Managing servers and operating systems
Get our news and technical advice on datacentre infrastructure, including how to make server hardware choices, using server management tools and how to select operating systems to create an energy-efficient, low-cost data centre environment. We cover rack-mount servers, blade servers, mainframe and Unix servers, Windows Server, Red Hat Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, other operating systems and more.
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News
22 May 2025
How to tackle your infrastructure technical debt
Gartner analysts explain how infrastructure and operations teams can address the accumulation of outdated systems and make a compelling business case for upgrades Continue Reading
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News
21 May 2025
Red Hat touts OpenShift Virtualization momentum
Enterprises are increasingly adopting Red Hat’s OpenShift Virtualization, driven by Broadcom’s VMware licensing changes and a desire for a stable, AI-ready platform, company executives revealed at the Red Hat Summit this week Continue Reading
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News
12 Jan 2015
IT fails to get a grip on shadow applications
IT managers are unaware how much shadow IT is used by their business, the Cloud Security Alliance has warned Continue Reading
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Feature
06 Jan 2015
Microservices: How to prepare next-generation cloud applications
A microservice architecture promotes developing and deploying applications composed of autonomous, self-contained units Continue Reading
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News
30 Dec 2014
Case study: How VMware’s vCloud meets customer needs
Cloud innovation winner of the Computer Weekly European User Awards for datacentre/storage 2014, VMware, shares its story Continue Reading
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News
18 Dec 2014
CIO interview: Mercedes AMG Petronas IT director on the need for speed in IT
When Matt Harris became IT director for F1 team Mercedes AMG Petronas in 2009, IT costs needed to be slashed Continue Reading
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News
10 Dec 2014
Hero Group uses vMotion to replace SAN and servers with Nutanix
Baby food, fruit and cereal bar company Hero Group has migrated its Holland operations over to a single virtual platform Continue Reading
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News
02 Dec 2014
HP is ‘coming back strong’, says CEO Meg Whitman
At the HP Discover event in Barcelona, CEO Meg Whitman addressed the future for customers following HP's split into two businesses Continue Reading
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Feature
01 Dec 2014
Networking technologies emerging in the enterprise
We look at the latest networking technologies on offer, and those being adopted in the enterprise Continue Reading
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News
27 Nov 2014
How resilient is the public cloud?
The recent downtime that affected some Azure services following an update illustrates the precarious balance CIOs face in the cloud era Continue Reading
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News
14 Nov 2014
Amazon unveils Docker-friendly container service and EC2 instance
Amazon has launched its free, Docker-friendly EC2 container management service Continue Reading
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Feature
15 Oct 2014
Cloud, frozen pizza model and the immutable infrastructure
The architecture pattern for immutable infrastructure is based on the made-to-order pizza model Continue Reading
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News
10 Oct 2014
Symantec splits storage and security
Symantec is splitting its storage and security business, following just days after HP announced its split Continue Reading
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News
08 Oct 2014
The challenges facing HP as it splits in two
HP is splitting its business in two - but it is a reaction to the changing way that businesses and consumers buy IT Continue Reading
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News
29 Sep 2014
ARM enters mainstream datacentre with HP’s ProLiant Moonshot servers
ARM chips have entered mainstream enterprise datacentre with HP's production-ready ARM-powered Moonshot servers Continue Reading
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Feature
23 Sep 2014
Demystifying Kubernetes: the tool to manage Google-scale workloads in the cloud
We are witnessing a new technology wave in the form of immutable infrastructure and micro-services Continue Reading
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News
02 Sep 2014
Why bare metal cloud is in vogue
Bare metal services have been around since 2009 but cloud is witnessing renewed interest in it thanks to new offerings Continue Reading
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News
29 Aug 2014
Windows Server 2003 EOL: HP seeks to cash in as IBM-Lenovo deal yet to close
As enterprises look to refresh their infrastructure, HP is playing the stability card to win deals as IBM and Dell are mired by uncertainties Continue Reading
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News
11 Aug 2014
Intel watches ARM as low-powered computing thrives
As the PC market continues to decline, ARM is proving that non-x86 chips have a long and prosperous future Continue Reading
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News
31 Jul 2014
Bitcoin mining firm CoinTerra signs multi-megawatt datacentre deal
CoinTerra, the firm that provides the hardware and software that power the bitcoin blockchain ecosystem, signs a multi-megawatt datacentre deal Continue Reading
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News
31 Jul 2014
£700m government hosting deal limits bidders to North-East England datacentre
Want to win the £700m Crown Hosting Service contract? You'll need a major datacentre near Newcastle to stand any chance Continue Reading
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News
15 Jul 2014
Diageo puts ServiceNow fizz in IT service desk
Diageo has gone live with an implementation of ServiceNow to automate IT services as part of a global transformation Continue Reading
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News
11 Jun 2014
Datacentre spending shifts to Europe as buyers focus on low-cost servers
Server manufacturers made 20% less in sales in the first quarter of 2014, compared with the fourth quarter of 2013 Continue Reading
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News
09 Jun 2014
Home Secretary Theresa May unveils datacentre in Maidenhead
Home Secretary Theresa May has opened a multi-million-pound extended datacentre, owned by UK cloud firm iomart Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Jun 2014
Will silicon photonics replace copper cabling in mainstream datacentres?
Silicon photonics can increase bandwidth in servers, improve data transfer speeds and reduce complexity. But are datacentres ready for it? Continue Reading
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News
29 May 2014
BSkyB retunes IT to ready-for-anything datacentre quad
British broadcaster BSkyB has based its IT on four core datacentres that are resilient, interconnected, energy-efficient and cloud-ready Continue Reading
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News
19 May 2014
SAP certifies core business apps to run on Microsoft Azure
From June, users of SAP Business Suite software, Business All-In-One solution, SAP Mobile Platform, SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise and Hana platform will be able to run them on Azure Continue Reading
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News
28 Apr 2014
US judge orders Microsoft to hand over email data held in Dublin
A US Judge has ordered Microsoft to give the District Court access to the contents of one of its customer’s emails stored on a server located in Dublin Continue Reading
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News
17 Apr 2014
Datacentre lessons learnt from Heartbleed bug
The Heartbleed bug, an OpenSSL flaw affecting millions of websites, has some lessons for datacentre providers and operators Continue Reading
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News
15 Apr 2014
EU data privacy authorities approve Microsoft Azure, Office 365 cloud services
The European Union's data privacy authorities have given approval to Microsoft's cloud services including Windows Azure and Office 365 Continue Reading
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News
10 Apr 2014
BT and Microsoft to offer secure fast lane to Azure cloud
Microsoft’s UK cloud chief hails service as critical step in supporting CEO Satya Nadella’s ambitious plans for global cloud dominance Continue Reading
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Feature
28 Mar 2014
Can the mainframe remain relevant in the cloud and mobile era?
IBM mainframes run more than 1.1m transactions per second, yet the mainframe has remained largely unfashionable. We investigate Continue Reading
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News
19 Mar 2014
Oracle finally sees revenue growth from hardware business
Oracle has finally seen a boost from its server business, with hardware sales up 8% in its latest financial results Continue Reading
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Feature
19 Mar 2014
Case study: How John Lewis conquered the web
An in-depth look at the inside story of John Lewis' £40m e-commerce strategy. Continue Reading
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News
18 Mar 2014
Oracle pushes Exadata servers aggressively against IBM PureSystems
IDC’s latest market share data for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), has shown that Oracle is beginning to grow its server business Continue Reading
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News
18 Mar 2014
Global taskforce agrees on green datacentre metric
DCeP hopes to win widespread support as a useful and meaningful standard for measuring datacentre efficiency Continue Reading
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News
24 Feb 2014
Case study: Virtualised storage adds value to Denmark's tunnel vision
State construction firm Femern selects DataCore system to help speed up Fehmarnbelt undersea odyssey and keep the sharks at bay Continue Reading
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Photo Story
18 Feb 2014
UK IT spending to outpace rest of Europe in 2014
Computer Weekly research reveals the IT spending priorities for UK and European organisations in 2014. Continue Reading
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Feature
18 Feb 2014
The UK’s problem with power
Datacentre power buyers say Britain’s deregulated energy market is as complex as trading in derivatives Continue Reading
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News
11 Feb 2014
Schneider accreditation aims to boost green datacentre skills
Datacentre supplier offers free vendor-neutral courses and certification through its online Energy University Continue Reading
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News
07 Feb 2014
Amazon nets lion’s share of $10bn public cloud market
AWS continues its unassailable domination of the sector, despite recent moves by Google, IBM and Microsoft Continue Reading
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E-Zine
04 Feb 2014
IT budgets bounce back from recession
In this issue of CW Europe find out how businesses across the region plan to use their IT budgets throughout 2014. Continue Reading
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News
31 Jan 2014
WIll open source save the datacentre industry?
IT rivals stand cheek-by-jowl to praise Facebook’s Open Compute Project, but is the love-in a Damascene conversion or just damage limitation? Continue Reading
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News
29 Jan 2014
Microsoft joins Open Compute Project
Redmond giant makes server specs public in bid to influence future datacentre design Continue Reading
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News
20 Jan 2014
IBM to open London datacentre as part of $1.2bn global cloud push
New facility first in UK to be based on IBM SoftLayer cloud architecture Continue Reading
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E-Zine
20 Jan 2014
The IT risks facing Universal Credit
In this week’s Computer Weekly, we examine the ongoing IT risks facing the UK government’s highest-profile IT project – the troubled Universal Credit programme to reform the UK’s welfare system. We talk to IT leaders to find out their spending priorities for 2014 and how their IT budgets are shaping up. The digital chief at BBC Worldwide talks about managing technology innovation. And we find out about the latest best practice in improving datacentre performance. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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News
03 Dec 2013
Virtualisation continues to drive European server purchases
TechTarget survey finds 97.3% of large organisations plan to expand their deployments in 2014, with consolidation the main driver Continue Reading
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Opinion
02 Dec 2013
Intel x86 and IBM Power CPUs: Which, when, why?
There are only three processors left in the market for mission-critical applications. Which should you chose ? Continue Reading
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News
11 Nov 2013
Fear of cloud servers fading fast among UK firms
Research shows traditionally risk-averse UK firms are being persuaded by the benefits of co-location, with more than 20% of servers now outsourced Continue Reading
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News
04 Nov 2013
Crown Hosting Service to save £530m from government IT bill by 2018
Government Digital Service to establish new Crown Hosting Service to consolidate hosting across Whitehall, saving £530m per year by 2018 Continue Reading
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E-Zine
04 Nov 2013
Windows Server 2012 R2 reviewed
In this week’s Computer Weekly, we look at the latest release of Microsoft’s market-leading Windows Server 2012 software, and assess its new features for improved cloud, virtualisation and device management. We visit Chinese networking giant Huawei to hear about its UK growth and how it hopes to tackle its business challenges over US security. And we look at the best ways to obtain financing for new IT purchases. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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News
25 Oct 2013
Fulham football club address skills shortfall with cloud database
Fulham football club’s IT team moves its database infrastructure to the cloud with a database as a service implementation Continue Reading
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Photo Story
22 Oct 2013
Best of VMworld Europe User Awards 2013 winners
The Best of VMworld Europe User Awards 2013 winners have been revealed. View pictures of the awards ceremony at VMworld Europe in Barcelona. Continue Reading
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News
10 Sep 2013
Key legal and commercial issues with data centre services
This briefing from law-firm DLA Piper looks at the main types of data centre services that are available on the market, common pitfalls and key legal and commercial issues to consider. Continue Reading
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News
27 Aug 2013
Navigating your Future within an SOA information manufacturing system
As the IT industry reaches maturity, IT departments should think of themselves not as data centres but as manufacturing centres for information. Terry Keene argues in this short e-book. Continue Reading
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News
06 Aug 2013
Datacentres are a key focus for government’s Green ICT Delivery Unit
With the growing use of online services for government transactions, datacentres are a key focus of the government’s green IT strategy Continue Reading
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News
29 May 2013
AMD launches low-power server processors to rival Intel's Atom
AMD has launched Opteron X-Series low-power server processors that it claims “beat the top-performing Intel Atom processor” Continue Reading
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Opinion
25 Mar 2013
Securing the hypervisor: expert tips
There are many potential security issues with the various components of a virtualised infrastructure, and nowhere is this more of a concern than with the hypervisor platforms that host virtual systems and application instances Continue Reading
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News
18 Mar 2013
FM, IT and Data Centres
Are Facilities and IT data centre managers implacable enemies, or is it a case of different work priorities, asks analyst Clive Longbottom. Continue Reading
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News
22 Feb 2013
Tesco to host private cloud infrastructure within its internal datacentres
Tesco will run a private cloud infrastructure from its internal datacentre to host its website and retail related apps Continue Reading
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News
20 Feb 2013
British businesses are not making most of the cloud, study shows
British businesses have yet to make the most of cloud computing services because many are hesitant to adopt it Continue Reading
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Feature
18 Feb 2013
Top technologies that can make your datacentre green
Energy-efficient technologies that can reduce running costs in the datacentre and across the business Continue Reading
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News
08 Feb 2013
2e2 datacentre administrators hold customers' data to £1m ransom
Administrators of insolvent datacentre services provider 2e2 have asked customers for £1m in funding if they want uninterrupted services Continue Reading
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News
31 Jan 2013
Capacity management most underestimated cloud problem
Capacity management is the most underestimated problem of cloud computing, says Morgan Stanley strategy director Evangelos Kotsovinos Continue Reading
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News
31 Jan 2013
Case study: Menzies Aviation upgrades in-house datacentre
Menzies Aviation has updated its three internal datacentres with new servers, storage and cooling products rather than invest in cloud computing Continue Reading
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News
28 Jan 2013
Enterprises bringing data back in-house for more flexibility, shows study
European enterprises are improving their internal datacentres and storing data in-house rather than on the external cloud Continue Reading
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News
28 Jan 2013
Travel service provider Concur builds datacentres in Europe to support growth
Integrated travel and expenses service provider, Concur Technologies, has built colocation datacentres to cater to European customers Continue Reading
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News
06 Dec 2012
Case Study: Tesco's £65 million data centre strategy to drive online growth
This Computer Weekly case study, packed with photographs and data, gives the inside story of Tesco's £65 million data centre strategy. Continue Reading
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News
06 Dec 2012
VMWorld Case Study: Catalent Pharma Solutions
A robust virtulisation, back-up and disaster recovery plan, helped Catalent Pharma Solutions survive an earthquake, tsunami and a fire in 2011. Continue Reading
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News
05 Nov 2012
VMworld Europe 2012 User Awards Tiger Wheel and Tyre
Case Study: Tyre company innovates with back-up and replication in a virtualised IT estate Using virtualisation as a cost-effective alternative to refreshing an ageing physical server environment has helped tyre company Tiger Wheel and Tyre improve its R&D. The project has also enabled the team to future-proof its infrastructure and embrace new trends such as bring your own device (BYOD) to give the business a competitive edge. Continue Reading
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News
24 Oct 2012
CIO interview: Gerry Pennell, CIO, London 2012 Olympic Games
As the job of a lifetime nears its end, London 2012 CIO Gerry Pennell talks exclusively to Computer Weekly about his Olympic experience Continue Reading
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News
22 Oct 2012
RBS spends £80m to link its multiple mainframes better
The Royal Bank of Scotland will dedicate £80m of its massive IT budget to eliminate problems caused by its mainframe infrastructure Continue Reading
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News
18 Oct 2012
Google offers Street View of datacentres
Google offers Street View of its datacentres and a virtual tour of how users' data is stored, with an emphasis on security practices Continue Reading
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News
10 Oct 2012
VMworld Europe: Horizon Suite to help IT manage corporate assets on Apple iOS
VMware is launching a suite of products to help IT executives manage workspace apps on consumers’ mobile devices including on Apple iPhones securely Continue Reading
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News
10 Oct 2012
VMworld Europe 2012 kicks off in Barcelona
VMworld Europe 2012 opens with updates from VMware on the cloud and new management suites Continue Reading
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Photo Story
10 Oct 2012
Best of VMworld Europe User Awards 2012: Winners
The winners of the Best of VMworld Europe User Awards 2012 have been announced. Find all the pics from the awards here and details of the winning projects. Continue Reading
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News
10 Oct 2012
Complex and non-transparent Oracle licensing costing firms millions
Companies virtualising Oracle databases with VMware platforms face millions in penalties over non-compliance Continue Reading
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News
09 Oct 2012
Case study: How to virtualise SAP and migrate from IBM onto x86
At VMworld Europe Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores gave an overview of how it virtualised an SAP environment and migrated from an IBM mainframe to x86 Continue Reading
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News
28 Sep 2012
Google opens €75m energy-efficient datacentre facility in Dublin
Google’s new €75m Dublin datacentre facility that that uses air-cooling for energy efficency is now operational Continue Reading
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News
21 Sep 2012
Facebook engineer builds heatmap tool for datacentre troubleshooting
A Facebook engineer has built a server-monitoring tool using heatmaps to assess the status of cache systems and fix datacentre problems Continue Reading
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News
02 Jul 2012
Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V: What features get users' thumbs up
Admins who have downloaded Windows Server 2012 RC give thumbs up to the new version of Hyper-V, inclusion of high-end features in free Hyper-V, and shared nothing live migration. Continue Reading
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News
07 Jun 2012
Microsoft launches support for Linux on Windows Azure
Microsoft’s cloud platform Windows Azure now supports Linux-based operating systems and languages such as Python and PHP. It includes IaaS capabilities to build hybrid cloud. Continue Reading
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News
23 May 2012
Microsoft volume licensing costs to increase up to 33.5%
Microsoft will increase its volume licensing prices in the UK between 7.5% and 33.5% starting July 1 to maintain price consistency owing to the sustained currency difference in Europe. Continue Reading
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Tip
22 Mar 2012
Troubleshooting bogus vCenter icons in VMware vSphere 5
The new vCenter icons that VMware introduced in vSphere 5 are buggy and issue false alarms. Here are some workarounds until the vendor issues a fix. Continue Reading
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Tip
02 Feb 2012
How IT can convince stakeholders of the value of technology projects
IT professionals must take data centre measures to convince stakeholders of the business value of technology projects. This will help IT emerge as a valuable business resource. Continue Reading
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News
19 Dec 2011
Virtualisation technologies: hits and misses of 2011
Amid a slew of virtualisation products and management suites that emerged in 2011, some products such as Spring platform impressed users, while others such as VMware MVP didn’t. Continue Reading
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News
07 Dec 2011
VMware vSphere 5 uptake slow among users
VMware vSphere 5 boasts of cloud-based features and monster VMs, but its uptake is lagging because of user satisfaction with vSphere 4. Continue Reading
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Tip
14 Nov 2011
How to manage transient data and replication
Transient data can be tricky to manage, and best practice tips outlined by vendors may have limitations. But there is an easier way out. Continue Reading
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News
27 Oct 2011
VMware-based server consolidation yields long-term savings
Avis achieved long-term cost savings and efficiencies with a VMware-based server consolidation. Its transformation won the Best Virtualisation and Server Consolidation Project award at VMworld Europe. Continue Reading
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Feature
04 Oct 2011
Bombay Stock Exchange’s server consolidation journey
BSE recently consolidated its servers and began its cloud computing journey. Find out more about BSE’s server consolidation initiative in this case study. Continue Reading
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News
18 Aug 2011
Citrix buys RingCube for desktop personalisation: News in brief
Citrix has acquired RingCube, a desktop personalisation software provider, for an undisclosed sum. Citrix will add RingCube’s capabilities to its XenDesktop platform. Continue Reading
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Tip
12 Jul 2011
Building the business case for a server refresh
As IT managers consider a server refresh, they need to create a solid business case for replacing hardware. Here’s how to garner support for the project. Continue Reading