Ericom challenges Citrix's XenApp

Ericom's desktop virtualisation management is stepping into Citrix's XenApp's market space, says eWeek.

Citrix has been doing server-based computing for years with its Independent Computing Architecture and Microsoft with Remote Desktop Protocol. Until now, it has delivered solutions to niche deployments where the cost of hardware and software was not prohibitive and the applications were relatively simple.

Now Ericom's PowerTerm WebConnect V5.6.1 is challenging XenApp's remote access and application publishing capabilities by providing server-based computing to solution providers who service both large and small businesses.

Sun Microsystems has boosted the processing capabilities of its most popular Unix server line with the aim of attracting bigger IT workloads, including databases, ERP applications and large server-consolidation projects, says Computer World.

The new system, called the Sparc Enterprise T5440, is based on Sun's eight-core UltraSparc T2 Plus processor, a version of the company's T2 chip that was designed to enable two of the devices to share cache and other system resources.

Servers based on the T2 processor family, also known by the name Niagara 2, have become a $1 billion business that currently is growing at an annual rate of about 60%, according to Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's CEO and president.

Microsoft says Kilimanjaro, its latest business intelligence (BI) technology, is designed to help users work with BI software with more smarts and analytical tools, reports Internet.com.

The technology works with mainstay products such as SQL Server, Office applications Excel and Word, and PerformancePoint Server 2007.

"Kilimanjaro will let users develop reports using Word and Excel as the front end to Report Builder, which we first released in SQL Server 2005," says Andy Kamlet, director of marketing for Microsoft Business Intelligence product group.