Linux News: Software

Cisco Adds New Technologies to Collaboration Tool Chest
November 09, 2009

Cisco has introduced new technologies to its collaboration platform -- a product portfolio that encompasses its telepresence, unified communications and WebEx solutions. Among the additions are new hosted email offerings and integration with enterprise social software.

Pumping Up Performance in Densely Packed Data Centers
November 08, 2009

Data center consolidation and modernization of IT systems help enterprises reduce cost, cut labor, slash energy use, and become more agile. Infrastructure advancements, standardization, performance density, and network services efficiencies are all allowing for bigger and fewer data centers and strategically architected and located facilities that can efficiently carry more of the total IT requirements load.

Droid Lurches to Life
November 06, 2009

Today is the day of the Droid. The Motorola smartphone touches down today in what's shaping up to be one of the biggest handset launches in recent memory. Of course Verizon is going all-in as far as advertising is concerned, but there's more to the Droid's story than a marketing campaign.

Headed for the Clouds - Cisco, EMC and VMware Launch VCE Coalition
November 05, 2009

By and large, IT favors grand pronouncements and overheated rhetoric, and the industry abounds with "unprecedented" efforts firmly rooted in precedent and "unique" solutions fashioned from the commonest clay. Is that the case with Cisco, EMC and VMware's new Virtual Computing Environment coalition? Decidedly not.

Pre-integration is the Ticket With Cisco-EMC Cloud Venture
November 04, 2009

Cisco is broadening its footprint with a major move into the cloud computing space. The company has formed a far-reaching partnership with EMC -- a joint venture in which VMware, a majority owned subsidiary of EMC, will also play a large role. Called "Acadia," the new entity is marketing vBlock infrastructure packages, aka "vBlocks."

Yahoo Lets FOSS Community Drive Its Traffic Server
November 04, 2009

In a move that resembles a major food vendor giving away its prize recipe -- minus the secret sauce -- to all of its customers and competitors, Yahoo on Monday donated the source code for its Traffic Server software to the Apache Software Foundation through the Apache Incubator Project.

Maintaining Integrity and Security in a Data Migration
November 04, 2009

Data migrations these days have become a necessary evil in every IT environment. The rapid rate at which hardware and software becomes outdated, coupled with a need to save costs by taking old assets off the books as soon as possible, means that data migrations are something no one can avoid.

Microsoft Turns on a Dime to Beat Back Google Apps
November 03, 2009

Microsoft has slashed the prices of its SaaS email offering and its online business productivity suite, making them more competitive with the low-cost premier edition of Google Apps. Exchange Online as a standalone app is now available for $5 per month, while the business productivity bundle is now $10 per user per month.

Early Projections Suggest Smooth Sailing for Windows 7
November 02, 2009

Though it's officially less than two weeks out of the gate, Microsoft's Windows 7 already owns a 3 percent share of the market for personal computer operating systems, according to Net Applications. When Windows 7 was generally released on Oct. 22, it already had a 1.99 percent share of the market, the firm reported. That figure rose to 3.67 percent by the end of last week.

Where SOA Meets the Cloud
November 01, 2009

Dave Linthicum's new book, Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: A Step-by-Step Guide, has just arrived and digs into the conflation of SOA and cloud computing. We're here with Dave, and just Dave this time, to dig into the conflation of SOA and cloud computing. "SOA is the way to do cloud," he said.

City of Angels to Give Cloud Computing a Go
October 28, 2009

The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-0 on Tuesday to adopt Google Apps, which include Gmail and other office software tools, for its 30,000 employees. The deal places Los Angeles among the vanguard of public sector operations relying on cloud-based productivity software. Plans call for installation of the system by June, when a pilot project will begin.

Microsoft Launches a Revolution, Apple Launches a Mouse
October 26, 2009

I really was anticipating a battle royal between Microsoft and Apple and thought both companies would come to the mat with their best stuff. It felt like Apple was so focused on maintaining high margins last quarter that it gave up a huge chance to grow share, and its stealth launch of a couple of PCs and a multitouch mouse just seemed lame next to the massive rollout of Windows boxes.

SFA May Be Mature, but It's About to Have a Growth Spurt
October 26, 2009

Sales force automation -- nimble, lightweight and usually mobile -- seems to have little in common with its staid parent, enterprise resource planning. Until you consider this: After years of widespread adoption, SFA has also become mature -- but in its own way. Yet the space is not remaining static.

Building ERP at the Speed of Web
October 25, 2009

I had the pleasure to recently sit down with Workday's cofounder and coCEO, Aneel Bhusri, who is responsible for the company's overall strategy and day-to-day operations. Bhusri, who also helped bring PeopleSoft to huge success, explains how Workday is raising the bar on employee life-cycle productivity by lowering IT costs through the SaaS model for full enterprise resource planning.

IBM, Canonical Put Windows 7 in Their Crosshairs
October 21, 2009

IBM and Canonical have launched a Microsoft-free desktop software suite for U.S. companies, claiming the package will offer substantial cost reductions compared to a Windows 7 migration. Though the IBM Client for Smart Work package was initially designed for emerging markets, it sparked widespread calls for a similar offering in the United States.

Microsoft to Launch Revamped SharePoint as Public Beta
October 20, 2009

Public betas of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and Office 2010 will become available in November, CEO Steve Ballmer told the crowd attending Microsoft's SharePoint conference in Las Vegas on Monday. He touted SharePoint Server 2010 as the biggest and most important release of SharePoint to date.