Darryl K. Taft

Nine Reasons Linux Rules the Supercomputing Space by Darryl K. Taft History of Linux on Supercomputers In 1994, the first Beowulf Cluster was built at NASA, using Linux, as an alternative to the very expensive HPC supercomputers. “Beowulf Clusters are scalable performance clusters based on commodity hardware, on a private system network, with open-source software […]

IBM has created a new position, Chief Accessibility Officer (CAO), aimed at redefining accessibility for users and ensuring that all users can have access to technology. Big Blue appointed Frances West as the company’s first Chief Accessibility Officer. In this new role, West will guide IBM accessibility policies and practices. Additionally, she will lead IBM’s […]

The W3C has launched a new Social Activity to develop standards to make it easier to build and integrate social applications with the Open Web Platform. According to the W3C, future standards—including vocabularies for social applications, activity streams, embedded experiences and in-context actions, and protocols to federate social information such as status updates—will address use […]

Scenes From Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference 2014 by Darryl K. Taft Welcome to Washington Microsoft welcomes thousands of its partners to Washington, D.C., for the company’s Worldwide Partner Conference. Microsoft Logo Microsoft sets up shop in the nation’s capital, planting life-size representations of its logo inside the Washington convention center. Phil Sorgen Welcomes Partners to […]

For its second quarter of 2014, IBM saw an improvement over previous recent quarters with better-than-expected net income of $4.1 billion on revenues of $24.4 billion. Indeed, the second-quarter net income of $4.1 billion is a 28 percent increase over the $3.2 billion the company made in the second quarter of last year, while total […]

Seven Steps to an Effective IT Service Management Strategy by Darryl K. Taft Use Proven Standards There are many sources of proven best practices CIOs can use to build an ITSM strategy. The two primary sources are Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), which focuses on aligning the needs of the business with IT services, and […]

IBM’s enterprise mobility deal with Apple is a move that takes Big Blue’s MobileFirst strategy to a much higher level. MobileFirst, which has been described by eWEEK as ingenious because it extends IBM’s strengths of providing services and middleware together with back-end support while ignoring the consumer-side handset battles, is the perfect complement to Apple’s […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — INSTEON, a provider of home automation and control technology, is continuing to augment the capabilities of its Windows 8.1 Phone app by integrating Microsoft’s Cortana technology with its home automation solutions. Cortana, Microsoft’s proactive digital assistant, will enable users to control INSTEON smart products and monitor the home by just speaking to […]

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Microsoft is relying on and working with developer partners to bring new, innovative technology to support the company’s new mobile-first, cloud-first strategy. At the company’s Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) 2014 here, Microsoft launched a new Vertical ISV Partnership Program (VIPP) for partners and also announced how several key partners are using Microsoft technology to […]

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Trend Micro, a provider of security software and solutions, announced new and enhanced security capabilities for Microsoft Office 365. The company’s announcement comes a day after Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner emphasized security as a new area of focus for Microsoft to key on with partners. Speaking at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference […]