The System iWant, 2010 Edition: Big Boxes
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

With the Power7 processors not expected until later this year, now is as good a time as any to think about what these boxes might look like. In the past several months, I have walked you through all of the details I could find about the upcoming Power7 processors and the very sparse technical details about the servers that will make use of them. In the absence of real data, it is always a good idea to do a thought experiment about what these machines should look like to compare and contrast them with the Power Systems that IBM eventually does deliver and the competitive landscape into which they are launched. READ MORE >

Analysts Bid Good Riddance to IT Recession
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The long line of IT analysts and market researchers who want to say good riddance to the IT recession that has been under way since early 2008 has begun to form, and Computer Economics and Forrester Research are at the front of the line making their prognostications. While the IT spending environment seems to have brightened, it is going to be a while, it seems, before we return to anything like normal--if late 2007 and early 2008 were normal. READ MORE >

Microsoft, HP Talk Up Frontline Integrated Systems
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Everybody wants to have an AS/400 to sell--except, perhaps, IBM. I mean a conceptual AS/400, of course, not literally a machine running OS/400, DB2/400, and RPG/400. Last week, to some fanfare and more than a little confusion, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft said they would be tag teaming to create an integrated set of IT systems under a partnership called Frontline. READ MORE >

Mad Dog 21/21: Orwell's Flat
by Hesh Wiener

Last week, speaking at Chatham House in London, IBM's chairman Sam Palmisano urged his audience to build what he calls a 'smarter planet' right now. This will be quite a job, so big that when IBM published its official version of the Chatham House transcript of Palmisano's presentation, the corporation called its document Welcome to the Decade of Smart. In his talk, Palmisano welcomed the wired up Internet of Things, but noted that a wired world has its risks, too. READ MORE >