Will you be called upon to perform heroics in the data center today? If so, you'll continue a storied tradition of corporate heroes wielding super powers to keep the data center safe and advance truth, justice and energy efficiency : DCX Man, Green Data Center Man, the Fabric Fanatic and even Mr. T, who apparently can use Force Lightning to virtualize IT equipment (who knew?). Here's our review of Data Center Superheroes:
IBM: Green Data Center Man
Do spikes shoot out of your data center wall when hot spots flare up? Green Data Center Man from IBM also depicts a C-Level executive gaining superpowers to save the day. Pet peeve: Why is there a ficus in the data center?
Brocade: DCX Man
DCX Man exists to champion the benefits of Brocade Communciations' DCX Backbone. And also to make fun of Cisco, Brocade's primary rival in the data center networking arena. In "The FCOE Standards Caper," DCX Man uses his superpowers to thwart the ambitions of Slycorp and its chairman, Rex Monoplis, as they seek to hijack an Internet standards committee meeting. (NOTE: Full-screen mode may be useful for reading the captions on this video).
Voltaire: Mad About the Unified Fabric
A chief information officer becomes a "fabric fanatic," and his wife is not entirely sure what to do about it. This video from switch vendor Voltaire invokes "Risky Business" in an unexpected way. Is this your CIO?
Mr. T is Gonna Virtualize You, Sucker!
My personal favorite, and easily the most bizarre and hilarious video of the bunch, features Mr. T walking through walls to share the merits of Hitachi Data Systems. "I put the 'T' in IT," he proclaims. "Now I'm gonna virtualize you fools!" At one point, Mr. T devours the evil consultant's brain. "Tastes like chicken!" he proclaims.
Cisco Systems: The Realm
Cisco has launched a new marketing web site featuring video super heroes that defend the universe from botnets and identity theft. The webisodes of The Realm feature original work from Marvel Comics illustrator Mike Mayhew, and the superhero characters are linked to real-life Cisco engineers, who will face down the BotNet threat.
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