Jeff Burt

The worldwide semiconductor equipment market will see a 42.6 percent decline in spending this year, compared with 2008, according to research firm Gartner. However, the upside is that the market is finding itself in the middle of a significant growth spurt, and projections for 2010 are for a jump in spending of 45.3 percent, according […]

Now that’s the way Cisco Systems likes its acquisitions to go. Starent Networks, which makes infrastructure products for wireless service providers such as AT&T and Verizon, announced that shareholders had at a special meeting Dec. 11 in Boston approved the proposed $2.9 billion acquisition by Cisco. The deal, which still has to get approval from […]

In the increasingly competitive world of converged data center solutions, Dell is trying to separate itself from Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard by being what officials are saying is the open alternative. In rolling out new management and networking solutions at an event in San Francisco Dec. 10, Dell officials attacked the offerings of its competitors […]

Intel’s dumping of the first-generation “Larrabee” GPU has touched off a debate on whether the giant chip maker will buy rival Nvidia to get itself back into the graphics processor game. Intel officials Dec. 4 announced that they were shelving its first GPGPU due to development issues. The chip, first discussed in 2007, had been […]

Dell is building out its converged data center vision with new infrastructure management software and 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity to its server and storage offerings. Dell entered the burgeoning unified data center space in September, announcing partnerships with networking vendor Brocade Communications Systems and Scalent Systems, which makes automation software. Dell on Dec. 10 unveiled […]

Wanova has released the beta of its Mirage desktop virtualization software, which is designed to give users a complete PC experience while enabling businesses to manage the environment from a central location. Mirage, which Wanova calls DDV (Distributed Desktop Virtualization) software, is designed to help organizations more easily manage their virtual desktop environments while allowing […]

IBM is growing its presence in Asia with the two new cloud computing centers and a cloud computing laboratory in Hong Kong. The new facilities, announced Dec. 10, are being driven by demand from the region for more sophisticated computing services, according to IBM. The vendor is breaking ground Dec. 11 on a new “smart […]

A new industry coalition comprising the likes of Cisco Systems, IBM, EMC and Microsoft will try to remove some of the key barriers for enterprises looking to embrace cloud computing. At the Management World Americas conference in Orlando, Fla., Dec. 8, the industry group TM Forum announced the creation of the ECBC (Enterprise Cloud Buyers […]

Cisco Systems and British Telecom are creating a cloud-based service to offer businesses hosted unified communications services. The goal of the partnership, announced Dec. 9, is to enable cash-strapped companies in a difficult economy a way to take advantage of the benefits of UC without having the extensive upfront capital costs of installing the applications […]

IBM is continuing to push its mainframes as alternatives to large clusters of virtualized x86 servers. The company is rolling out two new Linux mainframes aimed at large-scale consolidation projects, as well as new software and services packages to help enterprises more easily manage their customer data. The offerings, announced Dec. 8, come at a […]

The IP telephony space grew almost 10 percent in the third quarter, driven in part by investments service providers have made in their infrastructure, according to market research firm Dell’Oro Group. The market grew to $782 million in the quarter as the service providers invested in such offerings as VOIP (voice-over IP) for businesses, Dell’Oro […]

Intel, AMD, IBM Boosting Chip Core Count by Jeffrey Burt Intel Single-Chip Cloud Computer Intel officials say their 48-core processor will greatly improve the performance and energy efficiency of future data centers. The chip can run at as low as 25 watts. Intel ‘Nehalem EX’ Intel officials say the eight-core Nehalem EX processor, for servers […]