This Old Data Center By Bruce Boardman, Sean Doherty, Curtis Franklin Jr., Don MacVittie and Tim Wilson
Our technology experts like to be where the IT hammer meets the nail, so five of them signed on to gather the know-how you need to get your data center in shape to meet current and future demands. We found that as new technologies like blade servers, iSCSI, 10 Gig Ethernet and storage virtualiza-tion become more prominent, HVAC, space and electrical re-quirements will demand your attention, because the heat's on.
Review: Network Device Configuration Management Products By Bruce Boardman
We reviwed three products offering configuration management of network devices and servers. Overall, we were impressed at how far network device configuration management products have come. But we awarded our Editor's Choice to the one that's ideal for shops that want to improve change control and implement best practices.
On Location: Chicago Tribune: Server Consolidation By Tim Wilson
In this "On Location" follow-up, we revisit the Chicago newspaper to find its data-center upgrade and consolidation project has brought them considerable cost savings.
An Interview With John Chambers By Rob Preston and Fritz Nelson
Cisco's CEO sizes up the competition (present and future) and looks ahead to the company's next big technology thrust.
Workshops
Workshop: How to Build a 911-Style Data Center By Jonathan Feldman
Take a lesson from the way emergency response data centers are built out. Well-structured wiring can increase your uptime, and it's cheaper to do it right the first time.
Buyer's Guide: Data Center Racks By Don MacVittie
With space at a premium while demand for sophisticated data centers grows, some vendors are offering alternatives.
Sneak Previews
AMD's Opteron Dual-Core Processors By Steven Hill
Computationally intense applications find a friend in AMD's latest Opteron chips, with their super-fast processing speed and multiplatform support.
Veritas Software's HA Solaris 4.1 By Christopher T. Beers
Disaster recovery for Solaris shops is a snap with Veritas Storage Foundation's HA Solaris 4.1. Cluster set up is simple, and support for Solaris containers rounds out this product.
By Lee Badman By Lee Badman
We tested Peribit's SM-250 and discovered how to get more out of diminutive WAN pipes.
Yosemite Technologies' Yosemite Backup Advanced 8.0 By Don MacVittie
Enterprise-ready Yosemite Backup Advanced 8.0 promises to support VTL, all kinds of back-up devices and disk-to-disk backups. We put it to the test.
QLogic's SANBox 5602 By Don MacVittie
We tested QLogic's 4-gig SANBox 5602 16-port switch in our Green Bay, Wis., Real-World Labs and found that despite its enterprise-class features and easy setup, this switch could use more ports.
SMC's TigerSwitch 6752AL2 By Sean Doherty
SMC's new 6752AL2 TigerSwitch is port-rich and dirt-cheap. If you are looking to keep a department or workgroup well connected, the switch has an excellent price point ($18 per port), good connectivity and plenty of management options. But you'll have to dig deeper into your pocket if you want impeccable performance and picture-perfect management, according to our tests.
Departments
Last Mile Edited By Tim Wilson and Tom LaSusa
Chuckle at the Top 11 reasons you don't want Bob Vila working in your IT department, the "do-it-yourself" hacker, and making your own Last Mile item.
Quick Takes Edited By Patricia Thomas
In this edition we look at F5 Networks' Big-IP Application Accelerator 3400, WiredRed Software's e/pop Web Conferencing and Avocent Corp.'s DSView 3.
Columns
The Dynamic Data Center: Drivers Wanted By Richard J. Brown
It takes more than fancy facilities with high-tech bells and whistles to make a data center truly dynamic. A knowledgeable, adaptable staff must be hired and kept trained and motivated.
REPORTS
Analyize In-Line NAC strategies and products.
ANALYTICS Plan and design your enterprise blade server deployments
2009 IT Salary Survey: Meager Raises, Solid Prospects
Though raises are notably smaller than a year ago, and job security’s shrinking, IT careers are looking safer than many others in this economic downturn. Get all the findings in InformationWeek's 2009 IT Salary Survey. Available FREE for a limited time.
REPORTS
ANALYTICS
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