Product Watch: AMD Introduces 750 MHz Duron. Bull Expands Its Server Range. Dell To Ship PowerVault 530F SAN Device.

September 8, 2000

SHORT TAKES

AMD INTRODUCES 750 MHZ DURON PROCESSOR

Sunnyvale, CALIF. — AMD introduced the 750MHz AMD Duron processor, once again setting the standard for business and home users in the value PC space. Optimized for the value-conscious user, the 750MHz AMD Duron processor reinforces AMD’s leadership position in delivering better computing solutions to the value PC space, characterized by systems that typically sell for less than $1,000. “We supply the highest performing PC processors in volume, offering a broad and powerful portfolio of computing solutions for both the performance and value segments. At any system price point, business and home users will get a better PC with an AMD processor-based system,” said Rob Herb, executive vice president at AMD. “Quality. Reliability. Consistency. That is what AMD represents.” More than 100 computer manufacturers worldwide currently offer AMD Duron processor-based systems. Leading manufacturers, including Compaq and IBM, plan to offer PCs featuring the 750MHz AMD Duron processor during the coming weeks. More than 20 computer manufacturers worldwide, including Fujitsu Siemens Computers, are offering 750MHz AMD Duron processor-based systems for sale today.

“The AMD Duron processor is changing the face of the value PC segment much in the same way as the AMD Athlon processor redefined the performance segment, ” said David Somo, vice president of marketing for the Computation Products Group at AMD. “Undoubtedly, the AMD Duron processor offers a superior computing solution for the value PC space.” Designed to help prolong the life of a buyer’s investment, the 750MHz AMD Duron processor provides the capability and flexibility to meet the computing needs of value conscious users today and tomorrow. AMD Duron processor-based systems are ideal for applications typically employed by such users, including surfing the Internet, business and personal productivity suites, as well as entertainment and edutainment products.

ADAPTEC SHIPS PCI-X AND ULTRA320 SCSI-READY CROSSBOW

Adaptec, Inc., a global leader in innovative storage solutions, announced that its Crossbow Ultra160 SCSI ASIC (model named AIC-7899W), which incorporates the same pin-out as its forthcoming PCI-X Ultra320 SCSI controller, is now available. OEMs that incorporate this controller in new server motherboard and PCI RAID adapter designs will avoid the expensive and time-consuming process of redesigning their products to accommodate the upcoming next generation PCI-X and Ultra320 SCSI technologies. Crossbow’s packaging is designed for Ultra320 SCSI signaling which is much more demanding than Ultra160 SCSI. The packaging provides cleaner signals and greater design margins over the previous Ultra160 SCSI ASIC. In addition Crossbow is backwards software compatible and runs with all currently released Adaptec drivers. Thus Crossbow provides the highest performance for current designs as well as a migration path to Ultra320 SCSI.

“The next big transition in RAID controllers will be to PCI-X and Ultra320 SCSI,” said Lee Caswell, vice president for the OEM marketing at Adaptec. “Our RAID customers are looking to Adaptec to open the bandwidth floodgate and offer a smooth transition to the next generation step-ups in performance.” “PCI-X and Ultra320 SCSI will be required for mid- to high-end RAID controllers by the end of 2001,” according to Roger Cox, chief analyst for Server Storage and RAID Worldwide at Gartner Dataquest. “The high performance of Ultra320 SCSI is needed to support the demanding throughput requirements of the emerging very high capacity disk drives that will be available within this time frame.” “PCI-X and Ultra320 SCSI will play a key role in meeting OEM demands for storage capacity and bandwidth,” said David Pulling of ServerWorks. “Early design-in of Adaptec’s Crossbow ASIC and preparation for their forthcoming Ultra320 SCSI controllers reflects ServerWorks commitment to leading the market with the most advanced technology.”

BULL EXPANDS ITS EXPRESS5800 SERVER RANGE

Paris, FRANCE — The EXPRESS5800/120Rc-2 is an innovative, rack-optimized, feature-rich server aimed at ISP/ASPs and space-conscious enterprise users The EXPRESS5800/140Hb offers superior TPC-C performance together with the flexibility and high reliability features needed of enterprise application servers. Bull announced the EXPRESS5800/120Rc-2, an innovative, high-density dual- Pentium( III rack-only server, the first to fully address the ISP/ASP Web services and space conscious workgroup or departmental applications markets. Bull also announced the EXPRESS5800/140Hb, an architecturally advanced, 4- processor-capable Intel Pentium(III Xeon(-based server for application- intensive environments, offering high-reliability, comprehensive remote management capabilities and high-performance storage for growing e-business applications.

The EXPRESS5800/120Rc-2 rack system is designed to meet the e-business needs of ISP/ASPs for Web and Internet application hosting, remote sites and enterprises seeking to consolidate their applications and infrastructure services into the same location. It is optimized for organizations where the ability to house a maximum number of systems and applications in a limited space is a prime attraction. The EXPRESS5800/120Rc-2 provides outstanding performance and flexibility with an innovative compact 2U rack design that allows up to 21 systems to be placed in a single industry-standard 42U rack enclosure. The EXPRESS5800/120Rc-2 has a rich set of high-availability features such as hot-swap hard disk drives, power supplies and redundant cooling for business-critical, 24×7 e-commerce operations, and can include a broad range of RAID board options for increased data reliability and integrity.

DELL TO SHIP POWERVAULT 530F SAN DEVICE

San Diego, CA — Dell computer corp. will enter the SAN appliance fray this week with the release of its new PowerVault 530F storage area network. The appliance, which will enable companies to centralize much-needed management software for storage, combines Dell’s PowerEdge server hardware with software developed by Storage Apps Inc., based in Bridgewater, N.J. The 530F contains remote mirroring software for real-time and point-in-time copying for disaster recovery and three-way mirroring that provides a third copy of data for backup, data warehouse loading and application testing.

In addition, the appliance provides storage virtualization so that data can be pooled into logical volumes and not be restricted to physical disks. IT managers can then use capacity more efficiently. The 530F is priced between $38,000 and $43,000, depending on configuration. In related news, Dell, of Round Rock, Texas, announced plans to begin reselling this week Quantum Corp.’s new 1.75-inch-high network-attached storage device, the 4100 Snap Server family. The device, which Dell will sell under the name PowerVault 705N, is used for file sharing among platforms. Dell will preconfigure the 705N with support for RAID Level 5, 0 or 1. The device will also support Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Novell Inc.’s IntranetWare clients for Windows, Solaris, Red Hat Linux and SCO Unix.

TROLLTECH OFFERS A CHOICE IN LICENSING

Oslo, NORWAY — Trolltech announced that it will license the upcoming free version of Qt/Unix 2.2 under the GPL (GNU General Public License). Developers will have the option of using the open-source version of Qt 2.2 under either the QPL (Q Public License) or GPL license, depending on their licensing requirements. Qt licensed under the GPL will allow developers of free software to use Trolltech’s GUI application framework at no cost. Any software produced with Qt under the GPL license, and any derivatives of this software, must also be released under the GPL. As before, any user who wishes to create proprietary or closed source software must first purchase a development license from Trolltech.

“I am very pleased to see that Qt is now available under the GPL, said Richard Stallman, president of the Free Software Foundation. “This is a big win for free software and a great gift from Trolltech to the community.” “The release of Qt 2.2 under the GPL license will reinforce our commitment to the open source and free software movement,” said Eirik Eng, president of Trolltech. “The GPL and QPL are similar, both having the intent of encouraging development of free software. We have many users who enjoy using Qt under the QPL license because they can choose the open source licensing they use, such as the BSD and Artistic licenses, but there has also been a demand for a GPL license. We have now provided our users a choice.” Open-source industry leaders also applaud the decision by Trolltech. “We have always been impressed by Trolltech’s commitment to open source,” said Ransom Love, president and CEO of Caldera Systems, Inc. “This move will make it even more desirable to choose Qt for open source projects.”

EXABYTE SHIPS 430 M2 TAPE LIBRARY

Boulder, COLO. — Exabyte Corporation, a performance leader in network backup systems, announced it has begun shipping its new 430 M2 (Mammoth-2) tape library, part of a new library family designed to accommodate multiple tape drive technologies. The library is already experiencing strong demand from resellers, distributors, end users and OEMs. Exabyte’s 430 provides users with superior capacity, performance and rack-density features at half the cost of comparable tape libraries. The 430 occupies just two cubic feet and five units of rack space. Drawing on M2’s industry-leading combination of capacity, performance and compact size, the 430 tape library offers users the highest rack density, minimizing the use of costly data center space and reducing the overall cost of ownership. The Exabyte 430 accommodates up to four M2 tape drives and 30 data cartridges, delivering up to 1.8 TB (4.5 TB compressed) of capacity and 173 GB/hour (432 GB/hour compressed) of data throughput.

Engineered for network backup/restore, remote storage and automated archiving for mission critical data, the 430 is designed for traditional midrange departmental and workgroup environments. The 430 also provides data management capabilities required for SAN architectures by offering such features as Ethernet connectivity, Exabyte Library Monitor software and Fibre Channel interface options. “Customer response for this library has been very positive. Our goal with this family of libraries was to bring traditionally higher-end library features to midrange users at an affordable price point. Based on current order status and customer feedback, we definitely expect the 430 to address a critical market requirement,” said Peri Grover, senior marketing manager at Exabyte. Visit Exabyte on the Web at http://www.exabyte.com .

SEEK SYSTEMS ANNOUNCES THE FASFILE FAMILY

Bothell, WASH. — Seek Systems, Inc., a premier manufacturer of RAID storage systems, announced today the first two members of the FasFile family of high-performance storage solutions. Based on proven technology and open standards, FasFile RAID and FasFile Xcelerator are designed for small to mid-sized applications in any organization. FasFile RAID is self-configuring RAID disk storage that reduces IT management overhead while improving application performance and end-user service. FasFile Xcelerator is a storage appliance that enhances the performance and the value of existing disk and RAID storage systems. Pricing for FasFile RAID begins at $20,000 and FasFile Xcelerator at $15,000. They are sold directly and through a network of authorized resellers. FasFile RAID simplifies storage configuration and management while avoiding the problems of conventional RAID storage. FasFile RAID can be installed into any UNIX, Linux, Windows NT, and Windows 2000 server environment in less than one hour. Using adaptive RAID technology plus industry-standard SCSI and fibre SAN connectivity, FasFile RAID improves the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of data storage.

“The last decade saw large enterprises aggressively adopt RAID storage,” said Hal Toomer, Network Manager, of Chariot Software Group in San Diego, California. “Today, large and small applications need secure data storage that is both cost-effective and time-efficient. IT managers need RAID storage that scales easily, is compatible with their existing equipment and is simple to manage. FasFile RAID answers these requirements.” FasFile RAID uses Adaptive Cache technology to deliver sub-millisecond data access and more efficient disk read and disk write operations. Adaptive Cache reduces application response times, especially for database applications. FasFile RAID supports up to two terabytes of RAID storage in single-server environments as well as in heterogeneous, multi-server environments.

QUANTUM DOUBLES CAPACITY OF STORAGE SOLUTION

San Jose, CALIF. — Quantum Corporation’s DLT and Storage Systems Group, manufacturer of the Snap Server, the industry standard in workgroup network attached storage (NAS) solutions, set a new industry benchmark with the introduction of the Snap Server 4100 file server. These new offerings reinforce Quantum’s market leadership position as it continues to push the barrier in innovation and design for high-capacity and field-serviceable file server solutions available at a fraction of the cost of traditional general-purpose servers. Boasting capacities of 120GB and 240GB in a sleek 1U rack mountable form factor, the Snap Server 4100 easily supports corporate workgroups of 150 or more users and offers excellent data protection or enhanced performance with support for RAID levels 5, 1 and 0. Known for its affordability, the Snap Server 4100 is priced at $2,999 for the 120GB capacity and $4,499 for the 240GB capacity. This pricing equates to an all time low cost per gigabyte of only $19 for the Snap Server 4100 240GB capacity.

“Storage needs are growing exponentially across all industries, but particularly in the ISP and ASP markets,” said Anders Axelsson, vice president and general manager for Quantum’s Server Appliances Division. “The ease of installation coupled with high performance, rich functionality and the most robust operating system in the market clearly sets the Snap Server apart as the preferred solution over adding another NT file server to accommodate needed storage, especially in instances where rack space is at a premium.” The Snap Server 4100 offers capacities to meet enterprise workgroup needs in corporations of varying sizes, including Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Application Service Providers (ASPs). The Snap Server installs in five minutes or less without any disruptions to the network and is the only file server in its class to automatically deliver simultaneous multi-platform, file-sharing support for Windows, NetWare, Macintosh and UNIX/Linux users on the same network. The Snap Server integrates with existing Microsoft NT and NetWare domains and offers simple configuration through a Web browser interface that allows the file servers to be managed from anywhere on the network or remotely via the Internet.

MULTIGEN-PARADIGM ANNOUNCES NEW PRODUCTS

San Jose, CALIF. — MultiGen-Paradigm, Inc. (MPI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Computer Associates, announced major releases of MultiGen Creator 2.4 for Microsoft Windows NT and Vega 3.5 for IRIX. This announcement delivers on the company’s commitment to offer the most comprehensive suite of integrated commercial tools for creating and running interactive, high fidelity, realtime 3D graphics applications. MultiGen Creator Version 2.4, the leading 3D modeling, assembly and synthetic environment generation system designed for realtime visual simulation, entertainment, urban simulation and simulation-based training, is currently shipping for the Windows NT 4.0, 2000 Professional and 98 platforms. MultiGen Creator 2.4 for the SGI IRIX platform (version 6.2 or higher) is projected for late September delivery.

“Major new features, customer-driven enhancements and OpenFlight file and API improvements are in MultiGen Creator 2.4 from top to bottom,” said Todd Griffith, Creator product manager for MultiGen-Paradigm. “Base Creator, Creator Pro and Terrain Pro have more value than ever-for new customers to our most seasoned users-all at a new, more affordable price point.” “MultiGen Creator has been a vital step in the production pipeline for all our games including Mechwarrior 3 and Crimson Skies,” said David Kern, lead artist at Zipper Interactive. “There is no comparison to the polygonal modeling tools, hierarchy layout and ease of model attribution when creating realtime worlds for games.” Visit http://www.multigen.com for more information.

MAXOS LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM NOW AVAILABLE

Edmonton, CANADA — Alta Terra Ventures Corp. (ATT on the CDNX) announced that the MaxOS Linux operating system is now available for consumer purchase through the company’s online e-store at http://www.maxos.com. In developing MaxOS, Alta Terra has taken the Linux operating system and adapted it for quick and easy installation for the consumer desktop market. Starting the last week of August, Alta Terra has been shipping MaxOS Linux to select retail outlets and other distributors. The software boxes should be on retail shelves within the next two to three weeks. The marketing firm of Solutions Technology Group Inc., with offices in Silicon Valley, California, Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, and Toronto, Ontario, are now working with Alta Terra to develop an aggressive international marketing plan, encompassing product branding, sales strategy, advertising, and distribution alternatives.

“The MaxOS Linux operating system has been in the developmental stage for several months and we are pleased to announce it is now available for the consumer market,” stated Alta Terra CEO Don Warman. “I am confident this product, based on the strength of the Linux operating system, will prove to be the affordable desktop choice of consumers, and a cost-effective operating system for the server market.” Alta Terra is a publicly traded company on the Canadian Venture Exchange trading under the symbol ATT.

INPRISE/BORLAND TARGETS ENTERPRISE WITH JAVA

Scotts Valley, CALIF. — Inprise/Borland announced Borland JBuilder 4, the latest version of its award winning, number-one-rated pure Java cross-platform development environment. JBuilder 4 is the only enterprise productivity environment that supports Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) 1.1 compliant development on Windows, Linux, and Solaris platforms. This new version significantly speeds time to market for rapidly building e-business applications and deploying them to leading Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) applications servers. “With an increasing demand for complex e-business applications, companies are seeking solutions to enable them to build and deploy Java applications that are robust and scalable,” said Mark Driver, senior analyst, Gartner Group. “Robust tools are essential components to meet the demands of the Internet economy.”

“With the release of JBuilder 4, Inprise/Borland has made the best Java development environment even better,” said Ali Pashaei, president AppLogic, Inc. “In addition to the major new features such as team development, including tight integration with CVS, EJB wizards, JSP improvements, ArchiveBuilder, etc., there are many minor improvements that make the day-to-day job of developers easier.” JBuilder 4 streamlines the concurrent management of source code for large distributed teams while extending existing source code management across the Internet. “E-commerce applications often require collaboration of different teams in the development cycle and that’s where JBuilder’s integrated and scalable team development environment comes into play,” said Juergen Fesslmeier, JBuilder product manager.

POWERQUEST’S SERVERMAGIC ADDS MORE FUNCTIONALITY

Orem, UTAH — PowerQuest Corp., a provider of proven solutions for storage management, announces the release of ServerMagic 4.0 for NetWare, the newest version of the company’s software solution to manage network storage. Version 4.0 adds “across-the-wire” support to copy, move and delete NetWare volumes and focuses on simplifying the complex storage management issues unique to IS professionals using NetWare. This version of ServerMagic also includes an enhanced BootDisk Builder, a utility that assists users in the creation of a remote server boot disk to facilitate the across-the-wire functionality. Version 4.0 also enhances the user’s ability to move or copy the entire NetWare system including hidden files and directory settings.

“ServerMagic 4.0 is a step forward in providing the complete server storage management that NetWare customers want and need,” said Anne Vincenti, director of product marketing, PowerQuest Corp. “By giving IS professionals greater control over their server storage resources, we enable them to maximize the return on their storage investments and most efficiently manage their storage environment.” Across-the-wire functionality allows ServerMagic 4.0 users to access a remote machine using a TCP/IP network. Users can copy or move partitions to or from remote machines, delete or check the integrity of partitions, and copy or move volumes and volume segments. The release of version 4.0 represents the first time PowerQuest has separated ServerMagic’s NetWare support from its NT support. An upgraded version of ServerMagic for Windows NT will be released later this year.

BLUESTONE SOFTWARE ANNOUNCES JAVA APPLICATION SERVER

Philadelphia, PA. — Bluestone Software, Inc., a leader in business-to-Web and wireless technologies, announced general availability of Total-e-Server Release 7.1, the latest version of its 100% Pure Java Application Server and the heart of Bluestone’s comprehensive, standards-based Total-e-Business platform. Based entirely on Sun Microsystems’ J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition) specification and using XML (eXtensible Markup Language) as its internal communications vehicle, Bluestone’s Total-e-Server Release 7.1 addresses the ranks of application developers searching for a direct, easy-to-use introduction to J2EE and 100% Pure Java application development. Bluestone’s Total-e-Server Release 7.1 distinguishes itself with an extensive, easy-to-use trail map tutorial that walks users step-by-step through key J2EE concepts, such as JavaServer Pages, Java Servlets, Enterprise JavaBeans, and Tag Libraries (Taglibs). The tutorial is both educational and functional, with users building a J2EE application as they move through the trail map. Browser-based documentation is also introduced with Total-e-Server 7.1. Bluestone has advanced both the content and the look-and-feel of the documentation, making it easier to navigate and easier to print.

“One of the biggest complaints in the IT arena is a shortage of trained, qualified personnel,” said Andre Pino, senior vice president of marketing for Bluestone Software, “and nowhere is that shortage more evident than in the field of application development. With J2EE as the architecture of choice for Internet and wireless applications, and the demand for Java and JSP programmers outstripping the supply, Bluestone felt it was essential to deliver a means of simplifying the development process.” Added Vince Hunt, executive vice president of Web operations and production at CatalogCity.com, “In the world of Java development, Bluestone is leading the pack of Application Server vendors in J2EE and EJB implementations. By providing an open framework and focusing on ease-of-use, Bluestone’s Total-e-Server is enabling our development team to utilize the latest e-commerce technologies and deliver customized business solutions for a competitive edge.” Visit http://www.bluestone.com for more information.

TECHMETRIX RELEASES REPORT ON OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

Boston, MASS. — TechMetrix Research, a technically oriented analyst firm focused on e-business application development needs, announced the availability of its newest study, Open Source and Free Software Report. IT managers who haven’t yet made the leap to Open Source software probably wonder what interest they have in integrating such programs with their information systems. Indeed, not a day goes by without news of Linux’s charge on the market and software vendors.

Following a quick look at the history, development and distribution of free software, which is often called Open Source software, TechMetrix Research goes on to discuss the advantages of using such solutions. Moreover, this report explains how enterprises can integrate free software solutions with existing information systems so as to take advantage of all they have to offer. An entire chapter of the report is dedicated to “Product Profiles,” which examine available free software solutions that are useful to enterprises, list the pros and the cons of each product, and explain how they are implemented. The result of over 200 days of analysis, the Open Source and Free Software Report is certainly pedagogic – allowing readers to get free software solutions up and running – but it is also relevant to the needs of today’s enterprises, as it based on tried-and-tested architectures already implemented by TechMetrix customers (three available case studies). According to Jean-Christophe Cimetiere, CEO of TechMetrix Research, “The study provides a practical overview of the Open Source and free software market which is vital to anyone thinking about moving to these up-and-coming solutions.”

UNISYS INTRODUCES ENTERPRISE SERVER NX6820

Blue Bell, PA. — Unisys Corporation announced its new Unisys e-@ction ClearPath Enterprise Server NX6820, improving the high-end performance of the mainframe-class ClearPath NX family by approximately 50 percent over previous models, dramatically lowering the price/performance ratio and giving customers an optimal balance between computing power and economy of ownership. The ClearPath NX6820 system is ideally positioned to meet the demands for continuous availability “24x7x365” generated by the increasingly high transaction volumes required for e-business. The NX6820 leverages Unisys 30-plus years of continuous improvement in high-volume, high integrity, highly secure systems for high-transaction-volume commercial computing, for Global 2000 clients.

Many companies are discovering that conducting business on the Internet with Web-based electronic commerce is causing a profound increase in the number of transactions handled by their existing business information systems, and some customers are projecting as much as a 10-fold increase in volume over the next three years. The growth in transaction rates has led to an increased demand for enterprise servers, such as the Unisys e-@ction Enterprise Servers, offering mission-critical, mainframe-class attributes: scalability, availability, manageability, interoperability and support for high transaction volumes and large databases, among other capabilities.

HP SHIPS FIRST ULTRIUM PRODUCT

Palo Alto, CALIF. — Hewlett-Packard Company announced the first shipment of its Ultrium format-compliant drives to system and library Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) including Qualstar and StorageTek. Based on the Ultrium format of LTO (Linear Tape-Open) technology, these ultra-fast and reliable new tape drives meet customers’ data-protection needs today and in the future. This announcement is an important stage in a program that includes a multimillion dollar investment to redefine the tape industry. Formed to offer customers greater flexibility in choosing products to meet their needs, the LTO program provides assurance that Ultrium tape and media products are defined around a common format. HP’s LTO products include innovative features such as data-rate matching and streaming for high reliability and performance. Data-rate matching allows the tape drive to match its speed to that of the server to achieve maximum transfer rates.

The LTO format tape technology, developed with IBM and Seagate, shows HP’s dedication to open-format specifications. “HP’s collaboration in the design of the open-format specification underlying HP Ultrium tape technology has generated insights that will be valuable in the development of a range of HP products to better serve the market,” said Jack Trautman, general manager of HP’s Data Protection Organization. “HP will deliver next-generation, Ultrium-compatible tape drive, library, autoloader and media products that will give our customers access to the significant advantages of this exceptionally reliable, high-performance tape technology.” “With its breakthrough levels of performance and capacity, combined with exceptional reliability, Ultrium establishes a new benchmark for large volume backup and archive,” says Bob Covey, vice president of Marketing for Qualstar. “We plan to leverage HP’s experience in Ultrium tape development and Qualtstar’s SANSmart TLS-800 Series Tape Library Family to deliver a broad spectrum of tape libraries that meet the growing storage demands of our customers.”

SEAGATE DELIVERS 20 GB-PER-PLATTER HARD DRIVE

Scotts Valley, CALIF. — Seagate Technology announced its new Barracuda ATA III, the industry’s only fourth-generation 7,200-rpm ATA disc drive for proven reliability and superior ease of integration. As the world’s fastest desktop drive, Barracuda ATA III is ideally suited for mainstream and high-performance commercial desktop PCs and economical ATA RAID systems. It offers industry-leading performance for business users and maximum power for consumer enthusiasts. With Seagate’s 3D Defense System, Barracuda ATA III is still the toughest and most reliable 7,200-rpm drive and can withstand 350 Gs non-operating shock – higher than any other 7,200-rpm drive. Barracuda ATA III ships with the industry’s only tested, mature, third-generation Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) motor as an option, for improved acoustics, reduced vibration, longer life and increased shock resistance. Seagate is the only company shipping FDB motors in volume, having shipped almost 3 million since Seagate developed and delivered the world’s first fluid dynamic bearing motor for hard drives in 1996. With the Barracuda ATA III, Seagate maintains its advantage over other disc drive makers as the premium provider of advanced technology for the PC.

For performance-oriented users, Barracuda ATA III offers the fastest internal transfer rate available on any ATA disc drive, at 500 Mb/sec. This is a 37 percent increase over earlier drives. Barracuda ATA III also features a new 80-MHz processor for a 25 percent increase in processing speed. With its Ultra ATA/100 Interface, 8.9-msec seek, and 2-Mbyte buffer, it’s the drive of choice for ATA RAID subsystems. The drive is available in capacities up to 40 Gbytes. Seagate’s Barracuda ATA family has earned more praise in the worldwide press than any other 7,200-rpm drive. Computer Shopper magazine said “the Seagate Barracuda ATA II offers an excellent value [and] delivers lightning-quick performance.” Maximum PC agreed, “Seagate’s Barracuda ATA II shows the company’s determination to be a top performer in the ATA world.” And PC Shopping magazine concluded “Seagate’s Barracuda ATA reigns supreme in the IDE category, and is the Editor’s Recommendation.”

POGOLINUX.COM TO OFFER COMPLIMENTARY LINUX CDS

Union City, CALIF. — In an effort to evangelize the gospel of Linux, PogoLinux.com has announced a program to distribute popular Linux CDs free of charge and offer 30 days of complimentary e-mail installation support. This offer is intended to completely eliminate the cost barriers preventing users from trying the Linux operating system. The free installation support will ensure that users have help available during their transition to Linux. The initial set of Linux distributions will be: RedHat 6.2, RedHat 7.0beta, Mandrake 7.1, and Debian Linux. The library of distributions will be expanded in a few weeks to include a broader spectrum of Linux software. “We hope to attract more users to Linux by giving them 2 more reasons to switch to Linux: free CDs and free support,” says Jon Holmes, Senior Marketing VP.

The CDs can be ordered via Pogo Linux’s website, http://www.pogolinux.com . Pogo Linux is a nationwide provider of Linux-based solutions. The company offers a broad range of products and services including custom-built Linux systems and consulting services to e-businesses and corporate IT departments who are deploying Linux into their network operations. The company is privately held and based in Union City, California.

VERSANT ANNOUNCES ENJIN EARLY ADOPTER PROGRAM

Fremont, CALIF. — Versant Corporation, a leading provider of middleware infrastructure technology, announced the availability of the enJin Early Adopter Release (EAR) Program to help customers speed the performance and enhance the scalability of their application server environments. Versant enJin is the industry’s first comprehensive middle-tier infrastructure platform to integrate with all Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB)- compliant application servers and provide seamless synchronization with the back-end enterprise database. Customers using Versant enJin can expect performance enhancements of up to 50 times depending on the complexity of their e-business application. In addition, Versant enJin is architected for highly distributed environments, a requirement for e-business applications, allowing scalability beyond what an application server is able to achieve on it own.

“Many customers experience a performance degradation once they have deployed an application server environment,” said Christine A. Caldwell, VP of Marketing, Versant. “The reason for this is simple – the application server represents the next evolution of the object component architecture, highly suited for the distributed and complex e-business application they are serving. However, integrating that powerful architecture with the more traditional relational environment creates a bottleneck. Versant enJin removes that bottleneck, seamlessly, for our customers.” The secret of Versant enJin lies in its integrated set of components which include: seamless persistence for Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs), distributed caching, automatic failover for high availability and synchronization with the back-end relational database. In addition, Versant enJin provides support for XML data, a Java interface and an EJB framework allowing customers to integrate enJin with any application server. By persisting EJBs within the middle-tier, customers are able to forego the time-consuming process of converting from the object world to the relational world. Once a transaction is completed, Versant’s synchronization capability updates the back-end relational database, ensuring integrity of the information throughout the hand-off. Visit http://www.versant.com for more information.

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Who is David Blackwell?

March 22, 2024

During GTC24, co-founder and president of NVIDIA Jensen Huang unveiled the Blackwell GPU. This GPU itself is heavily optimized for AI work, boasting 192GB of HB Read more…

Nvidia Looks to Accelerate GenAI Adoption with NIM

March 19, 2024

Today at the GPU Technology Conference, Nvidia launched a new offering aimed at helping customers quickly deploy their generative AI applications in a secure, s Read more…

The Generative AI Future Is Now, Nvidia’s Huang Says

March 19, 2024

We are in the early days of a transformative shift in how business gets done thanks to the advent of generative AI, according to Nvidia CEO and cofounder Jensen Read more…

Nvidia’s New Blackwell GPU Can Train AI Models with Trillions of Parameters

March 18, 2024

Nvidia's latest and fastest GPU, codenamed Blackwell, is here and will underpin the company's AI plans this year. The chip offers performance improvements from Read more…

Nvidia Showcases Quantum Cloud, Expanding Quantum Portfolio at GTC24

March 18, 2024

Nvidia’s barrage of quantum news at GTC24 this week includes new products, signature collaborations, and a new Nvidia Quantum Cloud for quantum developers. Wh Read more…

Alibaba Shuts Down its Quantum Computing Effort

November 30, 2023

In case you missed it, China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba has shut down its quantum computing research effort. It’s not entirely clear what drove the change. Read more…

Nvidia H100: Are 550,000 GPUs Enough for This Year?

August 17, 2023

The GPU Squeeze continues to place a premium on Nvidia H100 GPUs. In a recent Financial Times article, Nvidia reports that it expects to ship 550,000 of its lat Read more…

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AMD’s Horsepower-packed MI300X GPU Beats Nvidia’s Upcoming H200

December 7, 2023

AMD and Nvidia are locked in an AI performance battle – much like the gaming GPU performance clash the companies have waged for decades. AMD has claimed it Read more…

DoD Takes a Long View of Quantum Computing

December 19, 2023

Given the large sums tied to expensive weapon systems – think $100-million-plus per F-35 fighter – it’s easy to forget the U.S. Department of Defense is a Read more…

Synopsys Eats Ansys: Does HPC Get Indigestion?

February 8, 2024

Recently, it was announced that Synopsys is buying HPC tool developer Ansys. Started in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1970 as Swanson Analysis Systems, Inc. (SASI) by John Swanson (and eventually renamed), Ansys serves the CAE (Computer Aided Engineering)/multiphysics engineering simulation market. Read more…

Choosing the Right GPU for LLM Inference and Training

December 11, 2023

Accelerating the training and inference processes of deep learning models is crucial for unleashing their true potential and NVIDIA GPUs have emerged as a game- Read more…

Intel’s Server and PC Chip Development Will Blur After 2025

January 15, 2024

Intel's dealing with much more than chip rivals breathing down its neck; it is simultaneously integrating a bevy of new technologies such as chiplets, artificia Read more…

Baidu Exits Quantum, Closely Following Alibaba’s Earlier Move

January 5, 2024

Reuters reported this week that Baidu, China’s giant e-commerce and services provider, is exiting the quantum computing development arena. Reuters reported � Read more…

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Comparing NVIDIA A100 and NVIDIA L40S: Which GPU is Ideal for AI and Graphics-Intensive Workloads?

October 30, 2023

With long lead times for the NVIDIA H100 and A100 GPUs, many organizations are looking at the new NVIDIA L40S GPU, which it’s a new GPU optimized for AI and g Read more…

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Google Addresses the Mysteries of Its Hypercomputer 

December 28, 2023

When Google launched its Hypercomputer earlier this month (December 2023), the first reaction was, "Say what?" It turns out that the Hypercomputer is Google's t Read more…

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How AMD May Get Across the CUDA Moat

October 5, 2023

When discussing GenAI, the term "GPU" almost always enters the conversation and the topic often moves toward performance and access. Interestingly, the word "GPU" is assumed to mean "Nvidia" products. (As an aside, the popular Nvidia hardware used in GenAI are not technically... Read more…

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Meta’s Zuckerberg Puts Its AI Future in the Hands of 600,000 GPUs

January 25, 2024

In under two minutes, Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, laid out the company's AI plans, which included a plan to build an artificial intelligence system with the eq Read more…

Google Introduces ‘Hypercomputer’ to Its AI Infrastructure

December 11, 2023

Google ran out of monikers to describe its new AI system released on December 7. Supercomputer perhaps wasn't an apt description, so it settled on Hypercomputer Read more…

China Is All In on a RISC-V Future

January 8, 2024

The state of RISC-V in China was discussed in a recent report released by the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The report, entitled "E Read more…

Intel Won’t Have a Xeon Max Chip with New Emerald Rapids CPU

December 14, 2023

As expected, Intel officially announced its 5th generation Xeon server chips codenamed Emerald Rapids at an event in New York City, where the focus was really o Read more…

IBM Quantum Summit: Two New QPUs, Upgraded Qiskit, 10-year Roadmap and More

December 4, 2023

IBM kicks off its annual Quantum Summit today and will announce a broad range of advances including its much-anticipated 1121-qubit Condor QPU, a smaller 133-qu Read more…

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