Data Center Strategies for the CIO
There’s no doubt that 2011 was a busy year for many of us. It was also a busy year for some of the big names in the data center industry. It seemed like each week brought a new product announcement or a game-changing move. In just a few months, for example, Hewlett-Packard Co. acquired a multi-billion dollar software company, announced it would drop its PC business, dumped its CEO and then did a complete reversal on the PC issue. We’ve also reported on some inside stories that might have otherwise flew under the radar, including Oracle’s “hardware problem,” and the potential impact of the cloud on data center providers. If you’ve missed any of these events, now is a great time to catch up on the top news from 2011.
Oracle:
We have a hardware problem
Happy talk aside, slumping Sun server sales spooked the software superpower in mid-April.
The worry over server sales even caught the attention of CEO Mark Hurd, who was reportedly
rethinking the company’s strategy to focus on high-end machines instead of commodity servers.
Oracle
pitches cut-rate Exadata hardware to boost sales
To make up for slow sales, Oracle decided to offer deep discounts on Exadata
hardware. However, the company found out those data center appliances were still a tough sell with
disaffected Sun-Oracle shops.
Is
IBM next on Oracle's hit list?
Now that Oracle has discontinued HP Integrity systems, it set the stage
for discontinuing development on other platforms, such as IBM Power Systems. Learn what
IT pros think about the move and whether other platforms are on the chopping block.
HP
vs. Cisco hardware battle yields deep discounts for IT shops
The Cisco vs. HP battle over data center hardware deals heated up
in July, resulting in huge discounts on high-end IT hardware for smart data center
pros that were able to take advantage of the slashed prices.
HP
shops explore Oracle exit strategies
IT shops running Oracle databases and apps atop
Itanium-based HP Integrity servers had nothing but bad choices and hard decisions to make
after Oracle said it would end software development for the Intel Itanium chips.
VMware
vSphere 5 pits scale-up against scale-out
With VMware's new licensing scheme, which calls for charging for memory
utilization caused a stir among users in late July. Now, IT pros are asking whether it is better to
buy one big box or two smaller ones.
Cisco
UCS moves away from virtualization roots
Cisco’s expansion of its Unified Computing System platform to cater to bare metal workloads
meant an expanded market for Cisco – but new worries about whether it could mean a shift in
focus away from service providers and virtualization.
Cisco
takes bite out of HP, IBM blade server share
Research shows Cisco gaining market share with its
UCS servers at the expense of other server manufacturers. So what does the growing
success of the UCS line mean for server giants HP and IBM?
HP
desktop changes rile data center pros
Nearly everyone heard about HP’s idea to spin off its PC business, but what would that mean
for organizations using HP servers? Find out why some IT pros fear an HP without PCs could disrupt
their data centers.
Are
data center providers in trouble?
A paradigm shift toward the cloud means promising prospects for cloud providers, but may be
harsh on facilities providers and other IT outsourcing businesses that don’t follow the
market.
This was first published in December 2011
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