As your company grows and technologies proliferate, keeping track of it all becomes a significant challenge. Ultimately, you're responsible for maintaining every end-user, network, and data center device, plus the software that keeps the business up and running every day. Learn about the best ways to trim IT overhead and maximize resources, automate routine tasks, solve problems proactively, and better align your business strategy with IT by reading and commenting on the stories here. You'll also discover how Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and System Center Essentials 2007 relieve IT management headaches and enable you to deliver effective IT services to the entire enterprise.

Posted 9 hours ago.
Storage specialist QNAP offers two new models from its Business Series Turbo line, the 1U rack-mounted, 4-drive models, the TS-459U-SP and TS-459U-RP, both compatible with VMware's vSphere4 virtualization platform.

Posted about a day ago.
Microsoft will release the full version of Office 2010 to businesses May 12, around a month before consumers are given the newest version of the company's productivity suite. A Microsoft executive also indicated in a blog posting that Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010 were all on track to be released to manufacturing in April. Office 2010 incorporates cloud-based access to stripped-down versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, in a bid to challenge other online services such as Google Apps.

Posted about a day ago.
Microsoft plans to discontinue development of its Windows Essential Business Server starting in June. Although Windows EBS was originally targeted at midsize businesses, Microsoft found that those customers were gravitating to products that address cloud-based management and virtualization needs, such as Windows Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite. Microsoft says it plans on supporting EBS for its standard support cycle.

Posted 5 days ago.
Coyote Point Systems aims to help administrators increase ROI by delivering load balancing appliances that work with virtualization technologies.

Posted 5 days ago.
News Analysis: It's not often that Internet Explorer 6 comes up in conversation these days. But it's in the news again after some of its remaining friends and enemies organized a funeral service for this moribund, yet still widely-used version of the Microsoft Web browser. It's time to discuss why, after so many years of availability, Internet Explorer 6 must be laid to rest now and forever.

Posted 5 days ago.
Data protection and business continuity solution provider Axcient announced ServerAlive, which lets IT administrators launch a virtual instance of a failed server. With ServerAlive, Axcient unifies backup, business continuity and disaster recovery on a single platform.

Posted 5 days ago.
Nexenta Systems introduced an upgrade to its frontline NexentaStor enterprise package March 2 that includes the Sun Microsystems-developed Zettabyte File System (ZFS) and Virtual Machine Datacenter 3.0, a new version of the Nexenta virtualization management platform. Additionally, the company claims NexentaStor 3.0 is the first storage software to offer inline deduplication at the gateway for Tier 1 storage.

Posted 6 days ago.
A new security architecture from Cisco blends the company's AnyConnect Secure Mobility and TrustSec solutions. Cisco claims the new architecture will enable users to access information from any device at any location while still maintaining a high level of security and ease of use.

Posted 6 days ago.
Nvidia officials say their Ion processor provides 10 times the graphics performance of the "average" netbook, enabling users to stream HD video from YouTube.

Posted 7 days ago.
Overall, the chief characteristics of each of the launches are what one might expect: added power and storage; stronger, lighter bodies (thanks to new aluminum casings); improved, near-high-definition graphics; and some useful new software options.

Posted 7 days ago.
Businesses searching for a multi-party video conferencing solution have a new option with a service from SimpleSignal and Vidtel.

Posted on 03-01-10
Does virtualization make sense for a business with under 10 servers. For these organizations the benefits of virtualization may be less about server consolidation and more about portability, disaster recovery and centralized management.

Posted on 03-01-10
Intermedia, a provider of communications services—including hosted Microsoft Exchange—to small to medium-size businesses, announced the launch of hosted Unison, a hosted unified communications service that combines telephony, e-mail, instant messaging and other features into a single service delivered over the Internet.

Posted on 03-01-10
Intel has been busily migrating to Windows 7, and embracing 64-bit computing as an internal standard. Intel could save as much as $11 million over the next three years by using Windows 7 in place of the aging Windows XP.

Posted on 02-28-10
The Department of Defense granted military personnel access to Facebook, Twitter, Google Apps and other user-generated applications in a Feb. 26 memorandum. The move followed a review that began last August after the U.S. Marines and U.S. Army released contrasting policies for social network site use.

Posted on 02-26-10
BounceBack Server Edition, the disaster recovery solution from CMS Products, offers businesses a backup option for Microsoft's Foundation or Small Business Server operating system.

Posted on 02-26-10
Overland Storage's new NEO E Series enterprise tape backup and archive packages use the company's homegrown and updated LTO-5 software, which consolidates disk and tape storage and essentially doubles the capacity of previous Overland deployments.

Posted on 02-25-10
HP is bringing some of the data center consulting services it offers enterprises to the SMB space, and is packaging the services in such a way to make them easier to get through channel partners.

Posted on 02-25-10
CA is continuing its aggressive push into cloud computing with the acquisition of 3Tera, whose AppLogic product makes it easier for businesses to configure and deploy applications and virtual servers in a cloud environment. The acquisition follows up on previous purchases of such companies as Oblicore, NetQoS and Cassatt.