Bladewatch.com

http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/91172/

Boston will be showcasing liquid cooled performance enhanced workstations, high availability Igloo Storage solutions and their revolutionary SuperFlex Blade™ which supports 20 of NVIDIA Tesla M2090 GPU accelerators coupled with Intel’s most recent generation of Xeon® processors for unprecedented processing density, compute power and bandwidth.

Designed in partnership with industry leader Supermicro, Boston’s most recent generation of their SuperFlex 7U processing appliance brings to the industry a new dimension of energy efficient hybrid parallel compute processing power for technical and enterprise computing. Powered by NVIDIA Tesla M2090 GPU compute accelerators Boston SuperFlex Blade™ platforms have fast earned a reputation for being some of the world’s fastest CPU to GPU configurations available today. With an extraordinary 10,240 GPU processing cores, 120x Intel Xeon CPU cores and a phenomenal 1.93TB of memory all within a single appliance, Boston’s SuperFlex appliance provides up to an astounding 26+ TeraFlops of hybrid computational performance.

It’s always interesting to read about further developments in the HPC space whether it’s in the blade, worksation or server technologies, extending the possibilities of the platforms whether it’s in cooling, adding processing capabilities through GPU upgrades enhancing the scalability of the platform in terms of memory, throughput or cpus, all create opportunities in capacity and opportunity for HPC solutions and HPC as a platform. I’m off to read up more.

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https://www.greenbiz.com/news/2011/05/31/google-uses-sea-water-cool-finland-data-center

Google’s new data center in Hamina, Finland, will be cooled exclusively with sea water, a side benefit from the location and previous use of the facility.

The data center is situated in a former paper mill built in the 1950s by the Gulf of Finland.

Check out this article talking about how Google is using sea water to aid in the cooling of the data center, it illustrates further possibilities that might be realized in the data center cooling space if we consider alternatives to the traditional air cooled solutions.

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http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/Cisco-Makes-Gains-in-x86-Blade-Server-Space-IDC-Says-626876/

Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Dell were among the familiar names at the top of IDC’s list of the top server vendors for the first quarter. Even Oracle, a year after buying Sun Microsystems, has become a known entity in the server space.

However, new to the rankings is Cisco Systems, the networking giant that two years ago unveiled the first versions of its converged data center offerings, the UCS, or Unified Computing System. The solution offers a tightly integrated package of compute, storage, networking, virtualization and systems management software.

Now the company is finding its way onto IDC’s quarterly server report, with the first quarter being the first time the market research firm tracked Cisco’s numbers. According to IDC, Cisco captured 1.6 percent of the overall server market based on revenue, finishing seventh, nestled between NEC and Hitachi, according to Jed Scaramella, research manager for enterprise servers at IDC.

An interesting article on eweek. It’s great to see Cisco doing well with it’s UCS solution, I love the concept and remember going through with the guys over at Cisco. That competition and innovation continue not only in the server and blade space, but also of the converged data center or infrastructure space has to be a good thing for standards, for revenue opportunities and end user empowerment which is what it is all about.

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http://www.findmyfirmware.com/firmware/pcsupport.xls

I was having a conversation with one of my friends who works outside London for a multi-national running the desktop and help desk teams. He was asking my about FindMyFirmware and asked if there were any plans to add desktops to the application. His problem, a call might be logged for a pc, he wanted to be able to have an application or reference point at which the engineer could check to determine what to with the pc if there is a fault.

Before I continue, some background, he had been looking at the reports and found that each engineer approached the same problem first, the old school engineers might make the judgement that a 5 year old pc is good enough and rebuild it, or buy the parts needed to fix it, other engineers might take the opposite approach, if it’s out of warranty it goes in the bin. He was therefore looking for a reference point that he could issue to say if it’s out of warranty or our internal support procedures then bin it. A quick guide so to speak, I offered to put something together and sent it through by email, I’ve published it here.

It’s very simple.

• PC model
• Bios version
• Manufacture date
• Windows 7 supported – yes/no
• Specifications link
• Actions upon failure – this is the bit you can customize, I’ve put in rather vague comments.

I here from my colleague that he basically added a comment for the models IT wanted to support and not, so in the Dell space, anything older than a Dell Optiplex 745 was deemed as replace do not rebuild, do not repair, replace, another colleague said he’d replaced actions upon failure with ‘Virtualize no repair”.

Your operations will be unique to you as will be your actions/requirements. A few points of notice, Windows 7 support seems to be not that straight forward dependent on the vendor so do check it, also the manufacture date was rather complex to put together without a serial number, so we have used the information available to supply a relatively accurate date. It is supplied without support or liability and is supplied independently of the vendors listed, any issues, data inaccuracies are our fault and we apologize for any inconvenience.

My desktop/laptop knowledge tends to be great with one vendor for part of the time and not so good on others, but you get the idea and can always add your desktops/laptops following the same guidance, if you specifically want me to add any desktops or laptops, email me and I hope it’s useful, making life just that little bit easier.

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http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2011/05/27/246803/Cost-concerns-and-staff-loyalty-deter-public-sector-CIOs-from-sharing.htm

Shared back-office services are being established across the public sector by pioneering organisations as well as service providers, but for public sector bodies yet to make the move there will be difficult decisions and compromises to make.

Ovum predicts 50% of European public sector bodies will use shared services in two years, but says: “Despite the benefits offered by pooling resources or taking them out of house, the option of sharing resources – such as receiving back-office functions from another agency – or outsourcing entire functions to a third party, hasn’t gained significant momentum outside Europe.”

An interesting article with some great points and comments about shared service models getting it to work for your business and department. Sharing services can be a very effective platform to achieve cost savings and improvements in the levels of service and commitment at the same time, what is key though is that the shared services have the right level of scalability or adaptability for those buying into those services, even within an organization as with IT we can see the constant battle that is managing end user perception with those of cost. The user with the broken pc wants it fixed there and then, and if it’s beyond economic repair wants it replaced at no additional cost, as IT are providing a service.

What we need with a shared service model whether it’s Human Resource management and services, procurement, back office services like processing or IT is the fine balance that is greatest level of service and of flexibility with the lowest total cost, it can sometimes be just that little bit more acceptable to pay a little bit more but know that at the margins of the operations, when my pc dies, the world doesn’t end and I’m not waiting for weeks for a replacement to be signed off, or that we can’t buy a that model of police car because that car is not on the approved supplier list and is therefore 30% more expensive than those on the approved suppliers list. Standardization, alignment in the places where we can to make savings, adaptive models to allow for change, and sharing of resources, investment and capital where appropriate to protect the business sponsors, the customers but allow them to make the savings, the business empowerment and transformation at the same time.

Key for the customer or person looking for shared service (or dare I say cloud) solutions:

• Understand what the drivers are – the lowest cost, the best service or a hybrid
• Understand the right questions to ask
• Understand what your competitors and partners are doing – is there a reason that they are collaborating on a shared platform or buying in that service, or that element of your business
• Understand how what you’re buying in fits within your business and what hand over or integration activities you will need to perform in order to make it work for your department and business or your end user community.

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Cisco.com

Cisco’s new Allen, Texas, data center is a showcase for the company’s technologies, including Unified Fabric and switches. The data center also has a number of “green” features, such as photovoltaic solar panels on the roof that generate 100 kilowatts of power and an uninterruptable powers supply room that replaces hundreds of batteries.

Here’s a peek at the data center’s cool, green features.

It’s great to see what Cisco is thinking and talking about in reference to the Green data center, anything they can do to illustrate savings and business empowerment through innovation and best practice has to help further discussion and create opportunities for both service providers and vendors as well as customers alike. The Green data center doesn’t just have to be a vehicle for reducing environmental impact or reduction of operating costs, it can be a great vehicle to make you examine your operations understand your requirements and consider alternatives, to think outside the box, is it really a series of tape robot devices I need or could I buy a backup service or use some kind of cloud based solution for my archiving. Is it blade technology I need for my virtualization, or is it actually to see how we can better code and deploy the applications so that we can move towards application virtualization, the application down a wire concept where migrating applications between infrastructure need not be a troublesome concept, where I can on-board and power down virtual machines in line with the time of day, or in line with batch or business requirements as opposed to having everything on all the time.

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http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/d/press-releases/2011-05-25-ddvs-thin-clients-virtual-labs.aspx

• Customized Virtual Lab 2.0 available for colleges and universities
• New Dell OptiPlex FX170 and FX130 thin clients complement Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions, a solution portfolio designed to help organizations quickly deploy desktop virtualization
• Simplified management and security creates added benefits and ease of implementation for IT teams

Dell today announced additions to its desktop virtualization solutions portfolio including an enhanced Dell Virtual Lab 2.0 solution and new Dell OptiPlex FX170 and FX130 thin client offerings. The new Virtual Lab 2.0 solution, designed for colleges and universities, now comes with validation testing on six of the most popular applications, affording students and faculty the freedom to access secure, lab-based software virtually anytime, anywhere and from any device. The new OptiPlex thin client solutions, designed for organizations such as, education, financial, healthcare and retail, offer seamless connectivity for organizations that have implemented or plan to implement a desktop virtualization infrastructure.

It’s great to see further innovation and offerings from Dell in the desktop virtualization space, anything they can do to extend the possibilities for the end user community and at the same time make the technology more accessible both in terms of price and functionality has to be a good thing for the platform and the end user community has to be a good thing. I’m off to read up more about the Dell offering in this space. I wonder if this will mean solutions based ont he OpitPlex thin client technology using for example Dell PowerEdge R710 or 910 servers with VMware for the virtual machines?

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http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-us&x=9&y=14&p1=3198

I got asked in a meeting the other day about how long Microsoft Windows Server 2003 remains in support, it’s one of those questions that depends on the release and service pack installed.  It’s all available on the Microsoft site, and the actual support you receive may also depend if you are a customer that has purchased particular extended support services in order to meet your operating requirements. Do check it out.

You should always be aiming to keep your operating systems running the latest service pack and hot fixes, as well as driver packs and layered packages, so the latest version of your anti virus or management products.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 information is here – http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=12925

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Check out this site if you’re looking to see when the warranty for your Fujitsu server runs out, this will be useful as the blog remains a proud owner of their Fujitsu MX130 S1 servers for the office.

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http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/glasshouse-technologies-enters-into-strategic-partnership-with-cablewireless-worldwide-to-drive-cloud-computing-services-122651408.html

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. and LONDON, May 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — GlassHouse Technologies, a global data center consulting and services firm, today announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Cable&Wireless Worldwide (C&W Worldwide), a leading provider of global telecommunication services.  The partnership joins GlassHouse’s consulting expertise with C&W Worldwide’s range of hosting services, including its new cloud computing offering, Flexible Computing, to provide customers with consultation to help them migrate to cloud based services.

It’s always interesting to see how organisations and service providers are developing their offerings in the cloud space, do check it out, I wonder if we’ll be seeing more in the GlassHouse/C&W cloud space in terms of functionality and scalability?

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