The other day I attended a day-long seminar hosted by Dell on the "Future of Computing". These types of seminars tend to focus too much on the offerings of specific vendors rather than the basic technology behind them, but since they are typically sponsored by these same vendors, I guess it is to be expected. Major topics covered included:

• Server virtualization
• Mobility (Laptops)
• "Flexible" computing
• Green computing

The Flexible computing presentation was the biggest eye opener. Dell demonstrated a "streaming OS" solution from Citrix called Provisioning Server for Desktops. This product was pretty amazing. It actually requires a BIOS modification that allows a diskless PC to boot directly to the OS server. This server checks the PC credentials and downloads to it the appropriate operating system image based on group policies. The concept of diskless workstations are intriguing to us IT folks as the hard disks are far and away the most common source of computer failures. Also, since there is no source for local storage, all data, even "My Documents" data, is stored on a server where it can be secured and backed up.

Dells new line of "E" series notebooks look pretty compelling. They are light, slim, and very modern. They even have one that is rumored to be just as light and thin as the infamous Mac Book Air. They didn't announce prices, however, so I will reserve final judgement till then.

The server virtualization session focused mostly on the ESX product from VMWare. ESX is a fine product and the current market leader, but the new Hyper-V product from Microsoft is better and is free.

Green computing is all the buzz these days as you can imagine. Virutalization is a primary focus of the green strategy because it allows you to run multiple server applications on a single physical server, thereby dramatically reducing the amount of power draw. The other aspect of green computing is the power draw of the servers that remain. Much has been done in the last couple of years to improve the efficiency of modern servers. So much so, that it is possible to cost justify the replacement of old servers based purely on the saved power expense. Oh what a crazy IT world we are living in.

I know this has been around for awhile, but with Twitters malfunctions lately, I have been looking for an alternative. Since Robert Scoble and Jason Calacanis keep playing up FriendFeed, I decided to give it a try. Very interesting concept, in that it's more of an aggregator than an actual content tool. It allows people to share many aspects of their cyber-lives, from picture postings, to blog entries and RSS feeds, to Twitter and Facebook posts. It even lets you see what they added to their Netflix queue. TMI for most folks, I would imagine. Anyway, I will be following a few folks and seeing how it plays out. Feel free to follow me there as well.

John Denver - FriendFeed

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/09/the-cost-of-the-199-iphone-10-more-per-month-for-data/

Give up front, yet take away on the service. Plus, data plans for businesses are $45 a month? We get Sprint and Verizon plans for $15 and $20 respectively. REVOLT!!