Technology

  • There’s Still Life in Second Life

    On April 26, I had the privilege to speak at the vBusiness Expo in Second Life. The goal of the event was to provide a forum for discussion of virtual business and education issues actually within a virtual environment. No travel necessary. No hotel expenses or per diems. Just easy access to experts for anyone interested in using virtual environments as a platform for business.

    I use the term experts not really to refer to myself, but to all the Ph.D.s, analysts and corporate directors that filled the list of speakers. Corporate representatives included: Senior Director of eBusiness for Kelley Services David Fenech; IBM’s Global Director for 3D Internet and Virtual Business Sandra Kearney; and, Fiona Gallagher who works in the global brand and advertising group of Sun Microsystems. I found myself sandwiched in the program listing of speakers between Larry Johnson, Ph.D. who is chief executive officer of the New Media Consortium and Mark Bell a Ph.D. student in the Indiana University Telecommunications department. These great academic minds were joined by Chris Collins an IT Analyst at the UCit Instructional & Research Computing department at the University of Cincinnati (better known to many of us in Second Life as Fleep Tuque) and Sarah “Intellagirl” Robbins a Ph.D. candidate at Ball State University, Muncie Indiana. There were also representatives from the non-profit sector like Barry Joseph of Global Kids, and a bevy of lawyers to talk about legal issues involving virtual worlds such as intellectual property.

    I tout the diverse group of speakers and panelist because I think it illustrates the breadth of opportunities that exist in virtual world environments. From business to education to philanthropy, everyone can benefit from the ability to cross geographies and bring people together in an immersive environment. This type of conference is a great way to illustrate that.

    Virtual TV magazine "LIFE 4-U" reported on the event (including a couple of shots of myself/Pyrrha Dell during my talk). And, here’s a still shot to give you an idea of what the event looked like:

    Pyrrha Dell in Second Life

    If you’re interested in my own presentation about what Dell has done in Second Life, what we’ve learned and where we are looking to go, you can view the slides online. In addition, Caleb Booker is working to post audio recordings and slides from all the presenters online soon. I’ll update this post with a link as soon as I get it.

  • Dell & the BMW Sauber Formula 1 Team

    For many fans, Formula 1 racing is a global phenomenon. Dell is an official partner of the BMW Sauber F1 Racing Team that is led by drivers Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld.

    With the 2008 season still in the early stages, the BMW Sauber team is in second place overall. Take a look at the official Formula 1 site for all kinds of information and click here for more about all the driving teams in competition.

    Over at the Inside IT blog, Brett McAnally blogged on this topic, and focused much of it on the Latitude D830 notebooks that the team uses in the pits. The reality is that the BMW Sauber team uses all kinds of Dell technology to drive their mobile pit system, including servers workstations, laptops and Dell flat panels. We'll be providing updates as the season progresses at www.dell.com/F1.

    And besides the BMW Sauber team, it looks like some other F1 crews use Latitude notebooks in their pits as well.

    Team Ferrari

  • Are You Really Green or Green with Envy?

    In thinking about Earth Day this week I was contemplating the opportunities that are out there for channel partners to go GREEN. Rarely have partners been able to effectively articulate a business strategy built around Green IT initiatives. A lot of channel providers talk about green, they want to be green, but at the end of the day, are they really more green than the rest of the IT industry?

    And yet there are so many opportunities to make this real. Look at what VMware did in 2007 by leveraging their virtualization products to reduce power and cooling consumption. VMware worked closely with Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) - who have already paid energy credits and refunds on 5 projects with another 60 pending - while at the same time executing on Green IT initiatives that saved companies about 7,000 kwH per server that they virtualized.

    And now Dell is in the news, Michael Dell was a keynote speaker at Fortune's Brainstorm: GREEN Summit where he was introduced as one of the most forward-thinking CEOs in the country when it comes to environmental issues. It was interesting to me as a fairly new employee at Dell (due to the EqualLogic acquisition) that there were so many Green IT initiatives underway. One of the new product introductions this year is the new Dell blade series that boasts a 28% improvement in energy efficiency and at the conference Michael Dell previewed the company’s smallest and most environmentally-responsible consumer desktop PC. Scheduled to be released later this year, the computer is approximately 81 percent smaller than a standard mini-tower desktop, uses 70 percent less energy and comes in recycled and recyclable packaging – talk about products that channel partners can leverage to begin building a real go to market strategy around Green IT. Add to that a strategy around server and storage virtualization and channel talk becomes channel action. Making it real. What else can we do?

    While traveling in the UK this past summer, I met a channel partner that has already made this strategy real for their clients. At the core of their business model was virtualization but they made sure their clients understood virtualization was a means to realize their vision for reducing client power and cooling costs. But they do not stop there, they are active in community green forums, they belong and contribute to the GreenGrid initiative and they actively market their green strategy. Wow, a partner really doing it and serving their customer’s IT needs at the same time.

    What is your company doing? How are you making it real? What are the other real efforts out there?

    I want to know.

  • Why Technology is Important in Health Care

    In previous posts related to health care, I've talked about better patient care and E-prescribing. In this post, I wanted to talk more broadly about the role technology can play in health care. The work of Dell, Allscripts and the other partners in the National E-Prescribing Patient Safety Initiative is one example of collaboration among companies to enable technology adoption in health care. This sort of cooperation is critical to enable technology integration across the health care ecosystem and among medical tools and devices.

    Hospitals and caregivers have hundreds of applications and devices, many of which can’t share information. Think of cell phones as an example—imagine if the different brands of phones and service carriers weren’t able to talk to each other. That’s often the state of connectivity among devices in health care.

    Leadership within the industry and the government can drive an overall commitment to standards. Dell works with many other companies as part of the Continua Health Alliance, an organization dedicated to interoperability of health care devices. Interoperability standards that allow independently manufactured products to work together enables improved quality of care, improved efficiency, reduced errors and lower costs.

    Dell has been committed to a standards-based approach to technology and believes this methodology can be applied successfully in health care. Part of Dell’s approach to driving standards in health care is collaborating with leading healthcare technology providers to bring complete solutions to customers that integrate hardware, software, services and devices. Dell’s work with GetWellNetwork is one example of this type of collaboration that benefits patients. Through the interactive patient care system developed by GetWellNetwork, run on standard Dell hardware and deployed by Dell services, hospital patients can access education, communication and entertainment tools designed to improve their hospital stay and also make the delivery of care more efficient and consistent for caregivers.

    Dell has broadened our focus on health care and life sciences because ultimately, technology can help manage cost and efficiency and improve patient care. Here's the third and final vlog with Glenn Tullman, CEO of Allscripts, where he discusses how we're working with them to broaden technology adoption across the health care industry. If you have ideas on what Dell can do to further the integration of technology and health, would love to know your thoughts.

    <a href="http://media.dellone2one.com/dell/February2008/Glen_Tullman_vlog3_Dell_and_Allscripts.flv"><img src="http://direct2dell.com/photos/videos/images/55059/300x225.aspx" border = "0" width="300" height="225"></a><br /><a href = "http://media.dellone2one.com/dell/February2008/Glen_Tullman_vlog3_Dell_and_Allscripts.flv">View Video</a><br />Format: flv<br />Duration: 5:05

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  • New Group Blog: Inside IT Joins Direct2Dell Family

    In my post earlier this week, I mentioned that customers could expect more conversations coming from folks at Dell. Well today, we're introducing a new group blog called Inside IT. Take a look at my inaugural post there for an idea what kind of stuff you'll see.

    For future reference, you can access Inside IT directly by going here: www.direct2dell.com/insideit

    And if this kind of content is right down your alley, I invite you to add the Inside IT RSS feed to your favorite RSS reader.

  • Blu-ray Equipped Inspiron 1525 Laptop Now Available for Under $1000

    Starting today, we're offering customers in the United States, Canada and Europe the Inspiron 1525 equipped with an optional Blu-ray drive under $1000. In the United States, that starting price is $879—specific pricing may vary in other regions.

    The Inspiron 1525 laptop is the one that Laptop Magazine gave their Editors' Choice award to. It features a 15.4-inch 1280 x 800 resolution (or optional 1440 x 900) wide aspect display means it support up to 720p resolution. It also includes an HDMI port so you can connect it to a larger external display or HDTV.

    If you're not familiar with Blu-ray, here's a blog post from Brian Zucker about that explains it in more detail. Back in mid-February, the blogosphere reacted to a Reuters story that said Toshiba planned to exit HD-DVD, the competing high-definition disc format. A few days later, they made it official. Since then, many new releases are coming out in the Blu-ray format, and places like Wal-Mart, Amazon, Blockbuster and Netflix are actively promoting Blu-ray titles.

    The Blu-ray player disc drive is fully backwards compatible, and will play as well as burn traditional DVDs and CDs. And if you're willing to upgrade to Blu-ray burner drive, Blu-ray discs are good for backing up your personal files since they can store up to 50 GB of data, vs. 8.5 GB available on the typical DVD disc. 
  • How is Dell addressing today's more mobile workforce?

    It seems like everyone and everything is going mobile, especially in business.  Greater mobility in the workforce, however, is radically changing, which presents some issues for the IT people that have to manage mobile devices.  IDC started talking about this a couple years ago, and the blogosphere is starting too.

    You might be wondering what Dell's view is on this and what we're doing to make mobility better.  It's natural to think that we focus on traditional notebook computers, but that is only a small part of the story.  Mobility is more about connecting information and people, not any one type of device.  When you think about it, we really have two groups to please:  the people using computers and mobile devices, and the IT people that have to manage the devices.

    When it comes to mobility, we're seeing the power curve radically changing.  End users are demanding that their mobile devices be easier to use, more secure, more powerful, always on, and more connected.  This includes PCs, phones, PDAs, notebooks, tablets, email devices, RFID and others.  IT management is trying to make this happen, while at the same time trying to manage it all and protect the company.  So we expanded our thinking and developed a set of core beliefs about mobile computing. These core beliefs shape not only what we offer to end users and IT management today, but also what we are developing in the future.

    • Seamless Platforms: Expectations and use of devices is fundamentally changing, and are often diverging. Devices and the platforms that support them are going to evolve to meet these changing needs. Email, phones, IM, contacts, blogs, and data need to be interchangeable and accessible irrespective of the platform. This is why Dell is developing, partnering, and working with the ecosystem that makes it easy to manage and use all types of information across all types of devices.
    • Always on: Users expect to be wirelessly connected at all times. Technologies that know where you are and how you are connected are revolutionizing mobility. We're simplifying things like unified communications, and adding technologies like RFID and GPS to the ever broadening wireless connectivity to ensure that every device is connected all the time.
    • Natural interface: Keyboards are great, but people want other interfaces too. Sometimes that means things like pen devices on tablet computers or touch screens. Or it could mean ultra small computers or even extra wide models. Choice of interface will be critical because it needs to match the user, not have the user match the interface. We're developing some technologies that will surprise you. One example is the Tablet XT which featured capacitive touch technology, a truly addictive capability that users soon expect to be in every panel device, not just their tablet computer.
    • Always secure: Users want security to be both transparent and strong. That's why Dell is simplifying security so IT can easily protect the infrastructure, yet still make it easy for users. We already offer tools for physical, identity, and data security, but these will be made even easier for users with things like fingerprint ID, facial identification, and other user-friendly methods.
    • Single Identity: Users will demand a single identity for all devices, which means that physical and logical access methods will converge. We're driving ways to simplify how companies manage identities on every device that provides needed security and meets end-user demands. Dell is leading here too in the development of proximity devices and software that makes it easy to manage credentials.
    • Choice of devices:  No one device is going to be right for every user, so the standard notebook will evolve into a flexible device allowing multiple usage-based operating modes.   Each individual needs to work in different ways.   Sometimes wirelessly connected, sometimes in power saving mode and sometimes plugged into a stationary environment.  The focus is to take one singular powerful computing platform and that can specialize the usage modes for the needs of the users.   
    • Greener: Today we're delivering devices that are designed to use less power, are manufactured in more eco-friendly ways, and that offer easy ways to offset the carbon footprint. Dell is leading here too, not only in our Energy Smart products and services, but in our policies, procedures, recycling, and company goals.
    • Customizable: The old way was for company IT to deliver the same notebook to everyone. The new way is that users want computing devices that meet their needs and reflect how they use them, not to be forced to use only the standard issue. So the old model of total cost of ownership (TCO) will go out the window. Return on investment -- and the productivity you get from your workers -- will rule.
    • Simpler: IT is demanding smarter and simpler solutions to minimize the mundane and help their businesses innovate. So Dell is focusing on not only hardware, but the management layer of new devices too, to minimize the amount of time IT spends on maintenance and free resources for innovation.
    • Work/Life Enabler: Perhaps the most interesting change is that computing and communications devices have become tools of life. As such, they will need to fit better with the places they are used. Rather than just making a newer or faster device, we take more time to listen to customers and understand their usage. That way, we're developing solutions that satisfy and delight them.

    I'm not asking you to simply take my word for it.  In fact, I'm more interested in what you think and what you need. Please share your thoughts here.

  • Dell Helps Large Business Customers Through Operating System Migration Services

    Today we unveiled a new service called Client Migration Solution. It's an integrated set of assessment, design, deployment and management services with tools that our service team tells me can reduce migration costs by up to 62 percent and desk-side time and labor by 88 percent. 

    This migration service is designed for organizations planning an operating system migration or hardware deployment of 2,500 systems or more. It simplifies the process by addressing common challenges such as network utilization, application compatibility and end-user downtime, all while minimizing costs.  As businesses evaluate their need to migrate to Vista, Dell can help them address their migration needs and procedures. 

    We based these services on our extensive experience managing millions of customer deployments around the globe. Client Migration Solution helps customers better understand their existing client environment by determining hardware and application compatibility, then seamlessly planning, deploying and managing migrated systems. 

    The solution leverages new patent-pending Dell Automated Deployment technologies that speed the deployment process, reduce post-migration support calls, reduce risk, and eliminate network traffic normally associated with deployments. 

    After the migration is complete, Dell provides customers with the tools and expertise needed to better manage ongoing technology refreshes and instruction to ensure support staff and end-users are properly trained.     

    The Client Migration Solution is available now to customers in the United States, Europe and Canada. as well as Dell Registered Partners. Pricing depends on customer needs and their specific client environment. These services are also available on a limited basis in Latin America and will be available to Asia-Pacific/Japan customers later this year.

    Update: I was incorrect in saying that the Client Migration Solution is available to Dell Registered Partners. My apologies for that.

  • Dell: 10 Years in China

    Michael Dell recently visited China last week. Some of you may have seen reports in the blogosphere about some things he discussed. For a bit more context, I thought it made sense to share Amit Midha's recent Direct2Dell Chinese post on our English site as well. Here's Amit's post.

    Amit Midha
    Dell Greater China President

    2008 is a unique and important year for China since it will host the Olympics Games. 2008 is a unique and important year for Dell China as it marks our 10th anniversary in China and we will turn into a new chapter of our growth and development in China.

    Last week, our Chairman & CEO Michael Dell visited China and kicked off our 10th anniversary celebration in China by announcing extensions of the company’s educational and environmental initiatives in the country.

    Dell will invest RMB 1.7 million to equip six more Dell Learning Centers (DLC). The centers are helping rural migrant children bridge the technological gap to the Internet-based Connected Era. By the end of the year, Dell will have initiated 10 DLCs in China. The first three new centers are scheduled to open in April and May in Tianjin, Hangzhou and Chengdu. Each center will feature Dell’s leading computer systems paired with education software, which Dell volunteers and others will use to help train children on how to use information technology.

    Additionally, Dell will donate RMB 1 million to support the “greening” of the Chao Yang district of Beijing as part of the Company’s global Regeneration initiatives (www.regeneration.org). The entire amount will go toward planting trees and maintaining green areas in the area.

    Dell began operations in China in 1998. Since then, the company’s business here has expanded to include:

    • Two manufacturing operations in Xiamen -- one for mainland China, and one for export to Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong;
    • An enterprise command center, also in Xiamen, to provide rapid support services to customers with large computer networks;
    • A global design center in Shanghai, one of Dell’s largest such centers outside the United States, and;
    • A sales and support center in Dalian for customers in Japan and South Korea.

    Dell’s economic presence in China is significant. Last year the company purchased about US$18 billion in technology components and related products from supplier partners in China—more than any other computer-systems company. Dell expects that number to grow to US$23 billion this year. Based on projections from a 2005 Peking University study, the company estimates its spending in the country this year to contribute more than US$50 billion to China’s gross domestic product and support more than two million jobs.

    Dell’s contributions to China are not only economic. In 2007, Dell employees volunteered more than 7,000 hours and the company donated RMB 5 million to charities in the country and to promote the informatization of the country.

    The learning center and green initiatives in China announced by our Chairman and CEO are just the latest examples of myriad programs in countries worldwide that have earned Dell repeated recognition for its social responsibility and are the beginning of the celebration of our 10th anniversary in China.

    Stay tuned.

    QA_Michael Dell(1) (2)  Keynote_Michael Dell(2)

    QA_Michale Amit(2)

    戴尔中国开启十周年庆典

    戴尔公司大中华区总裁闵毅达

    随着中国举办奥运会的步伐越来越近,2008年对中国将是非凡而重要的一年。同样,2008年对戴尔中国来说也是不同寻常的一年,我们将迎来在中国的十周年,掀开在华持续增长和发展的新篇章。

    上周,戴尔公司董事长兼首席执行官迈克尔•戴尔访问了中国,宣布将在中国积极开展一系列有益的教育和环保项目,拉开了戴尔中国十周年庆典活动的帷幕。

    戴尔将再增资170万元人民币成立六家新的戴尔学习中心(DLC),致力于帮助缩小农民工子弟与互联网时代之间的数字鸿沟。截至今年年底,戴尔在中国的学习中心总数将达到10家。新增的6家学习中心中的前三家将在今年4、5两月分别落户天津、杭州和成都。每个中心都配备了戴尔领先的计算机系统及相应的教育软件,而且来自戴尔和社会各界的志愿者还将义务为学生提供培训。

    另外,作为戴尔全球“绿色革新”(www.regeneration.org)项目的一部分,戴尔公司将捐赠100万元人民币支持北京市朝阳区的绿化建设,全部资金将用于园区的植树和养护工作。

    戴尔在中国开展业务始于1998年。十年来,公司在中国的业务规模持续扩大:

    · 两家位于厦门的制造工厂,一家面向中国大陆市场,另一家出口到日本、韩国和中国香港地区;

    · 企业服务指挥中心,同样位于厦门,负责为拥有大规模计算机网络的客户提供快速支持服务;

    · 位于上海的中国设计中心,是戴尔在美国之外的全球最大的产品设计中心之一;

    · 位于大连的戴尔国际服务中心,负责为日本和韩国客户提供服务。

    戴尔对中国的经济贡献有目共睹。去年,公司从中国采购了价值180亿美元的部件和配件,采购额位居所有计算机厂商之首。戴尔预计今年的采购额将增至230亿美元。基于北京大学针对2005年戴尔对中国经济贡献所进行的研究和报告,戴尔公司预估今年公司在中国的直接和间接业务将为中国创造超过500亿美元的GDP,提供近200万个工作机会。

    戴尔对中国的贡献不仅体现在经济层面。2007年,戴尔中国员工累计贡献了长达7,000多个小时的志愿服务,公司为中国慈善机构和信息化事业捐款总计500万元人民币。

    长期以来,戴尔在全球各地积极实施了大量的社会公益项目,赢得了社会各界的广泛赞誉。此次宣布开展的学习中心和绿化项目,揭开了戴尔中国十周年庆典的帷幕,同时再度体现了我们对企业社会责任的高度重视。

    请拭目以待!

  • Recent Opinion on SSD Failure Rates Fails to Include the Facts

    Sometimes we have to react to information that has no basis in reality. That's what we're dealing with here.

    A recent analyst document from Avian Securities incorrectly stated that Dell is seeing high return rates (20 - 30%) due to performance issues and failures on solid state disk drives (SSDs). It has been the basis of conversations in the blogosphere like Crave, Gizmodo, Techcrunch and BloggingStocks.

    Here's the real story: the 20 - 30% failure and return rates cited by Avian Securities don't even vaguely resemble what's happening in our business. It's also true that Avian did not contact us while doing their research. Said another way, it's just not true.

    Our global reliability data shows that SSD drives are equal to or better than traditional hard disk drives we've shipped. Beyond that, return rates for SSDs are in line with our expectations for new technology and an order of magnitude better than rates reported in the press.

    The vast majority of our customers who purchased these drives appreciate the benefits that SSD drives offer: increased durability, fast start up, better reliability and improved access times.

    In her earlier blog post, Sarah Williams from our product group mentioned that first-generation SSD drives performed on par with 5400RPM laptop hard drives overall. She also said that we're now offering second-generation Samsung's SATA II drives (we call them Dell Flash Ultra Performance SSD) that outperform existing laptop (and even some fast desktop) hard drives. 

    Whether we're talking about a new technology or an established one, Dell is extremely strict on quality variations. Hard drive quality in particular is closely monitored by virtue of its job: to store customer data. Computers can be easily replaced—customer data cannot.

    We remain committed to SSD technology and see it as a key technology that will advance mobile computing overall. Because of this, we will continue our efforts to offer them across a variety of consumer and business laptops and mobile workstations.

    Update: EqualLogic blogger Marc Farley weighed in on the topic here. Very soon, he will be joining the Direct2Dell family to contribute to a new group blog we'll be launching soon called Inside IT. More details coming.

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