Enterprises Looking to the Clouds, Dell Says - Page 2

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Stripped down servers

Stripped-down servers, with no plastic, graphics cards, USB ports, and one or no hard drive, customized to meet customers' requirements, are part of Dell's pragmatic approach. "We look at the customer environment and do almost anything necessary to optimize the solution for their environment," Norrod said.

That, Facebook's Heiliger said, is just what large-scale clouds need. "Part of making the cloud and large-scale infrastructure successful is taking down the operating cost and not just the actual cost of the server," he explained.

Dell played down its attempt to trademark the term "cloud computing". "It was for a specific use of co-developed and customized hyperscale hardware," Dell data center solutions division's head of global marketing, Andy Rhodes, said.

Netizens erupted in outrage when they found out about the move, although Dell explained that it would not have exclusive use of the term cloud computing just because it has the registered trademark. The US Patent and Trademark Office canceled its "Notice of Allowance" for the trademark application earlier this month and changed its status to "returned to examination."

"The application has been denied and we're assessing our options," Rhodes said. He declined comment on whether Dell would appeal the ruling.