Posted 10/30/09 at 08:03:47 AM by Paul Lilly

According to IBM, some 235 former Sun and HP customers moved their critical business workloads to IBM servers and storage systems in the third quarter. And in the past three years since IBM first established its Migration Factory program specifically for this purpose, Big Blue has been able to convince nearly 2,000 customers to make the switch, most of which have come from rivals Sun and HP.

Perhaps weary of what the future holds once Oracle's acquisition of Sun is complete, 84 Sun clients made the move to IBM Power Systems in the third quarter alone. According to IBM, it's the company's long-term investments in systems and consistent roadmaps that have been the biggest draws.

Speaking of Power Systems, IBM gained five share points in the third quarter, which is the sixth consecutive quarter of share gains. System x systems gained two points, while IBM storage went up an unspecified amount in the third quarter.

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Posted 09/29/09 at 04:34:18 PM by Mark Edward Soper

With Windows 7 coming down the pike in less than a month, it's time for Microsoft to update its Windows Home Server product to support new features in Windows 7, such as Libraries and image-based backup. Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 (announced in July and now available in beta via Microsoft Connect) provides the Windows 7 support Windows Home Server needs, but that's not all that's new.

Windows 7 and Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 are designed to play nicely together, thanks to updates that support Windows 7 libraries and WHS backup that's Action Center aware (so Action Center will no longer nag a Windows 7 user that backups aren't happening when WHS does its backup thing). To find out what else is new in Windows Home Server, and for the latest on when "beta" comes off the title, join us after the break.

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Posted 09/08/09 at 08:47:00 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Intel has released six new Xeon CPUs based on the Nehalem micro-architecture.  Known as the 3400 series, all the chips will have RAID 0/1/5/10 for server operating systems, Error Correcting Code memory, and support for up to 32GB of server system memory.  Intel also adds, in marketing-speak, that the 3400 series can "help small businesses grow".

Included in the new lineup is a low power version called the Intel Xeon L3426.  The L3426 draws only 45W TDP, making it 188 percent more efficient than the previous generation Xeon X3380.

OEMs seem anxious to get the new chips into servers.  Super Micro is already shipping a new line of 1U servers for the Xeon 3400 series.  Amax also claims to have 1U server building blocks ready to go.  The release coincides with the launch of a number of new MicroATX boards that could be driving adoption.

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Posted 08/31/09 at 08:00:34 AM by Paul Lilly

AMD over the weekend added to its Opteron line with a new series boasting six-cores and a low 40W ACP. That's the same power rating as AMD's quad-core chips released in April of this year.

"Unlike other chips manufactured by the competition [Intel Xeon], our six-core Opteron retains certain, much-loved features that are consistent with AMD's quad-core iteration," AMD spokesperson Brent Kerby told TGDaily. "For example, we have not reduced the memory speed, bus support, hyperthreading, or cache size. As such, deployment of the 40W Opteron will undoubtedly extend well beyond Cloud 2.0 and social media environments."

Remarkably, the wattage breaks down to about 6.67W per core. As John Fruehe, Director of Business Development for Server/Workstation products at AMD, points out in a blog post, single-core processors consumed up to 58W per core just six years ago.

But it's not all about power savings. Compared to AMD's quad-core Opteron, the company claims the new six-core part offers up to 30 percent better performance, while significantly lowering memory investment in Cloud computing servers compared to Intel's Xeon platform.

No word yet on price or availability.

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Posted 08/26/09 at 03:01:32 PM by Paul Lilly

The CPU wars in the desktop market have grown pretty stale with Intel's Core i7 architecture kicking AMD's tail, but when it comes to the server sector, the battle is starting to heat up.

Enter IBM, who at this week's Hot Chips conference officially unveiled its muscular 8-core Power7 processor. The mighty chip is expected to pack 1.2 billion transistors onto a 45nm die. Each core will boast 12 execution units, as well as 32 threads per chip and advanced pre-fetching data and instruction sets.

"I am sure Power7 will be the fastest processor around, probably faster than Intel's Nehalem in some benchmarks," said Nathan Brookwood, principal of market watcher Insight64.

Other specs include scalability up to 32 sockets, 256KB L2 cache per core, 32MB of on chip eDRAM shared L3 cache, dual DDR3 memory controllers, 100GB/s memory bandwidth per chip, and 360GB/s SMP bandwidth per chip.

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Posted 07/23/09 at 08:39:01 AM by Paul Lilly

We'll admit it - Olive's new Opus No. 4 looks pretty swank and offers a ton of storage for your groovy tunes, but is it worth $1,800? We'll let you decide that one.

The new flagship entry to Olive's Opus Hi-Fi Digital Stereo line includes 2TB of storage, which the company claims is enough to hold almost 6,000 CDs worth of music on-board in the lossless FLAC format. Sound quality gets a further boost by a high resolution digital-to-analog converter (DAC), as well as "optimized circuit design and a precision power supply."

Other features include a color-coded touchscreen menu, drag & drop playlist creation through the Maestro browser-based software, thousands of pre-set Internet radio stations, and both wired and wireless connectivity for music streaming in up to 10 rooms simultaneously using the optional Melody Hi-Fi Multi-Room Player.

The Opus No. 4 in 2TB will be available starting August 1, 2009. If that's too rich for your blood. Olive also plans to offer 1TB and 500GB versions for a little less scratch, $1,600 and $1,500 respectively.

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Posted 07/22/09 at 02:12:43 PM by Paul Lilly

Back in February of this year, Samsung developed and validated its first 40nm DRAM chip, and now five months later, the chip maker announced it has begun mass producing 2Gb DDR3 using the smaller manufacturing process.

Samsung says the move to 40nm will provide around a 60 percent increase in production capacity over a 50nm process, and it won't all be relegated to the server market, according to news and rumor site DigiTimes. In addition to 16GB, 8GB, and 4GB RDIMMs for servers, Samsung will use the 40nm manufacturing process to build UDIMMs (unregistered in-line memory modules) for workstatios, desktops, and notebooks of up to 4GB.

The energy efficient chips support a data rate of up to 1.6Gbps at just 1.35V, double that of an 800Mbps 1Gb-based dual-die package.

Image Credit: Samsung via InformationWeek

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Posted 07/13/09 at 09:03:04 AM by Paul Lilly

AMD hasn't put up much of a fight in the desktop market, but when it comes to the server sector, the scrappy chip maker is giving Intel everything it's got. Adding to its arsenal, AMD is launching new versions of its Opteron HE and SE series, both of which will add to its existing six-core lineup.

AMD first launched a six-core chip on June 1, 2009, six months ahead of schedule. According to the chip maker, these new ones boast 18 percent better performance per watt than the original models, though that doesn't necessarily mean a low wattage design.

On the contrary, the high-performance Opteron SE will consume 105W and is being aimed at those who need performance more than power savings. The low-power Opteron HE, however, will consume just 55W and will likely find a home in cloud computing data centers.

The HE chips will run anywhere from $455 to $1,019, while the SE will cost $1,514 to $2,649.

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