Dell challenges HP, IBM with new offerings; Cloud Computing Meets Washington

New offerings from dell will ease configuration and management of data centers Data Center Alert NetworkWorld.com | Data Center Research Center | Update Your Profile Sponsored by Dell Power Couple: Vista & Hybrid Environments The stark reality of the data center today is mixed platforms, operating systems and hardware. Fortunately Windows Vista has been engineered to integrate smoothly into these so-called hybrid environments, as you'll learn in this podcast featuring Microsoft expert Chris Ross. Spotlight Story Dell challenges HP, IBM with new offerings By Agam Shah Trying to shed its reputation as an inexpensive hardware vendor, Dell is taking steps to sharpen its enterprise offerings so it can compete more effectively with rivals IBM and HP. Read full story Related News: Cloud Computing Meets Washington Last week I was invited to participate in a cloud computing panel at the Newseum, located smack dab between the U.S. Capitol Building and the White House. The Washington D.C. event marked the release of a new report, Envisioning the Cloud: The Next Computing Paradigm. I appeared with the two report authors, Jeffrey Rayport and Andrew Heyward. Rayport is a former Harvard Business School Professor who currently chairs Marketspace LLC, which provides digital strategy consulting services and is part of the high-end strategy consulting firm, The Monitor Group. (Rayport also coined the term "viral marketing.") Heyward, the former head of CBS News, serves as a senior advisor to Marketspace. My role was to provide commentary on their presentation of the report's findings. Since when did cloud computing become/need a manifesto? In his search of the Internet, Tyson.Kopczynski found "The Open Cloud Manifesto," which looks into an open cloud standard. The issue he has with it in his blog is how it has seemingly been created in secret. ParaScale cloud storage software hits general availability Storage start-up ParaScale is heading into general availability with software that aggregates disk storage on standard Linux servers to create pools of storage that can be used by Web-based services providers and to build private clouds. How to navigate an IT career path Cisco Subnet blogger Jimmy Ray Purser shares tips on building an IT career, and points to the data center as "the hottest ticket out there." Next up in the data center project: Device configuration Cisco Subnet blogger Michael Morris gives an update on a data center project based on the Cisco Nexus-series line. California is in a land all its own Cisco Subnet blogger Jimmy Ray Purser looks at what makes Cisco Unified Computing Fabric radically different from other data center architectures. Microsoft criticizes drafting of secret 'Cloud Manifesto' Microsoft is criticizing the drafting of what it has characterized as a secret "Cloud Manifesto" that sets guidelines for interoperability among cloud-computing networks. Even Cisco makes mistakes Cisco Subnet blogger Brad Reese shares a Cisco rival's take on five bad technology moves that the company has made in the last 10 years. Former Cisco data center chief chimes in on UCS When she left Cisco in May of 2008, Jayshree Ullal knew that the blade servers were coming. After all, she had been at Cisco for 15 years -- the last few as senior VP in charge of data center, switching and security. Dell upgrades enterprise servers, storage Dell has released fourteen new products in a significant refresh of its enterprise server,... Dell unveils enterprise flash drives Dell EqualLogic this week joined the enterprise flash drive community and showed it's spinning the... Enter for a Microsoft training giveaway from New Horizons New Horizons Computer Training is offering a free Microsoft training course worth up to $2,500 to be given to one lucky Microsoft Subnet reader. Deadline for entry is March 31. Network World on Twitter Get our tweets and stay plugged in to networking news. App to no good A look at the top 10 iPhone apps that could get you into trouble. CEO payday breakdown A detailed account of how much tech chiefs made in 2008. Sponsored by Dell Power Couple: Vista & Hybrid Environments The stark reality of the data center today is mixed platforms, operating systems and hardware. Fortunately Windows Vista has been engineered to integrate smoothly into these so-called hybrid environments, as you'll learn in this podcast featuring Microsoft expert Chris Ross. 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