| Ingram Micro's Solution Centers in Buffalo,
N.Y., and Santa Ana, Calif., are staffed by certified engineers on call
to answer your questions. Like most highly skilled engineers, they love
the holidays, and wanted to share parts of their holiday wish lists with
you. Q: What are you wishing
for this holiday season?
A: Cool Gadgets
"On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me …" a Sony Reader
digital book. This is definitely on the Cool List, and is great to have
as a road warrior. All the e-book content available should keep me busy,
so I won't need anything for the next 11 days of Christmas! But if more
presents arrive, here's what I'd like to see under the tree: A shiny new
Canon EOS 50DSLR digital camera that shoots video in 1080p. How cool is
that?! And, of course, no Christmas is complete unless you get at least
one toy (the others may be expensive toys, but there is a difference).
From the toy department, I would also like an Xbox 360 Elite and a bunch
of games. Santa might as well throw in a new monitor, so I would like
the NEC CRV43 43-inch Curved monitor. With its .02-ms response time, this
new monitor should provide an excitingly immersive viewing experience.
I think this keeps the Christmas bill just under $15k, too.
-- Francis Murello, Senior Technical Manager,
Solution Center.
A: High Definition
My wish list starts with a brand-new Axis Q1755 network camera, with images
that comply with the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
HDTV standards. Next, one of Cisco's ASA5505 high-performance security
appliances would be great! They're designed to be a true plug-and-play
appliances that supports rich networking services for next-gen broadband,
and I really want one. Last, but not least, my own Polycom HDX 6000 high-definition
(720p) video endpoint. How can you not want telepresence-like experiences
in standard meeting rooms, conference rooms and other environments with
simple connectivity?
-- Marko Rogan, Solution Center Lead Engineer.
A: Pervasive Connectivity
Well, my 3G wireless card is great, but I typically have more than one
device to connect, so a cellular mobile hotspot is definitely on the list.
And while I'm at it, I wish all rental cars had a USB power plug or an
AC outlet. A Verizon Droid phone is on the list too. (The iPhone is great,
but not tempting enough to switch carriers and unbundle my internet, voice,
cellular and data services.) I'd also like a low-cost, highly available,
easy-to-implement shared storage solution -- for home. I don't just do
this virtualization stuff at work. Also, I'd love to see more usage-based
Wi-Fi services on the road, vs. wasteful 24-hour rate plans. Same goes
for in-flight Wi-Fi: Usage-based, not a fixed rate for a three-hour flight
and a six-hour flight. Happy holidays!
-- Andrew Schmidt, Solution Center Engineer.
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