Data Center Management Articles
The future of business intelligence is coming. The comment is rhetorical, but in many ways it is true. For the last few years the conversation has surrounded Web 2.0 or even BI 2.0. The concept has brought changes to the way that we look at information and the methods that we use to exchange information. BI 2.0 has brought us a plethora of new functionality that provides proactive support to organizations and a more interactive manner of sharing information. So where is this going, and how will today's technology support our needs as 2010 arrives, and with it a new decade?
Posted March 04, 2010
Primary keys come from candidate keys. Each candidate key consists of the attribute or attributes used to label a distinct row in a table. Every candidate key should contain the fewest number of attributes possible to identify rows individually and uniquely. Every entity within a design requires at least one candidate key.
Posted March 04, 2010
Open source applications were somewhat niche at the beginning of the decade but now are clearly mainstream. Credible open source alternatives now exist for almost every category of application, as well as every component of the application.
Posted March 04, 2010
After the misery that was 2009, most of the SQL Server users I talk to are happy that 2010 started in languid fashion. Not that there isn't a lot of work to do; on the contrary, there's more work than ever. However, the long hours and multiple projects of 2009, compounded by freezes in all levels of spending, raised the general stress level to unhealthy heights. With the new year, stress levels dropped significantly, and many IT leaders see signs of improving prospects. What does that bode for 2010? I have a couple of predictions, though I doubt they'll surprise many people.
Posted March 04, 2010
An overwhelming challenge - expanding volumes of data - threatens to gum up any productivity improvements seen to date as a result of information technology deployments. All that data is coming in from systems, sensors, and storage area networks, pressuring organizations to expand database inventories, while grappling with associated licensing and hardware costs. Plus, many compliance mandates demand that this data be stored for long periods of time, but remain accessible to auditors and business end users.
Posted March 04, 2010
For many organizations, application information lifecycle management, or ILM, now offers expedient - and badly needed - measures for properly defining, managing, and storing data. Many enterprises are being stymied by a massive proliferation of data in their databases and applications. Growing volumes of transaction data are being digitally captured and stored, along with unstructured forms of data files such as email, video, and graphics. Adding to this tsunami are multiple copies of all this data being stored throughout organizations. At the same time, increasingly tight mandates and regulations put the onus on organizations to maintain this data and keep it available for years to come. Much of this data still resides on legacy systems, which are costly to operate and maintain.
Posted March 04, 2010
Faced with growing data volumes and limited budgets, companies, educational institutions, and government agencies are increasingly relying on IT to help them gain a competitive edge and better serve their customers and constituents. DBTA recently asked key MultiValue vendors to explain their strategies for enabling data integration from different repositories and for supporting business intelligence and analytics that provide meaningful insight for customers.
Posted March 04, 2010
Virtual Bridges, developer of the VERDE suite for desktop virtualization, and ZSL, an ISV and global software solutions and services provider, have formed a worldwide reseller agreement, through which the Virtual Bridges VERDE suite will be an integral component of ZSL's PowerCube DaaS (Desktop as a Service) packaged service offering.
Posted March 03, 2010
IBM has announced an enhanced strategy to help clients maximize benefits of virtualization with integrated service management by focusing on four key priorities: consolidation, management, automation and optimized delivery.
Posted March 03, 2010
The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, announced it will host the MeeGo project, which represents a merging of Intel's Moblin and Nokia's Maemo projects into one Linux-based platform. MeeGo is expected to be deployed across many computing device types—including pocketable mobile computers, netbooks, tablets, mediaphones, connected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems.
Posted March 03, 2010
The Fedora Project, a Red Hat-sponsored and community-supported open source collaboration, has changed its development process in order to provide continuity for cutting-edge developers, as well as improve stability of releases for users.
Posted March 03, 2010
IBM has announced an enhanced strategy to help clients maximize benefits of virtualization with integrated service management by focusing on four key priorities: consolidation, management, automation and optimized delivery.
Posted March 03, 2010
The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, announced it will host the MeeGo project, which represents a merging of Intel's Moblin and Nokia's Maemo projects into one Linux-based platform. MeeGo is expected to be deployed across many computing device types—including pocketable mobile computers, netbooks, tablets, mediaphones, connected TVs and in-vehicle infotainment systems.
Posted March 03, 2010
IBM is working with the British Library on a project that will preserve and analyze terabytes of information on the web, speeding up the archival process and preventing information from being lost forever. The new analytics software project, called IBM BigSheets, helps extract, annotate and visually analyze vast amounts of web information using a web browser.
Posted March 03, 2010
The Fedora Project, a Red Hat-sponsored and community-supported open source collaboration, has changed its development process in order to provide continuity for cutting-edge developers, as well as improve stability of releases for users.
Posted March 03, 2010
Oracle has announced Oracle SOA Governance 11g, which consists of Oracle Enterprise Repository, Oracle Service Registry, SOA Management with Oracle Enterprise Manager, and Oracle Web Services Manager. "With the launch of Oracle SOA Governance 11g, Oracle becomes the only vendor to offer a unified management approach for both best-of-breed SOA and packaged applications within a single platform. This unified governance umbrella not only helps organizations to deliver new business capabilities more efficiency, but also helps ensure that they are closely aligned with key business objectives," states Amlan Debnath, senior vice president, Oracle Product Development.
Posted March 03, 2010
Zmanda, a provider of open source and cloud-based backup solutions, has announced a product that enables Tivoli administrators to incorporate backups of MySQL databases as part of an enterprise-wide backup and disaster recovery strategy. The solution, Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) Option for Zmanda Recovery Manager (ZRM) for MySQL, enables MySQL users to manage their data protection policies through Tivoli.
Posted March 03, 2010
Confio Software today announced availability of Ignite 8, a major expansion of its database performance solution. Ignite 8 expands the Ignite for SQL Server, Oracle, DB2 and Sybase products to include comprehensive performance monitoring in combination with the response-time analysis for which Ignite has been known.
Posted March 02, 2010
Symantec Corp. announced today that it has prepared a data management toolset that it will be eventually be shipping as part of all its product lines over the coming year. The toolset, called Data Insight, leverages Symantec's core competencies of security and storage to enables improved governance, infer data ownership based on usage, and track data utilization.
Posted March 02, 2010
SHARE in Seattle, March 14-18, 2010 in Seattle, Washington is just a couple weeks away! Visit SHARE's registration page before it closes Friday, March 5, to complete your registration.
Posted March 01, 2010
To make it easier for application developers and data management professionals to access the software tools they need, while also reducing the cost and time associated with managing software tool licenses, Embarcadero has announced Embarcadero ToolCloud. "The ToolCloud is about a new way of letting IT departments make Embarcadero tools available to their end users," Philip Rathle, senior director of product management, Embarcadero, tells 5 Minute Briefing.
Posted February 25, 2010
BlueFinity International, part of the Mpower1 group of companies, has announced that support for Microsoft Silverlight within mv.NET Solution Objects will be available with the formal release of Visual Studio 2010, which has been scheduled by Microsoft for April 2010.
Posted February 24, 2010
Sentrigo, Inc., a provider of database security software, has announced Repscan version 3.0, a major new release of its database vulnerability assessment and security scanning software.
Posted February 23, 2010
Sybase has announced that its Sybase IQ column-based analytics server, in collaboration with solutions from HP and Red Hat, achieved the top data warehousing benchmark result among currently published non-clustered Linux and x86 systems in the TPC-H benchmark at the 1 TB scale factor.
Posted February 23, 2010
Zmanda, a provider of open source and cloud-based backup solutions, today announced a product that enables Tivoli administrators to incorporate backups of MySQL databases as part of an enterprise-wide backup and disaster recovery strategy. The solution, Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) Option for Zmanda Recovery Manager (ZRM) for MySQL, enables MySQL users to manage their data protection policies through Tivoli.
Posted February 22, 2010
CA says it has extended two of its web access security products to include support for JBoss Enterprise Middleware deployments. CA SiteMinder and CA SOA Security Manager now offer secure access management for Web applications and services deployed on JBoss Enterprise Middleware, including JBoss Enterprise Application Platform, JBoss Enterprise Portal Platform, and JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform.
Posted February 22, 2010
STORServer, a provider of data backup solutions for the mid-market, announced a solution intended to help facilitate faster backup and recovery of Microsoft SharePoint Portal 2003 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 environments. The product, the STORServer Agent for Tivoli Storage Manager Microsoft SharePoint 6.1, is designed to provide the ability to restore portals, top-level sites, subsites and individual document libraries, attachments, lists, folders, areas and sub areas. Users can also schedule full, incremental or differential backup at the site-level, subsite-level, and item-level, and preserves all meta-data versions.
Posted February 22, 2010
IBM announced it has acquired Intelliden Inc., a provider of intelligent network automation software that enables organizations to configure, manage and scale their networks. Intelliden, a privately held company, is based in Menlo Park, Calif. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Posted February 22, 2010
IBM announced new POWER7 systems, designed to manage the most demanding emerging applications, ranging from smart electrical grids to real-time analytics for financial markets. The new systems incorporate technologies for the specialized demands of new applications and services that rely on processing large numbers of concurrent transactions and data while analyzing that information in real time. In addition, the new systems enable clients to manage current applications and services at less cost with technology breakthroughs in virtualization, energy savings, more cost-efficient use of memory, and better price performance.
Posted February 22, 2010
IBM has announced new POWER7 systems designed to manage the most demanding emerging applications, ranging from smart electrical grids to real-time analytics for financial markets. The new systems incorporate technologies for the specialized demands of new applications and services that rely on processing large numbers of concurrent transactions and data while analyzing that information in real time. In addition, the new systems enable clients to manage current applications and services at less cost with technology breakthroughs in virtualization, energy savings, more cost-efficient use of memory, and better price performance.
Posted February 17, 2010
As more organizations consider bringing open source software into the mix, they must hold all acquired software to high standards regarding quality, security, performance, and value for money spent in acquisition, support, and maintenance. Additionally, open source software adds questions about inclusiveness, governance, and longevity of communities.
Posted February 17, 2010
The Linux Foundation, a non-profit consortium working with the community to protect, promote and standardize Linux, has announced that the Call for Papers deadline for LinuxCon 2010 will be March 31. LinuxCon will take place August 10-12 in Boston, Mass., and registration for the event is now open.
Posted February 17, 2010
IBM has announced new POWER7 systems designed to manage the most demanding emerging applications, ranging from smart electrical grids to real-time analytics for financial markets. The new systems incorporate technologies for the specialized demands of new applications and services that rely on processing large numbers of concurrent transactions and data while analyzing that information in real time. In addition, the new systems enable clients to manage current applications and services at less cost with technology breakthroughs in virtualization, energy savings, more cost-efficient use of memory, and better price performance.
Posted February 17, 2010
As more organizations consider bringing open source software into the mix, they must hold all acquired software to high standards regarding quality, security, performance, and value for money spent in acquisition, support, and maintenance. Additionally, open source software adds questions about inclusiveness, governance, and longevity of communities.
Posted February 17, 2010
The Linux Foundation, a non-profit consortium working with the community to protect, promote and standardize Linux, has announced that the Call for Papers deadline for LinuxCon 2010 will be March 31. LinuxCon will take place August 10-12 in Boston, Mass., and registration for the event is now open.
Posted February 17, 2010
Oracle has agreed to acquire AmberPoint, a leader in SOA management. AmberPoint's solutions help organizations diagnose and resolve issues in application performance and business transactions, such as insurance claims processing or account provisioning where multiple applications need to work together.
Posted February 17, 2010
Calpont Corp, a provider of analytic database solutions, announced it is shipping a data warehouse solution based on open source technology. The product will be available as a commercially supported solution, as well as community download. InfiniDB Enterprise 1.0 and Community Editions are MySQL-based data warehouse databases targeted at users requiring cost-effective analytic database for BI and reporting applications. "The market for our product is going to be data warehousing for the masses, if you will," John Weber, vice president of marketing for Calpont, tells 5 Minute Briefing. "If you're after a solid data warehouse alternative at a significantly reduced price, then you should consider us."
Posted February 17, 2010
CommVault is shipping an integrated cloud storage connector for its Simpana software platform designed to enable customers to move on-premises backup and archive data into, and out of, private and public cloud storage without complex scripting or the addition of disparate cloud gateway appliances. With the addition of this new connector, the Simpana software can treat cloud storage providers as simply another target storage destination, along with onsite disk, VTL, and optical devices.
Posted February 17, 2010
Unisys last week announced improved earnings and cash flow for the fourth quarter and full year of 2009. "We came into 2009 with a clear plan and goal to turn around the business, achieve profitability and generate free cash flow," Ed Coleman, Unisys Chairman and CEO, said during the fourth quarter and full-year 2009 earnings call. "The economic environment over the past year made it more critical that we move quickly and with urgency to execute on our business priorities, reduce costs and strengthen our balance sheet. As you can see in our results, our people rose to the challenge. Despite lower revenue in 2009, as we narrowed our focus and worked through the downturn, we reported three consecutive quarters of significantly improved profitability and cash flow."
Posted February 10, 2010
The U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO) has awarded Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) a contract to provide IT managed services for DISA's Unisys ClearPath mainframe environment.
Posted February 10, 2010
Unisys announced last week that it will team with longtime partner Intel to bring enterprise IT organizations and end users flexible new services-based support solutions that expand the benefits they can realize from the new 2010 Intel Core vPro Processor Family. Unisys is a key participant in Intel's virtual launch of the new generation of the Intel vPro processor technology, which simplifies remote monitoring and management of PCs and mobile computing devices.
Posted February 10, 2010
Unisys Corporation has sold its check and cash automation equipment and related U.S. maintenance, printer and direct supply business to a new company formed by Marlin Equity Partners, a California-based private investment firm.
Posted February 10, 2010
The UNITE 2010 "Call for Papers" continues. Visit the UNITE site to enter an abstract for the conference, which will be held May 23-26 at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel in Baltimore, Md. Once you enter an abstract it will be automatically submitted for consideration. Prior to submitting an extract, presenters are encouraged to view the 2010 Wish List, guidelines and lab information. Final submissions are due March 1, 2010.
Posted February 10, 2010
Cloud computing emerged as a key technology trend in 2009. While concerns about economic payback and data protection may be holding organizations back, Unisys predicts that in 2010 previously reluctant users will clearly see the potential the cloud represents and start making the move to take advantage of it. 5 Minute Briefing recently chatted with Brian Ott, vice president of Unisys' worldwide cloud program, about what the company sees ahead this year in terms of the enterprise embrace of cloud computing and the cloud trends Unisys expects to dominate 2010.
Posted February 10, 2010
Managing and measuring costs has taken on a new urgency with the emergence of virtualization and new computing models. With virtualization, customers get a shared infrastructure that shifts the cost from a clear 1:1 relationship between servers, applications and users to a more dynamic model. We're just beginning to realize the tremendous impact this has on cost management and measurement in the data center. To make effective decisions about how to deploy resources, the business needs to clearly understand the associated costs.
Posted February 09, 2010
One fall semester many years ago, I was a university freshman. Actually, I was anything but "fresh." I was dumb enough to think that 8 a.m. was a wonderful time to attend Economics 101. After staying up until the wee hours most every night, the "dismal science" took on more than one meaning as I set my clock just early enough to get to class on time. Along with 30 other very naïve classmates, I staggered into class and did my bleary-eyed best to focus on the lessons at hand. There were lots of Greek compound words and lots of graphs. I learned, for example, that the word economics derives from the Greek "oikonomikos," which means, approximately, "death by slidedecks" and, specifically, "house" (oikos) and "management" (mikos). I barely survived the experience and never took an 8 a.m. class again. Imagine my surprise, then, when a lesson I'd learned (and promptly forgotten) all those years ago jumped back into my consciousness late last year.
Posted February 09, 2010
Sybase, Inc., has announced that it has finalized an asset purchase agreement with Aleri Inc., a provider of enterprise-class complex event processing (CEP) technology and CEP-based solutions. CEP is an integral part of real-time analytics and with this acquisition, Sybase strengthens its overall analytics platform and leadership position to better meet the needs of enterprises requiring real-time analytics processing. The acquisition is intended to not only improve Sybase's financial services stack but also bring the company into new markets.
Posted February 09, 2010
Continuity Software, a provider of disaster recovery and high availability management software, announced the general availability of RecoverGuard version 5.0, intended to deliver an end-to-end solution for validating and assuring both recovery point objectives, and recovery time objectives. Version 5.0 includes added functionality and enhancements in the areas of service level agreement management, cluster support, graphical user interface, risk detection, configuration management database systems integration, Microsoft Active Directory support and reporting capabilities.
Posted February 08, 2010
UC4 Software, a provider of IT automation solutions, announced a new agent designed to initiate and manage web service-enabled jobs as part of background processing, and enable customers to extend the benefits of automation into SOA and cloud environments.
Posted February 08, 2010
IBM has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Initiate Systems, a provider of data integrity software for information sharing among healthcare and government organizations. The announcement of the acquisition "marks a significant expansion of IBM's ability to help clients integrate information from hundreds of sources," Arvind Krishna, general manager of IBM's Information Management Software division, said during a teleconference detailing the acquisition.
Posted February 08, 2010