| StorageTek
Stockholders Approve Acquisition by Sun |
LOUISVILLE,
Colo.- August 30, 2005 - StorageTek stockholders today voted to approve
the acquisition agreement between StorageTek and Sun Microsystems.
Under the terms of the agreement, StorageTek will become a wholly owned
subsidiary of Sun Microsystems upon the closing of the proposed transaction.
StorageTek announced that preliminary results showed that 99.2% of the shares
voted approved the Sun acquisition of StorageTek. StorageTek and Sun
Microsystems expect to complete the acquisition at 4:01 p.m. EDT on Wednesday,
Aug. 31, 2005, at which time trading in StorageTek common stock will be
suspended.
...Sun profile,
...StorageTek profile,
Acquired companies,
SPARC history
HP Outshines Sun in Linux and midrange Unix Server Sales
PALO ALTO, Calif. - August 26,
2005 - HP demonstrated strong server revenue growth and was the #1
vendor in worldwide server shipments for the 13th consecutive quarter, according
to second quarter 2005 figures released today by IDC.
In total server revenue, HP grew twice as fast as the market and took
market share from IBM and Sun. HP was #1 in total worldwide revenue for the
three major operating environments of Windows, Linux and UNIX combined, which
comprise more than 95% of all servers shipped worldwide.
Additionally,
HP had strong year-over-year revenue growth compared to the market for x86
servers (17.6%), x86 blade servers (120.6%) and Intel Itanium 2 based servers
(85.6%).
- HP was #1 in total Linux revenue and held the top spot in x86
Linux server revenue.
- In Windows x86 servers, HP maintained its #1 position in units and revenue
and outpaced the market year-over-year in revenue.
- HP was #1 in total worldwide revenue and maintained its #1 server unit
position for UNIX mid-range servers between $25,000 and $500,000 - the
largest segment of the UNIX marketplace.
- In x86-64 servers, HP holds nearly double the unit and revenue
share of the next largest vendor of Opteron-based servers.
...HP profile,
...Sun profile,
...IDC profile,
Market research,
Sun, SPARC, Solaris
news
Editor's comments:- This report suggests that HP is thrashing
Sun Microsystems soundly in what used to be Sun's core market - Unix servers.
But when Sun issues its own version of this market report it will say something
positive and upbeat but hedged around with a narrow qualifying statement - such
as - "Sun outgrew IBM and HP in the mid range Solaris market". Sun has
always managed to come up with an upbeat assessment - even in the darkest days
when its server revenue halved. But Sun is transitioning to be a
top 10 storage company
so its battle in servers may be lost to HP but there's a new war brewing for the
(bigger) storage market.
...Later:- as anticapted Sun
later
reported much more favorable numbers from rival market research company
Gartner - which showed
Sun in a better light. Buying opinions from market analysts is no different to
buying other fashion goods - "you pays yer money and you takes yer choice."
AMD Challenges Intel To A Dual-Core Duel
SUNNYVALE,
CA - August 23, 2005 - AMD today issued a challenge to Intel to
conduct a head-to-head competition of dual-core x86 server processors.
AMD's proposed dual-core duel in 2005 would be a live, public
performance evaluation between server platforms based on the highest-performing
Dual-Core AMD Opteron 800 Series or 200 Series processors and the corresponding
Intel x86 server processors that are commercially available in volume.
The challenge, issued today in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today,
San Jose Mercury News and The San Francisco Chronicle, features the world's
first x86 dual-core server microprocessor, the Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor,
in a boxing ring waiting for the Intel challenger. AMD has challenged Intel to
settle the question once and for all - whose x86-based dual-core architecture
best meets server customer's needs.
"Since we launched Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors in April
2005, we've won every major industry-standard benchmark for x86 servers. AMD64
dual-core technology provides industry-leading performance, is easy to upgrade
and is energy efficient," said Marty Seyer, corporate vice president and
general manager, Microprocessor Solutions Sector, AMD. "We are giving our
competitor a fair and open opportunity to challenge our clear market leadership
in a public setting. A head-to-head match using industry-standard benchmarks
will arm customers with the information necessary to determine which company can
best meet their computing needs. The gauntlet has been thrown down, it is time
to cut through the hype, and demonstrate who the industry's leader in x86
dual-core processing is today."
Should Intel accept AMD's challenge, the duel would take place at a
public venue to be announced in the coming weeks, with testing conducted by a
neutral, third-party testing lab. Testing would be done using industry-standard
server benchmarks most relevant to customers today such as SPECjbb and SPECweb
Measurement on energy consumption would also be conducted.
...AMD profile,
...Intel profile
Editor's
comments:- this is a clever marketing strategy whose real purpose is to
influence end users who are responsible for buying servers. By making them ask
the question - is AMD faster? - AMD is hoping to undermine billions of dollars
spent on Intel branding programs. AMD gains whether or not Intel chooses to
accept the challenge. Merely asking the question is enough to sow the seeds of
doubt.
Why isn't AMD issuing the same challenge to Sun - regarding its
SPARC chips? Sun is an important customer - whom AMD would not wish to offend.
And there's not a great queue of OEMs lining up to design in SPARC ships intsead
of Opterons.
UK Sun VAR PCS Dons Red Hat
London
- August 23, 2005 - Red Hat, Inc. today announced the appointment of
Productivity Computer Services Ltd as its newest Advanced Partner in
Europe.
By awarding the accreditation to PCS, the UK reseller will
be able to offer high performing Linux based solutions to its customers more
easily, helping them to take full advantage of the cost benefits associated with
streamlined operating systems.
PCS offers grid computing solutions encompassing Oracle 10g and Red
Hat Enterprise Linux on the Sun AMD hardware platform. With a proven open source
solution and an extensive pool of locally based certified Red Hat engineers, PCS
is now one of the leading providers of Red Hat solutions from concept and design
through to implementation and support. By implementing open source
infrastructure solutions, the new Red Hat partner is able to bring high
availability and shared storage technologies to bear as valuable components of
the software application solution stack, bringing further business efficiency to
clients.
"As one of the largest Sun Specialist Resellers in the UK, our
Red Hat certification is a natural extension of our capabilities, complimenting
our existing Enterprise UNIX client base" said Mike Phillipson, Northern
Region Sales Manager for PCS.
...Red Hat
profile, ...PCS
profile, SPARC
ISVs, backup software,
Sun VARs in the UK
SPARC Notebook Maker Tadpole Computer is Acquired
FALLS CHURCH, Va.
- August 16, 2005 - General Dynamics today acquired Tadpole
Computer, Inc., a privately held company based in Cupertino, Calif., that
provides Unix based mobile, secure and battlefield-tested computing platforms
for mission-critical military, government and commercial operations.
The
acquisition will be immediately accretive to General Dynamics. Terms of the
transaction were not disclosed. Tadpole Computer, which has approximately
60 employees, will become part of General Dynamics C4 Systems, a business unit
of General Dynamics.
...Tadpole
Computer profile,
...General
Dynamics profile,
SPARC Notebooks,
military SPARC
systems
Editor's comments:- it became clear to me months ago
that Tadpole was hoping to be acquired by someone. I was going to write an
article about it - but was beaten by events and the demands of my summer
vacation:-)
Tadpole was the first company to make SPARC notebooks in
the early 1990s. But in my view the company made a serious business mistake in
recent years by investing too much resources into making headway in the Intel
Architecture notebook market. A market in which price and marketing count for
much more than technology. Tadpole, under different ownership, had nearly
crashed and burned in the mid 1990s with a similar venture into the PC market
which is a lot tougher to survive in than the SPARC market.
More
recently, superior SPARC notebooks from
Naturetech
were creating severe pressure on profit margins in this segment. Sun resells
products from both these companies - but in the last year Tadpole had virtually
given up promoting its own brand by PR and advertising and was exposed to the
vagaries of demand from its single biggest customer. The acquisition from
General Dynamics will secure Tadpole's product range for government customers,
but my guess is that commercial customers should now turn their attention to
Naturetech and its VARs which supply more diverse markets.
3PAR Delivers Bare-Metal Provisioning for Solaris Servers
Fremont, CA, US - August
15, 2005 - 3PAR announced today Bare-Metal Provisioning for
Solaris-based servers.
Built upon 3PAR Virtual Copy and 3PAR
InServ Storage Servers, 3PAR's Bare-Metal Provisioning empowers users to deploy
Solaris-based servers more rapidly, while managing server farms more simply and
efficiently.
Solaris is a strategic platform of choice for many enterprises with
mission-critical environments, where reduced time to deployment and recovery are
crucial. Yet the processes of adding new or repurposing existing servers,
restoring failed servers and upgrading server software still involve
time-intensive and error-prone steps of first loading and configuring the
operating system, and then installing application software on each server. The
greater the number of servers, the more pronounced the time and effort required.
3PAR's Bare-Metal Provisioning drastically improves the time-to-market
of Solaris server deployments-from bare metal to a functioning server-taking
just a few minutes instead of days or weeks to implement with traditional
approaches. Using 3PAR Virtual Copy, a software utility that makes hundreds of
no-reservation read/write copies within a single 3PAR InServ Storage Server,
customers can centrally store and test read-only "golden images" of
the Solaris operating system and associated applications. Then, as business
demand dictates, users can instantly provision a Solaris host from a read/write
Virtual Copy of the appropriate golden image, simplifying and streamlining the
process. In the event of a server failure, the replacement server simply points
to the failed server's operating system and application image and is immediately
brought online.
...3PARdata profile,
Data Recovery,
article:- Surviving
the Solaris x86 Wars
New e-Learning Course for Sun StorEdge
6130
August
15, 2005 - Engenio Information Technologies, Inc., today announced the
availability of a new e-Learning course, Engenio 2882 with SANtricity 9:
Installation & Configuration, which was designed by the company for the
benefit of its worldwide partners.
Sun Microsystems, an Engenio
partner, is making a customised version of the e-Learning class available to its
employees and customers. The course is designed to teach partners and end-user
customers the proper procedures and techniques for installing, configuring and
maintaining an Engenio 2882 array, which Sun resells as the Sun StorEdge 6130
system. Students who take the course will learn through interactive
simulations and are taught how to set up a new storage array, starting with the
pre-planning process and concluding with suggestions for post-installation
maintenance. Course topics include: an overview of storage terminology,
installing the hardware and configuring the system software.
...Engenio profile,
Storage Training
Cambex Becomes Sun iForce Partner
WESTBOROUGH, Mass - August 10,
2005 - Cambex Corp today announced that it has joined Sun
Microsystems iForce Partner Program.
As part of their iForce
partnership, Cambex and Sun will deliver mainframe rehosting solutions and
services on SPARC based Sun Fire servers to enterprise customers.
Migrating mainframe applications to Sun open systems servers has
reduced annual hardware and software costs by as much as 75%. Typical return on
investment is less than 24 months while customers benefit from greater
flexibility, scalability and often performance.
Cambex and Sun possess the experience, software tools and expertise to
migrate business-critical applications from mainframes onto the Sun Fire server
line. With rehosting, the front-end of the applications are unchanged allowing
customers to use their software without requiring any additional training.
"Cambex has over 35 years of experience working with enterprise
mainframe customers" said Joseph F. Kruy, Chairman and CEO of Cambex. "We
are confident that by working with an industry leader like Sun, we can
significantly reduce the total cost of ownership of running a customer's
business-critical applications by migrating these applications from IBM
mainframes to highly-reliable Sun servers."
...Cambex profile,
RAM
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StorageTek
Stockholders Approve Acquisition by Sun
HP Outshines Sun in Server
Revenue Growth
AMD Challenges Intel To A Dual-Core Duel
UK Sun VAR Gets Red Hat Accreditation
SPARC Notebook Maker Tadpole is Acquired
3PAR Delivers
Bare-Metal Provisioning for Solaris
New e-Learning Course for Sun
StorEdge 6130
Cambex Becomes Sun iForce Partner
earlier news -
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3rd Party
RAM, Your Rights on Server Warranties - article by Keystone Memory
Users
know that
memory and
hard disk drives aren't
made by most of the companies from whom they buy their servers, notebooks and
desktops. But they are often intimidated from competitively buying 3rd party
upgrades by sales tactics aimed at locking them in to a single source. Such
tactics often hint that maintenance contracts and warranties will be void or
negatively impacted by the presence of 3rd party upgrade products.
That
kind of anti competitive pressure is illegal in many countries.
This
article provides an overview of the legal protection that users may have
under a US law called Magnuson and Moss. ...read the article,
...Keystone Memory
profile, US Storage
VARs | |
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Privacy
and Security Regulations - How Do they Impact Storage Systems? - article by
ASNP
What are the legal regulations covering the type of
storage system, backup and disaster recovery and encryption mandated for
companies operating in the US?
This article answers those questions
and is a sound starting point for anyone having the duty of care and
responsibility for their corporate data. Because regulations change so quickly
it's worth considering the impact of these best practises on your own
organisation even if you think you are currently outside the scope of these
laws. That will reduce the level of panic when they creep up on you. ...read the article,,
...ASNP profile,
Backup software,
Disk to disk backup,
Optical Storage Libraries,
Tape libraries,
Web based storage | |
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Serial Attached SCSI - Delivering Flexibility to the
Data Center - article by LSI Logic and Maxtor
"SAS gains a
performance advantage through its support of multiple initiators, or the ability
to support I/O requests from more than one controller at a time. With dual ports
and multiple initiator support, SAS RAID arrays can implement dynamic load
balancing, allowing I/O requests to be evenly spread across multiple
controllers, leveraging the full processing power of all of them. Without this
capability, the I/O requests can become skewed, and overload one controller,
while the others may not be at full capacity. SATA technology does not
support this capability."
...read the article,
...LSI Logic profile,
...Maxtor profile,
Serial Attached SCSI | |
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War of the
Disks: Hard Disk Drives vs. Flash Solid State Disks - Despatches from the
Magneto / Flash Wars - article by BiTMICRO
BiTMICRO is the
#1 best recognised brand of SSDs (source
STORAGEsearch.com SSD
Survey) and they have published a lot of
articles to help
customers understand the benefits of their products. When I first saw the
submission for this article I was pleased to see that it quoted extracts from
and linked to several other articles that I myself had written or edited - so
that gave me a warm glow.
After years of analyzing this market SSD
vendors and analysts are starting to see some clear patterns emerging. Although
opinions still differ on some subjects, and vendors are prone to pitch their own
solutions as best, this article is a useful synthesis of current industry
thinking by one of the leading flash SSD module manufacturers. ...read the article,
...BiTMICRO Networks
profile, Solid State Disks,
Hard disk drives | |
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