The future of cloud computing may be about to get a lot brighter. With the release on Wednesday of the U.S. government’s cloud computing RFI, a path has been laid and a model established. It’s now up to the cloud computing marketplace to rise to the occasion.

The RFI, which was generated by the General Services Administration’s Office of the CIO, in conjunction with the IT Infrastructure Line of Business technology-standardization initiative, is noteworthy not just for the technology roadmap it indicates—a laser-like focus on Infrastructure-as-a-Service, with a more patient approach to software- or platform-as-a-service. Click here for the rest of the article.

Tandberg Data has launched a new range of virtual tape libraries offering users the chance to export data to both virtual tape and physical tape. Each unit can connect up to 100 separate systems, presents unique virtual library for each host system.

“The ability to move to physical tape gives businesses another option,” said James Jackson, product manager for Tandberg UK. “It frees up some storage space and the physical tape can be used for offsite back-up.” Click here for the rest of the article.

Google has been granted its patent for a data center that floats on the ocean. Though the patent mostly describes how such a thing would work, it also addresses the use of wave and tidal power, as well as water cooling to even land-based data centers that are nearby. Click here for the rest of the article.

Intel and CXO Media have teamed up to recognize and reward organizations that have led the way with best practices for data center management and client fleet management. The Intel Premier IT Knowledge Awards Program will spotlight organizations that leverage innovation and solid best practices to make a substantive impact on their business. We invite you to participate by sending us your story. May 29, 2009 Deadline. Click here for the rest of the information.

David Donatelli, former president of EMC’s storage division, will become the executive vice president of HP’s enterprise servers, storage and networking.

HP has brought on David Donatelli, former president of EMC’s storage division, to serve in the role of executive vice president of enterprise servers, storage and networking. According to analysts, this appointment is a sign that HP has plans to give its servers, storage and networking business a jumpstart. Donatelli began in his new role at HP effective May 5th, 2009. Click here for the rest of the Article.

Is Dell getting ready to release a Google Android-based netbook? That’s the buzz after a software vendor issued a press release talking about Dell’s Android netbook.

PC maker Dell may be on the verge of releasing a netbook based on Google’s Android operating system. Click here for the rest of the article.

When selling a unified communications solution, vendors will often talk about the average time users save per week and tout the collaboration advantages of the system. However, Blair Pleasant at VoiceCon’s eWeek Online makes the excellent point that the ROI associated with UC solutions won’t materialize unless workers are encouraged and trained to use the available time-saving features. Click here for the rest of the article.

Sun Microsystems Inc. shareholders filed three separate lawsuits last month in an effort to halt the company’s pending sale to Oracle Corp., according to a filing Sun made today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The suits, filed in Superior Court in Santa Clara County, Calif. name Sun, some of its officials and Oracle as defendants, according to the filing.

All three actions are aimed at blocking the $7.4 billion sale, alleging the price tag is “unfair and inadequate.” They also allege “claims for breach of fiduciary duty against the individual defendants and for aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary duty against the corporate defendants. Click here for the rest of the article.

Last week we wrote about server configuration management evolution, and touched on the fact that network engineers are largely left out of the loop. There is one vendor, however, that realized this gap and took advantage of it. In this article we will provide an overview of the differences between server and network management, and then explore how Orion NCM seems to understand and fulfill the need of configuration management for network devices. Click here for the rest of the article.

IT pros can now get a package of remote server management tools that work with the new Windows 7 release candidate (RC), which Microsoft released to the public on Tuesday.

The tools are part of Microsofts Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) for Windows 7 RC (Build 7100). Users can download versions for x86- or x64-based systems here
Microsoft cautions that the tools are just for testing and not designed for production environments.

RSAT lets IT administrators - manage roles and features - on Windows Server 2008 R2 RC via remotely located PCs running Windows 7 RC. The tools support both server core and full installations of Windows Server 2008 R2 RC. Click here for more information.