A look at some of the technology Intel currently has in active R&D shows ways to save energy within the data centre or PC and new ways to recharge laptop batteries while on the road. Intel says many of these developing technologies are years away from being rolled out in final form.

Whether they act to stave off a global crisis, or a meltdown in their own budgets, IT professionals need to have better information if they are going to clean up their act.

System management announcements can be vague; stir in the cloud and you have a recipe for complete incoherence. But IBM's cloud announcements have substance, analysts say.