Infrastructure

Dell Deal Could Set Microsoft Back a Few Years
January 25, 2013

Microsoft reportedly is in talks to invest in Dell as the struggling PC maker explores its options outside the public market. The software giant has been meeting with representatives from Dell and Silver Lake Partners to discuss a deal that would involve an investment of up to $3 billion. That could give Microsoft as much as a 13 percent stake in Dell.

Report: Iran Uses Huawei Gear to Snoop on Citizens
December 06, 2012

Foreign telecommunications companies, including China-based Huawei, have helped Iran collect incredibly detailed data on its citizens' telephone and Internet use, Reuters reported. According to an investigative report, a partner of Huawei offered to sell the Huawei-developed "Lawful Interception Solution" to MobinNet, Iran's first wireless broadband provider.

Intel's Two-Pronged Evolution
November 24, 2012

It's hard to think of an IT vendor with a stronger leadership position than Intel, but the company is having trouble shaking off the perception that it is on the ropes or headed for disaster in some of its core markets. On one hand, Intel's mission-critical Itanium platform suffered when Oracle and HP publicly butted heads in an altercation that ended up in court.

Linaro, ARM and the Road to Total Linux Domination
November 08, 2012

Well it seems like the dust may finally be settling here in the Linux blogosphere, and Linux Girl is fervently hoping for some long-overdue rest. We endured the launch of Rectangle with Rounded Corners 5; we patiently listened to the endless blaring fanfare surrounding Windows 8's debut. Is there no end to the autumnal excitement?

AMD ARMs for Data Center Brawl
November 06, 2012

The success of ARM-based processors in mobile phones and tablets has had a tectonic effect across numerous IT markets, but one of their most intriguing opportunities is in data centers. It seems contradictory that a CPU architecture designed for power efficiency and lightweight applications would be considered for compute-intensive environments.

Dell's Percolating Enterprise IT Evolution
October 24, 2012

The organisms that survive longest are those that most successfully adapt to shifting environments and circumstances. That's a core concept behind the evolution of biological entities, and it also applies directly to business organizations, including IT vendors. Supporting evidence, both historical and contemporary, is abundant.

IBM's Weakness Rattles Tech Sector
October 18, 2012

IBM is often viewed as a bellwether stock for the tech industry. Its earnings points to how other companies are investing in tech -- or lately, how they are not. Earlier this week, the company announced slightly increased earnings for the third quarter but a decline in revenue. IBM's revenue weakness was "a shock for the entire technology group," said Covestor's Mike Tarsala.

Lenovo's at the Top of the PC Heap - but the Ground Is Shaking
October 18, 2012

The global PC market has a new leader. Lenovo has quietly been fighting and winning and is now officially No.1 in the PC industry, edging out HP. You would think things look great for Lenovo. This is a big victory, right? The problem is the traditional PC industry is transforming itself. Can Lenovo remain No. 1 with smartphones and tablet computers changing and expanding this business?

IBM Ratchets Up Power for the Enterprise
October 13, 2012

In commercial IT, "enterprise systems" have long been defined as the technologies that provide large organizations the highest levels of compute performance and critical attributes such as reliability, availability and scalability. But enterprise IT infrastructures have never been about technology alone.

House C'tee's 'Don't Buy From Huawei' Report May Fall on Deaf Ears
October 08, 2012

The U.S. House Intelligence Committee is warning American companies not to purchase equipment from Chinese manufacturers ZTE or Huawei. It has published a report stating that these two major Chinese telecommunications firms could constitute a national security risk. The report was authored by Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the chairman of the committee, and Rep. Charles Albert "Dutch" Ruppersberger, D-Md., ranking member.

T-Mobile Sells Off Towers to Feed its 4G Needs
September 28, 2012

Crown Castle International is acquiring rights to operate 7,200 of T-Mobile's cellular towers in a $2.4 billion deal that will give the carrier's owner, Deutsche Telekom, cash to expand its 4G LTE network in the U.S. The deal will allow Crown Castle to operate T-Mobile's towers for 28 years. Both companies expressed satisfaction with the sale, with T-Mobile announcing the cash would help fulfill its "Challenger" strategy.

Dell Takes the Long View With Hyper Scale Computing
September 25, 2012

Technologically inclined businesses and other organizations have long enjoyed what I call IT "trickle down": Continuing, rapid development results in the mainstreaming of hardware, software and services that were originally unthinkably expensive and specialized. This doesn't mean that higher-end products ever disappear. In fact, the baseline performance of enterprise solutions typically ratchets ever upward.

Oracle's Short-Term Software Gains May Have Long-Term Costs
September 24, 2012

Oracle reported earnings for its first fiscal quarter in 2013 last week, telling a tale of two product lines: Its software operations fared respectably, while its hardware slumped dramatically. Hardware systems product revenue was down 24 percent. "These are tough times, and companies are still not investing heavily in capital equipment," noted tech analyst Laura DiDio.

White House May Try Cybersecurity End Run
September 21, 2012

The White House is close to completing an executive order on cybersecurity, Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano has reportedly stated. This order aims to protect the United States' critical infrastructure -- our electric grid, water systems and transportation networks -- from cyberattacks. More than 90 percent of the United States' critical infrastructure is in the hands of the private sector.

Mobile CRM's Golden B2B Side
September 18, 2012

Without a doubt, mobile CRM has become a must-have deployment in the B2C world. Expect that trend to move into the B2B community for similar reasons: The devices are becoming ever more equipped to serve multiple needs, and their uses can soothe a lot of pain points. B2B, more so than B2C, is highly sensitive to screen size and quality.

Mobile CRM's Tricky Back End
September 11, 2012

Want to extend your company's CRM presence in the mobile world easily and effortlessly? Vendors are lining up to help -- at least with the first part of that sentence. Sales, service and marketing are all categories in which vendors are actively rolling out products aimed at the mobile space. Whether their deployment, though, is "easy and effortless" is an open question.

Time Warner Pours $25M Into NYC Fiber Project
August 29, 2012

Time Warner Cable is investing $25 million in its fiber-optic network in certain parts of New York City. The goal is to provide faster Internet access, similar to Google's project in Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan. Unlike Google, though, Time Warner Cable is primarily interested in targeting a specific constituency: business users that are heavy consumers of data.

New vCloud 5.1 Brings Data Centers Into the Virtual Fold
August 28, 2012

VMware has launched what it claims is the first solution to deliver what it calls the "software-defined data center" -- its vCloud Suite 5.1. This integrates the company's virtualization, cloud infrastructure and management portfolio into one bundle. It lets users set up their own virtual data centers, consisting of virtual compute, storage, networking and security resources.

Big Blue Rolls Out Brand New Big Iron
August 28, 2012

While consumers await the release of Windows 8 and the expected announcement of Apple's iPhone 5, former desktop leader IBM announced on Tuesday the release of a new line of mainframe computers. The new ZEnterprise EC12 was designed to handle the latest computing chores, including data center consolidation and cloud computing.

Twitter Perches on Linux Foundation's Shoulder
August 28, 2012

Twitter on Tuesday joined the Linux Foundation. However, the move comes just days after Twitter removed its find-friends feature from blogging service Tumblr. Twitter had earlier done the same to Instagram, and has imposed new restrictions on developers.