Server virtualisation platforms and management
Get news and technical advice on virtualisation platforms, virtualisation management and strategy. Our resources weigh the pros and cons of virtualisation platforms (VMware, Hyper-V and XenServer) in light of your datacentre requirements and offer step-by-step guidance on virtualisation management tasks, such as installing Hyper-V or VMware, monitoring, troubleshooting and securing virtual machines, P2V, V2P, V2V migration, desktop virtualisation strategies, and more.
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News
17 Dec 2024
VMware customers seek alternatives amid licensing changes
Research reveals that while most VMware customers are satisfied with their current software, they are exploring alternatives due to concerns over rising costs Continue Reading
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News
01 Dec 2024
How SkyLab is democratising hybrid cloud management
SkyLab is challenging the cloud status quo with its orchestration platform, which allows telcos and enterprises to seamlessly manage workloads across multiple cloud providers Continue Reading
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E-Zine
13 Jul 2015
The most influential women in UK IT 2015
In this week's Computer Weekly, we reveal our annual list of the 50 most influential women in UK IT – and talk to this year's winner, Citrix vice-president Jacqueline de Rojas. Also, we look at how ARM chips are making inroads into the datacentre as energy awareness becomes a growing corporate IT issue. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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Feature
08 Jul 2015
Still running Windows Server 2003? Don’t panic
Many organisations are facing the prospect of running Windows 2003 server unsupported. Where do you go from here? Continue Reading
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News
30 Jun 2015
Windows Server 2003 end of support: Five options to choose from
Support for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 ends in July. Should you upgrade to a newer version of the operating system or choose an alternative? Continue Reading
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News
25 Jun 2015
John Swainson, president of Dell Software, argues the case for rethinking datacentres
Having previously worked for Silver Lake, CA and IBM, Swainson now heads the company’s software business Continue Reading
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News
03 Jun 2015
VMware puts network virtualisation to work in McAfee environments
VMware announces an integrated system to automate distribution and enforcement of McAfee’s network security platform using its NSX network virtualisation system Continue Reading
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News
29 May 2015
Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015 shortlist
Find out who made the Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015 shortlist Continue Reading
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News
09 Apr 2015
Strong dollar may shift server upgrades off-premise
The strong US dollar will influence how CIOs spend their 2015 IT budgets. Server price hikes may drive spending to the cloud Continue Reading
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News
04 Mar 2015
Strong future for enterprise IT in Nordic countries
From attracting the world to its ice-cool datacentres to the digitisation of the public sector, there is plenty going on in the Nordic region Continue Reading
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News
03 Feb 2015
VMware boosts Hadoop and Hana with vSphere 6
VMware has unveiled vSphere 6, the latest version of its virtualisation platform Continue Reading
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Feature
22 Jan 2015
A closer look at Google Container Engine
In just 12 months, Docker has transformed from a simple open-source container management project into a powerful platform Continue Reading
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News
21 Jan 2015
IBM revenue declines as company shifts to higher value deals
IBM has reported a 12% decline in profits for the fourth quarter of 2014 following the sale of its System x business to Lenovo Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Jan 2015
How to make applications resilient on AWS
Cloud services are susceptible to network and other outages. There is no silver bullet to boost the resilience of an AWS-hosted application Continue Reading
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News
07 Jan 2015
Oracle will lose out unless it changes its software licensing
In an open letter, Campaign for Clear Licensing highlights the risk to Oracle’s future earnings due to aggressive licensing Continue Reading
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News
30 Dec 2014
Case study: How VMware’s vCloud meets customer needs
Cloud innovation winner of the Computer Weekly European User Awards for datacentre/storage 2014, VMware, shares its story Continue Reading
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Feature
11 Dec 2014
The state of mobile back end as a service
Common mobile application services are increasingly being hosted on central back-end servers – but what does that mean for the enterprise? Continue Reading
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Feature
01 Dec 2014
Networking technologies emerging in the enterprise
We look at the latest networking technologies on offer, and those being adopted in the enterprise Continue Reading
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News
14 Nov 2014
Amazon unveils Docker-friendly container service and EC2 instance
Amazon has launched its free, Docker-friendly EC2 container management service Continue Reading
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Feature
15 Oct 2014
Cloud, frozen pizza model and the immutable infrastructure
The architecture pattern for immutable infrastructure is based on the made-to-order pizza model Continue Reading
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News
08 Oct 2014
The challenges facing HP as it splits in two
HP is splitting its business in two - but it is a reaction to the changing way that businesses and consumers buy IT Continue Reading
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News
29 Sep 2014
ARM enters mainstream datacentre with HP’s ProLiant Moonshot servers
ARM chips have entered mainstream enterprise datacentre with HP's production-ready ARM-powered Moonshot servers Continue Reading
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News
29 Sep 2014
Case study: Deutsche Post DHL develops software contract templates to reduce costs
Deutsche Post DHL has created contract templates to manage software costs. Computer Weekly speaks to the people leading the initiative Continue Reading
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Feature
23 Sep 2014
Demystifying Kubernetes: the tool to manage Google-scale workloads in the cloud
We are witnessing a new technology wave in the form of immutable infrastructure and micro-services Continue Reading
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News
02 Sep 2014
Why bare metal cloud is in vogue
Bare metal services have been around since 2009 but cloud is witnessing renewed interest in it thanks to new offerings Continue Reading
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News
29 Aug 2014
Windows Server 2003 EOL: HP seeks to cash in as IBM-Lenovo deal yet to close
As enterprises look to refresh their infrastructure, HP is playing the stability card to win deals as IBM and Dell are mired by uncertainties Continue Reading
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News
11 Aug 2014
Intel watches ARM as low-powered computing thrives
As the PC market continues to decline, ARM is proving that non-x86 chips have a long and prosperous future Continue Reading
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E-Zine
04 Aug 2014
Driving virtualisation into pole position in Formula One
In this week’s Computer Weekly, we find out how the Caterham F1 team has used virtualisation in its trackside technology to help improve race performance. We analyse how growing competition in the cloud market is affecting Amazon Web Services’ dominant position. And we look at silicon photonics, an emerging datacentre technology that promises better connectivity and reduced complexity. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
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News
31 Jul 2014
£700m government hosting deal limits bidders to North-East England datacentre
Want to win the £700m Crown Hosting Service contract? You'll need a major datacentre near Newcastle to stand any chance Continue Reading
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News
25 Jul 2014
AWS feels the pressure of cloud competition
AWS became the gold standard of public cloud. But are price wars, hybrid cloud and increased competition denting its growth? Continue Reading
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Feature
13 Jun 2014
Micro-datacentre: What IT problems it solves and what workload systems suit it
A micro-datacentre is a smaller containerised datacentre system designed to solve different problems or to handle different workloads Continue Reading
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News
09 Jun 2014
Home Secretary Theresa May unveils datacentre in Maidenhead
Home Secretary Theresa May has opened a multi-million-pound extended datacentre, owned by UK cloud firm iomart Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Jun 2014
Will silicon photonics replace copper cabling in mainstream datacentres?
Silicon photonics can increase bandwidth in servers, improve data transfer speeds and reduce complexity. But are datacentres ready for it? Continue Reading
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News
29 May 2014
BSkyB retunes IT to ready-for-anything datacentre quad
British broadcaster BSkyB has based its IT on four core datacentres that are resilient, interconnected, energy-efficient and cloud-ready Continue Reading
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News
23 May 2014
HP job cuts head towards the 50,000 mark as company tackles cost
A further 16000 jobs are set to go as HP continues to slash its workforce through a restructuring initiative which began in 2012 Continue Reading
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News
09 May 2014
Facebook debuts ‘Rapid Deployment Data Centre’ design in Swedish facility
Facebook is expanding its Luleå datacentre in Sweden by deploying Rapid Deployment Data Centre (RDDC) design developed in collaboration with Emerson Power Network Continue Reading
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News
28 Apr 2014
US judge orders Microsoft to hand over email data held in Dublin
A US Judge has ordered Microsoft to give the District Court access to the contents of one of its customer’s emails stored on a server located in Dublin Continue Reading
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News
17 Apr 2014
Datacentre lessons learnt from Heartbleed bug
The Heartbleed bug, an OpenSSL flaw affecting millions of websites, has some lessons for datacentre providers and operators Continue Reading
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News
15 Apr 2014
EU data privacy authorities approve Microsoft Azure, Office 365 cloud services
The European Union's data privacy authorities have given approval to Microsoft's cloud services including Windows Azure and Office 365 Continue Reading
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News
10 Apr 2014
BT and Microsoft to offer secure fast lane to Azure cloud
Microsoft’s UK cloud chief hails service as critical step in supporting CEO Satya Nadella’s ambitious plans for global cloud dominance Continue Reading
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Feature
28 Mar 2014
Can the mainframe remain relevant in the cloud and mobile era?
IBM mainframes run more than 1.1m transactions per second, yet the mainframe has remained largely unfashionable. We investigate Continue Reading
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Feature
25 Mar 2014
Understanding the real value of IT and proving it to the business
At a time when costs are being continually squeezed, there is more pressure than ever to demonstrate the business value of technology Continue Reading
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News
18 Mar 2014
Oracle pushes Exadata servers aggressively against IBM PureSystems
IDC’s latest market share data for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), has shown that Oracle is beginning to grow its server business Continue Reading
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News
18 Mar 2014
Global taskforce agrees on green datacentre metric
DCeP hopes to win widespread support as a useful and meaningful standard for measuring datacentre efficiency Continue Reading
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News
07 Mar 2014
CIOs hold fire over datacentre decisions
When it comes to devising datacentre strategies, are CIOs paralysed like rabbits in the headlights, or playing a calculated game of wait and see? Continue Reading
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News
24 Feb 2014
Case study: Virtualised storage adds value to Denmark's tunnel vision
State construction firm Femern selects DataCore system to help speed up Fehmarnbelt undersea odyssey and keep the sharks at bay Continue Reading
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Feature
18 Feb 2014
The UK’s problem with power
Datacentre power buyers say Britain’s deregulated energy market is as complex as trading in derivatives Continue Reading
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News
11 Feb 2014
Schneider accreditation aims to boost green datacentre skills
Datacentre supplier offers free vendor-neutral courses and certification through its online Energy University Continue Reading
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News
07 Feb 2014
Amazon nets lion’s share of $10bn public cloud market
AWS continues its unassailable domination of the sector, despite recent moves by Google, IBM and Microsoft Continue Reading
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News
31 Jan 2014
WIll open source save the datacentre industry?
IT rivals stand cheek-by-jowl to praise Facebook’s Open Compute Project, but is the love-in a Damascene conversion or just damage limitation? Continue Reading
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News
29 Jan 2014
Microsoft joins Open Compute Project
Redmond giant makes server specs public in bid to influence future datacentre design Continue Reading
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Photo Story
21 Jan 2014
UK cloud computing priorities 2014
Research from Computer Weekly and TechTarget shows UK businesses are the most committed to cloud in Europe Continue Reading
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News
20 Jan 2014
IBM to open London datacentre as part of $1.2bn global cloud push
New facility first in UK to be based on IBM SoftLayer cloud architecture Continue Reading
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Photo Story
17 Jan 2014
Top IT priorities for 2014 in Europe
Exclusive Computer Weekly research showing how IT decision makers are spending their 2014 budgets. Continue Reading
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News
06 Dec 2013
Chancellor George Osborne announces datacentre carbon tax break in Autumn Statement
George Osborne exempts datacentre operators from blanket carbon taxes in exchange for climate change agreements Continue Reading
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News
03 Dec 2013
Virtualisation continues to drive European server purchases
TechTarget survey finds 97.3% of large organisations plan to expand their deployments in 2014, with consolidation the main driver Continue Reading
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Opinion
02 Dec 2013
Intel x86 and IBM Power CPUs: Which, when, why?
There are only three processors left in the market for mission-critical applications. Which should you chose ? Continue Reading
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Feature
28 Nov 2013
SMB 3.0 brings enterprise-class storage to Hyper-V deployments
SMB 3.0 is Microsoft’s replacement for the “chatty” CIFS file access storage protocol that offers enterprise-class storage to Hyper-V deployments Continue Reading
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News
05 Nov 2013
Business-defined storage will help reconnect businesses with IT, says Forrester
Business-defined storage and datacentres will make IT more business-centric, according to Forrester Continue Reading
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E-Zine
04 Nov 2013
Barcelona toasts the cream of VMworld
Another year and another Best of VMworld Europe User Awards. TechTarget hosted the awards, which took place during VMworld Europe for a fourth year. This year the ceremony took place in sunny Barcelona. In this month’s issue of CW Europe, read the top case studies and find out why Computer Weekly and searchserverVirtualization.com crowned them the winners. Continue Reading
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Photo Story
22 Oct 2013
Best of VMworld Europe User Awards 2013 winners
The Best of VMworld Europe User Awards 2013 winners have been revealed. View pictures of the awards ceremony at VMworld Europe in Barcelona. Continue Reading
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News
21 Oct 2013
Lotus F1 Team invests in converged datacentre to support race strategy
Lotus F1 Team is about to go live with a converged datacentre infrastructure as it begins the development of a championship-winning car for 2015 Continue Reading
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Photo Story
18 Oct 2013
Microsoft Server 2012 R2: the OS for the hybrid cloud
Microsoft has released Windows Server 2012 R2, along with an R2 update to System Center 2012. Tim Anderson takes the new OS on a test drive. Continue Reading
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News
13 Sep 2013
After virtualising IT estate, Jaguar Land Rover now eyes cloud computing
Jaguar Land Rover's IT team takes its newly virtualised infrastructure to the next stage of IT evolution by adopting cloud-based services Continue Reading
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News
10 Sep 2013
Key legal and commercial issues with data centre services
This briefing from law-firm DLA Piper looks at the main types of data centre services that are available on the market, common pitfalls and key legal and commercial issues to consider. Continue Reading
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News
27 Aug 2013
Navigating your Future within an SOA information manufacturing system
As the IT industry reaches maturity, IT departments should think of themselves not as data centres but as manufacturing centres for information. Terry Keene argues in this short e-book. Continue Reading
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News
06 Aug 2013
Datacentres are a key focus for government’s Green ICT Delivery Unit
With the growing use of online services for government transactions, datacentres are a key focus of the government’s green IT strategy Continue Reading
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News
13 Jun 2013
Serco outsources IT infrastructure and transformation
Business service provider Serco contracts SunGard for its UK IT infrastructure that will help Serco increase its cloud services Continue Reading
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News
10 Jun 2013
Can Dell survive in the cloud era despite killing its public cloud offering?
Dell has ditched its public cloud IaaS in favour of partner cloud programme. But will the strategy help secure its future in the cloud era? Continue Reading
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Feature
30 May 2013
VMware storage: SAN configuration basics
For VMware storage basics start here – the fundamentals of configuring SAN storage for VMware, such as VMFS, VMDKs, connectivity options and VMware storage features Continue Reading
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News
09 Apr 2013
CIO interview: Mary Hensher, IT director, Cancer Research UK
Charity Cancer Research has felt the impact of recession on fundraising and the need to innovate through technology is more important than ever Continue Reading
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Opinion
25 Mar 2013
Securing the hypervisor: expert tips
There are many potential security issues with the various components of a virtualised infrastructure, and nowhere is this more of a concern than with the hypervisor platforms that host virtual systems and application instances Continue Reading
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News
18 Mar 2013
FM, IT and Data Centres
Are Facilities and IT data centre managers implacable enemies, or is it a case of different work priorities, asks analyst Clive Longbottom. Continue Reading
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News
22 Feb 2013
Tesco to host private cloud infrastructure within its internal datacentres
Tesco will run a private cloud infrastructure from its internal datacentre to host its website and retail related apps Continue Reading
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News
15 Feb 2013
IT budgets to grow in 2013 as economy bumps along
UK IT departments are planning to spend more on IT in 2013 despite the downturn, a worldwide survey of IT managers has revealed Continue Reading
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News
31 Jan 2013
Case study: Menzies Aviation upgrades in-house datacentre
Menzies Aviation has updated its three internal datacentres with new servers, storage and cooling products rather than invest in cloud computing Continue Reading
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News
28 Jan 2013
Enterprises bringing data back in-house for more flexibility, shows study
European enterprises are improving their internal datacentres and storing data in-house rather than on the external cloud Continue Reading
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News
28 Jan 2013
Travel service provider Concur builds datacentres in Europe to support growth
Integrated travel and expenses service provider, Concur Technologies, has built colocation datacentres to cater to European customers Continue Reading
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News
11 Jan 2013
Whiptail tops the class with flash array plus SAN two-tier strategy
School slashes virtual desktop login times with two-tier Whiptail flash array plus budget Huawei SAN Continue Reading
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E-Zine
13 Dec 2012
Realise the benefits of virtualisation in safety
Many benefits come attached to virtualisation, however with it spreading into a variety of technology areas it is important that IT professionals keep up with the skills and expertise that is required of them to ensure their business remains safe and efficient. CW Europe looks at how European businesses are utilising the technology. This month’s digital magazine brings you the leading stories and expert tips from across Europe. Continue Reading
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News
06 Dec 2012
CW Buyer's Guide: Desktop virtualisation
This eight-page buyer's guide looks at desktop virtualisation and identifies some of the options IT directors must consider when planning a virtualisation project. Continue Reading
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News
06 Dec 2012
Case Study: Tesco's £65 million data centre strategy to drive online growth
This Computer Weekly case study, packed with photographs and data, gives the inside story of Tesco's £65 million data centre strategy. Continue Reading
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News
06 Dec 2012
VMworld Europe Case Study: DER Deutsches Reisebüro
A Germany travel agent gained control of its IT and increased its profits after implementing a desk top virtualisation project. Continue Reading
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News
06 Dec 2012
VMworld Europe Case Study: Colt Technology
Managed service provider Colt designed and rolled out a scalable, cloud-hosted desktop virtualisation project that is reaping benefits for local councils. Continue Reading
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Feature
12 Nov 2012
Software-defined datacentres demystified
As datacentre managers increasingly rely on software and automation, what can a software-defined datacentre bring to the enterprise? Continue Reading
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News
05 Nov 2012
VMworld Europe 2012 User Awards Tiger Wheel and Tyre
Case Study: Tyre company innovates with back-up and replication in a virtualised IT estate Using virtualisation as a cost-effective alternative to refreshing an ageing physical server environment has helped tyre company Tiger Wheel and Tyre improve its R&D. The project has also enabled the team to future-proof its infrastructure and embrace new trends such as bring your own device (BYOD) to give the business a competitive edge. Continue Reading
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News
24 Oct 2012
CIO interview: Gerry Pennell, CIO, London 2012 Olympic Games
As the job of a lifetime nears its end, London 2012 CIO Gerry Pennell talks exclusively to Computer Weekly about his Olympic experience Continue Reading
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News
10 Oct 2012
VMworld Europe: Horizon Suite to help IT manage corporate assets on Apple iOS
VMware is launching a suite of products to help IT executives manage workspace apps on consumers’ mobile devices including on Apple iPhones securely Continue Reading
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News
10 Oct 2012
VMworld Europe 2012 kicks off in Barcelona
VMworld Europe 2012 opens with updates from VMware on the cloud and new management suites Continue Reading
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Photo Story
10 Oct 2012
Best of VMworld Europe User Awards 2012: Winners
The winners of the Best of VMworld Europe User Awards 2012 have been announced. Find all the pics from the awards here and details of the winning projects. Continue Reading
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News
10 Oct 2012
Complex and non-transparent Oracle licensing costing firms millions
Companies virtualising Oracle databases with VMware platforms face millions in penalties over non-compliance Continue Reading
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News
09 Oct 2012
Case study: How to virtualise SAP and migrate from IBM onto x86
At VMworld Europe Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores gave an overview of how it virtualised an SAP environment and migrated from an IBM mainframe to x86 Continue Reading
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News
21 Sep 2012
Facebook engineer builds heatmap tool for datacentre troubleshooting
A Facebook engineer has built a server-monitoring tool using heatmaps to assess the status of cache systems and fix datacentre problems Continue Reading
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News
15 Aug 2012
Virtualisation, backup and recovery tool helps firm beat data woes
Virtualising IT was only half a battle won for an advertising agency. Selecting an apt data backup and recovery tool to optimise its virtual infrastructure was equally important. Continue Reading
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News
02 Jul 2012
Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V: What features get users' thumbs up
Admins who have downloaded Windows Server 2012 RC give thumbs up to the new version of Hyper-V, inclusion of high-end features in free Hyper-V, and shared nothing live migration. Continue Reading
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News
20 Jun 2012
VMware admins advised to apply patches to ESX, ESXi quickly
IT pros are urged to install security patches that VMware has released to address critical vulnerabilities in virtualisation products such as ESX, ESXi, Fusion and Workstation. Continue Reading
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Photo Story
10 May 2012
10 Indian server virtualization implementations you can learn from
Successful server virtualization implementation is more than just an install. Here’s a collection of Indian case studies that highlight best practices. Continue Reading
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News
12 Apr 2012
Server virtualization architecture case study: Mahindra Vehicle Manufacturing
Auto player Mahindra Vehicle Manufacturing Limited (MVML) reveals how server virtualization architecture helps it battle decentralization and save money. Continue Reading
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Tip
22 Mar 2012
Troubleshooting bogus vCenter icons in VMware vSphere 5
The new vCenter icons that VMware introduced in vSphere 5 are buggy and issue false alarms. Here are some workarounds until the vendor issues a fix. Continue Reading
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News
23 Feb 2012
KPIT leverages VDI solution’s success
In order to reduce refresh cycle costs of 1200 desktops, KPIT Cummins opted for a VDI solution. We take a look at KPIT’s implementation journey. Continue Reading
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News
19 Dec 2011
Virtualisation technologies: hits and misses of 2011
Amid a slew of virtualisation products and management suites that emerged in 2011, some products such as Spring platform impressed users, while others such as VMware MVP didn’t. Continue Reading
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News
07 Dec 2011
VMware vSphere 5 uptake slow among users
VMware vSphere 5 boasts of cloud-based features and monster VMs, but its uptake is lagging because of user satisfaction with vSphere 4. Continue Reading