Servers & Data Center Case Studies

LinuxWorld showcases business cases for Linux
SAN FRANCISCO — With Linux making deeper inroads into corporate data centers, the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo gave attendees some firsthand information about how open source is maturing to handle more critical business workloads. More..

Server virtualization expected to take off
For the IT staff at Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I., the focus for the last couple of years has been on consolidation. First on centralizing servers that had been scattered across the campus into two physical locations, then on using virtualization More..

An advanced networke that even has books
Not only is the tech quotient higher than in traditional libraries, but also the atmosphere is more relaxed. A patron can borrow a laptop, grab a cup of coffee from the Dunn Bros. coffee shop on the ground floor, and find a spot to work near one of the library's four fireplaces. Yes, coffee and soda are allowed in the library, as long as they're in a covered container. This is not your parents' library. More..

College's push to virtualize its servers is paying off
By investing in virtualization software, a small Maine college eliminated about one-third of its physical servers and sidestepped about $356,000 for new systems, even as it added enterprise applications. More..

City finds big savings in Linux
Wisconsin city IT department finds performance, savings in Linux More..

Users also taking steps to dial down server heat
As server vendors roll out systems that are increasingly powerful - and increasingly small - IT managers need to consider the heat output and power demands of new configurations that pack more processing power into less space. More..

Opteron servers handle growth of Weather.com
Traffic to Weather.com, the Internet arm of cable television's The Weather Channel, has been snowballing, as the company's management continues to push for more robust and customized services. Those facts are keeping Dan Agronow, the Web site's vice president of technology, on his toes as he searches for the best infrastructure to support the content, without breaking the bank. More..

Server clusters offer speed, savings
Increasingly, companies are looking at ways to cluster smaller, low-end servers to achieve performance and reliability that is equal to or better than expensive, high-end boxes. More..

Users banking on blades
Greater Baltimore Medical Center had a dilemma. Its IT needs were growing, but its data center space was not. After months of dead-end negotiations with vendors in an attempt to put multiple applications on fewer, bigger boxes, the nonprofit turned in the other direction: It brought in blade servers. More..

Bit by bit, 64-bit processors catching on
At Fortis Health, servers powered by 64-bit Intel processors are used to run business analytics on - a capability the health insurer says will help keep it one step ahead of the competition. But Roger Jones, senior vice president and CIO at the Milwaukee firm, isn't looking at Itanium through rose-colored glasses. More..

IBM users take on integration
IT executives discuss pros, cons of committing to business application integration. More..

Server savings
As he began building National Gypsum's e-commerce site, Mike Brannon set up a server for order tracking, then one for PDF invoicing and another for patch testing. Launching separate servers for each additional function became habit forming, and costly, he says. More..

FedEx Freight delivers with Linux Web server migration
FedEx Freight recently put a new face on its Web operations, and so far the company likes what it sees. More..