Processor Newspaper Volume 30 Number 02

2008·10.8 MB·English

by  Sandhills Publishing

P.O. Box 85518
Lincoln, NE 68501-5518
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
January 11, 2008
Volume 30 Number 2
www.processor.com
Products, News & Information Data Centers Can Trust. Since 1979
The Future Of In This ISSUE
COVER FOCUS
Next-Generation Data Centers
Networking &
What will future data centers look like in terms of
servers, networking and connectivity, automa-
tion, and power and cooling? We talked with
product manufacturers and other industry insid-
ers to find out.
Connectivity
The Future Of Networking & Connectivity......................1
Next-Generation Data Center Automation......................8
Upcoming Power & Cooling Trends ............................11
The Road Ahead For Servers......................................12
TECH & TRENDS
Data Centers Will Be Expected To Do
Cloud Computing| 1
More While Consuming Less Energy
Cloud computing earned its name because it
delivers applications from “somewhere out there
by Bruce Gain sors,” says Michael O’Neil, an
in that big cloud called the Internet.” SMEs don’t
• (cid:127) (cid:127) independent IT consultant and co- know which part of the Internet the service is
THE IT FIELD, like almost any founder and CEO of the social coming from, and they don’t care, so long as
technology sector, will continue media site IT in Canada (www.itin
they get what they are paying for.
to change and evolve over time. canada.ca).
However, one trend will hold true Data Center Thermostat Settings| 19
No Data Center Is An Island
in the foreseeable future: The quan-
Spurred by rising energy costs, many enterprises
tity of information data centers will The days when SME data cen-
have considered raising the baseline temperature,
have to handle and the requisite ters were standalone entities that
or set point, inside their data centers. While there’s
computing power to handle it merely housed the email servers
no denying that thermostat settings can impact
should rapidly increase. and centralized data records are
equipment performance, deciding just what a set
“In general terms, networking rapidly coming to an end, as well.
point should be is hardly a straightforward issue.
and connectivity become increas- Users are increasingly connected
ingly important in data center with multimedia-rich Web sites Choosing A Web Host| 21
design because all existing and and expect virtually instant access
When it comes to choosing a Web hosting com-
new applications are more band- to bandwidth-intensive content.
pany, what are the key issues you need to look
width-hungry than their predeces- Go to Page 9
for? Is it better to find a local host or one with a
nationwide presence? What, exactly, is the best
way to go?
Cloud Computing:
Security Investments For 2008| 22
A 2007 survey conducted by Astaro Internet
Security found that more than 65% of respon-
Rent, Don’t Buy dents are planning purchases of sophisticated
technologies routinely found in larger enterpris-
es’ IT infrastructure.
Product Releases| 14
■ AXIOMTEKreleased the ETM830 and
New Services Make Expanded Resources Cloud computing uses virtual servers
ETM820, two ETX 3.0-compliant CPU modules.
More Accessible For SMEs across the Internet to host and manage ■ Computer Peripheral Systemshas
applications, according to Vahdat. Advan-
revamped its ARR and CPS power strips and
tages include higher utilization of available introduced the ARR+. ■ EMCannounced
by David Geer distributed computing as they need it, using computer processing power and more effi-
Managed Availability Services designed to help
(cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) it like a service. cient and robust application performance. customers manage, measure, and improve busi-
SMES NEED VAST computing resources in When companies offer cloud computing as ness continuity programs. ■ Enhance Tech-
Demystifying The Cloud
order to test Web applications, to complete a service, SMEs can buy that service like a
nologyhas unveiled the UltraStor RS16 IP-4, a
intense IT-related work, or to serve mil- Cloud computing earned its name be- utility and see the same benefits.
3U 16-drive Quad GbE iSCSI enterprise-grade
lions of customers in online sales efforts. cause it delivers applications from “some- The service comes from companies such independent RAID storage system. ■ IBMhas
Traditionally, SMEs come by these re- where out there in that big cloud called the as Amazon.com and Terremark Worldwide
introduced IOPES (IBM OmniFind Personal
sources through much time and effort and Internet.” SMEs don’t know which part of (www.terremark.com) that have lots of Email Search). ■ McAfeehas introduced
at great expense by building it out and the Internet the service is coming from, computers spread all over the Internet.
GroupShield 7 for Microsoft Exchange and
managing it themselves. and they don’t care, so long as they get Some companies, such as Amazon.com,
GroupShield 7 for Lotus Domino.
Today, SMEs can break tradition and what they are paying for, according to already have distributed infrastructure they
avoid expensive build-outs by using a Amin Vahdat, director of the University can further monetize by selling off idle EACH WEEK
metered service called cloud computing, of California at San Diego Center for compute cycles. Others, such as Terremark,
Upcoming IT Events......4 Product Of The Week..18
which allows them to rent the power of Networked Systems. go into business specifically to offer com-
MarketPlace News........4 Products At Work........20
pute cycles for profit, so they can run an
Six Quick Tips................5 What’s Happening........23
SME’s applications for it. The fact that this
When companies offer cloud computing is the SME’s application is important to the Product Releases........14 Three Questions..........23
Opinions......................17
understanding of cloud computing.
as a service, SMEs can buy that service
Some people confuse cloud comput-
The Processor.com home page is updated each week with
ing with SaaS (Software as a Service).
like a utility and see the same benefits. new articles and hardware news to help you keep current.
“Cloud computing lets you offer your own
Visit www.processor.com today.
Go to Page 10
Page 2 Processor.com January 11, 2008
Subscribe Today/Address Change Form For address change, fill out form below with new
information and mail or fax.
PLEASE PRINT
Phone:( ______ )________________________________ Fax:( ______ )________________________________
© Copyright 2008 Sandhills Publishing Company.
Contact Name: ______________________________________________________________________________ All rights reserved.
Company Name: ____________________________________________________________________________
Address: __________________________________________________________________________________
City:___________________________________________ State:________ Postal Code: __________________ Subscriptions:[phone]
Subscriptions Local:[phone]
Country:____________________________________________________________________________________
Subscriptions Fax:[phone]
Email: ________________________________________ Web Address: ________________________________ Mail Form To:
P.O.Box 85518, Lincoln,NE 68501-5518
1. What is the size of your company 3. What is your annual computer hardware/
(how many employees)? software purchasing budget? Overnight Delivery:
■■ Less than 10 ■■ 200 to 499 ■■ $0 to $9,999 ■■ $100,000 to $249,999 120 West Harvest Drive, Lincoln, NE 68521
■■ 10 to 99 ■■ 500 to 999 ■■ $10,000 to $24,999 ■■ $250,000 to $499,999
■■ 100 to 199 ■■ 1,000+ ■■ $25,000 to $49,999 ■■ $500,000 to $999,000
■■ $50,000 to $99,999 ■■ $1,000,000+
2. How often do you purchase computer
hardware/software?
■■ Weekly ■■ Quarterly
■■ Bi-weekly ■■ Annually
■■ Monthly ■■ No Involvement www.Processor.com
Advertisers Index
COMPANY PAGE COMPANY PAGE COMPANY PAGE COMPANY PAGE
360 TECHNOLOGIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 DATA NETWORKS INTERNATIONAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 HERGO ERGONOMIC SUPPORT SYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 PEGASUS COMPUTER MARKETING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
A10 NETWORKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 DATA RELIANCE CORPORATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 HERGO ERGONOMIC SUPPORT SYS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 PULIZZI ENGINEERING INC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
ASA COMPUTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 DATA WATCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 I T TRADING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 PYRAMID COMPUTERS USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
ATEN TECHNOLOGY INC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 DIGITAL BROTHERS GROUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 I-TECH CO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 RACKMOUNT SOLUTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
ATEN TECHNOLOGY INC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 DISKEEPER CORPORATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 INBUS ENGINEERING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 ROSE ELECTRONICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
ATLAS SALES AND RENTALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 DISKEEPER CORPORATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 INFORMATION SUPPORT CONCEPTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 SANS DIGITAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
AVTECH SOFTWARE INC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 DMD SYSTEMS RECOVERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 INTERNATIONAL SYSTEMS MGT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 SERVER TECHNOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
BARRACUDA NETWORKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 DRIVE SOLUTIONS INC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 IOSTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 SMS ASSEMBLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
BAYTECH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 DTSEARCH CORP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 MEDIA RECOVERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 TEMPERTUREALERT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
COMPUREX SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 EASYSYNC LTD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 NETAPP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 VECMAR COMPUTER SOLUTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
COMPUSOURCETECH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 ELI SYSTEMS INC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 NETEQUALIZER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 WORLD DATA PRODUCTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
COMPUTER CONNECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT INC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 NLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
CYBER SWITCHING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 GLOBAL PRINTER SERVICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 NORTHWEST PERFORMANCE SOFTWARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
DATA MEDIA SOURCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 HELLERMANN-TYTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 PACE / BUTLER CORP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Name: (cid:127) Color picture
Street Address: (cid:127) Detailed product
City, State, ZIP Code:
description
Phone: ( )
Email: (cid:127) Web exposure
Method Of Payment: (cid:127) Only $176 an issue
■■ Check ■■ Money Order ■■ Mastercard
■■ Visa ■■ Discover ■■ American Express (12-issue minimum)
Credit Card # Exp. / (cid:127) Proven publication
Signature:
Part #: Manufacturer:
Model/Description:
CPhoonntaec:t : ( ) Price: Tpol eptleadc ef oyromu ra cnodl oyro puhr opthoogtroat op(3:h 5P minrmo t cphereins tsn, 3oe rxx ,t5 P iisn.Ocshu.e seB, o3o½xf Px8 r55o½5c 1ine0csh,se Los,ir no,rc m4o xla n6il, i ntNhchEies s6 ci8no 5smi0ze-1)
Fax: ( )
State/Country: Call Today: [phone]
January 11, 2008 Processor.com Page 3
STORAGE DECEMBER14, 2007
Secure, Scalable Network Storage support for file sharing (NAS) and block- storage can grow as your business grows
level storage (SAN) over iSCSI, giving you without adding additional boxes or com-
the flexibility to grow when you need to. plexity. The unique NetApp architecture
StoreVault S300 Combines SAN & NAS With Simplicity In Mind High reliability and availability. allows a single drive to be added transpar-
Redundant power and cooling, dual Gigabit ently to an existing RAID group without
Ethernet ports, NVRAM, and protection disruption to applications or users.
EVEN IF YOUR BUSINESS DATA is complex, Vault S300 combines protection for your from double-disk failure with RAID-DP
there’s no reason for your data storage to be data with technologies that maintain your mean your data is always safe and available.
StoreVault S300
complex. The StoreVault S300 combines system to ensure maximum availability. Instant backup and restore. Snapshots
security with simplicity, letting you focus Intuitive graphical interface to manage provide peace-of-mind security and depend-
Starts at less than $3,000
on growing your business, not your storage. your storage. The StoreVault ability, and point-in-time recovery won’t
StoreVault has a low acquisition S300 goes from carton impact performance. Network storage scalable to 4TB; includes remote
cost, but the real benefit to configured in min- Replication for remote protection. protection and instant backup and restore features
comes with the simplicity utes and lets you easily Replicate files and LUNs to a remote [phone]
of management, better manage, monitor, and StoreVault S300 to protect your data in the
www.storevault.com
storage utilization, and update your storage event of a disaster or to publish read-only
protection of your data without the need for data remotely. Supports one-to-one, one-to-
over time. storage specialists. many, and many-to-one configurations.
Advanced Protection NAS and SAN support in Scales to 4TB. You can start with just
Architecture. The Store- one box. StoreVault S300 provides 1TB at an affordable price point, and your
CLIENT SOFTWARE NOVEMBER16, 2007
Instantly Search Terabytes Along with the terabyte indexer, all dynamic content; and relevancy-ranking of
dtSearch products include more than two spidered and non-spidered content.
dozen indexed, unindexed, full-text, and The dtSearch Engine lets C++, Java and
dtSearch Can Scan Terabytes Of Data In A Variety Of Formats fielded data search options; support .NET developers add dtSearch terabyte
for hundreds of international languages; dis- indexer and file format support to Web-
play of Web-ready con- based and other applications.
TODAY’S ENTERPRISES are filled with vast dtSearch can also cre- tent with highlighted hits
amounts of data in a variety of formats in ate (and search with a and all images, links, and
seemingly endless numbers of locations. single request) an unlim- formatting intact; built-in dtSearch
Finding the information you need can be ited number of indexes. HTML converters for hit-
daunting, which is where programs such as Since you may want to highlighted display of Instantly searches terabytes of data, in a variety of
those from dtSearch can be essential. search files that dtSearch other popular file types; formats, across a desktop, network, Internet or intra-
dtSearch can instantly search terabytes has not indexed, dtSearch and distributed or feder- net; new release offers 64-bit developer API access
of text because it builds a search index that also does unindexed, as ated search options, with [phone]
stores the location of words in documents. well as “combination,” searching. display of local and remote content.
www.dtsearch.com
Indexing is easy: Simply select folders or All dtSearch products can index more The dtSearch product line also embeds
entire drives to index and dtSearch does than a terabyte of text in a single index and the dtSearch Spider, providing support for
the rest. dtSearch automatically recognizes create and search an unlimited number of public sites, secure content HTTPS, pass-
and supports all popular file formats and indexes. Search time is typically less than a word-accessible sites, and forms-based
never alters original files. second, even across terabytes of data. authentication; searching of static and
PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE NOVEMBER30, 2007
Keep Your Data Center real-time temperature, humidity, and envi- (cid:127) External switch sensors for temperature,
ronment sensor status from anywhere. humidity, power, flood, smoke, air flow,
The Room Alert 11E includes: room entry, and more
Cool & Dry
(cid:127) Room Alert 11E standard or rack model (cid:127) 1U 19-inch rackmount package
(cid:127) One external digital temperature/humidity (cid:127) PageR software license upgrades
sensor, one external digital temperature (cid:127) International plug adapter
Rely On AVTECH’s Room Alert 11E Environmental Monitor
sensor, and one external power sensor
(cid:127) Eight sets of switch sensor contacts for
connecting additional external sensors AVTECH Room Alert 11E
ENVIRONMENT CONDITIONS in today’s data (cid:127) PageR 10 Object Enterprise software
centers are a major concern. Power outages, (cid:127) Power adapter, 10 feet of Ethernet cable, Starts at $495
air conditioning failures, or blocked ventila- printed and PDF documentation, CD
Powerful yet inexpensive device to monitor
tion can cause temperatures to rise above 85 connected via Ethernet and does not require media, and Getting Started materials
environmental conditions in data centers of any size
degrees in minutes, potentially damaging a host PC for operation, it can monitor vir- (cid:127) 12 months of toll-free technical support,
[phone]
equipment and putting data at risk. tually anywhere. software updates, maintenance, and
AVTECH Software’s Room Alert 11E is Room Alert 11E allows alert notifications AVTECH’s hardware guarantee www.RoomAlert.com
a powerful, inexpensive, easy-to-use way to via email, email-to-SMS, SNMP, and more
combat potential environmental problems. to virtually any device. Room Alert 11E Additional options include:
Room Alert 11E monitors rooms of near- also offers an easy-to-use Web browser (cid:127) External digital sensors for
ly any size. And since Room Alert 11E is interface for changing settings and viewing temperature/humidity or temperature
PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE OCTOBER26, 2007
A Master Enterprise View which helps reduce the need for redundant capabilities mean you can add or remove
hardware. With the MasterView Plus, you PCs for maintenance without powering
can control up to 512 computers with a down the switch. The MasterView’s 1U, 19-
New ATEN KVM Bundle Provides Perfect Features single keyboard, monitor, and mouse. And inch rack-mountable casing and status-mon-
For Monitoring & Maintaining Servers & PCs it requires no software. itoring LEDs make it ideal for server rooms
MasterView Plus is more than a simple or other multicomputer environments.
eight-port KVM switch. A built-in Auto-
TODAY’SDATACENTERSrequire convenient, When finished, flip down the cover and Scan mode lets you monitor every attached
space-saving, streamlined KVM equipment. slide the console module back into the rack. computer for a specified amount of time, ATEN 17” LCD Integrated Console
ATEN’s 17” Single-Rail LCD Integrated By using the CL1000M to manage your while the on-screen display lets you assign a & MasterView KVM (model
Console and MasterView KVM bundle is installation, you save space; elim- unique name to each computer CLCS9138MKIT)
designed with those needs in mind. inate the expense of having to pur- and access it via a slick, menu-dri-
Includes an eight-port KVM switch and a KVM con-
ATEN’s economy LCD KVM console, chase a separate keyboard, moni- ven interface. A Quick View Scan
sole with a keyboard, 17-inch LCD, and touchpad
CL1000M, integrates a keyboard, 17-inch tor, and mouse for each PC if feature makes it easy to monitor
LCD, and touchpad in a 1U Slideaway attaching to a KVM switch; and selected PCs, and hot-pluggable [phone] ext. 3100
housing. Setup is fast and easy. There is no can take advantage of upgrad-
www.aten-usa.com/CLCS9138MKIT
software to configure, no installation rou- ing your current system
tines, and no incompatibility problems. ATEN is now bundling
Slide the console module section out and the CL1000M with an
flip up the cover, and you are ready to work. eight-port MasterView Plus,
Page 4 Processor.com January 11, 2008
MarketPlace ▲▲ NEWS UpcomingIITT Events
▼
- JANUARY -
Florida Educational
According to Net Applications, which moni- AutoLink, sending the case back to the dis- Technology Conference
January 22-25
tors 40,000 Web sites, Mac recorded market trict court for re-examination.
Orlando, Fla.
share of 7.3% for the month of December, ❙❙ www.fetc.org
20% Of Windows Apps Missing Patches
up from 6.8% in November. At the begin-
(cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127)
ning of 2007, Mac OS X-powered comput- ACCORDING TO information Secunia APS WCA International Symposium
ers accounted for 5.7% of the market; the gathered, more than 20% of applications & Business Expo
January 29-Feb. 1
growth rate for the year totaled about 28%. installed on Windows computers have mis-
San Jose, Calif.
❙❙ In the operating system market, Microsoft sing security patches. Secunia based the www.wcai.com
IBM Buys
Windows still led by a large margin with figure on information collected from scans
Solid Information Technology 91.8% in December, which was lower than of more than 14.5 million Windows appli- - FEBRUARY -
IN A DEAL EXPECTED to close during its 92.4% share in November. cations after users downloaded the compa- SCALE 6x - 2008 Southern California
Linux Expo
the first quarter of this year, IBM has ❙❙ ny’s PSI (Personal Software Inspector) pro-
AT&T & Vonage Settle Patent Suit February 8-10
agreed to acquire high-performance data- gram. The downloadable utility scans a
Los Angeles, Calif.
base maker Solid Information Technology. THEMOSTRECENTpatent infringement law- computer for more than 4,200 applications, www.socallinuxexpo.org
The terms of the deal have not been made suit against VoIP provider Vonage has been reporting on the status of relevant secu- (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127)
public, but IBM expects the acquisition settled, according to the company. AT&T rity patches. According to the company, Comptel Plus Spring 2008
Convention & Expo
to help it enhance its database lineup. filed the lawsuit Oct. 17 and claimed that 191,000 users have downloaded the utility,
February 24-27
Solid, which is a close partner of IBM rival Vonage willfully infringed on a patent which was offered as a free beta starting
Nashville, Tenn.
MySQL, is the maker of an embedded data- AT&T owned. The patent involved technol- a year ago but was recently updated to www.comptel.org
base with in-memory database engine, ogy that enables people to make VoIP calls Release Candidate 1 stage.
- MARCH -
enabling its products to store and retrieve using standard telephone equipment. On ❙❙
AOL Pulls Plug On Netscape Navigator Gartner Wireless & Mobile Summit
data from main memory. The acquisition Nov. 17, the companies announced that they
March 3-5
was the 12th for IBM last year. had reached a tentative settlement, with AFTER BEING A presence in the Internet Chicago, Ill.
❙❙ Vonage agreeing to pay AT&T $39 million; browser market since 1994, Netscape www.gartner.com/it/summits/ra11/index.jsp
RIM Beats Expectations In Q3
however, terms of the final agreement were Navigator will be discontinued. AOL, which (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127)
THIRD-QUARTER PROFITS for Research In not disclosed. Vonage has also settled bought Netscape in 1998, will stop develop- Secure IT Conference
March 4-6
Motion, maker of the popular BlackBerry, patent infringement lawsuits with Verizon ment for the browser and also stop issuing
San Diego, Calif.
beat expectations, despite the fact that its and Sprint Nextel. security updates for it as of Feb. 1. AOL is
www.secureitconf.com
subscription outlook didn’t reach analyst ❙❙ encouraging Netscape users to switch to (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127)
McAfee Corrects Previous
predictions. During Q3, RIM had earnings Mozilla Firefox instead. Netscape Navigator Help Desk Institute Conference
of $370.5 million, or 65 cents a share, which Stock Option Errors previously enjoyed widespread success and March 9-12
Dallas, Texas
was more than double the company’s profits CONCLUDING AN 18-month-long process, large market share in the browser market
www.thinkhdi.com/hdi2008
during the same quarter last year of $175.2 McAfee announced it has fixed the errors it when it was first introduced, but Microsoft’s
(cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127)
million, or 31 cents a share. Revenue for the had in its past stock option-granting prac- Internet Explorer became a major compet- VoiceCon
quarter was $1.67 billion, which was up tices and now has up-to-date financial itor and subsequently surpassed Netscape March 17-20
from $835.1 million during the same period restatements for the entire year of 2006 and Navigator as the leading Web browser. Orlando, Fla.
www.voicecon.com
a year ago. The company continues to diver- the first three quarters of last year. The Internet metrics firm Net Applications re-
(cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127)
sify its client base, with nonenterprise cus- Securities and Exchange Commission had ported that Netscape held only 0.6% of the
Boston SecureWorld Expo
tomers making up 24% of its subscriber base required the company to complete the cor- browser market last month. March 26-27
at the end of the third quarter. rections in certain filings, which included ❙❙ Boston, Mass.
❙❙ the 2006 10-K form and 10-Q reports for Survey: Chipmakers Will See www.secureworldexpo.com
EMC To Acquire Document Sciences Q2 and Q3 of 2006 and first three quarters Slower Growth (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127)
Data Center World
IN A MOVE TO enable it to broaden its offer- of 2007. Now that McAfee has made the ACCORDING TO a study KPMG recently March 30-April 3
ings into the transactional content manage- corrections, it will no longer be subject to released, a growing number of semiconduc- Las Vegas, Nev.
ment arena, EMC will pay $85 million cash the restrictions that barred employees from tor vendors are expecting to see revenue www.afcom.com
for Document Sciences, which provides doc- accessing and benefiting from company growth slow down. The survey included 94
- APRIL -
ument output management software. The two stock options. executives from companies that are part
FOSE
companies have been working together since ❙❙ of the top 100 chipmakers worldwide. April 1-3
Google Toolbar Faces Patent
Document Sciences integrated its xPression Included in the things that will hurt chip- Washington, D.C.
Infringement Charges
software with EMC’s Documentum platform makers in the upcoming years are declining www.fose.com
in 2004. Once the acquisition is complete, WHILE A U.S. COURT of appeals has ruled chip prices, competition from companies in (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127)
Gartner Business Intelligence Summit
EMC will merge Document Sciences into its that Google’s AdSense does not infringe emerging markets, and development costs.
April 1-3
content management and archiving sector. on any patents owned by Hyperphrase Among those surveyed, 33% of the execu-
Chicago, Ill.
The boards of directors of both firms have Technologies, Google’s browser toolbar is tives said they expected profits to be flat www.gartner.com/it/summits/bi6/index.jsp
approved the purchase, slated to close by the still in question. The lawsuit, which was during the next five years, while 15% said (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127)
end of March, but regulatory officials and filed in April 2006, alleges that Google’s they will decline, and 26% said profits will RSA Conference
April 7-11
Document Sciences’ shareholders have yet to AdSense and the AutoLink toolbar feature be volatile and unpredictable.
San Francisco, Calif.
approve it. infringe on four Hyperphrase patents. In a ❙❙ www.rsaconference.com/2008/US/home.aspx
Possible Partnership On The Way
❙❙ summary judgment, the U.S. District Court
Mac Reaches 8% Share For Google & Japan’s DoCoMo
for the Western District of Wisconsin
In Last Two Days Of 2007
rejected the allegations. However, after REUTERS RECENTLY reported that Google
A BOOST IN after-Christmas sales pushed Hyperphrase filed an appeal, the U.S. Court and NTT DoCoMo, a Japanese mobile Advertising Sales: Susan Miller
Apple’s Mac market share to 8.01% for Dec. of Appeals for the Federal Circuit over- phone carrier, are considering forming a Matthew Bolling / Marcy Kremer / Eric Cobb
Jen Clausen / David Bartholomai / Matt Johns
30 and 31, a new high for the company. turned part of the judgment dealing with partnership. The deal would provide DoCo-
Andrew Kelly / Johanna Bohrer
Mo customers with Google search capabili-
WATCH THE ties and give Google access to DoCoMo’s Editorial Staff:Ronald D. Kobler / Corey Russman
This information provides a quick glimpse of current and historical stock 48 million-user “i-Mode” mobile network. Sheila Williams / Joy Martin / Christopher Trumble
STOCKS Calvin Clinchard / Ashley Kumpula / Michael Sweet
prices and trends for 15 major companies in the technology market. Through a partnership, both companies
Katie Dolan / Raejean Brooks / Nate Hoppe
could potentially benefit with increased Linné Ourada / Vince Cogley / Tara Simmons
exposure in the Japanese market. DoCoMo Leah Houchin / Patrick Kean / Heather Hoffart
% change from Lindsy Mercer / Marty Sems / Kylee Dickey
Company Symbol Year Ago Dec. 21 $ Jan. 2 $ previous week has experienced difficulties growing, while Josh Gulick / Andrew Leibman / Jennifer Johnson
BEA Systems BEAS $12.82 $15.95 $15.55 ▼▼2.51% Google trails Yahoo! Japan in the region’s Nathan Lake / Blaine Flamig / Tessa Breneman
Computer Associates CA $24.39 $25.72 $24.55 ▼▼4.55% search engine market. Seth Colaner / Joanna Safford / Chris Dunker
Cisco Systems CSCO $28.63 $28.60 $26.54 ▼▼7.2% ❙❙
Holiday Online Sales Strong Art & Design:Lesa Call / Fred Schneider
Dell DELL $26.17 $24.88 $24.39 ▼▼1.97% But Show Slower Growth Carrie Benes / Ginger Falldorf / Sonja Warner
Electronic Data Systems EDS $26.81 $21.17 $19.93 ▼▼5.86% Aaron Clark / Amber Edwards / Lori Garris
DESPITE STRONG holiday ecommerce sales, Jason Codr / Andria Cogley / Lindsay Anker
Google GOOG $483.58 $696.69 $685.19 ▼▼1.65%
the online sales industry experienced slower Andy Arkwright
HP HPQ $41.97 $52.03 $49.65 ▼▼4.57%
growth last year than in previous years. The
IBM IBM $98.90 $111.05 $104.69 ▼▼5.73% Web Staff:Laura Curry / Kristen Miller
2007 holiday season saw 19% growth, while Jessie Danekas
Intel INTC $21.01 $26.96 $25.35 ▼▼5.97%
previous years have seen growth rates rang-
McAfee MFE $29.63 $38.12 $35.79 ▼▼6.11% ing from 25 to 30%. According to analysts, Subscriptions Advertising & Reprints
Microsoft MSFT $29.93 $36.06 $35.22 ▼▼2.33% [phone] [phone]
the decline is the result of changes in con-
[phone] [phone]
Oracle ORCL $17.86 $22.71 $22.49 ▼▼0.97%
sumer habits. Projections from market re- FAX: [phone]
Red Hat Software RHT $22.34 $20.71 $20.60 ▼▼0.53% search firm comScore estimate online holi-
Sun Microsystems JAVAD $5.65 $18.79 $17.42 ▼▼7.29% day spending by American consumers at Editorial Staff
Symantec SYMC $21.38 $16.85 $16.06 ▼▼4.69% $29.5 billion. Overall growth in Internet sales 131 W. Grand Drive (cid:127) Lincoln, NE 68521
[email protected]
NOTE: This information is meant for reference only and should not be used as a basis for buy/sell decisions. is projected to be 18% for 2007, compared to FAX: [phone]
25% in recent years, according to Shop.org.
January 11, 2008 Processor.com Page 5
SIX QUICK TIPS
Implement Techniques hard drive to the processor and other sys-
tem-level hardware.
“The resulting performance of the drive
To Improve Drive Performance
is largely affected by the system to which
it is connected and the data loaded in it,”
Sy adds.
by Joe Rudich always threaten to constrain overall sys- SATA is actually the standard for a
Partition Drives For Short Stroking
(cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) tem performance. There is no speed computer bus that controls transfer of
MANY FACTORS PLAY a role in the perfor- to waste in drives.” The following tips are data between drives (hard drive or optical) Large hard drives, according to Fujitsu’s
mance of a computer, whether it is a a guide to the ways small to midsized and computers. Drives must be designed to Jeanette, can be tweaked for optimal perfor-
server, workstation, or larger system. enterprises can optimize drive perfor- use the bus, so they are SATA drives. mance by treating them like smaller drives.
Processing power is measured in giga- mance in systems. Computers must be built with controllers
hertz, memory in gigabytes, and network matching the SATA standard, as well, but BONUS TIPS
Switch To SATA
bandwidth in gigabits per second. One the resulting throughput is worthwhile,
aspect not as frequently measured is hard When drive speed is critical, buying the particularly for applications transferring
Enable read and write caching.“Caching is
drive speed. Some experts consider disk best hardware available is sometimes high data quantities. The first generation of
an overlooked and easy way to improve per-
performance an overlooked aspect of com- necessary. “No optimization tools or for- SATA hardware can maintain data transfer
formance,” says Don Jeanette, senior product
puting power. matting strategies will yield as much rates of 1.5Gbps, and the second genera-
marketing manager for Fujitsu Computer
“Solid-state components like memory speed as using fast drive hardware,” says tion doubles that to 3Gbps. There is a fur-
Products of America (www.fcpa.com). Oper-
and CPU are at an entirely different level Don Jeanette, senior product marketing ther specification for 6Gbps SATA, al-
ating systems can be configured to allocate
of operation than mechanical drives,” manager for Fujitsu Computer Products though no drive hardware can currently
a portion of RAM for buffering data; in some
says Heather Skinner, an engineer for of America (www.fcpa.com). “And the approach that level.
cases, data read caching is configured sepa-
drive manufacturer Western Digital (www fastest drive technology now available
Operate In Sequential Mode rately from write caching. On Windows sys-
.wdc.com). “As a result, slow hard drives is SATA.”
tems, the device properties configuration
“Performance comes in many flavors,”
applet has options on a property page to con-
notes Skinner. “When performance refers
BEST RETURN Implement Native trol caching. “Cache memory is an inexpen-
to input/output, with the goal of increasing
ONINVESTMENT: sive way to improve disk I/O performance,”
operations per second, a disk drive can
Command Queuing says Jeanette.
increase throughput dramatically when
operating in a sequential mode of operation
vs. a truly random one. The mechanical Increase the number of spindles per sub-
❍ “On many servers using SATA drives, you increases are best in applications with exten-
latencies of a random environment greatly system.On the other hand, if cost is of lower
can both speed up the performance and even sive simultaneous requests, such as file serv-
reduces throughput when compared to concern, Jeanette says, “Increasing the num-
extend the life of drives by implementing ers. NCQ performs all optimization on the
sequential.” ber of spindles within a subsystem will almost
NCQ [Native Command Queuing],” says Don drive itself, adding no processing overhead
Software that does intelligent collecting always improve performance. As long as the
Jeanette, senior product marketing manager to system CPU.
of requests to take advantage of this fact pipe from HDDs to controller or adapter is not
for Fujitsu Computer Products of America
can increase system throughput. In the a bottleneck, having more drives working
(www.fcpa.com). “The cost is minimal on NCQ can only be enabled on SATA drives and
sequential access mode, a user application simultaneously will up the overall system per-
Linux and Vista systems because all that’s host bus adapters that support it. Most newer
needs to process a stream of data by formance.” Unlike cache reconfiguration,
needed is essentially enabling the right SATA drives and adapters do, primarily through
accessing each data unit exactly once, and increasing drive spindles means buying new
driver software.” the AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface).
the units of data are laid out sequentially drives or drive arrays.
As Jeanette mentions, drivers for AHCI are
in files. The challenge to this tactic, of
NCQ lets individual hard drives internally opti- included with Windows Vista (www.microsoft
course, is that it can only be implemented
mize the order of execution for read and .com) and Linux; vendor-supplied drivers are
by designing or buying applications that “Short stroking is a trick that is kind of like
write commands they receive. Performance needed for other operating systems.
use it internally. defragmentation on steroids,” he says. To
“short stroke” a disk means that it is parti-
Match Fast Drives With Fast Controllers
tioned into segments with the goal of only
“The maximum resulting performance writing data to the outer sectors of the disk’s
EASIEST TO Defragment &
of a drive can only be attained if the host platters. In I/O-intensive environments, this
IMPLEMENT:
system supports the maximum speed of increases performance, as it reduces the
Clean Up Drives
the drive,” says Richmond Sy, a design time spent by the drive head seeking sectors
engineer for ExcelStor (which Iomega is on a platter. However, short stroking also
acquiring; www.excelstor.com). “It seems wastes a substantial portion of the disk
❍ “It may sound overly simple to recommend Linux file systems inherently minimize frag-
obvious, but often systems are not config- drive’s capacity.
defragmenting drives, but it’s still one of the mentation, all Windows file systems have
ured to support high-speed drives attached Typically, a drive will be divided in
most effective—and overlooked—techniques varying needs to be defragmented, either
to them.” half, with only the first partition used for
for performance improvement,” according to with the built-in disk defragmenter tool or
For example, make sure that the HDD high-performance data reading and writ-
Richmond Sy, design engineer at ExcelStor third-party utilities such as Diskeeper
controller on the motherboard supports ing. The other half may be left empty or
(www.excelstor.com). “Over time, some files (818/771-1600; www.diskeeper.com).
SATA II if the drive can run at SATA II used for archival storage of data that will
become disorganized [fragmented], and re-
mode. The operating system HDD con- not typically be accessed during peak
sources are consumed.” “In addition, to improve performance, you
troller settings must also be verified to usage periods. For extreme performance
may remove unused programs, run antispy-
make sure it is running at the fastest mode. enhancement, some system administrators
Defragmentation physically reorganizes a ware software, free up wasted space, and
Some chipset manufacturers also have will actually use an even smaller portion
disk’s contents to store the pieces of each disconnect unused network connections,”
application accelerator software that re- of the available storage, sometimes as lit-
file contiguously and closer together. While adds Sy.
duces the storage subsystem bottleneck, tle as one-quarter, to tighten the physical
enabling faster delivery of data from the area where data is accessed. P
Name: (cid:127) Color picture
Street Address: (cid:127) Detailed product
City, State, ZIP Code:
description
Phone: ( )
Email: (cid:127) Web exposure
Method Of Payment: (cid:127) Only $176 an issue
■■ Check ■■ Money Order ■■ Mastercard
■■ Visa ■■ Discover ■■ American Express (12-issue minimum)
Credit Card # Exp. / (cid:127) Proven publication
Signature:
Part #: Manufacturer:
Model/Description:
CPhoonntaec:t : ( ) Price: Tpol eptleadc ef oyromu ra cnodl oyro puhr opthoogtroat op(3:h 5P minrmo t cphereins tsn, 3oe rxx ,t5 P iisn.Ocshu.e seB, o3o½xf Px8 r55o½5c 1ine0csh,se Los,ir no,rc m4o xla n6il, i ntNhchEies s6 ci8no 5smi0ze-1)
Fax: ( )
State/Country: Call Today: [phone]
Page 6 Processor.com January 11, 2008
January 11, 2008 Processor.com Page 7
Page 8 Processor.com January 11, 2008
Next-Generation
and workflows that compose it. Ramanathan
says these business service modeling tools
are best integrated with an overall CMDB
(configuration management database) that
contains an inventory of an organization’s
Data Center Automation IT assets. Hubbert says that accurate “blue-
printing” is critical to ensuring that services
can be repeatedly deployed and configured
and that some provisioning tools now auto-
mate the discovery and inventory of devices
into a CMDB, which can streamline the doc-
Integration Across Traditional Process & Infrastructure umentation of a service’s hardware, net-
work, and storage components.
Boundaries Is The Foundation Of New Solutions
Service management tools are another
product category critical to a next-generation
by Kurt Marko compartmentalization, but Mann says that whole.” He stresses that users need “three automation suite, according to Ramanathan.
(cid:127) (cid:127) (cid:127) as IT firms move toward integrated service nines” availability for an entire application; These typically feature software controlling
THE ARSENAL OF COMPUTER and network management, automation technologies are it’s insufficient to merely guarantee high release to production, change management,
technology available to business has grown following suit. availability for individual server and net- and monitoring processes. Hubbert notes that
exponentially more powerful and sophisti- Mann says that the primary business work components. He adds that integrated concern with IT policy compliance and gov-
cated during the past decade, yet the data drivers of this change are strategic, not tools must be able to manage a full service ernance is fueling increased interest in auto-
center environment hosting all this firepow- short-term cost controls. He sees IT organi-
er hasn’t always kept pace. Several compa- zations trying to free up resources from
Most experts agree that a prevailing
nies with massive hosting requirements, routine maintenance and troubleshooting
along with a number of industry experts, by using automation to reduce complexity.
technology trend affecting all aspects of
have recently outlined hallmarks of so- Evelyn Hubbert, senior analyst for infra-
called NGDCs (next-generation data cen- structure and operations at Forrester data center automation is virtualization.
ters) designed to keep pace with increasing Research, concurs, noting that this exposes
demand and hardware advances. A major yet another 80/20 rule operative in most IT
theme in most NGDC plans is the need for departments: 80% of IT work is on mainte- by coordinating all tasks used to maintain mated change management applications such
greater software automation of routine and nance, with only 20% on innovation and an application. as Tripwire Enterprise (www.tripwire.com)
often error-prone tasks. development. She says IT departments are Another major trend in automation, and Solidcore S3 (www.solidcore.com).
Many data centers, and the administrative using automation to increase the amount of according to Ramanathan, is management
Effect On IT
groups supporting them, have of the entire life cycle of a ser-
grown organically and without vice, including release-to-pro- Experts agree that automation technology
much consideration of how to duction processes, ongoing is not a magic bullet that can turn a chaotic
scale operations as systems and monitoring, revision manage- data center epitomized by constant fire-
applications are added. Despite ment, and decommissioning. fighting into a smoothly operating IT facto-
the business criticality of their Most experts agree that a ry. “The tools only help if you have good
hosted services and applica- prevailing technology trend processes to begin with,” says Hubbert.
tions, the processes in many affecting all aspects of data Similarly, Mann says successfully using
data centers resemble those center automation is virtual- integrated tools to automate business services
of pre-industrial artisans and ization, which now spans not requires IT to change how the data center is
craftsmen rather than a modern, only servers but also storage being managed. “A silo-based mentality is
mass-production factory floor. and networks. Thus, automa- not to your long-term benefit,” he notes.
Automation is essential to tion software is now required Mature IT firms with a business services phi-
ensuring that the NGDC runs to incorporate physical, virtu- losophy will find a number of automation
like an efficient assembly line. al, and logical elements. products ready to bring their next-generation
Improvements in automation data center into the industrial age. P
Technologies & Products
technology have followed a
number of major trends that can These trends mean integrated
Most Promising
guide IT organizations as they IT process automation products
look for ways to turn their data are particularly hot, according Technology
centers into a true IT factory. to Mann. “These are the glue
that binds multiple disciplines,”
IT Trends Motivating Change Integrated IT process automation software,
he says, adding that they con-
aka automation management platforms or
IT is responsible for the nect silo-based automation
run book automation suites, facilitates cre-
smooth operation of services tools to larger business process-
ation of complex automation workflows span-
and processes critical to most es. Hubbert adds that whereas
ning infrastructure silos—servers, networks,
business operations. According to Andi “creative” work while also helping to older process automation tools might have
and storage—and job categories from the
Mann, research director at Enterprise reduce operational errors by facilitating integrated multiple steps within a particular
help desk to application support.
Management Associates (www.enterprise consistent, repeatable processes. technology domain—say, provisioning a new
management.com), this has caused IT to server from bare metal to a bootable, stan-
Technology Trends In Automation Leading automation platforms include:
become more concerned with the end-to- dard OS—newer tools integrate multiple IT
(cid:127) BMC/RealOps Autopilot (www.bmc.com)
end health of these business services rather The focus on cross-functional integration workflows, from provisioning to trouble
(cid:127) HP Opsware System 7 (particularly
than the condition of individual infrastruc- is something Kalyan Ramanathan, director ticketing or change management.
Operations Orchestrator; www.hp.com)
ture components. Historically, automation of marketing at Opsware (now part of HP; In order to build and automate processes
(cid:127) Opalis Integration Server (www.opalis.com)
tools have focused on specific technology www.opsware.com), says Opsware cus- across a complex business service, users
(cid:127) Optinuity Oasis (www.optinuity.com)
silos—servers, networks, or storage— tomers are looking for, adding, “they want need a way of modeling the service, map-
and IT organizations have mirrored this to manage and automate IT services as a ping the specific infrastructure components
January 11, 2008 Processor.com Page 9
The Future Of Networking porate data is maintained while minimizing servers so that buyers can compare energy
bandwidth use.” performance on a consistent basis before
purchasing.”
& Connectivity Doing More With Less
A change in mindset will also involve
As next-generation data connectivity will more emphasis on processor performance,
require more computing power and band- which along with other technologies can
Continued from Page 1 To do that, a technology known as width, admins will have to find ways to reduce data center power consumption by
So-called Web 2.0 sites, such as My- WADS (wide-area data services) serves to reduce data center power consumption 45%, says Brent Kerby, an AMD (www
Space and YouTube where users upload boost remote file- and application-sharing while boosting network performance. .amd.com) product marketing manager.
multimedia files, will proliferate into the speeds over the public Internet as if a user “Right now, the IT folks have no incen- “From AMD’s perspective, processor
professional enterprise sector. Besides the were connected directly to the enterprise’s tive to spend an additional dollar on ener- power management is a technology that is
requisite computing power to handle the in- LAN. Enterprises are now beginning to gy-efficient IT hardware because the sav- available today but isn’t widely used,
creased information flow, the data pipes to wake up to the possibilities that WADS ings in capital and infrastructure accrue [which is] mostly due to lack of aware-
and from data centers must not pose bottle- offer, which such firms as Cisco (www to the facilities department (which has a ness,” Kerby says. “IT data center man-
necks. They will have to handle interactive agers often relate power management to
Web and other bandwidth-intensive appli- that used to power down desktop ma-
As next-generation data connectivity will
cations users will increasingly expect. chines, etc., thinking that if they enable
“All existing applications are evolving processor power management, it might
require more computing power and bandwidth,
to accommodate more, different, and rich- affect server response and performance
er input and output sources, which means admins will have to find ways to reduce data and/or put the servers in a state where they
that they are becoming more network-cen- can’t be monitored.”
tric,” O’Neil says. “At the same time, center power consumption while boosting Indeed, beyond accommodating an ever-
most new applications are being built on increasing amount of data, “the primary
collaborative Web 2.0 platforms, which network performance. thrust” of design for next-generation con-
means that they, too, are adding to the nectivity and networks will be related to
communications demands placed on the power and heat management, O’Neil says.
corporate infrastructure. At some point in .cisco.com), Expand Networks (www separate budget),” says Jonathan Koomey, He adds, “One practical implication of this
this evolution, we stop viewing data cen- .expand.com), GlobalSCAPE (www.global a consulting professor at Stanford Uni- will be that as new facilities are built, heat,
ters as being primarily places that house scape.com), Packeteer (www.packeteer versity, department of civil and environ- power, and security management from all
data processing and storage equipment, .com), Riverbed (www.riverbed.com), and mental engineering. “We also need more parts of the buildings will be networked
and which use communications to connect Silver Peak Systems (www.silver-peak standardized energy measurements for back to the data center.” P
that equipment to other locations, and start .com) provide.
viewing them instead as communications “The current acceleration solutions,
Most Promising Technology
hubs, which are colocated with storage while promising to fully satisfy the organi-
and processors.” zation’s needs for distribution of data, have
not optimized the ability of companies to Virtualization can help admins design net- and storage applications instead of two or
Bringing WANs To The LAN Party
distribute out the files to branches and works that can do all of the necessary heavy more machines, for example.
Next-generation data centers should also make the best use of their resources. The lifting for next-generation applications and
offer offsite offices and users the same con- [WADS] portion has been overlooked,” connectivity while reducing data center power The benefits include a reduction in power con-
nectivity options with the main enterprise’s says Timothy J. Barton, vice president of and resources. While most admins have at sumption, time spent managing servers, and
servers over the Internet as they would over operations for GlobalSCAPE. “Integrating least some inkling about how the technology floor space while less peripheral equipment
a LAN connection. Ideally, for example, [WADS] in the organization will mean that works, the basic concept involves consolidat- such as backup units and UPSes are required,
uploading data for storage or sharing very you can leverage more of the data center’s ing servers so they run different applications says Michael O’Neil, IT consultant and co-
large files with a data center server should resources. Only the critical data that needs and even operating systems. The admins founder and CEO of IT in Canada (www.itin
be done just as easily over the Internet as it to be at the branch office is distributed, can thus use a single server to run email canada.ca).
is over a LAN connection. while centralized control over critical cor-
Page 10 Processor.com January 11, 2008
Cloud Computing: resources simply by selling off idle com- tributed and grid computing, are key
pute time. “Mega-scale providers like enablers for compute clouds, according to
Amazon and Google are looking to mone- DeBenedette.
Rent, Don’t Buy
tize their massive assets, which is an SMEs are in prime position to take
important formula driving the cloud phe- advantage of a particular flavor of cloud
nomenon,” says DeBenedette. computing, the one that converts internal
Continued from Page 1 need it, without the costs of building and Finally, the maturity of virtualization, compute clouds into everyone’s utility
application in the cloud. That’s why managing it themselves. open-source programming, and the Linux computing, which will likely be the most
Google Docs and Spreadsheets are not SMEs don’t have to own their own com- operating system, which are integral to dis- prevalent in the long haul. P
cloud computing; they are Software as a pute clouds to run these applications. They
Service,” says James Staten, principal ana- simply choose a cloud service provider and
Budding Cloud Utilities
lyst of the infrastructure and operations give the provider a copy of the application,
group at Forrester Research. according to John DeBenedette, virtualiza-
Dekel Tankel, senior engineer at Giga- tion and managed services expert and vice “The biggest name in cloud computing is is comparable to Amazon.com’s offering, ac-
Spaces (www.gigaspaces.com), agrees. president of IT at INTTRA (www.inttra Amazon, with its Amazon Elastic Compute cording to Staten. “They provide a virtual
Some people think cloud computing is a .com), a large ocean shipping ecommerce Cloud (EC2),” according to James Staten, machine [virtualization] and take care of ap-
service where they sign up and the provider platform provider. The cloud provider then principal analyst of the infrastructure and op- plication administration and hosting,” says
already has an application waiting for them, sets it up, hosts and manages it, and bills erations group at Forrester Research. Ama- Staten. Another noteworthy offering, accord-
but that is the definition of SaaS, Tankel the enterprise in a metered fashion like a zon.com is offering adjustable compute power ing to Staten, is The Grid Layer (www.thegrid
explains. With cloud computing, an enter- utility would. to application developers via the Internet. layer.com) from Layered Technologies (www
prise signs up to use the provider’s infra- By using a service, an organization cuts SMEs can use the EC2 to quickly scale up .layeredtech.com). The Grid Layer uses grid
structure but brings its own application, the costs associated with provisioning and and down to the number of virtual servers computing to host and manage online applica-
according to Tankel. managing its own infrastructure. This is they need based on the load their applica- tions for SMEs.
especially appealing for SMEs and start- tions are under.
Cloud Computing Uses
ups that might like to avoid these head- However, among offerings that are cloud com-
SMEs need a quick, simple way to test aches in order to concentrate on their core GigaSpaces (www.gigaspaces.com), an in- puting, there are some that may not be much
new applications, according to Staten. businesses, according to Staten. frastructure scalability software vendor, is help to SMEs. IBM (www.ibm.com), for exam-
Renting cycles in a compute cloud is the providing the infrastructure software for Ama- ple, has announced an offering called Blue
Calculating Causes
cheapest way for them to quickly acquire zon.com’s EC2, according to Dekel Tankel, Cloud. But, the IBM model involves selling
infrastructure to do that and then simply According to King, the biggest driver for GigaSpaces senior engineer. EC2 hosts and hardware and software to large enterprises so
“give it back” when they’re done. If the cloud computing is ROI. During the past manages the cloud computing environment for they can create their own compute clouds,
application works, the enterprise can con- five years, IT has deployed increasingly the customer, according to Tankel. SMEs sim- according to Dennis Quan, senior technical
tinue to rent that infrastructure, which is disparate computing environments. It has ply pay for the virtual servers they need when staff member, IBM. This would be too costly
still cheaper than building out and manag- become more challenging for IT to manage they need them to run their applications, he for most SMEs.
ing their own. these environments and get the most from notes.
Some SMEs need lots of IT for other rea- them over time. Cloud computing maxi- IBM has yet to announce a cloud computing
sons. An SME may be building a business mizes ROI by creating virtual servers on With EC2, the customer’s application runs as a offering as a service. While a service would be
in online sales, or it may be doing sophisti- existing assets and distributing applications single application, though it is distributed across more suitable for SMEs, there are no other
cated CAD work, illustrates Charles King, across them, leveraging more production many virtual servers over the Internet. EC2 can cloud computing announcements or offerings
principle analyst at Pund-IT, an IT industry from the same physical servers. move the application around to balance the from IBM at this time, according to Quan.
analysis firm. “Depending on how much IT Added income streams are another tempt- load, making the most efficient use of all the
they need, such a business could get a lot ing motivator. Through cloud computing, servers, according to Tankel. “There is lots of speculation that Google, Micro-
out of cloud computing,” he says. companies with globally distributed server soft, eBay, and Yahoo! are going to jump in to
While the scenarios are unique, the farms can host and manage applications Terremark Worldwide, another leader in the cloud computing space, but these are all
advantages are similar: as much infrastruc- for SMEs. This gives these infrastructure cloud computing, offers Infinistructure, which rumors,” Staten says.
ture as an enterprise needs, as fast as they giants additional revenues from existing IT