Date: 11/21/07     Keywords: no keywords

Yes, that's a real computer and a monitor submerged in a fish tank, with the power on. I found this while I was sorting through the leftover pictures I took from SC07. It has not been photoshopped. Here's a high res version if you'd like a...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Burnette/?p=468

Date: 11/20/07     Keywords: software

ISVs that want to deliver software-as-a-service have to learn a lot of new skills, not least how to build and operate a high-availability, shared-services data center infrastructure. Anyone who heard this month's keynote presentation at SIIA's OnDemand Summit by Amazon.com CTO Dr Werner Vogels will have a keen appreciation of...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/SAAS/?p=415

Date: 11/19/07     Keywords: technology, sql, microsoft

Microsoft made available for download on November 18 the promised November Community Technology Preview (CTP) build of SQL Server 2008. The SQL Server 2008 November CTP bits can be downloaded directly from the Microsoft Download site. Microsoft has been working to deliver more frequent,...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=972

Date: 11/17/07     Keywords: no keywords

Cesar Tizi, CIO AGL Energy speaks to ZDNet about his role at Australia's largest energy supplier where he's been focused on integrating and simplifying the company's billing and accounting systems. He also shares his thoughts on recent IT trends, such as virtualization, green datacenters, and RFID. by Andrew Mager

Source: http://video.zdnet.com/CIOSessions/?p=228

Date: 11/16/07     Keywords: no keywords

Of IBM's various mashup building tools, Exeed Technologies Jacob Ukelson who attended Mashup Camp Dublin and blogged about it (one of his most trafficked blogs according to him) wrote: ....it is like the mashups are the lightweight cousin of ETL - for display rather than bulk load purposes. It...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=896

Date: 11/16/07     Keywords: no keywords

Rackable Systems had their Ice Cube modular data center on display at the supercomputing conference this week.  I didn't get to see it at IDF when it was parked outside so I grabbed a few photos and inspected the data center as it was parked in...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=868

Date: 11/16/07     Keywords: technology

I had the chance to speak with Charlie Watt, CTO and founder of Racemi, and his colleague Brian Hoffman, VP of Product Management and Service, today. We discovered that we have some common history and similar views on the real scope of virtualization technology and the impact it can have...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/virtualization/?p=281

Date: 11/16/07     Keywords: technology

Growth in storage capacity is outpacing the improvement in storage technology, resulting in a steady increase in worldwide power consumption. IBM System Storage CTO Clod Barrera tells how to stay cool and efficient. Commentary--Maintaining data center storage capacity has become a top priority...

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-176182.html

Date: 11/15/07     Keywords: database, sql, microsoft

Company says licensing is weak spot in Oracle's armory, and it hopes to use it to woo database customers to SQL Server 2008. The forthcoming launch of SQL Server 2008 will see Microsoft focus its considerable resources on the issue of licensing, to win customers from rivals Oracle...

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6218777.html

Date: 11/14/07     Keywords: no keywords

Wanted to share some more details on IBM's new Efficiency Certificates initiative, mentioned last week by Dan Farber in this Between the Lines entry. The service, provided in partnership with Neuwing Energy Ventures, provides an assessment of energy usage patterns and reductions for data center projects. As...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/green/?p=495

Date: 11/14/07     Keywords: software, database, sql, security, microsoft

A survey by renowned database hacker David Litchfield has found a whopping 492,000 Microsoft SQL and Oracle database servers directly accessible to the Internet without firewall protection. Litchfield (right), co-founder of Next Generation Security Software, ran port scans against 1,160,000 random IP addresses -- TCP port 1433...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=663

Date: 11/14/07     Keywords: software

It came to my attention that HP has announced its Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager software. This appears to be software to manage its own Virtual Connect hardware that was announced in 2006. What does this announcement mean to most organizations? What's HP Virtual Connect? Here are HP's words...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/virtualization/?p=279

Date: 11/14/07     Keywords: software, web

Oracle showed how it is bringing a social dimension into its software and offered a peek at Fusion applications this afternoon at Oracle OpenWorld. It demonstrated that Oracle has fully grokked the concepts and technologies of Web 2.0 and that Fusion apps, built on the evolving Fusion Middleware stack,...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=6997

Date: 11/13/07     Keywords: web

Thomas Kurian, senior vice president of Oracle Server Technologies, spent an hour on stage at OpenWorld  this morning patiently talking through various new features in the company's growing Fusion Middleware portfolio, which includes a laundry list of products, such as SOA Suite, WebCenter Suite, JDeveloper, Application Development Framework,...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=6994

Date: 11/13/07     Keywords: no keywords

Intel CEO Paul Otellini went highbrow in his keynote slot at Oracle OpenWorld, invoking American architectural icon Frank Lloyd Wright. He was preceded yesterday by rival AMD's CEO Hector Ruiz, who chatted with partners during his keynote (see below). Both essentially gave promotional talks, which they...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=6983

Date: 11/13/07     Keywords: software, microsoft

As Cognos--and any other mid-sized software firm--gets consolidated by the elephants in the room (Oracle, Microsoft, IBM and SAP) the concept of best of breed is on life support. But the patient won't be in critical condition for long. Contrary to all the indicators, the best of...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=6981

Date: 11/13/07     Keywords: web, hosting

Rackspace, a Web hosting firm, should adopt that song "I Don't Like Mondays" as its corporate motto. After all, Monday turned out to be horrendous for the company. That song, a 1979 hit from The Boomtown Rats, sums up Rackspace's last 36 hours. First, Rackspace had a...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=6980

Date: 11/12/07     Keywords: technology, microsoft

Backing off earlier plans, company says customers will be able to buy the virtualization technology without committing to Windows Server. Reversing earlier plans, Microsoft said Monday that it will sell its new virtualization technology separately from its Windows Server operating system, in addition to as a bundle. ...

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6218162.html

Date: 11/12/07     Keywords: technology, sql, microsoft

Microsoft will roll out on November 12 some time later in November a third Community Technology Preview (CTP) test build of SQL Server 2008, the next-to-last CTP before finalizing the product in time for shipment in the second calendar quarter of next year. CTP 3 of SQL...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=937

Date: 11/12/07     Keywords: no keywords

The thought on the street was that Cognos had to get bought soon, given the business intelligence (BI) consolidation land-grab of late -- punctuated by Oracle's acquisition of Hyperion and SAP's buy of Business Objects. So now Big Blue steps up to the plate, and for $5...

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Gardner/?p=2577