• For 2012, power-efficient servers could get a shot in the ARM

  In 2012 a fundamental change in server architecture could be on tap as companies look to cut data center costs with the help of technologies like ARM processors and graphics chips, analysts said.

• Cisco impresses with UCS

  If you're tempted to think of Cisco's Unified Computing System (UCS) as just another blade server — don't. In fact, if you just want a bunch of blades for your computer room, don't call Cisco — Dell, HP, and IBM all offer simpler and more cost-effective options.

• Cisco UCS pricing: It's complicated

  As with any server product, there are lots of ways to configure UCS, including different levels of CPU, memory and storage. Cisco has a 29-page document to help you get it right, and 29 pages are not overkill. To get an idea of what this might cost, we configured two separate systems: one with 40 dual-socket blades, and another with 80 of the same blades.

• School shuns popular Apple Mac for Windows

  For a self-described "Mac person" working as a technology manager in a college preparatory school that had been a "Mac school" for as long as he could remember, it was a hard thing to have to face but he said it out loud: "Apple never took enterprise computing seriously," says a somewhat disillusioned Adam Gerson, co-director of technology at Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in New York City.

• CIO Q&A: How Citrix supports more workers with lower IT budget

  Citrix CIO Paul Martine is the poster child for everything that Citrix markets to other CIOs.

• Rackspace, Dell push OpenStack cloud OS

  Rackspace will help enterprises build private clouds using the OpenStack cloud operating system, the company announced Tuesday. Meanwhile, Dell is seeking enterprises and service providers for proof-of-concept OpenStack trials with its Dell PowerEdge C family of servers.

• Closer look at Microsoft 'Aurora' Small Business Server

  Microsoft has been paying more attention lately to the small business audience, as well as the cloud. With the "Aurora" Small Business Server (SBS)--officially named Small Business Server 2011 Essentials, Microsoft delivers a solution that brings the two together--bridging local services and the cloud, and granting small businesses affordable access to big business tools.

• Burning questions: Virtualisation

  Virtualizing x86 infrastructure isn't just a one-step process -- as servers change, the whole data center must change as well. While server hypervisors such as VMware's ESX, Microsoft's Hyper-V and Xen can make IT more efficient and cost-effective, many of the virtualization advantages can be canceled out when data centers rely on technology and processes that haven't been updated for the virtualization age.

• Build a private Azure cloud with new Microsoft appliance

  Companies interested in taking advantage of what cloud computing has to offer, but reluctant to trust sensitive information off-site now have a new alternative with Microsoft's Windows Azure Platform appliance. Microsoft has teamed up with strategic hardware partners to develop an appliance-based approach allowing businesses to deploy and control their own cloud.

Whitepapers about server

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  NetScaler 2048-bit SSL performance advantage

  Citrix® NetScaler® provides advanced layer 4-7 traffic management and load balancing. Like other leading Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs), NetScaler can offload computationally expensive SSL processing responsibilities from web and application servers to speed the delivery of SSL-protected applications. Learn more.

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  Lower Your IT Costs When You Standardize on Oracle Database 11g

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  Clabby Analytics - Itanium: Slip/Sliding Away…

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  A Whitepaper on Cloud Computing