I'll nerd out for a second and talk about processors. Nehalem is a code name for an Intel release of processors. An article out today discusses server vendors cutting costs by releasing servers with the latest processors within them.
Honestly, most of our work doesn't dictate that CIO's know the details about every processor line. I would simply point out that it's worth understanding the arc of progression as processors have been updated over the past several years. For dual-socket servers, these quad-core processors will be the 5500 series. The linked article touts double the performance with half of the power consumption. Keep in mind that this is compared to the previous generation of processor. Many of our districts have this previous generation on only the newest of servers.
It is hardly fair to compare servers of today to those of 5+ years ago. These types of advances in hardware, along with the increased stability of virtualization software, are exactly why virtualization is really taking off. From a hardware perspective, most small to mid-size districts could absolutely run their entire district on a VERY few servers.
Removing AD and Exchange, I've talked to some KY districts that are running everything else on 4-5 physical boxes. These are districts with 6000-9000 ADA. This is also with current generation processing power at best. Now that has doubled with this release?!?!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Power consumption of PC's left on...
I know this has been a popular topic with at least one of the handful of followers, so I thought I'd pass this article along that references a supposed study on the topic.
Personally, I don't always use the figures that these studies quote. In our part of the country, we actually receive power for a relatively low cost as compared to other parts of the country. Even so, it is apparent that real dollars can be saved by ensuring that our technology equipment is turned off in the evenings when not in use.
Personally, I don't always use the figures that these studies quote. In our part of the country, we actually receive power for a relatively low cost as compared to other parts of the country. Even so, it is apparent that real dollars can be saved by ensuring that our technology equipment is turned off in the evenings when not in use.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Tech talk
In looking at the Google News tech articles this morning, each of the highlighted articles found my interest for different reasons:
"Cisco's consumer electronics dream" discusses Cisco's purchase of Pure Digital Technologies. Yeah, I didn't know who they were, either, but they make the Flip Video digital cameras. I've heard of those and they seem to be very popular with folks wanting a low-cost way of capturing and uploading video content. Cisco has also recently announced that they're pushing to virtualize the data center, essentially getting into the server business. Cisco was formerly associated only with routers and switches, but these announcements along with their telephony products really demonstrate Cisco's wide reach.
"Microsoft release IE8" - guess it's time for me to put IE7 on my desktop. :) One other article compared IE8 to Firefox. To me, browsers are a matter of personal preference, though I completely understand the school districts' need to standardize on IE in order to control proxy and other administrative settings with Group Policy.
"It's the iPhone, All the Time on Every Channel" - The title captures my opinions on the matter. I've resisted the urge, primarily because I'm too much of a cheapskate. Everybody I know with an iPhone raves about their iPhone and the apps that are available. Districts have mentioned that they'd consider the iPod Touch for a 1:1 initiative if they could easily image these devices. I've seen the app where you shake the phone and it finds a restaurant. I've seen the flashlight app (where somebody wrote code to display white pixels on the screen I guess). If you can make $40K in two days for THIS, I guess anything's possible. Seriously, though, are we ready to use these for instruction?
"Cisco's consumer electronics dream" discusses Cisco's purchase of Pure Digital Technologies. Yeah, I didn't know who they were, either, but they make the Flip Video digital cameras. I've heard of those and they seem to be very popular with folks wanting a low-cost way of capturing and uploading video content. Cisco has also recently announced that they're pushing to virtualize the data center, essentially getting into the server business. Cisco was formerly associated only with routers and switches, but these announcements along with their telephony products really demonstrate Cisco's wide reach.
"Microsoft release IE8" - guess it's time for me to put IE7 on my desktop. :) One other article compared IE8 to Firefox. To me, browsers are a matter of personal preference, though I completely understand the school districts' need to standardize on IE in order to control proxy and other administrative settings with Group Policy.
"It's the iPhone, All the Time on Every Channel" - The title captures my opinions on the matter. I've resisted the urge, primarily because I'm too much of a cheapskate. Everybody I know with an iPhone raves about their iPhone and the apps that are available. Districts have mentioned that they'd consider the iPod Touch for a 1:1 initiative if they could easily image these devices. I've seen the app where you shake the phone and it finds a restaurant. I've seen the flashlight app (where somebody wrote code to display white pixels on the screen I guess). If you can make $40K in two days for THIS, I guess anything's possible. Seriously, though, are we ready to use these for instruction?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Random notes...
* Apparently one of our districts is taking the plunge into a 1:1 computing environment at their high schools. McCracken County will be adding 2,170 MacBooks to their three high schools.
* I'm wondering aloud if we need to have a tech meeting to discuss WSUS and EPO. We use these tools to apply Microsoft and McAfee updates, but I'm not convinced that we spot-check the reports available to see how current our workstations' patches and DAT files are.
* We could ask districts to export their local block lists and share with one another. I'm not sure if this would help with discovery of proxy anonymizer sites, but it would certainly be an option.
* CIO's can get up to two hours of EILA credit for our monthly regional meetings. One of our CIO's brought this up to me recently and I know we haven't discussed this often, but that credit is available to those that attend and need it.
* I'm wondering aloud if we need to have a tech meeting to discuss WSUS and EPO. We use these tools to apply Microsoft and McAfee updates, but I'm not convinced that we spot-check the reports available to see how current our workstations' patches and DAT files are.
* We could ask districts to export their local block lists and share with one another. I'm not sure if this would help with discovery of proxy anonymizer sites, but it would certainly be an option.
* CIO's can get up to two hours of EILA credit for our monthly regional meetings. One of our CIO's brought this up to me recently and I know we haven't discussed this often, but that credit is available to those that attend and need it.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
iTALC
The more we learn, the more we realize what we don't know. I've talked to two districts this week that use a product called iTALC. The name is derived from "Intelligent Teaching and Learning with Computers". In a nutshell, it's a free product that provides many of the features found in products like SynchronEyes or Vision.
With iTALC, you can view users' desktops and take snapshots of screens. You can remotely control the desktop, lock the workstation and use wake-on-LAN to remotely power off/on a group of workstations.
Online descriptions tout this as an instructional tool but, in addition, it appears to be a pretty handy tool to curb misbehavior and keep users focused on the task at hand.
At a minimum, I think it's an easy way to demonstrate to teachers and lab managers the type of powerful tools that are available to effectively manage a group of computers. I can't say that I'm surprised that there is an open-source tool to perform these tasks, but I am surprised that I hadn't heard of this product until now.
With iTALC, you can view users' desktops and take snapshots of screens. You can remotely control the desktop, lock the workstation and use wake-on-LAN to remotely power off/on a group of workstations.
Online descriptions tout this as an instructional tool but, in addition, it appears to be a pretty handy tool to curb misbehavior and keep users focused on the task at hand.
At a minimum, I think it's an easy way to demonstrate to teachers and lab managers the type of powerful tools that are available to effectively manage a group of computers. I can't say that I'm surprised that there is an open-source tool to perform these tasks, but I am surprised that I hadn't heard of this product until now.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Press release from Office of the Attorney General
Someone passed this link along to me recently. It givess details of a $77,000 grant from AT&T. For school districts, the relevant portion I saw was:
I assume these two regional development workshops would be very similar to the i-Jam event that was held last Fall in Lexington.
The grant will fund two regional development workshops for parents and teachers and 30 student assemblies during the 2009 calendar year. Kentucky Child Now will administer the grant. The goal of the workshops is to help train teachers and adults in Kentucky communities about Internet safety so they can help educate others about the dangers that exist online. The workshops will be held in Bowling Green and Northern Kentucky.
I assume these two regional development workshops would be very similar to the i-Jam event that was held last Fall in Lexington.
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