DEMOfall '08: It's IT time

Monday afternoon at DEMOfall was about mobile phones, collaboration and security -- and there were plenty of products and services that had potential appeal for corporate IT, including a mobile phone that screams when it's stolen and a slick, simple approach to single sign-on on the Web.

Once again, for those who've never been to a DEMO conference, it's a seemingly endless series of six-minute pitches for (mostly new) IT products and services. I boil them down to what's likely to matter to corporate IT shops, but not everything at DEMO is intended for Computerworld's readers. For the rest there are short descriptions and links; click through if they look interesting.

Here's the summary from the Tuesday afternoon session, beginning with the business-oriented offerings:

* SkyData Systems showed a smartphone application and service that aggregates contact information from files, websites, social networks, business profiles, newsfeeds and salesforce automation applications and mashes them all together. To IT people it may sound like a silly gimmick, but sales people live and die on making these connections that can help them make the sale. Versions for BlackBerries and Windows Mobile phones now, iPhone by the end of the year.

* Maverick Mobile had the beta of Maverick Secure Mobile, a security app that locks down a mobile phone if it's lost or stolen. But wait, there's more: The phone is paired with a second "reporting" phone that can take control of the missing phone's data, encrypting it and downloading it via text messages. If a thief tries changing SIMs, the phone is automatically locked, and all call activity is relayed to the reporting phone. The reporting phone can even signal the stolen phone to start blasting out a siren sound that will only stop if the battery is removed -- and starts again when the battery is replaced.

* G.ho.st demoed its virtual operating system that lets users access their desktops from any Web browser, including mobile phones. The desktop is hosted by Amazon.com and 5 GB of file storage. It's open-source and so are all the applications -- no Microsoft Office here -- and it's currently in alpha, but it might be an easy way to experiment with desktop virtualization on the cheap.

* Message Sling had a voice-messaging service that automatically transcribes voice messages to e-mail. That's been done before, through mobile-phone carriers in the U.K. by SpinVox. But Message Sling does it regardless of carrier, and plans to add more voice-to-text and text-to-voice features.

* OpenACircle.com showed its online service for team collaboration. The easy stuff is free (shared documents, bulletin boards, audio conferences), while the high-end services come at an extra charge (such as video conferences). Nothing new here, but it lumps all the collaboration services into a single bundle.

* DocCenter demoed DocLanding, a document-management pay-as-you-go software-as-a-service offering. They're pitching this as a system for "controlled collaboration" for small businesses, but since they offer secure access, digital watermarking, auditability and the ability to limit access or throw a collaborator off the team, it sounds like it has corporate workgroup appeal.

* Cinergix showed Creately, which they called an online diagramming and design platform. Uh huh. Think Visio, except with smart graphical elements that will tell you when your design for, say, workflow or capacity planning isn't going to work. In beta, and with a limited number of "knowledge objects"; future plans are to let users design their own custom elements.

* CoreTrace offered its anti-malware product, which uses a whitelist to prevent anything from running that's not approved by IT, instead of a blacklist to catch viruses. It looks like it has a pretty clean management interface, but -- let's face it -- if you're an IT shop that wants absolute control over what users can run, you'd use this even if it required sweating blood to make it work.

* Usable Security Systems demoed UsableLogin, its single-sign-on system for websites. It uses a browser plug-in to let users type in a single "codeword" that works for all the user's websites, but only works from authorized computers -- even if bad guys learn the codeword, it's useless without physical access. The company is also trying to get major websites to build in support for this, but the more security conscious your shop is, the more appealing this will sound.

* Paragent showed Paragent MSP, a subscription software-as-a-service offering for remote IT management. It does what you'd expect -- software/hardware inventory, warranty tracking, compliance -- for about $8 per computer. Designed for managed service providers, and just getting geared up, but this may eventually be something appropriate for large IT shops.

* Enterprise Informatics demoed eB for SharePoint, which gives visibility to all those information silos that users are creating by using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. Centralizes site provisioning, classifies information, catalogs relationships across different SharePoint sites and simplifies auditing and compliance.

* Fortressware offered Personal Fortress, a system that allows sharing sensitive data and documents while preventing them from being copied, printed or forwarded. Low-cost, designed for personal use. It may be appropriate for enterprise use, but if you don't already support functionality like this, you'll want to be aware of this, if only so you'll recognize it when power users smuggle it in.

* And Unity Solutions showed Lanxoma, which spies on IT people who have access to privileged systems. Does "spies" sound too harsh? The company's demo was all about an IT guy trying to steal a million dollars from the company. It can also be used for, ahem, "training."

Other Tuesday-afternoon demos with less interest for business use:

* Dial Directions demoed Say Where, a voice-input system for the iPhone.

* Asyncast showed Rocketron, a system that delivers news stories over the phone, customizable via a website.

* Clintworld had a modeling tool for mobile-phone carriers to do tariff management.

* WebDiet demoed a location-based system for keeping users on their diets. No, really.

* Xumii showed a system for accessing social networks through a mobile phone. And it's pronounced "zoomy," not "chew me" or "sue me."

* Sim Ops Studios demoed Wild Pockets, its system for creating 3-D games that run in a Web browser.

* MeWorks showed its online marketplace for Web designers to connect with low-end customers.

* CrowdSpring offered its online marketplace for creative professionals.

* DesignIn demoed MyDesignIn, an online 3-D service for home decorating.

* Toolgether showed yet one more online marketplace, this one for simple Web applications and widgets.

* Finally, UbiEst demoed UbiSafe, a location-based service for personal security, accessible via mobile phone or alert rules.

More to come...