Network solutions specialist Extreme Networks, Inc., announced that it is collaborating with virtual computing giant Citrix Systems to integrate server virtualization with the network. The company earlier announced its mobility and virtualization lifecycle management solution, XNV, with initial support for Citrix XenServer and VMware.
XNV virtualization and cloud architecture is designed to enable network level virtualization support including management, reporting, and configuration and integrates the network management system with the virtualization management platform to ensure visibility and synchronization between the server virtualization environment and the network.
The company’s data center network solutions are focused on providing an open and integrated virtualization environment, enabling data centers to optimize and automate the networking function. Utilizing the ExtremeXOS operating system and intelligence layer, applications like virtualization mobility in conjunction with the virtualization platform Citrix XenServer are more easily integrated and managed by the network.
"One of the major challenges in the next phase of virtualization adoption lies in integration and support for networking functionality," said Gordon Mangione, vice president of the datacenter and cloud division at Citrix. "Extreme Networks offers an open platform approach that enables XenServer customers to tightly integrate server virtualization with the network, giving users a seamless mobile VM experience in the data center."
With the BlackDiamond and Summit switches running the ExtremeXOS operating system, Mangione said Extreme Networks is well suited to deliver high- performance cloud-based networking infrastructure. With data center features including XNV and Direct Attach, the company has helped lead integration across multi-vendor virtualized environments in managed hosting, cloud and enterprise environments, he said.
"Extreme Networks is addressing the advanced capabilities enabled by virtualization through an open network, multi-hypervisor approach," said Kevin Ryan, director of data center solutions for Extreme Networks. "Citrix is an ideal integration partner as one of the leaders in server virtualization, and as a platform of choice of many of our customers in the managed hosting and cloud marketplace."
The company also announced a partnership with Nimsoft to better address managed hosting and cloud service providers who need to monitor and optimize their hosting connections and environments. The itegration was based on the ExtremeXOS operating system to integrate with the Nimsoft Monitoring Solution (NMS), and offer real-time visibility of the network to its customers with NMS dashboards and reports.
"Customers are increasingly looking for hosted solutions that can provide adaptable scalability, improved cost-effectiveness, and rock-solid reliability," said Gary Read, Nimsoft CEO. "The combination of Extreme Networks' cloud-based networking solutions and NMS uniquely fulfill this market demand by providing customers with both high-value cloud infrastructure and high-value visibility into that infrastructure."
VCU's surprise run to the Sweet 16 has many evoking memories of another CAA team that made a deep NCAA Tournament run as a No. 11 seed. Here's the thing, though. VCU is different, and maybe even better, than the 2006 George Mason squad.
After the ESPN college hoops crew decided to eviscerate the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee for their inclusion of VCU in the Field of 68 (still weird to type), I decided as a CAA fan to become the SB Nation D.C. torchbearer for Shaka Smart's 2011 Rams basketball team. The premise was simple: VCU deserved to be in the field based on their body of work, and any subsequent wins would not be fluke upsets but rather a solid ball club simply winning games.
Well, I need to tap into the Gheorge The Blog petty cash fund and send Shaka a Harry and David sausage and cheese basket, because that premise looks pretty good in retrospect if I may say so myself. So, last night, in my Dallas hotel room, to prevent a Captain Willard-esque meltdown, I decided to pen another tome to this year's tournament darlings, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Problem was, much like Mr. Maguire, I didn't even know where to start. Is VCU this year's 2006 George Mason, as everyone is droning on and on about? Or, as I slowly realized over a 28-dollar room-service lasagna, is VCU instead wait for it this year's VCU?
Let me explain. Sure, Shaka Smart's 2011 team has some similarities to Jim Larranaga's 2006 bunch. Both are/were veteran mid-major squads with sneaky athleticism who play as a true team. Mason had five players average double figures during their 2005-2006 season; VCU has four guys averaging double figures this year. Both have personable and energetic coaches. Both played up the David vs. Goliath, Us against the World mentality (though as noted above I never felt VCU was a David and there's no way Shaka Smart really did either). Both have become the de-facto "Cinderellas" during their run.
But that's where the similarities end, at least to this observer. While George Mason scrapped and clawed their way to their magical Final Four run, having to stage rallies in each game they played, VCU has won three games in five days against major conference competition in dominating fashion. Just ask USC, Georgetown and Purdue what they think of the Rams.
"If you watched VCU a certain time in the season you wouldn't see what you just watched out there," Painter said. "Then you watch them during a four- or five-game stretch and you literally think, 'They can beat any team in the country.' I made that statement VCU can beat any team in the country on a neutral court. And I believe that. I was hoping that team wouldn't show up, but that team from VCU did show up."
VCU has won their first three tournament games by an average of 16 points per game behind tenacious, suffocating defense and solid three-point shooting. This should surprise no one, as VCU has excelled all season with a similar formula. But even I was stunned when totaling the numbers for these first three victories: 29 of 60 from behind the arc (48 percent) and 58 forced turnovers against just 18 Rams giveaways.
I would be remiss if I also didn't mention the good this VCU run is doing for the conference as a whole. Rather than pretending to be an expert on win shares and bid shares, I'll let CAA and UNC-Wilmington columnist Brian Mull explain.
VCU win worth another $1.4 million for the #CAA, bringing total to $9.8 million generated through NCAA Tourn...60 percent of this money ($4.2 million) will be split equally between the 12 CAA schools. The other 40 percent goes into an incentive pool.
In a nutshell, what's good for the goose (Rams) is good for the gander (CAA), or something hokey like that.
With transfer applications soaring and budget cuts looming, the University of California San Diego is raising the threshold on a guaranteed admission program for the state’s community college students.
For years, community college students who took specific courses and obtained a 3.0 grade point average could count on admission under the program called Transfer Admissions Guarantee, or TAG.
But faced with growing demand and limited capacity, UCSD officials in recent weeks have notified community college officials statewide that for guaranteed admission in 2012 and beyond TAG students will have to earn GPAs of 3.5 or better.
Mae Brown, assistant vice chancellor and director of admissions at UCSD, said that TAG applications have grown from 443 five years ago to 8,715 for fall admission this year.
“We saw the exponential growth in TAG applications this is a guarantee and the obvious issue is we don’t have the capacity,” Brown said. “Given the severe budget situation, and the university (statewide) taking a $500 million or more budget reduction, if we are going to guarantee, we should be guaranteeing admissions to the best prepared.”
UCSD’s program started in the early 1980s and involved only two year schools in San Diego and Imperial counties. Later, UCSD entered agreements with 33 colleges around the state. And since 2009 it has offered the program to all 112 California community colleges.
Brown said applications spiked dramatically for 2011 largely due to a new computer based process that makes it easier for TAG students to apply to multiple campuses. Still, she said, the trend was already overtaxing the campus’ capacity.
The university’s decision has prompted a sharp response from officials of Southwestern College, which serves a predominantly minority population in the South Bay.
“We are very concerned,” said Angelica Suarez, vice president for student affairs at the one college district. “It’s about access for our students. This is going to narrow and reduce the number of students who can go to UCSD.”
Suarez and Jaime Salazar, Southwestern’s transfer center coordinator, said UCSD’s decision directly contradicts university policies calling for the removal of barriers for students from traditionally underrepresented groups.
“They’re always giving us lip service,” said Salazar. “They say they’re committed to diversity, but it’s all lip service. It’s all about being the Ivy League of the West, serving the elite.”
Brown, who has met recently on the issue with representatives of all six community college districts in San Diego and Imperial counties, dismissed the notion that the change runs counter to the university’s diversity goals. She said that when the TAG program was implemented in the early 1980s available then only to local two year college it was meant to boost then low transfers from community colleges.
“It had nothing to do with underrepresented minorities,” she said.
Brown noted that UCSD will continue to admit community college transfers through TAG and the non guaranteed transfer process.
“Because community colleges are so racially diverse, you automatically pick up more diversity whenever you admit those transfers,” she said.
Of the nine University of California undergraduate campuses, seven have TAG programs. Berkeley and UCLA do not offer guaranteed transfer admissions to community college students.
Nick Serrano, a Southwestern College student government officer, disagrees with Brown’s contention that the decision is neutral in its effect on minorities.
“The change from a 3.0 to a 3.5 is huge,” said Serrano. “To a lot of our students this is discriminating because minority students do tend to have lower GPAs.”
He added that many UC eligible Southwestern students can’t really consider other campuses in the system because they can’t afford the cost of living away from home.
“It’s an access issue,” Serrano said. “It will limit a lot of our students, who can only go local, from going to UCSD.”
UCSD accepted 25 TAG students from Southwestern in 2008, 46 in 2009 and 66 in 2010. It has received 152 TAG applications for fall of this year.
Brown said that based on 2010 data, she estimates the 3.5 threshold would have reduced the applicant pool by about 50 percent. Administrators at other local community colleges are not as distressed by UCSD’s decision as their counterparts at Southwestern.
“I agree that it’s a big jump (from 3.0 to 3.5,)” said Lynn Neault, vice chancellor of student services for the San Diego Community College District. “As the demand for higher education increases, they’ve got to manage budgets and manage enrollment just like we do.
“What we need to do is make clear to our students from the start that they need to get as high a GPA as they can.”
Neault estimated that the higher GPA would disqualify about 45 percent of her district’s TAG applicants. Southwestern College officials and others have asked UCSD to modify its decision. They have suggested that students already in the program be grandfathered in at 3.0 for 2012 admission.
Other suggestions include keeping the threshold at 3.0 for San Diego and Imperial county students while raising it for others. Another is that the level be raised only to 3.2. Brown said the decision has already been made by the faculty’s admissions committee. But the question of those in the pipeline, at least is open to discussion.
“We’ve met with the community college vice presidents,” Brown said. “And we’ve talked about ways to accommodate students in that bind.”
A student at a North Texas university has been caught after allegedly made a threat in class that prompted a school lockdown. Nobody has been harmed at Texas Woman's University in Denton.
TWU shortly after 9:30 a.m. Tuesday advised students and staff to remain inside during the search for the man, who left class after making the unspecified threat.
A statement from TSU says the lockdown was lifted by late morning after the suspect was taken into custody. Keep in touch with us for further details and updates.
TWU, with enrollment of about 14,000, is located 50 miles north of Dallas.a
PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif has stated that his party was ready to hold another long march with revolutionary youth if needed.
Addressing the party workers from Sukkur, he termed the restoration of judiciary a historic achievement. The PML-N leader said he would help the government if their 10-point reforms agenda was implemented. ‘Now, we are dependent on foreign aid.’
Many people refer to the internet when finding swift car insurance. They are looking to get insurance for their car in a hurry because of different reasons, but turning to the internet can really help people tremendously.
For one, the convenience of shopping for anything online is always favorable. Some people do not want to shop around with different insurance providers and they don’t want to spend the time to get on the phone with insurance provider after insurance provider. This is why the internet has become the number one place where people who are looking for swift car insurance will go for information as well as insurance quotes.
The fact that you are online right now means that you are already ahead of most people when it comes to attaining swift car insurance. You will be able to immediately go to different websites and get a number of quotes within minutes. This will allow you to look at all of the proposals and it will help you choose the best swift car insurance that is the most favorable to you.
Depending on what your driver’s license record looks like, your results may vary from others. A lot of people that want swift car insurance are unaware of how quotes are calculated; therefore you should try to understand that before you are expecting a ridiculously low quote.
For example, if you have accidents in your driving history that were due to your driving negligence, or whatever the case may be, but if it was determined by your police report and your insurance provider that you were at fault, it means that your insurance will be going up. The reason for this is because now you are considered a liability to the insurance company and in order for them to be on the safe side with your driving record, they will need to charge you a higher premium, just in case.
Another thing that affects the premium of your swift car insurance is the amount of points that you have on your driving record. The more points you have means that you received tickets and they were not settled in court. This lets them know that you are more vulnerable to get more speeding tickets or even have an accident because your history shows that you have several points on your license. If you received those points from speeding tickets, they will be able to see that because once they pull up all of your information for your swift car insurance quote it will show them why you received those points. If you are a speed demon in the streets then you are more apt to getting another ticket and even hitting someone in the street, so your insurance will reflect that.
Whether or not your driving record is clean, you should definitely check online for swift car insurance quotes and shop the best deal possible for yourself and for your family. There are so many companies online that are fighting for the next customer that they are willing to offer better deals online than they would to a regular person who would walk into their office.
Erlice de Oliveira juggles two kids, a full-time job, a long commute — and really resents the time it takes to tame her curly hair every morning.
She had heard of a hair smoothing treatment that worked well but used potentially dangerous chemicals. Still, all her friends were talking about it and Hollywood celebrities endorsed it. She decided to check it out.
"It looks like I just walked out of the salon," the secretary said. "My life is rushed; I can't go to the salon all the time. This is easy and practical."
Known as the Brazilian Blowout in the United States, the treatment surfaced around 2005 in Brazil, where a combination of high humidity and a largely mixed-race, curly haired population made for a nation of eager customers. It soon spread throughout North America and Europe.
Available in several brands, the process often contains varying levels of formaldehyde, which has been classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a probable carcinogen. According to complaints, it has made some stylists cough and reddened the eyes of clients.
The flap has rattled the beauty world: Canadian authorities issued a warning about possible health hazards; France pulled products with high levels of formaldehyde; the Oregon occupational health agency tested 100 samples and found many labeled "formaldehyde free" that had more than the 0.1 percent of the chemical allowed in U.S. products.
A later air sample test of salons in Oregon found levels of formaldehyde complied with safety standards, but Michael Wood, who heads the state's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said in a statement, "It is clear that the levels are high enough to cause concern."
Repeated e-mails and phone calls to the Los Angeles office handling public relations for the Brazilian Blowout brand were not returned. In a November news release, the company underscored the air sample tests from Oregon that found "formaldehyde exposure levels safely below OSHA's Action Level."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is still investigating whether the ingredients cause health problems. The California attorney general, meantime, has filed a lawsuit alleging the Brazilian Blowout brand has high levels of formaldehyde despite claiming otherwise on its website and other advertising.
A separate class action lawsuit filed in California makes similar allegations of false advertising, though includes no reports of illness.Erlice de Oliveira juggles two kids, a full-time job, a long commute — and really resents the time it takes to tame her curly hair every morning.
She had heard of a hair smoothing treatment that worked well but used potentially dangerous chemicals. Still, all her friends were talking about it and Hollywood celebrities endorsed it. She decided to check it out.
"It looks like I just walked out of the salon," the secretary said. "My life is rushed; I can't go to the salon all the time. This is easy and practical."
Known as the Brazilian Blowout in the United States, the treatment surfaced around 2005 in Brazil, where a combination of high humidity and a largely mixed-race, curly haired population made for a nation of eager customers. It soon spread throughout North America and Europe.
Available in several brands, the process often contains varying levels of formaldehyde, which has been classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a probable carcinogen. According to complaints, it has made some stylists cough and reddened the eyes of clients.
The flap has rattled the beauty world: Canadian authorities issued a warning about possible health hazards; France pulled products with high levels of formaldehyde; the Oregon occupational health agency tested 100 samples and found many labeled "formaldehyde free" that had more than the 0.1 percent of the chemical allowed in U.S. products.
A later air sample test of salons in Oregon found levels of formaldehyde complied with safety standards, but Michael Wood, who heads the state's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said in a statement, "It is clear that the levels are high enough to cause concern."
Repeated e-mails and phone calls to the Los Angeles office handling public relations for the Brazilian Blowout brand were not returned. In a November news release, the company underscored the air sample tests from Oregon that found "formaldehyde exposure levels safely below OSHA's Action Level."
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is still investigating whether the ingredients cause health problems. The California attorney general, meantime, has filed a lawsuit alleging the Brazilian Blowout brand has high levels of formaldehyde despite claiming otherwise on its website and other advertising.
A separate class action lawsuit filed in California makes similar allegations of false advertising, though includes no reports of illness.
"Our client filed suit because she felt that she and other consumers were mislead by claims that the Brazilian Blowout hair treatment was all natural, and did not involve the use of formaldehyde or other harsh chemicals," said San Francisco attorney Daniel Girard. "We have been contacted by many consumers and salon workers who have expressed interest in the litigation."
After hours with her stylist applying the products, blow-drying her hair then flat-ironing it at 450 degrees — which creates clouds of acrid-smelling smoke that stings the eyes — Oliveira remains a satisfied customer with a no-fuss mop of shiny black hair.
She has been preaching the benefits of the process to friends ever since, and had another treatment since the first in July.
The treatment was nothing short of a miracle for women with curly, kinky or hard-to-tame hair. After a lifetime of fighting frizz with endless sprays and creams only to see their efforts vanish with a gust of wind, they could get a smooth, fresh-from-the-salon look that lasted for months.
Because of the health concerns, however, some salons in the U.S. have stopped offering the Brazilian Blowout. Upscale salons in Ipanema, the Rio beachside neighborhood that sets fashion trends in Brazil, have sworn off treatments that use formaldehyde.
Jussara Fernandes said she won't let anything with the chemical into her Ipanema salon, which instead offers four different types of hair smoothing or straightening treatments with prices ranging up to $250.
She remembers as a child hearing her mother and other women mention formaldehyde as a potent straightener in home-brewed mixes. In her 14 years as a stylist, she's seen horrors from overuse of the chemical — women with bald patches from negative reactions, or ulcers on their head.
"I'm adamantly against it," she said. "I have clients who've been coming here for years. I care about their health and the health of my professionals. But there are people who do it."
Many of the women who've grown addicted to their smooth locks continue to swear by the process and many salons in Brazil and the U.S. continue to offer versions of the treatment with reduced formaldehyde levels.
"The smell is still really strong you can't have children in the salon, and you have to have the fan on," said Oliveira, who works for a real estate agency.
It's a small price to pay, she said, for the ability to wake up, shower and be out of the house in 15 minutes with perfect hair.
As long as stylists and clients are well-informed and take precautions, it's worth it, said Xavier Guerin, a business partner at the Point de Vue salon in West Hollywood, Calif. The salon does Brazilian Blowout treatments, though they're careful not to book several treatments in a day, and they keep the place well-ventilated.
"Time in our modern society is such an issue, and you need to be more and more perfect. There is all this pressure," he said. "My experience is that most of our clients are ready to pay the price."
Hair dressers in Brazil are also trying to walk the line between a product that will give their clients what they want but not hurt the stylist who has to work with it every day.
"There are women who won't live without formaldehyde now," said Tania Machado, who has been a hair stylist for 13 years in Rio. "They were slaves to the salon, coming in every week for a blow-dry. For them, it was a godsend. For us, who do it every day, it's not so good."
Her salon also takes care to ventilate well and avoid doing several processes at once.
When the straightening treatment started in Brazil, hair dressers mixed their own formulas in beakers with formaldehyde, water, keratin and other ingredients.
In 2009, the government agency in charge of health and safety, Anvisa, started cracking down on salons that overuse the chemical. In January alone, they investigated 202 salons suspected of spiking their products, according to a spokesman. The sale of formaldehyde in pharmacies and supermarkets was forbidden in 2009 to stop the practice.
The new products, with limited amounts of formaldehyde, don't straighten the hair as much or last as long, which leaves many stylists and their clients longing for the days when the product was unregulated.
"These new products, they just don't work as well you have to do it two, three, four times on some people for it to really work," said Ana Paula Santana, a hair stylist in a storefront salon in Rio. "If you're going charge someone $120 for something, it had better make a difference."
In spite of the prohibition on using higher doses of the chemical, it still goes on in back yards around town, said Felipe Peres, hair dresser at Prima Qualitta, in downtown Rio. He hears of salons that close down at night and take in clients. He also sees women with brittle hair ruined by too much formaldehyde who come in desperate for a fix.
Now, a chain of 11 salons focused on women who want to wear their hair curly is finding demand hard to meet. It was started by a former housecleaner who was tired of straightening her own hair with harsh chemicals.
The salons, called Instituto Beleza Natural, don't use any products with formaldehyde.
"In the '70s and '80s, the only solution for women with wavy or kinky hair was straightening," said one of the founders, Leila Velez. "Nowadays, it's possible to wear hair with this structure and keep it healthy and beautiful, without transforming it into something else."
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Network solutions specialist Extreme Networks, Inc., announced that it is collaborating with virtual computing giant Citrix Systems to integrate server virtualization with the network. The company earlier announced its mobility and virtualization lifecycle management solution, XNV, with initial support for Citrix XenServer and VMware.
VCU's surprise run to the Sweet 16 has many evoking memories of another CAA team that made a deep NCAA Tournament run as a No. 11 seed. Here's the thing, though. VCU is different, and maybe even better, than the 2006 George Mason squad.
A student at a North Texas university has been caught after allegedly made a threat in class that prompted a school lockdown. Nobody has been harmed at Texas Woman's University in Denton. 
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