I love browsing through the government auction site GovDeals. What stands out aren’t the great deals or rare finds, but the stories that sit unspoken in the listing. I’ve collected a few of the recent notables here.

I always thought increasing hard drive capacity was an unequivocally […]

In my younger days, I was something of a procrastinator. This mostly stemmed from a strong desire to not do whatever it is that spurred the procrastination. I simply thought that I would get more enjoyment out of doing whatever I preferred, and then did the less agreeable task at the last minute, or perhaps a little after that. Original post by Phil Gervasi

Hungry Microsoft is the best Microsoft. This is my first experience getting to know this leaner behemoth. By the time I became technologically aware, I remember Microsoft having such a tired sense of inevitability. That was the Microsoft that left us to use Internet Explorer 6 for years on end. I never got to experience the company during its triumphant march across IT as it steamrolled competition during it’s earlier days.

I won’t go so far to say that the company has been truly humbled, but we see a very different company from Redmond today. The essential turn away from Windows and into a cloud services company has led to some truly bizarre moves. As a former Linux hippie, I’m used to worrying that Microsoft would sue Linux out of existence. Now, we live in a world where they’re bringing SQL server to the platform.

What’s happening this week in Server News:
* Docker is the New Twitter
* The Anti-Gestalt of HPE’s The Machine
* Rolling Your Own Kubernetes
Plus the Gestalt IT Holiday Gift Guide!

Ethan Banks made an excellent point in his post about Ixia’s network visibility portfolio. It’s no longer enough to simply make an enterprise IT product that works as intended. For an analysis tool, ease of deployment and simplicity of operation are just as valuable as raw functionality. Otherwise that analysis just becomes another bottleneck to solving a problem. I was thinking about a recent product briefing from Komprise, and they seem to share a similar sentiment about storage.

Here’s your bi-weekly look at what’s happening in Networking:
* Ixia Works Out Its Network Trust Issues
* Enterprise Focused SD-WAN with Viptela
* HPE Discover Reactions

If you’ve been to any industry event you know one undeniable truth: you’re inundated with swag. Anytime I meet with a company and I’m not pelted with branded flash drives, I count myself lucky. Pens, stickers, notebooks, flashlights, even backpacks could all end up shoved into your carryon for the flight home. At the Tech Field Day and Networking Field Day last month, I got some new swag that peaked my interest: socks.

Whose sock will emerge victorious: Viptela or DriveScale?

It’s that time of year again. The weather’s turned colder, the days are getting shorter, and the holidays are just around the corner. The crack staff at Gestalt IT have put together a little gift guide for all you enterprise folks out there. Whether you’re dreading your office Secret Santa, or you’re sick of getting gift cards from family, just point them here for all of their holiday shopping needs. We’ve put together options to fit any budget, so browse around and buy something for the IT person in your life, or yourself if you really want!

I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a hyperscale data center that I can just play around with. Well, I guess technically if I had unlimited funding, AWS kind of fits that description. Okay, let me revise, I don’t have a hyperscale data center that I’m willing to pay to play around with indefinitely.