Daniel P. Dern is an independent technology writer. His web site is www.dern.com and his technology blog is TryingTechnology.com.
Today’s CPUs, motherboards, even BIOS are improving virtualization performance.
Computer virtualization involves one or more virtual machines (VMs) emulating a hardware environment under a virtual machine monitor (VMM), a.k.a. hypervisor. It’s compute-intensive, to say the least. Modern computer virtualization began as software, but hardware is getting into the act – and, in the process, improving performance, including the number of VMs a host machine can run concurrently, and the effective cost per VM.
Faster, multi-core processors make a difference, of course. So does more RAM. But these aren’t enough. READ MORE
As if IT wasn’t already under pressure to cut or reduce costs wherever possible – without unduly impacting performance – the amount of data businesses generate keeps growing, along with the requirements to hang onto it.
The IT budget has to cover storing all kinds of data, including a growing amount that must be kept in a retrievable fashion for ad hoc use. While storage may appear to shrink in cost on a per-gigabyte basis, your enterprise must keep a lot more of that data around. It makes sense to look for ways to control, if not to reduce, storage costs. READ MORE
Many companies are offering video-based training to bring Windows 7 users up to speed. We compared several of the options — from free videos to corporate training tools — to find out whether you really can learn it all by watching.
While Windows 7 offers many improvements and new features (along with some things that not everybody may like), some things about Windows 7 are new and different. For example, as a Windows XP user I have to come up to speed with jump lists, pin lists, sticky notes, the screen-capture “Snipping Tool,” and Aero Shake. Nor am I the only one who needs to come up to speed quickly with new features in order to become productive. The computer users that your IT staff supports have the same challenge.
At minimum, users want to avoid losing productivity by fighting and cussing at things that no longer work as they used to, and the IT Help Desk would prefer users to get up to speed on their own. (Which is why IT Expert Voice has an entire screencast series called, “I know it’s in here somewhere.”)
There’s no shortage of training materials, ranging from books (some written by IT Expert Voice authors) to in-person classes. Microsoft has plenty of information within Windows 7, as well as on the Microsoft web site. There are thousands of magazine articles, and, no doubt, tens-to-hundreds of thousands of blog postings. READ MORE
Ideally, a tech certification demonstrates mastery of what the vendor feels is baseline amount of domain expertise. With the release of Windows 7, vendors are providing related IT certifications and a broad ecosystem of books, websites, and online, CD/DVD-based and live courses to help prepare IT professionals for the certification tests. READ MORE
The Star Wars movies aren’t the only media source from which IT management can glean key lessons regarding Windows 7 migration, adoption, management, and use. Here’s some other management lessons from authoritative science fiction books and movies, as well as comic books. You’ll find the sources and inspirations listed at the end. READ MORE
It’s been a while since the last time you had to orchestrate a major desktop upgrade. You may benefit from the cautionary advice from IT veterans who survived prior changes to a new operating system.
Have Dell contact you to learn more.
Dell has undergone a dramatic transformation through standardizing, simplifying, and automating much of its own ... Read More
With virtualization comes a simple, automated infrastructure that leads to a dynamic, efficient enterprise. Over the ... Read More
Moving from Windows XP or Windows Vista en masse to Windows 7 across the enterprise ... Read More
All the IT world is abuzz about moving services and software to the cloud. Every ... Read More
What has changed for the better and worse with Windows 7 when it comes to ... Read More
