I decided that it was worthwhile to try out a netbook as a corporate desktop replacement and purchased a Toshiba NB200 (their latest generation), upgraded to 2G of RAM and the Windows XP Home replaced with Windows XP Pro. The netbook was connected to a Windows Server and domain.
Standard Office applications used are Office 2003, Outlook, Exchange and the iManage document management system. Browsers used are IE6 and Firefox 3.0. The Office will be upgraded to 2007 once some server compatbility issues are resolved but a test on an earlier unit running Windows 7 (RC) showed that the Netbook was quite capable of running Office 2007.
The device is used with an existing widescreen monitor (1400x900 resolution) and external keyboard and mouse.
Apart from having no docking station so all peripherals have to be plugged in separately, once the Netbook is running, it's hard to see any difference between the P4 I had before and this unit. Office applications startup and run as fast as before, there is no discernible lag in surfing web sites and the machine feels generally quite peppy. The NB200 uses the latest Intel Atom N280 processor.
In this mode it's quite useable as a desktop replacement for a corporate environment and while costing about the same a dual core HP desktop (the price of upgrading the unit to XP Pro brings it pricewise into the same range as a desktop) , it has the advantage that for the occasional mobile users, it can be removed and taken on the road.
I will perform additional testing on the unit but I can see that with a fleet upgrade looming, I can offer the staff the choice between a standard desktop, the power of which they would rarely tax in the corporate environment, or this Toshiba unit which they can use both in the office and on the road. Given that the use of the Netbook on the road is likely to be less often than say for a true mobile user, having to disconnect a number of USB cables and monitor cable to travel is a small inconvenience over not having a dedicated docking station.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Netbooks as the new desktops?
As corporate customers look at their aging fleets of desktop, rather than just upgrading them to the latest models, the netbooks now offer an intriguing alternative.
Lets say your users have basic needs for computing, viz. Microsot Office including Outlook, perhaps some Internet access using IE or Firefox (and including corporate apps hosted in a browser) and not mucn more. Then upgrading an aging desktop to a new dual core machine (a reasonable standard these days ) hardly makes sense. The machines will barely break a sweat and there will be all that wasted computing power.
This is where netbooks offer an intriguing opportunity. Assuming that your users already have keyboards and LCD monitors, then using a netbook instead of a desktop becomes an attractive option. Outfit your netbook with 2G of RAM, Windows XP and possibly one day Windows 7, and you will find with an external monitor and keyboard, users would hardly notice any performance degradation over a standard modern dual core machine. Of course before you head down that parth it would make sense to trial a machine configuration load it up with all the corporate software and just asssess performance.
Besides the cost savings of using a netbook, you now have a way of providing mobility to many more staff than could have been justified with laptops. Have a pool of USB DVD/CD ROM drives around and most users will be very happy with this alternative.
Now staff might feel quiet comfortable taking work home when perhaps their work situation might not have justified a work laptop and pool laptops are very inconvenient. Such an opportunity can only add to quality of life issues for your staff.
I would recommend that until Windows 7 is release, you look at some sort of USB key hard drive encryption on the machines given their mobility and with Windows 7, bitblocker. This will ensure that corporate data is secure even if the machine is stolen or misplaced.
Lets say your users have basic needs for computing, viz. Microsot Office including Outlook, perhaps some Internet access using IE or Firefox (and including corporate apps hosted in a browser) and not mucn more. Then upgrading an aging desktop to a new dual core machine (a reasonable standard these days ) hardly makes sense. The machines will barely break a sweat and there will be all that wasted computing power.
This is where netbooks offer an intriguing opportunity. Assuming that your users already have keyboards and LCD monitors, then using a netbook instead of a desktop becomes an attractive option. Outfit your netbook with 2G of RAM, Windows XP and possibly one day Windows 7, and you will find with an external monitor and keyboard, users would hardly notice any performance degradation over a standard modern dual core machine. Of course before you head down that parth it would make sense to trial a machine configuration load it up with all the corporate software and just asssess performance.
Besides the cost savings of using a netbook, you now have a way of providing mobility to many more staff than could have been justified with laptops. Have a pool of USB DVD/CD ROM drives around and most users will be very happy with this alternative.
Now staff might feel quiet comfortable taking work home when perhaps their work situation might not have justified a work laptop and pool laptops are very inconvenient. Such an opportunity can only add to quality of life issues for your staff.
I would recommend that until Windows 7 is release, you look at some sort of USB key hard drive encryption on the machines given their mobility and with Windows 7, bitblocker. This will ensure that corporate data is secure even if the machine is stolen or misplaced.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Server aggregation using VM technology
If you're a small organisation with a few servers supporting the usual function such as mail, file & print, database, etc., you've probably got dedicated servers for each function. But as the servers reach the end of their warranties, before rushing out and replacing them, give some thought to virtualisation as an option.
Previously the domain of large IT enterprises, with the advent of Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V, together with the free version of VMWare, virtualisation is now reachable for small organisations also. A company with up to 100 staff with a reasonably predictable workload, can be well served with two enterprise servers (single or possible quad core CPU's) and ample RAM (128MB) running Hyper-V. A rule of thumb is each core on a CPU can support one VM so with sufficient RAM to avoid paging, even two single socket quad core servers can support up to 8 VM's.
Having made the decision to go virtual, one shouldn't stop there. With a number of real servers there is always the issue of managing attached storage. Storage on the Exchange server say, cannot be used for the file and print server and vice versa. That leads to a waste of storage that many small IT shops face.
What to do? Storage virtualisation or lower cost SAN options are now also reachable for the small enterprise. Deploy an iSCSI SAN on the network and provision file and print, mail (Exchange) and SQL on that SAN (assuming you are in a gigabit backbone). Then only attach sufficient storage to the servers (say 75GB or so) for booting and local paging and now you have a very efficient data centre operation with room to grow, both from a CPU point of view and storage point of view.
Previously the domain of large IT enterprises, with the advent of Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V, together with the free version of VMWare, virtualisation is now reachable for small organisations also. A company with up to 100 staff with a reasonably predictable workload, can be well served with two enterprise servers (single or possible quad core CPU's) and ample RAM (128MB) running Hyper-V. A rule of thumb is each core on a CPU can support one VM so with sufficient RAM to avoid paging, even two single socket quad core servers can support up to 8 VM's.
Having made the decision to go virtual, one shouldn't stop there. With a number of real servers there is always the issue of managing attached storage. Storage on the Exchange server say, cannot be used for the file and print server and vice versa. That leads to a waste of storage that many small IT shops face.
What to do? Storage virtualisation or lower cost SAN options are now also reachable for the small enterprise. Deploy an iSCSI SAN on the network and provision file and print, mail (Exchange) and SQL on that SAN (assuming you are in a gigabit backbone). Then only attach sufficient storage to the servers (say 75GB or so) for booting and local paging and now you have a very efficient data centre operation with room to grow, both from a CPU point of view and storage point of view.
Bridging the gap between IT and the Business
The Business (a generic term for those parts of the organisation charged with making the money!) have ever increasing IT requirements in order to support their goals. However they are not IT literate and often make do with what they know rather than try to find ways to improve their systems and processes.
IT professionals, on the other hand, while very comfortable with IT and applications, often do not understand business goals and outcomes.
This creates a formidable barrier between the two groups.
In the engagement between IT and the business, the IT professional, whether an external consultant or internal IT professional has to be able to understand the business outcomes desired. They cannot talk about .net, Java, web applications etc. but rather how the business outcome might be achieved.
So for example if a business unit runs a bunch of Access databases, Excel spreasheets etc. to manage a number of clients, and then aggregates them manually into a larger sheet for reporting, the appropriate discussion is not about how this all could be achieved in SQL Server and possibly SQL Serve Reporting Services, but rather in terms of, having all information stored in one location, allowing many users to update the information at the same time, grouping common information into the one place and then using a tool that they are familiar with (such as Excel and pivot tables) to report on the information. SQL never need come up in the discussion.
This does require a signficant paradigm shift for the IT professional. They need to be consultants, understand what the business wants to achieve, avoid speaking in technical terms and be patient. And then they need to deliver on their promises.
A successful IT Pro in an organisation is well in their way to achieving higher ranks, such as the CIO, since their past performance and track record will create strong support from the breadth of the organisation
IT professionals, on the other hand, while very comfortable with IT and applications, often do not understand business goals and outcomes.
This creates a formidable barrier between the two groups.
In the engagement between IT and the business, the IT professional, whether an external consultant or internal IT professional has to be able to understand the business outcomes desired. They cannot talk about .net, Java, web applications etc. but rather how the business outcome might be achieved.
So for example if a business unit runs a bunch of Access databases, Excel spreasheets etc. to manage a number of clients, and then aggregates them manually into a larger sheet for reporting, the appropriate discussion is not about how this all could be achieved in SQL Server and possibly SQL Serve Reporting Services, but rather in terms of, having all information stored in one location, allowing many users to update the information at the same time, grouping common information into the one place and then using a tool that they are familiar with (such as Excel and pivot tables) to report on the information. SQL never need come up in the discussion.
This does require a signficant paradigm shift for the IT professional. They need to be consultants, understand what the business wants to achieve, avoid speaking in technical terms and be patient. And then they need to deliver on their promises.
A successful IT Pro in an organisation is well in their way to achieving higher ranks, such as the CIO, since their past performance and track record will create strong support from the breadth of the organisation
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