Computerworld Dell News

US falls behind in social-media race, expert says

(Grant Gross) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:46:00 GMT

The U.S. government is losing a race in cyberspace -- a social-networking race for the hearts and minds of Internet users, a computer security expert said Wednesday.

Alienware X51: The little PC that could

(Nate Ralph) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:08:00 GMT

Among built-to-order gaming PCs, Alienware is about as close as one gets to a household name, and the brand is largely synonymous with huge black boxes covered in garish blinking lights. The new Alienware X51 is a marked departure from that routine, cutting both costs and girth to deliver a machine that's palatable to the masses but doesn't lose any of that gamer cred.

Systems management, cloud services likely in Dell's software acquisition plans

(Chris Kanaracus) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:08:00 GMT

Dell's formation of a new software group, which was announced Thursday, could be the forerunner to a string of acquisitions by the vendor, with some observers predicting a focus on systems management and cloud services provisioning.

Dell forms software group, names former CA CEO as head

(Agam Shah) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:46:00 GMT

Dell on Thursday said it is forming a Software Group, which will bring together disparate products under one roof as the company tries to sharpen its end-to-end enterprise offerings.

Galaxy Note and S Pen: Can a tweener smartphone-tablet succeed?

mhamblen@computerworld.com (Matt Hamblen) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:42:00 GMT

The 5.3-in. Samsung Galaxy Note is called a smartphone, but its touchscreen and integrated S Pen stylus for drawing and taking notes elevates it into a somewhat harder to define category.

2012: The year storage becomes a celebrity

lmearian@computerworld.com (Lucas Mearian) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:54:00 GMT

This promises to be a break-out year for storage technology with the use of more NAND flash in devices and smarter storage that can be tailored to applications.

iPad sales beat HP, Lenovo, Dell PC numbers

gkeizer@computerworld.com (Gregg Keizer) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:58:00 GMT

Apple sold more iPad tablets last quarter than any single PC maker sold personal computers.

NetApp's Tom Georgens: How we got big, stayed nimble, and view storage today

(John Gallant) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:33:00 GMT

In an exclusive interview, NetApp CEO Tom Georgens talks about virtualization, the private cloud, and how his company defines big data

Apple drubs all rivals in U.S. system shipment gains

gkeizer@computerworld.com (Gregg Keizer) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:10:00 GMT

Apple was the only top-five computer maker to post shipment gains in the U.S. during the final quarter of 2011, a pair of research firms said this week.

Dell launches dedupe appliance, VMware integration

lmearian@computerworld.com (Lucas Mearian) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:14:00 GMT

Dell today announced its first deduplication appliance, along with an upgrade to its Compellent Storage Center management software that includes tighter integration with VMware.

Dell announces XPS 13, its first ultrabook

(Agam Shah) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:30:00 GMT

Dell on Tuesday announced its first ultrabook, the XPS 13, making some noise amid a smaller presence at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas compared to previous years.

Dell: PCs not under threat from tablets or smartphones

(John Ribeiro) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:22:00 GMT

The PC is not likely to be challenged by the tablet or the smartphone, and many users of the Internet on these devices will turn to the PC for a better experience, Michael Dell said in Bangalore on Monday.

Intel bets big on ultrabooks

sgaudin@computerworld.com (Sharon Gaudin) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:51:00 GMT

Intel will get a strong indication at next week's Consumer Electronics Show whether its decision to bet heavily on ultrabooks is a good one -- or not.

Ultrabooks, expected to be hot at CES, could be boon for enterprise IT

sgaudin@computerworld.com (Sharon Gaudin) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:21:00 GMT

With ultrabooks poised to be the hottest devices to come out of this year's Consumer Electronics Show, analysts say the new hardware should be a boon for enterprise IT shops.

2012 tech predictions: From IDG's editors worldwide

(David Bromley) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:41:00 GMT

Consumerization of IT is the consensus choice of the new year's major technology force, one that will manifest itself in several forms

10 IT news stories to expect in 2012

(Nancy Weil) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:33:00 GMT

Well, we erred in our 2011 predictions in not repeating a 2010 forecast that Carol Bartz would be ousted as Yahoo CEO -- it was bound to happen, we just called that one too early. Then again, we also predicted last year that Oracle would buy Salesforce.com and have decided not to repeat ourselves this year, so we'll see if we were just ahead on that one, too. Meanwhile, these are our predictions for the next 12 months:

2011: When cloud computing shook the data center

(Eric Knorr) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:09:00 GMT

In a year of surging private cloud activity and major build-outs in public cloud capacity, the cloud's promised simplification remains elusive

Ubuntu 11.10 'Oneiric Ocelot' to power new PC line

(Katherine Noyes) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:10:00 GMT

The vast majority of Linux users may get the operating system by downloading and installing it themselves, but there's no denying that there are distinct advantages to buying hardware with Linux preloaded instead.

12 IT Outsourcing Predictions for 2012

(Stephanie Overby) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:07:00 GMT

In 2011, the IT outsourcing industry was marked by smaller deals, leery customers, profit-squeezed IT service providers and a lot of cloud computing talk. Much of that could continue next year, but as our 12 predictions for 2012 indicate, you can expect some new IT outsourcing developments--maybe even a few firsts.

Data center, cloud fabrics all the rage in 2012

(Jim Duffy) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:37:00 GMT

There was a considerable amount of activity in the data center/cloud switching fabric arena in 2011. That is expected to continue in 2012, along with real world implementations of the next-generation IT technologies.

Dell and China's Baidu launch new smartphone

(Michael Kan) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:13:00 GMT

Cisco impresses with UCS

(Joel Snyder) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 06:27:00 GMT

If you're tempted to think of Cisco's Unified Computing System (UCS) as just another blade server — don't. In fact, if you just want a bunch of blades for your computer room, don't call Cisco — Dell, HP, and IBM all offer simpler and more cost-effective options.

Dell pulls back from netbook market

(Joab Jackson) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:11:00 GMT

Dell has confirmed that it has ceased production of its Inspiron Mini netbook computer, in effect ending its pursuit of the receding netbook market, at least for consumer sales.

Online retailers turn to social networks for holiday profits

sgaudin@computerworld.com (Sharon Gaudin) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:34:00 GMT

Retailers are going out of their way this year to integrate holiday season sales efforts with social networking sites to boost bottom line profits. Insider (registration required)

Hitachi-LG Data Storage execs plead guilty to price fixing

(Grant Gross) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:46:00 GMT

Three executives at Hitachi-LG Data Storage (HLDS) have agreed to plead guilty and serve prison time in the U.S. for their participation in a series of conspiracies to rig bids and fix the prices of optical disk drives sold to large computer makers, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

VDI shoot-out: Citrix XenDesktop 5.5

(Keith Schultz) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:41:00 GMT

Citrix XenDesktop shines with unmatched flexibility and all the desktop virtualization bells and whistles. Insider (registration required)

Impact of hard drive shortage to linger through 2013

lmearian@computerworld.com (Lucas Mearian) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:00:00 GMT

Flooding in Thailand will affect hard disk drive supplies into 2013, but the most significant impact is being felt now and will continue well into 2012 by companies such as PC maker Lenovo, which is telling its customers there are no more 7200-rpm replacement drives.

Image gallery: 'Cool stuff' 2011 holiday tech gift guide

(Computerworld staff) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:00:00 GMT

From tablets and smartphones to HDTVs and a few surprises, we've rounded up the best tech gear to give and get this year.

Cool stuff: Your 2011 holiday tech gift guide

(Computerworld staff) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 11:00:00 GMT

From tablets and smartphones to laptops, HDTVs and a few surprises, we've rounded up the best tech gear to give and get this year.

Dell, Salesforce.com deepen partnership around SMB cloud app delivery

(Chris Kanaracus) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:26:00 GMT

Dell is rounding out its cloud CRM (customer relationship management) service with the addition of Salesforce.com's Service Cloud customer-service software, the companies announced Wednesday.

Dell Streak is dead: Lessons for other tablets

(Tony Bradley) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:59:00 GMT

Dell has announced that the "Streak 7 is no longer available." The death of Dell's Android tablet line doesn't come as much of a surprise, but it points to some lessons that other tablets might learn from to be stronger competitors.

Lenovo surges, challenging HP in PC market

sgaudin@computerworld.com (Sharon Gaudin) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:09:00 GMT

With Lenovo surging in the PC maker market, Hewlett-Packard (HP) is facing a serious challenge to its long-standing first-place position.

RISC, Itanium lose out to x86 in Q3 server market, Gartner says

(Agam Shah) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:53:00 GMT

The worldwide server market grew by unit shipments and revenue in the third quarter this year, but the downward spiral of RISC and Itanium servers continued on the gains of x86 servers, Gartner said on Monday.

Dell PowerEdge servers get AMD's new 16-core chips

(Agam Shah) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:24:00 GMT

Dell on Tuesday said it has upgraded its PowerEdge servers with the just-released 16-core Opteron processors from Advanced Micro Devices.

Small PC makers hiking PC prices on hard-drive shortage

(Agam Shah) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:25:00 GMT

The early brunt of a hard-drive shortage resulting from widespread flooding in Thailand is falling on small PC makers, who are raising computer prices to stem losses.

Skip data tiering, go directly to all-SSD storage, Forrester says

lmearian@computerworld.com (Lucas Mearian) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:18:00 GMT

A new class of all-SSD arrays that use compression and deduplication are challenging tiered storage infrastructures with better performance at about the same cost, according to Forrester Research.

Ultrabooks still trying to find their niche

(Agam Shah) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:46:00 GMT

Despite backing from the top PC makers, high prices and a disorganized software and hardware ecosystem could slow adoption of ultrabooks over the next few years, analysts said this week.

Dell revenue drops slightly in Q3, but earnings rise

(Agam Shah) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:41:00 GMT

Dell on Tuesday reported a small dip in revenue for the third quarter, owing to weaker consumer demand for PCs, but recorded an increase in earnings.

Server makers adopt AMD's new 16-core chips

(Agam Shah) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:52:00 GMT

Server vendors on Monday came out in support of Advanced Micro Devices' latest Opteron 6200 server chips, which advance chip technology to new highs with 16 processor cores.

First look: Dell Opteron server cranks up the cores with AMD 'Interlagos'

(Paul Venezia) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:02:00 GMT

New 16-core AMD Opteron 6200-series CPUs in the Dell R715 bring huge bang for the buck to wide virtualization workloads, but not until your OS supports it

HP, Dell pass Nokia in new Greenpeace green IT guide

(Peter Sayer) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 08:03:00 GMT

While some consumer electronics manufacturers have cleaned up their act, making more energy-efficient gadgets with fewer toxic materials, others are continuing to make fine promises but no changes, according to Greenpeace. In response, the environmental pressure group is changing the way it scores companies in its Guide to Greener Electronics, placing more emphasis on their actions than their words, and measuring new aspects of their operations.

The Cloud, Day 2: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Cloud

(Tony Bradley) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:31:00 GMT

The first step in spending 30 days relying on cloud-based tools and services is to explore my options and choose the ones I want to use to work and live online. Email and writing are the most crucial functions of my PC for me, so I am going to start by finding suitable online options for email and writing. Actually, I planned to start there, but I ran into a little hiccup--my PC won't cooperate.

Why Today's CIO Must Foster IT Agility

(Robin Johnson) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:31:00 GMT

Dell CIO Robin Johnson explains how a company's lack of agility, the inability of its IT infrastructure to quickly incorporate a new business process that would give it a competitive edge, can be costly. Johnson explains why the price of this lack of agility, what he refers to as the agility tax, is too high to pay.

Cisco vs. HP vs. IBM vs. Dell

(Jim Duffy) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:34:00 GMT

Cisco used to be a networking company, pure and simple. It built its dominance and influence on capturing a dominant market position in routers and switches, both in the enterprise and in service provider networks.

Facebook-led foundation pushes for open data center tech

sgaudin@computerworld.com (Sharon Gaudin) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:21:00 GMT

Facebook and several of its high-tech partners are rethinking how companies can handle big data with low-cost computing centers.

Dell unveils Latitude ST business tablet

(Agam Shah) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 04:11:00 GMT

Dell will sell a new Latitude tablet for businesses with Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system, while it prepares to bring the OS's successor, Windows 8, to tablets.

Dell Boomi cloud service adds business rules engine

(Joab Jackson) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:09:00 GMT

In addition to using Dell's Boomi integration service to move data from one cloud to another, users of the service can now also create simple business rules to reroute data to different locations, the company announced Tuesday.

EMC to put hardware in servers, VMs in storage

lmearian@computerworld.com (Lucas Mearian) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:00:00 GMT

At EMC's recent user forum, president and chief operating officer Pat Gelsinger expounded on EMC's plans to enter the application server hardware market and begin porting VMware virtual machines onto storage arrays. Gelsinger also said EMC didn't want its 10-year partnership with Dell to end.

Nudging IT forward

(John Dix) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:33:00 GMT

There is basic agreement on the nirvana vision for the next-generation data center, but the tricky part is getting there from here.

Michael Dell sees HP confusion as a big opportunity

sgaudin@computerworld.com (Sharon Gaudin) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:36:00 GMT

As Hewlett-Packard waffles on whether it will continue to produce computers, the CEO of rival Dell Inc. said HP's customers are losing confidence and looking to other vendors