Oculus, Dell, AMD join forces to power VR-ready PCs

MANILA, Philippines — AMD recently announced a collaboration with Oculus and Dell to equip Oculus Ready PCs with AMD Radeon GPUs, starting at US$999.

The powerful PCs are designed to deliver stunning gaming performance and enable spectacular VR experiences for consumers around the world by leveraging AMD’s VR leadership with LiquidVR and Graphics Core Next architecture.

“It’s an exciting time to be at the heart of all things Virtual Reality.” said Roy Taylor, corporate vice president, Alliances and Content, AMD. “I’m confident that with Dell and Alienware, we can enable a wide audience of PC users with extraordinary VR capabilities powered by AMD Radeon GPUs.”

In March, AMD announced an initiative to deliver the ultimate VR experience for developers and users enabled through AMD LiquidVR technology. AMD LiquidVR enables low-latency VR performance that maintains reliable comfort during your VR experience, and plug-and-play compatibility with VR headsets.

AMD GPU software and hardware subsystems are a major component in making AMD LiquidVR a reality and in turn allowing for developers and content creators to enable a life-like presence in VR environments.

“For nearly 20 years Alienware has been a leader in performance and innovation for PC gaming; virtual reality is the next frontier and we plan to innovate and lead in the same way, with the same passion,” said Frank Azor, Co-founder and General Manager, Alienware. “Partnering with the performance of AMD graphics and the innovation of Oculus provides an incredible opportunity for Alienware to deliver something awesome for our users.”

source: interaksyon.com

Dell launches new PC monitors

MANILA, Philippines — Dell has launched its new line-up of computer monitors during the company’s year-end briefing in Taguig last Friday.

The product line includes the flagship UP2715K, a 5k monitor with almost twice the resolution of a 4k monitor, the U3415W, Dell’s first type of 34-inch curved screen monitor, the Ultra HD 4k monitor P2715Q and the UltraSharp monitor U2515H.

“We are excited to announce Dell’s new monitor line-up in sizes and price points that will be compelling to customers seeking for higher resolutions,” Jasmon Ching, Dell South Asia brand marketing manager, said. “Today’s announcement reinforces how Dell has led in product innovation by making the latest monitor technologies available to everyone, regardless of their usage and budget.”

The premium product UP 2715K goes for $2,499 (about P111,492) and is designed primarily for color-based and high-resolution imaging industries as well as game and software developers. The product is mainly a 27-inch 16:9 ultra-HD 5k screen panel with a resolution of 5120×2880 (over 14 million pixels), or seven times better than full-HD monitors. According to Dell, the UP2715K can display 1.07 billion colors and has an 86 percent decrease of harmful reflection compared to other products for a more accurate display performance.

The curved display U3415W, on the other hand, retails for $1,199 (about P53,493) and has a sharpness of 3440×1440 resolution on 21:9 screen.

“The curved display and wide field of view work together to give gamers a competitive edge, requiring less eye movement when compared to a flat panel display, enabling players to take advantage of their peripheral vision when the competition heats up,” the company said in a press statement.

Dell also unveiled the P2715Q Ultra HD ($699 or P31,168), which has a 3840×2160 resolution with more than 8 million pixels, and the U2515H ($479 or about P21,375), which has a 2560×1440 QHD resolution.

source: interaksyon.com

Samsung, Intel, Dell team up on standards for connected gadgets

SAN FRANCISCO — Samsung Electronics, Intel Corp and Dell have joined to establish standard ways for household gadgets like thermostats and light bulbs to talk to each other, at odds with a framework backed by Qualcomm, LG Electronics and other companies.

The new Open Interconnect Consortium, like the Qualcomm-supported AllSeen Alliance, aims to establish how smart devices work together in a trend increasingly called the Internet of Things.

Manufacturers are rolling out growing numbers of Internet-connected burglar alarms, televisions and light switches. But like the early days of video cassette recorders, current smart home products are often incompatible with each other.

The new consortium, which also includes chipmakers Broadcom and Atmel, was announced in a news release late on Monday.

Doug Fisher, general manager of Intel’s Software and Services Group, told Reuters that the framework to be developed by the new consortium would address security and other issues not adequately handled by the AllSeen group.

The potential emergence of smart household products made by manufacturers using two sets of incompatible standards would be incidental, he said.

“We’re not out to create that. We just think the industry has spoken and there’s this approach that’s needed,” Fisher said. “We’re certainly welcoming others to participate.”

Last week, Microsoft became the 51st member of the AllSeen Alliance, which also includes Sharp Corp and other consumer electronics manufacturers.

Rob Chandhok, senior vice president of Qualcomm Technologies Inc, compared the two competing standards groups to walled-off online services in the early 1990s before widespread Internet use.

“It’s better for us to have an industry-wide shared platform than to be divided,” Chandhok said. “I don’t want to get to a ‘Prodigy and CompuServe’ of the Internet of Things.”

Technology heavyweights Apple and Google are also pursuing their own ways of interconnecting household devices.

Apple, known for strictly controlling how other companies’ products interact with its own, in June announced HomeKit, which will integrate control of devices like lights and thermostats.

Google’s Nest has also partnered with companies including Whirlpool Corp and light bulb maker LIFX to integrate their products with its thermostats and smoke detectors.

source: interaksyon.com

Dell Latitude E7440: Worth anyone’s business

Achieving better mobility with your notebooks is not only the boon for consumer devices nowadays.

What we are seeing is an influx of thinner offerings with a myriad of features targeted at the business
user.

This is what Dell’s business laptop — the Dell Latitude E7440 — is all about. It takes off from current consumer offerings, such as a thin chassis and an incredible matte 1920×1080 full-HD IPS 14” display, yet provides optimum security features you won’t find in just any other similar offering.

What impressed me first about the E7440 was its silver casing made of materials such as aluminum and magnesium alloy. Before even opening it, the E7440 looked sleek and sturdy — a treat for one to see or touch. It has a thickness of only 2.1 centimeters and weighs just over one and a half kilos, surely not a hassle for people on the go.

Its 1.9Ghz Intel i5-4300U CPU and 256-GB SSD was quite evident in its boot-up speed. In just about ten seconds, I am in my Windows 8.1 main screen, ready to begin my “stress test.” But, as I checked the available applications, none of any of the widely used PC apps were installed. Bummer. So I had to make a trial subscription to Office 365 to get the suite and freeware to continue with the review. Although,
most of the time I simply made do with Internet browsing.

One major setback was that it also did not have a built-in DVD drive, something that’s quite expected of a business laptop. As such, be ready with your portable external hard drive if you want to easily install your office programs or link to the office network or cloud to sync with your business applications.

However, all in all, I had no major problems — except for instances when the system froze and I needed to reboot. Also, logging in was a pain because I opted using my Live.com account to access Windows,  something I don’t recommend. Setting up a username and password from Windows 8 itself would do.

Apart from the usual Windows hang-ups, the E7440 gives the user the inherent mobility it espouses and the performance it touts with its 4GB RAM, allowing the flexibility of handling several complex computer tasks—enhancing images, watching videos online, accessing a hybrid cloud, completing office tasks, updating social media accounts, and even playing an online game (shhh…) at the
side- simultaneously, wherever I am (depending where the broadband signal is faster).

However, it did lag on several occasions, sometimes even at the login screen itself — when I had to wait for a good two minutes before I could type in my credentials. And when it began processing the subsequent requests, it again stalled for a good three minutes before the Windows 8 main screen finally appeared.




The business laptop

A good point for the E7440 is its attractive and vivid display. It boasts of a vibrant color contrast as RGB (reds, greens, blues) register on screen pretty well with incredible clarity and on vertical or horizontal viewing angles. It also offers impressive sound quality with its speakers (located at the bottom of the chassis) producing solid and loud audio levels without any tinge of distortion.

But, the keyboard was a lowdown—as it was too feeble to even follow our fingers’ instructions, flexing at the slightest amount of pressure. This oftentimes becomes irritating when you try to key in multitudes of characters at the shortest time possible, as it forces you to stop and correct what you
type.

In contrast, the touch pad offers an excellent interface to initialize programs with its smooth surface, which allows your fingers to easily traverse it. And, surprisingly, its pointing stick offers a good alternative, offering great accuracy.

Despite the obvious hang-ups, it is still worth paying a steep price for the Dell E7740 as it offers what any business user or traveller will look for in a laptop—easy to use, easy to bring along, and a solid performer they can rely on.

source: interaksyon.com

Dell SS240T: Mind-blowing monitor

Mind-blowing.

This piece of new technology conjures up scenes from hit Hollywood movies and puts us right into the action, one cool swipe at a time.

You open and close apps and execute programs and process by touching, pointing and dragging using your finger, instead of a mouse or touchpad, on the display monitor itself.

We are not talking about the latest tablet around—innovation, you can see anywhere today.

It’s a desktop touchscreen monitor we’ve tested from giant PC maker Dell.

Called the Dell S2240T, the flat 21.5-inch display won’t impress you off-the-box yet as it seems just like any ordinary monitor. However, when I connected the accompanying cables to my VGA or HDMI ports and the additional USB port to my laptop, the ordinary chores of checking my Outlook, launch Word or Excel, and even bring up a Photoshop window, turned into one fascinating experience.

Even if I’m using Windows 7, which still shows the traditional Windows interface, clicking on icons and maneuvering on the menus of the applications was as easy as picking up, using or leaving items on a real desktop or table. What’s extra cool is picking up items and organizing them into folders, which made my usual computing not only convenient but fun.

Yes, it is just a desktop version of your favorite tablet, and I admit it would still take time before users can really get a hang of it, using a touchscreen instead of a mouse, on a desktop. Some might even just opt to use a tablet instead of using a touchscreen monitor, given its handy and light form factor. But the innovation is something we must welcome as it puts the desktop experience on a higher plain, transforming it into a cool, futuristic interface everyone would want in their office cubicles or study tables.

But, I recommend using this monitor with Windows 8, which clearly defines the touchscreen desktop experience.

The LED touchscreen provides even more than what its target audience demands. Sliding, swiping, pinching, or stretching those desktop items on a large screen to view photos, play games, and browse websites is just so cool, you won’t want to get your hands off it. The multi-touch feature allows you to execute desktop programs more conveniently and easily with its 10-point touch capability. This means it recognizes up to 10 touch points simultaneously.

Not only does the multi-touch capability make you crave for the Dell S2240T, the image quality, too! It offers a full 1920 x 1080 full-HD resolution, a dynamic contrast ratio of 8,000,000:1 and support 16.7 million colors. It also has a wide 178-degree viewing angle, allowing screen views from almost any angle without sacrificing image quality.

And this I have to say: the design is just truly jaw-dropping, not only aesthetically but functionally. The end-to-end glass screen makes it look stunning and offer a smooth touch experience for users. What amazed me was its ergonomic stand that allows the user to easily adjust the panel up to 60 degrees of tilt. Users can choose the best angle wherein they can comfortably type or touch the screen. Do you want to mount the monitor on the wall? You can do that as well, with a VESA-compatible mount for viewing flexibility.

It supports a wide array of signal inputs, including DVI, HDMI and VGA. Because my laptop does not have an HDMI or DVI port, I used the “classic” VGA connection and still, the astonishment was there. But what’s further impressive was its low power consumption and eco-friendly features. Despite loads of functions, the Dell S2240T consumes only 20W of electricity, arsenic-free glass, and mercury-free LED panel that not only saves power but pushes to protect the environment.




There may be some kinks along the way, as some touches have not followed what I wanted. Like when I wanted to touch the File menu, the Edit menu on its right appeared instead. Also there were times when I still reached for the USB mouse when I wanted to access right-click menus or other options. But for sure, Dell will address this and make the experience even more compelling.

As it is, it’s still like living a dream.

source: interaksyon.com

Dell equips latest computer models with powerful specs, cutting-edge design

MANILA, Philippines — Dell has recently launched its newest line of laptops that fall under the Dell Latitude 3000, 5000, and 7000 series.

With the latest mobile computing products, Dell balances “sophisticated design, quality construction, and uncompromised durability to offer businesses of all sizes a wide variety of solutions.”

“These exciting new additions to the Latitude line provide our commercial customers what they’ve been asking for by bringing touch capability to the workspace at desirable price points,” said Christopher Papa, country manager of Dell Philippines.

All the models have touch displays that offer Corning Gorilla Glass NBT for up to 10 times higher scratch resistance compared to soda lime glass, the predominant material used in laptop screens throughout the industry. They also come with StrikeZone shock absorbers, Fast Response Free-Fall sensors, and rubber hard drive isolation for added protection of valuable data.

The Latitude 7000, Dell said, is the most secure and manageable of the Ultrabooks, which they said comes with “exceptional reliability and has mobility at its finest with business-class style.”

With the 12-inch model starting at just 20 millimeters thin and 1.3 kilograms, the Latitude 7000 price starts at P45,000.

While the Latitude 5000 and 3000 series, the computer company said, allows for “easy entry into business-class computing.”

Both series, with a choice of 14-inch and 15.6-inch screen sizes, will be able to address the needs of today’s “dynamic workforce by enabling easy entry into business-class computing,” according to a statement provided.

The Latitude 5000 will be available end of October, while the the 3000, which is already available in the market, has a base price of P26,000.

Worth adding is the 9020, a powerful Intel vPro-enabled All-in-One desktop with touchscreen capability.

Powered by the latest Intel Core i7 processors, it comes with a choice of hard drive, SSD or hybrid drive; high-speed memory options; and optional discrete graphics.

It has a 23” multi-touch display that supports the Windows 8 Interactive experience.

With “form and function being the goal,” this new line is designed to run for content creation, engineering, and other professional software applications.

source: interaksyon.com

Dell’s buyout uncertainty adds to poor PC sales outlook

SAN FRANCISCO — Months of public bickering, secretive backroom negotiations and eleventh-hour deals for control of Dell Inc belie the fact that the combatants are vying for a company facing steadily declining sales prospects.

The tussle between Chief Executive Michael Dell and firebrand activist investor Carl Icahn is also starting to spook some customers.

It’s the last thing a company, grappling with the ever-darkening global outlook for personal computers, needs. IDC estimates Dell’s PC shipments slid 4.2 percent in the second quarter, compared to a year earlier.

Some customers have begun asking if Dell is even going to be around in the longer term, said Michael Gavaghen, vice president of sales and marketing at Florida-based Dell reseller SL Powers. Sales are taking longer to close as well, he said.

“We hold their hand and gently say to just table the purchasing decision another few weeks,” said Gavaghen. He stressed, however, that customers are “not fleeing by any means.”

The cacophony surrounding the $25 billion buyout bid proposed by Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners has picked up over the past month. Icahn threatened to wage a campaign to replace the CEO and his board, and sued the company in Delaware to try to force an earlier shareholder vote.

Michael Dell raised his offer twice to try to win over major investors. A shareholder vote has been scheduled for September after being delayed three times.

Morale within the company is stable for now, say some employees, though they add that could change rapidly if Icahn has his way and were to reshuffle management.

John Pucillo-Dunphy, senior engineer and owner of Miracle Networking Solutions, a Dell reseller based in Middleboro, Massachusetts, said he supports Dell’s going private and is more comfortable with Michael Dell’s leadership since it remains unclear what Icahn’s long game is.

“I have seen the emails from Michael Dell. I haven’t seen anything from Icahn,” Pucillo-Dunphy said.

Icahn, who with 8.9 percent of the company is now its second-largest shareholder, has said little about what future he envisions for the company beyond that it has promising prospects based on its large base of PC customers, and that it should remain partly public.

Pucillo-Dunphy said customers are not overly concerned about the drama. “For the most part, they kind of have that mentality that (Dell is) too big to fail.”

The company declined to comment on the issue. Michael Dell sent employees an email on Thursday exhorting the troops to stay focused. He followed that up on Friday with a similar assurance for customers.

“I know this hasn’t been an easy time. The competition has been aggressive during this period of uncertainty, but we are, as we have always been, determined to prove to you why Dell is the best solutions provider to meet your needs,” the CEO said.

Watching and waiting

China’s Lenovo zipped into first place for PC sales globally in the second quarter, and its 16.7 percent market share now takes it past Hewlett-Packard’s 16.4 percent, IDC estimates. Dell is No. 3 at 12.2 percent.

Apart from personal computers, analysts say arch-rival HP already outpaces Dell in key areas of the industry including networking and storage. HP is also making strides into enterprise computing, catching attention with its just-launched Moonshot micro-servers, intended to save on power and costs for corporations.

“Without individual specifics, (it is) safe to say that the roadmap is robust,” said Dell spokesman David Frink, adding that the company will soon host a number of customer conferences around the world to showcase new products and services.

Analysts have so far refrained from estimating the longer-term impact of the battle on Dell’s business. They are watching the situation carefully ahead of the company’s quarterly earnings release on August 20.

“It’s going to be a high-risk and painful process,” Morningstar analyst Carr Lanphier said, adding that the unsettled outcome “makes customers leery.”

The average Wall Street forecast is for quarterly profit of $417 million, about half the $875 million reported a year ago. Revenue is expected to slip 2 percent to $14.2 billion.

Dell’s fortunes remain closely tied to PC sales, despite $13 billion in acquisitions since 2008 to expand into everything from software to networking. PC sales, which have been shrinking for the last three years, still yield half of revenue.

Global PC sales are expected to fall 7 percent this year and 4.5 percent next year, according to analysts at CLSA. Dell’s revenue is seen shrinking every year through 2016, according to Boston Consulting Group, the firm hired by Dell’s board to review the buyout offer.

“Investors should take the Silver Lake-Michael Dell bid and run for the hills,” said Brian Marshall, analyst with ISI Group. He said the company may end up underperforming his earnings forecast of 26 cents per share on revenue of $14.3 billion.

The CEO, responding to opposition to his buyout, had raised his offer price this month by a dime to $13.75 a share and tacked on a special dividend of 13 cents per share. Before the offer was announced in February, shares were trading around $10 apiece.

Michael Dell, who holds roughly a 16 percent stake in the company he started in college in 1984, wants to overhaul it without interference from shareholders. His option involves sticking to a path established years ago, of transforming the company into a provider of services like storage and computing to corporations and government agencies, in IBM’s mold.

Yet even if he should triumph over Icahn, some analysts think it may be too late, since a large swathe of the corporate market has been locked up by IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co.

“HP and IBM have being doing this for the last seven to 10 years,” said Steven Nathasingh, managing director at research and consulting firm Vaxa Inc. “Dell has just started.”

source: interaksyon.com

Dell launches own ‘converged infra’ server for SMEs, remote offices

MANILA, Philippines — Small and medium businesses looking to get enterprise-grade IT systems without using up all their budget can turn to Dell’s latest offering, a “converged infrastructure” server that meets firms’ IT demands without having to break the bank.

Dell’Dells new PowerEdge VRTX product affords small enterprises the capabilities of a server, a storage array, and a networking switch all in one box that can be easily deployed and maintained by undermanned SMEs.s new PowerEdge VRTX product affords small enterprises the capabilities of a server, a storage array, and a networking switch all in one box that can be easily deployed and maintained by undermanned SMEs.

Executives said that by having all three IT components in a single unit solves the problem of IT sprawl, one of the more compelling issues inside data centers where years of deploying systems from a number of brands had led to systems that are rigid and incompatible.

“Most firms would have their own servers, storage systems, and networking equipment, but they’re all from different vendors,” related Allan Divinagracia, team leader for the enterprise solutions group at Dell Philippines. “The Dell PowerEdge VRTX is a fully integrated system so SMEs can focus on more proactive tasks in their business and data centers.”

With sprawl, the Dell executive said integration challenges among hardware components becomes a pressing problem. “If they can’t make it work together, business performance suffers,” he added.

Dell’s PowerEdge VRTX server comes with up to four blade server slots and up to 25 storage disks. Two models are currently available: the M520 with a 1G four-core Ethernet switch; and the M620, with a 10G Ethernet switch.

With three integral IT components all in one chassis, Divinagracia said management and maintenance of the server is easier, as SMEs would just have to use a single console to manage all aspects and parts of the server.

Through the same management console, businesses can quickly link with the Dell Helpdesk in the country to aid in troubleshooting problems that may occur with the server.




By deploying the Dell PowerEdge VRTX in their respective IT environments, businesses can boost productivity by being able to do more tasks with less IT resources, since the new offering is also capable of virtualization that help businesses maximize their investments.

While the setup is ideal for SMEs strapped for cash and resources, Divinagracia said the PowerEdge VRTX is also a good unit to deploy in branch offices, which do not need as much compute power as a full-scale data center.

“Converged Infrastructure” is a buzzword that has been gaining ground in the last few years due to the complex nature of most data centers. By converging server, storage, and network in one box, IT departments stand to save on costs but at the risk of vendor lock-in.

“Dell’s customer-inspired innovation is driven by our deep understanding of the business realities impacting customers today, and interpreting those trends through delivery of modern IT architectures conceived and engineered for the needs of different businesses – one size does not fit all,” said Christopher Papa, country manager at Dell Philippines.

“With the new solution we have unveiled today, Dell is demonstrating its differentiated approach to solution development for customers of all sizes – from the small office of five people to large enterprise datacenters,” Papa added.

According to Dell, pricing for the PowerEdge VRTX with business partners start at $10,000 per unit.

source: interaksyon.com

Dell unveils new XPS 12 convertible ultrabook

MANILA, Philippines - Dell is helping customers touch the future with a refreshed portfolio of consumer PCs built for Microsoft Windows 8, designed to provide a more intuitive computing experience and address evolving customer desires.

Dell’s new systems deliver on the promise of new advances in computing: a leading-edge and intuitive touch experience, the security and manageability required by today’s always-on pace and the design aesthetic, style and precision workmanship that customers demand.

Dell has unveiled powerful addition to its industry-leading XPS brand of computers. Joining the award-winning XPS 13 ultrabook, and the XPS 14 and XPS 15 laptops, the new XPS 12 ultrabook enable both consumer and business customers to do more with their technology — from multimedia, entertainment and creation to full business productivity to transition seamlessly from home to office.

The XPS 12 convertible combines two devices in one: a powerful ultrabook plus a full-featured tablet. The XPS brand has a distinguished heritage of delivering the latest technology and thoughtful design for performance and craftsmanship without compromise.

Each product in the XPS portfolio is tailored for specific customer needs, and the newly unveiled products are designed to take advantage of emerging software and technology, with the same XPS brand attributes that customers expect from Dell.

“The XPS 12 represents the culmination of a deep understanding of the ‘Bring Your Own Device’ movement and insights gained from both our consumer and business customers,” said Christopher Papa, country manager of Dell.




“The new set of XPS 12 represents a milestone in our design and approach to user experience. Our vision for our XPS line of computers is not just about the device or technology, it’s about achieving the perfect balance of amazing design, end user productivity and IT enablement,” Papa added.

Dell tapped its heritage of offering unique and innovative solutions to create the XPS 12. The product features a novel and elegant flip hinge touch-screen display designed to take advantage of the W8 operating system advances for touch interaction.

The result is two products in one, providing the full functionality of an ultra-portable laptop with keyboard plus the convenience of a tablet.

The innovative flip hinge design can easily transition from laptop to tablet to laptop and features a full HD screen that provides 97 percent more pixels than a standard HD display. The result is an exceptionally crisp reading and photo and video viewing experience.

The XPS 12 features thoughtful design and attractive aesthetics, and is crafted from premium materials such as machined aluminum and carbon fiber, as well as Corning Gorilla Glass for durability.



Partners

“With Windows 8 re-imagined, we are bringing a no-compromise, immersive and personalized experience to our customers,” said Mon de los Reyes of Microsoft Philippines.

“The support from our partners is critical for the success of Windows 8. Dell is an important partner to Microsoft and we will continue to work together to transform lives through the power of computing technology,” De los Reyes said.

“Our life experiences are defined by our senses — by what we see, hear and touch. These human senses are also at the foundation of Intel’s vision for the ultrabook to deliver a no-compromise, must-have computing experience and we congratulate Dell on the launch of its new touch-enabled product range,” said Ricky Banaag, country manager of Intel Philippines.

“Dell has always been at the forefront of innovation in technology and we are glad to be a partner to Dell in the continuing evolution of the computing experience,” Banaag said.

The Dell XPS 12 is priced P65,990 at authorized retailers nationwide.

On-site service

All Dell products running with pre-attached Windows 8 come with an on-site service, a new after-sales service where a customer is rescued from problems encountered with the shortest turnaround.

“We want to make sure that we are able to attend to our customer right at their doorsteps. With the new system in place, response is within 24 to 48 hours,” said Alvin Go, product manager of Dell.

The steps are as easy as 1-2-3. First, call the Dell Tech Support at toll-free 1-800-1601-0062. The Dell Tech Support will then conduct a diagnosis and determine the problem. A Dell engineer on-site will solve the problem.

The Dell’s new on-site service is available nationwide.

To know more about Dell products, log on to www.dell.com.

source: philstar.com

Dell Provides Networking Solution That Bridges Your Business/Technology Gap

MANILA, Philippines — It has always been true that the profitability of a business directly correlates to the organization’s ability to satisfy a customer need.
With technology influencing and advancing our daily lives in profound ways, businesses have also come to rely on technology to contribute to their success. And with new challenges facing the business, the network has taken centers stage and grown to play a vital role in the ultimate survival or failure of a business. A business simply cannot survive without it.
Regardless of size, vertical or location, businesses have embraced the concept of virtualization. Applications have been migrated from laptops to “the cloud” and this has put additional demands on the network; in many cases these demands were never factored into the network design when it was first architected. The result – added complexity and cost in a network that never fully met the demands of the business and the organization’s bottom line suffers.
In today’s highly competitive environment, businesses have to become more agile and flexible to keep up. The result is a mobile workforce that demands ubiquitous and secure access to all applications from virtually anywhere on any device. These business requirements place incredible demands on the network. Perhaps the most impacted portion of the network is the data center, the “center of gravity” for the entire organization. Whether at the campus or at a remote facility; whether on a corporate issued device or a personal smartphone, this extreme departure from “the way business was done in the past” also demands a new approach to networking. This is where Dell comes in with the concept of a Virtual Network Architecture (VNA).
Virtual Network Architecture
Anytime, anywhere connectivity is no longer enough. Today, most businesses must flawlessly support a more heterogeneous audience that is using more devices in more locations. Cloud-based initiatives deliver centrally managed and secured business-critical applications, while concurrently delivering a “LAN-like” user experience to the extended user base – who is constantly mobile, or in “the cloufd” themselves.
In order to accomplish this, Dell has developed its networking technology using Virtual Network Architecture (VNA), which is based on three key tenets: Open and optimized, Agile and automated, Flexible and cloud-driven.
Dell recognizes that the increased competitive environment, combined with a highly mobile workforce accessing cloud-based applications, is redefining not just technology, but the way business is done. We are a driving force in helping enterprises achieve more with innovative, open technology that simply works.
The challenge: network complexity & inflexibility can impact your business
Too many layers, devices, and operating systems make management needlessly complex. Deployment is disruptive, provisioning is slow, environmental costs are high, and scaling the network to meet ever-changing business requirements is a constant challenge. And all of this costs money. Today, 80 percent of most companies’ IT budgets is spent not to move ahead, but rather to simply keep up.
The typical legacy network is unwieldy to manage and inefficient to operate. Multiple layers of unnecessary switches add to the complexity without providing any real advantage. Existing networks have become too complex, too slow, too expensive, and far too inflexible to support the business. They simply can’t cope with the onslaught of more users, devices, locations, and cloud-based applications.
Dell’s VNA approach : Open and optimized
Dell can help you address your current challenges while also reducing costs, streaming cumbersome processes, and improving performance. We help you:
Streamline your network: By reducing the number of layers and “boxes” in your network topology, you can achieve a smaller footprint, lowering both capital and operational expenses.
Access the experts: Staging and deploying new technology in a production environment can be costly and disruptive. Accessing Dell’s Advanced Services provides you with scoping, architecting, training, deployment, maintenance and much more. It also frees you up to strategize and innovate rather than manage, which does not contribute to the bottom line.
Agile & automated
In most organizations, the greatest assets and expenditures are people. Assigning people to mundane and tedious tasks saps the organization of innovation that could be occurring. To achieve greater control and agility it is essential to deploy a better, more automated method of management, by moving intelligence near the edge and closer to workloads. This enables dynamic provisioning management and control without the tedious manual intervention traditionally required of such networks. With an optimized network and management at the edge, it is easy to identify underutilized areas anywhere in the network and balance workloads across the network, thereby optimizing performance without over consuming resources.
Deploy a platform for the future
Many networking vendors offer products that solve today’s issues, but do not easily scale for future requirements. Many customers that have purchased such technologies realize only years after that they are locked unto a technology that they cannot operate in a multi-vendor environment. In such instances, the corporate strategy becomes completely reliant on the vendors strategy. Once locked in, the vendor does not have to innovate or even be competitive on price. The result is that any technology change or additional business requirements that impact the network requires a disruptive and costly rip and replace.
A flexible environment allows the creation of an efficient, shared infrastructure through the use of virtual switching, which is optimized for the customer’s unique needs. While today it is mobility, the next “killer app” is just over the horizon. Deploying a flexible infrastructure allows you to solve today’s business challenges, while also deploying a platform that is ideal to solve future challenges. Our comprehensive networking solution portfolio gives you freedom of choice and Dell expertise can help you select the optimal solution.
Dell’s networking solution is forward-thinking and takes the “big picture” into account.

source: mb.com.ph

Dell refreshes business notebook lineup, but no new ultrabooks in sight

MANILA, Philippines — While every other PC manufacturer in the world is unveiling their fresh takes on Intel’s ultrabook, technology company Dell decided to update its arsenal of laptops with the chipmaker’s latest Ivy Bridge processors.

Yet, despite the fresh processor bump for most of its notebooks in the Latitude and Vostro lines, Dell didn’t bring in an updated version of its ultrabook, the XPS 13, which was launched locally in April.

Dell Philippines Country Manager Christopher Papa told reporters at the sidelines of the launch that updating the XPS 13 is in their roadmap, although more focus is being given on their commercial business for now.

Nonetheless, Papa said they were not expecting the strong demand for their consumer-grade XPS 13 ultrabook, a 13-inch device squeezed into an 11-inch chassis that retails from P59,000 to P79,000 depending on the internal specifications.

Without mentioning figures, the Dell head honcho said they had to ramp up production of the sought-after notebook after initial shipments to various markets around the world failed to meet consumer demand.

But gaining market share in the consumer PC segment is far from Dell’s objectives moving forward, as declared by Papa in an earlier interview saying the company is focusing on high-margin segments of the business, particularly the enterprise market.

It is for this reason that majority of the products launched by Dell on Thursday are geared toward SMBs and large enterprises, two segments that are high-growth areas for the Round Rock, Texas-based company.

“Today’s launch is a testament to our commitment to end-user computing, and we have differentiated ourselves by adding more value to our products,” said Richard Teo, president at Dell Philippines.

“We have added a lot of technologies that surround manageability, security and system management to allow users to have full control of their units,” he added.

Durable, business-class notebooks

Bannering the new notebook offerings are the redesigned and re-engineered laptops in the Latitude line, targeted at enterprise-class customers, which feature the same look and feel as their predecessors but come fitted with Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors.

Johny Dermawan, senior brand manager at Dell South Asia, said the new Latitude laptops are “designed to be durable” considering the mobile needs of most workers today.

By tearing down one Latitude unit in front of the press, Dermawan demonstrated how the internal portions of the notebook was designed, starting with the magnesium alloy bottom cover that acts as the doorway to all of the unit’s components.

The new Latitude laptop’s internal parts and LCD screen are protected by a tri-metal chassis that keeps them in place and absorbs unintentional external pressure, which Dermawan said is a common occurrence with users fitting their laptops along with other things inside their bags.

The specific models unveiled by Dell on Thursday include: The redesigned 14-inch Latitude E640; the E6230, E630, E6430 and E6530 notebooks measuring 12.5 to 15.6 inches; the E5430 and E5530 which are budget-friendly options for professionals; and the ruggedized E640 ATG notebook that can withstand extreme conditions.

Meanwhile, Dell’s Vostro line of PCs, which is targeted at small and medium businesses, received the following updates: the Vostro 3360 (13 inch), Vostro 3460 (14 inch) and Vostro 3560 (15 inch), which are designed to be thin and portable.

Dell’s new Latitude laptops are now available and will start retailing from P55,100, while the Vostro notebooks can be bought beginning next week although no price points have been detailed thus far.

article source: interaksyon.com

Uncompromised Beauty – Dell XPS 13

MANILA, Philippines — As the Ultrabook wars kicked-off earlier this year, it is either you are first or you are last. If you belong in the latter, it better be good.

Save the best for last

At its recent launch at The Mind Museum in Bonifacio Global City, the Dell XPS 13 did not disappoint. The Dell XPS 13 delivers superb craftsmanship, durability and performance. It is the perfect combination of fashion and function.

Fashion and Function

As part of the launch, a runway show by Filipino fashion designer, Pablo Cabahug was showcased. The whole runway show can be described in one word- perfection. The clothes came in the same shades as the ultra-savvy gadget: silver, black and white. The creations even fitted the models to a tee. Guests were amazed by Cabahug’s fashion genius.

Thoughtful design and exceptional durability

Its thoughtful design goes beyond beauty. The 13.3-inch high definition display with slim bezel fits in a body size similar to the form factor of an 11-inch product. The carbon fiber composite base extends the design process, offering a premium visual appeal, and is lighter and cooler to the touch than aluminum.

The Dell XPS 13 also features bonded Corning Gorilla Glass for exceptional durability.

The Dell XPS 13 feels good as it looks good because of a comfort-designed keyboard and a sleek, gesture-enabled glass touchpad. It also weighs less than 3 pounds making it comfortable to carry around.

Powerful performance

With 2nd Generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, this Ultrabook delivers the speed and performance expected from the XPS family.

Always up to date

With the Intel Smart Connect Technology, it keeps your email, contacts, calendar and social networks up to date, even when your XPS 13 Ultrabook is in sleep mode. Also, the unit turns on instantly and boots in as little as 8 seconds; resuming from sleep mode in just 1 second (4 seconds from deep sleep). A solid-state drive and Intel Rapid Start Technology makes this possible.

For all customers

The Dell XPS 13 creates appeal for all customers providing them superior user experience. With up to eight hours, fifty-three minutes of battery life, users can really do more. The XPS 13 is a powerful technology into a small, portable package making it the ultimate mobile device. Whether for work or play, the XPS 13 helps users be more productive and connected in every way possible.

Everything and more

Gone are the days when customers have to choose between beauty and practicality. With the XPS 13, Dell has provided customers an Ultrabook not only visually appealing but also addressing the critical needs of a user. Truly, the Dell XPS 13 delivers everything and more.

Availability

The Dell XPS 13 is now available at selected retailers nationwide. You can also join Dell’s latest promotion, “Upgrade Your Drive with Dell.”

source: mb.com.ph