gracie’s blog

for those who are in the same business as I am, this would be such an interesting news. i wonder why this happened and how it happened…

IBM Outsourcing Crash in Denmark
Mette Ahorlu
April 22, 2008

IBM recently experienced what can only be described as a major service breakdown that affected a number of large outsourcing customers in Denmark. The crash was reported in the Danish press and on the www.denmark.dk Web site.

The Crash

A failure in a network switch impacted a number of IBM customers:

• Danske Bank, which has more than 1 million customers in Denmark, Finland, and Northern Ireland, was unable to use credit and debit cards.
• Arla, a Swedish-Danish dairy company, was unable to supply a range of outlets in Denmark.
• Carlsberg, the Danish brewery, was unable to accept orders.
• DSV, a Danish transport group, lost access to most of its fleet.
• Maersk Zealand, the world’s largest container transport company, lost access to some of its core global applications.
• Pharmacies in the Copenhagen area were unable to receive prescriptions from doctors (a mainly electronic process in Denmark).
• Citizens were unable to access Sundhed.dk, Denmark’s official health Web site.
• An unspecified number of Copenhagen Municipality’s 57,000 employees were unable to use their core applications.

The outage lasted for up to 18 hours for some customers.

The Impact

DSV has decided to cancel its outsourcing contract and take operations back in-house, while other companies are considering claiming damages from IBM, according to the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The outage raises a number of questions. First, IBM did little to communicate with its customers or with the media, analysts, or the public during the breakdown. IBM claims this was because it does discuss specific customers. This may be the case, but in terms of damage-limitation the company was at best naïve. The breakdown did not just affect a single customer: IBM has a very strong outsourcing position in Denmark, with close to 30% market share, so the impact was wide-ranging.

IDC is surprised that the outage of one component can bring down a large part of a datacenter — and its backup center — for so long. Normally, operations would simply switch to the other center, but in this case that didn’t happen, and guaranteed availability couldn’t be delivered. IBM has some serious work to do in trying to prevent single points of failure in the future.

The question now is how customers should react. Should they conclude that IBM is not good at infrastructure outsourcing or (worse) that infrastructure outsourcing in itself is not safe? Some, like DSV, have already made their decision. On balance, however, IDC believes outsourcing will enable customers to save money and let them concentrate on what they do best. Should enterprises spend more time and money to develop contingency plans? In most cases, this is not a realistic option — and, anyway, it’s the outsourcer’s job to guarantee service continuity. Everyone would like 100% uptime, but this is not realistic, and nor is it economic. Making IT unaffordable is not an option. But neither is paralyzing large swathes of Danish industry. IBM simply cannot afford another crash like this.

The question is not about outsourcing being sufficiently stable. The question is if IT itself is sufficiently stable. Overall, it is. In Denmark, however, IBM appears to have an operational issue that it needs to fix before its reputation is seriously damaged in the Nordics, and maybe beyond. We do not expect the breakdown to trigger a wave of insourcing, but DSV’s decision to cancel its contract will do nothing to help improve IBM’s image.

fresh from the email! HP now launches its counterpart of the popular Asus EEE PC dubbed as HP Mini (or HP Compaq 2133 Mini-Note PC). Priced at under US$500, the laptop’s target are students/teachers whose computing requirements are fairly light (surfing, emailing and documents creation). the specs vary, from typical SATA HDD or the cheaper SSD, with or without webcam and is capable to run Windows Vista. Also, the HP Mini wears an all aluminum casing.

unlike the Asus EEE PC which has a 7″ LCD screen, the HP Mini sports a bigger 8.9″ inch diagonal WXGA screen. EEE PCs only have SSD as their fixed drive while the HP Mini can either have a SATA HDD or a SSD. The weight therefore is dependent of the configuration of the HP Mini PC. You can also choose either 3 cell or 6 cell batteries. CPU wise, Asus EEE PCs sports an Intel CPU while the HP MIni utilizes the VIA C7-M ULV Processor which can go up to 1.6ghz.

Detailed specs below:

HP Compaq 2133 Mini-Note PC
*Operating system Preinstalled Options:
-Genuine Windows Vista Business
-Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic
-FreeDOS
-SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop
*Processor: VIA C7®-M ULV Processor (up to 1.6 GHz, 128 KB L2 cache)
*Chipset: VIA CN896NB and 8237S SB
*Memory: DDR2 SDRAM, 667MHz, one SODIMM memory slot, supports up to 2048MB
*Internal Storage: 120/160 GB 5400 rpm SATA, 120/160 GB 7200 rpm SATA, HP 3D DriveGuard;
or 64 GB Solid State Drive; optional 4 GB PATA Flash Module with SuSE Linux
*Display: 8.9-inch diagonal WXGA (1280 x 768)
*Graphics: VIA Chrome 9
*Audio: High Definition Audio, stereos speakers, integrated stereo microphones, stereo headphone/line out, stereo microphone in
*Wireless support: Broadcom 802.11a/b/g, b/g, optional Bluetooth 2.0, HP Wireless Assistant
*Communications: Broadcom Ethernet Integrated Controller (10/100/1000)6
*Expansion slots: (1) ExpressCard/54 slot, Secure Digital (SD) slot
*Ports and connectors: (2) USB 2.0 ports, VGA, power connector, RJ-45/Ethernet, stereo headphone/line out, stereo microphone in, optional VGA webcam
*Input device: 92% full-sized keyboard, touchpad with scroll zone
*Software: HP Backup and Recovery Manager, Roxio Creator 9, Microsoft Office Ready 20078
*Security: Kensington lock, Symantec Norton Internet Security
*Dimensions (h × w × d): 1.05 (at front) x 10.04 x 6.5 in / 33 (at front) x 255 x 165 mm
*Weight: starting at 2.63 lb / 1.19 kg (with 3-cell battery and 4 GB Solid State Drive,
weight will vary by configuration)
*Power: 6-cell (55 WHr) or 3-cell (28 WHr) Lithium-Ion battery, 65W HP Smart AC Adapter, HP Fast Charge7
*Expansion Solutions: Optical drives via External MultiBay II
*Warranty: Limited 1-year and 90-day warranty options available, depending on country,
1-year limited warranty on primary battery

Snippets below from the HP Press Kit

Datasheet can be downloaded here

==============================================================

To help schools offer affordable computing to every student, HP today introduced a full-function, mini-notebook PC priced starting under $500

Designed for the education market, the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC is flexible enough for students to use from the classroom to the family room.

HP listened to our needs and now is delivering a product designed by education for education, said Chris Sieger, director of information technology for Alexandria City Public Schools in Virginia. Teachers and technology are the two most important assets in education. HP’s announcement demonstrates that it understands what schools need from industry.

At slightly more than two and one-half pounds,(2) the HP Mini is smaller and lighter than many math or science books. It includes a suite of wireless,(3) multimedia and security capabilities to allow students to learn everywhere they go from class to home, from field trips to vacations.

Education shouldn’t end at the bell, said Jeri Callaway, vice president and general manager, Personal Systems Group Americas, HP. HP believes providing each student with an affordable, creative multimedia tool like the HP Mini will better prepare them to live, learn and work in an information-rich society.

Business and mobile professionals value the same mobility, usability and cost concerns of the education market. The HP Mini provides mobile professionals a sleek, lightweight device that provides access to information and the ability to collaborate with others as well as to communicate via email, instant messaging or even blogging.

The HP Mini is packed with a combination of features to boost productivity and improve the overall mobile experience, including:

* Simple, refined design and anodized aluminum shell that is sleek and sturdy yet lightweight;
* HP DuraKeys, featuring a clear coating applied over the notebook keyboard that protects the finish and printed letters and characters;
* An HP 3D DriveGuard, which sends a signal to shut down the hard drive upon sudden movement or shock by using a three-axis digital accelerometer chip
* Scratch-resistant display and magnesium hinge bracket
* A large 8.9-inch diagonal WXGA display, user-friendly full keyboard (QWERTY) and touchpad;
* Ability to view video, still-image capture, web conferencing or video-enhanced instant messaging(3) with no additional hardware to buy or carry. An optional(4) integrated VGA webcam enables video and still-image capture to allow the addition of photos and video clips to presentations, documents and email;
* Two battery solutions – three-cell for lightest-weight configurations or optional(4) six-cell for longer battery life;
* Wireless technologies such as integrated Wi-Fi Certified WLAN(3) and optional Bluetooth™, allowing students to access the Internet as well as communicate via email, IM, chat, VOIP and blogging. The wireless technologies also enable connections at hotspots as well as with Bluetooth devices such as printers, mice and headsets; and
* Optional(4) Absolute Software’s Computrace(5) allows IT professionals to work with local law enforcement to track and help recover stolen or missing computers, inventory computers district wide and detect changes in hardware and software.

Additional education initiatives

HP also announced the development of the Teacher Experience Exchange, an online community sponsored by the company and Microsoft to provide educators a one-stop resource to discuss, share and learn with other educators. At the exchange, www.hp.com/go/teacherexperience, teachers also can access tutorials for teaching with technology in the classroom.

To help K-12 teachers effectively integrate new technology in the classroom, HP also plans to provide free, online professional development courses designed to engage students and improve student achievement through the use of technology.

Pricing and availability

The HP 2133 Mini-Note PC starts at $499 and is expected be available later this month