Staying with the whole "cloud computing" theme, Microsoft is talking about a couple of new enterprise computing platforms called "Trebuchet" and "Monsoon". I think this is just another shot across the bow of the IT industry saying that localized servers and data is passe and cloud-based virtual computing is in. Though I have my own reservations about the cloud computing idea, I think these are very interesting concepts and I am interested in seeing where they go in the future.

Microsoft discusses "Trebuchet" and "Monsoon"

I'm leaving this morning for a weeks trip to Houston. We have a large office in Houston (three, actually) and they are moving across town. Since we haven't upgraded the network in Houston for nearly five years, I am taking this opportunity to upgrade major network components such as switches, wireless, and servers. The new wireless system is the most exciting of the new items as it allows domain authentication instead of the traditional WEP or WPA key system. This will make things much simpler for the users and their guests. In addition to this new wireless system, we are installing a new server that will act as their file and print server, but more importantly is running the new Microsoft Server 2008 Terminal Services. Using this, we will have the ability to run line of business application remotely on this server rather than on the local desktop computer, dramatically increasing performance and scalability. Terminal Services will be a new concept for the folks in Houston so we will start them off gradually, but I know that once they see the performance benefits, they will adopt it readily.