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Category Archives for "Network World Data Center"

Intel to help Chinese vendors churn out more PCs

Last year, Intel convinced small, little-known Chinese tablet makers to use its chips instead of only ARM’s. Now it wants those companies to churn out PCs, potentially upsetting a market that has been dominated by Taiwanese manufacturers.Many PCs are already manufactured in China, but often times in factories owned by Taiwanese companies, partnering with Intel, that have specialized in the trade for decades.Mainland Chinese companies have been feverishly developing tablets and smartphones, on the other hand, and they are flooding the market with low-cost models.Last year, Intel supplied 46 million tablet chips, and many of those went to these little-known manufacturers and vendors in China. Some of these vendors include Hampoo, Ramos and ChipHD, among many others that tend to build cheap mobile devices.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Brocade switch extends SDN, campus automation

Brocade this week unveiled a campus switch and other enhancements to better support video and wireless traffic, improve management and extend software defined networking. The new switch is the ICX 7250. It supports up to eight 10G Ethernet ports for uplinks or stacking, and can be stacked 12-high into a virtual chassis supporting 576 Gigabit Ethernet and 96 10G ports. Brocade says this density will enable campus networks to better support bandwidth-intensive video and wireless traffic.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Bet you’ve never heard Beethoven on a Tefifon

Unless you are German or collect vintage audio equipment, chances are you have never even heard of the Tefifon. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a Wikipedia page, since virtually everything has a Wikipedia page. The Tefifon was a German-developed and manufactured audio playback format that utilized cartridges loaded with an endlessly looped reel of plastic tape (much like the later 4-track and 8-track magnetic audio tape cartridges) with grooves embossed on it, similar to the ones on a phonograph record. Born in the 1950s, it never really caught on, but it’s a fascinating contraption. For a better sense of the Tefifon and how it works, I recommend this 11-minute video from a blog called Techmoan.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Dell’s Venue 10 7000 vs Microsoft Surface 3: Same price, different appeal

The Venue 10 7000 from Dell and the Surface 3 from Microsoft share a few things in common: they will ship in a few weeks, are marketed as tablets that can be used as laptops, and start at $499. But they offer different advantages.To determine which one provides better value, buyers must decide whether they’ll use the device mostly as a tablet or as a laptop. Here’s how the products stack up on features.Screen size and resolutionThe Dell Venue 10 7000 has a slight edge on resolution, while the Surface 3 provides more screen size. Dell’s tablet has a 10.5-inch screen that can display images at a 2560 x 1600-pixel resolution, while the Surface 3 has a 10.8-inch screen with a 1920 x 1280-pixel resolution. The Venue uses the emerging OLED technology, while the Surface 3’s more conventional screen is based on LCD technology.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Oracle bolsters Retail Cloud with new services

It’s been just over half a year since Oracle completed its US$5.3 billion acquisition of Micros, and on Wednesday the company added several new services to the retail-focused technologies it gained through that deal.Six new Oracle Retail cloud services, specifically, are now available by subscription, with the goal of helping retailers manage e-commerce, customer engagement, order management, order fulfillment, loss prevention and brand compliance.Oracle’s new Retail Brand Compliance Management cloud service, for instance, automates many of the operations required to grow and improve private-label merchandising operations. Retailers can use it to plan, track and manage merchandising activities, drop shipping and supplier relationships.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Seven new hardware technologies for Windows 10 PCs

The arrival of Windows 10 later this year could usher in more convenient, fun and wire-free PC computing.Some new features that make for easier hardware handling are already available, but not yet in Windows PCs, which still make up the vast majority of desktop and laptop machines. For example, Apple's MacBook and Google's Chromebook Pixel have set the stage for USB Type C ports and its associated reversible cables to be used in Windows PCs later this year. Meanwhile, the new Windows Hello feature -- which will allow users to unlock a Windows 10 device by recognizing a face, iris or fingerprint -- could bring 3D cameras and more sensors to PCs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Microsoft creates a container for Windows

Hoping to build on the success of Docker-based Linux containers, Microsoft has developed a container technology to run on its Windows Server operating system.“We’re finding that interest in containers is very high,” said Mike Schutz, who runs cloud platform product marketing for Microsoft. Twenty percent of Azure users deploy Linux and a significant number of those users run Docker containers, he said.The Windows Server Container can be used to package an application so it can be easily moved across different servers. It uses a similar approach to Docker’s, in that all the containers running on a single server all share the same operating system kernel, making them smaller and more responsive than standard virtual machines.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel courts China’s hardware startups to popularize its mobile, IoT chips

Erwin Liu is the CEO of a fledgling Chinese startup, and he’s been the happy recipient of free chips from Intel.“Whenever I went to Intel’s offices, they would always give us some free samples,” he said.Liu’s company, CEIN Biotechnology, which develops finger vein scanners, is just one among the many Chinese tech startups Intel is courting.In the battle for chip supremacy, the U.S. tech giant has been trying to dig deep into China’s hardware industry, and ensure that not just big vendors use its technology, but small emerging players too.On Wednesday, Intel held its annual developers conference in Shenzhen, China, at a time when rival ARM-based chips from Qualcomm and MediaTek have been all the rage.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

NAS shoot-out: QNAP vs. Synology

The past few years have seen a meteoric rise in the breadth and scope of small-business NAS, and while the top names in this space may have brought the core disciplines of NAS and even SAN to maturity, they continue to add features to their hardware. The latest from QNAP and Synology -- two longtime leaders in this market -- showcase this trend.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

Intel shrinks RealSense camera, targets smartphones

Intel plans to cut the fat from its RealSense 3D camera so that it can fit the device on a smartphone.The company’s CEO Brian Krzanich showed off Wednesday in Shenzhen, China a 6-inch prototype phone built with the new camera, which is about half the size of the older version. The company plans to start deploying the technology this year.The U.S. chipmaker has been wanting to bring RealSense to PCs and tablets, but with the smaller size it can also deliver it to smartphones, Krzanich said. Devices built with the 3D camera could offer gesture control like Microsoft’s Kinect device.“So you can imagine the efficiencies and the opportunities and the options for innovation we have moving together,” he added.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SingTel acquires TrustWave for managed security services

SingTel will acquire TrustWave Holdings, the largest U.S. independent provider of managed security services, for $810 million, the companies said on Tuesday.SingTel, a large operator based in Singapore, owns stakes in mobile companies in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and countries in Africa. In Australia, SingTel runs Optus, one of the country’s major operators.Chicago-based TrustWave specializes in managed security services, an increasingly popular option for businesses. They allow customers turn over to a third party their network security, vulnerability management and data breach responsibilities, so they don’t have to develop those capabilities in house. As computer security has become increasingly complicated, managed security services are often are cheaper, and can allow companies to respond to security breaches faster.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: A better way to store solar power for data centers

As any data center operator will tell you, data centers use large amounts of power. In fact, one data center can use enough energy to power 180,000 homes.What with the costs and the eco-issues with fossil fuels, there's a race on to try to find better ways of powering these cathedrals to digital life.Many heavy data center users are looking to place their centers near sources of renewable power, for example. Facebook has opened one in Sweden that's near a hydro-electric plant.Solar is also pretty good, and wind-power turbines are another alternative power source attracting knee-jerk exuberance, despite their disadvantages, like uneven supply.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Samsung expects big drop in first-quarter profits

Samsung Electronics expects first quarter profits to drop by more than 30 percent, marking the sixth straight quarterly decline at the company, which is struggling to compete with Apple at the top of the smartphone market.Operating profit for the quarter, which included the key year-end sales period, will be around 5.9 trillion won (US$5.4 billion), a drop of just over 30 percent versus the last three months of 2013, while revenue is expected to be 47 trillion won, down 12 percent, the company said in its earnings guidance. It will report its full quarterly results at the end of the month.The profits outlook isn’t as bad as analysts had feared.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Samsung expects big drop in first-quarter profits

Samsung Electronics expects first quarter profits to drop by more than 30 percent, marking the sixth straight quarterly decline at the company, which is struggling to compete with Apple at the top of the smartphone market.Operating profit for the quarter will be around 5.9 trillion won (US$5.4  billion), a drop of just over 30 percent versus the first three months of 2014,  while revenue is expected to be 47 trillion won, down 12 percent, the company  said in its earnings guidance. It will report its full quarterly results at the  end of the month.The profits outlook isn’t as bad as analysts had feared.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Pentagon’s groundbreaking IPv6 project hasn’t broken much ground

The U.S. Department of Defense hasn’t followed through on its commitment to convert to IPv6, the new Internet standard designed to make room for an explosion of new connected devices.The DoD demonstrated IPv6 in 2008 but then disabled the technology because it didn’t have enough people trained to use it and was worried about potential security risks, according to a report by the Inspector General of the department. The Inspector General issued the report internally in December and on Monday released a redacted version to the public.The current Internet Protocol, IPv4, doesn’t meet battlefield needs, according to the report. Among other things, IPv6 would let troops quickly set up mobile, ad-hoc networks in the field. In addition, the slow transition to IPv6 has left the military without the expertise to identify malicious activity that uses the new protocol, the report said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple Pay rival CurrentC coming in mid-2015

The mobile payments space is about to get more crowded: CurrentC, a platform backed by some of the country’s biggest retailers, will launch in the next few months and give Apple, Google and Samsung added competition.Few details are known about the service, but it is expected to merge payments and loyalty benefits and will give retailers additional insight into the spending habits of customers who are members. Less is known about the benefits it may offer consumers.A small -scale trial began last year and CurrentC is currently being tested in several undisclosed markets around the U.S. However, its use is restricted to employees of member retailers, which include Walmart, 7-Eleven, Dunkin Donuts, Sears, Best Buy, Exxon Mobil and Gap.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Chromebooks coming with Intel’s new Braswell chips

A new generation of low-cost Chromebooks are on the way, running the Intel Braswell chips that are expected to debut later this week.The new Braswell chips include new Celeron and Pentium processors, which will support both Chrome OS and Windows, said sources familiar with Intel’s product plans. More details on Braswell will be shared at the Intel Developer Forum in Shenzhen this week.New Chromebooks running Braswell are expected in the coming months from top PC makers, as well as from low-cost manufacturers China who might bring the price point down to less than US$200. Braswell will also appear in low-cost Windows laptops, desktops and tablets.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Acer’s Revo One RL85 desktop comes to US with Broadwell chips

Acer isn’t as well known as Apple for product design, but its new Revo One RL85 compact desktop looks dapper—and with Intel’s latest Broadwell chip it also has muscles.The multifaceted desktop can be a PC, but it also can sit in a corner and serve as a media player or be used for backup storage. The desktop is now available in the U.S., and starts at US$249.99 with Intel’s entry-level Celeron processors, and at $479.99 with Intel’s Core i3 chips code-named Broadwell.With its unorthodox design, the Revo One RL85 stands out from today’s mundane beige boxes. Its sharp finish resembles a smaller version of a Kenmore bread maker, but it looks attractive nonetheless. It is just 15.5 centimeters tall.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

You’ve seen Apple logo a million times, but what’s it look like?

UCLA Actual Apple logo? None of the above Even Apple fanboys and fangirls might be sick of seeing the company's logo, but that doesn't mean they actually would remember exactly what it looks like when pressed. In a new study published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, UCLA psychologists found that only 1 of 85 undergraduates could draw the logo correctly from memory.  Fewer than half correctly ID'd the logo when shown it among a number of similar logos. Most of the participants used Apple products.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

So were those Black Friday electronics deals really worth the hassle?

With memories of the crowds and lack of sleep from Black Friday 2014 now distant memories for those of you who partook in the massive shopping day four months ago, you'll be glad to know you really did save yourself a bundle on certain electronics. An analysis of the best deals on TVs, laptops/PCs, tablets, cameras and video game consoles shows that prices indeed have risen significantly for most items since them. The biggest price increases (both dollar-wise and percentage-wise) were seen for televisions, according to BestBlackFriday.com, one of numerous outfits that tracks deals. + LOOK BACK: 20-Plus Eye-Popping Black Friday Tech Deals +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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