Computerworld Dell News

Powerful thin clients could turn into PC alternatives

(Agam Shah) — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:30:00 GMT

Thin clients introduced this week by Dell and Hewlett-Packard have faster processor than existing thin clients as well as high-definition graphics capabilities, so they could be alternatives to traditional PCs as computing continues moving to the cloud.

The whole enchilada: Integrated compute platforms steamroll across IT

(Steve Duplessie) — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:33:00 GMT

Vendors are rebuilding the mainframe with converged infrastructure, collapsed kit or integrated compute platforms -- whatever you want to call it. And customers are loving it.

Boutique PC seller laughs all the way to the bank on the back of Windows 7

gkeizer@computerworld.com (Gregg Keizer) — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:46:00 GMT

A boutique system builder has bucked the industry trend of slumping PC sales by continuing to focus on selling Windows 7 machines.

Dell replays Windows 8 blame card as PC sales slide

gkeizer@computerworld.com (Gregg Keizer) — Sun, 19 May 2013 20:31:00 GMT

Dell last week again blamed Windows 8 for contributing to a decline in PC sales revenue during the quarter that ended May 3.

Dell's thumb PC, Project Ophelia, to ship in July

(Agam Shah) — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:20:00 GMT

Dell's thumb-sized PC called Project Ophelia, which is the size of a USB stick, will start shipping in July for around US$100.

Dell profit dives 79 percent on falling PC sales

(James Niccolai) — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:28:00 GMT

Dell reported another quarter of declining profits and revenue Thursday as CEO Michael Dell continues his fight to take the company private.

Pushdo botnet is evolving, becomes more resilient to takedown attempts

(Lucian Constantin) — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:41:00 GMT

Security researchers from Damballa have found a new variant of the Pushdo malware that's better at hiding its malicious network traffic and is more resilient to coordinated takedown efforts.

Dell aims to cut desktop reliance with workstation for data centers

(Agam Shah) — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:01:00 GMT

Dell intends to move workstations into the data center and then serve up intense multimedia and engineering applications to remote users over the cloud or in virtualized environments via thin clients.

Dell slashes its Windows RT tablet price by $200; XPS 10 now sells for $300

mhamblen@computerworld.com (Matt Hamblen) — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:32:00 GMT

Dell drastically cut the online price of its Windows RT tablet, reducing the price by $200 to $299.99 for Dell XPS 10.

Lenovo and Apple grew as bottom fell out of PC market in Western Europe

(Mikael Ricknäs) — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:49:00 GMT

PC shipments in Western Europe declined by 20.5% during the first quarter: The only vendors to see shipments grow were Lenovo and Apple, which returned to the top five.

Dell board warns Icahn bid could leave the company short of cash

(Peter Sayer) — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:11:00 GMT

A plan proposed by Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management last week as an alternative to Michael Dell's proposal to take his namesake company private would leave it short of cash, Dell's board warned the bidders on Monday.

Wall Street Beat: Rise in markets could fuel tech M&A

(Marc Ferranti) — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:13:00 GMT

Increasing confidence in the economy and a rising stock market could lay the groundwork for a revival in tech-sector mergers and acquisitions as companies embrace cloud technology and pursue game-changing software, particularly for the mobile market.

Icahn, Southeastern make alternative bid for Dell

(John Ribeiro) — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:14:00 GMT

Investor Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management have made a counter-offer for Dell that would keep the computer company still publicly traded, according to reports.

Dell and OnApp cooperate on pretested cloud packages

(Mikael RicknA$?s) — Thu, 09 May 2013 13:52:00 GMT

OnApp and Dell have teamed up to create pretested cloud packages for service providers and make it easier for them to roll out services, which could result in more competition in the cloud space.

Review: HP 3PAR conjures powerful storage magic

(Paul Ferrill) — Wed, 08 May 2013 10:15:00 GMT

HP 3PAR StoreServe 7400 combines high scalability, high performance, and a big bag of tricks for easing storage management

Dell boosts cloud portfolio with Enstratius buy

(Joab Jackson) — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:54:00 GMT

Adding to its portfolio of IT management software, Dell has acquired Enstratius (formerly called EnStratus), which offers software for managing workloads in hosted cloud environments.

Accused SpyEye virus creator extradited to the U.S.

(Grant Gross) — Fri, 03 May 2013 18:39:00 GMT

An Algerian man accused of helping to develop and distribute the SpyEye computer virus has been extradited from Thailand to the U.S. to face criminal charges, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Dell investigates report of its computers being sold to Syria

(Grant Gross) — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:09:00 GMT

Dell is investigating a report that a Middle East reseller has sold large numbers of computers to a Syrian company with ties to the embattled government there, in violation of U.S. export restrictions.

Dell's Linux laptop has good hardware, plus a decent toolkit

(Katherine Noyes, Dietrich Schmitz) — Thu, 02 May 2013 22:25:00 GMT

Our Linux pros check out the decked-out XPS 13 'Developer Edition' laptop, preloaded with Ubuntu and other tools.

Hedge fund manager sentenced in Dell insider trading case

(Grant Gross) — Thu, 02 May 2013 20:20:00 GMT

A former portfolio manager at the now defunct Diamondback Capital Management has been sentenced to 54 months in prison for crimes related to a multimillion dollar insider trading scheme involving computer maker Dell and hardware maker Nvidia.

Q&A: Dell software chief John Swainson talks transformation

(James Niccolai) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:01:00 GMT

John Swainson has one of the more challenging jobs in the tech industry right now. As president of Dell's software division, he's charged with sorting through all the software Dell has acquired and organizing it into coherent offerings that can further its effort to become a more profitable, software- and services-driven company.

Dell corrals acquired products for BYOD market

(James Niccolai) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:34:00 GMT

Dell has pulled together products it gained from its recent acquisitions into a series of BYOD offerings, though it faces the challenge of selling them at a time when the company's ownership hangs in the balance.

Cisco edges F5 in VPN shootout

(Susan Perschke) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:04:00 GMT

Connecting remotely to network servers is a fact of life for millions of end users. Whether working from a PC or a mobile device, users rely on secure, reliable remote connections to maintain their productivity.

Next-gen USB SuperSpeed to eliminate power cords

lmearian@computerworld.com (Lucas Mearian) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:41:00 GMT

USB SuperSpeed will move from 5Gbps bandwidth to 10Gbps in the coming year, but it's also leaping from 10 watts to 100 watts for charging, which could power monitors and even HDTVs.

Blackstone abandons offer for Dell

(Agam Shah, John Ribeiro) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:57:00 GMT

Blackstone Group has given up its bid for Dell, less than a month after the private-equity fund manager said it was planning to top an offer from founder Michael Dell and private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners, according to news reports.

Microsoft: Mum's again the word on Windows 8 sales

gkeizer@computerworld.com (Gregg Keizer) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:22:00 GMT

Even though PC shipments were down 14% last quarter, Microsoft's Windows division posted revenue about the same as the last year, making up for slumping sales to OEMs with growth in long-term licensing agreements sold to enterprises.

Outgoing Intel CEO knocks Windows 8, predicts $200 touch PCs this year

gkeizer@computerworld.com (Gregg Keizer) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 20:34:00 GMT

Intel's outgoing CEO took a few parting shots at Microsoft's Windows 8 Tuesday as he explained a slump in both revenue and profits for the first quarter.

Dell remains committed to Windows RT

(Agam Shah) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 21:07:00 GMT

Dell remains committed to Microsoft's Windows RT, despite the poor market reception to the OS and a decline in prices of related tablets.

Dell: Little momentum in ARM servers until 64-bit processors

(Agam Shah) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 20:28:00 GMT

The low-power capabilities of ARM-based processors have created high expectations for their use in servers, but one of Dell's top engineers said they are unlikely to take off until 64-bit versions hit the market.

Network heavy hitters to pool SDN efforts in OpenDaylight project

(Stephen Lawson) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:00:00 GMT

Software-defined networking, a set of technologies to help networks better adapt to user needs with less manual effort, may at last be getting the common foundation it has needed for interoperability and efficient development.

Dell to release new Windows tablets later this year

(Agam Shah) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:17:00 GMT

Dell will release Windows tablets later this year that could potentially include devices with screen sizes larger than 10 inches.

Uptake gap between Windows 8 and Vista widens even as new OS gains share

gkeizer@computerworld.com (Gregg Keizer) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 16:27:00 GMT

Windows 8 last month fell even further behind the historical adoption pace of Windows Vista, Microsoft's 2007 flop, new statistics showed today.

Dell blames 'uncertain adoption' of Windows 8 for some of its financial woes

gkeizer@computerworld.com (Gregg Keizer) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 17:49:00 GMT

Dell blamed Microsoft's Windows 8 as one of several causes for its grim financial future, according to a Friday filing with U.S. securities regulators.

Dell SEC filing highlights bleak outlook that led to buyout plan

(Marc Ferranti) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 23:14:00 GMT

In a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, Dell highlighted the dismal financial straits that led to its plan to take the company private, a move that now has some major shareholders in an uproar.

Dell working on ARM supercomputer prototypes

(Agam Shah) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 19:59:00 GMT

Not fazed by a takeover battle looming on the sidelines, members of Dell's research division are putting together the pieces for prototype ARM supercomputers that could be deployed in the future.

SAP sues to protect customers from patent suits

(Chris Kanaracus) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 19:51:00 GMT

SAP has filed a court action against patent holder Pi-Net International, which it says has filed patent infringement lawsuits against a number of SAP customers.

Dell consolidates, plans unified software and all-flash arrays

lmearian@computerworld.com (Lucas Mearian) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:00:00 GMT

In the midst of going private, Dell executives said today they've already consolidated their three storage product divisions into one, they are working on merging their system management interfaces, and they have a number of new products coming out over the next year.

Silver Peak announces virtual appliance for offsite replication

(Jon Gold) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 11:08:00 GMT

Silver Peak Systems announced a new virtual application designed to dramatically speed up data duplication for disaster recovery without the purchase of additional hardware.

Dell confirms bids from Blackstone, Icahn group

(Chris Kanaracus) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:21:00 GMT

Dell has received two counter-offers related to its plans to go private, with rival bids coming in from private equity fund manager Blackstone and entities associated with investor Carl Icahn.

Blackstone proposes counterbid for Dell, reports say

(Agam Shah) — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 19:13:00 GMT

Blackstone Group has reportedly sent a preliminary counterbid to buy out Dell, which would rival the current proposed offer of US$24.4 billion from Silver Lake Partners and Michael Dell made in early February.

Long buyout battle could erode customer confidence in Dell, analysts say

(Agam Shah) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 23:00:00 GMT

With Michael Dell still battling to get his US$24.4 billion buyout deal approved by shareholders, his company needs to avoid a long, drawn-out battle that could erode customer confidence.

Oracle's storage business falters as market slows in Q4, says Gartner

(Mikael RicknA$?s) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:56:00 GMT

Oracle suffered the most as growth in the storage market continued to slow during the end of 2012. Hewlett-Packard, Dell and IBM also struggled while EMC emerged as the big winner.

Dell's XPS 18 all-in-one doubles as tablet

(Agam Shah) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 15:36:00 GMT

Dell has introduced the versatile XPS 18 PC, an 18-inch all-in-one PC that can double as a supersized tablet.

Cloud services can save you money -- if you're careful

(Nancy Gohring) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 10:00:00 GMT

Calculating the real ROI of cloud apps requires the analysis of a lot of factors, and cutting corners on that process means you might not save money.

Dell and Canonical announce new Ubuntu 12.04 support for servers

(Jon Gold) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:14:00 GMT

Dell's 12th-generation PowerEdge server line now supports the use of Ubuntu 12.04 across the board, thanks to a new agreement between the hardware maker and developer Canonical that provides Ubuntu Advantage services to Dell's customers.

Dell, Icahn in confidentiality agreement as buyout opposition grows

(Agam Shah) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:01:00 GMT

Dell on Monday said it had signed a confidentiality agreement with investor Carl Icahn, who has vocally opposed the company's proposed plan to be acquired for $24.4 billion in a leveraged buyout.

Cloud computing's big debt to NASA

pthibodeau@computerworld.com (Patrick Thibodeau) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 11:00:00 GMT

IBM's decision this week to base its cloud services on OpenStack may help establish this open source platform as the standard in enterprises.

Dell puts RNA Networks assets to use in new product

(Agam Shah) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:54:00 GMT

Dell has released a new software product designed to make solid-state-drive caching on servers more efficient, resulting in improved performance of applications such as databases.

SharePoint 2013 Challenges and Questions for CIOs

(Juan Carlos Perez) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 19:24:00 GMT

SharePoint 2013 arrives with a new user interface and new collaboration, search, storage and task management features. But gaps remain in areas like social and mobile, and upgrading and governing SharePoint is still rife with challenges.

Cisco joins top 5 server vendors for the first time, IDC says

(James Niccolai) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 01:27:00 GMT

Cisco Systems has entered the list of the top 5 server vendors for the first time, drawing level with Fujitsu and Oracle in a tie for fourth place, research firm IDC said on Wednesday.