Paul, on Intel's new venture into data service centers, I think you speculated that Intel would build their own servers for the server part of the enterprise. I kinda thought the same way, although I wasn't sure they'd want to step on the toes of their good customers like Dell and IBM, etc. Also, I don't know if Intel has ever sold servers with "Intel all over the Outside", although I've seen a lot of complete Intel server boxes come into incoming and then go out with our logo on them. Anyway, this article says Intel said that it will buy the servers from other companies. Guess they don't want to pee off their best customers, or don't want to go back into the blue box(?) business.
dailynews.yahoo.com
====================================================================== Saturday April 24 12:11 AM ET
Intel To Build Big Data Services Centers
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news) said that it plans to build
data service centers so that small- to-medium size businesses can set up electronic
commerce activities, as part of its new business group's emphasis on the Internet.
Intel said that it plans to eventually build a network of data centers, with big ''server farms'' -- groups of big
servers capable of processing and storing large amounts of data.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip giant said it plans for three data centers before the end of the year, at a
cost of about $50 million each.
''We plan to build a global network of facilities,'' said Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy. ''These facilities are
in Intel parlance BIT factories, they will eventually be comprised of several thousand servers and allow
businesses to outsource their electronic commerce activities.''
Companies who wish to set up a business selling goods over the Internet can create a business and Intel will
run it outside the customer's own ''firewall,'' the security measures taken by companies to protect corporate
networks.
Mulloy was confirming remarks that Intel executives made at an twice-a-year analyst meeting held in New
York Thursday.
Last May, Intel formed a new unit called the new business group, which is focused on finding new growth
areas for the chip giant to expand beyond its core focus on microprocessors -- the brain chips in personal
computers.
''That division has a goal of becoming a leader in managing, hosting, storing and delivery of Web content and
services,'' Mulloy said. ''The goal is to be a building block supplier for the Internet economy.''
Intel noted, however, that the company is not seeking to outsource all of a corporation's information
technology services. Intel said that its experience in developing the complex factories where it makes its
microprocessors will enable it to build a global network of these facilities.
Intel's head of the new business group, Gerhard Parker, is also the former head of Intel's vast manufacturing
operations.
Intel said that it will buy the servers from other companies, with the first server farm expected in Santa Clara.
Other focuses for the new business group include content services, where it helps companies build
graphically-intensive Web sites such as artmuseum.net, a Web site it helped the Whitney Museum in New
York build.
Tony |
