Amy Newman

IT pundits have an obsession with dubbing a year with a theme. They especially love being able to sum up what the desktop is about to do. Early this decade, much hoopla was made over The Year of the Linux Desktop. Now, all eyes and, in some cases wallets, are on the virtual desktop. Pano […]

Sun Microsystems last week took the wraps off two UltraSPARC T2 Plus processor based servers in its SPARC Enterprise server line. The systems, like previous generations, were co-developed with Fujitsu and are available for purchase from both vendors. Like the previous generation of T2 products they have an eye on serving Web applications. Unlike their […]

Let’s face it, there’s nothing terribly scintillating about I/O. At best, it’s akin to air: When data is flowing, it’s something no one thinks about. But when data flow slows, all eyes focus on the bottleneck, and I/O congestion is a frequent culprit. At present, I/O is perhaps one of the biggest technological hurdles that […]

If ever these was a time for virtual spring cleaning, this appears to be it. Two weeks ago Citrix and HP announced, an enhanced version of Citrix XenServer will ship with 10 64-bit HP ProLiant servers. These servers, along with XenServer 4.1, began shipping on Tuesday as planned. Dell followed HP into the spotlight with […]

Likewise Software, the company formerly known as Centeris, updated the open source flavor of its authentication solution to Likewise Open Spring ’08. With this release, known internally as version 4.1, the software can authenticate all Linux, Unix and Mac platforms — virtually any non-Microsoft operating system according to the ISV ׫ with Microsoft Active Directory. […]

The Oscars and Golden Globes may have come and gone, but that doesn’t mean award season is over. Be sure to nominate your favorite virtualization platform and tools (as well as other server room faves) in the third annual ServerWatch Product Excellence Awards. The nominations period kicked off Tuesday and runs through April 15, but […]

Citrix removed any lingering doubts as to its commitment to being a virtualization player on Monday when it unveiled new products and brand repackaging. With this announcement, it is, “upping Xen brand to show its emphasis on virtualization,” Mick Hollison, vice president of product management for the Desktop Delivery Group, told ServerWatch. Citrix XenServer 4.1 […]

Microsoft Exchange may be the most widespread mail server in the world, but it’s far from the only option. On Tuesday, mail server vendors on both sides of the Atlantic announced significant enhancements to their respective offerings. They join CommuniGate Systems, which two weeks ago also revved its offering. Zimbra Collaboration Suite (ZCS) 5.0 is […]

Since IBM unveiled solutions designed to make virtualization attainable to the small fry last week, the virtual pipeline has slowed to a trickle. Perhaps that (or more likely the looming Microsoft-Yahoo deal) has rendered everyone speechless. Or maybe it’s a Super Fat Tuesday Phenomenon — everyone is either voting or at Carnival? Whatever the case, […]

VMware this week added another spoke to its virtual wheel. This time, the wheel landed on deployment management, as VMware Stage Manager — management and automation software designed to streamline and accelerate the process of bringing new applications and services into production — was released to public beta. VMware Stage Manager is currently available as […]