Cisco readies move into the server hardware market

I’ve bought “Cisco” servers many times before.  They were always HP or IBM servers with a Cisco logo tagged on the bezel and came with ridiculously high support contract and spare part costs, but they were Cisco servers.  It seems that Cisco was not satisfied with playing at that level, however, and now they are moving forward with a true line of Cisco server hardware, part of their Unified Computing System platform.

The newest component of this platform – the servers – is a blade server chassis designed to plug in to the existing fiber and copper switching infrastructure as well as work with their storage management tools.  It all sounds great, I suppose, but I’m not entirely sure that the move will be compelling for an enterprise.

For starters, the hardware platform is all unproven.  Sure, the vast majority of the parts in any of these systems are OEM from known manufacturers but there is still a ton that goes in to the final assembly of those systems.  After all, how else can you explain just how badly the Dell Blade systems are assembled relative to the HP or IBM blades?  And even if they have better and cheaper hardware (like Sun did with their x86 server platform) , there is still a huge unknown about how well Cisco will be able to support the server infrastructure.  They are generally very reliable when it comes to supporting their switching hardware, but after that things tend to tail off. 

And, of course, since this is the era of virtualization, it is critical that any story about data center infrastructure include mention of the ability for the platform to be “fully virtualized” or support non-virtual solutions.  I love marketing buzz.  The hardware will be available with both VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V platforms, so they are continuing to partner with the big players on that front.

Only time will tell just how astute a move this is from Cisco, but there are certainly plenty of open questions (like when they are actually going to have hardware available in the channel) to ponder in the meantime.

Making a “core” OS for the desktop

One of the big features of Windows Server 2008 is the concept of a “Core” OS version, stripped down to just the basics to improve performance and reduce the attack surface.  Now some news is leaking out about Windows 7 that suggests it will have some similar functionality.  Specifically, Windows 7 will have “check-box” ability to disable Internet Explorer 8, Media Player, Media Center, Fax and Windows Search, among other features.

All I can say is that it is about time.  Sure, the “N” version of XP and Vista have been around for a while, but only in some specific countries.  It looks like they are finally making it available to everyone.  My guess is that these settings will also be available for management via group policy settings, meaning that managing systems and controlling the apps installed as part of Windows just got a lot easier.

Microsoft, Citrix team up against VMware

Neither Microsoft nor Citrix appear to be making much headway against the 800-pound gorilla in the virtualization arena, VMware.  So they’ve decided to become partners in an attempt to dethrone the leader.  This week’s announcement on that front comes in the form of the Citrix Essentials pack for Hyper-V.

Citrix Essentials is designed to help manage storage assignments for the virtualization hosts and also manage some of the lifecycle process for virtual guests, similar to the VMware Lab Manager functionality.

This is just the latest attempt by these two vendors to take a bite out of VMware’s pie, and they seem to be struggling mightily on that front.  Too bad, really, as reasonable competition generally results in lower prices and better products.  Then again, there isn’t a whole lot out there that I’m jonesing for on the virtualization front, so incremental improvements aren’t really all that big a problem to me.

Updates on the mobile front

Mobile access to email is, in many cases, a base requirement now for power users.  So anytime a new option appears to enable or enhance such access my eyes light up, as I’m all about having that connectivity and making sure my users do, too.  This week’s World Mobile Congress trade show in Barcelona has seen many such announcements, including a few that I find particularly intriguing.

First up, a new partnership between Lenovo and Research In Motion (RIM).  They’ve agreed on a specification for a communication link between Lenovo ThinkPad laptops and RIM Blackberry devices that works even when the laptop is powered off.  The card will be called “Lenovo Constant Connect” and appears to be providing a wireless tethering of the laptop to the Blackberry without the hassle of loading third-party software onto the device.  It will sync Outlook data in the background using the data link that the Blackberry provides so that when the laptop is powered on the offline copy of Outlook is already up-to-date.  It only works with Outlook right now; a Lotus Notes version is expected soon.  The card is expected to retail for less than $150 when it comes out in the second quarter of this year. 

The other interesting announcement comes from Acer.  They are a huge PC manufacturer and already makes some pretty small mobile devices (I love my AspireOne Netbook).  Now they making the leap into the mobile phone arena in a major way.  They unveiled eight new phone models at the conference yesterday.  They are looking at this as a long term investment, with a 3-5 year horizon before the segment becomes profitable for them.  The products are expected to range in cost from ~$65 - $600, depending on the model.  All of the initial eight will run Windows Mobile, and they are also looking at Google’s Android platform as an option.  I’m not particularly impressed by either of those platforms, but I like the idea of more options on the market, especially from a company that understands what it takes to make a functional portable device.

And, last but not least, another Android-based phone was announced and is expected to be available in Europe this spring.  Yeah, that’s great and maybe they’ll finally get some better traction in the enterprise space, but I’m not betting on it as the software really doesn’t have much in the way of administrative control, integration to enterprise systems or other things that companies find helpful.

So there you have it.  Lots of new toys coming down the pike in the next few months.  Have fun!

Google syncs up with Microsoft

Much like Apple before them, Google has finally succumbed to the Microsoft machine on at least one front.  They have agree to license Microsoft’s ActiveSync technology to allow sync’ing of data with Microsoft Exchange systems.  The license is a key part of Google’s release of Google Sync for Windows Mobile, iPhone and SyncML phones.  The Google Sync service is a nice way to keep multiple different systems in sync, particularly between a Gmail account and a work account.  And the latest version supports contacts in addition to calendar items. 

I like anything that makes the data more portable, and this seems to be a move in that direction.  Plus, Microsoft gets to have a bit of fun knowing that they made Google pay them for something.

The many faces of Windows 7

Hoping for a simpler licensing scheme with the upcoming Windows 7 release?  Keep dreaming.  Microsoft announced their plans for the various versions yesterday, and there are six different versions on the roadmap, not to mention special versions for the European and Korean markets.

The versions are:

• Windows 7 Starter Edition (for emerging market and netbook users)
• Windows 7 Home Basic (for emerging market customers only)
• Windows 7 Home Premium (the main “Media Center” equivalent)
• Windows 7 Professional (the business SKU for home users and non-enterprise licensees)
• Windows 7 Enterprise (for volume licensees)
• Windows 7 Ultimate (for consumers who want/need business features)

Some interesting things to note on the list.  First off, there is no formal definition of what a “netbook” is, so there is no way to control who will use that license.  The bad news on that front is that the Starter version will be artificially limited to only run three applications at a time.  That renders it pretty useless, even on a netbook.  I’m sure that Microsoft is claiming that it is to ensure reasonable performance or something like that, but the reality is that they are trying to force people into the more expensive versions.  I cannot imagine anyone running only three applications at a time.  I know I certainly couldn’t.

There there is the Professional/Enterprise schism.  Enterprise is actually pretty much the same as Ultimate, according to this review, with the difference being how they will be purchased.  Both will have all the features available, including BitLocker, but will no longer be required to get the Media Center features.  That will be available in the Home Premium and Professional versions.  For companies it will only be possible to get Enterprise if they purchase Software Assurance.  This is basically Microsoft extorting a 50% premium on the OS charges from their corporate customers.  It is particularly egregious when you consider that most customers will have to pay the manufacturers for the OS and then buy-up directly from Microsoft.  Today one has to buy Software Assurance to have the luxury of paying a bit more to buy the Desktop Optimization Pack – a wise investment for most large organizations – so this isn’t a particularly new thing that Microsoft is doing.  But it does demonstrate how they continue to struggle to provide legitimate value with the Software Assurance product.  The good news is that most folks will probably be fine with Professional, so it shouldn’t be too big a deal.

Another interesting bit is in the upgrade options.  For home users there will be an upgrade product from XP Home to Windows 7 Home Premium, but it will only be a discount on the license cost; technically it will require a clean install still.  For business users the upgrade path will only be from the Vista product line.  While that is a bit of a slap at business users the reality is that very few business users buy the OS directly or upgrade the OS on existing hardware, so that isn’t such a big deal.

At the end of the day it looks like the vast majority of users will be buying either Professional or Home Premium, with enterprise license users getting their hands on Enterprise.  No pricing released yet, which isn’t too surprising.  The media frenzy is starting to ramp up.  This should make for a fun few months until the actual release.

Virtualization coming to the desktop

No, the concept of OS virtualization on the desktop is not new.  But that won’t stop Citrix and Intel from trying to convince you otherwise.  The two vendors are teaming up to provide what they claim are some intriguing options on the workstation virtualization front these days.

The combined technology will let information technology professionals dynamically stream a centrally managed corporate desktop, and all related applications, directly into a secure, isolated, client-based virtual machine, Citrix officials said.

Unlike server-based desktop virtualization technologies, this approach caches and executes desktop and application software directly on the PC client, enabling high-performance, rich graphics and full off-network mobility for laptop users, the officials said.

What does any of that mean?  I have no idea.  It sounds like they might be putting together some infrastructure that allows for centralized management of the virtual OS images that are deployed to the desktops, but that isn’t particularly clear.

Either way, look for this great new technology to be hitting the street in the second half of this year.