Vista now virtualisation friendly

Microsoft has tweaked the licensing for Windows Vista slightly to allow users of the Enterprise version of its software to use the operating system in non-traditional environments, reports BetaNews.

Microsoft says it has made the changes in response to requests by customers who need a different licensing structure to experiment with various management architectures.

Along with the right to use Vista on "diskless" PCs, customers would also gain access to a subscription license called Windows Vista Enterprise Centralised Desktops (VECD), which allows customers to use Vista on virtual machines centralised on a server.

Service-oriented architecture is becoming more popular in Asia-Pacific, driving up IT spend, reports SOA World.

SOA adoption is expected to increase by 40% in the next two years because all major software vendors have been altering and creating software to suit the needs of an SOA framework. "The Asia-Pacific SOA market is poised for healthy growth as large enterprises across all verticals are adopting SOA-based solutions for their business related issues," notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst, Harikrishna Subramanian.

The software market is witnessing a spate of mergers and acquisitions in the area, which is also a significant driver for SOA adoption.

Dell announced that it has launched a division to design customised data centres for companies that rely on servers to run their businesses, reports ComputerWorld.

Dell's new Data Centre Solutions (DCS) division is tasked with extending the build-to-order business by implementing large scale data environments. "The division will equip entire data centres with power and cooling systems, networking equipment, motherboards and more," says Forrest Norrod, vice president and general manager of DCS.

Norrod says that Dell is trying to exclusive target the top two dozen Web-based companies.