processors

Intel eyes graphics card market

Paul Mah — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 05:33:07 -0400

Intel has unveiled a new family of microprocessors which it says will be initially targeted at the graphics card for the personal computer. Code-named Larrabee, it will feature between 16 and 48 cores instead of the single and dual cores commonly found in current generation of processors. Intel argues that having a greater number of smaller cores will result in a superior experience for gamers.

In fact, Intel will continue to focus on its multi core design, eventually putting up to hundreds of processing units on a single silicon chip. Moving ahead, Intel plans to make such a chip design available across a spectrum of devices--ranging from the personal computers to handhelds and even supercomputers. Until then, Intel hopes to capture as much as a third of the graphics add-on market--with an estimated worth of $4.6 billion, in 2010.

To learn more about Intel's "many core" design:
- check out this Register Hardware article

Intel unveils Centrino 2 platform

Paul Mah — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:03:45 -0400

In the latest salvo against arch-rival AMD, Intel is releasing a total of five new processors as part of its Centrino 2 platform that is designed to do tasks like high-definition video playback, yet deliver improved battery power. Clock speeds range between 2.26 GHz and 3.06 GHz for the five processors, with a trio of them running on 25 watts of power instead of the typical 35 watts. The new Centrino 2 platform itself consists of a package that includes a processor, a related chipset, and another chip for wireless communications.

Where power consumption is concerned, Intel has the upper hand as it has shifted over to manufacturing processes that lower both the cost and energy consumption per chip. In fact, it appears that Intel plans to unveil additional processors within the next 90 days, including the first ever quad-core offerings targeted at the mobile segment

For more on Intel's new Centrino 2 platform:
- check out this eWeek article

Customer data should drive IT decisions

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Michelle McKenna, the CIO at Universal Orlando Resorts, has some advice for her members of her profession--think like your customers and use your data to focus on your company's markets.

"In today's contracting economy, it's more critical than ever for CIOs to study market trends and find ways to maximize business opportunities,'' McKenna said. Although her IT unit always has had valuable market-defining customer data, McKenna said she didn't always know how best to leverage it.

"Fortunately, I've been able to work closely with executive peers to implement business intelligence that triggers a more analytical, customer-centric approach to marketing and sales,'' McKenna said.

And her knowledge of her company's market, she said, has helped her "drill down into our data to understand what is really happening in our business.''

To read more on the CIO's role as marketer:
- see this CIO.com article

For more tech stories from the FierceCIO network:
> Encryptor 2.0 spotted at 1024-bits. Article
> IBM turns to water to cool processors. Article
> Intel shows off atom processors. Article

IBM turning to water for cooling its processors

Paul Mah — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 04:55:05 -0400

IBM, this week, demonstrated how it uses water to cool three-dimensional stacks of processors. While still years away from production, this technology could well be implemented for its multicore servers as early as 2013. This method is heralded as being able to reduce power consumption as well as dramatically improve performance, but brings along with it intractable heating and cooling issues. By creating 50-micron channels between stacked chips, IBM is able to cool down the stack at a rate of 180 watts per layer.

The company obviously believes that water cooling is the ideal solution to stacking processors together. In fact, IBM's paper on this topic, "Forced convective interlayer cooling in vertically integrated packages," received a Best Paper award at an IEEE conference.

For more on water-cooled processors:
- check out this The Register article

HP working to fix Windows XP SP3 problems

Paul Mah — Fri, 16 May 2008 08:26:19 -0400

HP has confirmed that the existence of an endless-reboot problem with certain systems that are based on processors from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) after the installation of Windows XP service pack 3 (SP3). Working in tandem with Microsoft, HP says it is attempting to fix the problem. A patch is expected to be released and distributed to customers this week via its automated HP Update service that will nullify the endless reboot problems, among other issues.

The reboot problem appeared to stem from the fact that HP utilized the same images meant for Intel-based system with those running on AMD-based systems. Upon booting up, SP3 searches in vain for a non-existent Intel driver, resulting in an endless loop. If you are affected, you might want to check out this article on how to recover from this error.

For more on HP and Windows XP:
- check out this eWeek article

Faster CPUs on the way

Thu, 08 May 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Researchers at Princeton University have discovered a means to eliminate nano flaws or minuscule defects in computer chips, a breakthrough that could improve chip performance and allow manufacturers to build more powerful and smaller processors. That's good news for CIOs. The industry has made great strides over the years, increasing performance and capacity, and this could be another leap forward, creating more flexibility and opportunities for IT departments. "We are able to achieve a precision and improvement far beyond what was previously thought achievable," said Stephen Chou, Princeton's Joseph C. Elgin professor of engineering.

For more on this development:
- See this CIO Magazine article

For more tech stories from the FierceCIO network:
> Quad-core CPU market heats up
> Windows XP SP3 and Internet Explorer
> BlackBerry 9000 gets reviewed

Big Blue is still Mr. Big of supercomputers

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 20:01:38 -0400

It has only been eight years since the supercomputer crossed the 4 teraflops (4 trillion calculations per second) mark. But the leader then remains the leader now and Big Blue is not looking back. Many systems on the newest The Top500 ranking--released Wednesday at the International Supercomputing Conference in Dresden, Germany--weren't on the list at all when the last one was released in November 2006. But one familiar supercomputer, IBM's BlueGene/L at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, again topped the Top500 List of Supercomputers with 131,072 processors, staying far ahead of its closest competitors by achieving speeds of 280.6 teraflops. IBM dominated the list with 6 of the top 10 systems and 192 of the total 500, though Hewlett-Packard is actually the overall leader in terms of the percentage of systems. Forty percent, or 203 of 500, are powered by HP, but IBM's total teraflop sum is 2,060, almost double HP's total of 1,202.

For more on the list:
- see the Cnet article

The era of the supercomputer is dawning

Wed, 09 May 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Just as the mainframe barreled into the enterprise in the 1970s, the supercomputer is poised to make a dramatic impact on the enterprise of the 21st century. A supercomputer today is lightning-fast, using up to 131,000 processors to handle 280 trillion operations every second. But the real revolution is yet to come. Cost has decreased significantly; today, one million operations per second costs about 10 cents--a true bargain. Companies large and small don't know it yet, but they will become increasingly dependent on their supercomputers, as prices continue to fall and usability improves. There may be some culture shock and resistance before supercomputers come to be seen as natural extensions of computer rooms and data centers, but it will happen.

Read more about the dawning of the enterprise supercomputer:
- read the article at BPM Today

ALSO NOTED: Increasing the tech industry's competitiveness; IBM boosts processor power;

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 19:01:38 -0500

> Increasing the tech industry's competitiveness. Article

> IBM to use embedded DRAM on its processors, tripling memory. Article

> Microsoft issues 20 security patches. Article

> Challenges in public sector IT. Article

> Microsoft accuses IBM of forcing OpenDocument format on users. Article

And finally… Email security products grow up. Article

SPOTLIGHT: AMD follows Intel platform lead

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 20:01:34 -0400

There's never a dull moment in the chip industry these days. A few weeks back, Intel announced some big layoffs and will be spending the rest of the year undertaking a massive internal reorganization. Now competitor AMD is following in Intel's product path by pushing forward on new platform strategies following it's purchase of ATI. It's also looking to gain market share outside the U.S. where it sees a huge demand for low-cost integrated processors. Article