Dell to Offer SuSE Linux-Based PowerEdge Servers
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Dell Inc. and Novell Inc. announced Wednesday an agreement between the two companies to distribute Novell&#39;s SuSE Linux distribution preinstalled on single- and dual-processor Dell PowerEdge servers.
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Holger Dyroff, vice president of product management for SuSE Linux at Novell, said in a statement: &quot;Novell&#39;s SuSE Linux Enterprise Server is the right platform to benefit from the advantages
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(InfoWorld) - Computer maker Dell's solution to the datacenter energy crisis is to market more energy-efficient versions of its PowerEdge line of servers. Dell is scheduled to introduce on Monday the PowerEdge Energy Smart model 1950 and 2950 servers, which the company claims deliver a 25 percent improvement in performance per watt compared to the standard 1950 and 2950. The announcement follows Dell's September launch of Energy Smart OptiPlex business desktop computers. The Energy Smart server features include a processor that draws only 40 watts of power versus the 65 watts or 80 watts drawn in standard servers. Energy Smart servers will also offer only 2.5-inch disk drives, smaller than the typical 3.5-inch drives. Those design changes may diminish performance in a way some customers would find unacceptable, said Jay Parker, director of PowerEdge Servers in the Dell Product Group. But for others, the goal is energy efficiency. "We would expect somewhere in the 10 to 20 percent range of our customers to be interested in this product and to ultimately migrate to this. But there is a whole other set of customers who need more configurability or [for whom] power efficiency is not a priority," Parker said. The Energy Smart servers also feature redesigned power supplies and cooling fans, as well as software that regulates the processors and memory to power the server up and down as computing demand changes. Vendors of servers, desktops, and other enterprise hardware are on anÂ energy-saving kickÂ these days, addressing the need to cut datacenter power consumption. The lifetime operating cost of powering servers and cooling them with air conditioning is becoming more of a concern to datacenter managers than the price of the server itself. Hewlett-Packard unveiledÂ on Nov. 28 what it calls "Dynamic Smart Cooling" for datacenters. Heat sensors on server racks send signals to a control panel that adjusts the air-conditioning output. HP's technology doesn't address the energy problem as directly as Dell does by making the server energy-efficient, Parker said. "You have to optimize the server, because ultimately that has a huge ripple effect on the other infrastructure pieces in the datacenter. In our mind [HP's technology] seems to ignoreÂ the first obvious step, which is to address the server itself," he said. Pricing for the Energy Smart 1950 starts at $2,449, $100 more than the standard 1950, Parker said. Pricing for the Energy Smart 2950 starts at $2,619.
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Novell's SuSE software joins Red Hat as server option. Also: Is AMD in Dell's future?
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Dell has started offering Ubuntu Linux on its high-end XPS M1330 laptop
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You need secure, reliable desktops that are ready for your business, and you shouldn't have to pay a fortune in upgrade and licensing costs to get them. Before you sign up for more expensive desktop systems from Microsoft, take a look at SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop.
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Dell is back in the blade server ring with the introduction of its PowerEdge 1855 blade servers. The company is hoping to prove to customers that its new blades have significant cost savings and performance
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PC maker will certify some corporate machines with Novell's Suse Linux, but stops short of offering pre-installed Linux.
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(InfoWorld) - Dell began polling customers about their software preferences on Tuesday as part of an effort by the struggling PC vendor to meet a popular request for desktops and notebooks that run on Linux instead of Windows. Dell posted the survey on a company blog, asking PC users to choose between Linux flavors such as Fedora and Ubuntu, and to pick more general choices such as notebooks versus desktops, high-end models versus value models, and telephone-based support versus community-based support. The company plans to collect votes through March 23, then use the feedback to begin selling Linux-based consumer PCs. Dell already uses Linux in certain server models. "Taking a few minutes to complete this survey will help us define our forthcoming Linux-based system offerings," said Dell software architect Matt Domsch in his blog posting. "We'll take some time to analyze your feedback and work to provide the platforms and options you choose." TheÂ groundswell of demand for LinuxÂ began in February, shortly after company founder Michael Dell returned as CEO. Previous chief executive Kevin Rollins resigned in January as the company began to flounder during a series of problems, from drooping earnings reports to delayed financial filings, an accounting investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and an investor lawsuit. As part of his campaign to help the company renew its profits and regain market share from Hewlett-Packard, Michael Dell launched a company blog to collect customer feedback. Users immediately filled the blog with requests for an alternative to Microsoft's Windows Vista OS and Office suite, such as the Linux OS and OpenOffice productivity tools. On Feb. 23, Dell announced it will work with NovellÂ to install Linux on business PCs, including OptiPlex desktops, Latitude notebooks, and Dell Precision workstations. Dell also said it will work with other Linux providers since users requested many other versions of the OS, such as Novell/Suse Linux Desktop, Red Hat Enterprise Desktop, Fedora, OpenSuse, and Ubuntu. Although Michael Dell's populist approach is winning some praise, the change may come too late to save company profits in the short term. On Tuesday, a prominent analyst noted that Dell has been cutting the number of notebooks it orders from manufacturers in Taiwan. While the industry as a whole is expected to rebound in March from a sales slump preceding the launch of Windows Vista, Dell will deviate from that trend and trim its order for notebook manufacturing, said Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner in the report. Dell did not respond to a request for comment on the forecast. Dell is struggling financially, listing revenue and earnings growth at four-year lows even as its competitors begin to trim their costs and boost profits, Gardner said. At the same time, Dell faces future challenges as it sees slowing growth in its major markets, aggressive pricing by competitors willing to sell PCs at lower operating margins, and a general decline in prices as consumers find they can run more software applications on low-end PCs. Still, Dell's PC production remains slightly above the consensus forecast, Gardner said. In fact, the report counseled investors that HP and AppleÂ stock could rise faster than expected in the first half of 2007, and Dell will follow with strong long-term growth, beating estimates over a 12-to-18-month time span.
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Dell will roll out a line of servers preconfigured with Microsoft's SQL Server database.
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Dell Inc. will officially launch its first three consumer PCs running the Ubuntu 7.04 Linux OS on Thursday, two desktops and an Inspiron E1505n notebook PC.
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Dell has introduced its new PowerEdge 1855 blade servers, which it says combine enterprise-class features with increased density and lower cost than traditional Dell 1U rack servers to deliver an advantaged platform for data center computing.
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InfoWorld - Looking to bolster Linux in enterprise environments, Novell is offering its first service pack for Suse Linux Enterprise 10, with capabilities for new quad-core processors. The company also announced Monday commercial availability plans for Suse Linux Enterprise Virtual Machine Driver Pack.
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Dell has announced the availability of virtualisation services.
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BOSTON - Security appliance maker ServGate Technologies Inc. next week will announce a new line of products through Dell Inc.'s Web site, providing hardware with integrated antivirus, spam filtering and other security features for small businesses.
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Dell officials are considering a request from users for laptops running the Linux operating system instead of Windows.
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(InfoWorld) - If you're looking for a new Linux-equipped Dell laptop or desktop from the PC vendor, you may be waiting a while. Despite obvious support for the idea last week from thousands of visitors on its new customer suggestion Web site, IdeaStorm, the company said it's not yet building machines with Linux pre-loaded for the consumer and business markets. Last Friday night, Dell posted a note on the IdeaStorm Web site saying it was listening to thousands of users who had posted messages asking for Linux on its machines by moving forward to certify three of its corporate hardware lines -- OptiPlex desktops, Latitude notebooks, and Dell Precision workstations -- for use with Novell SUSE Linux. The company said Tuesday that the note was just about certifying the hardware for being ready to work with Novell SUSE Linux, not an announcement that the computers would be loaded and sold with the operating system in the near future. "Our point of view is that we are listening to our Linux customers," said Jeremy Bolen, a Dell spokesman. He noted that the company already offers factory-installed Linux on some specific Dell Precision workstations for high-end corporate users but is not currently installing the OS on its other laptop or desktop machines. "However, I won't rule out the option of expanding the pre-installation program at a future date," Bolen said. Dell is continuing to talk with the makers of other Linux distributions about certifying the hardware for those Linux distributions, he said. "When you talk about an operating system, if Dell is going to install it and test it, it takes a lot of work" before getting it ready for the marketplace, including having training and support in place. Dell spokeswoman Caroline Dietz said that the company's first post last Friday about certifying machines for Novell SUSE Linux on the IdeaStorm site is only the beginning of such posts by the vendor. "This is an ongoing process," Dietz said. "We're constantly monitoring this and constantly updating this. This first post doesn't mean that this is all we're doing." The IdeaStorm Web site, where customers and other IT enthusiasts can offer recommendations about future Dell products and configurations that they'd want to buy, was started on Feb. 16 by CEO Michael Dell. He is looking for ways to re-energize the company's sales and financial performance after several disappointing quarters.