Low profile, solid state servers

Servers and Storage, Small Business, Simplify IT submitted by arbitraryconstant Jul 6

We've had great success with lower profile servers internally and with clients. Some examples of OEMs that sell these machines:

http://www.soekris.com/
http://www.portwell.com/

There's a few key attributes that define these sorts of machines, and give them their advantages over more conventional entry servers, if an entry server doesn't cost much more:

-Cheap SSDs as the default storage (typically compact flash). If there's not much I/O, these are less of a maintenance headache than RAID. Hard drives are handy if they're optional.
-Lower overall system power. These machines use embedded or mobile CPUs for the most part, and this also leads to fewer fans (or none). This makes the system quiet, allows it to be deployed in poorly ventilated areas, reduces power usage in a rack, etc.
-Serial console in addition to VGA, since a display and keyboard aren't always convenient if the machine is in a closet somewhere (Linux can handle this). Many organizations are used to dealing with serial consoles on their switches, so this isn't that big a deal.

We've used systems like this as file servers, various things that don't virtualize well like busy DNS servers, firewalls, etc. The power available in lower power platforms has even expanded to the point where Windows servers aren't even a problem.

The big problem with Soekris and Portwell and OEMs like them are that they really leave you to your own resources in a lot of ways. The documentation is highly technical but doesn't cover OS support, and they don't offer fast turnaround support contracts or supported OSes and software. Ultimately this is worthwhile if you're using more than a few of the machines, but an OEM like Dell would be welcome because the support would be much better for shops too small to do the homework necessary to do support in-house. Comment »

Gigabit ethernet throughout

Dell, Simplify IT submitted by boolda 07/09/07

Threre is not point in sticking with old fast ethernet, particularly, when gigabit ethernet is so cheap. Use gigabit ethernet in all your products. 5 Comments »

Out-Law Small Print!

Dell Web Site, Sales Strategies, Simplify IT submitted by aikiwolfie May 28

Please ban all small print from your advertisements, documentation, special deals and any other information disseminated via print, broadcast, internet or other media.

This is about "Simplifying IT" for everybody. It's also a policy you should enforce with ALL of your retail and supply chain partners that have direct contact with your customers. Both corporate and consumer.

Some might argue that this would dramatically increase the amount of paper distributed with your products. I would argue this need not be the case. Alternatives are available.

Documentation can be distributed in many forms. Commonly CD's and web sites are now being used to distribute EULAs, manuals, FAQs and guides in HTML and PDF format. Strangely many suppliers still include small print in these digital formats? Why?

What purpose does this small print serve other than to hide restrictions and trip up customers?

My solution is much simpler and a lot more sensible. Make product warranties, EULAs, etc simpler. Be up front and honest with your customers and be more flexible.

Your customers have no need of small print Dell. Please "Simplify IT". 7 Comments »

Fire wall Your Home

Software, Simplify IT, Desktops and Laptops submitted by nicole112707 Jul 3

I can't tell you how many times I have left the house and left the iron, oven, curling iron, or even my parent’s faulty clothing dryer on. You have to turn all the way around and go home or find someone who will break into your house to do it for you. I think that some kind of software developed that links from your home to your computer (at work or where ever) and your cell phone that would enable you to shut off certain outlets in your home would be a life saver. Imagine you are driving to the airport, and you realize that you THINK you left the iron on. Just open your cell phone, call your house, and punch in the appropriate code and the outlets power is cut. Or you open up your laptop log onto the dell site...it pulls up the outline of your home, you click the outlet that the unit is plugged into, and it shuts off. This would not only be ground breaking technology but would also save lives. You could even go as far as to add a garage door shutter as an upgrade, or shut off lights.... turn down/up the air... the possibilities are endless. Just a thought! 9 Comments »

Expand Dell TechKnow 2.0 to Other Countries

Dell Community, Service and Support, Simplify IT submitted by aikiwolfie Jun 28

While browsing around Dell.com I found a video on Dell TechKnow 2.0. I think this is an excellent idea that should be expanded around the globe. Here in the UK there has been a lot of debate about the dumbing down of IT skills.

Like the US we also have problems in our class rooms a program like this could help with in similar ways as it has in the US. I think it's a great idea to identify things that people can do rather than make them feel bad about things they can't do.

Dell really deserves a round of applause for this program and should do a lot more to expand and promote it. Well done Dell! Comment »

For Teachers

Education, Simplify IT submitted by sabrina Jul 2

How about making the Promethean Board more useful by putting it on a slide (like a sliding door), so that teachers can continue to use their whiteboards to write on. While the smartboards are great, we still need to write on the white boards for instruction. It's like the old fashioned sliding blackboards. 4 Comments »

Design - Stickers?!

Simplify IT, Laptops submitted by chinstrap 10/06/07

Okay I am typing my note a second time after this silly website timed out or did something crappy to delete my first 5 minutes of typing note... Note I am not a techie.

I just got a Dell laptop and desktop issed from my new office. I switched to Apple for my home use about 3 years ago.

My advice to Dell is to follow Apple's lead with respect to design, style and innovation. It's like nothing has changed since the 90s with the PC, Microsft, Intel, stuff..

Here is one usable idea. Stop putting the annoying stickers on laptops right on the wrist rest area. They dig into your wrists and then when you try and take them off they leave an even more annoying sticky residue. After lysol, windex and my wife's nail polish remover, I got the residue off and started to take off the top smooth layer of the wrist area - annoying!! And all this on a brand new, top of the line Latitude (as my tech guys tell me). It's just an okay laptop if you ask me..

Dell - if you want to evolve, try innovating like Apple. Don't you have testers who use these machines in the real world tell you not to put those annoying stickers in place while telling you about other aspects of the computer? What about a mag connector for the power cord.. These are super simple and slam dunk ideas to implement.. I just don't get the process with the old school companies.. It's like GM and Ford trying to make better cars vs. the Japanese and Germans.. They have no clue how to build something what the consumer wants.. The average consumer want a computer that will do email, Internet, office, download photos, and music really well as that's probably what 90% of what people do.. 20 Comments »

Label the CDs with which models they affect

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), Simplify IT submitted by djtansey May 20

Label the Resource CDs, and any other machine-specific CDs, with a list of which models it supports. This would make it much easier for IT departments to file their resource CDs for further use. 5 Comments »

Dell Laptop line confusing and overly complex

Simplify IT, Laptops submitted by geoffchristian 02/23/07

I am a decade-long plus loyal Dell customer. In December I tried to buy a Dell laptop, and used the Laptop catalogue I received in the mail. It was so complicated that even after an hour I was stil not sure which laptop line had which strengths, which offered the best overall deals, and most importantly, why there had to be so many separate offerings. What a mess that catalogue was. A testament to corporate committeeism run wild. It felt like a booklet and a product offering that 500 people on 20 different teams had put together with no central control.

How about a radical simplification of the offerings? Simplify the consumer product lines, make it clear which line of products is right for the consumer right away. Give oversight of the direct mail pieces to a single individual or small team that has a clear view of how to be customer-focused.

In the end, sadly, I did not buy a Dell. I felt that if the catalogue was such a mess, wouldn't the hardware also likely be succumbing to the same slippage of quality and oversight? Comment »

Consider the software used by Ubuntu BrainStorm to replace the SalesForce software powering IdeaStorm.

IdeaStorm, Software, Simplify IT submitted by jmxz Feb 29

Ubuntu's BrainStorm seems to have similar capabilities to Dell's IdeaStorm. Notable differences are

1. BrainStorm has a search function that works very well; and a great Advanced Search that works even better. I imagine if IdeaStrom.

2. It feels much faster, though apparently having a *lot* more activity. Comments submitted 1 day ago have thousands of votes with roughly 100 comments. But every page I refresh there happens instantly.

3. I can provide attachments to ideas and link it to tickets in their support system.

4. It has a functioning "Report Duplicates" feature. 23 Comments »

Simplify Backups

Simplify IT submitted by cormac 02/17/07

Make Backups easier:
With DVDs readily available and fairly large online stores with gmail, msn, ... , maybe even some connection machanism to another computer :Provide a backup button that guides through what you want backed up, what media can be found and gives an estimate of how long it will take. Thens goes and does it simply and easily and tells you when its done and how to get it back.
Jobs is taking the moral lead in removing DRM, Dell can take the lead in reliably storing your data. 4 Comments »

Quicker builds

Desktops, Simplify IT submitted by s43 07/04/07

I have a dell xps 410. I need a desktop computer, because no notebook has the power to do things like a desktop computer. If my desktop were to fail, and I had to replace it, currently with dell, I would have to wait 6 days before an uncustomized pc even left the warehouse. If I need a computer, I want to have it in less than a week. I think dell should try to do something to decrease build times, like maybe have popular configurations pre-built so that a new desktop could be shipped the same day its ordered. That way, I wouldn't have to wait for a week to get up and running again. 25 Comments »

Make complete hardware docs freely available

Simplify IT submitted by amesbury 07/04/07

One of the historical problems with Dell hardware is that hardware documentation isn't freely available. While the Linux crowd has made significant inroads into addressing this problem by incorporating binary, vendor-supplied drivers into their OS, this approach doesn't work universally for all distributions or, more importantly, for operating systems not recognized by vendors. In particular, I have a strong business need for systems which can run smoothly under FreeBSD, as it fits its role better than Linux (for our purposes; not interested in a "my OS is better than yours" war). The Dell PowerEdge 750 and PE1850 were the last PowerEdge systems I know of which worked flawlessly. In particular, they had Intel NICs and Adaptec RAID hardware, both of which were heavily documented and supported in the Open Source community. The PE860 and PE2950, unfortunately, have Broadcom NICs (in my experience not nearly as well supported and openly documented) and LSI RAID (a.k.a., the PERC 5/i, also not as well supported and openly documented).

Dell: *PLEASE* use your weight to encourage your suppliers to release documentation on their hardware products into the community! This would benefit *ALL* open source operating systems, and make your hardware products that much more attractive to those of us who frequently buy bare-metal systems from you. 1 Comment »

Let the customer CHOOSE their web interface to Dell

Dell Web Site, Simplify IT submitted by phubert May 7

Some web sites offer different views...

Whether a consumer or business/government/etc. customer, Dell could improve the customer experience by offering a choice of interfaces...

* bare bones, more information on the page, more of a list format
...with an option for images when they might be useful
* graphical, more colorful

The simpler interface would likely be much faster on refresh, while conveying more information at a glance.

Drill-down with -complete- specs on equipment, perhaps including benchmarks and comparisons could also be VERY valuable.

Dell should address customer skill levels, so an interface could be available to match the background OF the customer.

"Give me no frills! Give me information!"

vs.:

"I'm completely lost when it comes to computers, LEAD ME!!" Comment »

Preloaded corporate image

Servers and Storage, Small Business, Simplify IT submitted by jmuzic1 02/19/07

When I worked as a lowly help desk lackey, I always dreaded the usual provisioning of a new computer for an employee. I always thought it would be a great idea if Dell would allow customers (mostly corporate customers in this case) upload a system image to the Dell website which would be used in provisioning new systems under specific buying accounts. Instead of loading the hard drive full of stuff that will just be erased by the company, allow Dell to provision the hard drive with a customer-supplied base image that would allow a computer to immediately be placed on a new employee's desk after being unwrapped. 3 Comments »

Software readable power-meter in Dell computers.

Environment, New Product Ideas, Simplify IT submitted by jmxz 12/21/07

I'd really like a software readable power sensor inside Dell computers that could tell me things like "now drawing 350 Watts".

This would be useful for a number of things.

• Environmental benefits - It can let me see how much benefit there is by telling my disks to spin down when idle; or by disabling 3D effects in my GUI. Based on those results I can decide whether or not they're worth using. Heck - even just seeing how much power it draws might make me want to power it down more.
• More reliable upgrades - It can show me if I have the power capacity to upgrade to some of the new graphics cards that consume very high power; or to add another hard drive to the 5 i already have.
• Reduced customer support costs - If someone does try to suck a bit more power from their power supply than it supports, it results in hard to diagnose intermittent failures.

It seems laptops have such sensors (in their batteries?). But so far I can't find similar for desktops.

Extra points if the power sensors can isolate where the power's used (i.e. 100W for CPU, 300W for hard drives, 100W for graphics card, etc). 11 Comments »

Combination Ultra-Portable Docking "Notebook" and Zero-Footprint Computer Base

Simplify IT, Desktops and Laptops submitted by kenjennings Mar 1

Take a Notebook and discard the battery, keyboard, and display which cuts down the size and weight tremendously and essentially results in an extremely portable, small form factor computer.

The computer is used one of two ways:
1) Plugged into a Notebook docking station which can optionally provide additional USB ports, another hard drive, etc.
2) As the base of a small form factor, zero footprint, desktop by clipping it to the back of an LCD monitor and adding a keyboard and mouse.

My motivation for this is that I have a Lattitude for work that just travels between docking stations at work and home. I can't remember the last time I actually opened the case and used its keyboard and display. So, I'm dragging all this useless weight around all the time. It would be nice to just carry the essential computing parts.

This proposed computer would work fine without the docking station, too, needing only a few wires for power and one for video. If one desired, using wifi and bluetooth it could be hooked up to a network and keyboard/mouse without any additional wires. 4 Comments »

Make memory upgrades EASIER, not more difficult

Sales Strategies, Simplify IT, Laptops submitted by nicopoon 08/19/07

I've always been able to upgrade memory myself on notebooks and laptops, but am concerned to see that Dell has made it so much harder to upgrade memory on new notebooks. You apparently now have to take the notebook apart by removing the keyboard to access memory slots. Why make it so hard for your customers, Mr Dell? All I can see is a lot of unneeded support calls and parts failures as a result of this change.

Besides, I am stunned to see memory prices on the online configurators. 4GB of notebook memory for $400+, while anyone can get the same quality memory under $150 in retail?

Please: either make memory price competitive, and I'll buy the 4GB upfront, or make it easy to upgrade it... before users break their notebook in the process. 9 Comments »

Network Boot Over WAN and Software On-Demand

Servers and Storage, Software, Simplify IT submitted by hsuanyeh Feb 28

++ Choose and subscribe your favorite OS (Linux/Windows).
++ Boot your PC (diskless) under the subscribed OS over WAN (wired/wirelss), the OS being installed in a Server on the Internet.
++ Subscribe Software Applications based on your demands, the Software Applications being installed in a Server on the Internet.
++ Run a subscribed Software Application on your PC under the booted OS, NOT on the Server, NOR over a browser.
++ Hibernate when powering off your PC.
++ Reboot only when OS is unrecoverably crashed.
++ Unsubscribe Software Applications when no longer in use.
++ Pay Software License fees only for actual usage or subscription.
++ Integrate the billing of Internet Service Provider with the billing of Software Licenses. 70 Comments »

Create a customizable all in one network peripheral system.

Accessories (Keyboards, etc.), New Product Ideas, Simplify IT submitted by jervis961 Mar 31

Dell has made a fortune selling customizable computer systems, perhaps now is the time for them to revolutionize the peripheral market as well. Here's how they can do it.

Make a customizable product that has the ability to include all the network peripheral devices that people use in their homes.
options would include: cable or DSL modem, router (wired, wireless or both), VOIP, network storage, printer server and just about anything else they can think of. This would allow the customer to have 1 unit handle all these functions, eliminate wasted space and allow for easy upgrading with new modules when newer technology is released.

My closet is a mess of wires and equipment, Dell can you help me simplifyIT for my home? It could even be used to help your business customers. 2 Comments »