In the 1980s, a 19-year-old pre-med student at the University of Texas just happened to like computers – a lot. Michael Dell never made it to graduation and dropped out at the end of his first year to pursue a different dream, armed only with a $1,000 stake from his family and a love of PCs. No one could have predicted that Dell would turn his dorm room “business” into Dell Inc., a globally recognized leader in computing.
Dell merged with EMC Corporation in late 2016, and the new company was rebranded as Dell Technologies, which includes Dell, Dell EMC, Pivotal, RSA, Secureworks, Virtustream and VMware. According to Forbes, Dell Technologies (before completion of the merger with EMC) was the fourth largest privately held company in the United States and the world’s largest privately held technology company. With offices in more than 180 countries worldwide, Dell boasts more than 145,000 employees, with sales exceeding $74 billion in 2016. According to its investor relations website, a whopping 98% of all Fortune 500 companies use Dell Technologies products and services. Dell is also well represented in Gartner Magic Quadrant leader lists for products and services, including the Data Center Backup and Recovery Software, Managed Security Services, and Integrated Systems lists.
Computing products remain a staple in the Dell product portfolio. Consumers interested in laptops, workstations, tablets and desktops will find a variety of products available (along with peripherals such as monitors, printers and VDI appliances) to meet personal, SMB, enterprise or gaming requirements. Dell also offers solutions for networks, storage, servers, gateways and embedded computing, as well as a broad range of IT and business services.
Dell Technologies’ products and services currently fall under seven technology brands:
Within each brand, there are multiple products, services and solutions that cater to specific areas of interest for Dell customers.
VMware, Secureworks and Pivotal continue to strategically align with Dell Technologies’ core business areas. VMware continues to provide hybrid cloud, mobile computing and software-defined data center solutions. Pivotal offers analytic tools, next-generation software development methodology and modern cloud-native platforms, while Secureworks focuses on incident response and threat intelligence security. RSA helps companies manage and monitor their digital risk profiles and activities.
In response to its merger with EMC, Dell and Dell EMC’s certification programs have merged into the unified Dell EMC Proven Professional certification portfolio. You’ll find that the website and certifications have a brand-new look and feel. Dell Education Services offers two CompTIA certs along with numerous Dell EMC certifications divided up by technology category or track, including Storage, Data Protection, Converged Infrastructure and Data Science. A exact search of the Dell certification website finds that Dell no longer offers Microsoft certification training courses.
If you’re not sure where to start on your certification journey, the new Dell EMC Proven Professional certification framework is a great starting point. Here, you’ll find certifications for four skill levels:
The certification framework is hierarchical: The specialist certification takes the lower-level associate credential as a prerequisite, while the expert-level credentials take both the associate and specialist credentials as prerequisites. Associate and specialist certifications do not expire. Master and expert certifications expire after two years.
In Dell’s certification framework, you’ll find Dell EMC credentials across eight different tracks: Technology Architect (TA), Cloud Architect (CA), Enterprise Architect (EA), Implementation Engineer (IE), Systems Administrator (SA), Platform Engineer (PE), Technical Support Engineer (TSE) and Data Scientist (DS). The certification framework also maps credentials back to specific technology areas (cloud, storage, data protection, server, networking, converged infrastructure and data science).
There are also certification maps for role-based credentials:
Certification candidates should register with Dell EMC TechDirect. From the TechDirect portal, candidates can access free test prep materials, schedule exams, view test results and print their certification transcripts. Candidates may also view their company’s competency status through the TechDirect portal.
Dell Partners whose employees have earned the Certified Deployment Professional badge may be eligible to earn the Services Competency for Deployment (or simply Deployment Competency) designation. To earn this competency, Partners must be at least at the Gold tier level and have two or more employees who’ve passed the associated exam. A formal application must be submitted to Dell requesting Deployment Competency designation. Deployment Competency designations are available for Server, Storage, Networking and Client Systems.
Because Dell has updated its certification portfolio, it’s well worth your time to peruse the new Dell EMC Proven Professional Certification Framework to understand the new certification flow. All certification tracks begin with selecting a technology concentration: Cloud, Storage, Data Protection, Server, Networking, Converged Infrastructure or Data Science. Next, candidates earn the DECA (associate) credential recommended for their technology track. From there, candidates select the applicable role-based certification roadmap (Plan and Design, Deploy, Manage, or Support) and follow the certification recommendations to earn the specialist, expert and master credentials available in that certification path.
Below, we’ve listed some examples of the many certifications you’ll find in the new Dell EMC program. We’ve chosen to present these certification examples by the available technology tracks.
The Server technology roadmap is the only certification path where a third-party certification, the CompTIA Server+, serves as the associate-level credential.
On top of its Certified Deployment Professional certifications, Dell Education Services has partnered with several third-party organizations in the past to provide certifications for CompTIA and Microsoft certifications. However, Dell has reduced the number of CompTIA cert courses that it offers and totally eliminated its Microsoft cert courses.
CompTIA is a well-known, vendor-neutral certification provider. Dell has reduced its CompTIA certification training courses to just two online offerings: A+ and Linux+ certs. The cost for CompTIA training courses ranges from $550 to $650 for these topics.
According to Dell, 78% of all companies use IT deployment services. With such a widespread need, IT professionals specializing in deployment find a demand for their skills across multiple industry sectors. Some of the sectors that Dell serves are education, energy, financial services, government (federal, state and local), healthcare, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications, media and entertainment, and web development.
Popular job boards such as TechCareers, SimplyHired and Glassdoor reveal numerous jobs available for Dell-certified deployment professionals. Most of the listed positions focus on engineering roles for server, virtualization, networking, systems, integration, data security and the like. Other available roles include consultants, account executives, system administrators, IT managers and deployment managers.
Dell recommends and offers core training courses for each of its Dell EMC credentials. Interested candidates who register on the DirectTech website can also access free test study guides. In addition, Dell offers many free e-learning courses at the foundation level on various Dell products and technologies, including networking, storage, data protection, big data and converged infrastructure.
Core recommended training for each solution track includes a basic, intermediate and advanced course. Prices vary, but candidates can expect to pay $2,500 to $5,000. Most training is a combination of e-learning activities that you complete prior to attending instructor-led training.
Dell also provides training for other certifications and training opportunities for end users and IT professionals in various disciplines, including these:
Fundamental or introductory courses typically cost $100 to $200, while advanced training courses may cost thousands of dollars (we found one course with a price tag of $10,000). Dell also offers onsite training courses, with most prices running at least double that of public courses. The most expensive onsite course we found topped $42,000.
Check out everything Dell has to offer on its Education Services webpage.
Ed Tittel
Ed is a 30-year-plus veteran of the computing industry who has worked as a programmer, a technical manager, a classroom instructor, a network consultant, and a technical evangelist for companies that include Burroughs, Schlumberger, Novell, IBM/Tivoli and NetQoS. He has written for numerous publications, including Tom’s IT Pro, and is the author of more than 140 computing books on information security, web markup languages and development tools, and Windows operating systems.
Earl Follis
Earl is also a 30-year veteran of the computer industry who has worked in IT training, marketing, technical evangelism, and market analysis in the areas of networking and systems technology and management. Ed and Earl met in the late 1980s when Ed hired Earl as a trainer at an Austin-area networking company that’s now part of HP. The two of them have written numerous books together on NetWare, Windows Server and other topics. Earl is also a regular writer for the computer trade press, with many e-books, whitepapers and articles to his credit.
Dell's System Restore option is part of the operating system, allowing you to back up your data, return the computer to factory condition and then restore all of your information with an integrated process. Certain operating systems and restore applications require an administrator password, to protect you from the kind of unauthorized access that can destroy all of your data.
The Windows XP restore process does not require an administrator password for initialization on a Dell computer. Users can access the restore option by pressing the correct combination of keys during system start-up. When the splash screen appears, press and hold the "Ctrl" key and "F11" simultaneously. Release both keys together and wait for the restore panel to appear. You must confirm the action because it erases the data on your drive, but no security password is required.
Dell included more security features within the restore function on the Vista computers. You must enter your computer's administrator password when you start the backup function, and again when you launch the system restore. Any account with administrator privileges on the computer is acceptable to access and start this process.
Dell integrated an additional application in some operating system releases following Windows Vista. The Dell Local Backup 2.0 application prompts for an administrator account when you first launch the restore function. You can log in as any user with administrator privileges on the computer; it does not require the top-level "Administrator" account.
By default, Dell de-activates the administrative password on new computers. You can and should enable the password feature for security purposes. You can help restrict access to your personal information when you secure your data with an administrator account. The user account section of the Control Panel allows you to customize the accounts, setting a password for the administrator account within that panel. If you lose your administrator password and are unable to restore it, you can contact Dell's support team for assistance.
Kefa Olang has been writing articles online since April 2009. He has been published in the "Celebration of Young Poets" and has an associate degree in communication and media arts from Dutchess Community College, and a bachelor's degree in broadcasting and mass communication from the State University of New York, Oswego.
CRN is live at Dell EMC World 2017 in Las Vegas. Get all of our coverage of the event, as well content from the Dell EMC World 2017 special issue of CRN, here.
Dell EMC Bringing Mission-Critical Cloud Power Virtustream Into Channel Program Pat Gelsinger: VMware Opens Up Tech Partners To Expand Cloud Capabilities Virtustream Extends Mission-Critical Cloud Tech To Complex Health Care Applications Michael Dell To Partners: 'Enormous Cross-Selling Opportunities For You' Dell EMC's David Goulden: Modern, Automated Infrastructure Provides The First Step For Cloud Migration Dell EMC Rolls Out 'Flexible Consumption' Rebate For Partners Dell EMC Takes Aim At Cisco With New Open Networking Push |
Dell North America Sales Chief: 'Winning In Both Consumer And Commercial PCs' Is Key Dell EMC World: Michael Dell's 7 Keys To The Future Of Dell Technologies And The IT Industry Dell EMC World: Enterprise Sales Chief Scannell Says Partners Are Booting Competitors, Winning Big Deals Amid Huge Market Opportunity Michael Dell To Partners: 'Enormous Cross-Selling Opportunities For You' Partner Marketing Push: Dell EMC Arms Partners With New MDF Resources Dell EMC Gives Partners The Nod On Commercial PCs With Extension Of Partner-Led Strategy Dell EMC Launches All-Flash Storage Barrage 15 Hot Products Unleashed At Dell EMC World 2017 |
Dell EMC World: Transformation Titans Map Out Dell EMC's Path To Growth
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Marius Haas On Why There's 'Zero Debate' About The Value Of Dell EMC's End-To-End Portfolio
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John Byrne On Partners Pivoting Away From Cisco, HPE, Lenovo, And Selling The Entire Dell EMC Portfolio
John Byrne says that Dell EMC partners are rapidly moving away from competing vendors and aggressively pushing new business opportunities across the entire combined portfolio.
Dell EMC's Cheryl Cook On The Combined Partner Marketing Perspective
Dell EMC's global channel marketing chief Cheryl Cook talks to CRN about the importance of communication when combining the marketing efforts of two massive partner programs.
Chad Sakac On Dell EMC's Push To Turn Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Into A Utility
Dell EMC is putting the 'pedal to the medal' when it comes to hyper-converged infrastructure and is tasking Chad Sakac and his team with making customer transformation as simple as possible for partners.
Jeremy Burton On How Partners Can Take Advantage Of A Combined Dell, EMC
Ahead of Dell EMC World 2017, Jeremy Burton dug into the blockbuster acquisition and how it primes partners to take advantage of the new combined company.
Dell EMC's David Goulden On What It Means To Be The Biggest Player In Storage
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Power At Every Position: Dell Fills Exec Lineup With Seasoned Channel, Sales Veterans
The new Dell Technologies intends to lean heavily on EMC's channel experts. Here's a rundown of the executives leading Dell Technologies' sales and channel operations.
Dell Adds Systems Integrators To Its IoT Solutions Partner Program
Systems integrators have a 'unique vertical experience,' says a Dell IoT executive, and have expertise in manufacturing, utilities and industrial automation.
Dell EMC Launches First Midmarket-Focused VMAX Solution At Sub-$100K Price Point
The new 250F is 'VMAX for everyone,' says Dell EMC Vice President of Marketing Peter Smails, delivering enterprise capabilities to a new market of midsize customers.
Partners: Cisco And Dell EMC Will 'Inevitably' Hit VCE Architecture And Sales Crossroads
Although Cisco and Dell are playing nice around VCE for now, partners say architectural differences and sales incentives will inevitably lead to a break up.
6 Fun Facts About Dell Technologies You Might Not Know
Ahead of the first Dell EMC World, here are six fun facts about Dell Technologies, including its environmental efforts, sports sponsorships and its high profile in television and movies.
Containerisation typifies the biggest current shifts in IT. Containers are intended as lightweight and portable – between systems, between datacentre and cloud – and are a cornerstone of digital transformation and cloud-native application development.
But while containerisation potentially simplifies the development, deployment and operation of application environments, behind the veil is a great deal of complexity.
Not least, that’s found in storage, where capacity must be provisioned for containers, then managed, maintained and protected. That can become a difficult and opaque process, which must be made visible and trackable.
For that reason, all the big storage suppliers – and a number of startups not dealt with here – have developed or acquired container storage platforms, or something like them. In fact, they often do more than simply storage, with data protection and advanced functionality of other types added in.
In this article we look at the container storage and data protection platform offerings from the big six, namely Dell EMC, HPE, Hitachi, IBM, NetApp and Pure Storage.
We looked at the same subject a year ago, and it’s quite noticeable how things have moved on.
While Pure Storage led the way with Portworx, others have made significant additions to their portfolios in the space of a year. Dell EMC has its Container Storage Modules where once it rested on VMware Tanzu (now departed, of course), IBM has tailored its storage around Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform with Spectrum Fusion, and NetApp has folded its Astra container management portfolio into BlueXP.
Dell EMC made its Container Storage Modules generally available in October 2021. CSM comprises several plug-ins that provide storage and data protection management with Kubernetes that goes beyond basic CSI functionality.
CSI drivers typically help provisioning, deleting, mapping and unmapping volumes of data. But, Dell EMC aims CSM at enterprise customers looking for more in terms of automation and control via a relatively simple UI.
CSM users can access storage array features to which they normally wouldn’t have access. Customers can make their existing storage container-ready via data features on Dell’s storage arrays rather than using additional software.
HPE developed its own Kubernetes management platform, HPE Ezmeral Runtime, which can be deployed on its Synergy system hardware.
Ezmeral is designed to deploy cloud-native and non-cloud-native applications using Kubernetes and can run on bare-metal or virtualised infrastructure, on-premise or in the cloud. It includes app deployment functionality, with data management including out to the edge, plus AI/ML and operations configuration.
Ezmeral provides persistent container storage and configuration automation to set up container HA, backup and restore, security validation and monitoring to minimise manual admin tasks.
Hitachi Kubernetes Service (HKS) allows Hitachi Unified Compute Platform systems to manage file volumes and objects on clustered Kubernetes nodes.
HKS allows UCP nodes to be deployed as a Kubernetes-managed private cloud with container management across on-premise and hybrid cloud environments. The software behind HKS originated with Containership, which Hitachi acquired in 2019.
It’s not a container storage platform in the same way as that from Dell EMC or Pure, for example, but Spectrum Fusion is aimed at being storage for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. The company has tailored its products for use with Red Hat software since its $34bn acquisition of the open source software vendor in July 2019.
Spectrum Fusion merges elements of Spectrum Scale’s General Parallel File System (GPFS), Spectrum Discover to catalogue and index metadata, and Spectrum Protect Plus for backup and restore. Fusion also supports S3 object storage on-prem or in the cloud. Customers can manage Spectrum Fusion through a single portal.
The first Spectrum Fusion release was a hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) system that came with Red Hat OpenShift. Now it is available as a software-defined product that can run on any x86 hardware that can run OpenShift.
Initially, the hardware setup of Spectrum Fusion required six nodes minimum, or six appliances. With the new software-only Spectrum Fusion it’s down to three. Clouds supported include AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and IBM Cloud.
The software-only release also included data protection for containers plus monitoring and analytics integration with IBM Turbonomic, an application resource and network performance management software that uses automation and AI for optimisation.
NetApp announced Astra Data Store in October 2021 as a unified data store and resource pool for containers and VMs, but that was superseded in November 2022 by BlueXP as a single control plane across Astra and NetApp’s on-premise and cloud storage products.
Astra has data protection features such as snapshots that allow customers to roll back Kubernetes clusters to a previous state if something goes wrong. Customers can also take full application-aware backups and restore applications to another Kubernetes cluster. Entire applications and their data can be cloned and moved between Kubernetes clusters too.
Meanwhile, Astra Control Service is a cloud-based service for Kubernetes clusters managed by NetApp while Astra Control Center provides similar functionality for on-premises storage managed by the customer.
Pure Storage was arguably the bellwether for storage suppliers as they oriented towards containerisation when it bought Portworx in 2020 for $370m.
Portworx builds in container-native functionality to allow discovery, provisioning and management from inside Kubernetes clusters. It can discover, load balance and manage Pure Storage FlashArray and FlashBlade hardware natively from deployments in Kubernetes.
From the version 2.8 upgrade in early 2021 Portworx can run entirely from containers in Kubernetes (and other container orchestrators) and to provide persistent capacity for enterprise applications.
In early 2022 Portworx PX-Backup got anti-ransomware object locking as well as the Portworx Data Services database-as-a-service offering and PX-backup-as-a-service. Portworx will get SafeMode immutable snapshot at some point, too.
Portworx is effectively a suite of software-defined storage, data protection and data services products that runs from containers to build pools of storage, manage provisioning and provide advanced storage functionality – including backup, disaster recovery, security, auto-scaling and migration – on storage local to Kubernetes cluster servers, on external storage arrays and capacity in the main cloud providers, AWS, Azure and GCP.
No matter the size of your organization, it is crucial to maintain an IT infrastructure that is capable of supporting growth and adapting to the changing needs of your business. The Dell EMC PowerEdge R650xs is a feature-rich 1U rack server that is designed for companies looking to innovate at scale with demanding and emerging workloads.
Equipped with the third-gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, this server promises to be an ideal choice for workloads that require high performance, virtualization, and a scale-out database. Let’s talk about how the Dell PowerEdge R650xs will help you innovate and adapt with confidence, thus facilitating growth.
The Dell EMC PowerEdge R650xs is a powerful 1U server designed for scale-out environments where resources such as processing power and storage capacity can be added to the system as needed. It has dual-socket capabilities, allowing for the addition of up to two 3rd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors with up to 32 cores per socket. With support for up to 16x DDR4 RDIMMS at 3200 MT/s, the added processing power and cores can help to accelerate in-memory workloads or operations that are performed entirely in the main memory.
Additionally, the PowerEdge R650xs includes several features that can Boost throughput and reduce latency, such as up to 5 PCIe Gen4 slots, OCP 3.0 support for cost-effective and energy-efficient network cards, and Dell’s SNAP I/O support for efficient use of shared storage resources.
It is designed for virtualization, medium VM density or VDI, and software-defined storage node (SDS) workloads such as data protection, data migration, or data optimization.
In terms of storage, the PowerEdge R650xs offers a variety of options to fit different needs. It can support up to 12x 3.5” SAS/SATA HDDs or SSDs, up to 16x 2.5” SAS/SATA HDDs or SSDs, and 8 NVMe drives. This provides a lot of flexibility for organisations that may need to scale storage up or down quickly. This also helps with better data protection, disaster recovery and data management.
The Dell EMC OpenManage systems management portfolio has all the tools needed to efficiently manage the PowerEdge R650xs. Modern management tools provide better workload tracking and performance analysis, making complex IT enterprise management simple and intuitive. There are tools and automation that help you scale, manage, and protect your technology environment, freeing up resources that can be used for business growth.
Built-in telemetry streaming, thermal management, and RESTful API with Redfish let you monitor and manage the server remotely in an efficient manner. Intelligent automation allows for the integration of human actions and system capabilities to enhance productivity.
Full-stack management integration with Microsoft, VMware, ServiceNow, Ansible, and many other tools offers a number of advantages and makes it easier for different teams to collaborate and work together. It can increase efficiency by automating tasks and streamlining processes and provides a unified view of your entire IT infrastructure, making it easier to identify and troubleshoot issues.
Dell EMC and Intel solutions provide a comprehensive approach to ensuring the security and resilience of the PowerEdge R650xs. From the silicon and supply chain to asset retirement, these technologies help avoid vulnerabilities to ensure that your servers are safe and secure against emerging threats. With enterprise-class security, organizations of all sizes can minimize risk and have confidence in their cyber resilience.
Dell offers continuous innovations that bolster cyber resilience, such as OpenManage Secure Enterprise Key Manager and Automatic Certificate Enrollment. Additionally, intelligence, automation, and recovery tools like iDRAC9 Telemetry, BIOS live scanning, and Rapid OS recovery, allow organizations to stay ahead of potential threats.
Dell also verifies the authenticity and integrity of the firmware and hardware components in the supply chain using platform security features such as Secured Component Verification and Silicon Root of Trust (RoT). This helps ensure that the server is protected against cyber attacks and runs only authorized and trusted code.
Dell PowerEdge R650xs is a powerful and versatile option for enterprises that can help accelerate transformation. This dual-socket 1U server is designed for scale-out environments, it easily adapts to changing resource needs, and benefits from Dell’s robust and comprehensive management portfolio, as well as enterprise-class security solutions. This combination of advanced technology and solutions allows for easy scalability and efficient management and security, making it a great option for organizations looking to innovate, adapt, and grow.
To know more about the Dell PowerEdge R650xs rack server, check here.
[Sponsored]
Forty-six participants from the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) are attending a course on enhancing the capabilities of RFMF administrators to ensure all soldiers and sailors are well-administered within their different units.
The 1/23 Basic Administrator’s Course (BAC) started at the Force Training Group (FTG) on February 6, 2023.
While opening the program, Chief Staff Officer (CSO) Service Support Land Force Command Major (Maj) Hiagi Ieli said administrators played an integral role in the RFMF in terms of administrating personnel.
“You will be responsible for the troops’ administrative matters, and you will look after their pay, welfare, re-engagements, and all the little things. The RFMF has its procedures, and your job is to process whatever comes from the higher chain of command,” Major Ieli said.
He said administrators needed to understand the doctrines that existed within the institution because it would assist them in advising personnel on certain decisions that needed to be made.
The BAC is the first military course to be conducted this year.
Ever wondered how different funds are set up and why? Do you need assistance figuring out how to procure and spend university funds? You’ve come to the right place. Select the subjects below to learn more.
What are university funds and their common sources?All monies received and expensed by the university:
What are the most common sources of operating funds?
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How can I spend state vs. local funds?The source of operating funds governs how those funds can be used. State (appropriated) fundsMust be spent in accordance with state policies and procedures. Local university fundsMust be spent in accordance with university policies and procedures. |
What are specific types of state funds?Those funds appropriated by the Commonwealth to support higher education:
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What are local university funds?Funds received by the university to support its mission that are not appropriated by the state:
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Gifts and donations
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Restricted vs unrestrictedDonors can designate gifts in the following ways: RestrictedGiven to the university for a designated purpose (e.g., scholarships, professorship, specific program support). There are minimums associated with each type of restricted fund. In general, there are two types of restrictions:
UnrestrictedGiven to the university for the highest and best purpose (e.g., The Fund for William & Mary) |
Tying funds to the four programsExpenditures for funds must be tied to programs. National standards classify university programs as follows:
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Educational & General (E&G) subprogramsBased on national accounting standards, E&G Programs are typically those that support the “academic mission” of the institution and are categorized into 7 related “subprograms”
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Chart of AccountsThe collective rules and classifications of funds, accounts, programs, and indices tied to the university’s organizational structure makes up the university’s Chart of Accounts. For more detailed information on the Chart of Accounts, training is available in Cornerstone. |
How do I procure and spend money?
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Why can't I spend money directly from a foundation?
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How do I create a local fund?Identify the unit's source of funding
Budget OfficeThe Budget Office will work with foundation(s) and Data Control to establish in Banner with any necessary (e.g., donor) restrictions. |
Does that mean EVERYTHING has to go through the university?Private gifts and donations at our foundations provide the university with funds that allow us to take our programs and activities to the next level of excellence and provide flexibility to address unique needs. University policies and procedures recognize that there will be instances outside of normal business operations when our foundations may spend money on our behalf. HOWEVER, the intent is for standard program expenses (personnel expenses, standard office supplies and materials, program expenses, business travel, business meals, etc.) to be managed through the university with the foundation providing funds as “revenue” to offset the cost. |
Well, can’t I just “split fund”?The state audits the university to ensure that we are following state and university policies and procedures. If the university has a policy that limits expenditures at a certain level, “split funding” is viewed as a deliberate attempt to work around the policy. In addition, split funding raises the likelihood of an invoice being paid twice. If you have unique instances that “just don’t fit” standard university business, the Office of Finance will work with you to see if it qualifies for a reasonable exception under the university’s policies or whether you should consult with an affiliated foundation to determine whether they can support the activity directly. |
So, how do I spend university dollars to accomplish my business purpose?First question should be, “How do I initiate purchases?”
Procurement TrainingIf you have not completed Fundamentals of Procurement Training, sign up in Cornerstone. Other resourcesPurchasing@W&M and the Procure-to-Pay Matrix Signing ContractsDon't sign contracts unless specifically authorized to do so with a written delegation from SVPFA and/or Provost
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Purchases less than $5,000These may be handled through eVA (e-Procurement system) or through a small purchase credit card (SPCC). eVA resourcesSPCC resourcesProcurements greater than $5,000 should ALWAYS be directed toProcurement Services. |
Tools for business meals & cateringChrome RiverBusiness meals and Chrome River training are available in Cornerstone. America to Go (ATG)America To Go is the campus's online catering platform for on-campus food needs and is to be used for orders paid with university funds (state or local). |
General expectationsUnits will stay within budget.If an unforeseen event places a unit in jeopardy of meeting budget, the issue should be elevated to the University Budget Office immediately to determine whether there are available resources to mitigate the issue or whether programmatic reduces need to be made. Business units will reconcile all indices at least every 60 days.No index should be in deficit for more than 60 days unless authorized by the Vice President for Finance & Technology. Communicate early and often if there are problems. |
Budget management toolsHow can I see the complete budget picture for my area?Qlik Sense budgets by fund, index and account with transaction information and trends (more functionality to come as tool is more fully developed). If I’ve overspent in a given index/fund, how do I clear the expense?Move the expense to an index with sufficient funds/budget. Recoveries from Foundations should be brought into local funds as revenue to offset expenditures in those funds. Expenses should not be offset using an expenditure recovery account unless that expense is truly being charged somewhere else. If I’ve underspent my E&G funds, can I move expenses from other areas over to “use up” the funds?Business units may not transfer expenditures from local funds to E&G funds. The expectation is that funds are charged originally to the correct fund source. |
Contact a member of the University Operations Office. For Banner training visit Cornerstone and search for “Banner Finance Tools”. You will find guidance on various subjects covering things from looking up budget and expense information, payment information, journal vouchers and more.
The best gaming PCs might make you reconsider building your own computer. Although you'll usually spend more, prebuilt gaming PCs bring convenience, support, and sometimes even great value. And all three of those are true of the best gaming desktops we've rounded up for 2023.
We're focused exclusively on gaming here, so these desktops might not be the best for work or other tasks. If you're looking for a great all-around PC, make sure to read our roundup of the best desktop computers.
Pros
Cons
Why you should buy this: The HP Omen 45L supports the fastest components on the market today, and it runs cool and quiet.
Who it's for: The HP Omen 45L is for anyone looking for a high-end gaming desktop without the hassle of configuring your own.
What we thought of the HP Omen 45L:
HP's Omen 30L used to top our list of the best gaming desktops, but it has been replaced by the excellent Omen 45L. As the name suggests, it's a larger PC than its 30-liter sibling. HP puts that extra space to good use, though, with an innovative Cyro Chamber that keeps temperatures and noise low.
This chamber separates the all-in-one liquid cooler from the rest of the case, offering uninterrupted access to clean airflow. HP took the redesign to make the case even easier to get into as well, with an improved tool-less design that makes upgrades simple.
It's kitted out with the latest and great components, too. You can add in up to Intel's 24-core Core i9-13900K, as well as Nvidia's massive RTX 4090 graphics card. Unlike HP's previous iteration, this one supports DDR5 memory, as well.
You can save some money with last-gen options, as well. HP is still offering configurations with Intel's 12th-gen processors and AMD's Ryzen 5000 GPUs, along with Nvidia RTX 30-series graphics cards. These configurations are still great options, especially with reduced prices, though they only support DDR4 memory.
HP Omen 45L
The best gaming PC you can buy
Pros
Cons
Why you should buy this: The Origin Neuron comes with excellent build quality and highly customizable components.
Who's it for: Gamers looking to customize their own PC without getting into building.
What we thought of the Origin Neuron:
There's no shortage of PC builders that use components you can buy and put together yourself, but Origin still manages to stand out. You can buy and build an exact replica of the Origin Neuron, but Origin's careful attention to detail, deep customization options, and excellent support make an argument not to.
Corsair owns Origin, so the Neuron comes fitted with Corsair components across the board. That's a good thing in this case, as Corsair makes some of the best PC fans, power supplies, and RAM modules you can buy. All of these first-party components supply the Neuron a cohesive feel, free of software conflicts that could mess up your RGB lighting.
You can build the machine exactly how you want, too. Origin offers the latest CPUs from AMD and Intel, as well as the latest GPUs from Nvidia and AMD. Beyond that, you can tweak everything else — power supply rating, memory speed, you name it.
The Neuron is more expensive than a mainstream PC like the Omen 45L. That extra money buys you better build quality, more flexibility, and some modern furnishings. Out of all of the custom PC builds you can buy, the Origin Neuron is our favorite.
Origin Neuron
The best custom gaming PC
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Why you should buy this: It's a fantastic and upgradeable high-end desktop that will hold up for years.
Who's it for: Enthusiasts that want a great starting point to upgrade their gaming PC in the future.
What we thought of the Acer Predator Orion 7000:
The Acer Predator Orion 7000 is a gaming PC in every sense of the phrase. Its design screams that with bright RGB fans and an aggressive design that makes it clear this is a machine built for gaming. Thankfully, it has the performance and thermals to back up its clear design influence.
It packs last-gen components, but they're still powerful. You can score up to an Intel Core i9-12900K and RTX 3090 graphics card, and we expect a next-gen upgrade soon. Acer just recently updated its Predator laptops, so a desktop makeover should come soon.
Even this model holds up well in 2023, though. The components are still very powerful, and the design of the case makes quick work of all the heat these high-end components can spit out.
Acer Predator Orion 7000
The best high-end gaming PC
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Why you should buy this: It's smaller than a book and comes with enough power to run the latest games at 1080p.
Who's it for: Gamers who need a tiny PC that packs a lot of punch.
What we thought of the Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast:
Intel's NUC PCs have always been focused on performance in the smallest size possible, but the NUC 12 Enthusiast reaches even further. Powered by mobile Intel Arc Alchemist graphics, the machine can run the latest games at 1080p, and it's smaller than the size of a book.
It's not a stretch to say that the NUC 12 Enthusiast makes you forget you're using a mini PC. It puts up desktop-like performance in a package smaller than some laptops, and it comes with all the trimmings you'd expect out of a full-size rig. That includes expansive connections, including USB-C, Thunderbolt, and plenty of USB 3 ports.
The included stand is great, too. You can sit the NUC 12 Enthusiast upright on your desktop, but you can also pop it off the stand and lay it down on its side. And if you're looking to maximize space, you can even mount the stand to a wall and hide the PC behind your monitor.
Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast
The best mini gaming PC
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Why you should buy this: It's smaller than a gaming console and packs high-end PC hardware.
Who's it for: Living room gamers looking for a high-end gaming PC that doesn't take up a lot of space.
What we thought of the Falcon Northwest Tiki:
The Falcon Northwest Tiki is the perfect small-form-factor gaming PC. Just like the Talon, the Tiki stands out with exceptional build quality, clear attention to detail, and support that puts major PC manufacturers to shame. It's expensive, but Falcon Northwest makes every penny feel worth it.
For size, the Tiki is the smallest gaming PC you can buy fully configured. But Falcon Northwest doesn't sacrifice performance in the process. You can cram in up to a 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X as well as a full, fat RTX 3090. You can also add up to 8TB of NVMe storage, which is insane considering the Tiki's size.
Usually, a smaller size comes at the cost of thermals and noise, but not with the Tiki. It manages to stay cooler and quieter than many mid-sized desktops (read our Asus ProArt PD5 review for an example of bad thermals on a desktop).
Falcon Northwest is one of the few boutique PC builders left, and the Tiki is a perfect showcase for what that model can achieve. It's an exception PC overall, and it's even more impressive considering it's smaller than a PlayStation 5.
Falcon Northwest Tiki
The best gaming PC for the living room
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Why you should buy this: The Dell XPS Desktop 8950 doesn't look like a gaming PC, but it comes with the right hardware to run the latest titles.
Who's it for: Remote workers that need a professional PC during the day and a gaming PC at night.
What we thought of the Dell XPS Desktop 8950:
If you want to pick up a gaming desktop but you're not interested in learning about upgrading or tricking it out with RGB, the Dell XPS 8950 Desktop is a great option. It's a stealth gaming PC, looking like an office desktop on the outside but hiding some of the most powerful components you can buy inside.
You can't upgrade major components in the Dell XPS Desktop, which is almost always a downside. But you can at least trick out this PC with up to an Intel Core i9-12900 and Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti for about $1,000 less than the competition. You can even configure it with liquid cooling.
Configurations start as low as $750, with the first configuration with a discrete graphics card coming in at around $1,100. You're giving up all of the trimmings that make a gaming PC look like one, but if you're content to recycle your PC and upgrade a few years down the line, that's not a big deal.
Although the XPS Desktop can fit into any office setting, we're recommending it specifically for remote workers. You might not want to ask your boss to bill an RGB-ridden gaming behemoth; the XPS Desktop is much more reasonable, and it still has enough muscle for gaming after hours.
Dell XPS Desktop (8950)
The gaming PC for remote workers
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Why you should buy this: It's inexpensive and packed with solid hardware, at least for 1080p gaming.
Who's it for: Gamers on a tight budget that need a gaming PC with room to grow.
What we thought of the Lenovo Legion 5i Pro:
If you're looking for a well-rounded PC and you're not dead-set on having all the latest specs, Lenovo offers a variety of balanced desktops at a reasonable price. Available in seven configurations with different starting price points, these PCs may not pack all the latest components, but they can still handle many games on high settings.
You can pick up a Legion Tower 5i for only $1,000, and that's a downright deal considering how expensive most graphics cards are. For that price, you can get a respectable six-core Intel Core i5-11400 and an Nvidia RTX 3050 — perfect for 1080p gameplay.
Lenovo is slowly updating this machine with the latest components, however, so tracking down a unit is a bit tough. We found plenty of models in stock at a few retailers, but you can't configure your own with Lenovo at the time of publication.
Lenovo Legion Tower 5i
The best gaming PC under $1,000
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Why we chose this: The NZXT BLD Kit allows you to dip your toes into building a custom gaming PC and save some money in the process.
Who's it for: Hobbyists who want to get into building PCs but don't know where to start.
What we thought of the NZXT BLD Kit:
NZXT has a different approach to gaming desktops. Instead of shipping you a prebuilt machine, you get all of the components, tools, and an instruction manual to build the PC yourself. And don't worry - you get all of that at a discount compared to getting a machine already built for you.
The BLD kits offer great value, and NZXT has several available. We're recommending the Streaming Plus kit, which comes fitted with an eight-core Ryzen 7 5700X processor, an Nvidia RTX 3070 graphics card, and 16GB of RAM. Overall, the kit is about $200 than shopping for the cheapest parts yourself, rather than the anywhere from $500 to $1,000 that brands usually charge as a building fee.
If you can't be bothered, NZXT also offers its custom BLD program. Unlike most system builders, NZXT charges a flat $110 building fee. Otherwise, you're paying the exact same price for the components that you would if you bought them individually.
PC building isn't for everyone, but NZXT's BLD program offers a cost-effective and simple way to get into the hobby.
NZXT Streaming Plus BLD Kit
The best DIY gaming desktop
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Why we chose this: It's a no-fuss, powerful gaming PC that won't break the bank.
Who's it for: PC gamers who want a powerful PC and don't need to mess around with upgrades.
What we thought of the MSI Aegis RS 12:
The MSI Aegis RS 12 is a perfect gaming PC if you don't need to mess with upgrades. You can upgrade it, but its poor cable management and lack of a case don't lend themselves well to DIY tweaks. Thankfully, you don't need to make them. There's a lot of power under the hood of the Aegis, and at a reasonable price.
The last time we looked at the machine, it was sporting Intel's 12th-gen processors, but MSI has recently updated it with Intel 13th-gen CPUs and Nvidia RTX 40-series GPUs. You can pack in up to an Intel Core i7-13700KF and Nvidia RTX 4080, along with 32GB of RAM.
What's surprising is the price. That configuration could easily run $4,000 or more with other brands, but MSI charges around $3,000 - near the same price as building your own. If you jump down to an RTX 4070 Ti, you can save almost $1,000, too.
On top of that, MSI includes a sold gaming keyboard and mouse in the box. They aren't top-tier peripherals, but they're more than enough to get beginners started with PC gaming.
MSI Aegis RS 12
The best gaming PC for beginners
PC versus laptop for gaming
While you can play on the go with a gaming laptop outfitted with a discrete graphics card, a gaming desktop will deliver more flexibility, power, and performance for serious gamers. With more space inside a desktop tower, thermal management is generally better, which leads to stronger graphics and processing performance without the fear of throttling.
Another benefit of going with a desktop is that there is more space to perform upgrades in the future, so you can add more memory or storage, swap out your graphics card, and upgrade your motherboard and processor down the road. When shopping for a gaming desktop, you should look for key features like upgradability, expandability, and support for the latest protocols, like Thunderbolt 3, which could help extend the life of your investment.
What's the best gaming PC for beginners?
The best gaming PC for beginners is the HP Omen 30L or 45L. These two machines live in the same family, and the 30L is slightly smaller than the 45L. We recommend them for beginners because they come with the latest, most powerful components, they're readily available, and they're easy to upgrade.
For configurations, you want to pay attention to the GPU and CPU. For beginners, we recommend the Nvidia RTX 3060 for 1080p gameplay, paired with either an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X or Intel Core i5-12600K.
Gamers will also want to have enough RAM — we suggest at least 16GB of memory — and fast storage. Moreover, taking the dual-drive route means you don't need to invest in an expensive solid-state drive with large storage. This allows you to pair a more modest-capacity SSD with a larger hard drive to store all the large media libraries for your game.
Can gaming PCs be used for work?
Most definitely. Manufacturers like HP recognize that gamers don't just play games — office workers want to stay entertained during their downtime, too. All that's needed to play games is a capable processor, a strong enough discrete graphics card, and enough memory to keep the entire system running smoothly.
If you're looking to save money by using one desktop for gaming and for your productivity tasks, you'll want to choose a PC or one of the best laptops with more understated aesthetics that will blend in better with your office decor. Once you have the right PC selected, just pick out a few games and have fun.
Is PC gaming dying?
Absolutely not. With sales of general-purpose desktops stagnating in exact years, manufacturers like HP and Lenovo are investing more resources into their gaming brands to fuel growth.
With new hardware features supported on gaming PCs — from VR and augmented reality to real-time ray tracing — developers will have plenty of new technologies to leverage in order to tell visually engaging stories through their games.