Design

• Enterprise taking a page from SMB?

  Fri. Apr. 25, 2008
  by Marc Farley, Inside IT Lead Blogger

  Omar Sultan from Cisco wrote yesterday about the importance of broadening the skills set among data center workers.  Here's an excerpt:

  I believe that the IT infrastructure and the IT organization need to be mirrors of each other. I don’t think you can successfully transform your data center while clinging to existing notions of organizational structure (i.e. network gal, server guy). Some of our more forward thinking customers have seen good results by integrating into “critical teams” that span technologies. I think this is a best practice that would benefit many of our customers.

  Full agreement here - you definitely want to foster a holistic perspective in IT. 

  What's interesting is that there are many, many admins who work for companies that are not in the Fortune x00 and they will tell you they are covering every aspect of ITalready.  Amazingly talented people who get it from knife-edge OJT instead of cross-training.  Some of the most effective effective and creative architectures I've ever seen are constructed by brilliant SMB people.

  That's why it is so critical to simplify IT technology - people moving from skill to skill need to be able to understand all technologies with sufficient depth to make good decisions.

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• 2008, the year we all became aware of power and cooling issues

  Fri. Mar. 28, 2008
  by Marc Farley, Inside IT Lead Blogger

  It's highly likely that a major disruption to corporate computing operations is going to come from increasing energy requirements and the actions we need to take in order to minimize their impact on the services we provide.  It's not just that energy costs are rapidly rising, but the use of that expensive energy is rising along with it.

  Large scale data center operators are already heavily engaged in these discussions as evidenced by an interview Searchdatacenter did with Jeff Lowenberg of  The Planet, a hosting company in Houston, TX.  Jeff talks about a number of interesting things, including how they caulk leaks in the floor to keep from losing cold air and how they maintain their diesel generators. The last part on maintaining diesel fuel probably has excellent tips that anybody depending on large generators for backup electricity needs to know.

  There's going to be new concepts, vocabulary  and acronyms to learn, such as air mixing,  hot aisle, cold aisle, chiller, CRAC (computer-room air-conditioning system), close-coupled cooling,  PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness)  and  DCE (Data Center Efficiency).

  The good news is that fairly simple things can be done to improve the situation, without having to take more extreme measures as relocating to Iceland.  Dell's Dr. Albert Esser, who wrote today on Inside IT, was also featured in a recent article on the Computing site, talking about how temperatures in data centers can be kept warmer than people commonly think.   This article in CIO magazine also has some fairly simple ideas for more efficient cooling.

  One of the biggest hurdles we face is getting senior management engaged.  This recent survey by the Uptime Institute (you've read about them if you read the other links in this post) contains fascinating information about the awareness of power and cooling as an issue. Many readers will likely identify with their findings that two thirds of those polled said their companies do not C-level sponsorship for green policy or governance mandates.  FWIW, The Uptime Institute puts on seminars for high density cooling, as well as other energy topics.  This podcast of an interview with Robert Sullivan is an introduction to those seminars.  Not having been to one of their seminars, I don't want this post to be perceived as an endorsement of their seminars - but if readers have comments to make about them, I'm more happy to post them.

  I have a feeling this is going to be a huge deal and there will be lots of confusion and many opportunities for people to help each other out.  What are you seeing?  Is this stuff on your radar yet?  Is it front and center in your company or are you going it alone?  

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• Dell’s PowerEdge M-Series and Power Efficiency

  Mon. Mar. 10, 2008
  by Chad Fenner, Product Manager—PowerEdge M-Series

  Since Dell introduced the PowerEdge M-Series blade server, we've received many questions regarding how we designed the product. Most of these requests revolve around how Dell chose the M-Series chassis and blade design, plus how we achieved the impressive power efficiency metrics published in the third party report from Principled Technologies.

  Dell designed the M1000e blade chassis as a 10U enclosure housing 16 blades and 6 highly flexible switches. Each half-height blade is capable of having up to 4 high speed ports per blade to maximize throughput out to the switches. The switches themselves are designed to be upgradeable to provide a long lasting enclosure capable of hosting the high speed interconnects of today and tomorrow. You can see more details about the Energy Smart components integrated into the M1000e in the following whitepaper.

  We crafted the M-Series chassis from the ground up to be the most power efficient blade enclosure in the world. This meant methodically designing each individual enclosure component to run as efficiently as possible. Find out more in the following vlog with Tom Garvens, a senior engineering manager on the M-Series team.

  Format: flv Duration: 5:17

  Downloads WMV  MP4  OGG

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• Latitude XT: Capacitive Touch and More

  Tue. Dec. 11, 2007
  by Glenn Keels, Sr. Manager—Commercial Products Team

  As many of you know, we've been developing the Latitude XT for some time. During that time, we've spent a lot of time talking to Tablet PC customers about what they like and don't like about existing products.

  Customers told us that existing Tablet PCs are just too clumsy and clunky. We've worked to address this by creating one of the lightest and thinnest 12.1" convertible tablets on the market at about 1" thick and 3.6 pounds. I'm glad to see that some reviewers like Andrew Baxter at Tablet PC Review said it was the smallest power adapter he's seen on any notebook or Tablet PC.

  It's clear that displays are important to many customers as well. Many customers use Tablet PCs in outdoor or brightly-lit environments, and many existing products didn't have adequate screen brightness.  That's why we designed an optional daylight viewing panel that is the brightest in its category-at 400 nits, it's almost 2X the competition.  Now, this option does add a little more thickness and a little more weight.  So, for mainstream users more concerned about size and weight, we still recommend the backlit LED panel at 220 nits.

  Next, as tablet users are mobile all day, they told us that battery life was becoming increasingly important.  We answered this with a standard six-cell battery that offers about 4 ½ hours of continuous battery life and an optional battery slice that snaps snugly on the underside for up to 9 hours of "all day computing." Regarding the battery slice, I saw that Engadget raised concerns about the battery slice blocking the air intake. Here's the deal: with the battery slice attached, there is  a small gap (1mm or so) between the slice and the bottom of the tablet. This space leaves sufficient room for air to flow from the fan through the sides of the system, allowing the unit to cool. In our tests, the system remains within spec for heat both with and without the slice.

  But perhaps the biggest frustration customers told us about with existing offerings was around the use of "resistive" touch technology. This technology needs the user to apply force to the screen in order for the system to recognize interaction, which contributes to poor accuracy and durability issues with the screen itself. Many customers using resistive tablets that support both pen and touch actually wind up turning this feature off because the palm rejection technology is so cumbersome. On this front, I think we're making our biggest impact. The Latitude XT is the first sub-four pound convertible with both pen and "capacitive" touch technology. Capacitive technology senses the touch of a finger with no pressure leading to better accuracy, response times, screen durability, and ultimately, a better user experience. As an example, as far as accuracy and speed, our third-party tests confirmed this against the Lenovo X61T.  Also, the digitizer is rated up to 10 times more durable than competitors resistive touch digitizer technology.

  In this vlog, Rick Seger from N-Trig and Bob Sparks from our Engineering team walk you through the capacitive pen and touch capability of the Latitude XT and introduce you to the benefits of freestyle computing. 

  Format: flv Duration: 9:23

  Downloads WMV  MP4  OGG

  With this product, we've really made an effort to address our customers' issues with other Tablet PC offerings. I hope you agree!

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• Latitude XT Details

  Mon. Dec. 10, 2007
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  Lots of folks have been waiting for us to release more details on the Latitude XT Tablet PC. My first brief post about it has received more than 400 comments and has gone on to become the #1 most viewed post in Direct2Dell's history. It's made some traction in the blogosphere too—almost 2,000 posts reference the product by name before we announced it.

  Update: 12/11—Glenn just published his post. It has the capacitive touch vlog I mention in the last sentence of this post. 

  And speaking of the blogosphere, many of you who are interested problably already have seen the updates from Engadget here and here.

  We will begin taking orders and shipping the product by the end of the year.

  

  The convertible tablet weighs in at 3.57lbs., making it is one of the lightest tablet PCs available. Pricing starts at $2,499. Now for some other specs...

  Processors:

  • Intel Core 2 Solo ULV processor U2100 (1.06GHz) or

  • Intel Core 2 Duo ULV processor U7600 (1.20GHz)

  12.1" WXGA (1280 x 800) display:

  • Optional LED-backlit display

  • LCD Outdoor viewing display for increased brighness in outdoor use

  Graphics: Integrated ATI Radeon X1250 UMA adapter

  Memory:

  • All configurations include 1GB of integrated 533MHz memory

  • optional 2GB or 3GB configurations available

  Power/Battery Options:

  • 4-cell 28W/Hr Li-Ion primary or secondary
  • 6-cell 42W/Hr Li-Ion primary or secondary
  • 45W/Hr Li-Ion High Capacity Battery Slice
  • 45W (small form factor), 65W, Combo Auto/Air (90W test only)
  • 3-foot power cord standard, 6-foot optional

  

  Hard Drive Options:

  • 40GB 1.8" 4200RPM hard drive

  • 80GB 1.8" 4200RPM hard drive

  • 120GB 1.8" 5400RPM hard drive

  • 32 or 64GB Solid State Disk (SSD) drives

  Input Devices:

  • Finger Touch - Capacitive Touch Screen
  • Pen - EM Digitizer
    • Eraser functionality actuated via side switch
    • Optional tether
    • Interaction with display controlled by three different replaceable "tips" for user-selectable writing experiences
  • Full-size keyboard / full Latitude localization
  • Dual-pointing; rubber domes with leveling rods
  • Scroll Wheel with enter and back functionality (on display / slate)

  Operating Systems:

  • Windows Vista Business (32-bit or 64-bit)

  • Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit)

  • Windows XP Tablet Edition 2005

  Connectivity Options:

  • Dell Wireless 1390 (802.11g)
  • Dell Wireless 1490 (802.11a/g)
  • Dell Wireless 1505 (802.11a/g/ Draft n)
  • Dell Wireless 360 Bluetooth Module
  • Dell Verizon Wireless 5720 Mobile Broadband3 (EV-DO Rev A)
  • Dell Wireless 5720 Sprint Mobile Broadband3 (EV-DO Rev A)
  • Dell Wireless 5720 Telus Mobile Broadband3 (EV-DO)

  Tomorrow, we'll follow up this post with another that discusses functionality of the tablet with a nearly 10-minute vlog discussing the Latitude XT's capactive pen and touch capability. It's live now—see here.

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• Notebook AC Adapter Survey

  Thu. Nov. 29, 2007
  by John Blain, Consumer & Gaming Liaison

  If I've learned anything from surfing customers' blogs over the last year and a half, I've learned one thing: customers do have a voice at Dell.

  When you meet people for the first time, usually the conversation drifts towards what each of you "do for a living". When it does for me, I am never surprised to see a "knowing look" when I tell people I work at Dell. Being the kind of guy I am, I hit that look head-on more often than not. I explain that rather than working at a "big, faceless corporation" as a "drone", my job is proof that the customer has a voice. When people find out I surf and respond to blogs for a living, that "knowing look" usually melts right off of their faces. "Dell actually pays people to do that?"

  In my day to day experience, I am constantly getting feedback from customers, and forwarding that feedback along to the appropriate groups. Customers are always telling me "wouldn't it be great if Dell would do <yoursuggestionhere>". I usually refer people to IdeaStorm, unless their suggestion is break/fix related. IdeaStorm is a great place to share your ideas, but sometimes our product engineers could use some specific feedback while putting together a new product design. Now is one of those times.

  We have used the same AC adapters for all Dell notebook lines since 2003. In that time, notebooks have undergone some fairly significant changes, and also during this time, virtually no changes were made to the AC adapters being shipped with our notebooks. Four years is a lifetime in the computer industry, so it's safe to say these adapters are quickly becoming yesterday's technology. They have worked well, but there's always room for improvements.

  There is at least one AC adapter in circulation for every notebook we sell, so not only is it the most common piece of Dell equipment, it is also probably one of the products we receive the most feedback about. Given these facts, our engineers have decided to focus on the AC adapter to try and determine the best ways to improve its design. This gives us a golden opportunity to give feedback at a critical time in a product's life:

  AC Adapter Survey

  Our engineers want to know how you use the AC adapters with your notebooks so they can take these scenarios into consideration during design. Being that this is one of the most ubiquitous pieces of Dell equipment, this is a chance for us as customers to tell the designers themselves how wecollectively use their product, so that they can improve the design and make an AC adapter designed to meet our needs. The survey is yet another way the customer has a voice at Dell.

  I've already filled it out, and I hope you'll join me.

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• The Story Behind Dell’s Simplify IT Initiative

  Fri. Nov. 23, 2007
  by Jeff Johnson, Enterprise Strategist

  Last month Dell went on record saying that Information Technology (IT) is too complex, and we have launched significant programs to simplify it.  The reactions from the marketplace - especially customers, analysts and the media - have been overwhelmingly positive.  This is certainly a ‘moon shot' kind of goal, and a risk on Dell's part. But it is a worthy initiative that can generate huge benefits for IT organizations and the companies in which they work.

  Update 12/5: I saw that Adam Lashinsky recently questioned our Simplify IT strategy. I agree that there's much more detail we need to share as we have new developments to discuss. That's the reason that I (and others on the team)  will blog about new developments as they occur. it's not so much a question about old systems vs. new systems. It's more about industry standard vs. proprietary architecture.  We will work to make our new systems easier to deploy and manage, but that's only a part of the idea behind Simplify IT.

  What you might not know is the genesis behind this program.  It is so much more than a just a business move or some kind of fancy marketing ploy. Instead, it gets down to the very core of what millions of customers tell Dell every day. They want IT to be easier to get, run and grow, and they want someone to do something about it.  Dell listened and vowed to do just that. 

  We see the overall issues breaking down into five core are:

  • Simplification is needed today:  IT gets more complex every day, and the market is asking vendors to do something about it now.  Rather than making technology proprietary and mysterious, vendors are being asked to make IT simple to deploy, use, manage and update.   So Dell is focusing on the key components of simplification that will reduce complexity in the infrastructure:  Standardization, consolidation and automation, from the desktop to the datacenter.

  • Maintenance is killing innovation:  Companies tell us they want to spend a lot less time on maintenance and a lot more on innovation (more interesting projects).  But they can't because maintenance - just keeping the lights on in IT - requires most of the resources that could otherwise be used on innovation projects.  For these reasons, Dell is focusing on those components of the IT infrastructure that can be commercialized, which just happen to be the maintenance components that drive IT people crazy and waste the most time and money. 

  • Most IT projects should not require an army of consultants:  Sure, consultants are needed for complex projects or one-time deployments.  But basic infrastructure activities like email, image management, databases, virtualization, power & cooling, security and systems management should be easy enough to be managed by internal resources if a company chooses to do so.  Consolidated and automated tools with simple wizards and dashboards, along with standardized design, should be available to manage most of IT.  The goal is to use the fewest resources and deploy in the shortest time possible. Dell already provides these kinds of solutions and tools, and is working to streamline your path even more.  Dell's services model is also radically different, focusing on getting you to the finish line rather than keeping a hand in your pocket.

  • IT can and should have a minimal environmental impact:  Today, more companies are looking to juggle the need for greater computing capacity with the desire to manage power costs and datacenter space.  The computing needs of the organization always come first, but IT can address all these issues and still go greener.   Dell was the first to offer servers and PCs with dramatically lower power use, but the mission didn't stop there.  Dell is the leader in power assessment and use, thermal management, eco-manufacturing and recycling. If you want to know more, check this out.

  • IT wants to drive their own agenda and have more choice:  Proprietary technology locks an IT department into a never-ending cycle with a small number of vendors.  Over time this vendor lock-in makes it virtually impossible to change vendors or upgrade without expensive costs for hardware, software, and services.  This, in turn, creates an ongoing cycle of greater complexity.  Dell has always been about standardization and choice, with seamless upgrade paths. 

  So the next time you talk to your technology vendor, ask them what they are doing to simplify IT.   More importantly, let us know if we have these core tenets correct.  If we're missing something, let's add it to the list. 

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