This Week In IT: 11/30/12

This Week On Tom's IT Pro: When Spreadsheets Meet Big Data?, Top 5 Web Certifications for IT Pros, Slideshow: Gadgets for the System Administrator's Toolbox, Health IT: The Lowdown on EHR and Stimulus Certifications, How to Manage Multiple Cloud Resource Providers, and more.

• Amazon Web Services Intros Amazon Redshift

Here's a new, fully-managed petabyte-scale data warehouse service. 

• Companies More Comfortable Using Public Cloud for Business-Critical Apps

Study suggests more business are getting used to the idea of deploying on public cloud infrastructures. 

• Enterprises buying iPhones In Droves, Blackberry Surpassed

firm IDC predicts Blackberry will lose leadership position as a supplier of smartphones to businesses this year.

• What Happens When Spreadsheets Meet Big Data?

Spreadsheets were an early driver for PC use because they were easy to use and fit a wide range of problems. Those same characteristics make them a good option for working with big data as well.

• Big Data Vital to CERN Large Hadron Collider Project, Says CTO

Particle physics generated big data long before we began thinking about analyzing social data. 

• Toshiba Adds 4TB Models to MG Series of Enterprise HDDs

Four new 4 TB drives have been added to Toshiba's MG Series of Enterprise-focus HDDs. 

• Cisco Combines Cloud And Managed Services Partner Programs

Changes cloud partner by merging the Cloud Provider and Cloud Services Reseller roles with the current Managed Services Channel Program. 

• Boundary Intros New Cloud Infrastructure Analytics, Reporting Features

Application monitoring company releases a new analytics features to run on private and public cloud infrastructures.

• Get Ready for Big Changes in Microsoft Certifications

A big block of upcoming exam retirements in the Microsoft speaks loudly about the company’s desire to move its installed base forward, onward and upward. 

Top 5 Web Certifications for IT Pros

If you want to understand how to build and design good Web sites, and create interesting and approachable content for such sites, read this article. 

• Google Enables Enterprise Customers To Move Data To Europe

Extends European data center offering and now enables developers to deploy applications directly in Europe. 

• NEC Working To Drop Data Center Energy Usage By 30%

Developing a data center module whose form factor is similar to container data centers, but features a unique cooling technology that could dramatically slash energy usage. 

• Microsoft's Client-Access Licenses Pricing Changes on December 1

Redmond is about to change the pricing for its client-access licenses (CALs).

• Slideshow: Gadgets for the System Administrator's Toolbox

Favorite product types that are clever additions to every data center.

• HP Launches New Itanium Servers, But Faces Challenges

Updates Superdome and Integrity server blades with Intel's new Itanium 9500-series processors that triple performance. 

• Amazon Supports Windows Server 2012 For AWS

Amazon announces that Windows Server 2012 is now available on AWS.

Healthcare IT: The Lowdown on EHR and Stimulus Certifications

The stimulus money that the US Congress passed and the president signed in 2009 continues to bear fruit for health IT professionals.

• How to Manage Multiple Cloud Resource Providers

There are many reasons to work with multiple cloud resource providers. 

• Dell Storage Array Software Promises 100% Performance Jump

Version 6.3 of storage array software promises to greatly benefit the performance of enterprise applications. 

• HP Unveils New Server Focused on Big Data, HPC

Addresses the trend toward big data applications with a new "purpose-built" server. 

• Hitachi Announces Accelerated Flash SSD Array

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) announces an all solid-state Flash module for its Virtual Storage Platform (VSP). 

• Top 500 Big Data Computers Ranked

The ranking of the best performing data crunching computers released. 

n Financing to Partners, Hitachi Launches Big Data Remote Backup Accelerator, The Cloud: Capable Vs. Functional, and more. 

• An Illustrated History of Computer Memory

Let us take you more than 160 years back in time and revisit the milestones of computer memory technology.

• VIDEO: How Secure Are Your Mobile Devices?

Enterprise mobile devices are proliferating like rabbits in the spring. Rachel Rosmarin tells you how to keep them under control.

VIDEO: How Secure Are Your Mobile Devices?

Enterprise mobile devices are proliferating like rabbits in the spring. Rachel Rosmarin tells you how to keep them under control.

• Battle Royale: iPad and Android Tablet Security Compared

How can IT pros safely enable business use of popular consumer tablets such as the Apple iPad and the Android Samsung Galaxy Tab?

• Hitachi Launches Big Data Remote Backup Accelerator

WAN Accelerator serves as high-speed big data backup between data centers for domestic and overseas providers. 

• IBM Offers $4B in Financing to Partners

IBM is promoting its cloud, analytics and PureSystems portfolio with a financing . 

• Cisco to Acquire Cloupia, Meraki

Bolstering cloud portfolio with two privately held companies that Cisco will be integrate into its business. 

• Gale Acquisition Helps Dell To Provide Converged Infrastructure

Acquisition a provider of infrastructure automation software that can bridge public and private cloud environments.

• IBM Kills Lotus Brand With New Notes/Domino Release

Another iconic brand in the IT world is about to disappear.

• The Cloud: Capable Vs. Functional

Big Daddy Don Garlits, the father of drag racing, and the Cloud: Capable Vs. Functional. 

• VIDEO: What's a Virtual Phone?

Mobile Virtualization Platform on near horizon!

• Tips for Keeping Corporate Data Secure on Private Devices

When we start to use our personal devices for work, we can run the risk of weakening data protection.

Interview: Stuart Kerr of Aerospace Corp - Achieving R&D Open Source Excellence

A talk with The Aerospace Corp's Principal Director of Technical Computijng Stuart Kerr, who runs a large R&D Linux infrastructure using a variety of open source technologies (clobber, puppet, spacewalk, etc.).

• Life (And IT) Can Be Hard, But Things Can Always Be Worse

Even if your in a tough situation, the job interview process is no place for an IT professional to vent frustration or anger.

• IBM Introduces Entry-Level Storwize V3700 Storage Array

Adds entry-level model to its Storwize storage array family. 

• Lenovo Announces U.S.-Designed SMB Server

Company's newly created Enterprise Product Group has launched its first server, the ThinkServer TD330. 

• Expect Samsung To Unveil 64-bit ARM Server SoCs Soon

Samsung has long been rumored to be developing ARM-based server processors, but the company is clearly keeping a lid on its processor designs.

• Slideshow: A Guide to Trading Your Laptop for a Tablet

Tired of lugging around your laptop? Check out some apps and accessories that provide laptop-like functionality on your iPad or Android tablet.

• Researchers Propose New Approach to Measure IT Service Quality

Is it time for a new metric in measuring IT quality?

A Fresh Idea: How to Transition Military Veterans to a Life in IT

Meet Brian Knight, founder of Pragmatic Works, who is training and preparing veterans for a life in IT ... free of charge.

• Social Media Security Professional Certification Now in Beta

New certification set to go live in early 2013. 

• AppliedMicro Joins Dell's ARM SoC Testing Portfolio

AppliedMicro is the first company to show off a 64-bit ARM processor.

• AMD Launches 6300-Series Opteron CPUs

Updates with the Piledriver processing core that was previously introduced for desktop PCs and notebooks. 

• Amazon Doubles IOPS of Elastic Block Store

Tells customers of its Elastic Block Store (EBS) that they can now provision up to 2,000 IOPS per EBS volume.

• Slideshow: Intel Processors Over the Years

A visual walk through the history of Intel processors from the early 1970s to today.

What Can Enterprise Tech Expect From Obama's Re-Election?

The 2012 presidential election’s implications for IT over the next four years.

James Alan Miller is Managing Editor of Tom's IT Pro. He is a veteran technology journalist with over seventeen years of experience creating and developing magazine and online content. Founding editor of numerous business and enterprise computing sites at the internet.com network, James headed up the After Hours section at PC Magazine, as well as hardware and software sections of various Windows publications.

See here for all Tom's IT Pro articles written by James.

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