Intel Communities : All Content - Client Blog

Solid State Drives - The Biggest Change to Mobile Computing Since Wireless

alan.d.ross@intel.com — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:10:17 GMT

Hello,

I wanted to take a minute to talk about solid state drives and the impact they have had on my mobile computing experience but we put together this video which does a better job than I can do in words alone. Enjoy!

Does Thin = Cloud? Not necessarily

webadmin@intel.com — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:28:22 GMT

In a recent TechRepublic article, Jason Hiner asks: Are Netbooks quietly driving us to Thin Clients and Cloud Computing?

Of course, the article is primarily about netbooks and how wonderful they are. No argument here. But the question of thin versus cloud has popped up in an interesting way. Thin is important because of the nature of the netbook but what does that have to do with cloud computing? Not all cloud applications are thin.

Perhaps the logic is as follows:

If cloud then we are delivering services over the internet
If internet then we must be using a browser
If browser then the computing must be taking place in the backend with only the UI distributed to the client device
Therefore all cloud devices must be thin

So what about rich clients? We happen to think that they are perfectly suited to cloud computing. Maybe our latest whitepaper on Better Together: Rich Clients and Cloud Computing can help set the record straight – or at least prompt some alternate thinking.

Cloud & Consumerization

webadmin@intel.com — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:37:04 GMT

As we abstract IT services and increase the use of SaaS and Cloud Computing, we contend with the force of consumerization. We are seeing a fundamental shift from enterprise focus to internet; and a shift from standardized offerings to user selection and personalization in choice of applications and client devices.

How can we improve agility and manage emerging complexity while balancing quality of service with innovation for different types of applications? For some, large scale abstraction leads to efficiencies for commoditized functions, whether they are hosted in house or outsourced. Other applications benefit from a more ad-hoc approach and might be more easily sourced from the cloud. IT will not be successful if we too tightly control services. Instead we must create a framework for our users to make smart choices.

Security versus Productivity Results

webadmin@intel.com — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:05:52 GMT

Collaborative Argumentation Study

In this project, Intel Information Technology and MIT studied web-based social media as a tool for understanding collective intelligence and distributed decision-making. The useful question we posed was "What are good ways to balance the potential productivity advantages of open collaborative computing versus the data security needs of the organization?"

Over the three week period we generated 73 author accounts, with 51 from outside Intel. The users contributed 64 certified posts, with 40 from outside Intel. Twenty five ratings were collected. Our resulting deliberation map was well structured and remarkably complete.

What did we learn?

First and foremost, we validated that there is good potential in the combination of social media and argumentation. Social media gives us ability to host large scale discussions with a vast number of diverse users over the internet. It enables us to readily combine discussions that are internal and external to Intel, if desired.

One of the biggest benefits of Deliberatorium was the ease of generating the argument map. The "moderate-as-you-go" approach saved a great deal of time during the post-processing of the data collected. This was especially important as the number of users and topics scaled. The compact format was useful to reduce complexity and helped "make sense" of threaded discussions (conversations) characterized by other tools. It also provided an artifact that can be used for later data mining or as a historical record of the project.

Based on this effort, we have decided that the argumentation capability is an important overlay for social computing tools. In the future we want to find and link all related content regardless of the source: web, wiki, etc. The key is flexible input with robust analytics and reporting to get better output.

Thank you for participating

Thanks to everyone who participated in our study, especially our top contributors: Luca, Ultimo15, Adam, and Lfriedl. Inside Intel, thanks to our most active contributors: Chris Wisehart, Guillermo Rueda, and Matt Rosenquist.

For more information

Klein, Mark and Iandoli, Luca,Supporting Collaborative Deliberation Using a Large-Scale Argumentation System: The Mit Collaboratorium(February 20, 2008). MIT Sloan Research Paper No. 4691-08. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1099082

Visit the MIT Deliberatorium Tool

Deadline Extended: Security versus Productivity

webadmin@intel.com — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:57:53 GMT

Intel Information Technology and MIT are studying web-based social media as a tool for understanding collective intelligence and distributed decision-making. The useful question we have posed is "What are good ways to balance the potential productivity advantages of open collaborative computing versus the data security needs of the organization?"

In order to maximize our analysis of the discussion results and MIT Deliberatorium tool, we are extending the deadline to October 6, 2008.

Please take five minutes to add one new post to the discussion and to rate one other person's contribution. This will enable us to gather a wider range of opinions on the topic and further investigate the value of the approach.

Add a Post	Rate a Contribution
Click on the "add" button located to the right of any item in the map. A dialog box will pop up. Enter your post and then click "submit" to save your entry.	Click on any item in the map that you want to rate. A description of the item will appear in the right panel. Click on one of the stars to select your rating.

Top contributors to the discussion will be recognized when we post our final project results.

For More Information watch the ten minute video clip for a concise overview. Contact Catherine.Spence@intel.com with any questions.

Thank you for your continued participation!

Great Debate: Security versus Productivity

webadmin@intel.com — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:41:33 GMT

Background

Traditional corporate information is stored in highly secure repositories within enterprise boundaries. New forms of data are being created in emerging mediums such as blogs and wikis. Cloud computing and network-based systems offer new venues for processing and storage.

The Big Question

What are good ways to balance the potential productivity advantages of open collaborative computing versus the data security needs of the organization? Consider several examples:

Does having access to social media make you more productive? Is it secure?
Is having access to raw corporate data more productive than secure, specialized tools?
Does IT need more control or less? What new tools and/or methods are required, supporting a more open environment?

These questions may never see wide consensus and the decision is crucial to every CIO. We will use your feedback for IT analysis.

Make Your Opinion Heard

Become one of the first to test MIT's new collective intelligence tool called Deliberatorium. Join the fun in two simple steps:

1. Create your account and log in to the MIT Deliberatorium

2. Add your perspective to the discussion

View, rate or comment other author's posts using pros & cons
Add your own ideas for new solutions and issues

This discussion topic will be available until September 29, 2008, and then results will be shared on Intel.com. Feel free to forward this invite to any interested parties.

It's Cool to Argue

Research shows that a large group of diverse individuals tends to get the right answer because they bring different perspectives into the discussion. Help Intel and MIT learn more by participating in this web-based argument.

For More Information

Watch the ten minute video clip for a concise overview.

Video: Application Streaming in a Nutshell

webadmin@intel.com — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:03:03 GMT

In this brief video clip, Intel Systems Engineer Christian Black illustrates the concept of application streaming used with virtualization. He provides an overview of how it works and reviews the benefits for users and administrators.

Challenges in remote management in the Intel training rooms

webadmin@intel.com — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:42:49 GMT

Our very own Randy Nystrom discusses the challenges of managing remote PC in the Intel IT training rooms. With Intel® vPro^TM technology he can remotely power on PCs, install OS or application software, and debug any PC problems, regardless of the state of the PC! Watch as he explains the challenges he faces in effectively managing the devices in the 77 training centers around the world. Randy's training rooms have been an outstanding test bed for the Intel vPro implementation since he faces many of the same issues as the larger environment but in a controlled environment.

Virtualizing the Client PC – A Proof of Concept

webadmin@intel.com — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:07:58 GMT

We've just released a white paper on a recent client desktop virtualization proof of concept study conducted by Intel IT. A primary objective of the study was to demonstrate that cost, complexity, and cycle time could be reduced through virtualization of the software components (operating system and applications) by decoupling them from the hardware platform. In the usage model that was evaluated, a virtualized IT build image was created and provisioned via DVD or a USB storage device to out-of-the-box personal computers from different OEMs.

Our conclusion was that PC client virtualization can deliver on the business value we identified, but for reasons cited in the paper including usability and security challenges, we are presently unable to move forward with the full usage model within our corporation.

Has anyone deployed a similar enterprise level hosted PC virtualization model with success? I'm very interested to hear where you believe the compelling business value to be in client virtualization, the challenges you have encountered, and how you may have overcome those challenges.

John

IT Training cost savings using Intel vPro technology

webadmin@intel.com — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:29:37 GMT

Intel IT Systems Engineer Randy Nystrom discusses cost savings for computer support in the Intel IT training rooms. He was one of our first test beds when we got vPro technologies implemented in the production environment. He demostrates how he can increase after hours training room support, decrease technician usage time, decrease mean time to repair (MTTR), and reduce costs by using Intel® vPro^TM technology!

Take a look and see how he is saving Intel money and how vPro technologies has given him his first good nights rest in years.

Anybody out there have other cool tales of how vPro has improved thier lives?