The IBM PC Turns 30
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The data center started getting diverse in the late 1970s and has been increasingly heterogeneous for decades. And as the IBM PC turns 30, it is not just ironic, but expected, that the proliferation of processors of all types fronted by pretty little screens and wireless communication chips have not only made our personal computers more numerous, they have put the desktop back in its place: in the office or home office. Toss in compute and storage clouds and we can say that we have finally entered the era of personal computing. READ MORE >

Proprietary Machines Prop Up Avnet, Arrow Server Sales
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The hardware refresh cycle in the wake of the Great Recession and acquisitions have been good for the two master resellers of IT gear, Avnet and Arrow Electronics. Both companies did well in their most recent quarters, but also expressed some concern about downstream customers made jumpy and cautious about a jittery global economy. READ MORE >

Resurrect Dead Blue Waters Power7 Supercomputer As IBM iCloud
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

You need a supercomputer to predict the future, and unfortunately when you are trying to predict the kind of supercomputer you might need to build the supercomputer to predict that future, you can't have as much knowledge of the future to easily make the predictions. And therefore, sometimes a supercomputer project backed by governments and key IT players gets taken out behind the barn and given the Old Yeller treatment. READ MORE >

As I See It: Piling On
by Victor Rozek

There's a phenomenon that takes place in extreme mountaineering that is perhaps illustrative of human nature. Teams ascending the highest peaks like Everest and K2 will often come upon a solo climber from another group who is clearly in trouble and in imminent danger of death. The nearer the summit, the more likely that person will be left behind. READ MORE >