http://bladesystemsinsight.com Serving the Blade Servers & Data Center Marketplace 8/1/2010 4:09:45 AM Sun, 01 Aug 2010 08:09:45 GMT <strong>Get Microsoft's Newest OS To Play Nice With Your Existing Applications &amp;Systems <br /><br />Key Points </strong><br /><br /> Although Windows 7 is a very reliable OS, enterprises may still faceconsiderable application compatibility issues. <br /><br /> Without planning or testing, a Win7 migration will quickly run aground.Planning is essential to success. <br /><br /> Win7 may require significant upgrades to system hardware such as RAM. <br /><br />After the poor reception Windows Vista received, Microsoft badly needed a hit toget back in the game. Fortunately for Microsoft, Windows 7 has turned out to bea reliable OS that is garnering minimal bad press and much praise. <strong>Get Microsoft's Newest OS To Play Nice With Your Existing Applications &amp;Systems </strong><br /><p><strong>Key Points </strong><br /><br /> Although Windows 7 is a very reliable OS, enterprises may still faceconsiderable application compatibility issues. <br /><br /> Without planning or testing, a Win7 migration will quickly run aground.Planning is essential to success. <br /><br /> Win7 may require significant upgrades to system hardware such as RAM. <br /><br />After the poor reception Windows Vista received, Microsoft badly needed a hit toget back in the game. Fortunately for Microsoft, Windows 7 has turned out to bea reliable OS that is garnering minimal bad press and much praise. <br /><br />Although home users are adopting Win7, enterprises are moving a bit slower. Andthat should come as no surprise: It is a long process to prepare any enterprisefor an OS migration because numerous issues must be resolved prior to rollingout the new install. One of the critical issues for administrators is makingsure that Win7 is compatible with existing enterprise systems. Enterpriseslooking for a successful upgrade must carefully consider all compatibilityaspects between Win7 and existing systems to ensure a trouble-free migration.<br /><br /><strong>Ferret Out Compatibility Issues </strong><br /><br />The greatest fear foradministrators looking to upgrade to Win7 is the potential lack of compatibilitywith existing applications. If Win7 is rolled out without regard to applicationcompatibility, administrators will quickly encounter unhappy users who willpepper the help desk and support staff with phone calls. <br /><br />Enterprises should not underestimate the application compatibility challenge,says Benjamin Gray, senior analyst at Forrester Research. According to Gray,firms on Windows XP or earlier versions should anticipate that about two-thirdsof their applications will not be natively supported on Win7. But, he adds,firms that deployed Vista or performed application compatibility testing againstit should only have 3 to 5% of applications that are not natively supported byWin7. <br /><br />An important issue is the fact that Win7 uses a structurally different userprofile than WinXP, so administrators need to fully understand this differencebefore stepping into the migration, says Simon Rust, vice president oftechnology at AppSense (<a href="http://www.appsense.com/">www.appsense.com</a>).<br /><br />Chuck Nailen, technical trainer at Binary Research International, says that inorder to prepare for a Win7 migration, administrators should ensure that theirorganizations go through complete testing of all software and hardware to verifyWin7 compatibility. Also, adds Nailen, each company's compatibility problems aregoing to be unique, especially for custom-built in-house software that has beenaround for many years. <br /><br />One of the key ingredients to a successful Win7 deployment is familiarity withthe Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit, says Dan Griffin, founder andmanaging partner at JW Secure (<a href="http://www.jwsecure.com/">www.jwsecure.com</a>).This toolkit allows administrators to test existing software portfolios againstthe new OS; any issues discovered are diagnosed using the toolkit, which canoptionally assist in the creation of a shim. Also, he adds, Win7 supports an XPMode that is essentially a virtualized instance of WinXP running on top of Win7,which can bridge compatibility gaps and help admins transition slowly into Win7.<br /><br /><strong>Software Upgrades Required?</strong> <br /><br />In order to successfully navigate a migration to Win7, administrators may needto use the XP Mode to run applications that won't run on Win7, says Rust.However, if admins are looking to migrate to cheaper, underpoweredcomputers-such as netbooks-they should heed the fact that netbook hardware willmost likely not be able to power both Win7 and the virtual WinXP machine, headds. <br /><br />Nailen recommends that enterprises upgrade all machines-especially those thatwill run the 64-bit version of Win7-to at least 2GB of memory. Even thoseenterprises that choose just to run the 32-bit version should consider upgradingto at least 2GB, if not 4GB, of memory. <br /><br />Gray recommends that administrators tie the OS upgrade to hardware upgradepurchases. This means treating OS and PC upgrades as one, which can be as easyas purchasing or leasing new desktops, laptops, and netbooks that come preloadedwith Win7. Gray says this is the optimal approach for firms that have theresources and want to avoid the complexity behind hardware compatibility testingand manual upgrades. <br /><br />Gray adds that administrators should invest in client management tools thatautomate hardware and OS upgrades. However, he says, environments are becomingincreasingly heterogeneous as Macs, netbooks, and virtual clients spread intothe enterprise. This means that the right management tools are those that canhandle these heterogeneous environments. <br /><br />An alternative for enterprises considering a migration to Win7 is the use ofapplication and desktop virtualization, says Forrester's Gray. Applicationvirtualization builds efficiencies into IT processes by encapsulatingapplications into simplified images that significantly speed applicationdeployment, improve remote access, remediate conflicts, and reduce service desksupport calls. <br /><br /><strong>Avoid The Landmines </strong><br /><br />So what are potential trouble spots, and how can administrators avoid them?Nailen says enterprises that don't do enough up-front planning or testing andexpect an upgrade project to be completed quickly are likely to run intotrouble. Many conversion projects, he adds, can take six to 12 months at aminimum to complete. <br /><br />Another pitfall is expecting networking and installation personnel to master thefree Microsoft Deployment Tools in a short time, Nailen says, adding that thereis a steep learning curve to the ins and outs of these products. There are othermigration tools that are easier to use and learn, he says. <br /><br />User acceptance is critical to any proposed upgrade or migration in the ITworld, and Win7 is no different, says Rust. Therefore, the user experience iscritical to the migration to the new OS, so IT must fully consider theimplications of user profiles as part of the user experience and ensure that themigration appears seamless to users. <br /><br />According to Nailen, another key element is keeping users and management in theloop. Management is needed for project support, while users won't be happy if anupgrade is shoved at them without any input into the process. In other words,buy-in from stakeholders is required for success.</p><p>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/P3215/26p15/26p15.asp&amp;guid=E9C3406D417845DD9B852F13F9BBA2C1" target="_blank">Article</a> by <em>Sixto Ortiz Jr.</em> for <a href="http://www.processor.com/" class="ApplyClass" target="_blank"><img style="border: 0px solid;" alt="Processor.com" src="http://www.crosstechmedia.com/CTGImage/Library/Images/CrossTech%20Media/email%20images/Processor.gif" /></a>.</p> Sixto Ortiz Jr., Processor.com http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Resolve-Windows-7-Compatibility-Concerns- http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Resolve-Windows-7-Compatibility-Concerns-/4f8631dd-0f74-41e8-ad8a-f7d2b8fd378b Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/21/2010 <strong>Regular Security Evaluation Is A Top Priority In A World Of Ever-ExpandingThreats </strong> <br /><br /><strong>Key Points </strong> <br /><br /> Although seemingly secure controls might be in place, intruders will almostalways find and exploit any existing vulnerabilities if something valuableresides behind those controls. <br /><br /> A thorough security assessment should not only identify your critical assetsbut also the potential threats to those assets and how much damage the threatscould cause. <br /><br /> Instead of relying solely on in-house personnel to test your systems, considerhiring an outside auditor who can approach the process without familiarity andbias. <br /><br />All is quiet on the IT front. Yoursystems are operating as designed, and the IT staff hasn't reported a serioussecurity breach in ages. Yet despite the calm, are you truly confident that yourenterprise's defenses are ready to protect your assets if a major threat camecrashing through the doors? In a world teeming with increasingly sophisticatedintrusion methods, nonchalance is never a wise strategy. <p><strong>Regular Security Evaluation Is A Top Priority In A World Of Ever-ExpandingThreats </strong> <br /><br /><strong>Key Points </strong> <br /><br /> Although seemingly secure controls might be in place, intruders will almostalways find and exploit any existing vulnerabilities if something valuableresides behind those controls. <br /><br /> A thorough security assessment should not only identify your critical assetsbut also the potential threats to those assets and how much damage the threatscould cause. <br /><br /> Instead of relying solely on in-house personnel to test your systems, considerhiring an outside auditor who can approach the process without familiarity andbias. <br /><br />All is quiet on the IT front. Yoursystems are operating as designed, and the IT staff hasn't reported a serioussecurity breach in ages. Yet despite the calm, are you truly confident that yourenterprise's defenses are ready to protect your assets if a major threat camecrashing through the doors? In a world teeming with increasingly sophisticatedintrusion methods, nonchalance is never a wise strategy. <br /><br />"Being vigilant about monitoring for threats is essential, and enterprises needto realize this before a threat actually becomes an issue, so that threats canbe managed by exception and not 'trial by fire,'" says Gene Kim, CTO andco-founder of Tripwire (<a href="http://www.tripwire.com/">www.tripwire.com</a>)."Many attacks take advantage of misconfigured, inadequately configured, orinconsistently configured infrastructures. It is essential to obtain visibilityinto all the activities, events, and changes that relate to business-criticalsystems and resources." <br /><br /><strong>Know Your Security </strong> <br /><br />A strong security track record might indicate that your defenses are indeedstrong, but it could instead simply reflect a string of good luck. Butregardless of whether you've been hit by malware or other threats, it makessense to occasionally test your security systems to ensure that they can handleany threats that might come your way. A closer look at your systems might revealthat vulnerabilities exist where you'd never expect them. <br /><br />Take the example of a company that lost $450,000 as a result of a banking Trojanthat took advantage of several missing or inadequate layers of defense.According to Brian Beal, information security officer at Sensiba San Filippo (<a href="http://www.ssfllp.com/">www.ssfllp.com</a>),that client has since spent months and countless man-hours trying to recoverfrom the overnight theft. <br /><br />"Here is how the attack occurred: The client allowed open, unfiltered Internetaccess for employees, which resulted in a payroll administrator's PC gettinginfected with a banking Trojan," Beal explains. "This payroll employee thenlogged in to the company's online bank account, which was an administrator-levelaccount, allowing the attackers to gain access to the account. The attackersthen changed the password of the payroll employee's account and set up multiplenew admin-level accounts, from which they transferred the $450,000 out toaccounts set up at other banks." <br /><br />Several security downfalls led to the successful attack, Beal says. Theseincluded open Internet access that permitted employees to visitnon-business-related Web sites; elevated privileges, which go against therecommended security principle of "least privilege," in which users are grantedenough rights only to do their jobs; and lack of user awareness. "Employees needto be made aware of the vulnerabilities and threats facing company assets, andthey need to know what their responsibilities are in the protection of thoseassets," Beal says. "If this particular payroll admin had been trained tounderstand the risks of visiting non-business-related Web sites, perhaps theycould have avoided the site that led to the Trojan infection." <br /><br />Beal recommends conducting an information security risk assessment to determinewhich assets are mission-critical and to address threats that could impact yourenterprise. This assessment should include the identification of critical assets(such as systems, data, and processes), identification of likely threats tothose assets (such as theft, intrusion, fraud, fire, and vandalism), anddetermination of the values of these assets and the estimates of potentialdamage. From there, the assets should be prioritized by importance, theenterprise should decide on cost-effective controls to reduce the risk to thoseassets, and assessment results should be documented to help facilitate an actionplan to implement new polices and appropriate controls, Beal says. <br /><br /><strong>Seek Outsiders</strong> <br /><br />When evaluating your defenses, relying on personnel who are overly familiar withthe systems might not be the best tactic. Instead, it can make sense to employan outside auditor-or attacker, if you will-to test those systems and look forleaks. Joseph Pedano, vice president of data engineering for Evolve IP (<a href="http://www.evolveip.net/">www.evolveip.net</a>),notes that although these assessments might be costly, they accomplish twoimportant things. <br /><br />"They will give you a present-day assessment of where your security issues are,and most times, the auditor will give you suggestions on how to improve upon theissues they have identified," Pedano says. "Most assessments provide an'un-jaded' view into your enterprise and are easier to work with than aninternal audit that might take the 'well, that's the way it is' approach." <br /><br />Conducting longer-range assessments can also help to determine your overallsecurity level. Beal recommends tracking security-related incidents (such asmalware infections, incident-related downtime, and firewall-repelled attacks)over a six-month period. After any additional security measures are implementedafter this six-month period, IT personnel can compare the following six monthsto the original assessment-and hopefully see a decrease in incidents orproblems. Beal says this tracking process can occur through the use of the IThelp desk ticketing system so that companies don't have to incur additionalassessment costs. <br /><br />Finally, don't forget user awareness training-a method that could have preventedBeal's client from losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Evaluation shouldalso occur here by following up on the training with surveys or interviews. Bydoing this over time, Beal says, security personnel can determine if there is anelevation of security consciousness as well as if the training is effective orif its message or delivery method needs to be altered. </p><p>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?Article=articles/p3215/20p15/20p15.asp&amp;GUID=D5CF2343177243D4BC328EEA7474E75D" target="_blank">Article</a> by <em>Christian Perry</em> for <a href="http://www.processor.com/" class="ApplyClass" target="_blank"><img style="border: 0px solid;" alt="Processor.com" src="http://www.crosstechmedia.com/CTGImage/Library/Images/CrossTech%20Media/email%20images/Processor.gif" /></a>.</p> Christian Perry, Processor.com http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Assess-Your-Defenses http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Assess-Your-Defenses/c5afb2db-35b5-49c2-ae50-09c0e02ef59a Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/21/2010 <style type="text/css"> .style1 border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; </style>How do you know if your data center cooling system is operating at its peakperformance? Understanding key performance indicators arms data center managerswith the power to assess, track and manage cooling system efficiency. Considerthese steps to develop useful metrics for analyzing cooling system performanceand create a baseline for optimizing operations. <style type="text/css"> .style1 border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; </style>How do you know if your data center cooling system is operating at its peakperformance? Understanding key performance indicators arms data center managerswith the power to assess, track and manage cooling system efficiency. Considerthese steps to develop useful metrics for analyzing cooling system performanceand create a baseline for optimizing operations.<br /><br /><strong>Understanding your cooling specifications<br /></strong><br />Before any measurement or analysis can be performed, you must understand thecooling system specifications of your computer room. Without this baseline, nocomparison exists when reading and analyzing environmental measurements.<br />Typically, cooling specifications are provided using the gross square footage ofthe computer room. This measurement, traditionally in watts per square foot,incorporates all of the floor space including the space not utilized by racks orother equipment.<br /><br /><strong>Determine your wattage by cabinet</strong><br />&nbsp;Calculate the physical square footage that a cabinet consumes and multiplythis by your cooling specification. For example, if your rack takes up 25 squarefeet (which includes space in front and behind the rack), and the coolingcapacity of the room is 100 watts per square foot, then your cooling density perrack will be 2.5kW.<br />Understanding your IT load<br />Change is constant in the IT profession. Chances are the IT equipment that wasused to create specifications for your data center no longer exists. During thelife cycle of your data center, the IT equipment will change many times.Understanding the heat load generated by IT equipment is essential to coolingsystem performance.<br />Calculate heat load<br />&nbsp;Review the manufacturer's installation documentation for each server and addup the amount of BTUs per rack. This is the easiest method for determining yourexpected heat load.<br />&nbsp;You can also estimate your heat load by using metered PDUs in your racks. Todo this, take your amperage reading on your PDU and multiply this value by thevoltage to obtain your watts per cabinet. Add up the wattage totals of yourcabinets and this value can be used as an estimate of your heat load generatedby your IT equipment. This information can also be used to help you balance theheat load across racks.<br /><br /><strong>Create a Baseline using Environmental Tests</strong><br />Once the engineering specifications are understood and the heat load has beencalculated for the IT equipment, you can create a baseline for environmentalvariables in your room. Creating a baseline involves actively monitoringstrategically placed temperature, humidity and air flow probes in the computerroom over a given period of time. Not only will this provide a current snapshotof how your cooling system is operating, but it can also alert you potentialissues before they become problems or incidents.<br />Measuring tools do not have to be expensive to be effective. For example, sometools monitor up to 16 temperature, humidity and air flow probes for under$1000. Pair this with an open source monitoring software package, and you canalso trend against your computer room specifications and alert when points areout of range.<br /><br /><strong>Measure the temperature and humidity of your computer room</strong><br />&nbsp;Place humidity and temperature probes in the cold aisles<br />&nbsp;Place the probes in the middle of the aisle between the rows of racks<br />&nbsp;Place probes, or utilize probes on your air handler units, to measure thetemperature and humidity of the return air<br />These measurements will provide a good cooling profile of the computer room andallow you to compare the measured results to the computer room specifications.They can also indicate problems in the computer room before they impactoperations.<br /><br /><strong>Troubleshooting Data Center Cooling Performance</strong><br />Data center managers must respond when computer room cooling specifications areout of operating range. The best defense against cooling system failures is toincorporate facility tests along side of scheduled cooling system preventativemaintenance.<br />An easy test to incorporate is to profile the cold aisles of the computer roomon either a monthly or quarterly basis. It should also be considered to performthis test upon a significant change to the computer room environment (forexample, replacing a traditional server rack with blade servers).<br />To profile the cold aisles, place sensors in the cold aisles approximately every4 to 5 racks apart and 5 feet off of the ground. Take a temperature, humidityand possibly air flow readings. Recording this data on the floor plan canindicate proper operation or trouble spots across the computer room floor.<br /><br />If areas are found to be out of spec, this could be an indication of:<br /> Obstructions in the supply air path<br /> An imbalance of computer heat load<br /> Air recirculation where supply air is mixing with return air<br />Areas that are out of specification should be addressed either by self discoveryor by hiring a consulting company to perform a cooling system analysis.<br />Understanding your cooling specifications, applied IT load and environmentalvariables will allow you to create a baseline that will yield a properlyoperating and efficient cooling system. Use these results to troubleshootperformance and find areas where improvements can drive efficiency.<br /><br /><a href="http://datacenterjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=3730:the-secret-to-measuring-and-optimizing-data-center-cooling-performance&amp;catid=26&amp;Itemid=100125" target="_blank">Article</a> by <em>Wesley Smith </em>for&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://datacenterjournal.com/index.php"><img alt="DATACENTER Journal Logo" src="http://register03.exgenex.com/GcmMaintenance/ExgenexEvents/Images/DATACENTER-Journal-fw-120.gif" class="style1" /></a>. Wesley Smith, DATACENTER Journal http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=The-Secret-to-Measuring-and-Optimizing-Data-Center-Cooling-Performance http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=The-Secret-to-Measuring-and-Optimizing-Data-Center-Cooling-Performance/34381a90-4001-42b1-bf77-72eff39f461d Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/21/2010 <strong>A Look At What's Happening In The Security Field, From Technology To Strategy </strong><br /><br />Key Points <br /><br /> Data loss prevention technologies are being used more often, providing stronger protection for enterprises. <br /><br /> Specific policies for application and device usage are on the rise and help to address security issues that crop up when the line between personal and professional gets blurred. <br /><br /> Companies are now leaning toward a layered, centralized approach with multiple security points within the network instead of just around the network. <br /><br />Just as threats are ever-evolving, so are security technologies and strategies to combat them. Enterprises face new foes every day (for more on the biggest enterprise security threats, see "Today's Biggest Security Threats" on page 10); fortunately, security experts are continually working to provide better protection for enterprises facing security-related problems. Here's a glimpse at the latest in the security field. <p><strong>A Look At What's Happening In The Security Field, From Technology ToStrategy <br /><br />Key Points </strong><br /><br /> Data loss prevention technologies are being usedmore often, providing stronger protection for enterprises. <br /><br />Specific policies for application and device usage are on the rise andhelp to address security issues that crop up when the line betweenpersonal and professional gets blurred. <br /><br /> Companies are nowleaning toward a layered, centralized approach with multiple securitypoints within the network instead of just around the network. <br /><br />Justas threats are ever-evolving, so are security technologies andstrategies to combat them. Enterprises face new foes every day (for moreon the biggest enterprise security threats, see "Today's BiggestSecurity Threats" on page 10); fortunately, security experts arecontinually working to provide better protection for enterprises facingsecurity-related problems. Here's a glimpse at the latest in thesecurity field. </p><p><strong>Current Landscape </strong><br /><br />Traditional data loss prevention technologies have made a good deal of tractionin the past year, notes Joe Yeager, a product manager at Lancope (<a href="http://www.lancope.com/">www.lancope.com</a>),a network performance and security monitoring firm. <br /><br />"Technologies to monitor data in motion using deep packet analysis have becomequite good, and data-at-rest technologies have employed quite sophisticatedcrawling and tagging techniques," he says. <br /><br />These types of technologies can reveal how much data is leaving the network on aperson-by-person basis, broken down by Internet destination. The analysisprovides end-to-end visibility that can be used to baseline a normal amount oftraffic for a given user and notify IT when that level is unusual, Yeager says.Also helpful is that the analysis can look for command-and-control traffic toroot out botnet-infected hosts or find any unexpected country-specific traffic.<br /><br />By getting a better hold on how traffic is flowing within an enterprise, IT canboost security and lower data loss risk, Yeager says. <br /><br /><strong>Importance Of Policies </strong><br /><br />One major security trend isn't about technology tools at all; rather, it's theimplementation of solid security policies that reach across an organization.This has become especially vital in an age of social networking, when the linesbetween consumer and business applications of technology are increasinglyblurred. For example, an employee might use Facebook to tout a new product ordepend on Twitter to update clients. <br /><br />According to a recent application usage and risk report from Palo Alto Networks(<a href="http://www.paloaltonetworks.com/">www.paloaltonetworks.com</a>), usersoften ignore the associated risks, such as noncompliance, data loss, and threatpropagation. These risks can jeopardize a company's network, but in response, ITmanagers can't simply block "Enterprise 2.0 applications," according to RenBonvanie, vice president of worldwide marketing at Palo Alto. <br /><br />In order to enhance business productivity and mitigate security risks andcompliance violations, Bonvanie says, IT should define and enforce policies thatsafely enable social networking applications. <br /><br />Policy enforcement is also increasingly necessary for use of mobile devices,adds David Lingenfelter, information security officer at Fiberlink (<a href="http://www.fiberlink.com/">www.fiberlink.com</a>).IT needs to have some level of control over how information is handled andaccessed, and this has led to more specific policies about how employees connectto online resources, how often they change passwords, and whether they candownload applications. Policies are also being tweaked to specify what happensto a device when an employee leaves a company-whether it's recycled after beingset to factory defaults, for example. <br /><br />"Having policies in place to lay the groundwork of how [these devices] will behandled is an important part of allowing the equipment to connect in the firstplace, since employees need to understand the limits and boundaries they aregoing to be required to follow," Lingenfelter says. "Security plays a very bigrole in having devices connect to the network, and security has to start with apolicy." <br /><br /><strong>Central Security </strong><br /><br />In terms of other strategy trends, more enterprises are looking toward layered,centralized security with multiple protection points within a network, ratherthan simply trying to protect a network parameter. <br /><br />Because of the increased use of virtualization, clouds, and online applications,simply surrounding a network with security measures isn't enough anymore. Anetwork now has to be somewhat porous for business efficiency, which means thatenterprises are looking at ways to implement security at numerous levels. <br /><br />According to network security firm Fortinet (<a href="http://www.fortinet.com/">www.fortinet.com</a>),there's increased focus on preventing infections from cross-pollinating betweenvirtual machines. IT managers are also taking a hard look at cloud-basedservices, which can open enterprises to risks and vulnerabilities as data isshuttled through multiple networks. <br /><br />Technologies for data loss prevention and risk mitigation are cropping up morefrequently for cloud environments, with some companies offering remotemanagement, better software patching, or cloud-specific security assessments.<br /><br />Second-layer security is also becoming popular, Fortinet notes, helpingenterprises have better application control and, in particular, morefunctionality beyond letting users have access. <br /><br />Security technology and tactics may evolve slightly as threats emerge, but bystaying on top of the trends and putting solid policies in place, data centermanagers can have a better chance of foiling the bad guys.</p><p><strong><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/P3215/23p15/23p15.asp&amp;guid=CE10CA46FC38434490434446F898225C">Article</a> </strong></strong>by <em>Elizabeth Millard</em> for<strong><strong> <a target="_blank" class="ApplyClass" href="http://www.processor.com/"><img src="http://www.crosstechmedia.com/CTGImage/Library/Images/CrossTech%20Media/email%20images/Processor.gif" alt="Processor.com" style="border: 0px solid;" /></a>.</strong></strong></p> Elizabeth Millard, Processor.com http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=The-Latest-Security-Technologies-and-Trends- http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=The-Latest-Security-Technologies-and-Trends-/4701c29c-6737-4d62-98f4-718b303829a1 Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/21/2010 <strong>Extend Enterprise Data Centers Into The Cloud </strong> <br /><br /><strong>Key Points </strong> <br /><br /> VPCs (virtual private clouds) couple traditional multitenant public cloudservices with secure, private networks, enabling tighter, more transparentcoupling between enterprise data centers and the cloud provider. <br /><br /> VPCs allow creation of hybrid computing environments in which someinfrastructure and applications reside internally and others are hosted in thecloud, but all appear to be part of the enterprise intranet. <br /><br /> This hybrid cloud model is appropriate for enterprises that don't want to (orcan't) move entire apps to the cloud or those needing temporary increases incapacity to meet peak loads (cloud bursting). <br /><br />The idea of a computing utility-a vast, ubiquitous grid easily tapped forprocessing power and storage as needed-isn't new, but is finally coming tofruition in the form of cloud services. With the Internet's backbone capacityexponentially increasing, online behemoths building industrial-scale datacenters, and SaaS apps proliferating, the notion of metered, on-demandapplications doesn't seem so futuristic. <p><strong>Extend Enterprise Data Centers Into The Cloud </strong> <br /><br /><strong>Key Points </strong> <br /><br /> VPCs (virtual private clouds) couple traditional multitenant public cloudservices with secure, private networks, enabling tighter, more transparentcoupling between enterprise data centers and the cloud provider. <br /><br /> VPCs allow creation of hybrid computing environments in which someinfrastructure and applications reside internally and others are hosted in thecloud, but all appear to be part of the enterprise intranet. <br /><br /> This hybrid cloud model is appropriate for enterprises that don't want to (orcan't) move entire apps to the cloud or those needing temporary increases incapacity to meet peak loads (cloud bursting). <br />The idea of a computing utility-a vast, ubiquitous grid easily tapped forprocessing power and storage as needed-isn't new, but is finally coming tofruition in the form of cloud services. With the Internet's backbone capacityexponentially increasing, online behemoths building industrial-scale datacenters, and SaaS apps proliferating, the notion of metered, on-demandapplications doesn't seem so futuristic. <br /><br />Yet unlike electric utilities, which just deliver energy, clouds don't justserve up CPU cycles, they're information utilities over which an enterprise'smost valuable assets are transmitted, processed, and stored. This gives many ITleaders pause, questioning the wisdom of entrusting a company's most sensitivedata and essential business processes to the vagaries of the Internet andvicissitudes of cloud providers. Although many of these issues are exaggerated,there remain valid questions about the security and isolation of shared systemsin a multitenant public cloud. Network security is of particular concern becauseheretofore, using the cloud meant using the public Internet to access vastserver farms, where the network topology and segmentation is often undocumentedand intentionally opaque. This is the problem VPCs (virtual private clouds) aremeant to solve. <br /><br /><strong>Key Technology Elements Of VPCs</strong> <br /><br />From a network standpoint, using traditional cloud infrastructure services (IaaS)is much like browsing the Web-users bundle up some data and ship it over theInternet where some servers do their number crunching and return a result. Thisis problematic for a couple reasons. First, the Internet data transport isusually unencrypted. (The only way to guarantee data security is to incorporateencryption into the actual application.) Second, the cloud servers look likeremote systems on a foreign network, not local machines on the enterprise LAN-apotential hurdle for apps designed for client-server LAN communication. <br /><br />VPCs solve both of these problems by establishing a secure virtual networkbetween the enterprise intranet and the cloud provider. Most implementations usean IPSec VPN and tunnel private VLANs over the link, although some vendors useproprietary software and virtual appliances to build encrypted tunnels-atechnical distinction is largely irrelevant to most users. <br /><br />Aside from increased network security and transparency, VPCs have several otherbenefits. According to Forrester Research Principal Analyst James Staten, theyoffer greater control over the network configuration between an enterpriseintranet and the cloud provider, including allowing users to define and controlthe address space, network topology, security policy, and access and protocolcontrols. <br /><br /><strong>Cloud Models </strong> <br /><br />VPCs add a fourth deployment model to the existing set of cloud options: public,hosted, and internal (or private). Public clouds represent the most commonscenario and are what most people think of when they hear the term cloud. Theseuse multitenant virtual servers on shared infrastructure with a common networksecurity model, limited choice of OS and version, and little or no networkconfiguration customization. <br /><br />Hosted or dedicated clouds are like their public brethren, except that serversaren't shared-each customer's VMs run on dedicated hardware-and can becustom-configured; however, the network is still public and shared. Private orinternal clouds are really nothing more than IT-owned and operated virtualserver farms with more user-friendly provisioning and usage-based billing.Finally, VPCs are public clouds augmented with private networks, using VPNs andVLANs to extend a company's intranet into the cloud data center. <br /><br />From a technological standpoint, Glenn Weinstein, CTO and co-founder of Appirio(<a href="http://www.appirio.com/">www.appirio.com</a>) says the secure VPN is aVPC's defining characteristic. However, from a strategic point of view, he adds,"we don't see VPCs so much as an extension to the public cloud as an extensionof the data center. If you're not ready to pick up and move wholesale to a cloudapplication platform . . . instead of adding 10 servers inside your own datacenter, you extend the boundary inside of [a cloud provider's]." <br /><br /><strong>Usage Scenarios</strong> <br /><br />As Weinstein suggests, VPCs appeal to established enterprises with existing datacenters and infrastructure, not small startups seeking to minimize their ITinvestments. Thus, most usage scenarios center on moving or expanding existingapplications onto a cloud service. <br /><br />According to Sundar Raghavan, chief product and marketing officer at Skytap (<a href="http://www.skytap.com/">www.skytap.com</a>),VPCs are attractive for provisioning short-term application development and testenvironments, pilot testing and migrating new versions of large enterpriseapplications such as ERP systems, and deploying new systems for training orsales demos. Forrester's Staten sees four primary VPC use cases: stretching orbridging a business service or custom application between the public cloud andinternal infrastructure; quickly adding capacity to an internal applicationduring periods of peak loads (so-called cloud bursting); enabling multicastnetwork applications (such as streaming media, teleconferencing, or cachingservers) to be hosted on a public cloud; and allowing resources hosted in publicclouds to be centrally monitored from the existing enterprise network and servermonitoring environment. <br /><br /><strong>Do You Need It? </strong><br /><br />The cloud has garnered huge mindshare largely because, as Staten points out, itembodies a highly efficient and scalable maturation of server virtualization.However, he contends that the multitenant public deployment model is a mismatchfor many enterprise applications, types of data, and business cases. "There aremany applications that require the close coupling of resources that can only befulfilled from within a single scale-up system. Others require super-lowlatencies between components and are a best fit for an InfiniBand-basedarchitecture. Still others, such as relational database clusters, are bestdeployed outside of cloud designs today." <br /><br />Reuven Cohen, founder and CTO of cloud developer Enomaly (<a href="http://www.enomaly.com/">www.enomaly.com</a>),cautions that although VPCs are usually based on standard network protocols,there's little else standard about the early implementations. He advisespotential buyers to investigate each provider's hosting and networkinfrastructure and determine whether the provider's reliability, geographicdiversity, network throughput, latency, and service usability meet theirrequirements. <br /><br />Rather than viewing the cloud as an all-or-nothing embrace of public, sharedinfrastructure, Staten recommends thinking of it as a portfolio of deploymentoptions using all four models. He advises enterprises starting to use publicclouds to talk with their service providers and understand the full range ofservices, their technology and service road map, and their VPC plans.</p><p><a href="http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles%2Fp3215%2F38p15%2F38p15.asp&amp;guid=D5CF2343177243D4BC328EEA7474E75D" target="_blank">Article</a> by<em>Kurt Marko</em>&nbsp; for <a href="http://www.processor.com/" class="ApplyClass" target="_blank"><img style="border: 0px solid;" alt="Processor.com" src="http://www.crosstechmedia.com/CTGImage/Library/Images/CrossTech%20Media/email%20images/Processor.gif" /></a>.</p> Kurt Marko, Processor.com http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Virtual-Private-Clouds- http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Virtual-Private-Clouds-/01918bb4-cc42-4793-965a-240da6e68a91 Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/21/2010 <strong>How Can It Affect Your Enterprise &amp; IT Staff? </strong> <br /><br /><strong>Key Points </strong> <br /><br /> Follow best practices when initially implementing a virtual environment. <br /><br /> First determine which application(s) to virtualize; you might choose to makethem all virtual. <br /><br /> When planning your initial environment, consider how your systems will growand your virtual environment will change over time. <br /><br />Many small to medium-sized enterprises are turning to virtualization for some orall of their applications. <p><strong>How Can It Affect Your Enterprise &amp; IT Staff? </strong> <br /><br /><strong>Key Points </strong> <br /><br /> Follow best practices when initially implementing a virtual environment. <br /><br /> First determine which application(s) to virtualize; you might choose to makethem all virtual. <br /><br /> When planning your initial environment, consider how your systems will growand your virtual environment will change over time. <br /><br />Many small to medium-sized enterprises are turning to virtualization for some orall of their applications. <br /><br />Virtualization basically separates the software environment from the underlyinghardware, explains Chris Webber, who describes himself as the currentvirtualization guru at network security and management provider Blue CoatSystems (<a href="http://www.bluecoat.com/">www.bluecoat.com</a>). <br /><br />But before investing in the technology, IT managers still need to thoroughlyinvestigate virtualization, with an eye toward its impact on the enterprise,adds Steve Lesem, CEO at cloud storage provider Mezeo Software (<a href="http://www.mezeo.com/">www.mezeo.com</a>).For instance, Lesem explains that while many current servers have a utilizationrate of 10%, virtualization of servers can significantly increase that ratewhile driving down usage costs. <br /><br />"Virtualization can give a better utilization of resources, but you will have todecide which aspects of the company to virtualize first," Lesem explains.Enterprises just setting up shop may decide to install virtual servers for allenterprise applications from the get-go, he adds. <br /><br />When managers move applications from individual hardware to shared hardware,they can expect to consolidate server space by anywhere from one-tenth toone-half, Webber says. <br /><br /><strong>Cost Savings </strong> <br /><br />The consolidation adds up to important cost savings, too, because the machineswill take up less space, which makes for less money spent on fees for space andfor cooling costs. Many managers fail to factor cooling savings into thevirtualization equation, Webber explains. <br /><br />He stresses that over the past five years, makers of virtualization softwarehave upgraded their hypervisors to the point that IT managers no longer need agreat deal of expertise in installing virtualization software. The hypervisor,or virtualization manager, is a program that allows different operating systemsto run in isolation from one another, even though each of these systems usescomputing power and storage space on the same computer. <br /><br />Five years ago, when Webber was investigating with the server team, he saidthere was much more to consider because, at that time, hypervisors were limited.<br /><br />"We'd have to track memory and hard disk over time and do a lot of math. We'dhave to think about, for example, how much CPU the mail server would need whenno one was checking mail at night vs. in the morning when everyone is usingemail," he explains. "But now the hypervisors are so good, they'll noticesomething is spiking up, so I'll give it more CPU, and other things are sittingidle, so they'll ratchet them back a little," he adds. <br /><br /><strong>Especially For SMBs </strong> <br /><br />Although the learning curve is much lower for IT staffers today than in thepast, they'll still benefit by spending time determining how to best design thevirtual environment before implementation, says Renata Budko, co-founder ofHyTrust (<a href="http://www.hytrust.com/">www.hytrust.com</a>), which provides asolution to help IT administrators with their virtualization environments. <br /><br />"For the SMB, a challenge can be how to acquire the expertise to configure thisin the first place, because IT is pressed for time and [has] to wear so manydifferent hats," Budko explains. <br /><br />Many virtual servers now include management tools that help cut ramp-up time,she adds. <br /><br />Still, IT staffers who are building a virtual environment from scratch shouldfollow best practices in server management and configuration. "This will helpthem down the road, when they have to add servers or when they have to do thebackup," Budko says. "It's considerably harder to implement advanced featureslater on if you haven't designed it right the first time." <br /><br />If your IT staff hasn't implemented the separation of duties feature, forexample, it won't be able to virtualize the human resources database down theroad. That's because the separation feature partitions the infrastructure wheresensitive data lives. "You have to design separate clusters within the virtualinfrastructure from the start; that way you can virtualize everything," Budkoexplains. <br /><br />Once designed and implemented, your IT staff will find that server managementand backups are easier in a virtual environment. This is in part becausevirtualization allows for a common management platform across all hardware andapplications, Webber explains. <br /><br />"You're not married to a certain piece of hardware or operating system," hesays. "You have ease of management because once you know how to do something forone thing you know how to do it for everything. <br /><br />"In my organization, we had the Windows side of the house and the not Windowsside, and all of the sudden, when we virtualized things, we realized we didn'tneed to be tied to an operating system quite so closely. Regardless of theoperating system we used, the underlying technology was the same," Webber says.<br /><br />It's that kind of ease-of-use-combined with cost savings-that have more and moreIT managers investigating virtual technology for their enterprises.</p><p><a href="http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/P3215/33p15/33p15.asp&amp;guid=D5CF2343177243D4BC328EEA7474E75D" target="_blank">Article</a> by <em>Jean Thilmany</em> for <a href="http://www.processor.com/" class="ApplyClass" target="_blank"><img style="border: 0px solid;" alt="Processor.com" src="http://www.crosstechmedia.com/CTGImage/Library/Images/CrossTech%20Media/email%20images/Processor.gif" /></a>.</p> Jean Thilmany, Processor.com http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=The-Move-To-Virtualization- http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=The-Move-To-Virtualization-/834d327f-0250-4531-b6c5-efad8c389037 Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/21/2010 <style type="text/css"> .style1 border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; </style>I was having a chat with an IT Manager of the Windows server team for afinancial multinational in the Canary Wharf area. We had dinner shortly before Iwent on holiday. We had been speaking about the BAU issues he's going through,what his concerns are and his business drivers. The CIOs are often thinkingstrategy, thinking about costs, efficiency and delivery, the on the groundmanagement teams often have different opinions and drivers.<br /><br />Janet, (we'll call her), was telling me about an unexpected consequence of arecent organizational shift with regards to next business day warranty and withthat, I'll leave her to do speak below, please note as usual, I've removedanything that might reference her organization or identify her, we get muchbetter feedback that way, so over to Janet. <style type="text/css"> .style1 border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; </style><p>I was having a chat with an IT Manager of the Windows server team for afinancial multinational in the Canary Wharf area. We had dinner shortly before Iwent on holiday. We had been speaking about the BAU issues he's going through,what his concerns are and his business drivers. The CIOs are often thinkingstrategy, thinking about costs, efficiency and delivery, the on the groundmanagement teams often have different opinions and drivers.<br /><br />Janet, (we'll call her), was telling me about an unexpected consequence of arecent organizational shift with regards to next business day warranty and withthat, I'll leave her to do speak below, please note as usual, I've removedanything that might reference her organization or identify her, we get muchbetter feedback that way, so over to Janet.<br /><br />We used to have one single support contract that covered all servers regardlessof age and platform, so if a system board in our x86 rackmount died, the onsiteservice provider engineers would get a call from us, they would look into it andliase with the vendor to obtain or repair the faulty components. However, thesenior IT management team have been looking at the way we provision and managethe server environment and re-negotiated the contracts. Now what happens is thatwe buy new servers with a next day business warranty (as per normal) and for thecrucial existing systems that we have, the unix stuff, some of the high end tierone wintel servers we have on a support warranty. This poses a number ofoperational challenges which we have started to experience:<br /><br />Internalizing the hardware support - not everyone has experience with serverhardware, asking a guy who has previously looked after windows, or unix, tochange a system board or a backplane on the servers can be quite achallenge/confidence issues.<br />Different part numbers within one vendor platform - power supplies, backplanes,or common components which can make small tasks more complex, 2u rack serverthat means power supply 18724j not the 187913B, different system boards betweenthe same server model type, the 2.8GHz against the 2.4GHz models.<br /><br />Different standards and ways of doing simple similar tasks, the way vendorstreat hardware support process, logging a call, what information is mandatory,what isn't, that firmware and drivers need to be at a specific level, has causedin fact some of the engineers saying that one vendors servers are 'rubbish, andhigh maintenance' simply because of the support process<br />Next business day and warranty complication issues - we get mixed signals fromthe vendors when trying to log a call for a system out of business hours, whichis on a next business day warranty, it seems to depend on the guy taking thecall and the vendor we're dealing with. I've got the example I gave you aboutthis - see the end of this post.<br /><br />Concerns about the platform becoming the commodity with the old school trainingand ways of doing business - the just rebuild it scenario can be deskilling, inthe respect that as the engineers and the end users get more used to rip andreplace, when it's three in the morning and the system dies, we become morereliant on external vendors, where does this leave us and IT going forward?<br />The example Janet told me was from a week ago, when they called out a vendor fora system with a tier2 server which had a hardware fault. The system was not onthe corporate support contract and they therefore had to log a formal call 'likean end user' as Janet put it, the conversation was like this, I've removed thereferences to the vendor and the system to remove any cause for concern orconcepts being taken out of context: (Janet's engineer Neil is in italics)<br /><br />"Welcome to vendor Technical Support, my name is Sammy, how can I help youtoday?"<br /><em>"Hi, I've got a fault with our server, it's a model type and number, withserial number 123456xjustmadeup. We rebooted it as part of a systems upgrade andthe server powers up to the POST screen, but shows a blank screen. The lightsare on, the disks are spinning and lit up but nothing is coming on screen."<br /></em><br />"Ok sir, that's not a problem, we'll get that sorted for you, let me get yourdetails here.&nbsp; It will take me a few minutes, can I have your name andtelephone number/email in the meantime?"<br /><br /><em>Neil supplies his contact details.<br /></em><br />"Right sir, that server is on a next business day warranty cover. That means wewont be able to progress this call any further. If you call back Monday morningat 9am, we can get a call raised and sent to our first line escalation team.Alternatively I see you have a support contract, we might be able to requestthis server be added to your support contract via your account manager."<br /><br /><em>"Right, well the server is broken, I think it's either the system board, orone of the cpus, I need to get the server back online as soon as possible, sinceit's next business day, it's Sunday at 4pm, can we log a call with theunderstanding that nothing will get done with the call until Monday?"</em><br /><br />"I'm sorry sir, that's not how the process works, we can leave your details onthe system, but you will need to phone back and log a formal call."<br /><br />Result, the multinational waited. The engineer did not have the approval orauthorization to add the server to the support call, the engineer escalated tothe management team, who told the business account manager, that they weren'table to log a call as it's next business day support, and Monday morning aformal call was logged for an engineer to attend on Tuesday afternoon toinvestigate the failure. The server team, label that vendors platform as 'highmaintenance and earmark it for replacement'.</p><p><a href="http://www.bladewatch.com/2010/07/16/changing_nature_it/" target="_blank">Article</a> by <em>Martin</em> for&nbsp; <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bladewatch.com/"><img height="26" width="121" alt="DATACENTER Journal Logo" src="http://register03.exgenex.com/GcmMaintenance/ExgenexEvents/Images/BladeWatch-fw-120.gif" class="style1" /></a>.</p> Martin, BladeWatch http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Changing-the-nature-of-IT http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Changing-the-nature-of-IT/7215d36a-dc74-42b1-99f0-1dda1c86cae3 Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/21/2010 <strong>More Efficient Systems Will Help Reduce Power Consumption, But StrategyIs Also Key </strong><br /><br /><strong>Key Points </strong><br /><br /> The EPA's Energy Star Certification program is intended to identify energyconsumption goals for categories of devices. <br /><br /> Shared storage typically consumes about 15% of the energy in a data center,and this amount is expected to grow. <br /><br /> Don't just look for energy-efficient products-seek out energy-savingarchitectures (such as SSDs instead of HDDs) and methods (such as deduplication),as well. <br />Reducing energy consumption has become a growing priority everywhere, from homesand offices to data centers. <br /><br />In 1992, the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) established its EnergyStar Certification program, which today has certifications in more than 60product categories. <p><strong>More Efficient Systems Will Help Reduce Power Consumption, ButStrategy Is Also Key </strong><br /><br /><strong>Key Points </strong><br /><br /> The EPA's Energy Star Certification program is intended to identify energyconsumption goals for categories of devices. <br /><br /> Shared storage typically consumes about 15% of the energy in a data center,and this amount is expected to grow. <br /><br /> Don't just look for energy-efficient products-seek out energy-savingarchitectures (such as SSDs instead of HDDs) and methods (such as deduplication),as well. <br />Reducing energy consumption has become a growing priority everywhere, from homesand offices to data centers. <br /><br />In 1992, the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) established its EnergyStar Certification program, which today has certifications in more than 60product categories. <br /><br /><a href="javascript:PopupPic('01820540')"></a>"Our objectives are to encouragethe widespread adoption of appropriate hardware and software strategies toimprove energy efficiency," says Una Song, product manager for the Energy Starprogram (<a href="http://www.energystar.gov/">www.energystar.gov</a>). "We alsowant to provide purchasers with the means to identify the most energy-efficientsystems for their application, and we want to provide appropriate tools andinformation for building designers and managers to improve efficiency." <br /><br /><strong>Data Center Certifications </strong><br /><br />In terms of data centers, the EPA has already created certifications forservers-which typically represent two-thirds to three-quarters of data centerpower usage-and is now taking on storage, beginning with enterprise storagesystems, which account for about 10 to 15% of data center energy use. <br /><br />"Having an Energy Star rating for a storage system will help end users compareand contrast systems based on this characteristic knowing the methodology isconsistent," says Noemi Greyzdorf, research manager at IDC. "It will also allowusers to have energy consumption be another feature to look at along withreplication, protection, etc." <br /><br />The process began with a framework released by the EPA to define a taxonomy andother aspects and issues to be considered, including what kinds of data the EPAwants to collect on which to base its decisions. <br /><br />In April, the EPA released Draft 1.0 of the enterprise storage standard. Thenext steps will be more data collection and other input from vendors and otherstakeholders, moving along ultimately to a final specification. <br /><br />"We hope to finalize the specification by the end of the year, but since this isan interactive data-driven process, that can be subject to change," says EPA'sSong. Once this is done, qualifying products bearing the certification willprobably show up within six to 12 months. <br /><br /><strong>Certification Alone Is Not Enough </strong><br /><br />It's important to understand that simply buying Energy Star-certified gear isn'tsufficient. "The Energy Star certification qualifies the equipment, but it stillneeds to be used properly," Song says. <br /><br />Also, companies don't have to wait for the storage-related Energy Star programto become greener in their storage configurations. "Everybody should look attheir current configuration," says Wayne Adams, chair of the SNIA's board ofdirectors. "You may be able to justify a complete refresh based on power savingsand capacity." <br /><br />In an October 2008 white paper, the SNIA notes, "There is no single silverbullet to dramatically reduce IT energy consumption and cost. Instead, multipleenergy-efficient technologies can be deployed in concert to reduce the overallenergy footprint and bring costs under control." <br /><br />For example, moving from sub-100GB drives to 1TB or from a hard drive to asolid-state drive can significantly reduce power use; similarly, powermanagement features, such as spinning down disks and using variable-speedcooling fans, can reduce power consumption. <br /><br />"It's in how you use the equipment," notes Mike Rowan, CTO at IT analytics firmViridity Software. "You can improve a disk drive's efficiency, but there's abetter impact by turning unneeded drives off for five to 10 hours a day."</p><p><a href="http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?Article=articles/p3214/30p14/30p14.asp&amp;GUID=DE4379E0F2DB48E7B33677D38C123B33" target="_blank">Article</a> by<em>Daniel P. Dern</em>&nbsp; for <a href="http://www.processor.com/" class="ApplyClass" target="_blank"><img style="border: 0px solid;" alt="Processor.com" src="http://www.crosstechmedia.com/CTGImage/Library/Images/CrossTech%20Media/email%20images/Processor.gif" /></a>.</p> Daniel P. Dern, Processor.com http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Energy-Star-Certification-For-Enterprise-Storage- http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Energy-Star-Certification-For-Enterprise-Storage-/6b9e869a-b9b7-43da-a9da-272725a01cab Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/21/2010 <p>Tier Standard: Operational Sustainability was released by UptimeInstitute on1 July 2010. It provides data center owners and operators with means tounifythe uptime potential of the infrastructure with its management. Whenthese twoaspects are aligned, owners can achieve optimal, sustainable data centerperformance. The Operational Sustainability Standard works in tandemwith theInstitute's international Tier Classification System (<a href="http://uptimeinstitute.org/content/view/302/281/#Tier-Classification">TierStandard: Topology</a>). Long-term data center availability is theresultantcombination of the Tier of the infrastructure and the rigorousoperationsdefined and classified in Tier Standard: Operational Sustainability. </p><ul> <li><a href="http://uptimeinstitute.org/content/view/476/424">Video Introduction</a> of Tier Standard: Operational Sustainability</li> <li><a href="http://uptimeinstitute.org/content/view/302/281/#Operational-Sustainability"> Download Tier Standard: Operational Sustainability</a></li> <li><a href="http://uptimeinstitute.org/images/stories/press_releases/Press%20Release_Operational_Sustainability_7_1_2010.pdf"> View the press release</a></li></ul> <style type="text/css"> .style1 border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; </style><p>Tier Standard: Operational Sustainability was released by Uptime Institute on1 July 2010. It provides data center owners and operators with means to unifythe uptime potential of the infrastructure with its management. When these twoaspects are aligned, owners can achieve optimal, sustainable data centerperformance. The Operational Sustainability Standard works in tandem with theInstitute's international Tier Classification System (<a href="http://uptimeinstitute.org/content/view/302/281/#Tier-Classification">TierStandard: Topology</a>). Long-term data center availability is the resultantcombination of the Tier of the infrastructure and the rigorous operationsdefined and classified in Tier Standard: Operational Sustainability. </p><ul> <li><a href="http://uptimeinstitute.org/content/view/476/424">Video Introduction</a> of Tier Standard: Operational Sustainability</li> <li><a href="http://uptimeinstitute.org/content/view/302/281/#Operational-Sustainability"> Download Tier Standard: Operational Sustainability</a></li> <li><a href="http://uptimeinstitute.org/images/stories/press_releases/Press%20Release_Operational_Sustainability_7_1_2010.pdf"> View the press release</a></li></ul><br />For further information, please contact<a href="mailto:jkudritzki@uptimeinstitute.com?subject=Tier%20Standard:%20Operation%20Sustainability">Julian Kudritzki</a> This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, youneed JavaScript enabled to view it at 206.273.7993<br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://uptimeinstitute.org/component/option%2Ccom_frontpage/Itemid%2C1/">Article</a> for&nbsp;<img width="150" class="style1" src="http://register03.exgenex.com/GcmMaintenance/ExgenexEvents/Images/uptime_institute_logo.gif" alt="Uptime Institute" />. Uptime Institute http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Uptime-Institute-Releases-New-International-Operational-Sustainability-Standard-for-Data-Center-Operations http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Uptime-Institute-Releases-New-International-Operational-Sustainability-Standard-for-Data-Center-Operations/05a38636-a6c2-48de-9c54-56429dbdbcc1 Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/6/2010 <style type="text/css"> .style1 border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; </style>In an ongoing bid to control the entire data center, Hewlett-Packard (HP) ispushing its converged infrastructure products as the wave of the future. Manycustomers, however, are wary of this approach-fears of vendor lock-in are at thetop of the list of disadvantages of this approach. Nevertheless, HP viewsconvergence as the best approach for enterprise data centers and as a way toincrease its foothold with major customers.<br /> <style type="text/css"> .style1 border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; </style><p>In an ongoing bid to control the entire data center, Hewlett-Packard (HP) ispushing its converged infrastructure products as the wave of the future. Manycustomers, however, are wary of this approach-fears of vendor lock-in are at thetop of the list of disadvantages of this approach. Nevertheless, HP viewsconvergence as the best approach for enterprise data centers and as a way toincrease its foothold with major customers.<br /><br />HP's approach to selling its converged infrastructure approach focuses on thebenefits of<a href="http://datacenterjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=3688:hp-attempts-to-ease-lock-in-fears&amp;catid=22&amp;Itemid=100129#">close</a> integration of the various components of a data center, includingnetworking, storage, and servers. The company hopes to convince customers thatby relying on a single vendor, they can make tremendous steps toward higherefficiency compared with a data center that mixes and matches components fromdifferent vendors. According to Computer World ("<a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9178422/HP_s_convergence_theme_faces_IT_lock_in_fears_?taxonomyId=154">HP's'convergence' theme faces IT lock-in fears</a>"), "[c]ustomers that use HPservers and storage and networking equipment get software tools that will likelywork better with HP products than they do with systems from rival vendors."Needless to say, no one knows better how to exploit the capabilities of HPproducts than does HP; thus, some efficiency gains are to be expected when adata center relies on this kind of converged infrastructure. Nevertheless, aswith every area of life, benefits in one category virtually always come withdrawbacks in another. The case of convergence is no different.<br /><br />A perennial complaint about converged architectures is the potential for vendorlock-in. Once hooked by a major vendor such as HP, customers can then face steepexpenses if they choose to move to another vendor for some portion of their datacenter infrastructure. The Computer World article cites Tim Parsley, an ITinfrastructure manager for a health care company in Washington, as stating thatHP's emphasis on converged infrastructure carries the danger of "I bury myselfinto HP and I can't move out. And if I do move out it's extremely expensive."This sentiment echoes that of other customers who see converged infrastructureas too risky, owing to a restriction on equipment choices.<br /><br />According to Dave Donatelli, HP's general manager and executive vice presidentof enterprise servers, storage, and networking, customers "can change outwhatever they like," owing to the company's reliance on open standards forbuilding its equipment. According to this sentiment, although customers may begiving up certain advantages such as higher efficiency and greater automation bynot relying solely on HP for all of their data center equipment, they are notgiving up the ability to go to other vendors by investing in the company'sconverged infrastructure products.<br /><br />Even assuming Donatelli's sentiment holds true, reality is likely somewhere inbetween what proponents and opponents of converged infrastructure believe. Theefficiency gains of a converged approach may be beneficial, but they may come atthe expense of other improvements in performance that could result fromintegrating products from several different vendors. On the other hand, aconverged architecture may not necessarily be the death knell of any desire onthe part of customers to ever use equipment from another vendor. In alllikelihood, convergence will likely make turning to other vendors moredifficult, but it will probably not make it impossible from either a technicalor financial perspective. Furthermore, convergence will likely improveefficiency and automation, but again, this could be at the expense of otherimprovements that might be possible through integration of equipment from othervendors.<br /><br />HP is not alone in its quest to make convergence the standard for enterprisedata centers. Cisco, through its Unified Computing System, is following asimilar path. The companies have apparently been the victim of a falling out ("<a href="http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid80_gci1515430,00.html">HPreloads for 'converged infrastructure' war with Cisco</a>"), with the companiesnow each trying to take data center territory from the other. According toSearchDataCenter.com, both "HP and Cisco say that converged data centerarchitecture is the future for enterprise data centers." Thus, HP is not theonly vendor looking to portray convergence as the best alternative forcustomers.<br /><br />Nevertheless, despite these companies' focus on convergence, the technologyappears to have a questionable future in terms of becoming a customer standard.Customers largely enjoy their ability to pick and choose vendors for differentportions of their data centers, and they may never be willing (on a large scale)to give up this choice. HP and Cisco may, however, be able to convince some warycustomers that their products do not eliminate this choice. Whether eithervendor (or both vendors) will be successful in this endeavor remains to be seen.<br /><br /><a href="http://datacenterjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=3688:hp-attempts-to-ease-lock-in-fears&amp;catid=22&amp;Itemid=100129" target="_blank">Article</a> by <em>Jeffrey Clark</em> for&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://datacenterjournal.com/index.php"><img alt="DATACENTER Journal Logo" src="http://register03.exgenex.com/GcmMaintenance/ExgenexEvents/Images/DATACENTER-Journal-fw-120.gif" class="style1" /></a>.</p> Jeffrey Clark, DATACENTER Journal http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=HP-Attempts-to-Ease-LockIn-Fears http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=HP-Attempts-to-Ease-LockIn-Fears/565fe7f7-0135-4c4d-9fd5-8ca961376dbc Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/6/2010 <p>What Options Are Available &amp; Which Are Best For SMEs? </p><p>Key Points <br /></p><ul> <li>The move to wireless sensors cannot only improve security but also allow data centers to achieve a more appropriate sensor count compared to prior times with wired equipment. </li> <li> Environmental monitoring may only be part of the real picture. When weighing new solutions, keep an eye on those that can scale to include other areas, such as power consumption. </li> <li> Effective monitoring vendors should be able to help managers distinguish objective needs and display experience with integrating their solutions with any existing equipment. </li></ul><br /><p>If only to help ensure operational uptime, environmental monitoring offactors such as airflow, temperature, humidity, and wetness are increasinglyprevalent in data centers. As data centers increase in size, so does the valueof environmental monitoring. But as with any other technology, some ways ofgoing about buying environmental monitoring are better than others. </p> <p>What Options Are Available &amp; Which Are Best For SMEs? <br /><br /><strong>Key Points </strong><br /></p><ul> <li>The move to wireless sensors cannot only improve security but also allow data centers to achieve a more appropriate sensor count compared to prior times with wired equipment. </li> <li> Environmental monitoring may only be part of the real picture. When weighing new solutions, keep an eye on those that can scale to include other areas, such as power consumption. </li> <li> Effective monitoring vendors should be able to help managers distinguish objective needs and display experience with integrating their solutions with any existing equipment. </li></ul><br />If only to help ensure operational uptime, environmental monitoring offactors such as airflow, temperature, humidity, and wetness are increasinglyprevalent in data centers. As data centers increase in size, so does the valueof environmental monitoring. But as with any other technology, some ways ofgoing about buying environmental monitoring are better than others. <br /><br /><strong>Narrowing The Field</strong> <br /><br />Before anything, managers need to understand what monitoring options areavailable. Until two or three years ago, wired sensors were standard issue.Unfortunately, this entailed so much plugging and running of cable that manybusinesses would only deploy a handful of sensors. Meanwhile, ASHRAE (AmericanSociety of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) specifies sixtemperature sensors on each rack-top, middle, and bottom, both front and back.According to Mark Harris, vice president of product management at Modius (<a href="http://www.modius.com/">www.modius.com</a>),many enterprises feel that although ASHRAE is too strict, only having a fewsensors is too risky. A happy medium is best. <br /><br />Fortunately, the broad range of wireless sensors on today's market makesright-sizing a monitoring deployment much easier. Harris states that modernwireless sensors small enough to fit in one's palm are just as dependable aswired alternatives. <br /><br />Next, managers must decide if and how tightly various monitoring products shouldbe integrated, both with one another and with the enterprise network. After all,there will be less of a need to make sensor data available to IT staff if themonitoring will be outsourced to a services provider. Standalone sensors may befine for smaller businesses with fewer feature needs, but larger organizationswill likely find their product choices determined in part by features that willhelp IT be accountable for its systems. <br /><br />Dave Ruede, vice president of sales at Temperature@lert (<a href="http://www.temperaturealert.com/">www.temperaturealert.com</a>),notes that data centers have two tasks: keep running and keep data secure.Managers need to decide how much monitoring will play into supporting these twofunctions. In the former task, environmental monitoring can watch for suchfactors as power fluctuations or outages, vibration, smoke or fire, water leaks,or temperature excursions due to AC or chilled water system failures. These arethe usual suspects with environmental monitoring, but a similar array of optionsalso pertain to security. <br /><br />"When working to keep data secure," Ruede says, "sensors include some of thoseincluded in the 'keep running' category. But additional sensors may be added forintrusion-like proximity, motion, door open sensors-sound, light, and in somecases, video recording. The rule of thumb is more data requires more sensors,bandwidth, etc., with video requirements adding significantly to the bandwidthand memory requirements." <br /><br />Ruede adds that managers shouldn't forget to account for personnel, whetherinternal or contracted, to respond appropriately to all possible alarmconditions. <br /><br /><strong>Entering The Spend</strong> <br /><br />Buying environmental monitoring equipment is like buying life insurance. Buy toolittle and the worst case scenario could be catastrophic for everyone. Buyingtoo much means throwing good money away for no reason. The monitoring must becommensurate with the value of what's being protected. <br /><br />According to Temperature@lert's Ruede, a simple USB-based solution withtemperature sensors and monitoring software can be had for about $100. "Rackmountedenterprise-based monitors complete with Wi-Fi and hardwired sensor interfacescan cost several hundred to a few thousand dollars, and sensors would be extra,"he says, and that's before any video monitoring and installation. Sensors thatcan signal out via cellular are more costly at a few hundred dollars, but theyhave the security advantage of not being dependent on a local network. <br /><br />Modius' Harris points out that with environmental monitoring, one thing oftenleads to another. Data from a set of sensors breeds questions about other datacenter equipment, particularly about power. In smaller operations, this meanspower strips and UPS statuses, but bigger organizations will also want tomonitor PDUs, CRAC units, and generators. <br /><br />"Because monitoring is so easy to do these days," Harris says, "you don't wantto be in a position where you say 'If only I had looked at outside airtemperatures, as well, I could have weighed this other set of business analyticsagainst the data I have.' Monitor the things that you can see as likely beingpart of your decision processes: temperature, power, backup power, cooling,server loads. But don't kill yourself. At some point, a diminishing returnscurve kicks in." <br /><br /><strong>Vendors &amp; Choices</strong> <br /><br />Any environmental monitoring purchase involves compromise based on hard choices.Often, an outside set of eyes from an expert vendor can help in making objectivedecisions, and the first thing a vendor should help managers determine is theirneeds vs. their wants. The answer to this is often enough to indicate if aresponsible vendor with the customer's interests foremost in mind is on thecase. <br /><br />Ruede recommends assessing vendors in part on their ability to provide a turnkeysolution. If an end-to-end solution isn't needed, can the vendors answerquestions about integrating with existing equipment? Do the vendors offermonitoring services, and which providers do they have listed as key partners?<br /><br />"Ultimately," Ruede says, "the choice will come down to, 'Whom do I trust toreally understand my needs, help do this right, bring it in at or under budget,and be there in the future when I need help?'"<p></p><p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles%2Fp3214%2F36p14%2F36p14.asp&amp;guid=CE09B528A1F34810A03236F486E68207&amp;searchtype=0&amp;WordList=ENVIRONMENTAL+MONITORING&amp;bJumpTo=True">Article</a> by <em>William Van Winkle</em> for <a target="_blank" class="ApplyClass" href="http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?Article=articles/p3213/20p13/20p13.asp&amp;GUID=98AD8D9011C04EBBBAAA0C1C1499639D"><img src="http://www.crosstechmedia.com/CTGImage/Library/Images/CrossTech%20Media/email%20images/Processor.gif" alt="Processor.com" style="border: 0px solid;" /></a>.</p> William Van Winkle, Processor.com http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Environmental-Monitoring-Buying-Guide- http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Environmental-Monitoring-Buying-Guide-/1c37fe09-df07-4a94-9eb7-a03c5231db4b Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/6/2010 <p></p><p>Organizations need to operate with limited IT resources, yet with an enterprise's needs - scalability, security, and reliability - often struggle to deliver a robust wireless experience.</p><p></p>Join Meraki for a live webinar taking place on <strong>Thursday, July 15</strong> at 2 PM Eastern/11 AM Pacific, where we will show how cloud computing brings simplicity and effectiveness to wireless networks.<p></p><p><a href="http://register.exgenex.com/gcmregister/gcmregister.asp?C=70000087&amp;M=50001612">REGISTER TODAY</a>&nbsp;for this free program!</p> <a href="http://goitec.com/webinars.html?Mode=Preview&amp;R=a5076748-e727-4bb1-9c42-3403c54877f4"><h2>Thursday July 15th, 2:00 PM ET</h2></a><p>Organizations need to operate with limited IT resources, yet with an enterprise's needs - scalability, security, and reliability - often struggle to deliver a robust wireless experience.<br /><br />Join Meraki for a live webinar taking place on Thursday, July 15 at 2 PM Eastern/11 AM Pacific, where we will show how cloud computing brings simplicity and effectiveness to wireless networks.&nbsp;<br /><br /><a href="http://register.exgenex.com/gcmregister/gcmregister.asp?C=70000087&amp;M=50001612">REGISTER TODAY!</a><br /><br />Learn how cloud-managed wireless access points achieve the following benefits including:</p><ul> <li>Self-configuration and centralized management over the web</li> <li>secure access for employees and guests</li> <li>scalability for networks of all sizes</li> <li>cost savings of up to 50% over traditional solutions. </li></ul><br /><br />This program is part of an ongoing series of Meraki educational programs, free to Data Center Connect subscribers.<br /><br /><a href="http://register.exgenex.com/gcmregister/gcmregister.asp?C=70000087&amp;M=50001612">REGISTER TODAY</a>&nbsp;for this free program!<br /><br />This is part 2 of a two-part educational program.&nbsp; If you missed part 1 feel free to <a class="ApplyClass" href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6848063/2010-06-08%2011.07%20Meraki%20Webinar.wmv">watch it now</a><p></p><br /> Kiren Sekar, product marketing manager, Meraki http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Webinar:-Cloud-Managed-WiFi:-The-Next-Step-in-Wireless-Evolution http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Webinar:-Cloud-Managed-WiFi:-The-Next-Step-in-Wireless-Evolution/2ac69e5b-cf5c-4fe8-bb5e-bb911bf43948 Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/6/2010 <p>A Look At Technologies &amp; Trends That Are Developing In The Cloud ComputingMarket </p><p>Key Points </p><ul> <li>Systems management will increase in importance as enterprises embrace cloud computing's more complex environments. </li> <li>Hybrid cloud implementations will deliver flexibility, allowing administrators to operate on-premises or in the cloud. </li> <li>Administrators contemplating using cloud computing must understand that it is not a free pass. Sizeable investments in middleware may be required to "port" existing applications to the cloud. </li></ul><p>The subject of cloud computing is generating quite a bit of buzz in computingcircles. And why not? Cloud computing promises to level the playing field byenabling companies of all sizes to take advantage of cutting-edge technologieswithout needing enterprise-size budgets to make it happen. </p> <p>A Look At Technologies &amp; Trends That Are Developing In The Cloud ComputingMarket <br /><br />Key Points <br /></p><ul> <li>Systems management will increase in importance as enterprises embrace cloud computing's more complex environments. </li> <li>Hybrid cloud implementations will deliver flexibility, allowing administrators to operate on-premises or in the cloud. </li> <li>Administrators contemplating using cloud computing must understand that it is not a free pass. Sizeable investments in middleware may be required to "port" existing applications to the cloud. </li></ul><br />The subject of cloud computing is generating quite a bit of buzz in computingcircles. And why not? Cloud computing promises to level the playing field byenabling companies of all sizes to take advantage of cutting-edge technologieswithout needing enterprise-size budgets to make it happen. <br /><br />Another key aspect of cloud computing is that it shields users from the detailsof a technology. This means administrators don't have to worry aboutunderstanding the nuts and bolts of a specific technology or worry about themaintenance and configuration headaches that come with many enterprise-classapplications. In other words, applications are delivered like utilities. <br /><br />Here is a look at the top trends in cloud computing and the details and nuancesadministrators should be paying attention to if they plan to move toward usingapplications in the cloud. <br /><br /><strong>Why All The Fuss? </strong><br /><br />There are numerous reasons why cloud computing is garnering so much attentiontoday. For starters, says Carl Hillier, director of strategic marketing forinfrastructure services at Fujitsu America (<a href="http://www.fujitsu.com/us">www.fujitsu.com/us</a>),cloud computing's ability to rapidly provision resources is ideally suited totoday's dynamic market environment. And, he adds, the utility pricing modelmitigates the risk of organizations becoming saddled with financial burdenscaused by excess IT infrastructure. <br /><br />Another compelling reason, says Nati Shalom, CTO at Israel-based GigaSpaces (<a href="http://www.gigaspaces.com/">www.gigaspaces.com</a>),is the fact that companies want the agility to move faster and have services ondemand. Colleen Smith, vice president of SaaS for Progress Software (<a href="http://www.progress.com/">www.progress.com</a>),says any company would be crazy not to investigate potential savings deliveredby cloud computing's lower price points vs. traditional upfront purchasing andlicense fees. Also, she adds, the speed of technological change means makingcapital investments in servers and license and maintenance fees is no longer thelogical way to obtain technology and services. Companies don't want to spend 80to 90% of their IT budgets solely on maintaining systems, applications, andinfrastructure, Smith concludes. <br /><br /><strong>New Trends In The Cloud</strong> <br /><br />At first glance, it seems like moving applications to the cloud would be an easyproposition simply involving the establishment of contractual relationships withcloud providers to deliver applications. However, administrators shouldunderstand that there is more to it than that, especially in light of newemerging trends with this technology. <br /><br />For example, the ever growing complexity of distributed IT environments, coupledwith increasing business dependence on technology, is raising the stakes forsuccessful service management, says Herb Van Hook, vice president of strategyfor the office of the CTO at BMC Software (<a href="http://www.bmc.com/">www.bmc.com</a>).IT service management, Van Hook adds, is critical to handling this complexityand has matured based on years of customer experiences, knowledge of theindustry, and adoption of such standards as ITIL. <br /><br />Because network connectivity is so important to cloud computing, administratorsconsidering cloud computing should take a look at their physical networkinfrastructures and ensure that their organizations have sufficient capacity andreliable connectivity coming into their data centers as well as betweendifferent geographical locations, says Bob Roudebush, director of salesengineering at BlueLock (<a href="http://www.bluelock.com/">www.bluelock.com</a>).<br /><br />However, cloud computing does not mean users are limited to working 100% in thecloud. An emerging trend is the use of "SaaS and Back" hybrid applications thatcan be deployed as SaaS or on-premises through a browser and a native client,says Jan Aleman, CEO at Servoy. This new hybrid platform, adds Aleman, givesusers the option of running their applications hosted online-on dedicatedservers, virtual servers, or any form of cloud computing-or on-premises. <br /><br />At the end of the day, the key is to turn the data center from a static to adynamic environment, says Shalom. This can be accomplished by creating a serviceenvironment infrastructure where storage servers, networks, and applications areavailable on demand. But the main challenge for getting there, says Shalom, isthe sizeable investment and the difficulties in moving existing applications tothe cloud, which will require investment in middleware. <br /><br /><strong>SMEs Reach For The Cloud</strong> <br /><br />Progress Software's Smith predicts the largest adoption of cloud computing in2010 will occur at small and medium-sized enterprises. Organizations that arelooking to get access to more computing power and business applications butdon't have the capital budget to buy servers and licenses up front will be theones that take advantage of cloud computing. <br /><br />Small to midsized enterprises have the most to gain from cloud computing becauseit minimizes the capital expenditures required to provision their ITinfrastructures, says Fujitsu's Hillier. Also, he adds, cloud computing enhancesthe innate agility of smaller enterprises by provisioning IT structure on-demandand enabling it to change with fluctuating demand. <br /><br />In terms of management, SMEs require ease of use above all else. Thus, animportant trend in the cloud computing space is the move toward centralizedmanagement, says Kirill Davydychev, senior technical specialist at XvandTechnology (<a href="http://www.xvand.com/">www.xvand.com</a>). In the past,administrators had to wrangle multiple management consoles because every productfeatured a different management console. Now vendors are realizing this type ofmanagement is very inefficient, so there have been efforts to either integrateall management into a unified solution that would allow for a certain degree ofautomation or to make the product so simple to use that it doesn't requiremanagement at all aside from initial setup, says Davydychev. This managementsimplicity, he adds, is especially essential in cloud computing as the amount ofmanaged servers increases. <br /><br /><strong>The Future Is Now <br /></strong><br />New companies are choosing to start in the cloud rather than build out ITinfrastructures from scratch, says BlueLock's Roudebush. Existing companies aremoving certain apps to the cloud using SaaS offerings, Roudebush says, addingthat it may take a year or two before companies move their entireinfrastructures to the cloud. <br /><br />This is because the IT pros are waiting on technologies that make movingworkloads between private and public clouds easier and ease the management ofdata centers operating in the cloud environment. Also, he adds, attorneys mustwork out the details behind intellectual property that is outsourced to a cloudservice provider and the impact of this on subpoenas, regulatory compliance, andprivacy. <br /><br />Progress Software's Smith says cloud computing will become a factor for smallenterprises in the next 12 to 18 months, when adoption will begin to take off.On the other hand, adoption will be smaller for medium-sized enterprises thathave already invested in applications and infrastructure, so their adoption ofthe cloud will be more piecemeal and only happen as new needs arise orsignificant business growth occurs.<p></p><p>&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles%2Fp3214%2F28p14%2F28p14.asp&amp;guid=DE4379E0F2DB48E7B33677D38C123B33">Article</a> by <em>Sixto Ortiz Jr.</em> for <a target="_blank" class="ApplyClass" href="http://www.processor.com/"><img src="http://www.crosstechmedia.com/CTGImage/Library/Images/CrossTech%20Media/email%20images/Processor.gif" alt="Processor.com" style="border: 0px solid;" /></a>.</p> Sixto Ortiz Jr., Processor.com http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Happenings-In-The-Cloud- http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Happenings-In-The-Cloud-/1074c4db-8fa1-495f-ad6f-ecab79021534 Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/6/2010 <title>HTML clipboard</title>Importance of training &amp; certifications in the IT department&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />Indeed, the IT industry knows certifications. Over 40 widely-held ITcertifications exist, conferred by associations, vendors and otherorganizations. Many certifications are a measure of one's technical proficiencyin a skill area. These are often conveyed by vendors or industry organizations.Such 'certs' include Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), ComputerTechnology Industry Association's A+ (CompTIA A+) and Cisco CertifiedInternetwork Expert (CCIE).<br />&nbsp;<br />Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), Control Objectives forInformation and related Technology (COBIT&reg;) and Six Sigma are an indication ofone's proficiency in understanding and applying processes that may improvepreparation and operations.&nbsp; ITIL and COBIT focus on IT and Six Sigma isheralded for quality management. While there are clear differences in the itemsaddressed by each of these certifications, they measure much more than specificskill proficiency yet are not as comprehensive a measurement of one's generalmanagement ability. <title>HTML clipboard</title><p>Importance of training &amp; certifications in the IT department&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />Indeed, the IT industry knows certifications. Over 40 widely-held ITcertifications exist, conferred by associations, vendors and otherorganizations. Many certifications are a measure of one's technical proficiencyin a skill area. These are often conveyed by vendors or industry organizations.Such 'certs' include Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), ComputerTechnology Industry Association's A+ (CompTIA A+) and Cisco CertifiedInternetwork Expert (CCIE).<br />&nbsp;<br />Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), Control Objectives forInformation and related Technology (COBIT&reg;) and Six Sigma are an indication ofone's proficiency in understanding and applying processes that may improvepreparation and operations.&nbsp; ITIL and COBIT focus on IT and Six Sigma isheralded for quality management. While there are clear differences in the itemsaddressed by each of these certifications, they measure much more than specificskill proficiency yet are not as comprehensive a measurement of one's generalmanagement ability.<br />&nbsp;<br />Project management certifications provide a measure of one to deliver soundmanagement performance.&nbsp; Project Management Professional (PMP,) ProgramManagement Professional (PgMP) and PRINCE2 are highly sought after projectmanagement certifications. The first two are conveyed by the Project ManagementInstitute (PMI), Newtown Square, PA., USA and PRINCE2 is granted by The APMGroup Limited, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom. PMI has 385,096 PMP holders oftheir certifications worldwide; 425,000 people hold PRINCE2 certifications, 53%in the UK. <br />&nbsp;<br />Do you need a certification? <br />&nbsp;<br />In today's market, individuals and companies increasingly seek certificationsfor a competitive advantage. Experience, advanced degrees and contacts aresometimes not enough. Federal contracts may require that key personnel hold PMPcertifications.&nbsp; When two candidates with the same qualifications becomefinalists for a job, the one holding a globally recognized credential may oftenmake the cut.&nbsp; Holders of project management certifications also earn more.According to the recent PMI&reg; Project Management Salary Survey, projectmanagement salaries are growing, despite the recession.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />So where do you start? What's the best way to prepare to earn these covetedcertifications? The applications for these certifications can be somewhatdifficult, so can passing the exam. "If you have a mentor, or someone that hasachieved the certification, to guide you it's always advisable to save you time,effort and costs. The additional insight that a current credential holder has,can provide you with the tools, training, avenues, to help prepare for the realexam", notes Jeff Hodgkinson, PMP, PgMP, PMI-RMP, the 99th most connected and3rd most recommended person on LinkedIn.<br />&nbsp;<br />Many have found value in earning professional credentials. Professionals in ITand other disciplines have realized advances in their organizations and found itwell worth their while to obtain the right certification. Go for it!&nbsp;</p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.veronicawilliams.com/">Article</a> by <em>Veronica Williams MBA, PMP, PgMP, Coach</em> for&nbsp;<img alt="" src="http://register03.exgenex.com/GcmMaintenance/ExgenexEvents/Images/veronica-logo.jpg" style="vertical-align: middle; border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" />. Veronica Williams, VeronicaWilliams.com http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Making-The-Most-of-Certifications http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Making-The-Most-of-Certifications/f3bd8c08-c58e-4bc7-b0c7-376e060cc31a Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/6/2010 Avert An Energy Crisis By Managing Energy &amp; Airflow<br /><br /><p><strong>Key Points </strong> </p><ul> <li>Mixing hot and cold air directly affects cooling and can cut capacity in half, so data centers should implement smarter layouts such as hot and cold aisles.</li> <li>Streamline raised-floor cooling by removing cable clutter and plugging cutouts and empty spaces. </li> <li>Efficient energy management is key to meeting demand. Virtualization is a good way to replace inefficient systems that drain excessive amounts of power and cooling resources. </li></ul><p>Across virtually every functional area in the data center, the key to successis visibility and staying ahead of the curve. However, keeping up with demandsfrom power and cooling technology and equipment can sometimes put you behind thecurve. In a perfect world, data center managers would be completely proactive,instead of reactive. However, in the real world, this is easier said than done.Here are a few tips for small to midsized enterprises that want to stay ahead inthe power and cooling game. </p> <p><strong><br /></strong></p><p><strong>Avert An Energy Crisis By Managing Energy &amp; Airflow<br /></strong><br /><br /><strong>Key Points </strong> </p><ul> <li>Mixing hot and cold air directly affects cooling and can cut capacity in half, so data centers should implement smarter layouts such as hot and cold aisles.</li> <li>Streamline raised-floor cooling by removing cable clutter and plugging cutouts and empty spaces. </li> <li>Efficient energy management is key to meeting demand. Virtualization is a good way to replace inefficient systems that drain excessive amounts of power and cooling resources. </li></ul><br />Across virtually every functional area in the data center, the key to successis visibility and staying ahead of the curve. However, keeping up with demandsfrom power and cooling technology and equipment can sometimes put you behind thecurve. In a perfect world, data center managers would be completely proactive,instead of reactive. However, in the real world, this is easier said than done.Here are a few tips for small to midsized enterprises that want to stay ahead inthe power and cooling game. <br /><br /><strong>Prevent Hot &amp; Cold Air Mixing </strong> <br /><br />Steve Borley, vice president ofsales and marketing at Data Specialties (<a href="http://www.dataspecialtiesinc.com/">www.dataspecialtiesinc.com</a>),says it's important to set up racks in rows configured with hot and cold aisles."Providing hot or cold air containment systems prevents the hot and cold air inthe room from mixing," Borley says. "This will improve the overall efficiency ofthe cooling system by allowing the hot air to return directly back to thecooling units." He says that for rooms with raised floors, you should installreturn air systems that utilize the space above drop ceilings for warm air toreturn to CRAC (computer room air conditioning) units. <br /><br />"Don't forget that you can always raise the room temperature," Borley adds. "Thecooling in data centers is no longer required to be 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit.New standards are being implemented with higher operating temperatures of 75 to78 F." <br /><br />According to Wally Phelps, product marketing manager and airflow evangelist forthe AdaptivCool division of DegreeC (<a href="http://www.adaptivcool.com/">www.adaptivcool.com</a>),added IT load does not always mean more cooling units are needed. He says thatoften there is more than enough capacity in place but it's not being utilizedeffectively. <br /><br />"Industry and utility company experts recognize the role that airflowdistribution plays in data center cooling," he explains. "Undesirable mixing ofhot and cold air in the data center space directly affects cooling and can cutcapacity in half. Many causes of mixing are correctable, and cooling capacitycan be recovered at much less expense and with higher reliability than addingmore cooling units." Phelps says that how much capacity can be revived dependson the severity and actual root causes of problems. <br /><br /><strong>Manage Airflow Under Raised Floors</strong> <br /><br />When it comes to elevation and air conditioning, data centers must have a raisedfloor and an efficient computer room air conditioner that will effectively pushcold air up from beneath the raised floor to cool the room, says Steve Keilen,vice president of marketing at Viridity Software (<a href="http://www.viridity.com/">www.viridity.com</a>)."Hot air given off from the IT assets will naturally rise where it should becaptured by the air conditioner, cooled, and then recirculated," Keilen says."The ability to reduce the amount of cold air mixing with hot air also improvesheat load and can dramatically reduce cooling costs." <br /><br />For older data centers, Borley says it's important to remove unused cabling fromunder the raised floor and seal floor tile cuts to prevent cold air fromleaking. He says this will improve airflow and efficiency of the cold airdelivery systems. "Balance the airflow by using perforated floor tiles withdampers and position tiles where required," he advises. "Do not locateperforated tiles in front of downflow air conditioners. This can cause shortcycling because the cold air gets pulled back into the unit." <br /><br /><strong>Manage Data Center Energy Efficiently</strong> <br /><br />In Borley's opinion, UPS and PDU systems can be sized to scale up with the ITequipment load. "As the load increases, additional modules can be added to thesystem," he says. "This is a pay-as-you-grow concept, but it also helps with theelectrical system efficiency. The UPS systems are more efficient at higheroperating loads. Some electrical system components are not scalable, such as thestandby generator or utility service." Borley says these components should besized in logical block sizes allowing for future growth. <br /><br />Borley says it's also important to virtualize servers if you want to keep upwith power demands. "With the cost of energy," he says, "it pays to virtualizeyour IT servers and replace outdated systems that are not energy efficient. Thiswill reduce the data center's overall energy consumption." <br /><br />Additionally, Keilen says careful attention should be paid to server capacityplacement and management (that is, power, cooling, and space). Candidates for"technical refresh" should be identified, and any stranded server capacityshould also be discovered. Optimal server capacity placement must become apriority due to its profound impact on power and cooling.<br /><br /><p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?Article=articles/p3214/20p14/20p14.asp&amp;GUID=DE4379E0F2DB48E7B33677D38C123B33">Article</a> by <em>Chris A. MacKinnon</em> for <a target="_blank" class="ApplyClass" href="http://www.processor.com/"><img src="http://www.crosstechmedia.com/CTGImage/Library/Images/CrossTech%20Media/email%20images/Processor.gif" alt="Processor.com" style="border: 0px solid;" /></a>.</p> Chris A. MacKinnon, Processor.com http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Keep-Up-With-Power-and-Cooling-Demands http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Keep-Up-With-Power-and-Cooling-Demands/990b2629-7244-4795-8047-60bd7ffbed08 Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/6/2010 What Kind Of Performance Can You Expect?<br /><br /><p>Key Points </p><ul> <li>With the Opteron 6000 Series, you'll get more cores and more memory, and the 6000 Series offers improved bandwidth and support for faster memory speeds. </li> <li> You won't pay a luxury tax for investing in a 4P server. </li> <li> 6000 Series processors include a variety of ways to automatically and manually manage power and cooling. </li></ul><p>With the new Opteron 6000 Series, AMD has taken multicore design to a newlevel-one with 12 or eight cores. The increased number of cores is ideal fortoday's ecommerce, virtualization, and database environments that are designedto natively allocate cores and realize huge performance jumps when more coresare added to the mix. The jump in processing power in the Opteron 6000 Seriesmay even let you install a single 2P or 4P server that can replace the duties ofseveral older single- or dual-core servers. Here, we'll cover the variety offeatures found in the 6000 Series and how the features stack up to the six-coreand quad-core Opteron series. </p> <p><strong>What Kind Of Performance Can You Expect? </strong><br /><br /><strong>Key Points</strong> </p><ul> <li>With the Opteron 6000 Series, you'll get more cores and more memory, and the 6000 Series offers improved bandwidth and support for faster memory speeds. </li> <li> You won't pay a luxury tax for investing in a 4P server. </li> <li> 6000 Series processors include a variety of ways to automatically and manually manage power and cooling. </li></ul><br />With the new Opteron 6000 Series, AMD has taken multicore design to a newlevel-one with 12 or eight cores. The increased number of cores is ideal fortoday's ecommerce, virtualization, and database environments that are designedto natively allocate cores and realize huge performance jumps when more coresare added to the mix. The jump in processing power in the Opteron 6000 Seriesmay even let you install a single 2P or 4P server that can replace the duties ofseveral older single- or dual-core servers. Here, we'll cover the variety offeatures found in the 6000 Series and how the features stack up to the six-coreand quad-core Opteron series. <br /><br /><strong>Clocking The Opteron 6000 Series</strong> <br /><br />Gina Longoria, director of productmanagement for AMD's Server and Workstation Division, says that the new 12-coreOpteron 6100 Series processors can offer up to a 61% increase in performanceover the six-core Opteron 2400 Series. What's impressive is that AMD found a wayto double the processor cores from the six-core and quad-core Opteron lineupswithout significantly lowering the clock speed of the processor. For example,the Opteron 6176 SE represents the high end of 12 cores with a 2.3GHz clockspeed, 1.8GHz Northbridge, and 12 processor cores, while the 8439 SE is thefastest six-core processor with a 2.8GHz clock speed and 2.2GHz Northbridge.Both feature an average CPU power of 105 watts. <br /><br />Another upgrade in the Opteron 6000 Series is the built-in support for fourmemory channels and up to DDR3-1333MHz speeds via AMD's Direct ConnectArchitecture 2.0. Compared to DDR2 platforms of the six-core and quad-coreOpterons, which support up to two memory channels and DDR2 memory, you'llexperience an almost 2.5 times increase in overall memory bandwidth. <br /><br />"The Opteron 6000 Series platform is also great for memory-intensiveapplications because of the memory footprint availability," Longoria says. The6000 Series supports up to 12 memory modules to help you reduce the amount youspend on RAM. For example, the greater memory flexibility gives you the abilityto fill the server with lower-capacity RAM, such as 2GB and 4GB, to avoidinvesting in costly 8GB modules for high-capacity environments. Those that workin high-performance computing environments will appreciate that the Opteron 6000Series is scalable up to 4P and 48 dimms, which would be great for handling peakloads with a low response time. <br /><br /><strong>HyperTransport 3.0 </strong><br /><br />System bandwidth among the input/output paths, such as processor-to-processorand processor-to-memory, is a key benchmark when dealing with memory- andprocessor-intensive tasks such as cloud computing. The Opteron 6000 Seriesdelivers speeds up to 6.4GBps to improve the balance between processor andmemory speeds and increase overall scalability. The same technology can be foundon AMD's six-core and quad-core Opteron series. AMD also built HyperTransportAssist technology into the Opteron 6000 Series to reduce probe traffic andresolve probe issues, which can increase the efficiency of HyperTransport 3.0.<br /><br />If your enterprise has or will move to a virtualized environment, a 4P server isideal for handling the demands made to the CPU, input/output, and memoryresources. <br /><br />However, many organizations have stayed away from 4P servers because there hastraditionally been an extra cost associated with 4P-capable processors. Theentire Opteron 6000 Series is compatible with 1P, 2P, and 4P servers, so youwon't pay a premium for the parts to meet your high-performance computing needs.Instead, you can focus on how many you want and what type of memory you'llinstall. <br /><br />In addition, the 6000 Series supports a variety of power and performancecontrols to help you save money when the processors are idle. It canautomatically implement a C1E power state, which reduces the CPU speed when theserver is performing less CPU-intensive tasks, and IT staff can remotely monitorthe power and cooling of processors through AMD's APML (Advanced PlatformManagement Link). For example, an APML-enabled server can let you manageplatform power consumption through P-state limits and CPU thermals without goinginto the BIOS. With AMD's CoolSpeed technology, the server can alsoautomatically reduce P-states when a temperature limit surpasses safeoperational settings. <br /><br /><strong>What's Next? </strong> <br /><br />AMD's Opteron 4000 Series processors are designed for low-cost, low-powerservers. The 4000 Series processors will reportedly be available in quad- andsix-core models and support two memory channels. In 2011, AMD expects to release12- and 16-core processors within the Opteron 6000 Series platform, while thelow-power 4000 Series is expected to include six- and eight-core varieties. AMDsays that all models will feature the same core with the SR500 Series chipsetand G34 or C32 sockets.<p></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?Article=articles/p3214/30p14/30p14.asp&amp;GUID=DE4379E0F2DB48E7B33677D38C123B33" target="_blank">Article</a> by <em>Nathan Lake</em> for <a href="http://www.processor.com/" class="ApplyClass" target="_blank"><img style="border: 0px solid;" alt="Processor.com" src="http://www.crosstechmedia.com/CTGImage/Library/Images/CrossTech%20Media/email%20images/Processor.gif" /></a>.</p> Nathan Lake, Processor.com http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=AMD's-New-Server-Platforms- http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=AMD's-New-Server-Platforms-/2ffa0d62-e72d-49e7-94a9-8cf3f489f149 Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/6/2010 Equinix was incorporated in 1998 in an effort by its founders to create aunified system connecting major networks and providing a link to contentcompanies. Today, the company operates International Business Exchange(IBX)data centers, which give Equinix's clients a reliable location fromwhich to runtheir operations. The company also offers a secure medium to exchangecrucialinformation in Asia, North America, and Europe. <br /><br />Equinix has earned a solid reputation in the industry. It is the globalleaderin peering and interconnection and is known for high-performance publicandprivate peering services. As Greg Tangans, vice president of operationsatDoubleClick, states, "Equinix provides a high-performance platform with auniqueaggregation of the networks that we rely upon to support the delivery ofourservices to customers along with an exceptional level of customersupport." <style type="text/css"> .style1 border-width: 0px; vertical-align: middle; </style><p>Equinix was incorporated in 1998 in an effort by its founders to create aunified system connecting major networks and providing a link to contentcompanies. Today, the company operates International Business Exchange (IBX)data centers, which give Equinix's clients a reliable location from which to runtheir operations. The company also offers a secure medium to exchange crucialinformation in Asia, North America, and Europe. <br /><br />Equinix has earned a solid reputation in the industry. It is the global leaderin peering and interconnection and is known for high-performance public andprivate peering services. As Greg Tangans, vice president of operations atDoubleClick, states, "Equinix provides a high-performance platform with a uniqueaggregation of the networks that we rely upon to support the delivery of ourservices to customers along with an exceptional level of customer support."<br /><br />The company's IBX data center footprint spans 35 strategic metropolitan areasaround the globe. These data centers strengthen the company's presence in theareas of market-data providers, financial networks, trading venues, buy-and-sellside firms, and technology providers.<br /><br />The company recently unveiled its plans to build SY3, their third IBX datacenter, in Sydney, Australia. Equinix has invested $72 million, with an initialinvestment of $65 million. One thousand cabinets will be included in the newcenter, which will be operational in 2011 and will offer premium colocation andinterconnection data center services. <br /><br />Darren Mann, Managing Director of Equinix Australia, stated that the expansionwas brought on because SY2 achieved maximum capacity operations very quickly andalso because of the "fantastic uptake in all four ecosystems that we support:networks, content and online media, finance, and cloud computing."<br /><br />Incidentally, the finance areas of operations have shown the maximum demand.Although all four verticals exhibit high demand for data center business,finances is the most dramatic example of this trend, thanks to growing pressureon use of resources and the economic recession hitting most sectors. <br /><br />Mann declared that along with finance, the nascent cloud-services sector willalso grow because of "adoption becoming more and more widely accepted." Cloudproviders will be called on to deliver high-quality, reliable service to theirclients when they move into the cloud. He also said that Equinix is focusingclosely on Sydney. According to Mann, "It is one of the top financial centersaround the world," and the company's multinational customers are moving intothis area. <br /><br />Equinix is renowned for leadership in the financial sector. The financial worldis becoming more complex and is an increasing burden on IT infrastructure.Equinix's global services delivery platform is available in the top 15 globalfinancial markets. Financial firms trust the company's secure colocation, richnetwork density, and low-latency connectivity services. These firms are able toexchange data directly with strategic partners and customers. <br /><br />Business plans for the SY3 were not forthcoming from Mann. Verizon and Amazonhave, in the past, expressed interest in cutting themselves a slice of theAustralian pie. Mann, however, made no remarks regarding whether these companieswill be interested in what Equinix has to offer. <br /><br />Equinix's IBX centers, SY1 and SY2, each have more than 60,000 square feet ofspace. The company's customers are mostly entertainment and digital mediacompanies that rely on Equinix to reduce traffic costs and enhance reliability.The IBX centers in Sydney offer customers access to premium colocation space andinterconnection infrastructure. They also offer peering services like EquinixExchange, IPv6 peering, MLPE (Multi Lateral Peering Exchange), IPv4 multicastpeering, and public and private VLAN peering. <br /><br />For Equinix, Australia is of great interest since it is one the participants inthe NSW government's whole of government data center project. The NSW governmentis planning to consolidate its data center count from 130 to 2. The governmenthas embarked on these plans with its Expressions of Interests in October 2009.It seeks to bring down operational costs and enhance environmental efficiencywhile bettering data center reliability, utilization, and security. <br /><br />As Equinix President and CEO states, "By continuing to invest in new,strategically located facilities, Equinix is committed to servicing the presentand future needs of the financial community. The tremendous growth we have seenreflects the value we provide and the role our IBX centers play in the globaleconomy."<br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://datacenterjournal.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=section&amp;layout=blog&amp;id=6&amp;Itemid=100137">Article</a>&nbsp; for&nbsp;<a href="http://datacenterjournal.com/index.php" target="_blank"><img class="style1" src="http://register03.exgenex.com/GcmMaintenance/ExgenexEvents/Images/DATACENTER-Journal-fw-120.gif" alt="DATACENTER Journal Logo" /></a>.</p> DATACENTER Journal http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=More-of-Equinix-Down-Under http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=More-of-Equinix-Down-Under/3b4a76b9-733f-4f9b-8ec3-0973a0298a34 Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:00:00 GMT 7/6/2010 <p>Fearing that increased consolidation could lead to vendor lock-in, some usersare looking to the cloud as a more open alternative.<br /><br />At the onset of a stifling recession in the fall of 2008, the IT industryentered a new, rarely seen era in which merger activity virtually ground to ahalt. </p><p>That turnaround came abruptly, less than a month after Hewlett-Packard Co.'s$13.9 billion acquisition of Electronic Data Systems Corp. in late August ofthat year. On Sept. 15, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy, theDow Jones industrial average plummeted 504 points, and HP itself announced plansto cut more than 25,000 jobs. </p> <p>Fearing that increased consolidation could lead to vendor lock-in, some usersare looking to the cloud as a more open alternative.<br /><br />At the onset of a stifling recession in the fall of 2008, the IT industryentered a new, rarely seen era in which merger activity virtually ground to ahalt. <br /><br />That turnaround came abruptly, less than a month after Hewlett-Packard Co.'s$13.9 billion acquisition of Electronic Data Systems Corp. in late August ofthat year. On Sept. 15, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy, theDow Jones industrial average plummeted 504 points, and HP itself announced plansto cut more than 25,000 jobs. <br /><br />By the first quarter of 2009, the value of tech deals was $3.1 billion -- farless than usual, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. <br /><br />It took almost a year for major IT merger activity to resume. In back-to-backSeptember 2009 announcements,<a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9138304/Update_Dell_agrees_to_buy_Perot_Systems_for_3.9B">Dell Inc. agreed to buy Perot Systems Corp.</a> for $3.9 billion, and<a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9153358/Xerox_ACS_close_6.4B_merger_deal">Xerox Corp. agreed</a> to pay $6.4 billion for Affiliated Computer Services Inc.By January, Oracle Corp. had closed a $7.4 billion<a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9131819/Update_Oracle_buying_Sun_in_7.4B_deal">deal to buy Sun Microsystems Inc.</a>, and in April, HP completed its $2.7billion<a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9140714/HP_to_buy_3Com_in_networking_data_center_bid">acquisition of 3Com Corp.</a> <br /><br />While the renewed activity could prove beneficial to the economy, users fearthat significant consolidation could increase vendor lock-in, and that'sprompting some to consider shifting to<a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/topic/158/Cloud+Computing">cloud</a>-basedsystems. <br /><br /><strong>Pros and Cons </strong><br /><br />"A world where there is not much competition is a problem, certainly forpublic-sector buying," said Phyllis Koch, director of IT for the city of BoyntonBeach, Fla. "I guess I'm torn. It's easier as an IT director not to have lots ofdifferent products, because then I become the integrator, as opposed to thecompany being the integrator for me." <br /><br />Nonetheless, the Boynton Beach government has made limited cloud moves thatKoch said should help the city avoid vendor lock-in and make it easier toimplement new technologies. <br /><br />For instance, Boynton Beach has hired SunGard Data Systems Inc. to run itsAS/400-based ERP system, which could ease any move to a new platform such as thex86, she said. <br /><br />"I'm not concerned as long as healthy competition remains," said Jo-annOlsovsky, technology services vice president and CIO at BNSF Railway Co. "We doour best to standardize and streamline the products we use, so certainly havingfewer vendors can eliminate the complexity in our infrastructure."<br /><br />She noted that large vendors have been strategically acquiring technology viamergers for years. <br /><br />Andy West, a principal in McKinsey &amp; Co.'s merger management practice, predicts"a coming wave" of acquisitions, citing the relatively high number of publiccompanies and today's relatively low average sale prices.<br /><br />Cross-segment acquisitions, such as a storage firm buying a networkingcompany, are the most likely moves in a technology market that "continues to beripe for consolidation," he said.<br /><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/350471/IT_Mergers_Resume_as_Cloud_Use_Rises?taxonomyId=154">Article</a> by <em>Patrick Thibodeau</em>at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.computerworld.com/" target="_blank"><img class="style1" src="http://register03.exgenex.com/GcmMaintenance/ExgenexEvents/Images/computerworld-fw-120.gif" alt="ComputerWorld Logo" /></a>.</p> Patrick Thibodeau, ComputerWorld http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=IT-mergers-resume-as-cloud-use-rises- http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=IT-mergers-resume-as-cloud-use-rises-/ae6504d5-9b7a-4aa5-8544-d2845394a794 Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:00:00 GMT 6/22/2010 <p>Key Points</p><ul> <li>Focus on TCO and not just acquisition cost. Trying to save money on cheaper but less flexible alternatives can cost IT significantly more in the long run. </li> <li>Use more than one vendor for different areas of infrastructure spend to avoid lock-in and maximize ongoing negotiation leverage. </li> Wherever possible, schedule major software projects to coincide with hardware refresh cycles. Combining projects in this manner can minimize disruption and maximize project management economies of scale. <br /> <li>The depth and breadth of the recession is driving significant and permanent changes to the way IT and data center managers make decisions. Even as the economy shifts toward recovery, long-held approaches to buying new equipment are being questioned.</li></ul> <p>Key Points</p><ul> <ul> <li>Focus on TCO and not just acquisition cost. Trying to save money on cheaper but less flexible alternatives can cost IT significantly more in the long run. </li> <li>Use more than one vendor for different areas of infrastructure spend to avoid lock-in and maximize ongoing negotiation leverage. </li> Wherever possible, schedule major software projects to coincide with hardware refresh cycles. Combining projects in this manner can minimize disruption and maximize project management economies of scale. <br /> <li>The depth and breadth of the recession is driving significant and permanent changes to the way IT and data center managers make decisions. Even as the economy shifts toward recovery, long-held approaches to buying new equipment are being questioned.</li> </ul></ul><br /><br />Saving money and resources goes beyond focusing on the initial acquisitioncost, however. It's no longer simply about getting the best price. Astrategic approach to buying new equipment can drive long-term savingswithin IT and, just as importantly, throughout the organization it serves.Keep the following tips in mind before finalizing any acquisition deals fornew technology. <br /><br /><strong>Forget About Acquisition Cost </strong> <br /><br />Up-front capital investment often represents a small fraction of the totalcost of ownership. Although TCO has become a far more pervasive basis foracquisition planning over the past decade, the tumultuous economy,spiralling energy costs, and a growing realization of the previouslyunmonitored soft costs of IT are reinforcing its importance. <br /><br />"Most companies focus on getting the lowest cost on equipment when theyshould be focusing on the lowest TCO," says Jack Gold, president andprincipal analyst of J.Gold Associates. "That means getting more reliableequipment, even if it costs a bit more." <br /><br />Gold says some vendors will even throw in a maintenance contract to sweetenthe deal. "This can offer substantial lifetime cost savings to the enduser," he adds. <br /><br /><strong>Buy For Tomorrow's Needs, Not Today's </strong> <br /><br />Companies considering keeping equipment for more than three years shouldconsider buying more than they think they'll need. <br /><br />"This is important because many companies only buy what they currently needand find in a couple of years they have outgrown a perfectly good piece ofequipment," says Gold, who also recommends buying equipment that can beupgraded to avoid the need to replace the equipment as capacity needs grow.More transparent upgrade paths may cost more up-front but can save money inthe long run. <br /><br />Companies should also consider replacing equipment during a natural upgradecycle, says Gold, as it is less disruptive than trying to buy a new piece ofequipment midstream. <br /><br />"For instance, if you know you are going to upgrade your Oracle database orSAP app installation, look at deploying it on a new piece of hardware at thesame time and save the grief of having two different upgrades to be done,"says Gold. "This can save a lot of time and labor and minimize lostproductivity." <br /><br /><strong>Avoid Single-Vendor Strategies </strong> <br /><br />Sticking with one vendor can leave IT buyers with fewer choices-and aweakened negotiating position. "This usually costs companies more than atleast having a potential bidding process from more than one vendor," saysGold. "This is not always possible, but it is still a preferred approach tohaving a single-vendor shop where you have no leverage on costs or terms."<br /><br />Pat Furey, senior category manager for Ariba (<a href="http://www.ariba.com/">www.ariba.com</a>),suggests focusing negotiations on different layers of the channel. "Bynegotiating directly with OEMs for hardware, you can get closer to thesource of supply and shave significant costs," says Furey. "VARs willcommand a higher margin, so limit the purchases there to additional servicesand peripherals they specialize in." <br /><br />Furey also recommends committing to multiyear contracts with establishedlong-term price management strategies built-in. <br /><br /><strong>Don't Ignore Peripherals </strong> <br /><br />Although the focus is typically on big-ticket equipment, peripherals canform the core of a stronger negotiation strategy. <br /><br />"When shopping for peripherals, make sure to tie the purchases to other IThardware and off-the-shelf software to get the very best deals," says Furey."And don't get into an open-ended situation with VARs. It's critical todefine the services VARs will provide before you start to negotiate onprice." <br /><br /><strong>Consider Going Virtual &amp; Thin </strong> <br /><br />Instead of replacing conventional servers and workstations with updatedservers and workstations, use hardware renewal as an opportunity to questionthe architecture in the first place and plan a move to more efficientinfrastructure. Loyola University Chicago, which used a new data centerbuild-out in 2007 as the basis for initiating a campus virtualizationproject, has been reaping significant operational savings ever since. CIOSusan Malisch says Loyola has virtualized 60% of its servers so far, and forthose devices, the university is reaping a 70% reduction in server hardwarecosts. <br /><br />Malisch expects similar benefits as the university replaces PCs with thinclients. <br /><br />"One additional benefit of virtualization and thin clients is the expandedtech refresh cycle," says Malisch, who adds that the university anticipatesextending its current refresh cycle. Disaster recovery and businesscontinuity can also benefit from this change in acquisition strategy thanksto reduced hardware requirements at the recovery site and simplifiedfailover needs. <br /><br /><strong>Factor Equipment Disposal Into Acquisition Plan</strong> <br /><br />As much as you simply want to get rid of the old to make room for the new,don't ignore the inherent value in seemingly obsolete equipment. CliffieMcKay, director of operations for DMD Systems Recovery (<a href="http://www.dmdsystems.com/">www.dmdsystems.com</a>),says asset management companies can help IT planners recover significantremaining value from existing equipment and set the stage for others toderive value from used equipment. <br /><br />"An asset management company can provide you with a very good idea of anycosts that may be incurred as well as the 'reuse' value associated with yourIT equipment," says McKay. "Typically, equipment that is on a three- tofour-year cycle offers the highest return for many companies." <br /><br />Incorporating reuse into the acquisition plan does more than add to thebottom line, says McKay, who cites reports that so-called second use of a4-year-old computer for an additional four years can be as much as 20 timesmore efficient than building a new machine. <br /><p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/P3213/22p13/22p13.asp&amp;guid=B75D1CC3502449F08FDB89800AA6C129">Article</a> by <em>Carmi Levy</em> for <a target="_blank" class="ApplyClass" href="http://www.processor.com/"><img src="http://www.crosstechmedia.com/CTGImage/Library/Images/CrossTech%20Media/email%20images/Processor.gif" alt="Processor.com" style="border: 0px solid;" /></a>.</p> Carmi Levy, Processor.com http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=BudgetFriendly-Equipment-Acquisition- http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=BudgetFriendly-Equipment-Acquisition-/c3e135ad-5c5d-4630-b002-ec3ab2148965 Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:00:00 GMT 6/22/2010 <p></p><p>Organizations need to operate with limited IT resources, yet with an enterprise's needs - scalability, security, and reliability - often struggle to deliver a robust wireless experience.</p><p></p>Join Meraki for a live webinar taking place on <strong>Thursday, July 15</strong> at 2 PM Eastern/11 AM Pacific, where we will show how cloud computing brings simplicity and effectiveness to wireless networks.<p></p><p><a href="http://register.exgenex.com/gcmregister/gcmregister.asp?C=70000087&amp;M=50001612">REGISTER TODAY</a>&nbsp;for this free program!</p> <a href="http://goitec.com/webinars.html?Mode=Preview&amp;R=a5076748-e727-4bb1-9c42-3403c54877f4"><h2>Thursday July 15th, 2:00 PM ET</h2></a><p>Organizations need to operate with limited IT resources, yet with an enterprise's needs - scalability, security, and reliability - often struggle to deliver a robust wireless experience.<br /><br />Join Meraki for a live webinar taking place on Thursday, July 15 at 2 PM Eastern/11 AM Pacific, where we will show how cloud computing brings simplicity and effectiveness to wireless networks.&nbsp;<br /><br /><a href="http://register.exgenex.com/gcmregister/gcmregister.asp?C=70000087&amp;M=50001612">REGISTER TODAY!</a><br /><br />Learn how cloud-managed wireless access points achieve the following benefits including:</p><ul> <li>Self-configuration and centralized management over the web</li> <li>secure access for employees and guests</li> <li>scalability for networks of all sizes</li> <li>cost savings of up to 50% over traditional solutions. </li></ul><br /><br />This program is part of an ongoing series of Meraki educational programs, free to Data Center Connect subscribers.<br /><br /><a href="http://register.exgenex.com/gcmregister/gcmregister.asp?C=70000087&amp;M=50001612">REGISTER TODAY</a>&nbsp;for this free program!<br /><br />This is part 2 of a two-part educational program.&nbsp; If you missed part 1 feel free to <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6848063/2010-06-08%2011.07%20Meraki%20Webinar.wmv" class="ApplyClass">watch it now</a><p></p><br /> Kiren Sekar, product marketing manager, Meraki http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Webinar:-CloudManaged-WiFi:-The-Next-Step-in-Wireless-Evolution http://bladesystemsinsight.com/article.html?a=Webinar:-CloudManaged-WiFi:-The-Next-Step-in-Wireless-Evolution/ce2f0a23-a03a-46bf-9830-fa955f66d266 Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:00:00 GMT 6/22/2010