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Offshore Personnel Relocating Data Center to Colocation Facility Solution

techxplore — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:31:18 +0000

Moving data center is not a joke and seldom does this happen in an IT manager’s life time. Migrating the data center to an outside location or co-location facility is although sometimes necessary. It’s a different situation than having a data center managed by off shore network engineers.

Data center migration could somehow be an exercise of setting up a new colocation facility as a result of data center expansion. Upgrade of network facilities is a good example. This is more of a planned project to establish colocation server in a location different from present premises.

This migration is termed as a server controlled disaster exercise. Every migration is not an easy task, but this one have lesser pressure as it normally doesn’t have direct impact on day to day business operation. But when data center migration is due to some unforeseen event, the amount of pressure is more.

Organizations that have outsourced data center management is in such a difficult situation when they have to relocate data center. Most likely outsource company does not envision data center migration scenario in their contract. Thus, even a small size data center with about 40 servers would difficult to relocate.

Outsourcing companies who don’t have ground people such as network infrastructure personnel or system administrators to cope up with such demand will have a hard time relocating servers. Thus, it would be better to seek professional data center colocation services which includes data management by professional network and system specialist.

Personally, I don’t advise having an offshore outsourced personnel as a solution to do some task such as data center migration. It’s suicidal. The experts are useless when their expertise and presence is needed. That’s exactly what is experienced by a sizable organization who relied on data center management by personnel offshore.

Datacenter Console LCD Monitor Keyboard Drawer Cost Effective Space Saver

techxplore — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:56:37 +0000

: Monitor Keyboard Drawer

Computer datacenter are off limits on regular days. The place is accessible only through some swipe card and pin combination. Thus, nobody really goes on that very cold place with several camera mounted at each strategic location to monitor who’s going in and out.

Recent outage of the datacenter’s core switch have most of the network engineers busy. I observed several racks side by side with different computer servers and switches on it. A line of fiber-optic cable connecting the different CISCO catalyst switches.

Datacenter space is such an important aspect that every server doesn’t have a monitor. A single LCD Monitor keyboard drawer serves as a terminal input/output device for a group of rack mounted servers. The integrated monitor keyboard drawer allows an efficient use of the rack space.

In some areas of the datacenter, Rackmount LCD monitor is also used where the drawer type is not feasible due to space limitation. The Rackmount LCD monitor keyboard offers a cost effective solution for limited IT budgets while saving space for compact datacenter rack environment.

In a datacenter the ultimate space saving solution is the Touch Panel PC. Network engineer’s find the fanless touch panel PC useful in tracing some traffic flow and trouble shooting network issues without bringing a laptop to plug with the server. The quiet performance and low power consumption makes it a perfect console for our network engineers.

Among the different available terminal for the datacenter servers, I prefer the LCD Monitor Keyboard drawer solution due to savings both in space and price.

Catastrophic Network CISCO Catalyst Switch Overloading Due to Massive Traffic

techxplore — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 12:17:03 +0000

An IT outsourced helpdesk service is working 24/7, which is something good for organizations and offices. I could remember a case where the web portal of the office and VPN went down altogether has every technician alerted on the wee hours regarding the problem. The downside of it is the whole offshore team is helpless as nobody could access the network.

Onsite technical support came during the office hours only to see that there seems massive network traffic. Internet network traffic overloaded due to flooding is a scenario that is catastrophic. That’s exactly what happened to our network infrastructure. Cisco catalyst switch was having 90% high utilization, which makes the whole network unusable.

The task is to isolate the VLAN one by one to identify and detect the source of this huge network traffic. There are several ways to do it, which is through physical pulling of the cables and another much better way is through identifying the rouge port from the switch.

Since, onshore team does not have the technical expertise on CISCO Catalyst Switch it was tried to contact some local network admin consultant. The approach was unsuccessful and nobody really has a choice, but to use the physical way of disconnecting the fiber-optic cable connection to the switch. This took a whole day to do due to the numerous mix of UTP and fiber optic cable connections.

Finally, at the end of the day, the rouge VLAN and the specific device which caused the network flooding was identified. Switch utilization was down to about 45% to 60%. We’re back to work the following day with some isolated area having no access to network and the internet; it’s better than the whole office without email, website, network and internet access.

HP Pavilion DM1 Laptop Computer a Portable Home Theater Device

techxplore — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 14:41:13 +0000

I was looking for a powerful, but portable notebook computer. HP Pavilion DM1 laptop computer fits the requirement. It is over-all a good power-packed slim and light notebook. HP Pavilion DM1 with 11.6″ display at 1366×768 resolution is great for watching videos. The HD features and specifications makes it a good portable home entertainment notebook.

Some interesting technical specifications of DM1 HP Pavilion:

Screen 11.6″ (1366×768) HD
Processor 1.6 GHz AMD Dual-Core Processor E-350 (1.6GHz, 1MB L2 Cache)
RAM 2 GB DDR3
Storage 250 GB HDD 7200 RPM
Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Optical drive Blu-ray R, CD R/W, DVD R/W
Video card ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225
Ports 3 USB 2.0, 1 HDMI, Memory Card
Wireless A, B, N, Bluetooth
Dimensions 8″ x 1.2″ x 11.4″
Weight 3.5 lbs
Networking 10/100 Ethernet
Keyboard size 92%

The Windows 7 Home Premium operating system delivers entertainment, power, and productivity needed. The Blue-ray optical reader turns the laptop computer to a portable home theater device. The HP Pavilion DM1 AMD Neo mobile processors with dual-core options keeps everything within budget. Really, a value entertainment notebook computer.

Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 Tablet Computer Professional Corporate Level Features

techxplore — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 00:19:26 +0000

Tablet computer is a product that is widely sought by consumers. Tablet computers which was popularized by Apple iPad are not new. The entry though of Apple iPad has changed everything. Thus the competition for tablet PC is very much alive and tight. Manufacturers like HP, Dell, Toshiba, Motorola, ASUS and others try to cut some share of the tablet computer market.

Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 tablet computer is bringing corporate level features. The Fujitsu Stylistic is powered by Intel Z670 Oak Trail processor with 2GB RAM, 64GB SSD which runs on Windows 7 operating system. It comes with fingerprint reader and smartcard slot for corporate security use. A 10-inch LED backlit capacitive touch screen display that delivers 1366×768 pixels resolution.

Topping it up is a front facing camera for video chat and rear facing camera for taking pictures. The Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 tablet computer is designed not only for content consumption, but for content creation as well. It has an optional active digitizer / pen and UI layer which enhances production of documents for corporate level use.

All I can say is Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 is truly a professional business companion tablet pc.

Acer Travelmate 3012WTMi Laptop Computer Yellowish LCD Display

techxplore — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 12:14:04 +0000

Laptop computers are good blogging companion while on the road. Acer Travelmate 3012WTMi is the first laptop that I used to write blogs. The nice 12.1 inch small laptop weights about 1.65kg with a 6 cell battery. The size is just perfectly handy for a traveler. Not to mention the Intel Core Duo processor which works very fast.

Everything works well, but after 5 years minor upgrades in laptop memory and data storage disk is required. The latest trouble that I’ve had is the yellowish LCD display screen which is not good to the eyes. I believe it strains the eye to focus on the LCD screen. As colors are not shown correctly working on graphic editing application software such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel Draw is difficult.

The Acer’s service center have noted that the problem was the LCD screen. The quoted cost of replacement would be about 335$ which is similar to the price of brand new netbook. I then decided to have it replaced on laptop repair shop for about 120$ for both the LCD screen and the service fee.

It took only about 20 minutes for the shop to replace the defective yellowish laptop LCD screen. I right now enjoy again working on graphic projects using GIMP or Paint.Net on the new crisp display of Acer Travelmate 3012WTMi laptop computer.

Dot Matrix and Inkjet Printers Useful Both at the Office

techxplore — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 12:40:21 +0000

Printers are probably the most utilized computer accessories. Computer printers have grown to be a major element practically in all workplaces. It’s difficult to imagine an office without a printer. In our office, we have a variety such as HP, Canon, Epson, and other printers for different kinds of use.

We have an HP inkjet printer for printing memos and other office communication. I find that inkjet printers are versatile printers, but some how they have costlier ink cartridges on ink cost per page. On the other hand, the Oracle ERP application used by the institute uses wide dot matrix Epson printers to print invoices.

The dot matrix epson printers use ribbons, while HP or Canon printers use printer ink cartridges. I could observe that the dot matrix printer ribbons are way much cheaper compared to the inkjet printer cartridges.

It’s pretty strange that the price of inkjet printers have dipped through the years, but the ink cartridges’ cost has remained high. Thus, to save on cost of quality printer ink cartridges and printer toner; ink refill kits are becoming a practical option.

The manufacturers obviously want everyone to buy their inkjet cartridges to make a profit and having the printer as a giveaway. The print lifetime for both dot matrix printer and inkjet printer is highly dependent on the quality of the print.

No single printer can be used at the office; everything depends most likely on the document to be printed. In our situation, we find both dot matrix and inkjet printers useful at the office.

Intel Core i7 Turbo-Boost Technology and Hyper-Threading Technology

techxplore — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 14:07:43 +0000

For those who are multitasking a lot on their computers, the Intel Core i7 processor promises to deliver speed to meet the demands of certain programs. The Core i7 provides some major enhancements on the Core 2 design. Instead of sticking two Core 2 Duo processors collectively to manufacture a Core 2 Quad, the Core i7 is Intel’s first real quad-core Processor, with four different cores on a single die, all sharing a large 8MB of Level 3 cache. The Core i7 can get to main memory immediately as well, due to its built-in memory controller, which eradicates the necessary chip-to-chip jump when going via a front-side bus to an outer north bridge.

Obviously, the Intel Core i7 processors process information faster than the Intel Core i5 and Intel Core i3, just like those powerful weight loss pills that work relatively faster compared to some ineffective diet program. The Core i7 comes with two major Intel innovations, the Turbo Boost Technology which is an automatic overclocking function and the Hyper-Threading Technology. The Turbo Boost technology makes it possible for Core i7 mobile processors to perform at more significant clock speed when clashing with demanding programs. The Hyper-Threading feature, on the other hand, allows extremely threaded apps being started out in parallel. This technology instantly speeds up the processor’s operation according to the user’s computing needs. This is certainly the best part about it to those who need doing computer applications simultaneously.

Three Things Why Samsung Galaxy Pad a Strong Rival of Apple’s iPad Tablet

techxplore — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:43:06 +0000

Lightweight Tablet PC happens to challenge netbook computer and notebook computers. Tablet Personal Computer’s are perfect for working in places where utilizing a mouse and keyboard can often be tough. I find it difficult to use, for example, Aspire One netbook while lying in bed. Obviously, with a Tablet PC, one does not have to worry about keyboard variations. Much like a laptop or notebook the Tablet PC is a portable computer,

I could observe from the gadgets’ market, the emerging battle between the tablets. We’ll see more of people using flicking gestures of their fingers on a tablet PC. Apple’s iPad tablet success has lured many other companies to jump on the tablet industry wars. Definitely, Apple’s iPad had a good head start as it came out first on the market. However, Samsung Galaxy Pad is a strong worthy challenger.

The new Samsung Galaxy pad has an edge with its super AMOLED screen, which is far superior to TFT displays. Most smart phones, PDA’s, and other touch screen device, including iPad has a display which makes it difficult to use outdoors due to bright light.

If you happen to use iPad and open a website which has flash content the video will instead show a blue Lego. Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs made it clear that iPad will not support Adobe’s Flash technology. That’s why Flash support is another strong feature of Samsung Galaxy pad, which is not available in Apple’s iPad.

The thing which gadget freaks like is a money’s worth buy which puts Samsung Galaxy Pad on the right spot. Better features and cheaper price make the Samsung Galaxy Pad a tough competitor of Apple’s iPad tablet.

HP dv6tse 15.6″ Laptop Black Friday 2010 Online Discount Sale

techxplore — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 14:56:40 +0000

Black Friday is important day to do lot’s of online and offline shopping. Since, it’s not really nice to be caught up in the crowd of people. I prefer online shopping where I could get the same huge discounts on lots of products less the hassle.

Knowing what you need to buy in advance is an advantage in shopping. I am looking for a powerful laptop which can be used for entertainment and work. HP dv6tse seems to be the right candidate as it has a 15.6 inch display which will be good for games or video viewing. Another feature I like is it’s powered by Intel Core i5 processor with 8GB RAM memory and 640 GB disk storage.

The HP dv6tse from HP’s website cost about $999 and it’s amazing that during Black Friday the price dropped to $799. Very big online shopping savings and even some shops offer online coupons which drops the price further to $699. It’s mouth watering to get hold of a very powerful laptop for as low as $699. This HP dv6tse laptop could run any program I want without slowdown or lag. Suitable for entertainment and work requirements that I have at a right price.

If you’ve missed the Black Friday online shopping deals there are still some online shops like Amazon or Walmart that offers Cyber Monday sale to a full week. Great prices on must-have holiday items such as popular toys, clothing, digital camera, HDTVs, and other gadgets are available. This is a perfect time to shop online for holiday gifts and other items with many of the items qualifying for free shipping.