IT Solutions Blog

Just last month, Cisco announced to the world that 10,000 global customers have now deployed Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) in their data centers. Only two years ago, this server platform broke into the industry amongst high competition and despite heavy criticism from the game’s key players and spectators. But against all odds, Cisco UCS started catching on - due in large part to the faith customers bestowed in Cisco along with good old-fashioned word of mouth.

Last year consulting firm Frost & Sullivan conducted a survey of technology decision makers and learned that 41% put cloud computing service investments as a top priority.  Organizations have been cautious of entrusting business critical data to the public cloud – and for good reason. At the same time, a private cloud infrastructure can be more easily controlled and the organization can apply rigorous security to protect its data. We have helped several of our clients deploy FlexPod, a single platform data center solution from NetApp, Cisco, and VMWare. FlexPod, when deployed correctly, accelerates private cloud ROI.

Next week, we’ll be attending VMware Partner Exchange 2012, sponsored in part by NetApp and Cisco. We’ll be reporting back with our findings in a post-event interview with our attending engineers. You can follow event conversations on twitter searching for hashtag #VMWarePEX.

The three ways to create virtual servers include para-virtualization, full virtualization, and OS-level virtualization. Each system uses a different approach when it comes to server virtualization, and it’s important to understand the differences to successfully create a virtualized environment. All three ways share a few common traits, including a physical server called the host and a virtual server called the guest. When deployed correctly, server virtualization can cut the amount of energy needed to run a data center, and reduce the cost of hardware and software needed to keep things up and running.

Cisco holds a number of CiscoLive events around the globe each year, and shares a wealth of knowledge about NetApp and FlexPod both online and at these events in the form of the “Featured Collateral” pages on their community forums.

It’s a new year and new opportunities await!  But wait, hold on -- doesn’t that mean a whole new year of ruthless assaults on your network? (And here you are… hoping to protect irreplaceable data.)

As the trend in computer downsizing continues, customers are asking original equipment manufacturers (OEM) for smaller platforms to use as software appliance platforms and small-site server devices.

In a growing technological society, an increased amount of people now rely on computers and mobile phones when contacting clients, customers, and co-workers. Without proper endpoint security and control, malicious attackers cannot only take your information, but your clients’ data as well. Featured in this blog post are 3 common computer security threats and how they can be addressed.

In late 2011, HP and AMD released five new HP ProLiant G7 servers. These servers now include the latest scale-up AMD Opteron™ 6200 series processors, featuring a 16-core x86 processor claiming up to 35% greater performance and up to 33% more cores. The ProLiant G7 servers offer more scalability, efficiency, and performance than previous versions.

In addition to the software and hardware products you need to keep your data center up to date and running efficiently, the cost of powering your data center and cooling it must also be considered. Often times, this is not taken into consideration when calculating the total cost of ownership (TCO) and it may not be the first thing that comes to mind when looking to build or remodel a structure. For this reason, many companies are turning to green IT initiatives, such as data warehousing through Netezza.