EMC has agreed to buy Iomega for US$213 million in cash, expanding EMC’s reach into the fast-growing consumer and small business markets, the companies announced yesterday.

EMC said Iomega’s well-known brand and its knowledge of the consumer market will help it to expand in that area. Iomega will form the core of a new consumer and small-business products division at EMC, which will also sell EMC’s Retrospect backup software and LifeLine storage software.

Iomega is best known for its popular Zip and Rev storage drives. It also offers storage appliances and managed security services.

EMC expressed an interest in acquiring Iomega in mid-March for $3.25 per share. It later sweetened the offer to $3.75 per share, and on Tuesday it said it had agreed to buy the company for $3.85 per share.

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Symantec Corp. has confirmed flaws in its most popular consumer security software that could give attackers the means to hijack the Windows PCs that the programs are supposed to protect.

The vulnerabilities are in an ActiveX control that ships with several products, including Norton AntiVirus, Norton Internet Security, Norton SystemWorks and Norton 360.

Ironically, Symantec analysts have both cited the popularity of ActiveX bugs and urged caution when using the controls in comments about other companies’ product flaws.

According to alerts released Wednesday by VeriSign Inc.’s iDefense, the ActiveX control SymAData.dll sports two vulnerabilities that could be used “to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the currently logged in user” by attackers able to entice victims to malicious Web sites.

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An innovative virtualization vendor called ScaleMP Inc. is attempting to bring high-performance computing to midsize companies with a model that is essentially the opposite of VMware Inc.’s: Instead of carving an x86 server into numerous partitions, ScaleMP aggregates multiple x86 machines and turns them into one powerful computer.

Aberdeen Group Inc. analyst Jeffrey Hill called ScaleMP’s technology “quite astounding.” Without such technology, a business could join x86 machines in a clustering model, but this would require IT expertise typically beyond what small and midmarket companies possess, he said. ScaleMP makes high-performance computing affordable and easy enough that it becomes obtainable for a workgroup within a midsize business, he said.

ScaleMP started developing its technology in 2003 and began selling it 18 months ago through systems manufacturers, which mainly targeted Global 1,000 businesses, according to ScaleMP founder and CEO Shai Fultheim.

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Q: What kind of tools are required to assemble a slim 5 rack?

Desi Villanueva
Center Interiors

A: The slim 5 racks assemble with ½” hex head nuts and bolts. A socket set with the appropriate size sockets is probably the best, but a ½” wrench or pair of pliers will also work. Some of the panels on the slim 5 require a small allen wrench, but this tool is included with the mounting hardware.

Rackmount Ranger

ISCDFW.com April 2008 Newsletter