HP and 3PAR

Hi folks! So unless you have been hiding under a rock, you know that earlier this year HP acquired 3PAR. What is 3PAR?

3PAR is one of the leading storage vendors in the enterprise market today. Their solutions are perfect for virtualization and the cloud strategy. With HP’s acquisition, they are perfectly poised to knock out the competition with the 3PAR offering.

You can read more about 3PAR here.

-RP

Having network traffic flow issues?

Hi folks! One of the common problems people run into in their networks is when they have many switches of multiple brands interconnected across their network with many loops.

This can sometimes cause a lot of issues in the way traffic flows across the network. This can cause network slowdowns and even outages. How does one resolve this?

Well the first thing to look at is your architecture and ensure that everything is connected properly without any unnecessary connections. Then you also need to look at how you have spanning tree configured or if you have any inferior switches connected in your network that could be causing issues. It also helps to be running the same vendor for your switching if possible, all though mixed vendors is possible with careful planning and configuration.

Following these steps will go a long way to have a stable network!

-RP

Are we stuck with BlackBerry OS?

Hi folks! As you know BlackBerry is still using the good ol’ BlackBerry OS on all it’s mobile devices. The question is for those of us that want more is are we stuck with it?

The BlackBerry OS is good as far as the old days are concerned but in my opinion the new QNX OS on the PlayBook is way better. This is something RIM really has to take advantage of to survive in 2011.

Well according to the rumor mill, RIM is going to eventually replace the BlackBerry OS with QNX OS on it’s mobile devices. If it does this, it will come a long way towards retaining the loyalty of BlackBerry users.

-RP

Orion NPM

Hi folks! So in the world of IT, a common question is – what do you use for network monitoring?

Well there are a lot of products out there that can be used, that will work just fine, both open source and commercial. However there is one product I am especially partial to. Orion NPM from Solarwinds.

Orion NPM is a great product for network monitoring and it covers all sorts of features such as virtualization as well as wireless. Orion also has a new mobile feature to allow mobile views for monitoring.

You can check it out here.

-RP

CES rumors – HTC smart phone

Hi folks, as mentioned before there are lots of rumors about what is going to be announced at CES. Well there are rumors that HTC is announcing a new smart phone.

The HTC Thunderbolt is the new phone that they are planning on announcing. Apparently it’s based on an Android OS and it’s Verizon’s first 4G capable phone.

With the announcement of this that will be another point for Android. Apple will have to release a 4G iPhone soon in response, the only questions is when?

-RP

CES Rumors – HP to reveal quad core Sandy bridge notebooks

Hi folks! So as I mentioned before CES is coming up. For those of you that don’t know, this is the yearly electronics trade show that all the major companies showcase their new products at. CES is usually the place where big announcements are made.

Well this year at CES it is rumored that HP will be revealing their HP quad core Sandy bridge notebooks. That is great news for all of us computer geeks!

They will be the HP Pavilion dv7 4000 and 5000 series notebooks according to the rumors.

-RP

Happy new year everyone!

Hi folks, I want to wish everyone a happy new year! It should be great to see what the year of 2011 will bring to us in the world of technology.

With CES just around the corner we should have a lot of new announcements to get excited about. Hopefully we’ll see some serious further advancements in smart phone and tablet technology this year.

I predict this year will be a make or break year for RIM. With Windows Phone 7 out and Android, and iPhone, RIM will really have to work hard to retain market share. But only time will will tell!

-RP

Cisco umi

Hi folks, so here’s something neat from Cisco. They now are bringing video conferencing to your living room for residential users.

Cisco has introduced the umi, which is a personal use (not commercial) video conferencing system for home users. Why is this cool? Well when it comes to video conferencing, Cisco is one of the company’s that is very good at it. So for them to put their weight behind a home use version of video conferencing is a great thing.

You can read more about it here.

-RP

iPad or MacBook Air?

Hi folks! So here is a question I have had a lot of people ask me. Should I buy an iPad or MacBook Air they ask? The first thing that goes through my head when this question is asked, is that they don’t really compare.

The reason for this is one is a tablet and one is a laptop and both have very different uses. I think the MacBook Air can be used from a day to day office productivity standpoint, or even for a home user or student, but the iPad is more of a geek gadget that can be used for very specific things.

Don’t get me wrong, I can do a lot of things I can normally do on my laptop on an iPad, but would I actually WANT to? Not likely. The iPad can be too kludgy for things like that.

So what’s my answer to the question? Get both! They are great devices in their own rights and server two different purposes, although their might be some overlap in between.

-RP

BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express

Hi folks! So in the enterprise world there are a lot of you that use smart phones. Some of you use BlackBerries, some iPhones, some Android, and maybe even Windows 7 phones now.

Now for the ActiveSync phones, life is easy. You just configure Exchange and away you go. No fuss no muss. This is as it should be.

A long time ago I mentioned BlackBerry was falling behind the times with BES. Now BES has some pretty powerful features if you want to use all of them, but most users just need the basic syncing functionality it provides. Those users aren’t interested in paying the exorbitant fees of BES.

Enter BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express, it’s free and it will provide all the functionality most users need! You can read more about it here. Good job RIM!

-RP