Virtualization is not new. IBM first introduced virtual machine technology for mainframe computers in the early 1960s. Microsoft Windows NT included a virtual DOS machine. Virtual PC was introduced by Connectix in 1997 (Microsoft acquired Connectix in 2003). EMC’s VMware introduced its first product, VMware Workstation, in 1999. Softricity introduced SoftGrid, the first application virtualization product, in 2001 (Microsoft acquired Softricity in 2006). Server virtualization is the masking of server resources, including the number and identity of individual physical servers, processors, and operating systems, from server users. The server administrator uses a software application to divide one physical server into multiple isolated virtual environments. The virtual environments are sometimes called virtual private servers, but they are also known as partitions, guests, instances, containers or emulations. There are different types of virtualization. Machine virtualization uses softwar...

The megatrend that powers SaaS is the same one driving Web 2.0, SOA and every other expression of today’s increasingly Web-connected world. Fundamentally, the infrastructure of the Web allows us to cut out much of the location-dependent friction that gets in the way of communicating, collaborating and trading. Software used to be delivered in boxes and had to be installed in the same building as the people that used it. The Web removes those constraints, enabling SaaS — and SaaS in turn becomes the foundation for innovative new ways of interacting and doing business. Software as a Service (SaaS)—meaning delivering software over the Internet—is increasingly popular for its ability to simplify deployment and reduce customer acquisition costs; it also allows developers to support many customers with a single version of a product. SaaS is also often associated with a "pay as you go" subscription licensing model. Under a "pay-as-you-go" model, your customers gain access ...

Donald J Carty, who became Dell Inc's chief financial officer less than 18 months ago when the computer maker's accounting was under scrutiny, is stepping down and will be replaced by a longtime General Electric Co executive. Brian T Gladden, chief executive of SABIC Innovative Plastics, formerly called GE Plastics, will join Dell on Tuesday and succeed Carty as CFO on June 13. The transition has come at a critical juncture for Dell. Company officials believe they have accounting issues under control, but Dell still trails Hewlett-Packard Co in worldwide shipments of personal computers and is cutting jobs and spending to meet financial targets. Dell is expanding beyond phone and Internet sales to sell machines through retailers, and it is expanding its reach in emerging markets such as India and China to recapture the robust growth rates of its earlier years. Gladden, 43, said he was "excited to be joining Dell at a time of transformation." He held a series of financi...

It's MySapce spamer. Is $234 Million judgement not enough? Well, MySpace has made it very clear that one can't get into his or her defined space. Unless, you are willing to pay the price for it. I don't think it's worth it. Better don't go there.. The name “Spam” comes from a Monty Python sketch where a group of Vikings wish to eat in a restaurant where the menu contains so much Spam (the food) that it is difficult to determine what else is available. Spam filtering is a difficult classification task for a variety of reasons. Spam is constantly changing as spam on new topics emerges. Also, spammers attempt to make their messages as indistinguishable from legitimate email as possible and change the patterns of spam to foil the filters. Another serious issue is the problem of false positives, i.e. a legitimate email classified as spam. For many email users, false positives are simply unacceptable; thus the requirements on the spam filter are very exacting. As new t...

IPOs need even more scrutiny about corporate governance than established public companies. These private companies are often reluctant to put aside the privileges of being private in order to become a public firm. In the long run, the best IPOs have a shareholder-friendly corporate IT governance structure. That is why corporate governance is one of the four factors that go into Renaissance Capital's rating system. In the context of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), governance is an often-misunderstood term. Some people use the term SOA Governance to mean service lifecycle governance—that is, governing the lifecycle of services from creation through deployment. Others take it to mean applying runtime policies to services. But is there more to SOA governance than this? And, without a common understanding of what governance means, are organizations that adopt SOA simply setting themselves up for failure? I believe, that governance with SOA should ultimately be about delivering on ...

In a recent nasty cyber attack by some mean hackers who flooded the Epilepsy Foundation's website with hundreds of pictures and links with rapid flashing images. I would say it is like giving 'Electric shocks' to the priveledged people. Cyber attack leading to severe migraine and near-seizure reactions in some site visitors who viewed those images. People with photosensitive epilepsy can get as near as seizure reactions, when they are exposed to flickering images, a response could be caused by video games and cartoons too. The hackers who infiltrated the Epilepsy Foundation's site didn't appear to care about profit. The harmful pages didn't appear to try to push down code that would allow the hacker to gain control of the victims' computers, for instance. In another recent attack, hackers exploited a simple coding vulnerability in Sen. Barack Obama's Web site to redirect users visiting the community blogs section to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's offi...

Under plans to strengthen checks at European borders laid out by the European Commission, international travelers would also have their stay logged and monitored by an electronic system, which could become operational by 2015. The system would alert authorities to persons overstaying the length of their visa. Biometric data would be submitted by travelers from outside the EU when applying for a visa, while those not needing a permit would be checked on arrival. Automated border-control systems and guards would be able to check visitors' identities using the biometric data, with EU and trusted travelers from outside the EU able to speed up the process by using automated gates. The Commission is also investigating the possibility of requiring electronic authorization for outside travelers as an alternative to requiring a visa. From 2009, all EU passports will feature a digital fingerprint and photograph and, from 2011 , non-EU citizens who apply for a visa will have to give their bi...