News and Analysis Results
HP gooses virtualization for servers
System management software tuned for server platforms and created by the server's maker has been a key account control factor in the server market for more than a decade. While nothing beats the old-fashioned legacy application lock-in of mainframes and proprietary systems of days gone by, the hassle of using multiple and not …
Intel papers over remote attack chip flaws ahead of demo
Intel has fixed a pair of flaws in its chips ahead of a planned demonstration of remote attacks on them by security researcher Kris Kaspersky. Kaspersky – no relation to the Russian security firm – was due to demonstrate the findings of his CPU malware research at the Hack in the Box conference Malaysia in October, in a …
AMD thanks Ruiz for courageous ability to lose money
Normally, a succession plan is a good thing. You want the new CEO to slide into the old CEO's chair with an ease that says, "Our asses were molded by the same country club rib eyes and crème brûlées. Everything is under control." Yesterday, though, AMD could have done with some unforeseen CEO-swapping spatter. It should have …
NASA ditches Itanic for new Xeon-based SGI giant
NASA has once again turned to SGI for a massive supercomputer. The two organizations announced today that SGI will build a whopping 20,480-core system for NASA Ames in Mountain View, California. The giant will run on four-core versions of Intel's Xeon chip and should reach peak performance of 245 Teraflops, which would make it …
Intel wants to own the weather prediction business
The conventional wisdom - whatever that is worth - pegs Intel EVP Sean Maloney as the company's successor to CEO Paul Otellini. That's great news for technology hacks because, man, this Maloney guy is quite a bit more open about his personal life and feelings than Otellini. One need only look at this piece in the Times to see …
HP goes bundle mad with quicker HP-UX
Hewlett-Packard's Unix team has rolled out a fresh release of the HP-UX operating system, and has yet again fiddled with the various flavors of the software that customers can acquire. HP-UX 11i v3 Update 2 (no, seriously) features some tweaks to the kernel and elsewhere, providing what HP claims is a 20 per cent performance …
Intel wants to get into heavy petascaling
Intel may dominate the list of top supercomputers, but the most intriguing work done in the high performance computing field takes place outside of the Xeon kingdom. Pat Gelsinger, Intel's server chip chief, plans on fixing this problem. Look at November's Top 500 List, and you'll find 320 64-bit Xeon-based supercomputers. That' …
IBM waterboards PA-RISC Superdome from HP
The fierce Unix server market will sometimes drive vendors to madness. Just look at IBM, which has taken to skinning corpses so that it can prove the toughness of Power6-based gear. IBM will usually engage in mostly fair fights, pitting Power-based servers against HP's Itanium systems. Big Blue's most recent assault, however, …
Intel shoves Larrabee and visualization goldmine to 2010
Intel wants to visualize like it's 1999. Physically, we were sitting yesterday in an auditorium at Intel's Santa Clara headquarters. But our mind kept transporting to SGI's old 3D wonder lab where it would show off the latest in graphics technology and high-end visualization systems. That's because Intel kept dishing out …
Intel's cache gigantism results in 2bn transistor Tukwila
What with being the keeper of Moore's Law and all that, Intel found its rightful place as the first revealer of a 2bn transistor chip this week at the sausage fest that is the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco. The chip goes by the name Tukwila, and it's a four-core version of Itanium due out in the …
Intel to tell all about roaring 96GB/s QuickPath interconnect
You horrible cynics out there looked at Intel's mushy Montvale chip and scoffed. "That's the end of the Itanic." Ah, but there's a fresh monster on the horizon known as Tukwila, and systems based on that puppy should fly if its brand new QuickPath interconnect arrives as expected. Next week Intel will disclose details on …
IBM gives Itanium five years to live
Despite HP's healthy rise in Itanium server sales, IBM think its major rival and Intel will have to give up on the processor in the near future due to basic economics. "The end of life for Itanium will occur in the next five years," IBM VP Scott Handy told us, during an interview here in Austin, Texas. "(HP) will have to …
Mainframe hopeful PSI sends lawyers at IBM in Europe
Platform Solutions Inc. (PSI) has opened up a European front in its war against IBM. The start-up, which makes Itanium-based servers capable of running mainframe software, has lobbed a complaint at the European Commission, charging IBM with abusing a mainframe monopoly, according to media reports. The complaint was apparently …
Diversity attacks Top500 supercomputer list
The latest Top 500 Supercomputer list has arrived, reflecting a rather vibrant market for the highest performing systems. A refreshed version of IBM's BlueGene/L system at Lawrence Livermore National Lab remains the top overall machine. It's been number one since 2004, which must be a source of endless joy at both Big Blue and …
Intel saddles HP with new Itanium
Intel has stunned the server world by shipping a fresh version of Itanium running at 3.0GHz. Okay, that's a total lie. Rather, Intel has underwhelmed on the Itanic front once again by pumping out a host of lackluster "Montvale" or Itanium Processor 9100 series chips. The fastest version of the dual-core Montvale clocks in at 1. …
HP puts customers to another Itanium test with aging gear
HP's Itanium server customers face a daunting endurance test over the next two years. We've just learned that Intel's next version of Itanium - Montvale - looks set to disappoint. It will arrive this year at 1.66GHz - just a hair faster than today's 1.60GHz chip. Intel once hoped to kick Montvale up near 3.0GHz, but those …
Intel's 'Montvale' half the chip it used to be
The speeds and feeds for Intel's upcoming "Montvale" version of Itanium have made their way to the web, revealing a chip far less spectacular than once hoped. According to DailyTech, Intel will ship 1.66GHz, 1.60GHz and 1.42Hz versions of Montvale under the Itanium 2 9100-series brand. The dual-core processor, due out near year …
SGI's ICE, ICE bladey
SGI's dash away from cruel mistress Itanic continued this week in earnest with the delivery of the Xeon-based Altix ICE blade. ICE doesn't stand for Itanium Cills Eams as you might expect but rather Integrated Compute Environment. And so you'll find the Altix ICE 8200 blade integrated with either dual- or four-core Xeon chips …
Intel swallows Itanic Java pill
It's a tough job. Convincing Java developers that any hardware vendor - let alone Intel in the wake of roadmap set backs - has any immediate relevance. It's an even harder task sidestepping Intel's thorny heritage with Sun Microsystems over its 64-bit Itanium chipset. And, it's all made harder by the fact Sun Microsystems has …
Sun's servers resurgent in 2006 - Gartner
Sun Microsystems used 2006 as a throwback session by pushing its sales way higher while rivals were happy to exit the year with any kind of growth. Fresh data from Gartner reveals that Sun's server revenue shot up 15 per cent ($5.7bn) during 2006. The company was the only major vendor to enjoy significant sales gains. IBM ($16. …
Dirty, dirty PCs: The X-rated picture guide
Top 500 supers - rise of the Linux quad-cores
Early adopters bloodied by Ubuntu's Karmic Koala
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