INX also brings vertical market expertise to the table. The company signed a $750,000 managed services deal with a community healthcare organization in Southern California in early October 2011. So why sell now? I’ll let INX President and CEO Mark Hilz explain.

“Presidio and INX have been pursuing similar strategies in the IT solutions marketplace,” Hilz said in a prepared statement. “Combining our organizations will enable us to accelerate our growth and quickly build the scale that we need to provide the highest quality of service to our clients…this combination is a win for our clients, employees and our shareholders.”

Here’s a look at Presidio and INX similarities:

• Both Presidio and INX offer their customers a suite of managed and hosted services around  the data center and cloud, collaboration, security and network infrastructure practices.
• Both companies focus on offering entire lifecycle solutions.
• Both companies are Cisco Systems, EMC, VMware, NetApp and VCE elite strategic partners.

Presidio is no stranger to acquisitions. The company has acquired four other region-specific MSPs to grow its regional presence. Most recently, Presidio joined with Level 3 Communications to offer customer premise equipment-based managed services mainly to the government sector. Its acquisition of INX Inc. should be official by early 2012 pending approval from INX shareholders, who will receive $8.75 per share.

“RSA has continued to evolve its RSA SecurWorld program into one that is designed to meet consistently the needs of the channel partner business,” said Joe Gabriel, Director, Global Channel Marketing, RSA, The Security Division of EMC. “We are pleased to recognize Presidio’s accomplishments with the RSA SecurWorld 2011 Security Excellence award. We look forward to continuing our strong relationship with Presidio as we work together to help solve customers’ unique security challenges.”

The RSA Security Excellence Award is a new award that recognizes high-achieving RSA SecurWorld solution provider partners, who have demonstrated a commitment to excellence by exceeding joint business and financial goals, achieving all accreditation goals, expanding sales of RSA solutions across new and existing markets and providing security excellence to their customers.

“We are extremely honored and excited to receive the 2011 RSA SecurWorld Security Excellence Partner of the Year award,” said Bill Malone, Security Practice Manager, Presidio. “This recognition is a testament to the strength of our channel partnership with RSA, our exceptional security expertise and our unwavering commitment to delivering the highest quality of service to clients. We look forward to continuing to grow our security practice with RSA in the coming year.”

About Presidio?

Presidio is the leading provider of professional and managed services for advanced IT solutions. Presidio addresses its clients’ complete information technology lifecycle – enabling clients to plan, design, implement, test and operate their technology investments. Presidio’s comprehensive portfolio includes data center/virtualization, unified communications/collaboration, security, mobility and contact center technology solutions as well as managed services. Holding the highest industry certifications from partners such as Cisco, EMC, HP, IBM, NetApp, VMware and Microsoft, Presidio is well positioned to meet the growing needs of organizations migrating to advanced technologies. Presidio also offers clients an extensive suite of financing solutions, including leasing. For more information visit: www.Presidio.com.

• U.S. & Canada – Commercial/Mid-Market Partner of the Year • U.S. – Technology Excellence Partner of the Year – Data Center • U.S. & Canada – Borderless Networks Partner of the Year • U.S. South – Commercial Partner of the Year • U.S. Public Sector – Strategic Service Partner for State, Local Government and Education (SLED), Central/East • U.S. Public Sector – State and Local Government Partner of the Year • U.S. Public Sector – Borderless Networks Partner of the Year

The tax proposals in the President’s plan include the tax proposals that he
submitted to Congress on September 12. For details on the “American Jobs Act of
2011″ tax proposals, see Article #1975.

However, “Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction” also calls on the
JSC to “undertake comprehensive tax reform” and urges the JSC to follow these
five principles: (1) lower tax rates; (2) cut wasteful loopholes and tax breaks;
(3) reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion; (4) boost job creation and growth; and
(5) comport with the so-called “Buffett Rule” that people making more than
$1 million a year should not pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than
middle-class families pay.

The President’s package will include a “detailed set of specific tax loophole
closers and measures” including: allowing the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for upper
income earners to expire; limiting deductions and exclusions for those making
more than $250,000 a year; and closing loopholes and eliminating special
interest tax breaks.

The White House Fact Sheet on the “Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit
Reduction” can be found on Checkpoint.

9/19/11 — Patent reform and extension of Airport and Airway trust fund
taxes signed into law.
The President has signed into law the
“Leahy-Smith America Invents Act.” It has been assigned a public law number
(P.L. 112-29, 09/16/2011). Among other changes, this comprehensive patent reform
bill prevents individuals or firms from being able to receive patents on tax
strategies. See Article #1974 for details.

The President also has signed into law the “Surface and Air Transportation
Programs Extension Act of 2011,” which extends taxes funding the Airport and
Airway trust fund, and extends highway-related taxes as well. It has also been
assigned a public law number (P.L. 112-30, 09/19/2011). See Article #1977 for
details.

9/16/11 — Congress passes extension of Airport and Airway trust fund taxes
and highway-related taxes.
On September 15, the Senate by a vote of 92-6
approved H.R. 2887, the “Surface and Air Transportation Programs Extension Act
of 2011.” Since the House had approved the measure on September 13, it is
cleared for the President’s signature. The “Surface and Air Transportation
Programs Extension Act of 2011″ extends taxes funding the Airport and Airway
trust fund, and extends highway-related taxes as well.

Under Code Sec. 4261, a federal excise tax (i.e., a ticket tax) applies to
the transport of persons by air, and under Code Sec. 4271, a federal excise tax
applies to the air transport of property. These taxes have been periodically
extended, often for short periods of time, Also, under Code Sec. 4081(a),
aviation gasoline and kerosene used in noncommercial aviation is subject to a
higher excise tax before a statutory date that has been periodically extended,
often for a short period of time, and at a lower excise tax rate after that
statutory date. These taxes fund the Airport and Airway trust fund.

The “Surface and Air Transportation Programs Extension Act of 2011″ extends
the taxes in Code Sec. 4261 and Code Sec. 4271″, and the higher rates of tax in
Code Sec. 4081(a), through Jan. 31, 2012.

The legislative text of the “Surface and Air Transportation Programs
Extension Act of 2011″ can be found on Checkpoint.

9/13/11 — House passes bill extending Airport and Airway trust fund taxes
and highway-related taxes.
On September 13, the House approved
H.R. 2887, the “Surface and Air Transportation Programs Extension Act of 2011,”
by voice vote. The bill will be sent to the Senate for consideration, where it
is expected to be approved by bipartisan support later in the week. Provisions
in the bill extend taxes funding the Airport and Airway trust fund, and extend
highway-related taxes.

Under Code Sec. 4261, a federal excise tax (i.e., a ticket tax) applies to
the transport of persons by air, and under Code Sec. 4271, a federal excise tax
applies to the air transport of property. These taxes have been periodically
extended, often for short periods of time, Also, under Code Sec. 4081(a),
aviation gasoline and kerosene used in noncommercial aviation is subject to a
higher excise tax before a statutory date that has been periodically extended,
often for a short period of time, and at a lower excise tax rate after that
statutory date. These taxes fund the Airport and Airway trust fund.

Under current law, the taxes in Code Sec. 4261 and Code Sec. 4271, and the
higher rates of tax in Code Sec. 4081(a), only apply through Sept. 16, 2011.
H.R. 2887 would extend these provisions through Jan. 31, 2012.

The legislative text of the House-passed “Surface and Air Transportation
Programs Extension Act of 2011″ can be found on Checkpoint.

9/12/11 — Administration submits “American Jobs Act of 2011″ to
Congress.
In the late afternoon of September 12, the Administration
submitted the “American Jobs Act of 2011″ to Congress. It formally released the
legislative text of the proposed jobs-and-stimulus measure, along with a
section-by-section summary.

Businesses would be the major beneficiaries of the President’s tax proposals,
which would:

• Extend to 2012 the 100% bonus first-year depreciation deduction that
  generally applies only for assets placed in service before 2011 under current
  law.
• Cut the employer portion of the Social Security tax (Old Age, Survivors and
  Disability Insurance, or OASDI, tax) for employers in half from 6.2% to 3.1% on
  the first $5 million in wages paid by all employers, private or public (but not
  for government workers or household help).
• For the last quarter of 2011 and for calendar year 2012, create a payroll
  tax credit that fully offsets the employer Social Security tax that otherwise
  would apply to increases in wages from the corresponding period of the prior
  year. For example, if an employer paid wages subject to Social Security tax of
  $5 million in 2011 and $6 million in 2012, the credit to which the employer
  would be entitled would eliminate the employer’s portion of Social Security
  taxes on the $1 million of increased wages. The credit would be available on up
  to $50 million of an employer’s increased wages.
• Currently, employers that hire veterans who have been unemployed for at
  least 6 months and have a service-connected disability are eligible for a
  maximum tax credit of $4,800. The President’s proposal would increase the amount
  of that credit to $9,600, and create two new hiring credits for veterans: (1) a
  $2,400 credit for employers that hire veterans who have been unemployed for at
  least 4 weeks; and (2) a $5,600 credit for veterans who have been unemployed for
  at least 6 months. These credits would be available to tax-exempt entities and
  public universities as well as for profit employers.
• Create a tax credit of up to $4,000 for hiring workers who have been looking
  for a job for over six months.

The President’s sole tax relief proposal for individuals consists of cutting
Social Security taxes in half in 2012 for workers, from 6.2% to 3.1%, thereby
providing a tax cut of roughly $1,500 “to the typical family earning $50,000 a
year.”

RIA observation: For 2011, workers pay 4.2% Social
Security tax (down from 6.2% for 2010) on the first $106,800 of wages.

RIA observation: The OASDI rate for self-employed
individuals would be cut as well.

The above changes (as well as the other, non-tax revenue losers) would be
paid for via a combination of: a 28% limitation after 2012 on the value of all
itemized deductions and certain other tax expenditures for “high income
taxpayers” (those with adjusted gross income over $250,000 for marrieds filing
jointly, and over $200,000 for single taxpayers); taxing carried interest in
investment partnerships as ordinary income; treating general aviation aircraft
as 7-year (rather than 5-year) MACRS property for depreciation purposes;
repealing enumerated oil subsidies; modifying the foreign tax credit rules
applicable to dual capacity taxpayers, and converting the special foreign tax
credit limitation rules of Code Sec. 907 into a separate category within Code
Sec. 904 for foreign oil and gas income.

RIA observation: Some of the proposed tax offsets
appear to have been taken from an unofficial “wish list” of revenue-raising
provisions that House Democrats intend to submit to the Joint Select Committee
(JSC, also know as the super-committee); see Article #1972.

The following material can also be found on Checkpoint:

• the legislative text of the “American Jobs Act of 2011” as submitted to
  Congress on September 12; and
• a summary of the “American Jobs Act of 2011” as submitted to Congress on
  September 12.

9/9/11 — Congress-passed patent reform bill bars patents for tax
strategies.
On September 8, the Senate by a vote of 89 to 9 approved
H.R. 1249, the “Leahy-Smith America Invents Act.” Since the measure previously
passed the House of Representatives on June 23, it is now cleared for the
President’s signature.

Among other changes, this comprehensive patent reform bill prevents
individuals or firms from being able to receive patents on tax strategies.
Sec. 14 of the Act provides that “any strategy for reducing, avoiding, or
deferring tax liability, whether known or unknown at the time of the invention
or application for patent, shall be deemed insufficient to differentiate a
claimed invention from the prior art.” Tax liability includes any liability for
tax under federal, state or local law or any foreign law.

The Act provides an exclusion for methods or software used solely to prepare
a return or other tax filing, or to transmit or organize related information.
There also is an exclusion for methods or software that are used solely for
financial management, to the extent that they are severable from any tax
strategy or do not limit any taxpayer’s (or tax advisor’s) use of any tax
strategy.

Sec. 14 of the Act takes effect on the enactment date and applies to any
patent application that is pending on, or filed on or after, the enactment date
and to any patent issue on or after the enactment date.

Sec. 14 of the “Leahy-Smith America Invents Act” can be found on Checkpoint.

9/9/11 — President’s “American Jobs Act” carries major tax breaks for
companies, lower payroll tax for individuals.
On September 8, before a
joint session of Congress, President Obama presented his proposals for boosting
the economy. The package, called the “American Jobs Act,” includes tax
incentives for businesses and a payroll tax break for workers, proposals to
increase investment in infrastructure and hire teachers, help for the
unemployed, and assistance in getting more homeowners to refinance at today’s
historically low interest rates.

Republican reaction to the President’s plan, which he said would be fully
paid for as part of a deficit reduction plan, was lukewarm at best. It is likely
that Republicans will attempt to move forward with legislation on parts of the
package they like, and block the rest.

Businesses would be the major beneficiaries of the President’s tax proposals,
which would:

• Extend 100% expensing—the opportunity to “take an immediate deduction on
  investments in new plants and equipment”—into 2012.

  RIA observation: Presumably, this refers to the 100%
  bonus first-year depreciation deduction that currently applies only for assets
  placed in service before 2011 (certain specialized assets may be placed in
  service in 2012).

• Cut the payroll tax for employers in half to 3.1% on the first $5 million in
  wages.

  RIA observation: Evidently, the proposal refers to the
  employer portion of the Social Security tax, which would be cut from 6.2% to
  3.1%.

• Eliminate the 6.2% payroll tax for firms that increase their payroll by
  adding new workers or increasing the wages of their current workers (the benefit
  would be limited to the first $50 million in payroll increases).
• Create a new tax credit of up to $5,600 for hiring unemployed veterans (up
  to $9,600 for hiring unemployed workers with service-connected disabilities) who
  have been looking for a job for more than six months.
• Create a tax credit of up to $4,000 for hiring workers who have been looking
  for a job for over six months.

The President’s sole tax proposal for individuals consists of cutting Social
Security taxes in half in 2012 for workers, from 6.2% to 3.1%, thereby providing
a tax cut of roughly $1,500 “to the typical family earning $50,000 a year.”

RIA observation: For 2011, workers pay 4.2% Social
Security tax (down from 6.2% for 2010) on the first $106,800 of wages.

RIA observation: Presumably, the OASDI rate for
self-employed individuals would be cut as well.

The Administration’s Fact Sheet on the “American Jobs Act” can be found on Checkpoint.

9/8/11 — Democrats’ wish list of revenue proposals surfaces as
super-committee convenes.
On September 7, a day ahead of the first,
organizational meeting of the Joint Select Committee (JSC, also know as the
super-committee), House Democrats floated an unofficial summary of
revenue-raising provisions they intend to submit to the JSC. By and large there
aren’t any major new initiatives in the Democratic wish list. Most of the
proposed revenue raisers have been suggested before.

Tax changes for individuals.There are three rate-raising options:

1. A surtax would reduce an individual taxpayer’s tax savings from “tax
   expenditures” by 5% of the amount by which adjusted gross income exceeds some
   threshold amount ($500,000 or $1 million). Tax expenditures would include
   special exclusions, exemptions, or deductions from gross income or which provide
   a special credit, a preferential rate of tax, or a deferral of tax liability.
2. A 5.4% surcharge, which would be imposed on modified adjusted gross income
   over $1 million for joint return filers and $500,000 for everyone else. No
   credits would be allowed against the tax, and the tax would not be taken into
   account when calculating a taxpayer’s alternative minimum tax liability.
3. The repeal of the Bush-era tax cuts, currently scheduled for 2013, would be
   accelerated to apply to 2012.

A new proposal would authorize the government to deny the application for a
new passport or renewal of an existing passport if an individual has $100,000 or
more (indexed for inflation) of unpaid federal taxes which IRS is collecting
through enforcement action. The government also could revoke a passport upon
reentry into the U.S. for such individuals.

Financial markets/products. Certain dealers would have to treat income
from their day-to-day dealer activities in certain traded derivatives contracts
(section 1256 contracts) as ordinary income (rather than 60% long-term capital
gain and 40% short-term gain). Additionally, a carried interest proposal would
tax income of service providers with respect to profits interests in certain
investment partnerships as ordinary wage income (rather than capital gain). The
change would apply to service providers in private equity, venture capital, real
estate, and hedge fund partnerships who are compensated with profits interests
in such partnerships. Only the income associated with services would be taxed at
ordinary income rates. The portion of any return on a profits interest received
by a service provider with respect to an investment of capital would be taxed as
it is currently (i.e., the character of the income will continue to be
determined at the partnership level).

Estate and gift tax changes. One proposal would impose a consistency
requirement on basis for estate tax and income tax purposes (current law does
not explicitly require the basis of property in the recipient’s hands to be the
same as the estate’s basis). GRATs (grantor retained annuity trusts) would be
required to have a minimum term of ten years and a remainder interest greater
than zero, and a category of restrictions would be ignored for purposes of
valuing an interest in a family controlled entity transferred to a member of the
family if, after the transfer, the restriction will lapse or may be removed by
the transferor or the transferee’s family. Finally, the estate tax rules would
revert to 2009 levels in 2012 (instead of reverting to 2009 levels in 2013, as
under current law).

Changes for business. Proposed tax changes for business (although not
labeled as such in the unofficial summary) would consist of the following:

• Repeal of the modified accelerated cost recovery system (MACRS) rules.
  Instead, the generally slower alternative depreciation system (ADS) would apply.
• Corporate business jets would be depreciated over seven years instead of
  five.
• A crackdown on certain service professionals who avoid Medicare and Social
  Security taxes by routing their self-employment income through S corporations
  and paying themselves a nominal salary, with remaining earnings paid as
  dividends. The proposal would address this abuse where: (1) an S corporation is
  engaged in a professional service business that is principally based on the
  reputation and skill of three or fewer individuals; or (2) an S corporation is a
  partner in a professional service business.
• Elimination of a set of tax preferences for the big five oil companies
  (intangible drilling cost deduction, Code Sec. 199 domestic production
  activities deduction, and last-in-first-out, or LIFO, accounting).

International tax reform. The summary also includes the following five
proposals to reform the U.S.-international tax system:

• Currently tax certain “excess income” from transactions connected with, or
  benefitting from, an intangible transferred from a U.S. person to a related
  controlled foreign corporation if such income is subject to a low foreign
  effective tax rate. Excess income would equal the excess of gross income from
  such transactions over their costs (excluding interest and taxes), increased by
  a percentage mark-up.
• Clarify that workforce in place, goodwill, and going concern value fall
  within the scope of intangible property subject to Code Sec. 482 and Code
  Sec. 367.
• Deny insurance companies a deduction for reinsurance premiums paid to
  affiliated foreign reinsurance companies to the extent that the foreign
  reinsurer (or its parent company) is not subject to U.S. income tax.
• Defer the deduction of interest expense properly allocated and apportioned
  to a taxpayer’s foreign-source income that is not currently subject to U.S. tax
  until such income is subject to U.S. tax.
• Prevent multinational corporations incorporated in tax haven countries from
  avoiding tax on income earned in the U.S. by limiting the treaty benefits for
  deductible payments made by a U.S. subsidiary to a country with which the U.S.
  has a tax treaty that are ultimately sent to the tax haven country.

The House Democrats’ “Summaries of Revenue-Raising Provisions” can be found
on Checkpoint.

While providing relief in the wake of natural disasters should certainly be a high priority and subject to careful consideration, the fact that this could drive the federal government to shutdown is more evidence of Washington’s mismanagement of budgeting and spending processes.

After failing to pass a budget and any of the 12 annual spending bills, this fiscal year was funded through a series of temporary continuing resolutions. Even if Congress finds a way to avert a shutdown by passing yet another continuing resolution, they will still have missed the target on one of their most fundamental responsibilities.

And how long will Americans have to tolerate the constant threat of a government shutdown?

The Wall Street Journal explains the current predicament:

Congress needs to pass a funding bill before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30, but Republicans and Democrats are at odds over the sensitive issue of how to pay for disaster relief.

Lawmakers hope to pass a short-term bill this week that would fund the government through Nov. 18. The House version, to be voted on Wednesday, includes $3.65 billion to replenish the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund, paid for by offsetting cuts elsewhere in the budget.

Senate Democrats intend to provide almost twice as much disaster relief—about $7 billion. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D., La.), whose state is often ravaged by hurricanes, said of the House bill, “It’s wholly insufficient.” She said the bill would be paid for, “but we can argue about that later.”

Despite expressed confidence from congressional Republicans that a stopgap funding measure will be approved to keep the federal government running past Sept. 30, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday he wasn’t as sure a shutdown would be averted.

Can we even begin think why lawmakers continue to insist to play politics with the most pressing problems facing the country. We can pretty much guarantee that they’re constituents are less than impressed. Congress must pass a responsible long-term funding solution that addresses our overspending, allows agencies to plan ahead, and ultimately puts our economy back on the road to recovery.

When diet and exercise aren’t enough, a look at five quirky tactics for tamping down tension.

Driven off the Road by M.B.A.s

Bob Lutz, the former Vice Chairman of General Motors, is the most famous
also-ran in the auto business. In the course of his 47-year rampage through the
industry, he’s been within swiping range of the brass ring at Ford, BMW,
Chrysler and, most recently, GM, but he’s never landed the top gig. It’s because
he “made the cars too well,” he says. It might also have something to do with
the fact that Maximum Bob, who could double as a character on Mad Men, is
less an éminence grise than a pithy self-promoter who has a tendency to go off
corporate message. That said, his new book, Car Guys vs. Bean Counters: The
Battle for the Soul of American Business, has a message worth hearing. To
get the U.S. economy growing again, Lutz says, we need to fire the M.B.A.s and
let engineers run the show.

Lutz’s main argument is that companies, shareholders and consumers are best
served by product-driven executives. In his book, Lutz wisecracks his way
through the 1960s design- and technology-led glory days at GM to the late-1970s
takeover by gangs of M.B.A.s. Executives, once largely developed from
engineering, began emerging from finance. The results ranged from the sobering
(managers signing off on inferior products because customers “had no choice”) to
the hilarious (Cadillac ashtrays that wouldn’t open because of corporate
mandates that they be designed to function at -40°F). It’s pretty easy to
imagine Car Guy Lutz removing his mirrored shades and shouting to the cowering
line manager, “Well, customers in North Dakota will be happy. Too bad nobody
else will!” (See five destructive myths about the U.S. economy.)

The auto industry is actually a terrific proxy for a trend toward short-term,
myopically balance-sheet-driven management that has infected American business.
In the first half of the 20th century, industrial giants like Ford, General
Electric, AT&T and many others were extremely consumer-focused. They spent
most of their time and money using new technologies to create the best possible
products and services, regardless of development cost. The idea was, if you
build it better, the customers will come. And they did.

The pendulum began to swing in the postwar era, when Harvard Business School
grad Robert McNamara and his “whiz kids” became famous for using mathematical
modeling, game theory and complex statistical analysis for the Army Air Corps,
doing things like improving fuel-transport times and scheduling more-efficient
bombing raids. McNamara, who later became president of Ford, brought extreme
number crunching to the business world, and soon the idea that “if you can
measure it, you can manage it” took hold — and no wonder. By the late 1970s,
M.B.A.s were flourishing, and engineers were relegated to the geek back rooms.
(See why you should still go to college.)

This is not to say that the Whiz Kidding of American business yielded no
positives; things like the hyperefficient FedEx logistical hubs and the entire
consulting industry were born out of it. But ultimately, moving numbers around
can do only so much. Over the long haul, you’ve got to invent or improve real
products and services to grow.

In the U.S., the growth of the financial industry
has only exacerbated the trend toward balance-sheet-driven management. Companies
everywhere, but particularly in the U.S., where the banking sector wields the
most power, are under tremendous short-term pressure to make their quarterly
numbers. This often leads to planning that’s reactive rather than smart: force
the highest-paid engineers to retire, even if they are the best, and reduce
payroll costs across all divisions rather than invest in the ones that are
pushing the New New Thing through the pipeline. (See the 20 best- and worst-paid college majors.)

It’s interesting to note that the one area of the U.S. economy that’s adding
jobs and increasing productivity and wealth is also the one that is the most
relentlessly product- and consumer-focused: Silicon Valley. The company off
Highway 101 that best illustrates this point is, of course, Apple. The only time
Apple ever lost the plot was when it put the M.B.A.s in charge. As long as
college dropout Steve Jobs is in the driver’s seat, customers (and shareholders)
are happy. The reason is clearly the one Lutz puts forward in his book:
“Shoemakers should be run by shoe guys, and software firms by software
guys.”

Meanwhile, despite all the post-financial-crisis soul searching within the
business community about the value of an M.B.A., schools are still churning them
out. There are, and will be for the foreseeable future, a lot more bean counters
than engineers in this country. But the same may soon be true in China, where
the state plans to open 40 new graduate schools of business in the next few
years. As Lutz puts it, “That’s the best news I’ve heard in
years.”

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2081930,00.html#ixzz1S7f4I945

Unified
Computing (UC) is an industry term which refers to a common network fabric for
both data

(TCP/IP)
and storage (Fibre Channel or iSCSI) networking. Servers which have implemented
Unified Computing
use a converged network adapter (CNA) which can manage the transport of
multiple network
protocols including TCP/IP, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and iSCSI. In
addition, practical implementation
of UC also includes 10Gb Ethernet (10GbE), support for network virtualization
and implementation of Data Center Bridging (DCB). Cisco’s implementation of Unified Computing is examined.

Converged
Network Adapter

A Converged Network adapter (CNA) is a Network Interface Card (NIC) which supports IP data
and also storage network protocols such as Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and iSCSI. CNA’s
replace the Host Bus Adapter
for Fibre Channel, thereby reducing the amount of network cabling, the number
of add-in adapter cards and the power required for such cards. Since Fibre Channel cards have a
data rate of 4Gbps or 8Gbps, CNA’s typically use 10GbE. Since CNA’s implement a Fibre Channel
initiator just the same as a HBA, the initiator can be implemented in the CNA hardware controller or as a
software-based initiator in the driver. While the hardware based initiator has traditionally been
implemented in order to minimize the host-server CPU loading [CHE], faster CPU’s and more efficient software initiators have also been implemented by Intel and other CNA providers [INT].

In the diagram above from [INT], the architecture of Intel’s CAN using an “open” FCoE
approach is described.
Intel uses a software-based FC initiator rather than a hardware based approach
used in FC HBA’s. The diagram shows that the adapter implements both FCoE and iSCSI off-load
functions in the adapter hardware for such functions such as check-sum calculation. Above the adapter,
the functions implemented by the host server are shown. Note that most of the logic for FCoE including
the protocols are implemented in software by the host
system.

In contrast, the diagrams above from [CHE] shows Cheslio Network’s implementation
of a CNA with the

FCoE
implemented in hardware. The top diagram shows that the “T4” hardware
implemented in the CNA handles
most of the protocol functions with a lower-level driver allowing communication
to iSCSI, FCOE, and
RDMA protocols. In the lower diagram, Chelsio also implements TCP/IP Offload
Engine (TOE) to also
accelerate iSCSI protocol traffic.

Data Center Bridging

Data Center Bridging (DCB), also called Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) or Data Center
Ethernet (DCE) are extensions to the Ethernet specification (IEEE 802.1) which optimize the
Ethernet protocol forlarge scale data centers and unified computing. These enhancements include:

802.1aq
– Shortest Path Bridging

802.1Qau
– Congestion Notification

802.1Qaz
– Enhanced Transmission Selection

802.1Qbb
– Priority-based Flow Control

802.1Qbb
(Priority-based Flow Control) implements the 8 priority levels as specified in
the existing

802.1p
while adding the capability of stopping the flow of lower priority traffic
while allowing higher

priority traffic to pass [JAC]. 802.1Qaz (Enhanced Transmission Selection) allows
grouping of 802.1p priorities into groups requiring the same class of service and allocating specific network bandwidth to the group.
A priority group is also defined which can override the priority of all other
groups and consume all
of the network bandwidth if required. 802.1Qau provides a rate-matching
mechanism which allows an end-point which is nearing the overflow of its receive buffers to
notify all sending nodes of the
congestion and requests throttling of the transmission. When the congestion is
cleared up, the receiving node notifies all sending nodes to resume their full transmission rate. 802.1aq
and the related Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) optimizes the Spanning Tree routing
protocol with link state information to quickly determine the optimal route through the network, to
react quickly to network changes and to take advantage of routes by spreading traffic among multiple
routes. In order to support the loss-less nature of fibre channel networking using FCoE, an
end-to-end DCBenabled network is
required. Deployment of DCB in a unified computing environment can be done three different ways [MAR2].

In the first method, a server with a converged network adapter (CNA) is connected to a
DCB-enabled

enable unified computing switch which routes FCoE traffic to a traditional Fibre
Channel switch. The FC switch routes FC
traffic to the disk storage array over Fibre Channel.

In the second method, the same server with the CNA routes FCoE storage traffic to the
same DCBenabled UC switch.
The switch routes the FC storage traffic directly to the target storage array.

In the third method, the CNA enabled server is connected to a DCB-enabled UC switch
which is connected to a CNA enabled disk array. Storage traffic using FCoE is routed over an IP
network until it is received by the FCoE enabled Storage Array where the IP headers are stripped off and the native FCcommands are sent to the storage array.
[Diagrams from MAR2].

The figure above from [GAI2] illustrates an end-to-end transmission of a FC packet from a
storage array with ID
7.1.1 to a server with FC ID of 1.1.1. In this example, the packet first
transits through a FC fabric switch which
looks up the destination of 1.1.1 and forwards it using the Fabric Shortest
Path First (FSPF) routing
algorithm. The switch 3, an Ethernet switch capable of routing FCoE traffic,
encapsulates the FC packet with
Ethernet headers and forwards it to Switch 4 which de-encapsulates the packet
and then reencapsulates it for
forwarding to the end destination server.

Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS)

In March 2009, Cisco introduced the Unified Computing System (UCS), previously called “Project

California”. UCS is one of the first implementations of a unified computing platform in both
a blade and rack server implementation. UCS is based on Intel’s” Nehalem” server platform, also called
the Xeon 5500. As described in [GAI], the UCS has implemented the CNA using a custom ASIC called “Palo”which implements FCoE and iSCSI functionality over a 10GbE transport. The UCS system also
supports virtualization features including network, storage and workload virtualization. The blades
in the UCS 5000 chassis are connected to Cisco’s UCS 2000 series or Nexus 2000
fabricextenderswhich provides a switched fabric between blades as well as aggregates traffic
to/from the blade chassis and provides a 10GbE up-link to the top-of-rack switch which can be a
UCS 100 Series or a

Nexus 2000 series switch. The Nexus 5000 switch aggregates traffic from the top-of-rack
switch and forwards traffic to a core data center
switch, typically a Nexus 7000.

Long before tourism was the state’s No. 1 industry, a young man from Hilo had a vision. In the mid-1950s, Richard Wassman Kimi noticed that the tourists who came to the Big Island arrived on large ships or airplanes, meaning they had money. But the then-29-year-old felt there very few affordable places for local residents who wanted to visit Hilo for a day or two.

So in 1956, despite the naysayers who told him he was crazy, Kimi built the 30-room Hotel Hukilau in Hilo. The small hotel was one of the first along Banyan Drive, which now is lined with East Hawai’i's largest hotels, such as the Naniloa and Hilo Hawaiian. Kimi, a visionary and pioneer in the local hotel industry for decades, died Dec. 19 in Honolulu. He was 83.

The Hotel Hukilau catered to the budget-conscious and local residents and was consistently packed. Realizing that his concept was working, Kimi went on to build Hukilau and Seaside hotels in Kona, Maui, and Kaua’i, and he would also purchase the old Waikiki Biltmore Hotel, now the site of the Hyatt Regency. Alan Kimi, Richard’s son and president of Seaside Hotels Hawaii, said his father never wanted to build large hotels. He said his father’s main objective was to serve local residents and budget-minded visitors. “People traveled by boats in those days and the ones that traveled by plane were rich,” Alan Kimi said. “So his idea was, as the airplanes became bigger, what about the average guy? What about the local traveler, people that lived in Kona, but that wanted to go to Hilo for a couple of days but couldn’t afford it? That’s how it started.” Kimi said his father was one of the first to put together air, room and car packages for residents. He also was a leader in taking reservations via fax machines and toll-free numbers. “Dad’s whole life was keeping things simple,” Kimi said. “When it came to our product, which was a local hotel, it was friendly, and it was clean, and well-maintained and affordable.”

Richard Wassman Kimi was born Feb. 3, 1925, in Hilo and was the son of Territorial Sen. William Kimi. Soon after the Dec. 7 attack on Pearl Harbor, Richard Kimi enlisted in the Army, where he was promoted to sergeant at age 19. After the war, Kimi returned to the Big Island and worked for his family business, which sold Army surplus goods. But the business struggled, so Kimi took the Army equipment that wasn’t sold and turned to construction. He and his brothers built Kimiville, a low-rent housing project in Hilo, and later built the Hilo Hukilau at the site of the family’s surplus store. Although the store was gone, the Kimi family stuck together to run the new hotel business.

“He always thought five to 10 years ahead,” Alan Kimi said. “When we had meetings and said, ‘This is what our quarter was and this is what our last six months were,’ he said, ‘I’m not interested. Just tell me five, 10 years what you guys are going to be doing.’ We were really blessed to have him as a mentor.” Richard Kimi also enjoyed teaching and sharing his sales, marketing and business knowledge. One of his students was Robert Kiyosaki, author of the “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” books, who based his original “rich dad” on Kimi, Alan Kimi said. Kimi is survived by his wife, Kathryn; sons, Philip, Alan and Don; daughters, Noe Kimi-Buchanan, Patti Kimi-Woodd, and Kim; brother, Uncle Billy; grandchildren and great-grandchildren.