Blizzard's Battle.net Servers Hacked

Battle.net, the huge game servers that house all the player information for Blizzard Entertainment's three major games (World of Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo), has officially been hacked the company has just confirmed. According to an update posted on Blizzard's official website from President Mike Morhaime, financial information, including real names, billing addresses and credit card numbers, seem to be safe, though a list of email addresses, personal security questions and "information relating to Mobile and Dial-In Authenticators" has been accessed. In addition to that, a list of cryptographically scrambled Battle.net passwords were also accessed.

Morhaime and Blizzard were quick to state that the information was not enough for any hacker to gain access to a user's Battle.net accounts, though users should still take precautions. This hack affects users outside of China and Morhaime is also recommending that anyone using North American servers change their passwords. This typically includes users in North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia.

In the days following this announcement, North American server Battle.net users will be asked to change their secret question while Blizzard will also be issuing an update to its authenticator software, which is something that most players should already use. World of Warcraft accounts get hacked regularly with hackers trying to steal in-game currency and high-level items.

According to a statement from Blizzard, "We take the security of your personal information very seriously, and we are truly sorry that this has happened. Like all companies doing business online, it is not an uncommon occurrence to experience outside parties trying to illegitimately gain access to the operation's structure at some level."

If you play World of Warcraft, StarCraft II or Diablo III then I highly recommend changing your Battle.net information, mainly just your password and security question. With the amount of money that goes through these games from players, a hacked Battle.net server is something nobody wants to see.

Source: UPI.com - Blizzard reports hack of its game server
G4 - Battle.net Hacker, User Information Obtained

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Toshiba Developing Flash-Based Data Center Products

Toshiba announced on Tuesday that it has started developing a line of products designed for storing large amounts of data and that these new products would be based on the company's flash memory chips. Toshiba is working on a three-tier strategy that it hopes will spur in-house demand for NAND flash memory.

Toshiba will offer memory chips for use in storage hardware, data servers that combine hard disks, solid-state drives and flash and software services for analyzing and handling large amounts of data. According to Senior Engineer at Toshiba Masaki Momodomi, "Up until now we've sold mostly to outside companies, but we want to strengthen our own offerings."

NAND flash makers like Toshiba are in a constant race to out-do each other and create chips with finer circuits, ultimately offering cheaper storage and better efficiency. However, they are closing in on the physical limits possible with our current technology. Toshiba has, until recently, focused on out-shrinking rival companies and was the first to launch solid-state drives with 19-nanometer memory.

Momodomi also added that Toshiba will offer chips smaller than 19-nanometers, but will remain in the teens over the next two years. In addition to that, Toshiba stated that it is working on 3D storage, which could be a possible successor to the current NAND flash technology that stacks memory in layers, allowing for greater density. Toshiba also says that it will have prototype samples ready by 2013.

Toshiba announced this new effort as part of the company's new research and development strategy. Toshiba showed several upcoming products at its central headquarters in Tokyo, including quantum encryption and home lighting based on organic light-emitting diodes. Toshiba also announced that its strategy going forward is also focused on adding headcount outside of Japan.

70% of the company's new research personnel through the fiscal year ending in March 2015 will be hired outside of Japan and the bulk of the new hires will come from China, India and Vietnam, countries where projects will focus on technologies and products meant for the countries where they are developed. According to Akira Sudo, a Research and Development Executive for Toshiba, "We have to keep a firm grasp on the global trends."

Source: Computer World - Toshiba to develop data center products based on its flash memory chips

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Network Solution Rentals When You Need Them the Most

If you ever need a complete network solution at a moment's notice then you don't have a lot of options. Buying one is way too expensive, especially if you only need it temporarily, which is why most business professionals turn to renting a network solution instead. Rentacomputer.com has been offering network solution rentals to the business world for over 25 years, accumulating tremendous industry experience along with an army of technicians, engineers, installers and Tech Travel Agents to help you get the complete network solution that you need, when you need it.

With every rental you choose from Rentacomputer.com you get to work alongside a Tech Travel Agent. Tech Travel Agents are personal consultants and your single point of contact for anything involving your rental. Your Tech Travel Agent will handle the procurement of every piece of equipment for your network solution rental. From every desktop and laptop to server and server peripherals, your Tech Travel Agent will make sure you have everything you need to fully connect you and your team to the internet and each other.

What's more is that your Tech Travel Agent can also acquire additional technology for you as well, including office equipment rentals like printers, copiers or fax machines. No matter what you need, when you need it and where you need it, your Tech Travel Agent will make it happen.

Did I mention that your network solution rental can also be delivered anywhere in the entire country? You can get every single piece of your equipment delivered directly to you no matter where you are. Need something delivered directly to a convention center or trade show booth? No problem. Once your equipment arrives by way of a local engineer, that professional will also set up and test everything for you, ensuring that everything is working like it needs to.

Renting a full network solution from Rentacomputer.com is one of the smartest and easiest things you can do if you need an entire network solution quickly. Not only do you get access to the latest technology on the market but you also get access to professional engineers and technicians that are there to offer their expertise whenever you need it. With over 25 years of experience in the industry, nothing beats a network solution rental from Rentacomputer.com.

Google Debuts Compute Engine to Compete with Amazon EC2

Google has decided to open up its global datacenters to all who need access to large amounts of computer horsepower. The company has opened up its service called Compute Engine, which allows companies and developers to get into Google's hardware. Those who sign up for the new service will be able to run nearly any program that they want to on Google's servers.

Many people see this move as a way for Google to compete against Amazon and Microsoft, both of which offer similar services. Urs Holzle, who oversees Google's infrastructure, debuted Compute Engine at the I/O Developers Conference recently. Holzle said that the service was aimed at organizations that needed to call on huge amounts of computing power. Holzle also demonstrated the service by showing a genetic analysis application that used 600,000 processors.

Compute Engine will go along with Google's App Engine that was released back in 2008. The older service has a lot of restrictions on the applications that can run on Google's servers and even goes as far as to limit what programming language software developers can use. In comparison, Compute Engine will be packaged as a "raw" service and give customers a lot more freedom to run applications.

Google has stated that the service is currently in a test phase that would last a couple of months before it was fully opened to the public. In addition to that, the company said that its expertise in running large data centers meant that it would be able to undercut rivals and offer nearly 50% more computer power for every dollar spent.

As I mentioned earlier, Compute Engine will have Google squaring off against both Amazon and Microsoft in this industry. Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud  (EC2) service is currently the market leader in barebones processing and has been very successful, so much so that it is estimated to be behind 1% of all net traffic. A lot of firms use EC2, as well as similar services, like Microsoft's Windows Azure, which allow them to handle spikes and peaks in traffic.

Source: BBC News - Google sets up 'raw' server service

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Cisco and Fusion-IO Team Up for Flash on UCS Blade Server Systems

Cisco Systems is planning on teaming up with Fusion-IO's flash storage modules later this year which will make the company the latest server manufacturer to offer the technology already available in servers from IBM, Dell and HP. Fusion-IO announced last Monday that this is the first Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) partnership the company has had with Cisco.

In addition to that, Fusion-IO will supply its ioMemory modules and software for use in Cisco's B-Series Unified Computing System (UCS) blade servers. Fusion-IO also provided demonstrations at the Cisco Live user conference last week in San Diego.

Fusion-IO is known for making flash storage subsystems that are integrated into servers via a PCle slot as opposed to being located on external storage systems. This type of storage is generally more directly accessible than conventional solid-state disks (SSD) and is also designed to accelerate application performance. Fusion-IO has also developed flash subsystems with HP for use in its BladeSystem c-Class servers and also with IBM for its xSeries line. Dell and SuperMicro servers also benefit from Fusion-IO subsystems as well.

The UCS platform used by Cisco was introduced back in 2009 and has moved up to being the third most incorporated blade server in the world, boasting more than 11,000 customers. Even though there are also rack mount UCS servers, blade servers are still the most utilized of the product line. Cisco uses blade servers in a platform that includes virtualization, network connections, access to storage and management software. Cisco also has storage partnerships with EMS as well as VMware through its VCE alliance and NetApp.

The first Fusion-IO components for UCS will be based on Fusion-IO's ioMemory2 technology, an upgrade that was announced at the beginning of this year and will eventually ship from all of the company's OEM partners. Pricing and available capacities have yet to be unveiled, though you can expect that information to come just before commercial release of the product.

Source: Computer World - Fusion-IO on-server flash coming to Cisco's UCS blade systems

Windows Server 2012 Release Candidate Goes Live

Microsoft has just unleashed the Release Candidate of Server 2012. Release Candidate versions are usually the very last beta versions of a Microsoft server operating system before the launch of the actual release, and this Server 2012 Release Candidate confirms that Microsoft is dedicated to the Metro interface.

Many IT professionals were skeptical about the usefulness of including a consumer-oriented touch UI in a server product, especially one that targets businesses and professional use. However, despite all that, Metro remains in Server with a GUI install option. The Release Candidate edition also has a couple of minor changes over the Server "8" beta, though most of them are purely cosmetic.

The most noticeable change is that the moniker Server 8 Beta has been completely replaced with Server 2012 in the splash screen and installation screens whenever you perform a Server with GIU installation. In addition to that, the background color during installation has been changed as well as in the Metro-style Start screen. The dull green has been replaced by a vivid dark blue, though server administrators have no ability to change this, unlike the screen in the beta release of the Windows 8 client operating system.

An extra setting has been added under the Server 2012's Charms Menu and is known as Tiles. This option doesn't provide any new setting controls over the beta release, though it does launch the settings that allow you to enable and disable administrative tools as well as allow admins to have clear personal info from the tiles. In the beta version, these same options were available directly under Settings; Microsoft has simply added an extra step in order to access them.

The Release Candidate's Start screen has eight tiles by default, which comprise the Start menu, whereas the beta only had seven tiles. These tiles are labeled as Server Manager, Windows PowerShell, Administrative Tools, Computer, Task Manager, Control Panel, IE and Desktop. The final change is that when you right-click on the Start screen, the "All Apps" icon is now on the bottom right-hand side instead of the left.

There also doesn't seem to be any way to disable Metro in the Release Candidate, though it is safe to assume that the user interface will be in the final release product. Server administrators can also choose to bypass the Metro user interface and simply use the Desktop and Server Manager for administration. If that doesn't do it for you then you can also choose to install Server 2012 in command-line Core mode.

This Release Candidate is probably going to be very close to what the final product is going to be like for Server 2012. There weren't a lot of things that were changed from the Beta version to the Release Candidate version and you can expect that any changes made before launch will be mostly under-the-hood.

Source: PC Mag - Windows Server 2012 Release Candidate: Metro Lives!

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Dell Announces PowerEdge C5220 Microserver with Ivy Bridge Xeon Chips

Dell recently announced an all new microserver that has Intel's first Xeon server processors that are based on the Ivy Bridge microarchitecture. The funny thing is that the Ivy Bridge microarchitecture hasn't even been officially announced by the chip maker. The PowerEdge C5220 from Dell is one of the first servers with Xeon chips based on the Ivy Bridge microarchitecture and is targeted at web 2.0, cloud and high-performance applications, according to Dell.

The server will run on Intel's Xeon E3-1200 V2 series of processors which are said to be faster and more power-efficient than the previous E3 chips that were based on Intel's Sandy Bridge processors. A spokesman for Intel said that the new chips provide more performance-per-watt, and a server with E3-1200 V2 processors drawing 17 watts of power in a 3U rack space could provide as much as 53% more performance than a 20-watt Sandy Bridge Xeon CPU.

According to Dell, the Xeon E3-1200 V2 chips draw between 17 to 45 watts of power and are made using the 22-nanometer process. In addition to that, these chips include 3D transistors, which are faster and more power-efficient than the 2D transistors that are found in the existing 32-nanometer process chips. Unfortunately, Intel was unable to disclose any other information on the new Xeon processors though the company did announce in April that it was planning on releasing its first Xeon server chips based on the Ivy Bridge microarchitecture towards the end of this quarter. These would be targeted at microservers, which are low-power servers with shared components designed primarily for web serving and cloud applications.

The PowerEdge C5520 is able to scale performance while simultaneously reducing the number of servers in a datacenter according to Dell. The company also noted that this new microserver has already helped one company consolidate four servers into one while running a software infrastructure based on the Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP (LAMP) software stack. Dell says that the microserver will be available on May 22 for a starting price of $12,210.

Source: PC World - Dell Announces First Server With Intel's Ivy Bridge Xeon Chips