Grazed from BAI. Author: T. Lacoma.

According to reports from Bloomberg, CRN and other sources, computer group Lenovo is in talks to purchase the IBM server division. This would be the second major IBM purchase that Lenovo has made in the past several years as IBM focuses more on core competencies and Lenovo expands into tablets, smartphones and business storage equipment. While the first IBM deal gave Lenovo PC power and propelled the Chinese computer maker to the second-largest producer of personal computers in the world, acquiring the server division could concentrate the business on more corporate markets, especially markets interested in cloud computing investment.

Traditionally, the IBM server division has sold x86 processor servers, which are designed primarily for mid-sized to large companies looking for inexpensive data storage and network options. More cloud computing means more server storage, especially for major cloud computing companies like Amazon and Google. As a result, finding low-cost, low-energy servers is a key goal for such cloud providers, and the IBM servers aim to meet the demand...

Grazed from Forbes. Author: Michael Venables.

I’ve been using Chrome OS since the Chromium project was in beta, when I tested out the CR-48 for the Chromebook pilot testing program. This time, I took about two months to completely road test the Chromebook Pixel, Google’s latest hardware for Chrome OS. I tested the ‘cloud laptop’, with the help of my son in two natural computing environments: work and school. For this review, my testing focused on what you can do on the Chromebook Pixel, using apps on Chrome OS to complete everyday computing (and not so everyday development) tasks. During two months of testing, I used the Chromebook Pixel for my writing work, and my son used the unit for his school work.

Hardware Features
The review unit I tested was the version with LTE capability. Out of the gate you have a 64 GB solid state drive. One of the issues pointed to with Chrome OS is that you have no control over your local data, because you are using a “glorified browser,” but this is not the case. Although the whole proposition of Chrome OS points away from local storage, the immediate plus for the user is that you have plenty of local storage for your data: 32 GB and double that on the LTE model...

Grazed from BusinessWire.  Author: PR Announcement.

The latest benchmark testing by Heirloom Computing revealed that the company’s ELPaaS cloud platform for legacy applications is much faster than mainframe computing alternatives, while costing companies 90% less.  The results strongly validate the viability of cloud computing as a less expensive and highly reliable alternative to traditional and expensive mainframe computing solutions.

In this TPC-C benchmarking test, Heirloom used an HP Compute Cloud “Standard, Extra Large” (4 CPU, 16GB RAM) instance as its building block. Blocks can be added or removed dynamically for exceptional scalability and flexibility. Heirloom used 1,500 terminals to achieve a transaction throughput rate of 12,105 CICS transactions per minute, equivalent to a 905 MIPS mainframe – well within the needs of the vast majority of mainframe users...

Grazed from ComputerWorld. Author: Editorial Staff.

As trends such as cloud computing, Big Data, and the Internet of Things generate rapidly increasing amounts of data for organizations and users to process and store, IT functions face an ever-increasing demand for better data storage systems capable of coping with these trends. To help them, Cisco today announced new solutions for storage area networks (SANs) that deliver higher performance, scalability and reliability than other competing systems.

The new solutions include the Cisco® MDS 9710 Multilayer Director, which delivers three times the bandwidth of any storage director in the industry. Cisco also announced the Cisco MDS 9250i Multiservice Fabric Switch, which improves efficiency by performing important storage networking services in the SAN fabric. "As the leading IT service provider inNorway, we look to Cisco as a key technology partner to support us in the process of consolidating and upgrading data centers. We require storage networks to support the next generation services and level of availability our customers demand," said Jo Marius Pedersen, SAN specialist, EVRY...

Grazed from CRN.  Author: Joseph F. Kovar.

Condusiv Technologies is expanding its performance-optimization software line with a new version specifically targeting the I/O performance in physical IT infrastructures running Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) applications.  Condusiv next week plans to release its V-locity Server optimization software, a new application designed to increase the performance of I/O-intensive applications like Microsoft's SQL Server and Exchange running on physical servers, said Jerry Baldwin, CEO of the Burbank, Calif.-based vendor.

V-locity Server is a follow-on from Condusiv's previous I/O accelerator, the V-locity VM, which was targeted at virtualized environments, Baldwin said. It also takes advantage of the company's Diskeeper software for optimizing file read and write at the Windows level, he said...

Grazed from Sys Con Media. Author: Patrick Burke.

Hewlett-Packard doesn't shy away from taking a few cheap shots every now and again, and its latest line of servers, called Moonshot, proves it. HP has introduced a new line of servers that could be considered a major game changer in terms of power consumption and the cloud.

HP's new servers consume 89 percent less power and cost 77 percent less to purchase than comparable HP servers. The new line of servers, called Moonshoot, could help CIOs uncover greater savings from cloud computing, according to an article on PCMag.com...

Grazed from Business Today. Author: Editorial Staff.

HP has announced the availability of its ProLiant Moonshot line of servers , which it says can cut power consumption by up to 89 per cent as compared to its existing servers. These systems are based on 64-bit Intel Atom S1200 processor family. HP Moonshot servers are designed and tailored for specific workloads to deliver optimum performance.

The servers share management, power, cooling, networking, and storage. "With nearly 10 billion devices connected to the internet and predictions for exponential growth, we've reached a point where the space, power, and cost demands of traditional technology are no longer sustainable," said Meg Whitman, President and CEO of HP...

Grazed from Bloomberg. Author: Editorial Staff.

Huawei Technologies Co. said it doesn’t pose a U.S. security threat as China’s largest maker of telecommunications equipment defends itself against foreign governments’ concerns that it aids intelligence agencies.

The Shenzhen-based company “never sold key equipment into U.S. networks,” Deputy Chairman Guo Ping said today after the company released its annual report. Huawei became one “of the world’s top three smartphone makers” in the fourth quarter and expects the proportion of sales from networking equipment, the area that has drawn foreign scrutiny, will decline...

Grazed from InfoWorld. Author: Mikael Ricknäs.

In a bid to improve data security, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched AWS CloudHSM, which uses a separate appliance to protect cryptographic keys used for encryption. There are already a variety of alternatives for protecting sensitive data on Amazon's cloud. But for some applications and data that are subject to contractual or regulatory mandates for managing cryptographic keys, additional protections may be necessary. Here is where the CloudHSM (Hardware Security Module) fits in, according to Amazon.

Until now, organizations' only options were to keep data locally or to deploy equipment in-house to protect encrypted data in the cloud, which has a negative impact on application performance, it said. The service is powered by a Luna SA appliance from SafeNet that has a tamper-resistant enclosure. An enterprise can store its keys on the unit and use them to encrypt and decrypt data, while having full control, according to Amazon. Potential applications include database encryption, authentication and authorization, document signing, and transaction processing...

Grazed from V3.co.uk. Author: Editorial Staff.

According to analysts, your average low-end smartphone now has more than enough storage for most user. A study from IHS found that on average, customers who purchased a smartphone in 2012 only needed about 12.8GB of storage to meet their needs.

The report suggests that users are now making such heavy use of cloud-based services that local storage has become something of an afterthought. As a result, we have less data to store on our phones and the concept of regular storage increases is less of a selling point than it once was...