Archive for May, 2008
Verari and Xsigo enable virtualization
http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid5_gci1315149,00.html
Verari Systems Inc. and Xsigo Systems Inc. have forged a partnership to help make it easier to virtualize I/O between blade servers and storage.
Verari said today it is offering Xsigo’s VP780 I/O Director integrated with the Verari BladeRack 2 X-Series platform. The idea is to reduce the amount of connections while making it easier to manage the rapidly increasing virtual servers connected to networks and storage. Verari will sell and support the integrated product.Verari’s high-density BladeRack 2 X-Series network storage blades hold up to 32 storage and 64 network connections per blade. Xsigo’s VP780 I/O Director connects servers to SANs and LANs with one card and one cable. It includes 24 server ports and 15 slots for I/O modules. The I/O Director connects to servers by InfiniBand and to storage through I/O modules that support 4 Gbps Fibre Channel, or 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps Ethernet.
Very cool, this could be an ideal solution for virtualization, bringing together Verari’s blade platform with Xsigo’s virtual I/O could be a real enabler. Being able to reduce the ‘time to live’ in cutting/provisioning and changing storage could be the difference between delivery and not from a service delivery standpoint. I’ll need to check it out.
HP launches first two in one server blade
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13049_div/13049_div.html
PALO ALTO, Calif., May 28, 2008 – HP today announced the world’s first two-in-one server blade, which offers customers with scale-out environments improved data centre performance, reduced floor space and lower power usage.
Businesses with cloud computing, Web 2.0 and high-performance computing (HPC) deployments have data centres with hundreds to thousands of servers, multi-petabyte(1) levels of storage capacity and massive performance needs. These “scale-out” environments require increased performance, lower energy consumption, improved cooling techniques and a need to maximise existing data centre floor space.
To address these needs, the HP ProLiant BL2×220c G5 combines two independent servers in a single blade, enabling customers to double compute power and significantly reduce data centre space requirements. It delivers 60 percent better performance per watt than similar configurations on the market(2) and minimises cooling and power costs.
HP has created a dedicated set of resources, expertise and development efforts called the “Scalable Computing and Infrastructure” business unit to build solutions designed for scale-out customers. The BL2×220c joins the recently announced HP StorageWorks 9100 Extreme Data Storage System (ExDS9100) in addressing the scale-out market. The ExDS91000 is a highly scalable storage system designed to simplify the management of multiple petabytes of data at an affordable cost, making it ideal for online and digital media businesses.
Very cool, deploying these servers could be ideal for those HPC/grid solutions not to mention a web or Citrix farm, the kind of situation where you need volume capacity. I’ll need to read up more about them, I’ve linked to the quickspec guides for reference. If I read the details correctly it works in the C-Class enclosure and has an impressive array of specifications, do check it out.
BMC talks about integration of BladeLogic
BMC Software Completes Next Phase of BladeLogic Integration
- Service Automation Integrations Unveiled at BMC UserWorld EMEA in Lisbon
- McMahon and Other Senior BladeLogic Executives Appointed to Key BMC Roles
HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–BMC Software (NYSE:BMC) today announced that it has completed the next step in the integration of BladeLogic, demonstrating significant new Service Automation solutions in front of a record-breaking number of attendees at its annual EMEA user conference in Lisbon.
At the event, customers and partners saw live demonstrations of BladeLogic Operations Manager working with BMC Incident Management, Change Management, Atrium CMDB and Run Book Automation to automatically identify, validate and correct an IT compliance violation using ITIL best practices. Unique to BMC, this seamless integration and automation dramatically improves service levels, reduces the cycle time to complete complex tasks by over 90 percent, and enables IT staff to manage five times as many servers as before.
Very cool, I’m a big fan of BladeLogic, it’s something I need to look at more. It will be interesting to see what new improvements come to BladeLogic as a product, could it be linked into BMC’s Remedy? Could we link the actual help desk/service management tools be linked into the deployment/system management tools?
Firmware v1.27 on IBM LS20
V1.27 - BKE127A - November 16, 2007
- Problem Fixed: Flash3 fix for Solaris
- Added ability to build Flash3 with cKVM support under Solaris.
- Problem Fixed: GART errors with RedHat3 Update3
- Fixed the problem of GART errors that were seen on RedHat3 update3 by adding a setup option to disable TLB reload.
- Problem Fixed: Loss of keyboard when booting a WinPE Ver 2.x CD
- Fixed the problem of keyboard not working when booting a WinPE Ver 2.x CD that contains a boot menu.
- Problem Fixed: Processor performance throttling
- Added fix in ASL code for properly mapping operating region within the correct EBDA offset. Operating system could not properly initialize ACPI P-State tables to support processor performance throttling.
Ensuring that you are using the latest firmware is the cost of doing business and can help prevent/resolve known issues - keep in mind most vendors will require you to have the latest system/array firmware and software fixes to rule out any known issues.
Fujitsu continues to innovate it’s blade servers
May 26 2008 - Ultimate flexibility as server designed from ground-up for virtualization is coupled with market-leading software virtualization platform
Munich, May 26, 2008 -/MySolutioninfo/- In shipping VMware Infrastructure 3 on PRIMERGY BladeFrame servers, Fujitsu Siemens Computers today introduces the ultimate platform for flexible virtualization within the data center. In combining software from VMware, the market leader in virtualization technologies, with PRIMERGY BladeFrame, Fujitsu Siemens Computers delivers a highly-available platform that provides real I/O virtualization and reduces complexity in the data center.The virtualization boom has revolutionized data centers, accelerating the shift from fixed, unresponsive, locked-down server resources to dynamic data centers of the future, where server resources are allocated according to demand and are reconfigured on-the-fly to guarantee that they always provide the best-possible levels of availability.
Introducing the market leading data center software virtualization platform to the highly-versatile PRIMERGY BladeFrame line means that Fujitsu Siemens Computers and VMware are delivering the industry’s ultimate platform for data center virtualization, bar none.
Check out this article talking about VMWare on Fujitsu Primergy blade servers, it’s an interesting read.
Dell servers an enabler to your business
http://www.tradearabia.com/news/IT_144186.html
Gems has deployed the latest in Enterprise Solutions from Dell at its headquarters in Dubai and 26 schools across the UAE.
Gems Education said that the Dell’s solutions installed have increased performance, manageability and reliability at its data centres.
The Dell PowerEdge blade servers, rack dense servers and the Dell|EMC CX3-40 and CX3-10 Enterprise storage systems deployed support all major business applications at Gems.
Check out this article which is talking about how Dell servers have been used as an enabler in their business. It’s always good to see what technologies and solutions end users are deploying in order to achieve their goals, do check it out.
Societe Generale meets with shareholders
http://uk.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUKL267632220080527
PARIS (Reuters) - Societe Generale (SOGN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) faces shareholders for the first time on Tuesday since rocking markets in January with the world’s biggest rogue trading scandal, still uncertain whether the trader involved acted alone.
The shadow of Jerome Kerviel, the trader blamed for $7.7 billion (3.9 billion pounds) of losses, will loom large as France’s second-biggest listed bank holds its annual meeting near its headquarters in Paris’ La Defense business district.
On Jan 24, SocGen unveiled 4.9 billion euros (3.9 billion pounds) of losses which it said were caused by rogue deals carried out by Kerviel.
The size of the losses eclipsed those of previous trading scandals, such as Nick Leeson’s rogue trades which brought down British merchant bank Barings in 1995.
That Soc Gen continues to earn revenue and add value for its shareholders and stakeholders is key, everything else is ‘noise’, it will be interesting to see if any announcements or comments are made at this meeting.
NEC announces energy and space saving server
Tokyo, May 26, 2008 (JCN Newswire via COMTEX) —-NEC Corporation announced today that it has concluded development on the “ECO CENTER,” a specialized space and energy-saving server whose marketing activities are scheduled to commence immediately.
The ECO CENTER consumes up to 55% less power, occupies 50% less space and is approximately 58% lighter than conventional servers due to the leveraging of cutting edge NEC technologies, such as highly efficient batteries, the optimum cooling functions of high-density packaging, and the adoption of advanced low power CPUs, chipsets and memory.
The ECO CENTER achieves maximum energy-saving benefits by capitalizing on the optimization technology of NEC’s “Sigma System Center” integrated and VMware’s “VMware(R: 71.53, +1.22, +1.73%) ESX 3.5″(1) to streamline allocation of operations in response to hardware demands.
Very cool, the more innovation in the server the market, the more choice and solutions available to the end user which has to be a good thing. That NEC have announced their ECO CENTER is very cool, I’ll need to check it out.
Desktop virtualization brings many benefits
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/citrix-xendesktop-product-line-begins-shipping,401559.shtml
HOUSTON - (Business Wire) Today at Citrix Synergy™, the event where virtualization, networking and application delivery meet, Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) announced the immediate availability of Citrix XenDesktop™, the most highly anticipated new product line in company history (see earlier product announcement). The company also revealed previously unannounced details about the complete XenDesktop product line, including the release of a new Express Edition offering free desktop virtualization for up to 10 users, and new Enterprise and Platinum Editions which tightly integrate the industry’s most proven application virtualization via the new XenApp for Virtual Desktops feature. All editions of XenDesktop are optimized to work with the new Citrix Desktop Receiver™ client to create an unparalleled end user experience (see related announcement today) as well as a wide range of certified Citrix Ready™ hardware and software solutions, creating the industry’s most comprehensive solution for desktop delivery.
“In desktop virtualization environments, separating the applications from the desktop operating system provides IT organizations with greater flexibility, scalability and manageability of the overall desktop delivery solution. It simplifies desktop lifecycle management by consolidating desktops and applications down to just a few standardized images that can be dynamically combined for individual users’ needs,” said Andi Mann, research director, Enterprise Management Associates. “This model combines the cost advantages of server-based computing delivery with the user satisfaction of a personalized desktop experience - both of which are key drivers in the broader adoption of desktop virtualization.”
Desktop virtualization is an area which I expect is going to see growth, not just because of the improvements in the technology, but also as a vehicle to reduce the cost of a user operationally and from an energy efficiency standpoint.
Through desktop virtualization, not only can I improve systems management and reporting, we can improve the audit trail, compliance, reduce any potential loss of data which has to be an enabler to many businesses.
Meeting with HP @ BladeSystemsInsight
http://www.bladesystemsinsight.com and http://www.hp.com/go/blades
I got to see the HP blade servers, including their Shorty as well as their C class blades which was very cool.
The new Shorty blade solution might be great for the small business market, as well as those enterprise organizations where I might need a simple infrastructure for development, a development grid or web infrastructure running on blades possibly using virtualization.
I also got to see their C-Class blades including their new BL260c which has a great performance per watt ratio, something I confess I will need to read up about.
Yes, outsourcing can bring challenges to us, especially for the owners. Even before there are lots of challenges in outsourcing. 
Internet protection is a must for business security and data integrity. Electronic Banking 
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