Sexy machines

BMW drive manufacturer incorporates Hewlett-Packard Group, specializing in system design. The chief architect, co-founder of Sun Microsystem, has designed a number of large types of stereo-based server packages that have been left since youth, and want their company to be like Apple Inc with many Innovation in design.

If you think, that's all that technology aims towards, and there are no silly, sometimes quite funny mistakes that happen in big business IT circles, please think again. Manufacturers know that, no matter how big sales volume is, how big the business is, the basic psychological factor still needs to be noticed.

Maybe you will feel very interesting if you know the origin of the idea of ​​LED-lit, honeycomb vents, stylized aluminum boxes and the amount of money up to thousands of dollars to buy attractive designs for mainframes (large computers, often used as large data management servers), servers and PCs. Even seemingly tiny things like light with a flashy coating on the hard drive also cause a psychological balance. Because manufacturers are certain that certain light colors will evoke a brief but concise message, bringing high efficiency in the minds of experts.

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IBM System z9 Enterprise Class server

HP's BladeSystem c-Class

They call it the ability to speak through shape and color, 'language of design', which is the visual signal used in all enterprise products.

George Daniels, manager of HP's Center for Design and Handy Issues, understands the importance of design language. Not long ago, Gogege chose green to design for a server line cap. But this blue is really offensive to IT staff. And they just want to "turn it off and on", even though the shell does not affect the operation of the device. After receiving a lot of complaints from users, mainly IT administrators, Daniels and eight technicians in his team quickly changed to the standard port color of HP (purple), to convey the message : 'can convert at any time' to users. Only one example has shown the importance of design language, especially computer design. Color is a visual signal transfer method for IT employees to do their job.

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OptiPlex 745 Ultra Small Form Factor PC - Dell

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Mac Pro - Apple

Many manufacturers now also build their own standardized IT color frames.

The design language can be used to tell engineers where to put the cable, alert the admin about an ongoing problem, or indicate the appropriate button for the user. Each manufacturer selects and uses its own design language. ' In the computer industry, a great deal of effort, effort and enthusiasm are put into the field of design. Because it is one of the individual personal imprints for the products of the manufacturers , "Bob Steinbugler, an outstanding engineer of famous computer firm IBM, said.

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PowerEdge 1955 - Dell

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iMac - Apple

Daniel of the HP research management team also agrees: ' When you see a product of ours, you know it is HP. It's not easy to achieve great success, but the most important factor in business is to affirm the manufacturer's brand with consumers, through very small logos or design details. Just like when you see the BMW text, you know right away that it is BMW's product, no matter what specifications and models of the product you don't need to know . '

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10K G2 Overloard - HP server system

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StoreVault S500 - Network Appliance

About two years ago, when HP asked the help of BMW automaker for computer design, BMW employees said, when creating a car model, they never built shape, Technical details of that car are in a state of standing still but always moving. That's why after the complete car models, their designs always look like they're on the road, whether it's actually running or lying still. This experience was emphasized by HP and began to provide more server lines and more asymmetric storage arrays so that when looking down a row of systems, IT managers would feel like looking at the keyboard. continuous walking piano ', Andrew Panton - Program Manager of the User Design Center performed storage operations (StorageWorks User Design Center) from HP.

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Cray supercomputer

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ValueStar G Type C - NEC

The design teams of many IT manufacturers also create a group to participate in many different jobs, similar to the automotive retail market and entertainment systems. For example, HP's design team consists of design engineers, graphic color experts, stylists and a character called ' human factors expert '. They use psychological design to convey the implicit message when working together. And of course the design team also built their own success factor.

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Hard drive is out of Seagate's MaxGB Fusion 500GB

7031 Model T24 - IBM

' Do we need 7 LEDs and back light (on data center products)? The answer is not really necessary, but they themselves are fun, compelling, creative , 'Panton commented. ' Why don't we use lights and lighting on certain occasions to surprise our users? .

It doesn't matter if the customer is a CIO, CTO or an IT manager. ' They are the most difficult and most affected guests with product design '. Aesthetic factors are also important and meaningful.

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Titan 2000 network attached storage (NAS) - BlueArc Corp.

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Spectra T950 - SpectraLogic Corp.

HP's design language is now called the 'transforming language' (the transformer) because the company is constantly transforming into a combination of 'seeing and feeling', from the first days of HP introduction. , Compaq went on to market in 2002 until the latest product line was launched in 2006. In the future, it is hoped that their design language will be called 'new light' (lights out). The people in charge of the design department explained, because they called it because they wanted to find a new direction soonest before all the competitors in the very familiar capital work done day by day and This is easy to cause.

Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder and now returning as Sun's chief architect, has many design ideas inspired by his youthful stereos. Sun's latest computer models are seen as a page that came out of the book of the former Carver moisturizing company. And the amplifier and tuning parts have different industrial appearance. Sun's new design language is: remove all remaining particles on the device. ' I really like Sun's new product design. I wish the company did this sooner, but I only returned to the company for 2 years , 'said Bechtolsheim. ' Apple executives very much believe in aesthetic factors. I hope Sun will achieve more than that '.

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Brocade 48000 Fiber Channel Director

Symmetrix DMX-3 950 - EMC

According to his experience, Bechtolsheim affirmed that Sun's new synthesis trend has resonated with consumers. But the next challenge is how to reduce the minimum of damage and corrosion to the design because the natural environment factors such as humid air are still there. Since energy consumption is often higher than regulated and there is no sign of decline, the new design not only pays special attention to environmental conditions but also eliminates friction that causes heat of the air in the system. system, instead of recirculating it.

' What will happen when a cool air stream passes from the floor, combined with hot air flow from the servers flying out? You will lose energy. In today's server market, everyone is interested in design and construction issues that pay attention to environmental conditions '.

Steinbugler, who works as a designer for IBM's systems for 32 years, recalls, his team always had to take on two roles: how to make the best-selling personal product lines and ensure quality at the highest level. IBM's design language is tied to black and is used with the most accurate description of 'stability'. There were times when IBM made some changes, as the 360 ​​mainframe was turned white in the 1960s, but is now back to traditional black.

' Design is not just about creating something eye-catching. Color elements, attractive designs only account for 10%, the rest is handy and easy to maintain . '

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FreeAgent Pro - Seagate

NetApp FAS6070

One reason IBM's ThinkPad laptop line has been maintained for many years with little change is because IBM wants to convey to users the message that the company wants to bring convenience in its own use, but still does its best. Elegant with simple and luxurious black design.

There is always fierce competition among firms. It's hard to determine if this laptop is 0.5 cm thinner than the other laptop. But if it is possible, manufacturers are willing to invest in a new thin line of products to confirm that: ' Our product is' super thin '.

' You will find it very hard to believe what we have spent to get the smallest, lightest product, ' Steinbugler said.

At the data center, IBM has put a lot of effort into getting a good product line with many 'elaborate' components. Like the IBM hard drive with 'elegant blue controls' and all metal holes are hexagonal, very modern.

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CX3-20 - EMC

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SX-8 Supercomputer - NEC

Five years ago, an IBM design team was responsible for the shape and style of the entire product. Now, more professionally, this team is separated, only developing special products such as automatic speech machines, handheld devices for the New York Stock Exchange, MP3 players for the Japanese market and China. Sometimes they help design music player systems for car manufacturers. Their secret lies in the two words that are always intertwined: 'design' and 'sexy'.

' What they really want to say is how to create things that will be universal. It may be due to its appearance: strong, sophisticated, unique, etc. and incorporating a handy element. When it comes to 'sexy' (sexy), people often think of many other things of life. But for IBM's technologically talented designers, it is the top secret that brings success to its well-known product lines . '