IBM Unveils Initiatives to Propel High-Performance Computing Clusters Into Mid-Market

IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today new initiatives designed to make it easier for clients to use "clusters" of servers for high-performance computing tasks. The company is investing in development, marketing and sales-channel programs that leverage IBM's technology prowess in high-end supercomputing and deep experience delivering industry-focused solutions.

"High performance computing (HPC) is rapidly spreading from science and academic research to smaller businesses and departments of larger enterprises that need better ways to process compute-intensive workloads," said Wendy McGee, director, IBM Cluster Solutions. "IBM plans to reduce the risk, time and costs associated with cluster installation and deployment. At the same time, we see new opportunities to leverage IBM's investments and technology expertise in supercomputing in the middle and lower tiers of the HPC industry."

Four key components of IBM's expanded HPC cluster initiatives include:

1) Pre-architected, snap-together solutions for key industries. IBM has initially targeted applications in the life sciences, computer-aided engineering (CAE) and finance domains for solutions built with industry-leading ISVs and delivered through Business Partners. These pre-engineered solutions will be built for Linux and/or Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 operating systems and will feature networking from leading vendors such as Cisco Systems. IBM draws on its extensive engineering and services experience delivering high-performance computing solutions to industries to speed the adoption of IBM solutions that call for x86-based clusters.

• Working with Accelrys, a leading supplier of software and service solutions to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and industrial chemical research organizations, IBM is optimizing System x™ and BladeCenter® configurations for Discovery Studio. Discovery Studio is a comprehensive suite of modeling and simulation solutions for protein modeling and computational chemistry conveniently packaged into a single, easy-to-use Linux- and Windows-based environments.


• IBM has optimized hardware configurations for CAE applications from the following ISVs: ABAQUS, ANSYS, Inc., ESI Group, Livermore Software Technology Corporation (LSTC) and MSC.Software.


• Working with Microsoft, IBM is architecting a cluster solution targeted at the finance space featuring Microsoft Office Excel 2007 software. The solution will allow clients to use parallel processing on clusters for mission critical calculations, freeing up client machines from long-running calculations.

2) HPC ValueNet for IBM Business Partners. To bolster the ecosystem around clusters, IBM is introducing a new HPC ValueNet to incent and equip IBM Business Partners with the tools they need to bring cluster solutions to market. Tools include:

• Joint marketing plans and incentives for ISVs and IBM Business Partners.


• Sizing guides with predefined cluster configurations for simple ordering and set up, including templates that address two levels of cluster configurations -- a standard configuration, where cost is the primary decision factor, and enhanced configuration, where application performance is the determining factor for purchase.


• Accelerated delivery times and competitive pricing for cluster components through IBM's Express Seller program.


• Field support from the experts. IBM Business Partners have access to IBM's Cluster Enablement Team for technical questions and advice.

3) New benchmarking and tuning centers dedicated to Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server. IBM has expanded its relationship with Microsoft to offer customers, software vendors and IBM Business Partners four new benchmarking facilities in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Raleigh, N.C.; Beaverton, Ore.; and Montpelier, France. These new centers join a network of global Linux benchmark centers.

4) On-Demand Test-Drive Facility. Customers interested in moving to a clustered environment can quickly test-drive their HPC applications in IBM's Deep Computing Capacity on Demand centers. With access to over 20,000 processors, customers large and small can tap into IBM Systems to help accelerate time to market and improve quality while helping to keep fixed costs to a minimum.

About IBM Clusters

HPC clusters can range from as few as two to thousands of servers woven together to deliver high-speed performance demanded by a broad range of applications. IBM hardware offerings in this space include System x, System p™ and BladeCenter servers and IBM System Storage™, as well as the IBM System Cluster 1350, an integrated, factory built and tested cluster with networking from leading vendors. With the inclusion of the Cell Broadband Engine and ClearSpeed Advance accelerator boards, IBM offers customers hybrid cluster architecture options -- bringing to bear a whole new level of coprocessor capability.

Hardware components feature key technology innovations including the industry's first "snap in" scalable blade, Xcelerated Memory Technology and PowerExecutive™, an industry-first energy management technology, which enables clients to meter and cap the amount of power used by a single server or groups of servers to optimize energy use and application performance.

For more information about IBM Clusters, go to http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/clusters

Trion World Network and HP to Enable the Next Generation in Broadband Games and Entertainment

Trion World Network (Trion) and HP (NYSE: HPQ) announced they will collaborate to design and build the technology infrastructure for Trion’s next-generation broadband games and entertainment platform.

Trion’s games and entertainment services, powered by HP, will be the first in the world to truly combine the best of games, broadband, and traditional media. The services’ fully dynamic content will allow for continuously fresh experiences for users. Gamers will be able to access the interactive content from a wide array of devices, using the specific capabilities of the device.

Trion has selected HP as its preferred technology solution provider. HP will provide its industry-leading server, storage, development workstation and software technologies, interactive entertainment expertise, and global support services to enable Trion to build and maintain the mission-critical computing and communications environment required to power their next-generation infrastructure and develop world-class game content.

“HP’s experience in architecting highly scalable and available environments for industries such as games, airlines, telecommunications, and financial stock exchanges makes HP the perfect partner for us,” said Lars Buttler, CEO, Trion World Network. “HP fundamentally understands what the next generation of infrastructure and consumer technology needs to look like for a revolutionary customer experience in interactive entertainment. Also, we are anxious to leverage HP’s unique and powerful presence in the consumer market for gaming devices and consumer electronics products.”

“As global entertainment moves to broadband, the opportunities for transforming interactive entertainment are exploding,” said Matthew Lane, director, Communications, Media and Entertainment, HP. “Trion will lead the industry a step further by developing technology that will dramatically alter the way interactive entertainment is produced, consumed, and monetized. With our strategic interactive entertainment assets such as mission-critical gaming infrastructure and Voodoo PCs, we believe our partnership with Trion will help them make this vision a reality.”


About Trion World Network

Trion World Network, Inc. is the publisher and developer of games and original entertainment for the broadband era. Trion provides groundbreaking new capabilities and content to revolutionize global entertainment by combining the best elements of online, gaming, and traditional media. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, and with a Technology Center in Austin, Texas, Trion combines unrivaled experience and vision in the online entertainment industry with a world-class team of internet and gaming veterans.

New AMD Platform Integrates ATI Graphics for The Ultimate Visual Experience For Windows Vista at an Affordable Price

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today introduced the AMD 690 series chipset, the company’s first chipset to bring together the combined strengths of AMD CPU and platform technology with the industry-leading features of the ATI Radeon™ X1250 GPU.

“As a result of the ATI merger, AMD is delivering innovative platforms for the commercial and consumer markets featuring best of breed performance, visual computing experience, energy efficiency and stability,” said Dirk Meyer, AMD president and COO. “With the launch of the AMD 690 series chipset, AMD is delivering on the commitment we made to our customers, channel partners and end users to bring to them customer-centric innovation. Our largest global customers are already committed to offering AMD 690 series-based solutions, and more than 30 motherboard designs will be available.”

“With its leading image quality and 3D graphics capabilities, the AMD 690 series chipset is a proven performer, easily handling the demanding workloads of today’s PC users,” said Phil Eisler, corporate vice president and general manager, AMD Chipset Division. “This is just the first in a line of innovative, high- performance AMD chipsets that we’ll introduce to address every sector of the market.”

The AMD 690 series chipset incorporates ATI Radeon™ X1250 graphics into its design to ensure The Ultimate Visual ExperienceTM for Windows Vista. Multitasking between applications has never been easier with Windows Aero, the new visually-rich 3D user interface built into Windows Vista Premium and Business editions. The AMD 690 series chipset delivers the power to make new features like Windows Flip and Windows Flip 3D an integral part of every business day.1

“As one of the first chipsets with motherboard graphics to receive the Certified for Windows Vista logo, the AMD 690 family is a testament to the ongoing relationship between Microsoft and AMD,” said Dave Wascha, director of partner marketing for Windows Client at Microsoft Corp. “ATI Radeon graphics deliver excellent Windows Vista performance. We’re proud that together we’re able to provide consumers worldwide an experience that is easier, safer, more entertaining and better connected whether at home, at work, or on the go.”

Working together, AMD’s chipset, CPU and GPU hardware and software teams have optimized the AMD 690 platform to provide rock-solid stability and image quality and will soon support select platforms in the AMD Validated Solutions program. Commercial customers will appreciate the energy-efficient design of AMD 690 series-based platforms, in a compact package suitable for multiple form factors and configurations, supporting up to four monitors with the addition of a dual-DVI ATI Radeon graphics card.

The AMD 690 family is the first AMD chipset with ATI graphics that supports ATI Avivo™ technology, providing The Ultimate Visual Experience™ with smooth video playback and true-to-life images for all multimedia, including high-definition content. The AMD 690 series chipset also provides more display choices than any other chipset today, being the first chipset with integrated HDMI and a separate DVI output. Protected content can also be played through on-chip HDCP support, making this chipset an incredible multimedia platform.2

The new AMD 690 series chipset, representing one of the industry’s most versatile platform GPU solutions, is also a new addition to the AMD Better by Design program. Launched earlier this year, the Better by Design program is an industry-wide initiative highlighting outstanding performance and superior technologies in PCs designed by leading global OEMs. Today’s PC users want better performance and a richer experience, and the Better by Design program provides the added level of information needed to make the smarter choice.

The AMD 690 series chipset will be widely available from partners, including Albatron Technology Co., ASUS, Biostar, ECS, ELITEGROUP COMPUTER SYSTEMS CO., LTD, EPoX Computer Company, Foxconn Technology Group, GIGABYTE United Inc, Jetway Info Co. Ltd., MSI Computer Ltd., PCPartner Ltd. and Sapphire. In addition, numerous system integrators are on board including Atelco, Bas Group, Formoza, Multimedis, Onda, PC Box, Seethru, Systemax, Unika, Unika Multimedia and ZT Group.


1. On PCs configured to Windows Vista Premium system requirements, this product supports the Premium Windows Aero User Experience within: Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise. Details at windowsvista.com/getready

2. AMD 690 series chipsets are HDCP-compliant, including a built-in EEPROM and HDCP key. Other components such as HDCP content and an HDCP-capable display are also required and not provided by AMD. Third parties have the option of making their AMD 690-based motherboards HDCP-compliant as well. If this is an important feature to you, check with the third party motherboard partner prior to purchasing a third party product.

ADSK: Autodesk Reports Record Revenues of $497 Million

Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) today reported record quarterly revenues of $497 million, an increase of 19 percent over the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006.

"We are pleased to finish another year of outstanding execution and revenue growth," said Carl Bass, Autodesk president and CEO. "In fiscal 2007, we delivered revenues of $1.84 billion, nearly double the level of three years ago. Our fourth quarter growth was driven by strong performance from emerging economies, our subscription program and, most significantly, record revenues from our model-based 3D products. Looking to fiscal 2008, we expect Autodesk to continue to focus on delivering industry-leading 3D design software solutions that help our customers be more productive, improve quality and foster greater innovation."

Operational Highlights

Autodesk's performance was driven by robust increases in revenue from model-based 3D products, maintenance revenue from subscription, and revenue in the emerging economies. In addition, revenues from crossgrades -- customers moving from one product to another -- and new seats showed strong growth.

The Company's model-based 3D products, Inventor, Revit and Civil 3D, continue to increase their market penetration. Combined revenues from these model-based design products increased 40 percent over the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 to a record $121 million or 24 percent of total revenues in the quarter. In total, Autodesk shipped more than 47,000 commercial seats of 3D in the quarter including 23,000 seats of Revit, over 15,000 seats of Inventor and nearly 9,000 seats of Civil 3D.

Once again, emerging economies contributed robust growth in revenues. Revenues from the emerging economies in Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America increased 44 percent over the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 to $75 million and represented 15 percent of total revenues in the fourth quarter.

Maintenance revenues from subscription increased 53 percent compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 to $123 million or 25 percent of total revenues. Continued strength in subscription attach rates and renewal rates drove a $53 million sequential increase in deferred maintenance revenue from subscription. Total upgrade revenues increased slightly compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 driven by a 45 percent increase in crossgrade revenue.

Revenues from new seats increased by 15 percent compared to the fourth quarter of last year. Revenues from new seats of Revit and Civil 3D increased 95 percent and 26 percent, respectively, compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006. Revenues from new seats of AutoCAD Mechanical and Inventor Professional increased by 68 percent and 62 percent, respectively, compared to the fourth quarter of last year. Revenues from new seats of flame increased by over 100 percent compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006.

OTHER FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

* Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities increased by
$181 million sequentially to $778 million as of January 31, 2007.
* Total backlog was $415 million as of January 31, 2007, including
$398 million of deferred revenues. Deferred maintenance revenues from
subscription increased $53 million sequentially to $328 million. In
addition, there was $17 million of unshipped product orders, or
shippable backlog, at quarter end.
* Channel inventory decreased sequentially and was below the normal range
of three to four weeks.
* As a result of strong subscription bookings in the quarter, DSO's
increased to 55 days.
* Capital expenditures were $10 million.
* As a result of the voluntary review of the Company's historical stock
option granting practices and the related accounting, the Company did
not issue or repurchase any shares during the quarter.
* There were approximately 231 million total shares outstanding and
244 million diluted shares outstanding in the fourth quarter.
* Revenues in the Americas increased 15 percent over the fourth quarter of
fiscal 2006 to $203 million.
* Revenues in EMEA increased 26 percent over the fourth quarter of fiscal
2006 to $189 million.
* Revenues in Asia Pacific increased 18 percent over the fourth quarter of
fiscal 2006 to $105 million. Revenues in Japan decreased three percent
compared to last year. Excluding Japan, revenues in Asia Pacific
increased 34 percent compared to last year.
* In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, spending on total costs and
expenses -- which include cost of license and other revenue, cost of
maintenance revenues, marketing and sales, research and development, and
general and administrative -- increased by $5 million sequentially.
* Spending related to the voluntary stock option review included
$3 million in legal, tax and accounting fees.
* Interest and other income decreased by $2 million sequentially to
$4 million.

Fiscal 2007 Full Year ReviewRevenues for fiscal 2007 increased 21 percent over fiscal 2006 to $1.84 billion, driven by strength in revenues from model-based 3D products, new seat revenue, maintenance revenue from subscription, and revenue in the emerging economies. Combined revenues from the Company's model-based 3D products increased 41 percent over fiscal 2006 to a record $399 million. In total, Autodesk shipped nearly 150,000 commercial seats of 3D including nearly 70,000 seats of Revit, nearly 48,000 seats of Inventor and nearly 31,000 seats of Civil 3D.

Revenue from the emerging economies in Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America increased 39 percent over fiscal 2006 to $258 million.

Revenue from new seats increased 19 percent over fiscal 2006. Maintenance revenue from subscription increased 53 percent in fiscal 2007 to $424 million.

Because Autodesk has not yet filed its second and third quarter fiscal 2007 financial statements, several adjustments have been made to the financial results of the second and third quarters of fiscal 2007. Events that occurred subsequent to these quarters provided additional information which differed from the estimates that were originally provided. The changes result in a decrease in our after-tax GAAP expenses for the second quarter of $13.6 million and an increase in our GAAP expenses for the third quarter of $2.6 million. On a Non-GAAP basis, these adjustments decreased our after-tax spending for the second and third quarters of fiscal 2007 by $2.9 million and $0.7 million, respectively. Please refer to the table below for a reconciliation of the Non-GAAP to GAAP results.

Reconciliation of GAAP Subsequent Event Adjustments to Non-GAAP Subsequent
Event Adjustments

Amounts in millions, net of tax Q2 Q3

GAAP adjustments $13.6 $(2.6)

Settlement-based reversal of legal accrual (9.9) (2.3)

Tax benefit and rate true-up (0.8) (0.4)

SFAS 123R termination-related
modifications -- 6.0

Non-GAAP adjustments $2.9 $0.7


Business OutlookThe following statements are forward-looking statements which are based on current expectations and which involve risks and uncertainties some of which are set forth below. As a result of the voluntary stock option review, the Company is not providing EPS guidance at this time. Additionally, because accounting related to the restatement of its financial statements is being finalized as a result of the voluntary stock option review, as described below, the Company is not able to provide GAAP operating margins for fiscal 2008 at this time.

First Quarter Fiscal 2008

Net revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2008 are expected to be in the range of $490 million to $500 million. Non-GAAP operating margins for the first quarter of fiscal 2008 are expected to be in the range of 25.5 to 26.3 percent. Non-GAAP operating margins do not include SFAS 123R stock-based compensation expenses, which the Company is currently unable to determine but believes will be significant, amortization of acquisition related intangibles of approximately $4 million, and reimbursement to employees for tax issues arising from the stock option review, which the Company is currently unable to estimate but believes to be significant. Company estimates include approximately $4 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2008 for legal, tax and accounting fees related to the voluntary stock option review period.

Second Quarter Fiscal 2008

Net revenues for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 are expected to be in the range of $505 million to $515 million. Non-GAAP operating margins for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 are expected to be in the range of 25.5 to 26.3 percent. Non-GAAP operating margins do not include SFAS 123R stock-based compensation expenses, which the Company is currently unable to determine but believes will be significant, amortization of acquisition related intangibles of approximately $4 million, and reimbursement to employees for tax issues arising from the stock option review, which the Company is currently unable to estimate but believes to be significant.

Full Year Fiscal 2008

For fiscal year 2008, net revenues are expected to be between $2.075 billion and $2.125 billion.

Not taking into account SFAS 123R stock-based compensation expenses, which the Company is currently unable to determine but believes will be significant, amortization of acquisition related intangibles of approximately $16 million, and reimbursement to employees for tax issues arising from the stock option review, which the Company is currently unable to estimate but believe to be significant, non-GAAP operating margins for fiscal year 2008 are expected to be in the range of 27 to 27.5 percent. In addition, the Company now expects its fiscal 2008 tax rate to be between 25 and 26 percent.

Stock Option Review

In a separate announcement, the Company today announced that the Audit Committee of Autodesk's Board of Directors has completed its voluntary review of the Company's stock option grant practices. As a result of the findings of the voluntary review, the Board of Directors has concluded that the consolidated balance sheets as of January 31, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, and the related consolidated statements of income, stockholders' equity, and cash flows for each of the fiscal years ended January 31, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 should no longer be relied upon. As a result, the Company expects to restate its previously-issued financial statements for fiscal years 2003 through 2006, to make adjustments related to accounting for stock-based compensation expense. The Company currently estimates that the pre-tax, non-cash charges to be incurred are in the range of $38 million to $45 million for stock-based compensation expense over the 18 year period of the review. Approximately $23 million to $26 million of the restated amounts will apply to income statement for fiscal years 2003 through 2006, and the remainder, which is applicable to prior fiscal years, will be recorded as a charge to be retained earnings as of January 31, 2002. The adjustment for the first quarter of fiscal 2007 will be recorded in the second quarter of fiscal 2007 due to its insignificance. Ernst & Young, LLP has not yet completed its procedures with regard to the Company's restated financial statements. More information is available in the press release and Form 8-K filed today, February 27, 2007.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements in the paragraphs under "Business Outlook" above, statements in the paragraphs under "Stock Option Review" above, statements regarding anticipated market trends and other statements regarding our expected performance. Factors relating to the voluntary stock option review described above that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to: the discovery of additional information relevant to the review, any additional conclusions of the Audit Committee (and the timing of such conclusions) concerning matters relating to the Company's stock option grants and the impact of the review on the amount and timing of previously awarded stock-based compensation and other additional expenses to be recorded, the timing of review and conclusions of the Company's independent registered public accounting firm regarding the Company's stock option grants and related accounting adjustments to the Company's financial statements for certain periods, the application of accounting or tax principles in an unanticipated manner, an unanticipated delay in the preparation and filing of the Company's required reports with the SEC or an inability to meet the requirements of the NASDAQ Global Select Market for continued listing of its shares. The stock option grant practices under review and related matters have led and could also lead to potential claims and proceedings relating to such matters, including shareholder or employee litigation and action by the SEC and/or other regulatory agencies, and negative tax or other implications for the Company resulting from any accounting adjustments or other factors.

Other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include the following: general market and business conditions, expenses, resulting from the voluntary stock option review, our performance in particular geographies, fluctuations in our tax rate, the timing and degree of expected investments in growth opportunities, slowing momentum in maintenance or subscription revenues, changes in the timing of product releases and retirements, failure of key new applications to achieve anticipated levels of customer acceptance, difficulties encountered in integrating new or acquired businesses and technologies, failure to achieve sufficient sell-through in our channels for new or existing products, pricing pressure, fluctuation in foreign currency exchange rates, failure to achieve continued cost reductions and productivity increases, failure to achieve continued migration from 2D products to 3D products, failure to achieve continued success in technology advancements, the financial and business condition of our reseller and distribution channels, interruptions or terminations in the business of the Company's consultants or third party developers, and unanticipated impact of accounting for technology acquisitions.

Further information on potential factors that could affect the financial results of Autodesk are included in the Company's reports on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31, 2006 and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 30, 2006 which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Autodesk does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements provided to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

Earnings Conference Call and Webcast

Autodesk will host its fourth quarter conference call today at 5:00 p.m. EST. The live announcement may be accessed at http://www.autodesk.com/investors or by dialing 866-203-2528 or 617-213-8847 (passcode: 10432828). An audio webcast or podcast of the call will be available at 7:00 pm EST at http://www.autodesk.com/investors. This replay will be maintained on our website for at least twelve months. An audio replay will also be available for one month beginning at 7:00 pm EST by dialing 888-286-8010 or 617-801-6888 (passcode: 43703753).

ORCL: Oracle Database 10g Release 2 Sets New Industry World Record with TPC-C Benchmark

Today Oracle announced a new world record with a TPC-C benchmark result of more than 4 million transactions per minute. The result was achieved with Oracle® Database 10g Release 2 on an HP Integrity Superdome server running HP-UX 11i v3 and HP StorageWorks Arrays(1). With this result, Oracle showcases its superior transaction processing power -- setting a new industry record that surpasses the best TPC-C performance results on any database including IBM DB2(2), and becoming the overall performance leader in both TPC-C clustered(3) and non-clustered categories.
Running on an HP Integrity Superdome server with 64 Dual Core Intel® Itanium® 2 1.6 GHz processors and the HP-UX 11i v3 operating system, Oracle Database 10g Release 2 Enterprise Edition achieved a record 4,092,799 tpmC (transactions per minute) with a price-performance ratio of $2.93/tpmC, the best price per transaction of any result over 4 hundred thousand transactions per minute.

"As business demand for increased transaction throughput continues to grow, customers rely on Oracle Database 10g to seamlessly scale their systems accordingly," said Juan Loaiza, Senior Vice President Systems Technology, Oracle. "This benchmark demonstrates that Oracle Database 10g continues to raise the bar with record performance achievement for OLTP systems."

Oracle Database 10g provides a single, integrated database engine for cost-effective, scalable and high-performing online transaction processing (OLTP) and data warehousing implementations. Oracle's latest benchmark builds upon its extensive history of providing world-class performance, availability and security for today's intense OLTP systems.

About TPC-C
TPC-C is an OLTP (online transaction processing) benchmark developed by the Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC). The TPC-C benchmark defines a rigorous standard for calculating performance and price/performance measured by transactions per minute (tpmC) and $/tpmC, respectively.

About Oracle Database 10g
The only database designed for grid computing, Oracle Database 10g delivers superior performance, scalability, availability, security and ease of management on a low-cost grid of industry standard storage and servers. Oracle Database 10g is designed to be effectively deployed on everything from small blade servers to the biggest SMP servers and clusters of all sizes. It features automated management capabilities for easy, cost-effective operation. Oracle Database 10g's unique ability to manage data from traditional business information to XML documents and spatial/location information makes it the ideal choice to power online transaction processing, decision support and content management applications.



For more information on TPC-C benchmarks, please visit www.tpc.org. TPC is a registered trademark by the Transaction Processing Council.
Source: Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC), http://www.tpc.org


As of February 27, 2007:
(1) HP Integrity Enterprise Superdome server, 4,092,799 tpmC (64 processors/128 cores/256 threads), $2.93/tpmC, available 08/23/07.
(2) IBM System P5 595, 4,033,378 tpmC, (32 processors/64 cores/128 threads), $2.97/tpmC, available 1/22/07.
(3) HP Integrity rx5670 Cluster, 1,184,893 tpmC, (64 processors/64 cores/64 threads), $5.52/tpmC, available 4/30/04.

GE Fanuc Embedded Systems Announces EP2A Single Board Computer For Rugged Military Applications

Demonstrating once again the company’s market-leading responsiveness to customer requirements, GE Fanuc Embedded Systems today announced the EP2A 6U VME single board computer, the latest in the EmPower family. Featuring a Freescale PowerPC MPC7448 processor and 1 Gigabyte of DDR SDRAM, the EP2A also includes the latest Marvell Discovery V integrated system controller for leading-edge performance. The EP2A is not only a highly cost-effective solution, but also offers a unique I/O set with its four fast HDLC-capable serial ports (enabled by a PowerQUICC 2 device) complementing its Gigabit Ethernet, USB and GPIO capabilities. Outstanding flexibility is achieved by the provision of two PMC sites as well as GE Fanuc’s unique AFIX (Additional Flexible Interface Xtension) card site that allows custom functionality to be added to the board at minimum cost and in minimum time.

“In today’s military embedded computing applications, a significant area of interest for customers is I/O capability,” said Richard Kirk, Product Manager at GE Fanuc Embedded Systems. “The EP2A further extends the range of single board computer I/O options available from GE Fanuc Embedded Systems, complementing the capabilities of the PowerXtreme and XtraPower families in a way that enables customers to choose a single source solution without compromising feature set requirements. The EP2A is also further evidence of our commitment to providing ongoing technology insertion opportunities, giving existing EP1A customers a straightforward path to higher levels of performance.”

Designed specifically for the rugged defense and aerospace market and applications such as mission computing and embedded communications, the EP2A offers unprecedented flexibility. Its two PMC sites and single AFIX site can be employed simultaneously without sharing I/O pins with the on-board I/O features. AFIX cards are available that support dual MIL-STD-1553B interfaces, SCSI, graphics and Flash memory modules, and customer specific versions. The fast HDLC-capable serial channels and Gigabit Ethernet ports make the EP2A highly suited to communications-oriented embedded computing applications.

Available in five air- and conduction-cooled environmental levels, the EP2A is fully supported by comprehensive Deployed Test Software (BIT and BCS) and BSPs for VxWorks from Wind River Systems, LynxOS from LynuxWorks and Integrity from Green Hills Software. First shipments are expected in 2Q07.

About GE Fanuc Embedded Systems

GE Fanuc Embedded Systems is a leading global provider of embedded computing solutions for a wide range of industries and applications. Featuring a comprehensive offering that includes Intel® and PowerPC®-based Single Board Computers, sensor processing networking products, avionics interfaces, rugged flat panel monitors and complete computer systems, GE Fanuc Embedded Systems can support the full range of embedded computing needs. GE Fanuc Embedded Systems is part of GE Fanuc, a joint venture between GE and FANUC LTD of Japan. For more information, visit www.gefanucembedded.com

CSCO:Cisco Opens S$3 million Customer Briefing Center in Singapore

Cisco® has established a state-of-the-art customer briefing center (CBC) in Singapore to showcase the latest innovations in Internet Protocol (IP) networking technology. The CBC also provides Cisco's Asia Pacific channel partners and customers with a live environment to test their solutions in multiple operating environments.

As part of Cisco's iP3 (interaction across people, private and public enterprise) agreement with Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), the CBC will also enable Singaporean technology companies to test applications they have developed for interoperability with Cisco's extensive range of networking solutions. These companies can also showcase their own solutions at the CBC, potentially opening up opportunities with Cisco's regional partners and customers.

The Singapore CBC was inaugurated today by IDA's chairman, Lam Chuan Leong, and Cisco's president for the Asia Pacific region, Owen Chan. Also present at the opening ceremony were Chan Yeng Kit, chief executive officer of IDA Singapore, and Craig Gledhill, Cisco's managing director for Singapore and Brunei.

"IDA welcomes collaborative efforts with industry leaders, like Cisco, to help develop the Singapore infocomm industry in the area of next-generation networking technologies. The CBC will provide an environment for local infocomm players to test their solutions before bringing them to market," said Mr Chan Yeng Kit, CEO of IDA.

"The network is increasingly becoming the center of all communications and IT. The expanding role of the network builds on the end-to-end and architecture-based differentiation that Cisco has been investing in for many years. The Singapore CBC will showcase many of these technologies," said Gledhill.

Highlights of the Singapore CBC include two Cisco TelePresence rooms, two demonstration areas, and two media walls with rich multimedia content. Singaporean companies can make use of the Cisco TelePresence rooms to meet "virtually" with Cisco's partners and customers around the world, thus saving them the expense and time of traveling to those countries.

Said Andre Smit, Cisco's senior director of technical operations in Asia Pacific, whose team manages the facility: "The Singapore CBC provides a strong customer proof of concept of the ability of Cisco's technologies and solutions to transform businesses. The wide variety of advanced technologies that the CBC is equipped with also demonstrates Cisco's technology leadership and open and collaborative approach."

The demonstration pods in the CBC can be used individually or collectively to showcase technologies across different locations or environments.

On display are a number of Cisco's advanced technologies - including unified communications, security and wireless - with examples of how they can help customers increase business growth, agility, efficiency and productivity.

INTC: Intel Announces Investment in Rio Rancho, New Mexico Site

Intel Corporation today announced that it will invest $1 billion to $1.5 billion in its Rio Rancho site to retool Fab 11X for production on Intel's next generation 45 nanometer (nm) manufacturing process. Fab 11X will be the company's fourth factory scheduled to use the 45nm process, with production in New Mexico scheduled to start in the second half of next year.

Marking one of the biggest advancements in fundamental transistor design in 40 years, Intel's 45nm high-k and metal gate process consists of an innovative combination of new transistor materials that drastically reduces transistor leakage and increases performance. When 45nm production begins later this year, the company will use a new material with a higher-k (dielectric constant), and a new combination of metal materials for the transistor gate electrode. Extending its lead over the rest of the semiconductor industry, early versions of Intel's next generation 45nm family of products - codenamed Penryn - are already running multiple operating systems and applications, and the company remains on track to begin 45nm production in the second half of this year.

"Our new 45 nanometer process represents one of the most significant manufacturing breakthroughs in decades and we believe that putting it in our factory in New Mexico will help us deliver the best possible products for our customers," said Paul Otellini, Intel Corporation's president and chief executive officer. "Our Rio Rancho site has successfully operated in New Mexico for 27 years. Based on that success, we are pleased to position Fab 11X for Intel's next generation of technology."

"We have worked hard to make New Mexico a center for new technology and this announcement is $1 billion worth of proof that our efforts are working," said Governor Bill Richardson. "This investment sends the message that Intel New Mexico will be here for years to come, and will manufacture some of the most advanced technology in the world."

"This decision by Intel to invest over $1 billion in its Rio Rancho facility is great news," said Senator Pete Domenici. "Intel has been an outstanding corporate citizen in New Mexico. By retooling its plant with the latest technology, the company is ensuring that it will have a major presence in our state for years to come - and a major impact on our economy. I welcome Intel's commitment, and I'm pleased that they will be continuing to benefit from our state's skilled workforce and commitment to innovation."

Initial production of Intel's 45nm products will be done at its Oregon development fab, D1D. The company is currently building two other factories that will use the 45nm process. The $3 billion Fab 32 in Chandler, Ariz., will commence production late this year; and the $3.5 billion Fab 28 in Kiryat Gat, Israel, will begin production the first half of next year.

Fab 11X currently manufactures 90nm computer chips on 300mm wafers. Fab 11X began production in October 2002 and was Intel's first 300mm, or 12 inch, high-volume manufacturing facility. It was also Intel's first fully automated, high volume factory producing 300mm wafers.

GE Capital Solutions Acquires Trustreet Properties

GE Capital Solutions, the business-to-business leasing, financing and asset management unit of General Electric (NYSE: GE), today finalized its acquisition of Trustreet Properties for $17.05 per share of common stock, or approximately $3 billion. Trustreet Properties is now part of Scottsdale, Ariz., -based GE Capital Solutions, Franchise Finance. This significantly expands financial services offerings in the restaurant industry for GE.

“We’ve strengthened our product portfolio and our reach so we can serve more kinds of customers in more places,” says Darren Kowalske, president and CEO, GE Capital Solutions, Franchise Finance.

The acquisition enables GE Capital Solutions, Franchise Finance to significantly increase market share and to create a more dynamic business. The mortgage products and sale-leaseback capabilities of GE Capital Solutions, Franchise Finance give restaurant owners/operators a more extensive suite of products and services to choose from when tailoring their financial needs.

“We have assumed Trustreet operations and are conducting all sale-leaseback financing and related asset management with the same high level of service and reliance our respective customers have come to expect,” says Kowalske. “Additionally, the restaurant 1031 trading platform (www.Trustreet1031.com) is now part of GE Capital Solutions, Franchise Finance, providing valuable information to customers and to the industry.”

GE Capital Solutions, Franchise Finance, is maintaining the former Trustreet office in Orlando, as well as its current offices in Scottsdale and Bellevue, and now is a leading provider of triple-net lease financing to operators of national and regional restaurant chains.

About GE Capital Solutions, Franchise Finance

GE Capital Solutions, Franchise Finance is a leading lender for the franchise finance market via direct sales and portfolio acquisition. With more than 30 years of experience and $11 billion in served assets, we serve more than 6,000 customers and more than 20,000 property locations, primarily in the restaurant, hospitality, branded beverage, power sports, and automotive after-market industries. We offer customers access to capital with a menu of products featuring flexible structuring, including financing for acquisitions, refinancing, construction of new units, and remodels for single- and multi-unit operators/chains. More information is available at www.gefranchisefinance.com or by calling toll-free 866-GET-GEFF (438-4333).

GE Capital Solutions provides leasing, lending, and capital investment products and services to help business customers grow. It has over $100 billion in assets, serves more than a million clients around the world, and is headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut, USA. For more on GE Capital Solutions, go to www.ge.com/capitalsolutions

NSM: National Semiconductor Introduces Lowest-Power, Easy-to-Use Cable Extender Chipset

National Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE:NSM), a leading supplier of high-performance analog signal-path products, today introduced the industry’s lowest power cable extender chipset that boosts the reach of 0.15 Gbps to 1.5 Gbps LVDS, LVPECL, and CML signals up to 400 meters over copper cable with only 360 mW power consumption. National built this easy-to-use chipset with its proprietary silicon-germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS-8 process technology, which provides the highest performance-to-power ratios for high-speed interface devices.

National’s innovative DS15BA101 and DS15EA101 cable extender chipset extends serial data streams from serializer/deserializer (SerDes) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) over CAT5 and coaxial cable at up to half the cost of fiber optic solutions. Previously, LVDS/LVPECL/CML signals were limited to less than 20 meters of cable. Engineers have been seeking an easy way to bridge longer distances over low-cost copper cables, and National’s cable extender chipset and complete reference design now gives them the flexibility to easily extend that reach for remote cameras and displays, remote radio head (RRH) base stations, high-speed test equipment, industrial machine vision systems and many other industrial-grade applications.

Complete Reference Design
The DriveCable002EVK reference design features everything engineers need -- including evaluation system, schematic and printed circuit board (PCB) layout Gerber files -- to quickly and easily evaluate and integrate the cable extender chipset into their design. It plugs directly into a designer’s existing system and supports CAT5/5e/6/7 100-Ohm twisted pair cables up to 100 meters and 50-Ohm coaxial cables up to 400 meters. For more information on the DriveCable02EVK reference design and evaluation system, please visit http://www.national.com/appinfo/lvds/drivecable02evk.html

Cable Extender Chipset Technical Features
The DS15BA101 differential buffer is an adjustable cable driver offered in a space-saving 3 mm by 3 mm 8-pin LLP® package. The device is powered from a single 3.3V supply and consumes 150 mW (typical) at 1.5 Gbps. The DS15BA101 operates over the full -40 degrees C to 85 degrees C industrial temperature range. In addition to being used with the DS15EA101 adaptive equalizer as a cable extension chipset, the DS15BA101 cable driver also can be used standalone for level translation between LVDS/CML/LVPECL and CML or LVPECL.

With no packet formatting, training or comma characters required, the chipset automatically adapts to different cable types, cable lengths, data rates and data formats without external programming, providing an easy-to-use alternative to fiber and Ethernet solutions. For more information on the DS15BA101 or to order samples, visit http://www.national.com/pf/DS/DS15BA101.html

The DS15EA101 is an adaptive equalizer offered in a 4 mm by 4 mm 16-pin LLP package. It has been optimized for equalizing data transmitted over copper cables and operates over a wide -40 degrees C to 85 degrees C temperature range from 150 Mbps to 1.5 Gbps. The device automatically adapts to equalize any cable length from zero meters to distances with attenuation up to 35 dB at 750 MHz. The DS15EA101 allows either single-ended or differential input drive, enabling equalization of coaxial cables and twisted pair cables. Additional features include a loss of signal (LOS) output and an output enable which, when tied together, disable the output when no signal is present. The DS15EA101 is powered from a single 3.3V supply and consumes 210 mW (typical) at 1.5 Gbps. For more information on the DS15EA101 or to order samples, visit http://www.national.com/pf/DS/DS15EA101.html

About National’s Interface Portfolio
National Semiconductor, the LVDS and CML technology innovator and market leader, offers a wide range of interconnect solutions that transfer high-speed digital signals using world-class analog technology. These solutions help system designers develop high-performance applications in a variety of markets, including communication and industrial systems. The products feature high reliability, low power and low noise, as well as dramatic systems savings in cable and connector costs. National Semiconductor is the world’s largest supplier of high-speed LVDS products, according to Databean’s 2005 Analog IC Market Share survey. For more information on National’s interface products, visit http://www.national.com/appinfo/interface/

Pricing and Availability
National’s cable extender chipset and DriveCable002EVK reference design are available now. In 1,000-unit quantities, the DS15BA101 is priced at $4, and the DS15EA101 is $8.75.

GE Enterprise Access Wireless Solution Gains Momentum with Hospitals

GE Healthcare and MobileAccess announced today that more than 10 hospitals in the last quarter have selected GE Enterprise Access as their universal wireless platform for hospitals. The Consumer Health World Conference recently named GE Enterprise Access as the “Best Mobile Technology for Improving Patient Care.” GE and MobileAccess launched this wireless solution in December 2005. Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City are among the latest hospitals to leverage the universal GE Enterprise Access wireless platform to support the mobile caregiver and enhance the patient experience.

GE Enterprise Access combines the strengths of MobileAccess technology and GE’s broad portfolio of wireless clinical products. The solution was designed to meet the rigorous demands of the dynamic healthcare environment and support multiple wireless services over a common infrastructure. With its built-in wireless interference mitigation capabilities and modular architecture, GE Enterprise Access seamlessly adapts to new wireless service requirements, providing reliable wireless coverage throughout hospitals without disrupting operations or interrupting existing services.

Wireless applications and services including Wireless Medical Telemetry Service (WMTS), patient monitoring, 802.11 a/b/g with encryption, Voice-over-WLAN, two-way radio, cellular/PCS, Wi-Fi, paging, public safety radio, and fire/safety communications are becoming increasingly vital to doctors, nurses, patients, hospital operations staff and first responders. GE Enterprise Access, in one product, helps to resolve the challenge of hospitals using multiple ad hoc systems and separate parallel networks. Additionally, GE Enterprise Access minimizes the disruption to sensitive hospital environments, a disruption that multiple ad hoc systems can potentially create.

“GE Enterprise Access supports hospitals’ growing focus on the mobile caregiver and enhancing the patient experience,” said David Ataide, general manager of GE Healthcare’s Monitoring Solutions business. “The innovative universal wireless platform creates an environment where information is shared and accessible in real time throughout hospitals. The solution also supports a myriad of wireless technologies and ensures they work together seamlessly with a focus on workflow, caregiver interaction and patient satisfaction.”

To this end, in July 2006, GE and MobileAccess announced the availability of a jointly developed WMTS solution that enables hospitals to operate GE’s ApexPro® CH wireless telemetry patient monitoring directly over GE Enterprise Access.

Some of the hospitals currently using GE Enterprise Access include:

Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois: Northwestern Memorial Hospital selected GE Enterprise Access to support the hospital’s ambitious program to utilize technology to continually improve patient care. The solution appealed to Northwestern Memorial because it ensures that doctors, nurses, staff and patients have wireless access to a full range of interpersonal, clinical, and building services throughout the hospital’s expansive 3 million square foot campus. The hospital also selected GE Enterprise Access because it enables the IT staff to offer all the services on a common infrastructure, and the ability to readily add new services and extend coverage throughout its expansive campus.

Already, Northwestern Memorial has completed two of the three planned deployment phases. GE Enterprise Access is deployed in 1.5 million square feet of the Feinberg and Galter Pavilions and delivers pervasive wireless coverage for GE’s ApexPro® CH wireless telemetry and patient monitoring, Wi-Fi-enabled mobile PC carts, wireless VoIP phones and physician/caregiver pager alerts. The solution also supports wireless Internet access for patients and visitors, as well as in-building cellular/PCS and 3G services from all of the major mobile carriers in the metropolitan Chicago area.

Northwestern Memorial continues to build on their GE Enterprise Access deployment with current pilot projects for mobile nurse/caregiver call systems, medical monitoring alerts, and location-based services. The final phase of the deployment will deliver seamless wireless coverage to an additional 500,000 square feet of the Feinberg and Galter Pavilions and the 1 million square foot Prentice Women’s Hospital, scheduled to open in the Fall of 2007.

Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah: Intermountain Healthcare incorporated GE Enterprise Access into the design plans for its new 1.5 million square foot campus and they plan on making the solution standard for all new buildings in its healthcare system. The solution is currently available in the central lab and the Jon and Karen Huntsman Cancer Center and it will be available throughout nearly all of the remaining buildings, including the Carolyn Barnes Gardner Women’s and Newborn Center, the J.L. Sorenson Heart and Lung Center, and the Roy W. and Elizabeth E. Simmons Trauma & Emergency Center/J.L. Sorenson Patient Tower when they open in October 2007.

Intermountain Healthcare selected GE Enterprise Access for its multi-service capabilities, universal architecture and proven track record in hospitals. The hospital’s IT staff wanted to give caregivers and patients pervasive wireless coverage for services, including Vocera’s 2-way instant communications system, VoIP, Wi-Fi and cellular services from Cingular, Sprint/Nextel, T-Mobile and Verizon. The hospital also saw the value of having a single infrastructure capable of supporting additional services, without re-wiring, impacting workspaces or existing services. Lastly, hospital planners agreed that housing intelligent network components and access points (APs) securely in telecommunications closets would improve manageability.

“In today’s hospital, migrating to a wireless infrastructure is more than a ‘nice to have,’ it is becoming the intrinsic ‘need to have’ for both staff and patients,” said David Baird, Intermountain Healthcare’s Urban Central Region Director of Information Systems. “GE Enterprise Access is the smart choice for hospitals looking to enhance the communication fundamental to decision making and patient care. With GE Enterprise Access, we have a wireless infrastructure that readily adapts to our shifting technology requirements, enabling us to adopt cutting-edge wireless services, applications and devices as we need them to improve communication and coordination of care. By delivering real-time access to information across our campus, GE Enterprise Access helps us improve caregiver productivity while reducing travel, testing and waiting times for patients, and operational costs for our organization.”

“MobileAccess and GE are helping hospitals across the country roll out ambitious programs to help improve patient care so that doctors, nurses and staff have better, more secure access to critical patient information,” said Cathy Zatloukal, president and CEO, MobileAccess. “Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Intermountain Medical Center join a growing number of prestigious hospitals that understand the benefits of a single, low-maintenance infrastructure to support all of their wireless needs. With GE Enterprise Access, these hospitals are able to create immediate operational efficiencies while positioning for growth, so they can eventually take advantage of emerging innovations in wireless medicine.”

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, treat and monitor disease, so patients can live their lives to the fullest.

GE Healthcare’s broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new “early health” model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com

About MobileAccess Networks

MobileAccess Networks is an enterprise wireless innovator that provides a universal platform for connecting the people and applications that drive business. The MobileAccess Universal Wireless Network is the key to widespread wireless connectivity in hospitals, office buildings, public venues and other large-scale facilities. The company's intelligent, in-building infrastructure delivers business-quality performance, scalability, security and signal reliability to more than 1000 customers, including Fortune 1000 companies such as Lehman Brothers and Hearst Corporation, leading healthcare facilities such as Northwestern Memorial and Clarian Health, as well as many public sector customers such as Aladdin Resort and Casino, ALLTEL Stadium, American University, and the Oakland International Airport. For more information, visit www.mobileaccess.com

IBM Supercomputing Simulations Support Chip Breakthrough

IBM (NYSE: IBM) researchers today announced an advancement in computer-based simulations that is helping to drive chip technologies to new heights of performance and function. As reported in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters, a team of scientists at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory for the first time used advanced supercomputer-based models to more deeply understand and master the complex behavior of a promising new material -- hafnium dioxide -- in silicon transistors, the fundamental building blocks of computer chips.

The new material is key to the company's recently-announced "high-k metal gate" technology, the first major change to the transistor since the emergence of silicon semiconductors, promising enhanced chip performance to benefit computers and other electronic systems. IBM is implementing the technology and will apply it to products in 2008.

The semiconductor industry has long sought to find a new material for a crucial part of the transistor known as the gate dielectric, which, with the materials used currently, is limiting the industry's ability to keep pace with the progress predicted by Moore's Law -- a maxim predicting a doubling of the number of transistors on a chip, and an associated increase in chip performance, every 12-18 months.

While hafnium dioxide appeared to be an ideal candidate for next-generation transistor gates, the introduction of any new material in semiconductors can have unforeseen consequences, so it must be thoroughly understood beforehand. One critical factor contributing to IBM's success in the highly complex and difficult task of integrating these new materials has been simulation of the interaction of this material at the atomic level.

Scientists at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory have used their long-standing expertise in computer-based modeling, together with the capabilities offered by the IBM Blue Gene supercomputer, to determine why hafnium dioxide works so much better than other high-k materials previously considered by the industry. As a result, the researchers were able to gain a clear picture -- for the first time -- of the underlying physics driving the unique electrical behavior of hafnium dioxide when it mixes with silicon, as observed in laboratory experiments, shedding light on the reasons that make this material unique as gate dielectric.

For this study, the IBM team simulated various material compositions using 50 different models of hafnium silicates, materials that form when silicon and hafnium oxides mix. These models contain up to 600 atoms and approx. 5,000 electrons, representing a realistic system. A single calculation of the dielectric constant was accomplished in only five days of computing time on the two-rack Blue Gene/L supercomputer (4096 processors) installed at the Zurich lab's site. The complete simulation for all 50 models, approx. 250 days on Blue Gene, would normally take the most powerful laptop PC an astounding 700 years to calculate. This corresponds to a staggering 200 billion billion (2 x 10^20) operations.

This work illustrates how supercomputing modeling techniques are bringing technologies of all kinds to a new level. Computer simulations have been possible since the 1980s, but only now -- thanks to the evolution of algorithms and their mapping to such an extremely scalable and balanced architecture as that of the Blue Gene computer -- scientists are able to tackle these types of problems by creating realistic models with several thousands of particles, starting only from the laws of nature.

"Advances in algorithms and their optimal mapping on extremely large and scalable computer hardware such as Blue Gene are empowering us to do accurate and realistic atomic simulations of complex materials," explains Alessandro Curioni, supercomputing expert from IBM's Zurich lab and emphasizes: "So indeed, today we are able to use supercomputers to investigate materials that will be eventually used in the next generation of supercomputers."

The approach used by the IBM team is called ab initio molecular dynamics, where the interactions between the particles of the system are derived from the basic laws of physics without employing any empirical data. In the course of their ground-breaking work, the IBM team created more than 50 realistic virtual models of the hafnium silicates with various concentrations of hafnium on the supercomputer. They then simulated the evolution of these structures over a given time period, estimated their dielectric constants and used these results to rationalize experimental findings.

The advantage of computer-based simulations is that, being virtual, they are free of the problems inherent to laboratory experiments, such as the effects of preparation conditions, the purity of the compounds, or the presence of parasitic reactions. Most importantly, with the simulations one can follow what the individual atoms are doing. Computer simulations allow the "intrinsic" and ideal characteristics of a material to be calculated and correlated directly with the structure at an atomic level.

About the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory

The IBM Zurich Research Laboratory (ZRL) is the European branch of IBM Research. This network of some 3200 employees in eight laboratories around the globe is the largest industrial research organization in the world. ZRL itself currently employs about 320 people, representing more than 30 nationalities.

ZRL's Computational Biochemistry and Materials Science group is among the worldwide leading research teams in this field, and is active in the development of accurate and efficient methodologies for the simulation of diverse materials, ranging from silicon to enzymes, at the atomic level. Since August 2005, the team uses a two-rack Blue Gene/L system, with a peak performance of 11.2 Teraflops, installed on the ZRL site, making it the second fastest supercomputer in Switzerland.

www.zurich.ibm.com/deepcomputing

Realogy Announces Filing Of Definitive Proxy Statement For Special Meeting Of Stockholders To Approve Merger Agreement With Apollo Management

Realogy Corporation (NYSE: H) today announced that it filed its definitive proxy statement for the special meeting of stockholders to be held on March 30, 2007, at the Hilton Parsippany, One Hilton Court, Parsippany, New Jersey 07054, at 10:00 a.m., for the purpose of voting on a proposal to approve the merger agreement with affiliates of Apollo Management, L.P. As previously disclosed, stockholders of record as of the close of business on February 20, 2007, will be entitled to vote at the special meeting of stockholders. The Company expects to commence the mailing of the notice of meeting and definitive proxy statement to stockholders on or about February 23, 2007.

Realogy also announced that it and Apollo have entered into a memorandum of understanding with certain plaintiffs to settle the purported consolidated class action litigation that was brought following the announcement of the proposed merger with Apollo. The defendants have denied any wrongdoing or liability in the memorandum of understanding, which they entered into to avoid the burden and expense of further litigation. The memorandum of understanding provides, among other things, for a reduction in the termination fee payable to Apollo under certain circumstances to $180 million, certain agreements by the defendants with respect to the time periods applicable to the exercise of stockholders' appraisal rights and additional disclosures in the proxy statement for the merger, which are reflected in the definitive proxy statement filed earlier today. The dismissal of the litigation is subject to court approval and other customary conditions.

Realogy currently expects to complete the merger with Apollo Management in early to mid-April 2007, subject to the adoption of the merger agreement by Realogy's stockholders and the satisfaction of other closing conditions.

The Company also reported its preliminary unaudited financial results for the 2006 full year, which are in line with its previously announced guidance for the full year. As of the date of this release, management estimates that unaudited 2006 full-year revenue was approximately $6.492 billion; EBITDA was approximately $852 million, excluding separation, restructuring, legacy costs of our former parent incurred by us and merger costs; and net income was approximately $412 million, adjusted on the same basis. As of the date of this release, management estimates that unaudited 2006 full-year net income was approximately $364 million, after deducting estimated separation, restructuring, legacy costs of our former parent incurred by us and merger costs. (Please see Table 1 for a definition of EBITDA, excluding separation, restructuring, legacy costs of our former parent incurred by us and merger costs, and a reconciliation of the preliminary 2006 full-year results of that measure to net income.)

While the numbers referred to above are preliminary, they will be audited and finalized in the Company's 2006 financial statements, which will be publicly disclosed and reflected in Realogy's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, which the Company anticipates filing with the SEC within the first 10 days of March 2007.

About Realogy Corporation

Realogy Corporation (NYSE: H), the world's largest real estate franchisor and a member of the S&P 500, has a diversified business model that also includes real estate brokerage, relocation and title services. Realogy's world-renowned brands and business units include Century 21®, Coldwell Banker®, Coldwell Banker Commercial®, ERA®, Sotheby's International Realty®, NRT Incorporated, Cartus and Title Resource Group. Headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., Realogy (www.realogy.com) has approximately 15,000 employees worldwide.

UPS, Airbus Revise A380 Agreement

UPS (NYSE:UPS) and Airbus signed an agreement yesterday that sets out a timetable for deciding the status of UPS's order for the freighter version of the A380. The agreement specifies changed delivery dates for the A380F and provides for possible termination of the original purchase agreement by either party later in 2007.

Deliveries of UPS's first 10 A380s were originally scheduled to begin in 2009 and run through 2012.

"UPS's decision to purchase the A380 freighter was based on a lengthy evaluation of our future network needs to meet customer demands across a variety of global trade lanes," said Bob Lekites, UPS's vice president of Airline and International Operations. "Those needs still exist and UPS has been carefully evaluating various options since Airbus announced production delays late last year. This agreement will provide us additional time to evaluate our network requirements and make a decision once and for all as to how best to ensure service to our customers."

GE Announces Advancement in Incandescent Technology; New High-Efficiency Lamps Targeted for Market by 2010

GE Consumer & Industrial’s Lighting division, a world leader in the development of energy-efficient lighting products, today announced advancements to the light bulb invented by GE’s founder Thomas Edison that potentially will elevate the energy efficiency of this 125-year-old technology to levels comparable to compact fluorescent lamps (CFL), delivering significant environmental benefits. Over the next several years, these advancements will lead to the introduction of high-efficiency incandescent lamps that provide the same high light quality, brightness and color as current incandescent lamps while saving energy and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.

The new high efficiency incandescent (HEI™) lamp, which incorporates innovative new materials being developed in partnership by GE’s Lighting division, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and GE’s Global Research Center, headquartered in Niskayuna, NY, would replace traditional 40- to 100-Watt household incandescent light bulbs, the most popular lamp type used by consumers today. The new technology could be expanded to all other incandescent types as well. The target for these bulbs at initial production is to be nearly twice as efficient, at 30 lumens-per-Watt, as current incandescent bulbs. Ultimately the high efficiency lamp (HEI) technology is expected to be about four times as efficient as current incandescent bulbs and comparable to CFL bulbs. Adoption of new technology could lead to greenhouse gas emission reductions of up to 40 million tons of CO2 in the U.S. and up to 50 million tons in the EU if the entire installed base of traditional incandescent bulbs was replaced with HEI lamps.

Kevin Nolan, Vice President of Technology for GE Consumer & Industrial, said: “In addition to offering significant energy savings comparable to CFLs, the 21st century version of Edison’s bulb provides all the desirable benefits including light quality and instant-on convenience as incandescent lamps currently provide at a price that will be less than CFLs. We and other lighting manufacturers have been aggressive in developing and marketing CFLs. But consumers want more options and we plan to respond to their needs and deliver environmental benefits, too. It’s important that we offer consumers a full range of products that meet their personal desire to reduce their negative impact on the environment while preserving their ability to pick the best lighting product for their needs. That’s why we are moving aggressively to commercialize these new lamps.”

GE’s announcement was made in conjunction with its decision to support legislation in the EU, the United States and in other areas that would accelerate the introduction of all types of high efficiency lighting products as part of the global effort to promote energy security and reduce emission of greenhouse gases. GE’s HEI ™ would support attainment of the objectives of the European Commission’s Energy Efficiency Action Plan, which aims to reduce Europe’s energy consumption 20% by the year 2020.

GE has invested more than $200 million in the last four years on the development of energy efficient lighting, including reduced-powered Miser® light bulbs to high-efficiency Par 38 halogen lamps and Energy Smart® compact fluorescent lamps. The US Department of Energy (DOE) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have recognized its contributions to energy efficiency and GHG reductions every year since 2004 with the ENERGY STAR Award, and in 2006 with the ENERGY STAR Award for Sustained Excellence. GE offers 67 ENERGY STAR-qualified lighting products. The environmental benefits of these products sold in 2006 alone will, over their lifetime, reduce consumers’ electricity costs by $1.3 billion and prevent 500 million tons of GHG emissions.

GE Consumer & Industrial spans the globe as an industry leader in major appliance, lighting and integrated industrial equipment, systems and services. Providing solutions for commercial, industrial and residential use in more than 100 countries, GE Consumer & Industrial uses innovative technologies and "ecomagination," a GE initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies that help customers and consumers meet pressing environmental challenges, to deliver comfort, convenience and electrical protection and control. General Electric (NYSE: GE) brings imagination to work, selling products under the Monogram®, Profile™ GE®, Hotpoint®, SmartWater™ Reveal®, Edison™ and Energy Smart™ consumer brands, and Entellisys™ industrial brand. For more information, consumers may visit www.ge.com

VZ: Verizon Business Helps Power COOP Systems' Global Expansion of Web-Based Business Continuity Service

To meet the growing global demand for its Web-based business-continuity planning services, COOP Systems Inc. is bolstering its offering by selecting Verizon Business' world-class data center services. The services include remote backup and restore capabilities that help back up the databases that COOP Systems maintains for its enterprise customers.

"Verizon Business Premium Data Center Services give COOP Systems a reliable and secure infrastructure platform upon which we can continue to expand our worldwide base of enterprise customers seeking the next generation of on-demand, Internet-based business continuity management tools," said Chris Alvord, CEO and founder of COOP Systems. "Verizon Business has the global resiliency that our customers need as well as a proven track record meeting the unique demands of a 'software-as-a service' provider like COOP Systems."

COOP Systems delivers its flagship myCOOPTM business continuity management software package via the emerging software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, in which the application is hosted by COOP Systems rather than by the customer. The software is delivered over the Web to help ensure availability of critical information. The delivery model also helps control set-up and operational costs and reduce strains on internal enterprise client resources.

With myCOOPTM, large and distributed businesses across the world can create business continuity plans and manage the response and recovery processes after major incidents. This includes the ability to manage the multilocation tasks of crisis-management and emergency-response teams.

Verizon Business Premium Data Center Services help enable COOP Systems to control its own infrastructure and maintenance costs and enable the SaaS provider to focus its IT resources on customer service and development of new Web-based continuity-planning features.

"Growing acceptance of on-demand services are fueling greater interest in managed service providers such as Verizon Business," said Jeff Kaplan, managing director of THINKstrategies Inc., a strategic IT consulting company, and the founder of the Software-as-a-Service and Managed Service Showplace directories. "This agreement is another example of how Verizon Business is expanding its portfolio of on-demand services and creating an ecosystem of SaaS vendors to meet the information technology and business needs of customers with global requirements."

Verizon Business Data Center Services provide companies such as COOP Systems with 24/7 availability of a flexible and robust infrastructure capable of handling variable usage levels. As a Remote Backup and Restore customer, COOP Systems gains immediate access to bandwidth- and storage-efficient technologies including user-initiated restores via a Web-based management tool, automated over-the-network restores and daily backups for remote locations.

Alvord said his company, which has prospective new enterprise customers in Asia and Europe, may soon need to expand the number of Verizon Business data center locations for customers who prefer in-country data center availability. "With Verizon Business, we have a cost-effective strategy in place to meet our expansion needs without impacting our customers or our core business processes," he said.

Verizon Business has more than 185 data centers in 22 countries and one of the most expansive global IP networks in the world.

About COOP Systems
COOP Systems (www.coop-systems.com), headquartered in Herndon, Va., is a global provider of continuity planning software. With a special focus on large clients with distributed planning needs, increasing numbers of innovative private and public sector clients have chosen myCOOPTM, a Web-based continuity planning program for on-demand business continuity management.

CSCO: Cisco Announces Agreement to Acquire Reactivity

Cisco Systems, Inc., (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Reactivity, Inc., of Redwood City, California. Reactivity is a leading XML (eXtensible Markup Language) gateway provider for organizations ranging from commercial enterprises to the Global 500.

Customers and major software providers are evolving their enterprise software architectures from a client-server paradigm to a service-oriented architecture. In addition, customers are deploying a variety of Web 2.0 capabilities that are collectively transforming the World Wide Web from a collection of relatively static web sites to a services rich computing platform. XML- and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)-based web services are becoming the de facto communications and information exchange standard for this new model of applications. Reactivity's industry leading XML gateways enable customers to efficiently deploy, secure, and accelerate XML and web services.

The acquisition demonstrates Cisco's commitment to the expanding Application Networking Services (ANS) Advanced Technology segment, which is an important part of Cisco's Service-Oriented Network Architecture (SONA) strategy and vision. Cisco ANS provides customers with shared application-aware services to improve the availability, performance, and security of applications delivered from the network platform. Reactivity complements and extends the capability of Cisco's ANS portfolio for these emerging application architectures.

"Customers continue to validate our on-going strategy of building more application services on the network platform," said Jayshree Ullal, Senior Vice President, Datacenter Switching and Security Technology Group (DSSTG). "Reactivity together with our Application Control Engine (ACE) provides a highly capable solution for customers' application delivery needs in the data center."

Under the terms of this agreement, Cisco will pay approximately $135 million in cash and assumed options of Reactivity. The acquisition is subject to various standard closing conditions, including applicable regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the third quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2007, ending April 28, 2007.

Reactivity was founded in 1998 and has 56 employees in Redwood City, Calif.

Upon close of the transaction, the Reactivity team and products will be integrated into DSSTG reporting up into Ullal.

SUNW: Sun Extends Leadership in Identity Management with Three New Professional Services

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW), today introduced three new offerings to its portfolio of Identity Management Professional Services, designed to help speed customer time to value with less implementation risk and cost and providing project predictability and faster return on investment (ROI) for identity management projects. Sun Human Resources Synchronization Service, Sun Role Management Service, and Sun Password Management Service combine best practices, proven methodologies and Sun expertise, as well as utilize the Sun Velocity Identity Deployment Tool.


These new services enable Sun's identity management consultants and Sun's partner community to deliver end-to-end identity management solutions characterized by faster implementations with more predictable results. Sun's partner community is excited about these new offerings. Both Deloitte and Accenture are working with Sun to establish their approach and training programs to enable them to leverage these Identity Management services in the market place.

"In today's marketplace, access is everything. Customers are continually wrestling with how to provide appropriate, secure data access to a wide range of users via a solution that is cost-effective, secure and fast," said Adolfo Hernandez, senior vice president, Global Services Practice, Sun Microsystems. "The services we're announcing today bring together Sun's team of identity management experts, the Sun Velocity Identity Deployment Tool and best practices to help companies remain competitive while keeping their information assets secure."

"Sun Java System Identity Manager is an elegant solution. It's a very intuitive product," said Norma McKelvy, Corporate Privacy and Security Officer, BlueCross Blue Shield of Kansas City. "The integration with Sun Velocity Identity Deployment Tool, the expertise of Sun's technical staff and their deep involvement in our development process have created a high level of trust."

"As Accenture and Sun's joint clients demand robust identity management solutions, we are pleased to see Sun introducing innovative new services offerings to help customers protect their most critical information and assets," said Rob Dyson, Senior Executive, Global Security Solutions, Accenture.

Each of the new Identity Management Professional Services are based on Sun's Velocity Identity Deployment Tool, an enabling technology that through automation and implementation methodology, delivers the unique business value of the service. Leveraging this technology, customers receive a supportable, maintainable and well documented identity management solution that includes automated business processes and integrated toolsets that help speed time to market.

Sun Human Resources Synchronization Service: Provides enterprises with a solution that links key information, like user names and passwords, to resources that users need to access in order to do their jobs. Sun provides common implementation scenarios to quickly allow enterprises to automatically provision IT resources based an authoritative HR system.
Sun Role Management Service: Leverages the Sun HR Synchronization Service or another authoritative source in place to address common provisioning and compliance scenarios centered on the concept of roles based access control. The service uses a framework of business and functional roles to control access and provide the ability to define, maintain, and audit roles in relation to both the business and functional roles within an organization. The role management framework helps companies avoid the common pitfalls associated with role proliferation or "role explosion."
Sun Password Management Service: Builds an automated password management framework that reduces administrative and operating costs associated with the processing and management of passwords. As part of the service, consultants build out various password management functions including how to process and manage authentication questions. This service helps customers achieve a significant reduction of Help Desk costs related to password management calls.
Each service includes consulting, architectural, and implementation activities designed to help deliver a solution that addresses the creation and modification of users throughout their account lifecycle.

Sun and its partner community also offer a complete portfolio of identity management services which helps customers from evaluation, through architecture and management of their identity management strategy.

For more information on Sun Identity Management Professional Services, visit: http://www.sun.com/service/identityprofessionalservices. For more information on Sun's Java System Identity Management software, visit: http://www.sun.com/identity

GE Brings ecomagination to India

General Electric Company (GE) today announced the launch of the company’s innovative ecomagination initiative in India -- designed to bring to market new technologies that will help customers address their most pressing environmental challenges such as the need for cleaner, more efficient sources of energy, reduced emissions and abundant sources of clean water.

The ecomagination initiative was launched in New Delhi by John Rice, GE Vice Chairman and President & CEO,GE Infrastructure and Lorraine Bolsinger, Vice President, Ecomagination in the presence of Mr. Kapil Sibal, Honourable Minister for Science and Technology, Government of India.

On the occasion, the company signed an MoU with Air India that will help the airline achieve its goal of becoming an environmentally sustainable airline, with sound environmental programs and practices. This first-of-its-kind partnership with Air-India will see GE delivering aircraft engines from its ecomagination portfolio including GE90-115B engines for the Boeing 777-300ERs and the GEnx engines for the Boeing 787-800 aircraft ordered by Air India. The value of these orders from Air India is over $2.2 billion. Beyond aircraft engines, to help Air India position itself as an environment friendly airline, GE will partner in other areas such as – green building, in flight content creation, co-branding etc.

GE also announced the signing of an MoU for a Green Building Project with Haryana Technology Park. The Haryana Technology Park is a Government of India approved integrated IT Park supported by Paharpur Business Centre & Software Technology Incubator Park, New Delhi. Under the MoU, GE India and Haryana Technology Park will collaborate in a number of initiatives to create a truly green building project of world standards specifically in the areas of utility services like power generation & distribution, lighting, water treatment, security, sensing equipment and other environmentally friendly solutions.

Kapil Sibal, Honourable Minister for Science and Technology, Government of India said, “We have been harnessing mother nature for far too long. The more we consume nature’s vital and valuable resources for temporary gain, the harder it gets for us to combat the consequences of the resultant phenomenon. Ecomagination is an initiative whose time has come, an initiative that will enable the business community to move away from the trodden path onto a new road of discovery and invention through the use of environment-friendly technologies. I commend GE for taking this initiative and hope others will follow.”

“With nearly US$ 2 billion in revenues in India today and a target of US$ 8 billion by 2010, GE’s commitment to India is deeper and stronger than ever before. Advanced energy, infrastructure and environmental technologies bridge our company and India to a horizon of immense potential growth,” said Mr Rice.

GE said that it was targeting over US$ 1 billion per year in revenues from ecomagination products in India by 2010. GE also announced that it will invest up to US$150 million in “eco-related” research & development funds at its Technology Center in Bangalore over the next five years.

Mr Rice said, “India is home to some of our finest research capabilities, our most creative and dedicated employees, and the customers who will benefit from the strength and promise of both. We look forward to the next phase of our work in India, fueled by the power of ecomagination, the commitment of our customers and partners, and the strength of our employees.”

Lorraine Bolsinger, Vice President, Ecomagination said, “As India continues on its path to economic prosperity, its growth puts further burden on the country’s environment and natural resources. That is why there is a critical and pressing need for innovative, sustainable and eco-friendly solutions. Ecomagination is GE’s commitment to address and develop solutions for the environmental challenges that our customers face today. Through ecomagination, we will establish partnerships with our customers like Air India and the Haryana Technology Park to tackle their most pressing environmental challenges.”

Mr Scott Bayman, President & CEO, GE in India said, “I have been in India for over a decade and have witnessed its growth first hand. It therefore gives me immense pleasure to see how advanced, eco-friendly technologies are becoming a priority in India. The time is right and we are seeing a growing commitment on the part of companies in India to embrace the latest in clean and green technologies including the most advanced eco-friendly aviation and locomotive engines, energy turbines, and water treatment solutions.”

GE showcased a number of ecomagination products including eco-friendly aviation and locomotive engines, cleaner coal technologies, efficient gas turbines, sustainable and renewable energy solutions for rural areas, water treatment solutions and technologies to meet some of the most pressing needs in the automotive and industrial sectors.

The ecomagination products already introduced by GE in India include products from aviation, energy, plastics and water. Some highlights include:

Rural Electrification -- Through the GE Rural Electrification Program, GE Energy is providing Malavalli Power Plant Private Limited (MPPL) with 30 Jenbacher JMS320 engines, which will be used to generate combined heat and power to meet electrical, refrigeration and heating needs within rural communities. GE’s Jenbacher engines operate on a variety of alternative or specialty fuels including biogas, crop residue, municipal solid waste, landfill, coal mine methane and industrial waste gases.
Water Purification -- GE developed a solar-powered fresh water purification system to assist the long-term recovery and relocation efforts of tsunami-affected remote villages in southern India. Developed jointly by GE Energy and GE Water & Process Technologies, this new system combines solar technology with salt and particulate-reducing water purification systems.
Wood Replacement at Railways -- Existing bench seats in the Mumbai Metro use wood-based composites. The Indian Railways would like to opt for recyclable materials, which offer improved aesthetics and also maintain the high standards of safety required in rail coach interiors. Railways have chosen Lexan 953R, pre-coloured Blue, because of its recyclability, aesthetics, high strength and conformance to the flame retardant, low smoke emission standards
More information about ecomagination can be found though GE’s ecomagination report which is available at www.ge.com/ecoreport