processor

AMD unveils Shanghai server chip

Paul Mah — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:57:06 -0500

Beleaguered Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has unveiled its next Opteron quad-core processor--code named Shanghai--yesterday. The 45nm Shanghai was released ahead of time, while the ill-fated Barcelona processor, announced in September 2007, was delayed by a bug that pushed volume shipments until April 2008. AMD says Shanghai performs 35 percent better than Barcelona, as well as a decreased power requirement of 35 percent. In addition, the processor comes with enhancements that are touted to benefit customers implementing virtualization. Engineers have managed to reduce the time it takes for the CPU to shift control from one virtual machine to another by 25 percent.

Customers who had the chance to try out Shanghai on their machines gave it rave reviews, though Gartner analyst Martin Reynold remains unconvinced that Shanghai will steal the market. He notes that Shanghai's likely customers will be those shopping for a good price/performance ratio.

To read more about this story:
- check out this BusinessWeek article
- check out this Computerworld article

IBM unveils 22nm technology for chips

Paul Mah — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:24:26 -0400

By using a technique called "computational scaling," IBM has unveiled a strategy to produce future chips based on a 22nm fabrication process. The idea is to do so by avoiding a complete overhaul of current manufacturing techniques. While 32nm chips are expected to debut as early as 2009, chipmakers are hitting a brick wall in that the current generation of lithographic methods are inadequate for 22nm designs as a result of fundamental physical limitations. At 22nm, resulting internal components would be less than half the size of the smallest PC processors at 45nm. Indeed, Intel has only recently applied the 45nm manufacturing process across its entire product line.

For more on IBM's 22nm technology:
- check out this PC Authority News article

How to: Avoid project failure

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 19:01:39 -0500

There is nothing worse than spending time, energy, manpower and capital on an IT project only to have it fail. To reduce the chance of failure, make sure you choose the best people, check the project's pulse regularly, be flexible enough to adapt to changing requirements, create a clearly defined methodology with phases and checkpoints and break projects into smaller, more manageable pieces.

Read more about ensuring the success of your IT projects:
- read the article at Processor.com

The changing face of IT

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 19:01:39 -0500

IT organizations will change as time goes on, moving in new directions. While some will continue the trend of building internal service organizations, others will focus more on projects that help execute strategic and tactical objects of the business. In these environments, focus on particular technologies will give way to focus on business and processes, possibly delivering a substantial blur to the line between IT and business. Successful IT organizations will be flexible, agile, innovative and in tune with business.

For more information on this topic:
- read this article from Processor.com

SPOTLIGHT: A guide to making the right chip choice

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 19:01:34 -0500

If the new year will be one of upgrading and revamping, a handy guide from Computerworld may just be what you need from Santa. It provides the lowdown on what's available from AMD and Intel and can help you choose the right processor for tackling next year's computing challenges. Article

ALSO NOTED: Get ready for VoFi; McAfee apologizes for buggy software; and much more...

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 20:01:33 -0400

> Get ready for VoFi. Article

> McAfee apologizes for buggy software. Article

> California governor's computer may have been breached. Article

> New Microsoft system competitor keeps rising in stature. Article

And Finally... A processor goes from gaming to supercomputing. Article

A virus aimed at processors

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 20:01:38 -0400

Nowadays, it seems that even chips are becoming vulnerable to viruses and malicious code. Symantec has discovered what it's calling a new "proof of concept" virus that can weasel its way into AMD processors, providing hackers with very low level access into systems. While researchers downplay the severity of this strategy, others note it could give hackers a new point of entry for breaching hardware and operating systems.

For more on the processor virus:
- learn about the security risk at Vnunet