Sun Microsystems Inc. further explained the company’s N1 computing initiative strategy recently, elaborating on what exactly it entails and when products bearing its name would appear.
N1 has generally been described as a heterogeneous architecture to provision computing, storage and networking resources and was first discussed four years ago. Fundamentally, two important changes have inspired this new approach to computing – the trend of applications becoming services delivered across the network and the evolutions in the quality and speed of networks, explained Steve McKay, vice-president of N1 and management systems at Sun Microsystems. Part of the N1 strategy revolves around allowing the data centre to operate as a system and to turn the boxes into resources so that the services, and not the boxes, are managed.
AmberPoint integrates with Tivoli
AmberPoint Inc. and IBM Corp.’s Tivoli Systems Inc. unit are to integrate their software products, AmberPoint has announced.
AmberPoint’s Web services management will be added to Tivoli’s system management products, AmberPoint said. For example, users of the Tivoli software will now benefit from AmberPoint’s ability to use both Java and Microsoft Corp.’s .Net technology, which gives its Web services management software greater flexibility, the Oakland, Calif., company said in a statement. AmberPoint and IBM, of Armonk, N.Y., did not disclose financial details of the agreement. AmberPoint, which was launched in 2001 and changed its name from Edgility Software in May, includes Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. (MetLife) and the energy company, TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., among its clients, according to the company’s Web site. AmberPoint has worked with IBM in the past, providing management, tracking and security features for IBM’s WebSphere.
Unisys happy to be Avaya partner
After losing its platinum status with networking vendor Avaya Inc., Unisys Corp. has decided to partner with Avaya silver partner Sirocco to source Avaya product, rather than going through distributors Ingram Micro Inc. or IPL.
“We had the choice to source the product ourselves, but it meant more internal logistics,” said Unisys Asia Pacific sales manager Rick Ferguson. “Sirocco [is] probably Avaya’s longest serving business partner.” Unisys currently has a number of engagements with blue chip companies, he said, and was very happy with its role as a global integrator for Avaya. Ferguson said Unisys’ would provide best of breed technology and identify business problems and opportunities.