Computer Industry February 2008 Article Seagate, Cisco, Sun

Direction Of The Computer Industry 2008

Around the world, new technology grows and expands into a daily part of our lives. Companies such as Seagate, Cisco, and Sun, continue to convey the connection between their products and lifestyle. These companies are also definitely addressing the concerns voiced by the youth culture.

More about Computers

The January CES event in Las Vegas steals the big headline on Seagate's homepage. Since 2005 Seagate has been positioning themselves as a company that caters to lifestyle. Play it up, Fill it up, Back it up, Lock it up, Live it Up is the motto at the commencement of 2008 Seagate campaign. The message spread across the home page with vivid images bordered by bright colors. Well after the January event, February 15th, Seagate has continued to promote the event and related themes. Seagate's booth and exhibition was focused on personalizing your computer and making it more efficient with Seagate products.

The solution begins with Seagate's audio and video friendly software platform. The Seagate D.A.V.E. (Digital Audio Video Experience) enables you to play your videos, music and support security and surveillance with ease and effectiveness. The Maxtor Shared Storage II drive, which holds a great capacity of 1 TB, can upload a massive amount of music and videos, is positioned as a personal digital library solution. In order to address the ever popular notion of backing up, Seagate points to the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus. It is a 160GB pint-sized hard drive that weighs less than 6 ounces. Convenient for backing up and traveling. Security has also become a growing concern. Seagate recommends using Seagate Momentus 5400 FDE.2. This hard drive prevents anyone from accessing any of your data with hardware based encryption. In order to help those concerned with protecting data from natural disasters or accidents Seagate has unveiled the Sentry Safe Fire-Safe Waterproof hard drive. This drive is known as the SentrySafe QA0004. All of these products were presented at the annual CES show in Las Vegas.

Back in 2007 The Red Hot Chili Peppers had endorsed Seagate's Free Agent product line as a solid solution for the music industry. In 2008 The Seagate website features Director Yun-Chan Lee from Taiwan in an article. Yun-Chan Lee professes that she can hold more HD content, Using Free Agent products, without having to delete needed video footage.

Featured products on Seagate.com 2/15/2008:

Portable USB Hard Drives

Seagate STM900803OTA3E1-RK

Seagate STM901203OTA3E1-RK

Seagate STM901603OTA3E1-RK

Portable Electronic Hard Drives

Seagate ST730212DE

Seagate ST760211DE

Seagate ST612712DEG

In January 2008 Cisco began by featuring a new product on their site called TelePresence System 3000. This product is perfect for real-time highly-populated meetings that could include anything from dealing with customer to discussing supply-chain issues. In the example, six people sit on one side of a table, facing a 65-inch plasma screen. On the screen, there are six virtual people in a different location looking straight back at them. Basically, a company can hold multi-location meetings, with high depth audio and video. The quality is realistic, with life-sized images and high-definition sound. The rounded solution incorporates Cisco Networking hardware, Specialized Furniture, cameras, speaker, displays, and Software to manage meetings, reports, and metrics. This astounding creation is aimed at enterprises or chain businesses, however, it is also used for some small businesses.

Building from 2007 testimonials known as the Human Network, Cisco devoted a large rotating banner to new update from Thunder Sk8 company. Thunder Sk8 is a skateboard manufacturer based out of Venice, California. A video is hosted by Sean Adams, Product Development, from Thunder Sk8. Sean and his professional skateboard team proceed to explain the benefits of Cisco's Smart Unified Business Communication solutions. Sean Adams is able to communicate with Pro Skaters, in the field, to get rapid video updates on product quality.

As of February 15th, 2008 Frank Calderoni is the CFO of Cisco.

Featured products on Cisco.com 2/15/2008:

Data Center Switches

Cisco Catalyst 4900

Cisco Catalyst 6500

Cisco Nexus 7000

Routers

Cisco 2851

Cisco 3845

Cisco 7206VXR

More about Switches

Datacenters are already considered to be eco-friendly, based on the carbon emission efficiencies. A growth in low costing technology, a link between game and application development, a change in requirements of jobs, and a common sophistication of eco-responsibility has spurred the need for additional change. Sun Microsystems recently reached a goal to cut carbon emissions from Datacenters. Speakers, at Sun Microsystems, came forward and discussed the big changes resulting from their successes. The message was provided via website podcast and has been dubbed Sun Eco Innovation. The speakers explained how Datacenters have been in pinpointed as a key component for change. As another benefit, efficient Datacenters and networks will be less expensive and could provide a return on investment within 3 years. The changes included an emergence of new methods, products, services.

Sun provides tools to help companies to identify the status of their existing network and to determine future growth and changes that will impact their hardware. In general, Sun is pushing a Modular Pod Approach to datacenter architecture. Racks utilizing oversized cable Bus ways, scalable power that can support additional transformers, and dedicated to pod switches. Sun has chosen to move away from the raised floor solution for cooling. Instead they have opted for two other options. In the case of High density racks, Sun opts for a slab floor in conjunction with overhead refrigeration units. Overhead units can be easily moved and positioned over the desired rack location. Such a configuration can have some complicated piping and still lacks artificial intelligence. Although this is an improvement over older solutions, it mostly works for high density networks. For racks with less density, Sun may suggest an "In Row Cooling" solution. This configuration takes advantage of the enclosed pod format while utilizing empty rack space for vertical cooling units. One of the benefits of these cooling units is that they have a built-in intelligence that scale the level of cooling to match the level of heat being generated. The enclosed pod format creates a "hot aisle" where exhaust can flow through.