Jeff Burt

With Intels Itanium processor getting lukewarm support from major OEMs, second-tier systems makers are filling the void with expanded Itanium 2 offerings. The moves come as Intel Corp. officials insist that the 64-bit Itaniums will constitute a key product line well into the future, with their road map unfolding beyond 2008. So far, however, only […]

Though 64-bit computing has been around for some 14 years or so, until recently it has been accessible only to those operating high-end servers running RISC-based processors such as Sun Microsystem Inc.s SPARC, IBMs Power and Hewlett-Packard Co.s PA-RISC. That is changing, and soon everything—from thin-and-light notebooks to desktops to blade servers—will be running on […]

IBM has opened its fourth Deep Computing Capacity on Demand Center, this one populated by its Blue Gene supercomputer. Armed with more than 2,000 PowerPC processors, the Rochester, Minn., center is designed to give researchers and enterprises access to the supercomputing resources via a VPN (virtual private network), paying only for the compute power they […]

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. on Thursday is launching its Turion family of 64-bit mobile processors, which are designed to compete directly with rival Intel Corp.s Pentium M chip and Centrino mobile platform. The Turion processors are the first that AMD, of Sunnyvale, Calif., has designed specifically for the mobile computing space. Previously, the company adapted […]

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is aiming its 64-bit Opteron processors at the high-end embedded market. Citing the chips standard x86 architecture, low power envelope and Direct Connect technology, the Sunnyvale, Calif., company on Tuesday is outlining a program designed to make Opteron a viable option in such areas as storage, digital imaging and media, communications […]

Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. are readying their respective CPU virtualization technologies, which they said will enhance the performance of software-based virtual machines and spur growth of virtualization in data centers. Panels led by both chip makers last week raised questions, however, ranging from how their offerings will complement VM products from software […]

Sun is looking to build software support for its upcoming “Niagara” processors. Scheduled for debut in early 2006, Niagara will be the first major step for Sun Microsystems Inc. in its Throughput Computing initiative, with eight cores that will each be able to run up to eight instruction threads simultaneously. Sun, which last month demonstrated […]

SAN FRANCISCO—In November, Intel Corp. and chip set maker Nvidia Corp. announced an agreement where the two would license each others technology, a deal that was years in the making. At the Intel Developer Forum here this week, Nvidia is giving users a glimpse of what it will be offering later this spring. Nvidia, of […]

SAN FRANCISCO—Intel and Advanced Micro Devices are touting their respective hardware-level virtualization technologies as platforms that will help spur greater innovation around such environments. At the Intel Developer Forum here this week, Intel Corp. has been showing demonstrations of its Intel Virtualization Technology—formerly code-named “Vanderpool”—which is due to start appearing later this year in desktop […]

SAN FRANCISCO—Intel will continue to push performance increases in the data center through the integration of technologies in the silicon, according to Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of the chip makers Digital Enterprise Group. During his keynote here at the Intel Developer Forum Tuesday afternoon, Gelsinger said Intel Corp. eventually will put […]

SAN FRANCISCO—Intel is preparing for a quick ramp of its dual-core processors, predicting that more than 70 percent of its processors shipping by the end of 2006 will have two cores on a single die. Intel Corp. will start rolling out dual-core processors in the second quarter with the release of the Pentium Extreme Edition […]

Users longing for the performance boost and cost savings promised by dual-core processors will see a number of advancements this year, including the first dual cores for the x86 architecture, from rivals Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. At Intels Developer Forum this week in San Francisco, dual-core processing will be a key theme. […]