Bladewatch.com

Computerworld

Computerworld –  Dell Inc. today announced the latest in its line of iSCSI storage arrays — entry-level models aimed at small to medium-sized businesses and enterprise branch offices, and for backing up virtualized server environments.

Dell said the EqualLogic PS4000 Series of virtualized iSCSI storage area network (SAN) arrays bring enterprise-class features contained in higher-end PS-series arrays to SMBs and remote offices. Such features include thin provisioning, tighter integration with server virtualization software and advanced management capabilities to link remote data replication back with central data centers.

Dell also announced the NX3000 array, which is a PowerVault 3000 server for sharing files across Windows and Linux clients. The array comes with deduplication software and can be used as a gateway device to convert an EqualLogic storage array into a network-attached storage array.

Dell’s continued innovation of their entry level storage arrays has to be a good thing for end user community choice and competition in the market place. As the demand for storage continues, offering solutions and technologies that can allow storage to be deployed and scaled in line with the business need is the next big step. I note with interest that they mention data deduplication which I think will be the next big thing, it’s a technology that can be invaulable in reducing the amount of storage consumed and required, we need to couple this with application design to ensure best practice for logging and data requirements are used so that we don’t unnecessarily create data or replicated data when it is not necessary.

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Washington Technology

Although nearly three-quarters of federal information technology managers recognize the benefits of virtualization, just 20 percent say their agencies are harnessing the technology to its fullest, according to a new report.

Seventy-nine percent of the respondents said their agencies have begun implementing some form of virtualization, but only 50 percent said the implementation has been successful.

The report, released today by CDW Government Inc., surveyed 377 federal IT managers in April.

The IT managers cited the many benefits of virtualization, including reduced capital and operating costs, improved continuity of operations and network security, and better utilization of computing resources.

However, they also cited the lack of up-front funding to capture the larger but later benefits as the single biggest obstacle to greater success in establishing virtualization within the federal government.

Check out this article talking about adoption and use of virtualization within the Government sectors, it’s an interesting read, I wonder how much issues with segregation of applications, of legacy platforms and funding in terms of capital are the non technical barriers to entry. That managers recognize the benefits is the first step, what we need though is (as with the private sector) a top down approach encompassing the application, the infrastructure coupled with the business requirements and solutions based on this ideal, we might only start off small, for example virtualization of the client pc first, moving on to server virtualization of the shared web platforms before moving on to a national or sector wide programme. Virtualization of the infrastructure is the first step, we then need to inventory the applications, consolidate their roles, virtualize and abstract them from the underlying infrastructure to reduce support costs, aid information sharing and empower end users (where regulations permit) is the next step.

Key objectives should be:

• Application consolidation – share application layer where possible, can we not have similar web/citrix based applications on the same infrastructure
• Infrastructure consolidation – how many servers is it that we actually need to provide service and what level of x86 servers can be reduced/recycled/decommissioned?
• Legacy consolidation – we need to abstract ourselves from those legacy ‘high maintenance’ applications where possible, there will be ones where the cost of support is less than the cost of a re-code.
• Virtualization of the server estate where possible combined with application virtualization where possible to the three key ones, web, citrix (or the equivalent) and grid.

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Dell Community

* Dell Download Store is the First Non-Microsoft Consumer Site Authorized for Popular Downloads

* Customers Gain Lower Prices, Choice and Convenience at www.Dell.com/downloads

People in the market for Microsoft Office and other titles from Microsoft now can save time and money by downloading the popular software via the Dell Download Store. In an agreement announced today for U.S. customers, the capability to download Microsoft products such as Word, Excel and Outlook is now available from the Dell Download Store, a fast-growing online superstore that also features top titles from companies such as McAfee, Intuit, CA and Webroot.

The News

The Dell Download Store becomes the first non-Microsoft site where people can go to download Microsoft software such as Word, Excel and Outlook. Advantages include:

* Great prices. For example, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007– one of the top-selling software titles in the U.S.– is priced at $129.99 compared with the suggested retail price of $149.99;

* Choice and convenience. The Dell Download Store offers people the choice of buying popular software titles when and how they want.

For example, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007– one of the top-selling software titles in the is priced at $129.99 compared with the suggested retail price of $149.99;

If Dell Download Store customers need to reload software on a new PC or to resolve problems such as a crashed hard drive, they can log in to their “digital locker” and download previously purchased titles at no extra charge.

Launched in January, about 10,000 people on average visit the Dell Download Store each week.

We’ve seen the fantastic revenues and opportunities from the Apple store both for iPhone applications and in terms of iTunes, I wonder if we might see something similar in terms of revenue and sales through the Dell Download Store. That I can download for example Office might just be the thing that encourages me to think about buying that new copy of Office etc, that you can download or reload the software is very cool, we’ll have to see, I’m off to check it out.

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1888 Press Release

1888PressRelease) June 15, 2009 – MONTREAL, QC – Xceed today launched version 3.2 of Xceed DataGrid for WPF Professional Edition. This update provides new features and bug fixes. A fully functional trial version of the Professional Edition is available for download at xceed.com.

Xceed DataGrid for WPF Professional Edition v3.2 offers several new data virtualization capabilities. These additions extend the contexts in which data virtualization will have an impact, improving the performance that developers can expect from applications using this product. Specifically, the datagrid now supports data virtualization when grouping, when using data sources that implement the IQueryable interface, and when inserting and deleting items.

Support has also been implemented for data sources that use Entity Framework, Microsoft’s .NET object-relational mapping framework, which facilitates the developer’s job of working with different types of data sources.

Other new features include the addition of the ability to customize the contents of the AutoFilterControl, auto-detection of ComboBox columns (enums, foreign keys), and support for unbound columns have been added. Bug fixes have also resolved several issues.

It’s important to try the different grid platforms to see which ones work for your different requirements, I remember having a discussion with a grid manager who was questioning having different grid platforms, ultimately though it’s having the right platform for the right business requirement, both in terms of functionality and ‘per user’ cost or grid engine cost. We need to centralize processing and workloads where possible, but we need to do so in an economic and appropriate fashion.

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VMware

VMware Signs OEM Agreement with HP to Embed HP Discovery and Dependency Mapping Software Into VMware vCenterâ„¢ Suite; VMware Also Collaborates with HP to Deliver Integrated Client Automation Solutions

LAS VEGAS, Nev., June 16, 2009 — Today at HP Software Universe 2009, VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop through the datacenter and to the cloud, announced that it signed an OEM agreement to integrate HP Discovery and Dependency Mapping software into the VMware vCenter™ suite and is working with HP on new datacenter management initiatives. In addition, HP has integrated VMware ThinApp™ with the HP Client Automation policy-based management platform. Both of these initiatives will help customers seamlessly and cost-effectively manage their physical and virtual datacenter and desktop initiatives. Today’s announcement expands on the companies’ existing strong relationship designed to provide customers with complete solutions that help them build and manage dynamic datacenters for delivering IT as a service.

“VMware and HP have a strong relationship that delivers state-of-the-art efficiency and helps our customers lower capital and operating costs while providing innovative solutions for their end users,” said Raghu Raghuram, vice president and general manager, Server Business Unit, VMware. “Combining VMware vCenter™ virtualization management products with HP’s leading heterogeneous management software for physical infrastructure is another step forward in helping customers cut through the complexities of dynamic datacenter management so they can focus less on the plumbing of their datacenters and more on providing efficient, flexible and reliable IT as a service.”

“Customers are looking for a dramatically better approach to IT management in order to reduce costs and risks, while achieving integrated seamless management of the physical and virtual datacenter,” said Ramin Sayar, vice president, Products, Software & Solutions, HP. “The combination of HP software and VMware solutions will provide customers with an end-to-end automated solution for building and managing next-generation datacenters.”

This is great news, anything HP and VMware can do to aid in systems management both in terms of inventory and monitoring for hardware issues or workload management has to be a good thing, it will be interesting to see how this works and how we can manipulate the data for inventory reporting and systems management, I’m off to read up more.

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IT jungle

In the computer racket, sometimes you can learn as much from what IT vendors choose to say as you can from what they don’t choose to say. All I know for sure, in my two decades of watching this complex industry, is that you have to look at as much data as you can stomach if you want to try to come out with something that even remotely approximates the truth. And so it is with the updated Power6+ lineup that came out in late April from IBM.

The first thing I noticed in looking at the announcements was how Big Blue wasn’t bragging so much about performance. More importantly, IBM didn’t even tell people that these were Power6+ machines. I had to do that, and if I hadn’t, we’d still not have known that the new Power 520 and Power 550, as well as last October’s Power 560 and Power 570, machines were based on a kicker chip to the Power6. The two are related, no doubt, and I know from looking at roadmaps that IBM was hoping at one point to have Power6+ pack about twice the wallop of Power6, and depending on who you ask, IBM was able to crank clock speeds higher earlier than expected with Power6+ or wasn’t able to crank them high enough to reach its goals. This may be why there was a dearth of competitive analysis information as part of the October 2008 and April 2009 Power6+ launches.

I remain a fan of the Power platform, check out this article talking about updates to IBM’s Power platform, it’s always interesting to know what’s going on in the different platform space, if only to know the possibilities and what’s going on in the industry.

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Hesmagazine

When moving into new offices recently, the trust entered into contracts with manufacturers Dell and APC which has allowed them to review several key areas and reduce spending.

Mark Austin, associate director of information management and technology at the trust, said: “The move was a great opportunity to identify potential savings and design an innovative, energy-efficient data centre from the ground up. We were on a tight deadline to complete the project and because of out relationship with Dell, we knew they could help us create a streamlined high density infrastructure that would be scalable and energy efficient. It was critical the new centre met the environmental objectives set out by the Government and aimed at reducing the NHS’s overall carbon emissions.”

Under the contract Dell and APC worked together to build a customised, high density infrastructure composed of rack-mounted blade servers and cooling solutions. The PCT installed Dell PowerEdge M600 blade servers, which are specially designed for high-density environments and are one of the most energy efficient on the market. In addition, a VMware virtualised environment resulted in a 10% consolidation of physical servers, immediately reducing the footprint of the installation and cutting energy costs.

Check out this article illustrating how this health trust has used server consolidation, virtualization and appropriate data center racks and cooling to reduce their energy costs by 25%. It’s always great to see what people are doing to meet their requirements, whether it’s in terms of empowerment and flexibility through virtualization or energy efficient and cost reduction.

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PR Web

Austin, Texas (PRWEB) June 15, 2009 — Phurnace Software, Inc., the Java application deployment company, today announced that its flagship product, Phurnace Deliverâ„¢, now supports IBM WebSphere Application Server running on z/OS, the IBM mainframe operating system. This will allow customers to automate the deployment and configuration of mission critical web applications installed on IBM Series z computers — a category of hardware expected to see significant growth with the increased adoption of private computing clouds.

“Support for z/OS is an important feature for our customers,” said Daniel Nelson, vice president of products at Phurnace Software. “As our customer base has grown to include some of the largest and most sophisticated IT organizations in the world, demand for WebSphere support running on mainframes has also grown. This will allow widespread use of Phurnace’s automated application deployment and configuration feature set, regardless of the underlying architecture or hardware platform.”

Further enabling applications on different enteprise has to be a good thing for the end user community, understanding that we run different platforms can create not only further choice for the end user community, but might create revenue based on the z/OS platform – that it can power my existing legacy platforms and the new WebSphere applications that are being developed in house.

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HP

Cast Iron Systems and HP today announced they are partnering to offer integration services for small and midsize businesses (SMBs) looking to reduce costs by leveraging software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications within their existing infrastructures and applications.

Together, Cast Iron and HP have developed a marketing and sales program for HP channel partners. HP’s channel of 25,000 value-added resellers (VARs) in the United States will now be able to expand into the growing market for cloud solutions.

According to Forrester Research, one of the main reasons surveyed IT executives and technology decision-makers have for not being interested in SaaS is concern about integration issues.⁽¹⁾ Cast Iron offers the ability to integrate SaaS data with an organization’s existing infrastructure quickly and affordably.

“Cast Iron’s collaboration with HP will accelerate our penetration of the SMB market worldwide and demonstrate that VARs can play a major role in delivering cloud computing solutions,” said Ken Comée, chief executive officer, Cast Iron Systems. “VARs now have the flexibility to offer integration as a cloud-based service or as an on-premise appliance. Also, SMBs can have peace of mind knowing that their on-premise integration solution is running on high-performance HP servers.”

I wonder if we’re going to see further reach out to SMB’s from the different vendors and service providers in the cloud space, anything that can be done to provide the services and functionality that the SMB customers has to be a good thing, whether it’s from a start-up or someone like HP. Interestingly, could the SMB market not be the place to be ‘selling cloud’? Are they not the kind of customers that might consider buying in elements of a service or function that they need, for example buying in the email or backup service, having your servers remotely managed or your intranet/internet applications provided in an on demand per session service? Could we transform IT within the small business from a per user marginal cost environment where it’s difficult to establish a new user cost, to one based on use? I pay £20 a month for the thin client/desktop, £5 for email and £7 for my storage and backup? It might not be something for those with IT teams, but for the band of 5 working as a business, fixed cost affordable IT might be what it is they need, whether it’s cloud software as a service or renting the pc, making IT as close to a fixed cost at an affordable cost might generate revenue and further sales.

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Techworld Au

Financial services firm Veda Advantage has halved the number of x86 servers with a consolidation and virtualisation project.

Veda Advantage infrastructure manager Ashley Sowter said the 12 month project began at the beginning of the year and is surprised why virtualisation wasn’t adopted years ago.

“It does work well and is worth doing,” Sowter said.

So far some 80 servers have been turned off and a data centre in Sydney’s CBD has been closed and the company wants to get to a “two data centre model” for DR.

For virtualisation, Veda went with VMWare, which Sowter had experience with in a previous role.

“Virtualisation is not sold as a cost saving, although that was part of it, it’s sold more like a general technology refresh,” he said.

Another article talking about how this organization has adopted virtualization technologies and in doing so has reduced it’s server count by half. It’s not only the server count that can make a difference to your costs, it’s the hardware support contract costs, the business benefits from virtualization such as hardware abstraction, more on demand computing, being able to deploy servers on demand, or re-allocate resources in line with the business need. We need to evangelize the cost reduction element, but not undersell the technical and operational benefits of a virtual platform, that I can roll back changes to the infrastructure, do on the fly backups (with the right storage and processes in place), as well as abstracting our applications from that DL380 in the data center.

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