Why Blade Servers Still Don't Cut It, and How They Might
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Sometimes, a good idea just doesn't take off. OK, this is information technology, not philosophy, so let me rephrase that more accurately. Sometimes, ideas and habits that were once laudable have an immense inertia that prevents a new and perhaps better idea from building momentum in the market; sometimes, a standard however begrudgingly adopted by IT vendors can overcome that inertia. Such is the case with the wonderful idea of blade servers. READ MORE >

Intel Keeps Both Arms Swinging with Xeons, Jabs with Itanium
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Since waking up after being asleep for enough years to let Advanced Micro Devices have the driver's seat in the X64 chip market, in terms of design elegance, the top brass at Intel have been espousing their so-called 'tick-tock' rhythm of process and microarchitecture developments for Xeon and Itanium server processors. Maybe 'left jab-right hook' would be a more accurate description, since Intel is in position to keep pounding on a substantially weakened AMD. READ MORE >

Microsoft Ponies Up Another $100 Million for Novell Linux
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Microsoft's Windows Server customers have not yet burned through all of the $240 million in certificates that allow them to get Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server operating system and a year's worth of tech support from Microsoft instead of buying it through Novell. These Windows-Linux shops apparently want to acquire extended service contracts for SLES, and that is why Microsoft has coughed up another $100 million check for Novell. READ MORE >

Mad Dog 21/21: Newtonian Economics
by Hesh Wiener

Isaac Newton's contributions to science and mathematics were monumental. They elevated English technology to a state of great prominence and helped usher in the Age of Enlightenment. More than three centuries later, every teenager studying science is taught classical mechanics, and Newton's principles provides food for thought in other disciplines, too. IBM's recent financial results, a sunny patch on a graying economic landscape, beg for analysis as well as praise, and Newton's laws might offer just the metaphorical basis required to examine Big Blue's blooming. READ MORE >