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The first 32/64bit chip unveiled
INTEL’S first chip that runs 32-bit and 64-bit software have debuted in workstations, with the company promising a server version will arrive in two months.
The new Xeon processor, formerly code-named Nocona, runs at speeds of 3.6GHz and lower and comes out with a complementary chipset called the E7525. It can handle both 32-bit software, found on most PCs and small Linux servers, and 64-bit software such as complex database programs.
The first version of the 32/64-bit Xeon is designed for dual-processor workstations. Dell, Hewlett-Packard and other computer makers have announced boxes that integrate the chip. These range in price from $850 to $1,800, depending on the configuration.
Overall, Nocona workstations provide a roughly 30 per cent improvement in performance over existing Xeons in 32-bit mode, said said Abhi Talwalkar, the general manager of the Enterprise Platform Group at Intel.
The 32/64-bit Xeon is compatible with existing software, however, which could prove to be a big selling point. Marc West, the chief information officer at games developer Electronic Arts who took part in a conference call for Intel, said that the chip gives the company a way to ease into 64-bit computing.
Next version of Mac OS X
Apple Computer Inc. on Monday previewed the latest version of its Mac OS X operating system code-named called Tiger, which Chief Executive Steve Jobs said was far ahead of rival Microsoft Corp.’s next major update to Windows.
With Tiger, Apple has pushed out five major releases of OS X since its debut in March 2001. The new version, which it discussed during its annual conference for software developers, aims to encourage them to write more applications that work with the operating system.
Next-generation Win servers
Microsoft Corp. and Japan’s top computer maker Fujitsu Ltd. said they have agreed to jointly develop next-generation Windows-based servers for release from 2005.
Fujitsu and Microsoft will also join forces in platform integration services and mission-critical customer support services, which typically run 24 hours a day, for example, to offer accounting.
Fujitsu will launch in the first half of 2005 the next-generation Intel Itanium-based server for Windows Server 2003 and release in 2007 the more advanced server, using “Longhorn” technology.
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer stressed the importance of the two firms’ alliance that now dates back four years.
“Fujitsu is really one of our most important global partners in terms of the work that we are trying to do to help the largest enterprises realize their opportunity to move to mission-critical computing on an Intel-platform machine,” he told a joint news conference.
“This is the first time that companies which are not based in the US will have had direct access to the engineering force behind Windows Servers,” Fujitsu corporate executive vice president Chiaki Ito told reporters.
Hotmail pumps up storage
In the wake of Yahoo Mail’s recent upgrades and Google’s looming GMail (still in beta), Microsoft now plans to improve its own Web-based e-mail service by sometime later this summer. The company says that as part of an effort to improve the customer experience, it plans to enhance the free e-mail Hotmail service with 250MB of storage per user, up from a relatively meager 2MB, and upgrade virus protection and cleaning.
The virus protection will search correspondence for worms and viruses. This is, according to Microsoft officials, in response to customer feedback that listed e-mail safety as the number one concern.
Microsoft is also introducing an updated paid service: MSN Hotmail Plus. For a yearly fee of $19.95, members will get 2GB of storage space, the ability to send unlimited attachments with a 2MB maximum, no advertisements, and no account expiration. Only recently, Yahoo increased mail storage for its free service to 100MB, a welcome expansion from the former 4MB capacity. The change, however, left the popular email service groggy. Customers complained of slow response—if they could get the site to load at all. To avoid similar performance snags, Microsoft plans to introduce its changes slowly, starting in July for American users.
Sun to roll out major Java apps
Sun Microsystems Inc. will roll out major enhancements to its developer tools for the Java programming language and will contribute next-generation computing desktop technologies to the open-source community, the computer maker has said.
The moves, Sun said, are aimed at broadening the use of Java, a programming language used to create applications that can run on computers using different operating systems and microprocessors such as Sun’s Ultrasparc and Intel-compatible chips.
Sun will make the announcements at its JavaOne conference in San Francisco this week that is expected to draw 12,000 software developers, Santa Clara, California-based Sun said. — Scitech World Report
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