Andy Patrizio
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Andy Patrizio
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VMware licensing increase draws ire but is a logical move
VMware is increasing its CPU licensing prices for customers running CPUs with more than 32 physical cores. Effective April 2, if CPUs with more than 32 cores are deployed, then customers need to purchase additional CPU licenses.Such a change doesn't seem surprising. For the longest time, 32-core processors seemed like a pipe dream. Intel was hovering in the range of 20-odd cores, and AMD was a non-player. Then came the AMD Epyc with 32 cores in 2017, followed by Epyc 2 with 64 cores in 2019 . READ MORE: VMware’s ongoing reinventionTo read this article in full, please click here
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Intel drops work on one of its AI-chip lines in favor of an other
Well, that was short.Intel is ending work on its Nervana neural network processors (NNP) in favor of an artificial intelligence line it gained in the recent $2 billion acquisition of Habana Labs.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.] Intel acquired Nervana in 2016 and issued its first NNP chip one year later. After the $408 million acquisition by Intel, Nervana co-founder Naveen Rao was placed in charge of the AI platforms group, which is part of Intel's data platforms group. The Nervana chips were meant to compete with Nvidia GPUs in the AI inference training space, and Facebook worked with Intel “in close collaboration, sharing its technical insights,” according to former Intel CEO Brian Krzanich.To read this article in full, please click here
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VMware sees executive churn amid small layoffs
VMware is going through an annual ritual it calls “workforce rebalancing,” which has resulted in a few hundred employees being let go including with four senior executives, which might be concerning as executive churn is often a sign of trouble.On Jan. 25, the California Employment Development Department disclosed that VMware had cut 159 people in the Palo Alto office earlier in January. For a company of more than 22,000, that’s nothing, although there were likely cuts in other offices around the world as well.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.] “We can confirm that there have been a limited number of changes to our workforce this month,” a VMware spokesperson said via email. “This is a part of regular workforce rebalancing that ensures resources across VMware’s global businesses and geographies are aligned with strategic objectives and customer needs. We have an active employee support program to ensure, where possible, impacted employees will be redeployed to open roles within VMware. We continue to recruit in areas of strategic importance for the company.To read this article in full, please click here
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VMware sees executive churn amid small layoffs
VMware is going through an annual ritual it calls “workforce rebalancing,” which has resulted in a few hundred employees being let go including with four senior executives, which might be concerning as executive churn is often a sign of trouble.On Jan. 25, the California Employment Development Department disclosed that VMware had cut 159 people in the Palo Alto office earlier in January. For a company of more than 22,000, that’s nothing, although there were likely cuts in other offices around the world as well.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.] “We can confirm that there have been a limited number of changes to our workforce this month,” a VMware spokesperson said via email. “This is a part of regular workforce rebalancing that ensures resources across VMware’s global businesses and geographies are aligned with strategic objectives and customer needs. We have an active employee support program to ensure, where possible, impacted employees will be redeployed to open roles within VMware. We continue to recruit in areas of strategic importance for the company.To read this article in full, please click here
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VMware: sees executive churn, some layoffs
VMware is going through an annual ritual it calls “workforce rebalancing,” which has resulted in a few hundred employees being let go including with four senior executives, which might be concerning as executive churn is often a sign of trouble.On Jan. 25, the California Employment Development Department disclosed that VMware had cut 159 people in the Palo Alto office earlier in January. For a company of more than 22,000, that’s nothing, although there were likely cuts in other offices around the world as well.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.] “We can confirm that there have been a limited number of changes to our workforce this month,” a VMware spokesperson said via email. “This is a part of regular workforce rebalancing that ensures resources across VMware’s global businesses and geographies are aligned with strategic objectives and customer needs. We have an active employee support program to ensure, where possible, impacted employees will be redeployed to open roles within VMware. We continue to recruit in areas of strategic importance for the company.To read this article in full, please click here
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VMware: sees executive churn, some layoffs
VMware is going through an annual ritual it calls “workforce rebalancing,” which has resulted in a few hundred employees being let go including with four senior executives, which might be concerning as executive churn is often a sign of trouble.On Jan. 25, the California Employment Development Department disclosed that VMware had cut 159 people in the Palo Alto office earlier in January. For a company of more than 22,000, that’s nothing, although there were likely cuts in other offices around the world as well.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.] “We can confirm that there have been a limited number of changes to our workforce this month,” a VMware spokesperson said via email. “This is a part of regular workforce rebalancing that ensures resources across VMware’s global businesses and geographies are aligned with strategic objectives and customer needs. We have an active employee support program to ensure, where possible, impacted employees will be redeployed to open roles within VMware. We continue to recruit in areas of strategic importance for the company.To read this article in full, please click here
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VMware: Executive churn, some layoffs
VMware is going through an annual ritual it calls “workforce rebalancing,” which has resulted in a few hundred employees being let go including with four senior executives, which might be concerning as executive churn is often a sign of trouble.On Jan. 25, the California Employment Development Department disclosed that VMware had cut 159 people in the Palo Alto office earlier in January. For a company of more than 22,000, that’s nothing, although there were likely cuts in other offices around the world as well.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.] “We can confirm that there have been a limited number of changes to our workforce this month,” a VMware spokesperson said via email. “This is a part of regular workforce rebalancing that ensures resources across VMware’s global businesses and geographies are aligned with strategic objectives and customer needs. We have an active employee support program to ensure, where possible, impacted employees will be redeployed to open roles within VMware. We continue to recruit in areas of strategic importance for the company.To read this article in full, please click here
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VMware: Executive churn, some layoffs
VMware is going through an annual ritual it calls “workforce rebalancing,” which has resulted in a few hundred employees being let go including with four senior executives, which might be concerning as executive churn is often a sign of trouble.On Jan. 25, the California Employment Development Department disclosed that VMware had cut 159 people in the Palo Alto office earlier in January. For a company of more than 22,000, that’s nothing, although there were likely cuts in other offices around the world as well.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.] “We can confirm that there have been a limited number of changes to our workforce this month,” a VMware spokesperson said via email. “This is a part of regular workforce rebalancing that ensures resources across VMware’s global businesses and geographies are aligned with strategic objectives and customer needs. We have an active employee support program to ensure, where possible, impacted employees will be redeployed to open roles within VMware. We continue to recruit in areas of strategic importance for the company.To read this article in full, please click here
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Private equity firms are gobbling up data centers
Merger and acquisition activity surrounding data-center facilities is starting to resemble the Oklahoma Land Rush, and private-equity firms are taking most of the action.New research from Synergy Research Group saw more than 100 deals in 2019, a 50% growth over 2018, and private-equity companies accounted for 80% of them.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.] M&A activity broke the 100 transaction mark for the first time in 2019, and that comes despite a 45% decline in public company activity, such as the massive Digital Reality Trust purchase of Interxion. At the same time, the size of the deals dropped in 2019, with fewer worth $1 billion or more vs. 2018, and the average deal value fell 24% vs. 2018.To read this article in full, please click here
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Private equity firms are gobbling up data centers
Merger and acquisition activity surrounding data-center facilities is starting to resemble the Oklahoma Land Rush, and private-equity firms are taking most of the action.New research from Synergy Research Group saw more than 100 deals in 2019, a 50% growth over 2018, and private-equity companies accounted for 80% of them.[Get regularly scheduled insights by signing up for Network World newsletters.] M&A activity broke the 100 transaction mark for the first time in 2019, and that comes despite a 45% decline in public company activity, such as the massive Digital Reality Trust purchase of Interxion. At the same time, the size of the deals dropped in 2019, with fewer worth $1 billion or more vs. 2018, and the average deal value fell 24% vs. 2018.To read this article in full, please click here
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Intel denies reports of Xeon shortage
Intel has denied reports that its Xeon supply chain is suffering the same constraints as its PC desktop/laptop business. CEO Bob Swan said during the company's recent earnings call that its inventory was depleted but customers are getting orders.The issue blew up last week when HPE – one of Intel's largest server OEM partners – reportedly told UK-based publication The Register that there were supply constraints with Cascade Lake processors, the most recent generation of Xeon Scalable processors, and urged HPE customers "to consider alternative processors." HPE did not clarify if it meant Xeon processors other than Cascade Lake or AMD Epyc processors.To read this article in full, please click here
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Intel denies reports of Xeon shortage
Intel has denied reports that its Xeon supply chain is suffering the same constraints as its PC desktop/laptop business. CEO Bob Swan said during the company's recent earnings call that its inventory was depleted but customers are getting orders.The issue blew up last week when HPE – one of Intel's largest server OEM partners – reportedly told UK-based publication The Register that there were supply constraints with Cascade Lake processors, the most recent generation of Xeon Scalable processors, and urged HPE customers "to consider alternative processors." HPE did not clarify if it meant Xeon processors other than Cascade Lake or AMD Epyc processors.To read this article in full, please click here
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You can now have a Mac Pro in your data center
Steve Jobs rather famously said he hated the enterprise because the people who use the product have no say in its purchase. Well, Apple's current management has adopted the enterprise, ever so slowly, and is now shipping its first server in years. Sort of.Apple introduced a new version of the Mac Pro in December 2019, after a six-year gap in releases, and said it would make the computer rack-mountable for data centers. But at the time, all the attention was on the computer’s aesthetics, because it looked like a cheese grater. The other bit of focus was on the price; a fully decked Mac Pro cost an astronomical $53,799. Granted, that did include specs like 1.5TB of DRAM and 8TB of SSD storage. Those are impressive specs for a server, although the price is still a little crazy.To read this article in full, please click here
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You can now have a Mac Pro in your data center
Steve Jobs rather famously said he hated the enterprise because the people who use the product have no say in its purchase. Well, Apple's current management has adopted the enterprise, ever so slowly, and is now shipping its first server in years. Sort of.Apple introduced a new version of the Mac Pro in December 2019, after a six-year gap in releases, and said it would make the computer rack-mountable for data centers. But at the time, all the attention was on the computer’s aesthetics, because it looked like a cheese grater. The other bit of focus was on the price; a fully decked Mac Pro cost an astronomical $53,799. Granted, that did include specs like 1.5TB of DRAM and 8TB of SSD storage. Those are impressive specs for a server, although the price is still a little crazy.To read this article in full, please click here
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IBM Power-based cloud instances available… from Google
IBM and Google may be competitors in the cloud platform business, but that doesn't prevent them from working together. Google is partnering with IBM to offer "Power Systems as a service" on its Google Cloud platform.IBM’s Power processor line is the last man standing in the RISC/Unix war, surviving Sun Microsystems’ SPARC and HP’s PA-RISC. Along with mainframes it’s the last server hardware business IBM has, having divested its x86 server line in 2014.IBM already sells cloud instances of Power to its IBM Cloud customers, so this is just an expansion of existing offerings to a competitor with a considerable data center footprint. Google said that customers can run Power-based workloads on GCP on all of its operating systems save mainframes — AIX, IBM i, and Linux on IBM Power.To read this article in full, please click here
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Gartner: Data-center spending will inch up this year
Global IT spending could reach $3.865 trillion in 2020, up 3.4% over 2019, according to newly released data from IT research firm Gartner. In comparison, 2019 saw just 0.5% growth over 2018 levels. Spending is expected to continue to climb into 2021, surpassing the $4 trillion mark with 3.7% growth.Spending on hardware – including edge devices and data center hardware – will be deemphasized, while investments in software and services, including cloud, will see an increase, the firm predicts. READ MORE: Data centers in 2020 will feature greater automation, cheaper memory To read this article in full, please click here
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Gartner: Data center spending will inch up this year
Global IT spending could reach $3.865 trillion in 2020, up 3.4% over 2019, according to newly released data from IT research firm Gartner. In comparison, 2019 saw just 0.5% growth over 2018 levels. Spending is expected to continue to climb into 2021, surpassing the $4 trillion mark with 3.7% growth.Spending on hardware – including edge devices and data center hardware – will be de-emphasized, while investments in software and services, including cloud, will see an increase, the firm predicts. READ MORE: Data centers in 2020 will feature greater automation, cheaper memory To read this article in full, please click here
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Windows Server vulnerability disclosed by NSA; Don’t wait to patch
Microsoft’s monthly Patch Tuesday included a hefty haul of fixes: 49 total, and one of them is more than just critical. For enterprises running Windows Server 2016 and Server 2019, it's vital you implement the patch ASAP.The National Security Agency (NSA) disclosed the Windows vulnerability on Tuesday, the same day the fix was issued. That means the NSA found the flaw likely months ago but held off on public notification until Microsoft could come up with a fix. It would be irresponsible for the NSA, or anyone else, to announce a vulnerability and not give the software maker time to patch it.The vulnerability was spotted in "crypt32.dll," a Windows module that has been in both desktop and server versions since NT 4.0 more than 20 years ago. Microsoft describes the library as handling certificate and cryptographic messaging functions in the CryptoAPI.To read this article in full, please click here
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Windows Server vulnerability disclosed by NSA; Don’t wait to patch
Microsoft’s monthly Patch Tuesday included a hefty haul of fixes: 49 total, and one of them is more than just critical. For enterprises running Windows Server 2016 and Server 2019, it's vital you implement the patch ASAP.The National Security Agency (NSA) disclosed the Windows vulnerability on Tuesday, the same day the fix was issued. That means the NSA found the flaw likely months ago but held off on public notification until Microsoft could come up with a fix. It would be irresponsible for the NSA, or anyone else, to announce a vulnerability and not give the software maker time to patch it.The vulnerability was spotted in "crypt32.dll," a Windows module that has been in both desktop and server versions since NT 4.0 more than 20 years ago. Microsoft describes the library as handling certificate and cryptographic messaging functions in the CryptoAPI.To read this article in full, please click here
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Windows Server vulnerability disclosed by NSA; don’t wait to patch
Microsoft’s monthly Patch Tuesday included a hefty haul of fixes: 49 total, and one of them is more than just critical. For enterprises running Windows Server 2016 and Server 2019, it's vital you implement the patch ASAP.The National Security Agency (NSA) disclosed the Windows vulnerability on Tuesday, the same day the fix was issued. That means the NSA found the flaw likely months ago but held off on public notification until Microsoft could come up with a fix. It would be irresponsible for the NSA, or anyone else, to announce a vulnerability and not give the software maker time to patch it.The vulnerability was spotted in "crypt32.dll," a Windows module that has been in both desktop and server versions since NT 4.0 more than 20 years ago. Microsoft describes the library as handling certificate and cryptographic messaging functions in the CryptoAPI.To read this article in full, please click here