Enterprise Server Strategies for the CIOAs you wind down another week, catch up on the server-related news you may have missed, including details on Windows' new Chef support, a discussion of XP's past (and short future), and perspective on how HP could shake up the server processor market.
Windows environments welcome Chef
Can you smell what OpsCode is cooking? If you're working in a Windows environment, now you can
– the company's open source cloud configuration and automation framework, Chef, is now available
for Windows administrators. With the update, Chef can now be applied to PowerShell, Internet
Information Services, SQL Server and other components,
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according to GigaOm. Interested?
The Register runs down the various licensing
options, including Hosted Chef (the SaaS version) and Private Chef, which runs in an
enterprise's data center. Can either really make IT admin sexy, as Wired
suggests? Only time will tell.More on cloud automation: IT shops try new tools to up server-to-admin ratios
Windows XP "celebrates" 10 years
IT shops probably aren't throwing parties in honor of Microsoft's "most enduring enterprise OS
to date" (InformationWeek) ,
probably because they're too busy figuring out how to upgrade their systems before the product is
officially retired in April 2014. Still, many outlets have taken a look back this week, to try and
understand XP's success since first launching on October 25, 2001. WinSuperSite's Paul Thurrott
offers photos
from that fateful day; Wired Enterprise notes that the original ads for the software
actually predicted the future of computing; BetaNews explores how
the product improved over the last decade; and ComputerWorld questions whether we're even celebrating the right
date.
More on XP: Options
for Windows XP's end of life, Is
now the time to upgrade?
HP to ARM its servers
The ARM-Intel battle is heating up, as Bloomberg reports that HP
is partnering with the ARM-owned Calxeda to build chips for its servers, entering a $9 billion
market that until now has been dominated by Intel. The move could mean increased support for
virtualized servers, as the next ARM processors, A7 and A15, will be optimized for virtualization –
meaning HP could be improving its position in the IT market.
More: HP
risks fading fortunes as a top IT supplier
HP backtracks, keeps PC business
Newly appointed CEO Meg Whitman took our
advice and reversed Hewlett-Packard's decision to spin off the PC business, saying this
week it will keep it will hold on to its $40 billion business for the long term. In a press
release issued by the company, Whitman said, "HP is committed to [its Personal Systems Group], and
together we are stronger." On a conference call this week Whitman said that while the company is on
track to deliver a product in the Windows 8 tablet category when Micrsoft ships the OS, no decision has been
made about its line of WebOS devices, which it began selling this year following the acquisition of
Palm. Could we see a reemergence of the HP tablet at CES in January?
More: A look
back at HP's PC fiasco
Azure storage gets cheaper
Microsoft announced Thursday that the price
of Windows Azure Storage will be lowered from $0.15 to $0.14 per GB per month, effective
immediately for all existing customers. There will also be commitment discounts for high-volume
customers using more than 1 TB of storage per month.
More on Windows Azure: Azure
and Windows Server 8, Making
sense of the VM role
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