Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kemble s. matter who wrote (160782)	9/18/2000 4:13:05 PM
From: calgal	Respond to of 176388

Dell, others hold appliance sale Hi Kemble: Sorry if this has been posted. It's been one of those days...:) Leigh By Stephen Shankland Staff Writer, CNET News.com September 18, 2000, 6:00 a.m. PT Manufacturers are giving more attention to special-purpose computers for handling network tasks, releasing a number of new "server appliance" products today. Dell Computer, Maxtor and CacheFlow all announced new server appliances for companies building up specific parts of their Internet operations. Each of the products is designed to be bolted into racks, an increasingly popular configuration for setting up centralized computing operations. Selling server appliances is a growing business, with Merrill Lynch estimating $16 billion in sales in 2004 and International Data Corp. estimating $12 billion for the same year. The increasing seriousness of the market is visible in the fact that traditional server companies are getting involved and that the start-ups that pioneered the trend are delivering more mature products. Compaq Computer has its TaskSmart line; IBM has caught the server appliance bug; Hewlett-Packard has deals with CacheFlow and Procom; and Dell debuted its PowerApp line in April. However, analysts expect server appliance sales could cut into the plump profit margins of general-purpose servers. Dell released a new server today called a load balancer, a machine designed to intercept Web traffic on e-commerce sites and divvy up the work among several back-end servers. Three PowerApp.BigIP models cost between $7,900 and $30,500, said Gene Austin, general manager of Dell's Internet server products division. With the server, Dell is taking on for the first time a new and very large competitor, Cisco Systems, the leader in load-balancing equipment, Austin said. Dell's hardware uses the software of the second-most-popular load-balancing company, F5 Networks, which also sells its own hardware. Do you have an opinion or comment on this story? Tell us. "We're only taking the software. Eventually, we'd like to become their platform as well, to make it a two-way partnership," Austin said. CacheFlow, meanwhile, has released servers that are geared to speed up the delivery of information across the Web. The servers hold content in memory instead of on the comparatively slow hard disk so the information can be sent more quickly to the computer requesting it. CacheFlow servers are used by Lycos, among others. Maxtor, a manufacturer of hard disks that's expanded into storage servers, has released a new product that has 320GB of capacity in a unit just 1.75 inches tall. The $4,499 device, which has four hard disks, mirrors data on each of the two pairs and has separate power supplies so it can keep running even if one power supply or hard disk fails, said Jon Toor, senior director of marketing for the product line. If a unit breaks, it will send an email to the customer, and Maxtor will ship a replacement within two days, he said. Maxtor's MaxAttach product line fits into an effort by hard disk makers to make more money by selling servers instead of just hard disks. Seagate Technology has a deal with Cobalt Networks for similar devices, and Western Digital and Quantum have launched efforts similar to Maxtor's. The MaxAttach effort began with standalone storage devices, but the rack-mounted models on sale since February have taken over as the most popular, Toor said. Regional Internet service providers are the most common customers, he said. Server appliances may be all the rage, but traditional servers still are going on sale. Toshiba today unveiled its Magnia 7100, which can accommodate as many as four Pentium III Xeon chips. Bare-bones models cost $9,010. Dell also introduced a new low-end server, the PowerEdge 1400, with starting prices less than $1,700. news.cnet.com

To: kemble s. matter who wrote (160782)	9/19/2000 12:07:15 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176388

Commentary: Server appliance market will remain on fire Gartner Viewpoint Special to CNET News.com September 18, 2000, 5:35 p.m. PT By Pushan Rinnen, Gartner Analyst With some $14 billion in revenue up for grabs by 2004, according to Gartner forecasts, the market for server appliances will continue to be red hot. This fact explains the seemingly daily server product announcements stoked by manufacturers anxious to provide systems for the booming Internet and application services markets. Yet will these new devices displace the bulk of the general-purpose server sales? And will the new players successfully challenge the five server giants--Compaq Computer, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Dell Computer and Sun Microsystems? Gartner believes that the impact of server appliances will be significant, albeit it confined to entry-level, Intel-based servers. The most popular server appliances today are 1U- or 2U-high Web servers and caching appliances. Their popularity is fueled by the strong demand from Internet service providers (ISPs) and application service providers (ASPs). Net service providers have migrated toward server appliances, as the hardware combines application software and hardware and is easy to install and maintain--unlike general-purpose servers. However, server appliances aren't expected to be a threat to midrange and high-end application servers and database servers. Server appliances increasingly will act as front-end server, especially for tasks such as load balancing, caching and Web serving. Midrange application servers and back-end database servers will likely continue to require the cutting-edge CPU power and functionality that typically reside in general-purpose servers. Network-attached storage (NAS) products--especially rack-mount, highly scalable products with data management software embedded--will increasingly affect the sales of direct attached storage (known as RAID arrays), as well as general-purpose file servers. NAS products, such as low-end Maxtor MaxAttach and high-end Network Appliance products, have started to consolidate traditional RAID arrays at ISP sites. They also offer application and database servers a more efficient storage pool. (For related commentary on installation of network appliances, see TechRepublic.com - free registration required.) Entire contents, Copyright © 2000 Gartner Group, Inc. All rights reserved. cnet.com

To: kemble s. matter who wrote (160782)	9/19/2000 12:11:07 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 176388

Dell sprouts a separate storage division By Joe Wilcox Staff Writer, CNET News.com September 18, 2000, 2:35 p.m. PT Dell Computer today created a separate storage division as the company looks to increase sales to businesses serving up Internet content. The Round Rock, Texas-based PC maker appointed Russell Holt to head the division and report directly to CEO Michael Dell. The move acknowledges how rapidly Dell's storage business is growing. Dell typically breaks out a business after it achieves a projected $1 billion in annual sales, analysts say. Until today, storage had been part of the company's server division. At the same time, the company is playing a distant game of catch-up with IBM and other storage rivals. "What we've done in the past here at Dell is incubate businesses as part of larger organizations," Dell spokesman Jim Mazzola said. "As they gained critical mass and we wanted to accelerate them, we moved them out to form their own segments." Brooks Gray, an analyst with Technology Business Research, sees the potential in Dell's move. "The segmentation makes sense and follows tradition the way Dell has segmented its business," Gray said. "This is a good time for Dell to increase their focus on external storage, as well as internal." Dell started selling branded storage products in 1998, with modest success. Internal storage, or storage built for the inside of servers, still accounts for the bulk of Dell's storage sales, analysts say. But sales of discrete external storage systems have increased as companies have sought more efficient ways to handle the data dump created by Web content. Dell's PowerVault external storage products brought in revenues of $226 million last year, and Gray estimates sales of about $100 million for the current quarter. Holt faces a tough job in an exploding market, in which Dell is a relative latecomer. PC rivals, such as Compaq Computer and IBM, have long had separate storage operations and good brand awareness. Hopkington, Mass.-based EMC leads the market. "Yes, Dell is still a relatively small player," Gray said. "The real challenges Holt will face is ramping Dell's external storage business. I believe they will target the low-end NAS (network attached storage) market and the SAN (storage area network) market for medium-size businesses." Today's announcement follows an increased focus on storage at Dell. Last month the PC maker started selling Quantum's SnapServer. Dell also picked up storage software and hardware maker CoverageNet last September in its first acquisition. Dell also has stepped up storage sales efforts as part of its Internet infrastructure strategy. Analysts estimate that, driven by Internet demand in part, storage sales could reach $100 billion by 2005. cnet.com

To: kemble s. matter who wrote (160782)	9/19/2000 12:15:08 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176388

Dell Pushes On With Internet Plan ROUND ROCK, Texas (AP) - Dell Computer Corp. (NasdaqNM:DELL - news) has created a division to oversee its data storage products and systems businesses and has begun selling two new servers, computer hardware used to host Web sites. Dell announced plans for the new division and computer hardware on Monday. In April, the company that made its fortune selling personal computers said it would begin focusing on Internet-related services and equipment by increasing support services, expanding into wireless products and investing in startup companies. The company named Russell L. Holt, 39, as head of the new unit. Dell's storage business grew 70 percent in the last 12 months, with overall sales approaching $1 billion annually. Dell's overall sales in that time were $28.5 billion. The PowerEdge 1400 server is aimed at small and medium-size businesses. The more powerful PowerApp.BIG-IP server is aimed at busy e-commerce sites. The PowerEdge 1400 begins at just under $1,700, while the PowerApp could cost more than $30,000, depending on the features. Last month Dell announced VC Direct, a division that will team with venture capital firms to provide access to Dell products and Internet technology, resources and services to startup businesses. In February, the company launched a Web-hosting service. Earlier that month, Dell launched its Internet partner division, promising to provide companies with servers, storage and other services. dailynews.yahoo.com