anchor the system in place.  When docked on one of these, the ThinkPad feels much more solid and does not rock back and forth.
• Technology – The Mini Dock and the Mini Dock Plus are mainly about adding advanced digital video capabilities.  The Mini Dock Plus has dual Display Ports and dual DVI ports.  Only two are active at a time, but we now have a solution to support up to six displays from the back of your ThinkPad with the new Lenovo USB to DVI Monitor Adapter.  The Mini Dock Plus also features an eSATA port.
• Rip and Go – This has been a much requested feature.  As you may recall, legacy ports such as parallel and serial require operating system permission before they will disconnect.  New technologies like USB do not have this limitation.  By eliminating serial/parallel ports, we no longer needed three step undocking (push button, wait, undock).  You can simply rip your system from the dock and go.

What’s missing:

• Serial and Parallel ports – good riddance.  As mentioned, their removal allows us to add Rip and Go capability
• PCI-e slot on the Dock – Now that there are USB options that perform this job well, this isn’t needed any longer.  Plus, we never did a great job with PCI video anyway
• Ultrabay – Most people did not use this capability.  It made the Dock huge in size.  Optical drives are built into most systems.  eSATA allows high speed external storage attachment
• 6 in 1 media card reader (dock) – No matter how many-in-one readers we have, we never seemed to have the right reader.  Since many systems now come with optional SD card readers, this is duplicate functionality.
• S/PDIF – Was anyone actually using this on their notebooks?  (I’m sure someone will write in and say yes.)

If you would like to see more, I put together a four minute video comparing the Series 3 Port Replicator, Mini Dock, and Mini Dock Plus.  I’ve also included information about the USB to DVI Monitor Adapter as well.

USB Port Replicator with Digital Video

This is a brand new category of USB port replicators.  Prior to now, there was only one other USB solution available that would offer digital video output.  Every other device in this category has analog video output.  They also tend to offer sub-par video performance.

This device is different.  It features an integrated DVI port supporting 1920×1200 resolution.  Our options team worked very hard to make sure that the video output quality was top notch.  I borrowed one of these to see for myself how well it would work.

I first tried to use it on my Windows 7 machine, since upgraded to RTM code.  It’s the only time I’ve ever blue screened Windows 7.  Now in fairness, Windows 7 isn’t officially supported yet on this device, but we will have full Win 7 support by the time Microsoft announces in October.  (I found out later that this is because the USB Port Replicator has a dedicated video chip and the driver was conflicting with the Windows 7 display architecture.)

Instead, I fired up an XP box and tried to stress the capabilities.  I was most interested in video quality while watching full motion HD video and downloading a file.  This device passes quite nicely.  I did not notice any video or audio hiccups, nor did I really notice a slowdown in my Ethernet performance.  The button on the front toggles between mirrored display mode and extended desktop mode and works quickly.

Choosing Between USB and Dedicated Docking

If your system supports bottom docking connectors (e.g. ThinkPad T, R, W), you may wonder which of these options is right for you.  Theoretically, dedicated bottom docking connectors would be preferable, but in reality, if you are deciding between the USB Port Rep with Digital Video and our Port Replicator, choose the USB device.  It does everything you’d really expect it to do.  You get second digital display support, take up less space on your desk, and have true rip and go capability.  Yes, there is some concern that everything is going through one USB port with only 400 mb/s data transfer rates, but you’re unlikely to notice a slow down in the real world.  There are lots of benefits, especially if you have an older ThinkPad, IdeaPad, or Lenovo machine without digital video output capabilities.

Wireless Docking

This still is the logical end-game for cable management and display expansion.  We have this working in the lab.  I’ve seen a prototype and it works as designed.  So far though, most people have not yet seen enough value proposition to want to pay for the capability.  It’s not technology holding us back any longer.  It’s market acceptance.

Earlier this week, an ISO image (loaded on a Lenovo system) containing the Windows 7 RTM (release to manufacturing), OEM key and marker file, was stolen and placed on a hacker forum in China. The pirated OEM key is being disabled, and Lenovo strongly advises customers not to download Windows 7 from unauthorized sources. Downloading Windows 7 from peer-to-peer websites will expose users to increased risks, such as hviruses, Trojans, and other malware and malicious code. These risks can seriously harm or permanently destroy data and may expose users to identity theft and other criminal schemes.

Lenovo is committed to protecting customers from counterfeit and pirated software and recommends that customers use genuine Microsoft software, properly licensed, and fully-backed by Microsoft, as the surest and safest way to ensure that they have access to the latest features, security and support for Windows 7. Please visit Microsoft’s Genuine Windows Blog (link tohttp://blogs.msdn.com/wga/archive/2009/07/30/windows-7-oem-product-key-leak.aspx) for more information.

As previously announced, Lenovo will provide a free license upgrade to Windows 7 for customers who purchase a Lenovo laptop or desktop PC with an eligible Windows Vista version between June 26, 2009 and January 31, 2010.  (This offer applies to individuals and companies who plan to buy less than 25 PCs).

I have made passing references on previous blog posts about Windows 7 and how it seems to obviate the need for ThinkVantage Technologies.  In some cases that is so, but there are still some compelling reasons to use them on Windows 7.

Tools Which Will Continue in Windows 7

• Access Connections – There is no question that Win 7 has dramatically improved connectivity.  In fact, since I’ve been running Win 7 as my primary production operating system for over two months now, I have not  used Access Connections at all.  Has it outlived its usefulness?  That is possibly true if you’re an individual user, but if you’re a corporate user, you’ll still find a lot to like.  First, it allows a consistent interface across all versions of Windows.  If you’re like many, you won’t be a 100% Win 7 shop for 2 – 3 years.  Having one consistent interface eases support issues.  Even if you do the oft cited, but seldom used, “big bang” upgrade, Access Connections still has much better centralized manageability and “push” capabilities than Windows.  Quite simply, it controls more of the things that corporate IT needs like firewall enablement settings, VPN integration, and provides more connectivity information in a central location.  Plus, security researchers have panned Windows 7’s “promiscuous” wireless mode.  It will happily automatically connect to multiple networks.  This is a major security risk.  Access Connections can enforce only one connection at a time.
• Rescue and Recovery – I’ve played with the new Win 7 recovery program, and it is much improved.  You can backup a complete image of your computer to a set of CDs/DVDs or to a second hard drive.  That is also its biggest weakness.  Windows will not let you put your backup in your primary partition (i.e. your c:\ drive).  This alone makes this an untenable tool for the corporate world.  Even if Windows 7 won’t boot, you can boot into WinPE to launch your recovery — no Windows CDs needed.  On top of this functionality, Rescue and Recovery offers far more granular control like enabling security for encrypted backups, choosing files to exclude from backups (e.g. only keeping the most recent copy of your email file), centralized control of settings, and the ability to recover, but keep your most recent personality settings.
• Power Manager – Win 7 offers much better and comprehensive control than ever before to save power.  No matter how good it gets, though, Windows biggest problem is that it has to be generic enough to work on all vendors’ systems.  Applications like Lenovo’s Power Manager are written to work specifically with Lenovo hardware at the hardware level.  We can do a better job because we know how to manage our hardware best.  Power Manager also gives some additional features like Battery Stretch, support for switchable graphics, and easy-to-use slider control for changing power settings.  From an IT perspective, it allows control by tools other than SMS, like LANDesk and allows these teams to deploy power agenda profiles.  Windows does not yet allow this.
• System Update – Windows is good at updating itself and other Microsoft applications.  It is not as good at distributing vendor hardware-specific things like BIOS updates.  There is a need for both Windows Update and System Update in a post Win 7 world.  It also has a version for IT professionals, Update Retriever, which allows IT teams to host and push out their own updates to their users.  Judging from marketing reaction when we tried to remove it earlier this year, I think most of you agree that this is a valuable tool.
• Password Manager – I LOVE this tool.  I NEED this tool.  There’s no overlap with Windows functionality, and thus it will continue.  From a security perspective, Microsoft stores Internet Explorer passwords in a known, less than secure location.
• Lenovo System Toolbox (a.k.a PC Doctor) – I wrote about Lenovo System Toolbox not long ago.  If you are not familiar with this tool, it is a comprehensive hardware and software systems diagnostic toolset.  Other than ScanDisk and some improved performance monitoring, there is not a whole lot of overlap between this tool and Windows 7.  It also continues.
• System Migration Assistant and ImageUltra Builder – These also continue under Win 7, but I have not played with their new versions yet, so I do not have a whole lot of detail to share.
• Hardware Password Manager – Windows still does not have a solution for centrally managing all types of hard disk drive passwords.  No other vendor does yet either.

Discontinued Tools – Before anyone panics, know that the utilities listed below will continue to exist and be supported under Vista and XP.  We simply are not porting them to work in Windows 7.

• Presentation Director – This is probably the most controversial of the tools we are not porting over to work on Windows 7.  The reason is that Windows has much improved external projector/display capabilities and configures many things automatically.  There are a few features that we wish Microsoft would have incorporated from our tool, but they aren’t enough to justify the development expense of continuing to update this tool.
• GPS application and Camera Center – These tools being discontinued is a good thing.  If you have a GPS or camera on earlier versions of Windows, only one application can use that device at a time.  Windows 7 provides a common API to allow “sensors” like the Active Protection System and GPS chips to be shared among all Windows programs.  You may not need this feature today, but you will in the future.
• Productivity Center – This was always more of a business level tool.  Between our improved Lenovo System Toolbox and improved Windows 7 help, most of the function is duplicated and we decided that we could invest the development resources in better places.
• EasyEject – I know there are devoted followers of this tool.  Personally, I’ve never found it to be of any use.  If you don’t know what it is, EasyEject allows you to tell your system one time that you are going to disconnect all of your external peripherals, as when you are going to undock your system.  Without this tool, you need to find the Windows System Tray icon and manually stop each device one by one.  This made more sense in the serial/parallel days, but most modern devices don’t care if you yank the cord.
• Screen Magnifier – Most graphics drivers do this anyway these days.  It’s duplicate functionality.
• Keyboard Mapper – This is likely to be another controversial one, mainly because there is a significant minority that does not like the placement of our CTRL and Fn keys.  These people use this utility to switch them around in software.  Regardless of where you stand on the CTRL/Fn issue, remember that there are just as many people who like the status quo.  If we were to change, all we would do is swap one unhappy group of people for another.  Plus, our Yamato team is considering allowing these keys to be swapped in BIOS.

Future Tools

I cannot tell you anything about these yet, but we’re not just cutting development resources.  We are redeploying them to introduce a few new ThinkVantage tools as well.  One in particular is nothing short of “wow.”  It demos well and once you’ve tried it, you’re likely to love it.

I hope this gives some clarity.  If I left your favorite tool out, let me know in the comments and I’ll try and get you an answer.

You may or may not know that we have a trial program in place to remotely disable your notebook if it gets lost or stolen.  Based on customer feedback and uptake, we’ll evaluate expanding the program to additional systems and countries.

Since this is a trial, there are a few limitations:

• You need a Montevina generation ThinkPad (T400, T400s, X200, X200s, X301, R400, etc.)
• It must have an AT&T wireless card inside and you must have established data service with AT&T.

Unfortunately this means that this is currently only a US offering.  (He says as he ducks to avoid flying bricks aimed at his head.)

If you meet those two conditions, you have our SMS disable feature available at no additional charge.   You can read the instructions for Constant Secure, but to sum up its capabilities, you pair your phone with your ThinkPad.  If it gets stolen, you send your ThinkPad an SMS message which locks it down at the hardware level, turning it into a brick.  (Of course, if you find it again, you can unlock it.)

If your machine is in the off or in a suspended state, no problem.  Just like your text messages are queued for you for when you turn on your phone when you get off of an airplane, if your ThinkPad is off, the disable messages are delivered when your system powers up again.  Being booted into Windows is not required either as the message receipt and processing happens at the hardware level.

Our team put together the following video which is what I really wish would happen.

I hated my time with the X301.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine box — for someone else.  I’m a T series user through and through.  The X301’s screen was too small, the processor too slow, and the battery was too anemic.

About a week ago, I switched over to this machine as my full-time, production system.  To make things more interesting, I switched over to the 64 bit version of Windows 7 too.  Luckily, a beta version of our customer preload for Win 7 was ready, and I was able to use that as a base.  Most, but not all of the hardware drivers were there as well as a few of our ThinkVantage Technologies (Rescue & Recovery, Client Security Software, Access Connections, and Power Manager).

Win 7 RC 1+ Lenovo Beta Preload = double beta or beta beta.  Not everything works perfectly. 

• I suspect that while Power Manager loads, it’s not really doing anything other than take up CPU cycles and act erratically. My battery life is poor right now — nowhere close to the 5.5 hours we’re advertising. For fun, I might uninstall it and see what Windows 7 can do on its own.
• I’ve given up on Access Connections. Corporate users will want to continue to use it, but as an individual, it no longer makes sense for me. Windows 7’s Wi-Fi/Connectivity manager is really that much better and faster.
• I have not yet tried Rescue & Recovery. I’m sure it works fine. I’ll continue to use it as it has many features over and above what 7 offers.
• Most importantly, our Client Security Software Password Manager works. I have become so dependent on that piece of code that I would continue to use XP if it hadn’t been ready yet.

My biggest hassle has been Lotus Sametime, our instant messaging client.  We’ve been using that bloated piece of garbage for years (I’m being kind), and though it will launch and chat under Win 7, half of its options are not available and it crashes unexpectedly 4 or 5 times per day.  I tried the usual tricks like installing as an administrator or running it in XP emulation mode, but today I just gave up.  I am now an ecstatic Pidgin user.  I’m sure our corporate IT team won’t like it, but hey, our Beijing colleagues have been using MSN messenger for years.  Companies need to provide the IT that their employees need to do their jobs, and most have their heads stuck in the sand.  (But that’s probably another blog post for another day.)

In addition, I downloaded and installed the XP virtual machine.  It works as advertised.  Our expense tool didn’t play well under Windows 7 but runs perfectly in the XP virtual machine.  I think Microsoft will find that this will be quite a popular feature with corporations.  It does what it says.

I didn’t mean for it to do so, but this T400s post actually turned into a Win 7 post.  That said, after you’ve read the extensive press coverage today, I’m sure you may have some additional questions that weren’t answered on the T400s.  Feel free to ask them, and I will try to answer them.  (I may later regret offering this, but it’s worth a try.)

I will ignore any questions that ask about future product offerings or strategy.  If you want to know what the fourth BIOS interrupt on the second register does, I don’t know. 

Finally, for those who have a lot invested in this issue, I don’t know if the DisplayPort passes audio, but I’m trying to find out.

 A lot. 

For now, to complete the Tornado Chasing series of blog posts, I’d like to offer you two videos of the machine in action.  We’ll talk specifics on the machine once our embargo lifts.

We’re very proud of how our ThinkPads meet 8 US Military Grade standards for toughness (MIL 810-F), and what better way to show off what the system is capable of than to use it with the Center for Severe Weather Research (CSWR) team.

This first video is a combination of clips from my trip two weeks ago.  You’ll see pictures of the machine in action interspersed with scenes from the CSWR team in action.

On this next clip, we wanted to have a bit of fun, but also make a point.  Make sure your volume is turned up for the first part as the auditory experience from the system and the truck is not something you’ll hear every day.  The first minute and the last 15 seconds are the most interesting parts, though I thought including the middle was important for those who are really into nuances of seeing the whole story.  If nothing else, you’ll get a peek at the inside of the system.

I’ve been more than a bit verbose over the last few posts.  I personally think the long-form  is sadly lacking in journalism today, especially on the web, but that does not mean that all readers agree.  I’ll be brief, but there are definitely a few more points I wanted to make about the CSWR team and my time there.

Connectivity

There is no question that connectivity makes this project work, and indeed makes it even possible.  The whole Vortex 2 team was constantly pulling and pushing data across the Internet.  The DOW vehicles had Wi-Fi networks.  Whether it was downloading the latest National Weather Service radar data keeping up with all of the other vehicles, or even posting their updates to Facebook, they certainly drove the local cellular carriers nuts.  More than once, the traffic was so heavy that they brought down entire cellular towers from the load.  What was most interesting to me is that the signal would drop and reconnect automatically.  As someone who lives in a PC world, when my WWAN signal goes away, the carriers don’t automatically reconnect me.  I guess the CSWR’s network is closer to a mobile handheld device vs. a standard 3G enabled PC.

To compensate for the inadequate bandwidth provisioning, the team has developed special tools that are fault tolerant and loss-of-connectivity- tolerant.  One especially cool one is called SASSI.  SASSI is a sophisticated low-bandwidth GPS tracking system, instant messaging client, and dispatch program, all in one. 

 Other Notes about Equipment

If I recall correctly, Lenovo provided over fifty machines plus a variety of accessories like USB memory sticks, encrypting hard disk drives, ThinkStation workstations, ThinkVision displays, and the like to the team.  Not all of it was used in the field.  Now that this year’s season has ended, the hard part begins.  The CSWR team will many of these same machines plus some ThinkStation workstations to start crunching through the mountains of data.

I’ll show two more pictures of the inside of the DOW vehicles.  It’s quite interesting that you can call up anyone else’s display from any other display inside the vehicle.  I’d like to say that they’re using the latest IP switched video technology, but good ol’ fashioned KVM switches do the trick.

Display Screens Inside the DOW

More Display Screens Inside the DOW

 One More Thing

And on a final note, no one seems to want to believe me when I say that the only thing I noticed was her IdeaPad S10e netbook.  I wanted to compliment her on how well it matched her jacket.  Sometimes it’s hard to be a computer geek…

IdeaPad S10e Held by a Vortex 2 Researcher

Friday, June 5, 2009 – Dr. Wurman gave me the simple, yet vague instruction, “Fly to Denver and wait for our call.” I could not blame him. Since the storm team has a wide range in which they operate in, they do not know until the afternoon where they will be staying that night. I found out about 2 p.m. that I was to join them in Kearney, Nebraska that evening. Fortunately there is a small airport that only exists because of a US Government “essential air service” directive and so I was able to book a flight, albeit with considerable difficulty. Corporate travel agents are great for the big cities and airlines, but they know beans about booking to airports that only see two 15-seat airplanes per day. Later that evening, after two missed attempts to land, we finally diverted to McCook, Nebraska where I ended up spending the night. If Kearney is small, McCook is even more so. At 1 a.m., trying to make it to Kearney by automobile was an impossibility.

Saturday June 6, 2009, 6:30 a.m. – I was up early to head back to the airport to make my 15 minute flight to Kearney. Since the Vortex team works late into the night, they do not start chasing until around noon when weather activity starts. Thus, I was still able to meet up with the team before they left for the day.

11:07 a.m. – Every morning begins with a daily briefing. The whole Vortex team (about 100 people) gathers in the hotel conference room where they get a rundown of expected weather conditions and learn where they are targeting to travel to that day. This morning was particularly exciting because yesterday was a big day. While I was in an airplane executing missed approaches with a joke telling co-pilot (What do you call a deer with no eyes? What do you call a dog with no legs?…), the Vortex team was in Wyoming where they finally were in the right place at the right time. They intercepted their first storm of the season. Weather patterns have been atypical for June, and so they have not been able to see as much storm activity as they were hoping for.

11:11 a.m. – Even though the heavy analysis on the data will be conducted over the winter off-season, it is impossible not to peek. The CSWR team has a mobile office containing three ThinkPad W700 notebooks. On most mornings they set them up and review the previous night’s Doppler scans. Since the pictures are very high resolution, the W700 makes a great choice as its quad core processor makes light work of rapidly scanning through them to find out what they need.

The W700’s 17″ widescreen display makes it possible to review two opposing radar views at once.

11:37 a.m. – Since there are multiple possible storms to track today and weather patterns have yet to fully develop, the coordination team makes the decision to delay leaving until 1 p.m. Thus, I have an hour to kill.

12:04 p.m. – I wander out to the parking lot to take another look at the vehicles. It is impossible not to see the TIV, the Tornado Intercept Vehicle which is designed to drive straight into the heart of a storm. Though the TIV team is not officially part of the Vortex project, they often are chasing the same storms.

12:05 p.m. – I was quite pleased to find a ThinkPad T400 mounted inside. I asked why some of the keys were missing. Answer: One of the video cameras mounted to the windshield came unstuck and fell on the system. The team just ignores the missing keys and types by pushing on the plungers. I also asked how the system had been performing for them all season. They didn’t know who I was or who I represented, so I was quite pleased to hear “flawlessly.” I then identified myself, gave them my business card, and said that the least we could do for them is to send them a new keyboard.

Notice also that the system is covered in dust. It comes in from every crack as the wind whips by. They did not know this when they bought it, but the T Series is one of multiple ThinkPads with MIL spec certification to stand up against dust.

1:34 p.m. – Finally, it is time to leave. I have to good fortune of riding in the jump seat of DOW #6 headed due west.

1:39 p.m. – This DOW (Doppler on Wheels) has a three person team consisting of a driver, navigator and radar operator. All of them perform different, vital roles essential to the continuing operations of the vehicle.

1:58 p.m. – The DOW vehicles are quite sophisticated and well thought out mobile weather trackers. They are completely custom built and designed to be bullet-proof reliable. There is a lot of redundancy and isolation of the various subsystems so that even if one goes down, it will not interrupt operations. For example in DOW #7, the team has installed quite a large stack of our ThinkCentre ultra small form factor desktops.

• Machines #1 – #3 run the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) mapping software.
• Machine #4 handles the satellite radar feed from the National Weather Service
• Machine #5 runs SASSI, the Vortex team’s real time GPS tracking software for the entire fleet (more on that later)
• Machine #6 runs a backup CSWR-only low bandwidth tracking system
• Machine #7 has UHF tracking as a low-level failover system
• Machine #8 runs Linux and takes the Doppler radar feed and translates it into Windows readable code in real time.

These machines run constantly. When actually tracking a storm, everything kicks into high gear. There are even more PCs to control the radar and to handle the gigabytes of data collected per day.

The trucks all have large diesel generators, but power is not unlimited. The ultra small form factors not only save space, but are using Lenovo’s latest power saving technology to conserve electricity and keep heat down. As it is, there is a second full-size air conditioning system that keeps everything inside the cab cool.

Then there are the displays. Some vehicles have up to fourteen separate display panels! Here’s a two minute video describing what they all do.

3:32 p.m. – There is no question that seeing any one of these vehicles causes quite a stir to the casual bystander. A fleet riding down the road stops traffic. Many people have seen the Weather Channel segments and are quite interested, but occasionally seeing the equipment has quite the opposite effect. I was told how during the height of one storm the team pulled into the parking lot of a local gas station. A girl inside who was already quite nervous became hysterical because she thought that the trucks outside meant that a tornado was going to arrive any minute. To their credit, the Vortex team is always patient and courteously answers questions, even though some people are jerks.

3:42 p.m. – Like any bunch of people with similar interests who get together, naturally they talk shop. The weather version of “peering over the hood” involves terms like “automatic leveling capability,” “azimuth correction,” and “Doppler rotation speeds.”

4:45 p.m. – Finally, what we’ve all been waiting for. There is a storm worth tracking. The team quickly swings into high gear. All control over the mission is handed over to the coordinating team. Nothing will happen without their knowledge and blessing. The driver picks up speed and races against the fast moving weather to get into place as quickly as possible.

Next time…the CSWR team deploys for a storm. More about the remarkable systems that make it all possible. And the trucks in action.