ARM is getting a lot of attention lately. The chip designer, whose energy efficient processor technology powers the vast majority of the world’s smartphones and tablets, is benefiting greatly from the popularity of the iPad and other ARM-based devices. Even Microsoft, a long-time x86 devotee, has jumped on the ARM bandwagon for its Windows RT operating system […]
OpenStack to float ARM-powered clouds
ARM processor-based cloud servers are big on potential, but for now, they fall a bit short on actually powering cloud services. That’s about to change, and quickly too, judging by the meteoric rise of the open source cloud platform that’s just now making the jump from x86 processors to ARM chips. First, a little background. […]
Dell delivers shot in the ARM server ecosystem
Looks like ARM-based servers in the data center are inching ever closer to reality. Last week, Dell took the wraps off Copper, an ARM server platform based on the computer maker’s PowerEdge C5000 microserver architecture. Instead of run-of-the-mill Intel Xeon chips, each blade-like “sled” contains four 1.6 GHz Marvell Armada XP ARM-based processors, each of […]
Compellent: Dell’s $960M green storage acquisition
About month and a half ago, buzz began to surround Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based Compellent Technologies based on reports that Dell was interested in acquiring the storage startup. Rumor became reality today when it was revealed that Dell is acquiring Compellent for $960 million. The firm specializes in storage technologies that improve energy efficiency in data […]
Google Chrome OS and Citrix: Advent of the thinner, mobile enterprise?
Thin client adoption is picking up, improving the fortunes of startups like NComputing and prodding vendors to revamp their product portfolios. Sales of energy-efficient, TCO-lowering thin client hardware is expected to double to 7.4 million by 2014 from 2010’s scant 3.7 million units, according to IDC. Can Google and Citrix get in on the action […]
Compellent: A green storage acquisition target?
Is another round of M&A drama about to ensue, courtesy of Compellent? First, there was the epic bidding war over DataDomain during the summer of 2009. EMC claimed victory over NetApp in that episode. Then earlier this year, HP was victorious in snatching 3PAR from Dell’s waiting hands. Now, Compellent’s latest, record-setting revenue disclosure and […]
3PAR bidding war update: HP offers $2.1 billion
How high will they go? HP one-upped Dell with a roughly $2.1 billion bid to snag storage virtualization and thin provisioning firm 3PAR. At stake is nothing less than cloud domination! Actually, no, but close. IT vendors are scrambling to build their cloud portfolios, which rests on offering technologies and platforms that can scale to […]
3PAR: Hints of a green storage bidding war
Last year, EMC and NetApp battled it out for DataDomain, whose claim to fame was a strong data deduplication portfolio. Data deduplication, as its name suggests, helps data center operators keep their energy and storage hardware costs in check by eliminating identical sets of data that would otherwise take up room on oftentimes pricey storage […]
Dell cuts 18.2M pounds of packaging
Since 2008, Dell has been able to reduce product packaging by 18.2 million pounds. For comparison’s sake, that’s the equivalent of “226 fully-loaded 18-wheelers or almost 4,184 small pick-ups,” according to a company statement. The statistic comes from the company’s latest corporate sustainability report. Dell attributes its success to a “three C’s” strategy, which stands […]
Fusio-io expands product line, signs Dell as OEM
Fusion-io has added new hardware to its PCI Express based storage card lineup, giving servers a lot more high-performance solid-state storage to make short work of all those transactions. The company’s new ioMemory Module doubles the storage capacity of their existing PCIe card lineup, up to 1.28TB and boosting sustained IOPS to 285,000. Not too […]