When it comes to datacentre servers, the goal is to pack the most power into the smallest, most efficient package. HP has leapfrogged past traditional blade servers with its new Moonshot line that delivers high density and low power in a space-saving "cartridge-based" chassis.
I saw the commercial. Buying a Mac would throw a rock through the window of mundane, non-graphical computing.
VMware's latest salvo in its virtualization war with Microsoft is vSphere 5.5, which features a host of improvements, the most interesting being high availability, support for Big Data/Hadoop and improved storage and backup.
In Windows Server 2012 R2, Microsoft has released a compelling operating system update that’s targeted directly at its virtualisation and Cloud competition. Here are 10 things we like about Windows Server 2012 R2.
In Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1, Microsoft has released a combination of operating system updates that we find very compelling. Microsoft has joined much of the rest of the industry in annual release roll-ups with feature additions, and this time, they listened to the critics. More interesting are the one-upmanship features targeted directly at its virtualization and cloud competition. Some were stunning, despite a few strange and perhaps anecdotal basic problems that we found.
Anturis and CloudPassage Halo are complementary products that attack infrastructure monitoring from different directions. Anturis is a cloud-based portal that monitors systems connectivity, systems, MySQL databases and websites. CloudPassage Halo monitors operating systems instances and the comparatively sticky compliance of instance state machines.
Eurocom rocked us with the most powerful per-pound choice in a notebook that we've seen to date. The Panther 5SE came with 4TB of storage, 64GB of DIMM3 memory and eight Xeon cores. You won't find the Panther at the big-box retailers – the version we tested runs $7,500. But we rate this device highly for its extreme flexibility and muscularity.
The crafters of the LinuxMint distro are in a ticklish position. Mint is based on Ubuntu, which in turn, is based on Debian, which in turn, has the moveable feast of the Linux kernel as its underpinning. All three have changed underneath LinuxMint, but LinuxMint 15 pulls off a new cut without missing a step (save a missing KDE version).
TwinStrata's CloudArray is a brokerage platform between enterprise networks and cloud storage services providers, and we found in testing that it's pretty clever.
VMware, Microsoft score high in test of hosted virtual desktop infrastructure
We tested the Lenovo ThinkServer RD630 in our network operations center cabinet at nFrame in Carmel, Ind., and found that it fits the bill if you're looking for a powerful, versatile 1/2U server.
The race for virtualization dominance between Microsoft and VMware has become more interesting with VMware's recent release of vSphere 5.1. We obtained vSphere around the same moment as the final release of Windows Server 2012, whose newly included virtual switch and enhanced Hyper-V features were designed to clobber VMware.
When we tested mobile device management (MDM) last year, the products were largely focused on asset management - provisioning, protecting and containing mobile devices.
Microsoft has simplified its versioning system, which was much too complex. Instead of up to nine different options with Windows 7, Windows 8 comes in Home, Professional and Enterprise.
Much of the attention being paid to this week's Windows 8 launch focuses on the new Metro-style interface and the fact that Microsoft is extending its desktop OS to tablets and smartphones. But for enterprises, the real story is the way Microsoft has integrated Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 and the Hyper-V hypervisor to create an unmatched system for running virtualized environments.