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Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Oracle entering hardware business
SAN FRANCISCO - Oracle Corp., the big database software company, is teaming up with Hewlett-Packard Co. and getting into the hardware business too.
At the Oracle OpenWorld conference here Wednesday, CEO Larry Ellison just unveiled what he said were the first hardware products ever produced by his 30-year-old company.
The new HP-Oracle Database Machine and separate Exadata Storage Server, which come pre-loaded with Oracle software, are being produced through a new partnership between Oracle and HP.
Ellison, who’s famous for his excesses, went to great lengths to tout the size of his new storage servers. They’ll have 64 Intel processor cores for processing and 112 cores for storage and hold 168 terabyes of data.
“It holds really a lot of songs,” Ellison joked. “We’re not talking iPod nano here. This thing is 1,400 times larger than Apple’s largest iPod.”
With the new storage servers, Oracle comes into direct competition with other hardware and software companies, namely Dell Inc. and Teradata Inc., the big Ohio data warehousing company.
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Dell sees the light on LED displays
Taking the lead in making laptop monitors more environmentally friendly, Dell Inc. said today it will begin using light-emitting diode (LED) back lights in its laptops.
The company plans to phase-in the new LED lights - the same type used in stoplights - over the next 12 months as part of its plans to become what it claims will be “the greenest technology company on the planet.”
LED lights are more efficient than other types of bulbs, including the fluorescent lamps found in most computer monitors today. LED bulbs also contain fewer harmful chemicals, specifically mercury.
Dell claims its new 15-inch LED displays will consume 43 percent less power than similar-sized fluorescent monitors. As a result, users of the new laptops could save a total of approximately $20 million in energy costs and 220 million kilowatt hours worth of energy - and drastically reduce the amount of greenhouse gases like carbon released into the atmosphere too.
Dell said at least 80 percent of its laptops will have LED displays by 2009. By 2010, it plans for all of its laptops to be lit by LEDs.
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A Greener Open World for Oracle, Ellison
SAN FRANCISCO - Oracle CEO Larry Ellison may burn up a bunch of fossil fuel in his 450-foot motor yacht and his collection of fighter jets, but at his company’s massive Open World tech event in San Francisco this week, green’s the word.
The conference features special “Green Room” sessions on subject like how make data centers more energy efficient and how to cut down on office printing to save trees.
Meals are served in biodegradable containers. Waste is placed in separate containers for recyclables, compost and regular old garbage. Instead of water bottles, there are “water stations” where waiters fill up attendees’ “green” cups made entirely from plant material.
Most unusual, though, has to be the bicycles. In the corners of the exhibit hall, attendees can plug their cell phone or PDA into a stationary bicycle, hop on and recharge their gadgets with pedal power.
And in the park behind the convention hall, there’s an Internet cafe that gets its power from participant pedaling too.
Attendees who hop on a hooked-up stationary bike for 15 minutes get a free cup of coffee along with their mini-workout.
