Sun’s VirtualBox 3.1 has definitely made a big hit with InfoWorld’s reviewer Randall C. Kennedy, who writes, “This is one freebie that breaks the mold and delivers more, not less, than you’re expecting.” In Kennedy’s opinion, VirtualBox 3.1 should give VMware something serious to worry about. ” … after years of wallowing in obscurity, VirtualBox, the desktop virtualisation solution of choice for FOSS groupies and similar anti-establishment types, is causing quite a ruckus,” he continues.
Holds Its Own Against Dell’s PowerEdge R610, HP’s ProLiant DL360 G6
The glowing review of the Sun Fire X4170 in PC Pro by Dave Mitchell cites little to find fault with in Sun’s Xeon-5570 powered processors, allowing that there is merit in the claim that the X4170 holds its own against competing 4U solutions. This level of performance, he notes, comes with a TDP of 95 watts while also supporting Hyper-Threading and Turbo-Boost. He adds that the 5570s support memory speeds up to 1,333MHz and have the highest speed QPI of 6.4GT/sec.
Sun Fire X4170, X4270 and X4275 Servers Stake Strong Claim Among Competitors
Writing in ZDNet Asia, Alan Stevens describes the 2U Sun Fire X4270 and Sun Fire X4275 servers. He notes that they are essentially the same machines, with exactly the same chassis, identical motherboards, processor and memory options. The only real difference is in the storage: the X4270 has sixteen 2.5in. hot-swap drive bays, whereas the X4275 offers twelve 3.5in. drive bays and a choice of drives in capacities up to 2TB per spindle. A review of the Sun Fire X4170 in eWeek also voices praise for this member of the family.
Noted as Impressive Entries into the Nehalem-based Server Market
The Sun Fire X2270 and X4270 servers “… are the fastest x64 servers Sun has ever produced,” writes Paul Venezia in his InfoWorld review. He states that both models are impressive entries into the Nehalem-based server market and would like to see them survive the acquisition of Sun by Oracle.
The Sun Fire X4275 Server comes in for some generous praise in Dave Mitchell’s review for ITPro, from whom it receives four out of six stars as a solution eminently qualified for duty in such storage-hungry applications such as multimedia, data warehousing and video surveillance, given its 12 TB and 24 TB SATA drive configurations.
Notes Added Features Bring More Professional Appeal
A deep dive look at OpenOffice.org 3.1 by PC Pro Contributing Editor Simon Jones praises the latest version’s new features, adding that, although considered a minor upgrade, this release brings “polish to the nearest thing Microsoft Office has to a competitor.” Jones particularly likes the improvements in the anti-aliasing of graphics, which makes the clarity of charts and drawings much better, and the showing of shadow objects while dragging. He writes that “these two features alone make OpenOffice look much more professional.”
But What Does Oracle Have in Mind for the Solaris OS?
In his InformationWeek review of Sun’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) 3.0, Randy George finds a lot to praise along with a rather significant caveat, which has to do with Oracle’s yet unannounced plans for the Solaris OS.
Windows IT Pro Finds Feature Set, Free Price Tag an Unbeatable Combination
Not only will VirtualBox 3.0 do most of what both VMware Workstation or VMware Fusion can do, it comes free of charge with a Personal Use and Evaluation License from Sun, writes Jeff James in his Windows IT Pro review. James was also impressed by the capability VirtualBox 3.0 gave him to work with a variety of guest OSes.
ZDNet Concludes Excellent All-Rounder for Small-to-Medium Businesses
ZDNet’s Craig Simms critiques Sun’s x64 media and storage server, offering his view of its external and internal design, specs and performance. “Whether you need to apply yourself with some dense storage or just need the compute power of 16 cores, its flexibility is commendable,” Simms surmises. “It’s not the quietest server around, but stuck in a server room no one is likely to notice.”
Sun’s VirtualBox 3.1 has definitely made a big hit with InfoWorld’s reviewer Randall C. Kennedy, who writes, “This is one freebie that breaks the mold and delivers more, not less, than you’re expecting.” In Kennedy’s opinion, VirtualBox 3.1 should give VMware something serious to worry about. ” … after years of wallowing in obscurity, VirtualBox, the desktop virtualisation solution of choice for FOSS groupies and similar anti-establishment types, is causing quite a ruckus,” he continues.
