Google Desktop 3 server hosting causes concern

Google Desktop`s new search-across-computers feature, an application automatically storing copies of files for up to a month on Google servers could put sensitive data at risk and violate federal data-privacy regulations.

This is according to IT administrators at a public university and a large manufacturing company in the US; both of which are banning it from their networks.

From the Google servers, copies are transferred to the user`s computer for archiving. The data is encrypted in transmission and while stored on Google servers. "The Electronic Privacy Foundation urged consumers to boycott the software, warning that Google could be forced to turn over the data to the government if subpoenaed, even if the data is stored on Google servers only temporarily," reports C-Net News.

ServerWatch currently offers an in-depth profile of the Apple Xserve servers.

"Although not noted for its server line-up, Apple Xserve has made significant strides over the past two years. And this year, Apple surprised the world when it announced a shift to the Intel Core Duo processor," reports ServerWatch.

The move has been implemented at the PC level already and will be added to Xserve by the end of the year. The advances to Xserve include the processor speed being increased to 2.3GHz, RAM has doubled to 16GB and hard drive size is up to 1.5TB. Further, there is now RAID-protected storage available in its 1U box.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced a deal with Novell aimed at simplifying subscription pricing of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server running on a variety of HP hardware systems, according to ServerWatch.

"The new bundle may potentially offer better terms for certain customers than a bundle agreement HP already has in place with Linux leader Red Hat," says the article.

The bundle provides a subscription of SUSE for a total of eight HP ProLiant and BladeSystem servers.