David Needle

Building on its AquaLogic roll out a year ago, BEA Systems today announced the purchase of Flashline, a leading metadata repository supplier. With the addition of Flashline, BEA  said the AquaLogic product family will track, govern and manage software assets in a common repository for sharing across multiple projects and measuring the resulting business value. […]

Even for Silicon Valley, this is one weird marketing gimmick. It started with a life-size cut out of HP founders Bill Hewlett and David Packard hitchhiking next to the famous garage where they started the company. And that’s not even the weirdest part. Artist Julie Newdoll and a group of other creative types had an […]

When HP reported strong quarterly results earlier this week, analysts and reporters credited the usual suspects. And rightly so. The company’s bread-butter computer and printer divisions did well and CEO Mark Hurd continues to win kudos for cost-cutting moves he’s implemented since coming over from NCR. But there was even more good news in the […]

UPDATE: Dell  today announced an expansion of its plans to use AMD processors in its machines, while revealing a quarterly earnings report that showed profits fell by more than half. For its second fiscal quarter of 2007, the world’s number one PC maker said net income fell by 51 percent to $502 million ($0.22 per […]

Dell’s massive recall of some 4.1 million notebook batteries is more than just a costly technical blunder. It also risks losing the company years of brand equity. But research firm CoreBrand gives Dell high marks for acting decisively to resolve the problem, which could result in some of its notebooks overheating and possibly catching fire. […]

Hewlett-Packard  saw profits surge in a solid third quarter earnings report that showed the computing and printer giant’s restructuring efforts under CEO Mark Hurd are paying off. For the quarter ended July 31, HP’s profit was $1.38 billion (48 cents per share), compared to $73 million (.03 cents per share) in the same time last […]

Good news for engineers looking to end the weight lifting exercise that typically defines the term “mobile workstation.” Lenovo today announced a version of its ThinkPad T60p notebook tailored for Linux users and weighing less than five pounds. Lenovo is specifically supporting Novell’s new SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 10 operating system, although other Linux […]

Utilities have long offered residential customers incentives to buy and use fewer power-hungry appliances, such as refrigerators and dishwashers. Now server buyers can get a similar deal in California from Pacific Gas & Electric. It won’t be quite as simple as sending in a coupon and receipt, but for the first time, IT managers will […]

The battle between AMD  and Intel  rages on. This week it’s AMD’s turn. Today, AMD officially rolled out “Rev F,” the latest version of its Opteron processor for servers and workstations, and several top tier computer makers announced new Rev F-based systems. HP continued its multi-platform support strategy with news that all its Opteron-based Proliant […]

There are hot-selling notebooks and notebooks too hot to sell. Unfortunately for Dell,  it has the latter. The biggest selling computer maker confirmed it is joining with the U.S. Consumer Products and Safety Commission (USCPSC) in a voluntary recall of some 4.1 million notebook batteries manufactured between 2004 and 2006. The Dell-branded, lithium-ion batteries made […]

AMD isn’t quite ready to release full details of its newest Opteron processor, but did let slip many of its key features. The Sunnyvale, CA chip maker confirmed yesterday it will unveil its “Next-Generation AMD Opteron” next week. A cross-section of software providers also announced support for the new processor. AMD will include virtualization features […]

Cisco Systems announced today it’s made a $50 million investment and purchase of startup Nuova Systems, with the option to invest as much as $42 million more. Headed by former Cisco executive Mario Mazzola, Nuova Systems will become a Cisco subsidiary, owned 80 percent by Cisco and 20 percent by Nuova Systems employees. The new […]