Inside Enterprise IT : Software

A Quick Overview of Azure: What it is/Where its going

DELL-Barton G — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:43:00 GMT

I’m currently in New York visiting customers and attending Interop/Web 2.0. While these two conferences have different session tracks their expos are co-located and attendees of either can visit the whole lot. It was then in the Web 2.0 section earlier today where I met Keith Pijanowski, a Microsoft evangelist for Windows Azure.

Keith has been working with Azure the last year and half and telling customers how it can drive down costs and make their software development cycle more agile. I got Keith to take a quick break from booth duty and explain it to me. (I wanted to know what all those Dell servers were powering).

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Some of the topics Keith tackles

How it works: You develop on premise (the cloud environment is emulated on the developer’s desktop) and then upload your code to the cloud where you have all the services, resources and compute power needed to run your app. You then manage all your code and storage areas via a portal.
Yesterday’s official commercial launch– tech preview no more.
Azure is ready to use but Microsoft wont charge for another 2 mos. The last free month the customer will get a bill of what it would cost if they had had to pay.
What’s coming to Azure in the future, some examples:
- Right now you have SQL Azure database in the cloud but they will build out the SQL Azure brand so that it has many of the same capabilities that customers are used to on premise.
- When .net 4.0 becomes available they will have a work flow service
- Will have synchronization services (SQL Azure sync) so customers can have a database in the cloud and one on premise and sync them.

Pau for now…

Betfair Places its Odds on Dell With Windows 7

DELL-Kathy B — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:02:00 GMT

Last week we experienced one of the most significant and exciting launches from Microsoft… the release of Windows 7! As part of the Microsoft Technology Adoption Program (TAP), Dell consultants worked with a number of customers during their testing and implementation of both Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

At Betfair – home of the world’s biggest betting community – robust IT is crucial. Staff at the firm process six million transactions every day; that’s more than the combined total of the European stock markets. Security and high availability are paramount, as are energy efficiency and ease of maintenance.

When the IT team replicated a standard workflow across various operating systems, they saw a 20 percent performance increase with Windows 7. This improved performance will boost staff productivity, as well as increase the time the IT team has for value-added work. New features of Windows 7, including BitLocker and AppLocker will improve security. With staff queuing for upgrades, the end-user benefits are clear. Eighty percent of Betfair’s staff in Europe will be using Windows 7 within the next month.

Ian Burgess, Head of Microsoft and Datacentre Platforms, Betfair says: “We have a list of tickets in our support system from people requesting Windows 7. It’s faster, easier to use and has lots of features that produce a more polished, seamless user experience.”

Betfair has also significantly reduced energy consumption. For example, Windows Server 2008 R2 takes advantage of the energy saving features of Dell PowerEdge servers and Intel technology. Hyper-V will also help to achieve efficiency and simplify management. Burgess says: “One of our Hyper-V clusters has four nodes with capacity to spare, whereas before there were seven nodes at full capacity. That equates to a massive energy saving across our datacentres. We’ve achieved this through the combined features of the PowerEdge R610 servers, and Windows Server 2008 R2.”

So whether your main motivation is the safety of your mission critical data, energy efficiency or the time your IT team spends managing your client estate, read on for an idea of how Dell can support you. If you're interested in more information your company's migration to the Windows 7 environment, take a look at IT Expert Voice, where best practices and news related to Windows 7 in the enterprise is discussed.

Windows 7 Arrives for Large Enterprise Customers - What Is Your Migration Plan?

DELL-Bruce Eric — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT

The day that many of us have been waiting for has come: the official launch of Microsoft Windows 7 and general availability (GA) for consumer customers. What this means is that PC manufacturers like Dell can begin shipping systems with Windows 7 on them. Of course, large corporations and other enterprises have had beta programs in place for some time now so last week's announcement was very much focused on consumers' use of Windows 7. Microsoft hosted events in New York and elsewhere, and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer himself spent more than five minutes with Matt Lauer on The Today Show touting the benefits of Windows 7, but again heavily focused on consumers. In my view, Windows 7 is a given for consumers as almost all PCs will ship with it.

What I want to talk about today is why large companies should look at Windows 7. The enterprise is where the real decision is to be made and I think there are good reasons for corporations to begin the switch.

Dell recently did a survey of Federal IT decision-makers with the 1105 Government Information Group about their Windows 7 adoption. It’s not surprising that 72 percent reported their organizations did not adopt Windows Vista. Many of those organizations are likely running Windows XP and some may even be running Windows 2000.

Forrester Research published a report of their own recently, “Windows 7 Commercial Adoption Outlook,” that provides quite a few tips for migrating to the new OS. The report points out that about 79 percent of PCs used by small-to-medium businesses are still running Windows XP; that is in-line with our research in the federal space.

There have been a great number of comparisons of the new OS to Windows Vista as well as Windows XP. Many are suggesting that Windows 7 is very similar to XP so I'm sure many CIOs in large enterprises are wondering why make the switch at all. After all, no one in IT gets promoted for forcing an OS switch on their company’s workforce.

I think we all know how the current economic situation has led to a very frugal approach to IT spending. However, keeping laptops and desktops in circulation for more than four years can lead to higher maintenance and energy costs, and can reduce employee productivity. According to IDC, IT organizations may be incurring operating costs as much as 20.5 percent higher than necessary to acquire, manage and decommission their desktop and notebook PC equipment when comparing tightly managed three-year life cycles with less systematic, longer-span life cycle management strategies.

Also, J. Gold Associates says that keeping a laptop in circulation for years four and five can cost organizations $9,600 in lost end-user productivity and the cost to fix a laptop not under warranty can reach $1,425.

To provide evidence of lost employee productivity, Dell commissioned a performance study that compares current Latitude laptops products to similar models that are three and four years old. Examples of the results include:

The battery life of a Latitude E4300 laptop running Windows 7 is up to 85 percent longer than a Latitude D620, a 3-year-old system, running Windows XP;
The Latitude E6400 running Windows 7 offers up to 63 percent better performance than a Latitude D620 running Windows XP;
With a Dell Latitude E6400 laptop you can reduce boot time by up to 29 percent compared to a previous generation Latitude laptop.

(Details on all of these claims are available in the footnotes here.)

So, aside from all the cost, performance and enhanced features of Windows 7 as a motivator to migrate, there's also the news that Microsoft has finally announced an end-date to the support they'll offer for Windows XP. According to the Microsoft Support site, Windows XP will enter its “extended support’ phase on July 7, 2010 with extended support ultimately ending in April 2014. While that seems a long way off, many analyst firms are urging large enterprises to begin their migration planning now as it takes time to assess your applications and determine what your roll-out plan is. So, it seems that migration isn’t so much of a “will we” question, but more of a “when will we” question.

Dell recently announced Dell’s a Windows 7 Readiness Assessment to identify application compatibility, hardware compatibility and migration readiness and to provide the recommendations needed to help make your transition to Windows 7 as smooth as possible. But applications are but one part of the migration process. We're making available to you a webcast entitled "Preparing for Windows 7 Migration" that discusses just how a corporation conduct such a significant migration. Here are a few other issues that need IT staffs need to consider:

Determining application compatibility including your Web applications;
What new system imaging and deployment technologies are there to consider;
Deciding how new virtualization technologies should be leveraged;
Determining whether to deploy 32-bit or 64-bit versions of the OS;
Dealing with extensive amounts of user data that will need to be migrated;
Handling a more distributed workforce with a larger number of devices;
Training both IT and end-users

We'd be eager to hear your thoughts on your organization. What are your migration plans? Do you plan to do a wholesale of all your clients at one time or stagger it out? What's the primary operating system you'll be migrating from? Do our numbers above match with your environment?

U.S. Federal Enterprises Ready for Windows 7

DELL-Troy W — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:00:00 GMT

We've received the results of a Dell's 1105 Media's Government Information Group survey of U.S. Federal IT decision maker survey about Windows 7 adoption. The results are eye opening:

72% report their organizations did not adopt Vista - not a surprise to us; in fact, I would estimate this percentage is even higher across the public sector;
Of those planning to migrate to Windows 7, 60% say they'll make the move in six months or more - We will undoubtedly see consumers migrate first, then the private sector. Budget cycles and approvals will likely force the public sector to lag a bit;
Another 60% of those who expect to migrate will do so in alignment with a refresh of their client systems - we've found that laptops running Windows 7 last up to 85% longer and boot up 29% faster than the last generation of systems running Windows XP.

Overall, responses indicate that several factors could impact Windows 7 adoption in the Federal sector:

First off, the need for management approval and time associated with adhering to proper procedures;
Secondly, the need to align with equipment upgrades and network infrastructure needs;
Finally, the need to consider additional upgrades, such as power savings and software optimization.

As the top provider of IT to the U.S. public sector, we've worked closely with Federal customers to identify the best path to maximize budgets and upgrade their IT infrastructures. Our latest response is a new set of services that will make Windows 7 migration easier, more secure and cost efficient.

The new offerings are rooted in part in our experience as the only OEM to participate jointly with Microsoft in supporting mutual customers in their Technology Adoption Program for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

We're looking forward to Thursday's launch and to helping bring Windows 7 - with better applications, drivers, faster boot times, security and quick online capabilities - to our public-sector customers worldwide.

Migrating Oracle Deployments to Dell PowerEdge x86-based Servers

DELL-Susie G — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:08:00 GMT

As a premier Oracle partner, Dell is excited to be on the show floor at Oracle OpenWorld 2009. We are proud to be demonstrating our comprehensive Dell | Oracle solutions including presentations both in our booth and at sessions outlining the benefits of migrating to Dell’s PowerEdge 11th generation x86 platform. In addition to our presentations, we’ll have plenty of migration experts at the show to help answer questions in our booth regarding Dell’s proven track record for partnering with customers to help them successfully navigate through the migration process.

By migrating from older generation x86 servers to Dell’s PowerEdge 11th generation x86 servers, customers are experiencing benefits including lower total cost of ownership, easier implementations and deployments, and greater scalability as their businesses continue to grow. With Dell’s 11th generation servers, customers are able to consolidate dispersed legacy environments onto one product line while reducing data center complexity, lowering power consumption, and reducing Oracle licensing fees - all while reaping the benefits of running their OLTP and DSS workloads faster than ever before. Whenever we release new servers, there is typically an incremental performance gain of approximately 10-15 percent. The technology packed in Dell’s PowerEdge 11th generation servers blew that away.

We reviewed three-year old servers that had recently fully depreciated. In comparison to the new 11th generation servers, we are able to achieve consolidation by an 8:1 factor - and sometimes even better depending on the workload. That type of consolidation equates to serious savings for our customers. Think about it – eight servers consolidating to one, all within the power envelope of a single older generation server. That means a full 16U rack of servers becomes just 2U; 32 network ports consumed becomes four; 16 redundant PDU ports becomes two; and this is just the physical savings. Just imagine how that translates to software and power savings as well.

With a full suite of tested and validated Dell | Oracle solution stacks, Dell enables customers to minimize risk, reduce pre-implementation testing and ensure interoperability before the migration process even begins.

Visit us at booth 3809 in Moscone West and receive a USB key full of useful tools outlining the benefits of running your Oracle database workloads on Dell hardware and enter to win one of the new Dell Latitude Z portable notebooks . You will be sure to get a better understanding why moving to Dell’s open standards platform provides customers with a cost effective, end-to-end solution that enables faster implementations, simplified management and faster return on investment.

To keep up with what we are doing at the event, follow us on Twitter @dellatORACLEwld, check out an earlier post on Direct2Dell with details of our activities and check back here and the Dell TechCenter. If you miss us at the show, visit us at www.dell.com/oracle for more information.

Oracle from Dell – What are the key considerations?

DELL-Greg W — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:00:00 GMT

Oracle OpenWorld is in full swing and things are exciting here in San Francisco. If you’re here, be sure to stop by the booth and say hi, see a demo, listen in on a presentation, enter to win one of the new Dell Latitude Z portable notebooks and catch one of the many breakout sessions with Dell. Also be sure not to miss Michael Dell’s keynote Tuesday, October 13 at 8:30 AM in Moscone North, Hall D.

One of our focuses at Dell is to help people plan for an Oracle deployment. If you fall into that camp, here are a few items for you to consider:

Is the solution scalable and based on industry-standard application and technology solutions?
Can you get the complete stack of products and solutions, applications and hardware to help you address your pain points and focus on meeting your goals?
Are you simplifying IT at the least possible acquisition cost?
Can you count on highly trained Oracle Sales Specialists to guide you on what products and solutions would best fit your requirements?
Are value-add services available to enhance your productivity and promote IT simplicity through the design and implementation of Oracle solutions comprised of standards-based x86 architecture?
Do you have everything you need for systems integration such as pre-engineered, tested, and validated Intel-based Oracle database solutions on Red Hat/Oracle Enterprise Linux and Microsoft Windows Server to ensure compatibility and reduce pre-implementation testing with entire tested solution stacks: servers, storage, switches, operating systems, and Oracle Database software?
Can you get sizing tools to help you size your projects and provide guidelines for the required infrastructure?
Are finance options available to help you close the gap between your technology needs and cash flow?

If you need assistance, Dell can provide all these things. Dell and Oracle are committed to each other’s technologies and here are some great examples of this commitment.

You can find out more, like Dell’s Solution sizing, validations and reference architectures, here as well: www.dell.com/oracle

We provide total solutions in terms of the entire stack all tested, and validated, Hardware, Storage, Networking, OS Support, Power & Cooling, Oracle Software, Services, Finance and finally Purchase Consolidation. This is The Difference at Dell. This is why our customers choose Dell / Oracle.

We hope you’ll get to know the Dell and Oracle experience this week. Follow us on Twitter @dellatORACLEwld, check out my earlier post on Direct2Dell with details of our activities and check back here and the Dell TechCenter to stay up to date on all that we’re doing with Oracle.

Mark Shuttleworth on the Cloud, Ubuntu on Dell ... and More

DELL-Barton G — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:14:00 GMT

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu and the head of Canonical, the commercial entity behind the popular linux distribution, is currently making his rounds in the States. Yesterday he was quite busy, taking the stage at both the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco as well as at LinuxCon up in Portland Oregon.

Today he popped by Dell here in Austin to chat. I grabbed him for a few minutes right before lunch. Here is the result:

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Some of the topics Mark tackles:

The release yesterday of Dell’s Mini netbook with Ubuntu Moblin Remix – Developer Edition. (More details on the release from the Dell blog.)
Mark’s keynote yesterday at Linuxcon and the themes of cadence, quality and design.
His kerfluffle with the Debian community around release schedules.
The cloud-related goals for next month’s Ubuntu 9.10 release, Karmic Koala:
- To be able to deploy your own cloud across 5-10 servers in 15 mins to an hour
- Be able to enable private clouds that are completely EC2 compatible
- Ability to create a library of virtual appliances that will deploy on EC2 or private clouds
The announcement earlier this week of the 10.04 Long Term Support (LTS) release named “Lucid Lynx.”
Mark’s thoughts on Windows 7 or as he calls it, “the wonderful Service Pack for Vista.”
How long until profitability.

Pau for now…

CEO of GoGrid: IT Economy to Shrink (big time) Over Next Ten Years

DELL-Barton G — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:02:00 GMT

The CEO and founder of GoGrid, John Keagy, made an interesting assertion at Cloud World/Open Source World: over the next decade, the IT economy will shrink from $1.5 trillion to $500 billion. I thought this was an interesting statement so I followed up with him after his talk and we sat down for a quick interview:

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Some of the things John talks about:

GoGrid plays in the Infrastructure on demand space and has been doing so since 2002.
They work with partners in the layers above infrastructure and don’t have plans to venture north.
The IT economy shrinkage will be driven by automation and reduced capex (commodity hardware is a big component of this)
Right now its hardly a competitive market in the IaaS space (”its GoGrid and a bookstore”) so you can expect to see prices drop as the competition heats up.
If you’re not doing your test and development and QA in the cloud, your not engaging in best practices.

Pau for now…

Appliances in the World of SaaS and Cloud Computing? Really?

DELL-Franklin F — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Recently the buzz in the IT industry has been focused on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and the larger concept of “Cloud Computing.” In its most basic form, the concept of SaaS involves a company paying for software as it is used. The software runs on computers someone else owns, and the ongoing maintenance and support of the server infrastructure is handled by that company. It involves essentially leasing the application time for a specific period of time, typically month-to-month. In theory, the value proposition of SaaS is that only paying for computing resources when needed should reduce cost in the long run if an application is used in short spurts.

However, industry analyst firm Gartner recently released the results of a large survey on SaaS implementations still has concerns with broad, cross-enterprise adoption of SaaS. In the study, respondents had some concerns and reservations about specific SaaS solutions. This suggests that there are some applications where SaaS is a bit ahead of its time. As a Technology Evangelist for Dell’s OEM Group, I don’t see SaaS as a panacea and know there are specific cases where hardware-based appliances should be leveraged or at least strongly considered.

A company needing to deploy a service, application, or IT capability has many options available including SaaS and cloud computing, self-built installations, and an ever-growing selection of appliances. While SaaS is definitely an outstanding choice for many of these applications, it is not for every solution as once imagined. Hardware-based appliances still have a growing role to play and in many instances can overcome many of the challenges that customers like those surveyed by Gartner are experiencing with SaaS.

For example, the third most common issue with SaaS implementations, according to the survey, was reliability and performance to technical specs, something an appliance solution will not have any issues with whatsoever since the solution is designed with dedicated hardware and carefully tested to provide the performance and capabilities for which it was designed. Similarly, the main concern of those surveyed -- functionality for business users -- is addressed with an appliance-based solution since a business need only find the most appropriate appliance for their needs and deploy it in the simple, appliance model (typically a fast and simple installation), and they are up and running with the new solution.

Of course, not every IT service or solution is offered as an appliance, but when they are available, they can be surprisingly simple and effective.

So, what do you think? Are there specific situations where an appliance plays more nicely than SaaS or cloud computing applications?

Windows 7 Drivers for Commercial Desktops and Laptops

DELL-Laura R — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:45:00 GMT

The Windows 7 team at Dell is excited about the progress we have made to get the OS ready for commercial customers and is looking forward to launch in just a couple of short months! Effective August 7, 2009 MSDN, TechNet and Volume License Customers with Software Assurance can begin deploying the new operating system. We have received many requests from our business customers that we post our Windows 7 drivers so they can begin testing and qualifying the new OS within their environments.

We've listened and recently, we have started posting Dell Certified Windows 7 drivers at www.support.dell.com/Windows7 where you will find the first set of drivers for many of our commercial systems.

We will post additional drivers once they pass rigorous testing and certification standards--please check back if there is something you don't see. For customers without dedicated IT staff interested in evaluating Windows 7, check out Windows Update.

Our services staff is also ready to help customers with the transition to Windows 7. We have a number of deployment tools and services for businesses and institutions to make the migration from Windows XP, which is what most commercial customers are running, to Windows 7 easier. ProConsult services that help customers understand how to best to deploy the new operating system, along with determining which features of the OS will benefit your business the most. After deployment, our ProSupport and ProManage services can help administer and support systems throughout their lifecycle.