Microsoft: Windows Azure will outcompete Amazon Web Services on features, total cost – InfoWorld

Despite unveiling prices for its upcoming Windows Azure cloud platform that appear merely on par with incumbent rivals such as Amazon, Microsoft Corp. says Azure will gain ground with Web developers by offering more and better features for the money.

Raritan Enhances its Power IQ Energy Management Software – TMCnet

Raritan has stated that datacenters and labs have an opportunity to realize substantial energy efficiency gains and intelligent energy management solutions that measure and track an enterprise’s usage at the device level can help customers achieve a better understanding of how much and how their data centers consume energy, and, as a result, can take steps to become more energy efficient. Power IQ’s new automated power control, for example, can help improve energy efficiency by scheduling devices to turn off for periods when not needed.

Dell Plans to Move Deeper into Data Center – eWeek

Stephen Schuckenbrock, president of Dell’s Large Enterprise business, said while virtualization has been talked about for most of the decade, only about 15 percent of servers have been virtualized. Once server virtualization starts gaining momentum, there will be a threat to hardware sales, but that is offset by the other virtualization-based areas that Dell can take advantage of, Schuckenbrock said.

Rackspace API gives developers greater access to cloud platform – Network World

The API itself was developed for Cloud Servers, which gives customers access to virtualized server instances, and closes a gap with Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud just as Rackspace is trying to repair its credibility in the wake of recent power failures.

Oracle halts work on green data center in Utah – Computerworld, Inc.

Various reports have placed the center’s size at 200,000 square feet, with a construction budget of about $300 million. The project was to make major advancements in power savings, according to a presentation by Oracle CIO Mark Sunday at last year’s LinuxWorld conference.