Dell, EMC, Dell Technologies, Cisco,

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Google is merging Chrome OS and Android

#Google 's two operating systems will soon be one. #Chrome OS is going to be combined with #Android, and the combined OS could be revealed as soon as next year, according to #TheWallStreetJournal. The Journal reports that Chrome is essentially being folded into Android, because Android has emerged as the dominant operating system by quite a long stretch. Combining the two operating systems means setting up Android to run on laptops and desktop computers, which would require big changes, as well as supporting the #GooglePlay Store. #Chromebooks will reportedly receive a new name to reflect the new OS.

The combined OS is expected in 2017

The #Verge has independently confirmed that Chrome OS and Android will combine, with a preview likely to be demonstrated at Google I/O next year. The move marks an effort at Google to reduce the number of independent platforms it has to maintain, sources said.

The new operating system is expected to be released sometime in 2017. While this is a major and somewhat surprising move — Chromebooks have been fairly successful and are a great low-cost computer option — it's easy to see how Google got here. Sundar Pichai, who's now leading Google, was put in charge of both Chrome and Android two years ago, and he's made moves to bring the two operating systems closer in that time. That includes adding support for Android apps inside of Chrome OS. Though support is still limited, some Android apps are up and running on Chromebooks. Google also revealed a convertible Android laptop last month, called the #PixelC . Now, it seems like that's just an early sign of what's to come. Google declined to comment.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/29/9639950/google-combining-android-chromeos-report

Seagate unveils enlarged spydrive with support for 64 spycams

#Seagate has launched an 8TB disk drive for surveillance use, enabling up to 6PB of #CCTV data in a rack.

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/29/seagate_spy_drive/

Google: Next Penguin Update Should Happen By End Of 2015

#Google's new real-time #Penguin4.0 algorithm, version 4.0, will likely be released by the end of this year. The post Google: Next Penguin Update Should Happen By End Of 2015 appeared first on Search Engine Land.

http://searchengineland.com/googles-next-penguin-update-should-be-within-the-next-two-months-234672

HP Introduces M.2 SSDs for Blade Servers

#HP recently announced the industry’s first #Mdot2SSD for blade servers.  If you’re not familiar with M.2 (pronounced M dot 2), it’s a small form factor card and connector supporting applications such as Wi-Fi, WWAN, USB, PCIe & SATA seen mostly in desktop / laptop systems.

http://bladesmadesimple.com/2015/10/hp-introduces-m-2-ssds-for-blade-servers/

5 Modes of the Dell FN IO Module

#Dell’s FN I/O Modules (#FNIOM s) are integrated devices that sit in the rear of the #FX2 chassis and behave like traditional network switches.  The FN IOMs provide 8 x 10GbE internal ports to the connected server nodes while offering 4 x 10GbE external links for upstream connectivity.  What makes the FN I/O Module unique is that it supports 5 operational modes: Standalone (#SMUX), #VLT, #Stacking, Programmable #MUX (#PMUX) and Full-switch.  Below are details on each of these modes.

Standalone Mode
This is the default mode from the factory for the FN I/O Module.  This mode is full-automated requiring “zero touch” allowing VLANs to be defined on the server-facing ports while all upstream ports are configured in port channel 128.  This port configuration cannot be modified in this mode.
VLT Mode
This is a “lower touch” mode that allows for total automation except for VLAN membership.  This mode provides an active-active, multi-path for servers.  Port 9 is dedicated for VLT (virtual link trunking) in this mode.
Stacking Mode
This mode is designed to allow for multiple FN I/O Modules to be combined to make a single logical switch, managed by the designated master switch within the stack.  This mode is used when simplified management of FN IOMs is desired.  Up to 6 FN IOMs can be placed within a stack.
Programmable MUX Mode (PMUX)
This mode extends the operational flexibility of the FN IOM to allow the user to create multiple LAGs, configure VLANs on uplinks and to configure DCB parameters on the server-facing ports.  This mode also uses command line interface (CLI) for configuration, ideal for many network administrators.
Full-Switch Mode
This is the only mode that allows for Layer 2/3 switching and it enables all features of the switch to be customized via CLI.
These modes can be set up via CLI, or via the Dell Blade I/O Manager software.  For a quick video on this tool, check out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSmDagdtlws

http://bladesmadesimple.com/2015/10/5-modes-of-the-dell-fn-io-module/

Patch this braXen bug: Hypervisor hole lets guest VMs hijack hosts

Patch this braXen bug: Hypervisor hole lets guest VMs hijack hosts

The #Xen hypervisor project today released nine security patches that should be applied ASAP – particularly the one that stops guest virtual machines seizing control of host servers.

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/29/xen_security/

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Big Open Source Week for EMC - Part 1: OpenStack

This week is the OpenStack summit in Tokyo - EMC is there with bells on :-)
I’m not there, but there are many people on the team there… It was interesting to watch the keynote and reflect on the nature of an Open Source ecosystem at work.



In particular - the rapid movement of projects from emergent into deployment, and how the community iterates around them.  
The Project Navigator (screenshot below, link here) is interesting in how it shows maturity and adoption of various parts of the project.   Something useful for the rest of the market (us included) to emulate, IMO.   

Now, if you scroll down further - you can see where more work is needed (Ironic, Sahara, Trove, Ceilometer) - but again, like it or not, the community will keep cranking on it.  
I’ve always used StackAlytics to look at how people (including us are contributing) - which is great, but it’s great to get a summary view across the entire community how things are being used and adopted.
In my experience - I still see customers struggling with OpenStack more than I see customer flying - but the ratios are turning as the ecosystem keeps improving the stack, tightly packaging (interesting to see what @blueboxjesse and the IBM crew are doing).   I think we can keep doing more (within EMC, and within VMware) to keep making getting down to business faster and easier.
So - what is EMC doing at Tokyo (distinct from the VMware contributions which are extensive, including but not limited to VMware Integrated Openstack aka VIO)?
A lot:
  • Core contributions.   You can see what we’ve contributed to Cinder and more in Liberty - there’s a lot!
  • We’ve always done OK with platform drivers for Cinder for things like VMAX and VNX, but a big step forward is that that ScaleIO drivers are embedded in the Liberty release.   ScaleIO has been supported, but these things don’t fly until the drivers are directly included.   In ScaleIO’s scale, this means that important part of ScaleIO are simply… included versus needing to get them from us.
  • Based on customer requests - the always awesome EMC{code} team we’ve created two Mirantis Fuel Plugins for ScaleIO - one for pure installs, and one for attaching to pre-existing ScaleIO SDS clusters.  Yes, for those of you 

Big Open Source Week for EMC - Part 2: Greenplum is now an open MPP project

Earlier in the year - we announced that we were committing all the elements of the Pivotal Big Data Suite as Open Source projects.   That includes:
  • Greenplum (which an Massively Parallel Processing data warehouse stack - ideal for massive data sets)
  • HAWQ (is now Pivotal HDB which is a Hadoop native SQL engine - ideal for transactional SQL that is fully  and machine-learning algos on SQL).  Expect a lot more on this shortly.  It’s incubating, and needs things like Ambari integration - but it is AMAZING.   Hadoop Native SQL, and incredible capability, incredible performance.   People often use HIVE, or Impala for this - consider Pivotal HDB:


  • MADLib (which is a machine-learning on SQL library).   Works great on Pivotal HDB. 
  • Gemfire (which is a in-memory distributed data grid - unbelievable, stratospheric transactional performance - different than the idea Apache Spark use cases which tend to be iterative/ML type use caseS).   The Apache Geode project is based on this contribution.
… These are all Apache Software Foundation projects.   For our Apache Hadoop core, Pivotal is committed to the Open Data Platform initiative (ODPi) together with HortonWorks.   The ODPi effort aims to maintain as much of the ecosystem interoperable.   
Little sidebar - just like my OpenStack post here, this is an open ecosystem - so of COURSE EMC partners (in fact also resells!) not only Pivotal Big Data Suite, but also HortonWorks (also ODPi) and Cloudera.
The Pivotal Big Data Suite is a huge part of Pivotal’s business - and growing… So why open-source?   Answer - this is market that needs disruption, innovation as closed projects is simply too slow.   Many of the customers wanted features/functions/fixes faster than Pivotal could do alone, and saw open-source projects (even if they were not quite as good) as a way forward.
Why is this specific news about Greenplum important?  
  • How about disrupting a $16B Data Warehouse market that is dominated by legacy players (Oracle, Teradata) who are unwilling/unable to disrupt their existing business models and technology stacks?
  • How about 10+ years of R&D now as an open project?  
  • How about the only material Open Source Software project which is a SQL-compliant data warehouse that scales to many, many PBs.
Any customer that believes in Open Source, is tired of massive bills to legacy players - it’s a good time to take a look at Greenplum :-)
Pivotal Cloud Foundry (a Linux Foundation project) has been a shining light for the rest of the EMC Federation - recognizing that for many efforts, open is the way to go.   It’s arguable that we should have done it earlier with Greenplum, HAWQ, Gemfire - but it’s not arguable that they are open now.

Google AdWords Turns 15: A Look Back At The Origins Of A $60 Billion Business

AdWords turns 15 this month. The official birthday is October 23, but Google is celebrating the milestone today. Google’s not much of a stickler for exact birthdays, though; the company marked AdWords’ 10th birthday on November 8, 2010.

AdWords indisputably changed the trajectory of online advertising with its self-serve keyword bidding system and propelled Google to become the multi-billion-dollar business that is now the cornerstone of the holding company Alphabet. In 2014, Google reported ad revenues totaling more than $62 billion.

The Launch of AdWords

AdWords came out of a roughly month-long beta with about 350 advertisers in October 2000. With the launch, Larry Page, Google’s co-founder and CEO, said of the new ad product, “AdWords offers the most technologically advanced features available, enabling any advertiser to quickly design a flexible program that best fits its online marketing goals and budget.”
AdWords was actually Google’s second advertising program. The first, called Premium Sponsorships, launched just months before, in August 2000. A direct sales team sold the premium sponsorship ads on a CPM basis. The premium ads appeared in the top spot in the search results, while the AdWords ads ran in the right rail. In a matter of a few years, the AdWords self-serve system subsumed the premium program.

Oracle's Larry Ellison claims his Sparc M7 chip is hacker-proof – Errr...

Analysis Oracle insists it really is going to sell computers powered by Sparc M7 processors – the same chips it started talking about in 2014.
On Monday, Big Red breathlessly unveiled hardware powered by the beefy microprocessor, and on Tuesday, its supremo Larry Ellison lauded the 64-bit CPU's security defenses.
One of these defenses certainly caught our eye: the ability to tag regions of memory so software hijacked by hackers cannot read or write data it isn't supposed to. This should, we're told, render vulnerabilities such as Heartbleed useless to attackers – more on that in a moment.

Where we've come from

Rewind to September last year, and you may recall Ellison bragging about what he said was "the most important thing we've done in silicon, maybe ever." Back then we knew that 32-core M7 packages would be destined for machines juggling thousands of threads with terabytes of RAM. Big heavy boxes with big heavy price tags.
Then in August this year, Oracle's engineers revealed Sonoma: a system-on-chip that uses the M7 blueprints with InfiniBand interfaces and directly accessed RAM bolted on.
Sonoma was billed as a high-density "low-cost Sparc processor for enterprise workloads," ideal for Oracle to build clouds with – an effort which now appears to be taking shape.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/28/oracle_sparc_m7/

Cisco: The day of PCs is passing, cloud storage will dominate by 2019

Those fumbling with PCs may want to think about updating their skills portfolio, according to a new Cisco forecast that predicts the majority of data will no longer be stored on client devices by 2019.
The rise of cloud traffic will be stopped by neither the collapse of Safe Harbor nor the election of CISA, suggested Cisco's new Global Cloud Index (GCI) forecast – though traditional data centers are very much a slowing business.
Global cloud traffic will almost triple in the near future, suggested the GCI report for 2014-2019, which reckons that while 73 per cent of data was stored on client PCs at the beginning of the period, the majority (51 per cent) of stored data will move to non-PC devices by 2019.
The rise of smartphones and tablets will mean that annual global data center traffic hits 10.4ZB by the end of 2019, the equivalent of 16 million years' worth of music streaming.
Despite the utopia which will be the year 2019, only 32 per cent of internet users will be IPv6-capable at that time. The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) ran out of IPv4 addresses this year.
Those working on the private cloud would also be wise to have a think about their career direction – where their work doesn't surround virtualization anyway, although that gap is set to narrow – with a mere 16 per cent of growth predicted there compared to a whopping 44 per cent compound annual growth in public cloud workloads.
Although virtualization will continue to dominate the private cloud world, businesses are expected to mellow in their prudish hesitation towards adopting public clouds for all but mission-critical workloads, at the same time as they grow prickly over the costs associated with dedicated IT resources.
Meanwhile machine-to-machine modules, alongside the "connection of people, processes, data, and things" which comprises the incomprehensible and inevitable tsunami of the Internet of Everything, could generate up to 507.5ZB annually by 2019.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/28/pcs_are_passing_into_cloud/

Isilon software on Dell hardware – could it really be true?

El Reg was kindly sent a note about an EMC virtual event plus a Commtech session in Ireland, suggesting that scale-out filer Isilon array functionality could be available as software-only running on Dell servers.
There is an Expand the Data Lake virtual event to be run by EMC on 10 November. You will find a teaser video on that web page which features a data lake swimmer sitting at a screen with a pair of Dell servers behind him.



NaaS guys finish ... first: Dell, HP, Mirantis, Tintri in OpenStack brat pack

The Tokyo #OpenStack summit saw more announcements today as vendors enjoy playing the Open Stack game which, it appears, no one can lose.
#Dell, #Mirantis and #BigSwitch Networks have launched an OpenStack Neutron networking reference architecture using a Big Cloud P+V #SDN Fabric, Dell Open Networking switches and Mirantis OpenStack. This was tested on an 8-rack, 300 compute-node OpenStack data centre Pod at the #DellOpenNetworking centre of excellence in Santa Clara, CA. and claimed to be deployed in just two hours.
#Neutron is said to provide networking-as-a-service (#NaaS) with a modular and plug-in architecture and APIs. Big Switch Networks says its Big Cloud Fabric (BCF) is built as a leaf, spine and virtual switch fabric. The #BigCloudFabric Controller acts as the centralised facility for provisioning, troubleshooting, visibility and analytics of the physical and virtual network environment.
Hybrid array vendor #Tintri stepped up and said it supports OpenStack. It has a Cinder driver that lets users analyse individual Cinder virtual machines and volumes from the Tintri user interface.
Tintri says it has #RedHat Enterprise #Linux OpenStack Platform Ecosystem certification and is a corporate sponsor of the OpenStack Foundation.

Dell Announces Dell Statistica Free Academic Program for U.S. College Students, Professors

#Dell, at #EDUCAUSE 2015, announced the Dell #Statistica Free Academic Program, a free version of its Statistica advanced analytics software now available to all U.S. college students and professors, to help boost interest in and preparedness for data analytics careers.

http://www.itnewsonline.com/news/Dell-Announces-Dell-Statistica-Free-Academic-Program-for-U.S.-College-Students-Professors/36389/8/3

Zuckerberg: 15M people worldwide can now access the web via Internet.org

#Facebook ’s controversial free Internet project, #Internet.org, has now brought 15 million people worldwide online who would otherwise have remained offline, according to comments from @MarkZuckerberg at a Townhall Q&A in India on Wednesday.

http://venturebeat.com/2015/10/28/zuckerberg-15m-people-worldwide-can-now-access-the-web-via-internet-org/

Monday, October 26, 2015

EMC to retain some autonomy after acquisition

AUSTIN, Texas -- The CEO and founder of #Dell sought to assure concerned investors that the computing giant will not shake up #EMC after the $67 billion acquisition of the software and storage company.

EMC and its subsidiaries will be able to maintain an organizational structure that spurs innovation and hold on to existing customers, @MichaelDell told The Nikkei and others in a Wednesday interview.

http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Deals/EMC-to-retain-some-autonomy-after-acquisition

Dell targets hyperscale wannabes with its latest bare-bones servers

#Dell has released a new family of servers aimed at companies that want some of the cost savings of using custom-built hardware but without having to do as much of the engineering work.

The servers are aimed at what Dell calls the second tier of #hyperscale customers -- those big enough to buy hundreds or even thousands of servers at a time, but who aren't as massive as a #Google or a #Facebook. That includes smaller Web-scale companies as well as telcos, financial services firms, cloud software companies and others. #Cloudcomputing

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2995597/cloud-computing/dell-targets-hyperscale-wannabes-with-its-latest-bare-bones-servers.html

The art of Rapid Recovery: Dell begins rebranding AppAssure

#Dell is radically strengthening its #AppAssure product with expanded functionality, rebranding, and an expansion into the end-point protection arena.

AppAssure becomes the #RapidRecovery product under a #DellDataProtection (#DDP) brand. The product is block- and snapshot-based, only storing unique, changed blocks with a five-minute RPO.

Every application snapshot is app-consistent, being more than a virtual machine export. You can stand an app-consistent snapshot up and run it.

Product manager @BrettRoscoe said you can use Rapid Recovery to run in virtual standby mode for a failover function with fast recovery.

In Live Recovery you can run the application you are restoring. Dell states "You can resume the use of an impacted server directly from the backup file without waiting for the production server to have a complete restore".

Backups can be agentless, driven by agents or made direct to targets.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/26/dell_begins_rebranding_appassure_becomes_rapid_recovery/

VMware veep Bill Fathers steps aside to take 'more strategic role'

#VMware enterprise veep, board member and cloud czar @BillFathers will not be part of the management family running the recently announced Cloud Services Business joint venture with #EMC.

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/26/vmware_veep_bill_fathers_steps_aside_to_take_more_strategic_role/

When Michael Dell met Chris Mellor

Profile This is the way of it: you're sitting there, at a table in a general meeting room at the #DellWorld event in Austin, talking to a distant colleague about what happened to Don, did I know Liem had moved to such and such an office, when an ordinary-looking guy comes over and sits down at the same table, saying: "How's it going Chris?"
And I say: "Great," as you do, and look at this pleasant guy, middle-aged, maybe a little older, spectacles, greying gair around the edges and cut conservatively. Tieless with a check pattern shirt. A relaxed and watchful expression, sort of like a reliable-looking head of a school, or a quiet engineer. Not an exceptional guy at first impression ... only it's not my first impression.
I've seen him already, in hundreds of photos, in a press conference the day before with his exec team, and in an event-opening session in front of 5,000-plus people explaining why buying #EMC for $67bn is a great idea. For it is @MichaelDell and he is a billionaire who has done extraordinary things in computing, all starting from building PCs at college for his friends. #Dellstorage

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/26/michael_dell_chris_mellor/

Pure Storage is giving away FREE flash arrays – but there's a catch

Triumphal icing or desperate measure to boost the quarter?

#Pure Storage is offering a free #flasharray to new customers who take out a support contract.

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/26/pure_storage_free_flash_array/

Sucking primary data into the cloud: The dawn of a new age

We usually think about primary storage as something close to compute resources (no matter if they're on-premises or on the cloud) while cloud storage is something that we can access, more or less, from everywhere ... but things are becoming a little fuzzy.

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/26/cloudy_primary_storage/

Detect, Mitigate, and Prevent Cyberattacks in Real Time

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Government Acquisitions, Inc. (#GAI ), a leading Federal Information Technology (IT) solutions provider and small business, today announced the launch of their Hyper Converged Analytics Platform (#HyperCAP ) – an end-to-end data analytics solution. Integrated and optimized with best-of-breed commercial-off-the-shelf (#COTS ) technologies from #Dell, #PaloAltoNetworks, #Nutanix, and #SplunkInc., the #HyperCAP solution enables Federal agencies to harness powerful analytics for IT and security operations.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151026005245/en/Government-Acquisitions-Launches-Hyperconverged-Analytics-Platform-Solution

Friday, October 23, 2015

All Dell breaks loose in latest Gartner disk array magic quadrant

#Dell has become a top-four player in disk arrays, as #IBM and #NetApp are left behind in #Gartner 's 2015 #MagicQuadrant for general purpose #diskarray s.

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/22/gartners_disk_array_mq/

Networking ace reveals: Intel planned NVMe for XPoint

Networking ace reveals: #Intel planned #NVMe for #XPoint

#Chipzilla ’s long game starting to pay off

Comment  According to Packet Pushers networking whiz @GregFerro, Intel created NVMe because they needed it for #3DXPoint memory, which thought totally revised my thinking of NVMe as simply a way to create a standard #PCIeflash card driver, and Intel's role in XPoint development.

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/23/intel_planned_nvme_for_xpoint/

These 15 startups are out to disrupt one of the oldest industries in the world (BRK.A, GOOG, UNH)

A cluster of startups are looking to disrupt one of the oldest industries in the world: insurance.

Insurance has been around for thousands of years.

The earliest instance of insurance law is believed to date to #KingHammurabi, about 1700 BC.

Business Insider spoke with venture capitalists, CEOs, and entrepreneurs around the world about startups breaking into segments of the market.

They include healthcare, home insurance, auto insurance and — yes — one startup that is taking on the ambitious task of getting startups themselves a better rate on insuring their business.

The startups coming to the insurance industry are taking on companies that have been around for 100 years or longer.

Lloyds of London, for example, an insurance market that traces its beginning to 1688, it one of the oldest companies in the world.

http://www.businessinsider.com/insurance-startups-2015-10

Dell Storage Compatibility Matrix - PS Series, SC Series, FS Series

The new, combined Dell Storage Compatibility Matirx (September 2015) is now available here: PDF

The DSCM provides guidance on host and switching devices have been validated for use with SC Series (#Compellent), PS Series (#EqualLogic) and FS Series (#FluidFS) storage solutions.
This list is not an exhaustive list of what works with any of these solutions.  Dell Storage solutions are based on storage industry standards for Fibre Channel and iSCSI and can work with almost any host adapter or switch that adheres to these standards.
Please review the Support Policy Statement for clarification on how Dell will provide support for validated and non-validated components.

Softchoice Works with Dell and Microsoft on Hybrid Cloud Offering

Managed services provider #Softchoice is the first provider in North America to offer the #Dell Hybrid Cloud System for Microsoft CPS, the company announced Wednesday.

The solution is designed to simplify cloud adoption, provide hybrid cloud governance, control and policy-based automation for Azure and other cloud environments. Softchoice is recognized as a Dell National Solution Provider and Dell Canada’s Channel Partner of the Year for the 2106 fiscal year. It is also a designated Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider, and is the top Microsoft cloud partner in Canada, and third in the US, by revenue.

“Softchoice was selected as an early adopter of the Dell Hybrid Cloud System for Microsoft CPS because of our deep expertise delivering Microsoft, Dell and hybrid IT solutions,” said Mark Connell, Director Business Development, Datacenter at Softchoice. “No-one is better positioned than Softchoice to drive the implementation of a hybrid cloud system that integrates the best of Microsoft and Dell into one cohesive, agile infrastructure.”

http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/softchoice-works-with-dell-and-microsoft-on-hybrid-cloud-offering

Huawei signs partnership with University to develop graphene-based technologies

#Huawei, a leading global #ICT solutions provider, has today announced it is working with @TheUniversityofManchester to explore the uses of graphene to develop the next generation of high-performance technologies in the ICT field. The project which will initially run for two years, will explore ways of using #graphene ’s revolutionary applications in consumer electronics and mobile communication devices.

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/article/?id=15349

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Apple just banned some versions of Adobe Flash from its computers

With his “Thoughts on Flash” letter back in early 2010, late #Apple CEO @SteveJobs waged a war on #Adobe that the media couldn’t get enough of. Beyond the hype, however, #AdobeFlash platform really had become a resource hog that was a terrible burden on developers, and that wreaked havoc on PC performance. Thanks to the war Jobs waged, two things have happened in recent years: Flash has become far less popular as better technologies moved in to replace it, and the Flash platform has improved.

http://bgr.com/2015/10/21/adobe-flash-player-for-mac-safari-download-blocked/

EUROPE’S ‘NET NEUTRALITY’ COULD ALLOW TORRENT AND VPN THROTTLING

Next week the European Parliament will vote on Europe's new #telecoms regulation which includes #netneutrality rules. While the legislation is a step forward for many countries, experts and activists warn that it may leave the door open for @BitTorrent and VPN throttling if key amendments fail to pass.

https://torrentfreak.com/europes-net-neutrality-could-allow-torrent-and-vpn-throttling-151022/

The "Evil" Plan Has Succeeded: the Younger Generation Wants Electric Cars

It would appear we are in good hands, as a new study conducted on kids aged 14 to 17 shows that the vast majority of them plan on buying an #electriccar as their first vehicle purchase.

The internal combustion engine (#ICE) is apparently living its last decades, as more and more signs seem to point toward its ultimate demise. Yesterday, @Toyota announced that it would cut its CO2 emissions by 90% by 2050, which means giving up on cars using ICEs other than as range extending generators for the #electricmotors on just some of their models.

http://m.autoevolution.com/the-evil-plan-has-succeeded-the-younger-generation-wants-electric-cars-101207.html

Bing Is Profitable

#Microsoft promised that #Bing would stop losing money in its fiscal year 2016. Today, the company reported the first quarter’s results of that fiscal period and dropped an interesting tidbit: Bing is profitable.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/10/22/bing-is-profitable/?ncid=rss

Samsung 950 Pro Brings NVMe To M.2, Over 2.5GB/s

Vigile writes: #Samsung just released its first non-OEM, consumer level #NVMe enabled SSD, the 950 Pro series. This drive will ship in an M.2 form factor rather than a 2.5-in drive size that is the standard for users today, allowing installation into notebooks, small form factor PCs and desktop PCs that have at least one M.2 slot on-board. It peaks at 512GB capacity today but Samsung promises a 1TB version using 48-layer #VNAND in 2016. The NVMe protocol allows much better performance directly over the PCIe bus without the overhead of the AHCI protocol used in hard drives and previous SSDs. PC Perspective's review has performance breaking the 2.5GB/s read speed level while also introducing an entirely new type of performance evaluation for SSDs centered around latency distribution of IOs.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/15/10/22/2113223/samsung-950-pro-brings-nvme-to-m2-over-25gbs?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

Intel inks $5.5bn deal to move 3D NAND production into China

#Intel has dropped a flash bombshell by announcing it's going to make #3DNAND chips in China, implying it will add 3D #XPoint chips to the mix later and raising doubts about its #Micron partnership

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/22/intel_5bn_china_3d_nand_deal/

Seagate moves head moneyman to undefined role, promotes new CFO

#Seagate has moved CFO @PatO'Malley to an undefined exec role and promoted @DaveMorton to CFO.

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/22/seagate_cfo_change/

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Exclusive: New Cisco Channel Chief Talks Partner Incentives, Dell-EMC And How Apple Fits In The Cisco Channel

#Cisco Systems' new global channel chief, @WendyBahr, says the networking giant is "amplifying" incentives for #channelpartners around security, software and collaboration. Partners could also see some elements of the company's recent partnership with #Apple be implemented into Cisco's channel program in the future, she said.

Bahr, a 15-year Cisco channel veteran, has spent the past 90 days talking to partners from around the world to get a sense of what they want to see from the networking leader in the digital age. She discussed with @CRN in an exclusive interview her strive toward simplification, the #Dell #EMC deal, and a number of updates to Cisco's partner programs coming down the pipeline.

http://m.crn.com/slide-shows/networking/300078538/exclusive-new-cisco-channel-chief-talks-partner-incentives-dell-emc-and-how-apple-fits-in-the-cisco-channel.htm

Dell and Microsoft announce 'Azure in a box' for $9,000 a month at Dell World

#Dell and #Microsoft have teamed up to sell a converged system that combines servers, storage and software in an integrated box which they say can connect easily to Microsoft's #Azure cloud services.

Called the Cloud Platform System Standard, it's aimed at customers building out a #hybridcloud environment, one in which on-premises equipment is linked to the public cloud for services like backup and recovery, or to provide more compute and storage capacity when it's needed.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2996036/dell-and-microsoft-announce-azure-in-a-box-for-9000-a-month-at-dell-world.html

Michael Dell says HP CEO Meg Whitman 'has her facts wrong' about EMC buyout

AUSTIN: @MICHAELDELL has responded to #HP CEO @MegWhitman 's criticism of #Dell 's to buy data storage firm #EMC, saying "she got some of her facts wrong".
The Dell CEO made the comments in the opening keynote of his company's annual conference in Austin, Texas, when questioned about whether he'd heard Whitman's comments regarding Dell's decision to acquire EMC for a record-breaking $67bn.
"HP is a great #VMware partner," said @Dell, just before he paused for a good few seconds and smirked, throwing some shade at the @HP CEO and immediately provoking laughs among the crowd.
"I don't have any other comments about that, but she got some of the facts wrong. We'll let the facts speak for themselves."






http://m.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2431302/michael-dell-says-hp-ceo-meg-whitman-has-her-facts-wrong-about-emc-buyout

Dell announces host of new services at Dell World 2015

#Dell has today announced several new services across several verticals, ahead of the official opening of its annual #DellWorld2015 conference.
The offerings include dedicated #IoT solutions for buildings and manufacturing, cloud client offerings and Big Data analytics capabilities.
In the IoT sphere, Dell revealed the new #EdgeGateway 5000 Series, its first purpose built IoT gateway for building and factory automation. It will, the company claimed, enable customers in the sector to make sense of the massive amounts of data created by sensors used in this field.
It uses local analytics and other middleware to receive, aggregate and analyse data, and then relay only the useful parts to the cloud or data centre using #DellStatistica data analytics, another new announcement today, thus minimizing bandwidth use.
Read more:  http://www.itpro.co.uk/strategy/25465/dell-announces-host-of-new-services-at-dell-world-2015

Dell announces new big data, analytics solutions

Enterprise networking vendor #Dell announced a series of new big data and analytics solutions and services.

The latest releases are #DellStatistica13.0 and new analytics-as-a-service offerings. Both are currently available worldwide. These offerings target multiple industry verticals such as banking, healthcare and insurance.

The company claimed that Statistica 13 helps to simplify and improve the process by which organizations deploy predictive models directly to data sources inside the firewall, in the cloud, and in partner ecosystems.

Dell Statistica 13 is an easy-to-use solution that requires no coding and integrates seamlessly with open source R.

Meanwhile, #DellAnalyticsasaService offerings help customers unearth insights, predict business outcomes, and improve the accuracy and efficiency of critical business processes.

http://www.infotechlead.com/networking/dell-announces-new-big-data-analytics-solutions-35617

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Not quite Facebook but need scale? Dell has a DSS server for you

#Dell has launched four specialised #DSS servers.In August Dell said it had found a new niche between ordinary scale data centres and the #hyperscalers like #Facebook, #eBay, #Amazon and their hyper-ilk. This not-quite-hyperscale customer base would be sold to by a new DSS organisation with its own special server-based products.

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/20/dell_dss_server_close_hyperscale/

We SC what you did there, Mikey: Dell emits top-end array, hyper-converged boxes

#Dell has launched a flagship #SC9000 #Compellent array plus a more powerful #XC #hyperconverged system. It comes just days after @MichaelDell launched a bid to buy #EMC, which involves overlapping #VNX array and #ScaleIO hyper-converged products.

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/20/dell_top_end_array_hyperconverged_appliances/

Solidfire enters ninth circle of Dell, emerges clutching new blueprints

#Solidfire has produced a networking-based reference architecture for #vSphere using #DellEnterprise kit.

The architecture combines various suppliers' components so resellers can put together a converged system with a single SKU – a single part number, in other words – for their customers. This should simplify the ordering, deployment and management of the IT gear. #NetApp and #Cisco 's #FlexPod set the stage for this style of tech buying, following on from #EMC, Cisco and #VMware 's #VCE -built #Vblocks.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/20/solidfire_dell_ref_architecture/

Lotus F1: 38°C? Sand in your Vblocks? Must be building a data center in Bahrain again

If you think your IT role is demanding, imagine needing to do a major install every couple of weeks. You only have a day to do it, you can't visit the site before, and it may be in incredibly hot, wet or dusty conditions. #lotus

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/20/lotus_f1_data_centre_and_telemetry/

Federal agent gets six years in prison for extorting bitcoins from Silk Road creator

A US federal agent placed on a #SilkRoad taskforce has been sentenced to more than six years in prison for illegally soliciting #Bitcoin payments during during his investigations. Former Drug Enforcement Administration agent Carl Force received $50,000 in Bitcoin from Silk Road's creator, Ross " #DreadPirateRoberts " Ulbricht, after posing as a drug dealer and convincing Ulbricht that he had information on the investigation into the #darkweb marketplace. Instead of reporting the payment to the #DEA, Force funneled the #digitalcurrency into his own personal accounts.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/20/9572923/federal-agent-six-years-prison-extorting-bitcoin

Virtual SAN Technical Deep Dive Thursday, October 22, 2015, 11:00AM PT / 2:00PM ET

Hyper-converged Infrastructure is taking the IT world by storm.  VMware Virtual SAN is leading that charge.  You might have already heard about what Virtual SAN is, but you might have questions around functionality, business benefits, features, use cases and more.  If so, this webcast is for you! 

https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=reg20.jsp&partnerref=UWsocial_CorpLinkedInPD&eventid=1050178&sessionid=1&key=EE5BAA2CB26AECA98CF71165BD4FEABB&regTag=&sourcepage=register 



Tune into #DellWorldLive October 20-22 to see two channels of simultaneous live streamed programming

#DellWorldLive is the communications hub in the Solutions Showcase for both live and virtual audiences. Tune into #DellWorldLive October 20-22 to see two channels of simultaneous live streamed programming ranging from thought leadership interviews, panel discussions, live customer case studies, demos and much more. Learn more about #DellWorldLive and view the full programming schedule below. -

https://livestream.com/Dell


Message from Michael Dell: Committed to VMware Independence and to Open Ecosystem

Given our recent announcement to acquire EMC, I thought it would be helpful to share some of my thoughts and intentions about VMware, and our plans following the close of the transaction.
Since I founded Dell more than 31 years ago, the company has been committed to a heterogeneous and open architecture that prioritizes customer choice first and foremost. We intend that once combined, Dell and EMC will continue to offer choice and multiple partner offerings as we always have and always will. 
VMware is an amazing company filled with very talented people creating innovative software and solutions that are leading the way in a cloud-based, connected world. It thrives on a vibrant ecosystem in its VMware Partner Network of OEM partners, Systems Integrators, Solution Providers, Resellers and of course hundreds of thousands of customers around the world.
We intend for VMware to remain an independent public company. Further, we believe it is very important to maintain VMware's successful business model supporting an open and independent ecosystem. We do not plan to do anything proprietary with VMware as regards Dell or EMC, nor place any limitations on VMware’s ability to partner with any other company.
Until the transaction closes, Dell and EMC will continue to operate as separate companies and compete in the marketplace.
Once the transaction closes, we plan to handle VMware the same way as EMC by keeping VMware independent, leaving VMware free to continue using its cash flow to invest in its business and to continue its committed relationships with its VMware Partner Network.  Lots of customers use VMware together with many other OEM products and solutions. VMware will remain committed to its partners and making it easy for customers to use its products on any hardware or platform that they desire.
VMware is a crown jewel of the EMC federation. Our intent is only to continue to help it thrive, innovate and grow, as an independent company with an independent and open ecosystem.
Best,
Michael 

Disclosure Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This communication contains forward-looking statements, which reflect Denali Holding Inc.’s current expectations. In some cases, you can identify these statements by such forward-looking words as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “confidence,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “should,” “will” and “would,” or similar expressions. Factors or risks that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results we anticipate include, but are not limited to: (i) the failure to consummate or delay in consummating the proposed transaction; (ii) the risk that a condition to closing of the proposed transaction may not be satisfied or that required financing for the proposed transaction may not be available or may be delayed; (iii) the risk that a regulatory approval that may be required for the proposed transaction is delayed, is not obtained, or is obtained subject to conditions that are not anticipated; (iv) risk as to the trading price of Class V Common Stock to be issued by Denali Holding Inc. in the proposed transaction relative to the trading price of shares of VMware, Inc. common stock; (v) the effect of the announcement of the proposed transaction on  Denali Holding Inc.’s relationships with its customers, operating results and business generally; and (vi) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions.  Denali Holding Inc. undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law.

Additional Information and Where to Find It
This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and otherwise in accordance with applicable law.  This communication is being made in respect of the proposed business combination transaction between EMC Corporation and Denali Holding Inc.  The proposed transaction will be submitted to the shareholders of EMC Corporation for their consideration. In connection with the issuance of Class V Common Stock of Denali Holding Inc. in the proposed transaction, Denali Holding Inc. will file with the SEC a Registration Statement on Form S-4 that will include a preliminary proxy statement/prospectus regarding the proposed transaction and each of Denali Holding Inc. and EMC Corporation plans to file with the SEC other documents regarding the proposed transaction.  After the registration statement has been declared effective by the SEC, a definitive proxy statement/prospectus will be mailed to each EMC Corporation shareholder entitled to vote at the special meeting in connection with the proposed transaction. INVESTORS ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND ANY OTHER DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE TRANSACTION FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY IF AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION.  Investors may obtain copies of the proxy statement/prospectus (when available) and all other documents filed with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction, free of charge, at the SEC's website (http://www.sec.gov) or from Denali Holding Inc.’s website (http://www.dell.com/futurereadydell).

Participants in the Solicitation
Denali Holding Inc. and certain of its directors and executive officers may be deemed to be “participants” in the solicitation of proxies from EMC Corporation shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction. Additional information regarding the persons who may, under the rules of the SEC, be deemed participants in the solicitation of EMC Corporation shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction and a description of their direct and indirect interest, by security holdings or otherwise, will be set forth in the proxy statement/prospectus filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction. 

http://en.community.dell.com/dell-blogs/direct2dell/b/direct2dell/archive/2015/10/19/message-from-michael-dell-committed-to-vmware-independence-and-to-open-ecosystem

Transition Networks Joins Dell Technology Partner Program

#TransitionNetworks Certifies PCI-Express Fast Ethernet Fiber Network Interface Cards with #Dell Workstation, Desktop & Server Platforms

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151019005329/en/Transition-Networks-Joins-Dell-Technology-Partner-Program

Cambridge graphene tech triggers electronics revolution - See more at: http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/news/manufacturing/cambridge-graphene-tech-triggers-electronics-revolution

A low-cost, high-speed method for #printingelectronics using #graphene and other conductive materials could open up a wide range of commercial applications. - See more at:

http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/news/manufacturing/cambridge-graphene-tech-triggers-electronics-revolution#sthash.x8KQXvrU.dpuf

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Could Scality gain scale from IBM buying Cleversafe?

Interview With #IBM buying #Cleversafe, one of the two leading object storage startups, and the other being #Scality, we asked @Scality CEO @JeromeLecat half a dozen questions about the potential impact of this acquisition

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/13/scality_could_gain_scale_from_ibm_buying_cleversafe/

Graphene Super Capacitors

Scientists have been struggling to develop energy storage solutions such as batteries and capacitors that can keep up with the current rate of electronic component evolution for a number of years. Unfortunately, the situation we are in now is that while we are able to store a large amount of energy in certain types of batteries, those batteries are very large, very heavy, and charge and release their energy relatively slowly. #Capacitors, on the other hand, are able to be charged and release energy very quickly, but can hold much less energy than a battery. #Graphene application developments though have lead to new possibilities for energy storage, with high charge and discharge rates, which can be made very cheaply.

https://youtu.be/Mno-XDP2o2c

Tactile Sensing System Based on Arrays of Graphene Woven Microfabrics: Electromechanical Behavior and Electronic Skin Application

#Nanomaterials serve as promising candidates for strain sensing due to unique electromechanical properties by appropriately assembling and tailoring their configurations. Through the crisscross interlacing of #graphenemicroribbons in an over-and-under fashion, the obtained #graphenewovenfabric ( #GWF ) indicates a good trade-off between sensitivity and stretchability compared with those in previous studies.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsnano.5b03851?journalCode=ancac3

Friday, October 16, 2015