Broadcom Expands Cellular Design Center in Taiwan to Drive Development of Next Generation 3G Windows Mobile® Smart Phones

Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced a significant expansion of its cellular design center in Taiwan that will help to drive development of a new generation of Microsoft® Windows Mobile® smart phones based on Broadcom's highly integrated 3G cellular chipsets.

"We expect smart phones to capture increasing market share as optimized silicon solutions drive handset costs lower," said Jim Tran, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Mobile Communications line of business. "By expanding our Windows Mobile engineering team with local Microsoft development expertise in Taiwan, we have created a true Microsoft-based design center of excellence that will help our customers bring to market innovative new smart phone products based on Windows Mobile."

As the 3G cellular market evolves towards higher speed connections such as high-speed packet access (HSPA), mobile operators and handset manufacturers are demanding advanced, open operating systems (such as Windows Mobile) and affordable hardware platforms to deliver high quality multimedia and other advanced features to consumers. The Broadcom® BCM2153 HSPA processor (announced in February 2007) uniquely integrates powerful applications, multimedia and 3G modem processing on a single chip to enable a powerful smart phone platform at feature phone prices. The Taiwan design center expansion will support the development of advanced applications that the BCM2153 enables, with a particular focus on Windows Mobile devices.

"This initiative from Broadcom underscores the momentum and rapid adoption we are seeing for the Windows Mobile platform," said Eddie Wu, Senior Director of Device Solutions Sales Asia & WW ODM Ecosystems, Microsoft Corp. "Our partner ecosystem today includes a strong cadre of developer partners, leading mobile operators and 48 device makers shipping over 140 different phones worldwide. Windows Mobile enables partners to stay on the cutting edge of device innovation and roll out new services and applications to the market quickly. We look forward to continuing our strong relationship with Broadcom and supporting its expanded resources in Taiwan."

The Broadcom Taiwan Design Center is located in the Xin-Yi district of Taipei City, and employs a sizable team of software development engineers focused on smart phone software and the integration of Microsoft Windows Mobile applications with Broadcom cellular hardware and software platforms.

BCM2153 Product Information

The BCM2153 is the industry's first solution for mobile handsets that integrates an HSPA baseband modem with world-class applications, audio and multimedia processors on a single monolithic chip. The new mixed-signal device is the first developed completely in a 65 nanometer CMOS process and integrates a Category 8 HSDPA modem that delivers 7.2 Mbps (megabits per second) third generation (3G) connectivity for advanced applications. With this level of integration, smart phones utilizing the new HSPA processor require less board space, cost and power than competing solutions, significantly reducing the cost premium associated with smart phones today.

About Broadcom

Broadcom Corporation is a major technology innovator and global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment. We provide the industry's broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art, system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. These solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything®.

Broadcom is one of the world's largest fabless semiconductor companies, with 2006 revenue of $3.67 billion, and holds over 2,000 U.S. and 800 foreign patents, more than 6,000 additional pending patent applications, and one of the broadest intellectual property portfolios addressing both wired and wireless transmission of voice, video and data.

Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at +1.949.926.5000 or at www.broadcom.com.

HP Wins NASA Contract Worth up to $5.6 Billion

HP has been awarded a seven-year contract worth up to $5.6 billion by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to provide a wide range of technology as needed by U.S. federal government agencies.

HP products to be provided under the indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract, called the NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) IV Class 5, include desktops, workstations and blade PCs with Linux and Unix capabilities, servers and printers, among other offerings.

The entire federal government and its authorized prime contractors can purchase HP technology through SEWP IV. In addition, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has made NASA SEWP IV its mandatory contract for the acquisition of technology.

“As the federal government looks to maximize investments, reduce costs and increase efficiencies, it needs a technology partner that delivers products and complete solutions that operate seamlessly in complex IT environments,” said Jack Novia, managing director and senior vice president, Technology Solutions Group – Americas, HP. “With this NASA SEWP IV contract, HP is pleased to extend our partnership with federal government agencies and help them accomplish their mission goals.”

HP has delivered more than $620 million worth of products and services to federal government agencies from 1992-2007 through the previous NASA SEWP II and SEWP III contracts.

The NASA SEWP IV Government-wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) provides the latest in information technology solutions for all federal agencies. SEWP IV offers:

• low prices – guaranteed at or below U.S. General Services Administration schedule prices;
  
• the lowest surcharge (0.6 percent), capped at $18,000 for orders more than $3 million;
  
• an easy and fast ordering procedure with personalized customer support and order tracking.

Through SEWP IV, agencies can find a fit for their needs at the best value by choosing the right solutions offered directly by leading hardware and software manufacturers and experienced government integrators.

About HP
HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers – from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world’s largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $97.1 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended April 30, 2007. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

IBM, Chartered, Samsung, Infineon and Freescale Expand Technology Agreements

In a move that signals a firm and ongoing commitment to future technology leadership, IBM (NYSE: IBM) and its Common Platform™ technology partners Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung Electronics, along with joint-development alliance partners Infineon Technologies AG and Freescale Semiconductor, have signed a series of semiconductor process development and manufacturing agreements.

The joint development agreements between these companies will now include 32-nanometer (nm) bulk complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process technologies and joint development of process design kits (PDKs) to support that technology. Building on the success of earlier joint development and manufacturing agreements at 90nm, 65nm and 45nm, alliance partners will be able to produce high-performance, energy-efficient chips at 32nm.

The partners plan to pool their combined expertise and collaborate to design, develop and manufacture advanced technology through 2010. Those technologies, which are the leading platform for a broad range of systems -- ranging from next-generation hand-held products to the world's highest performance supercomputers -- may be used by the five partners and other companies to help solve real-life problems in fields such as medicine, communications, transportation and security.

'Collaborative innovation key to leadership'

"IBM remains convinced that collaborative innovation in an open ecosystem of partners is the key to technology leadership, both now and in the years to come," said Michael Cadigan, general manager, semiconductor solutions, IBM Global Engineering Solutions. "Today's announcement validates that strategy by meeting client requirements for leadership technology. With the extensions of our agreements to the 32nm generation -- including manufacturing and IBM Research to complement the proven joint development model in place for well over a decade -- IBM is working together with its alliance partners to deliver leading-edge technology that promises to dramatically change the way we live, work and play."

"Infineon continues its successful strategy to develop the most advanced technologies with its alliances and to manufacture them with partners," said Dr. Franz Neppl, senior vice president, Base Technologies & Services, Infineon Technologies AG. "The jointly developed technologies, together with Infineon's application and product design know-how, will enable Infineon to provide to our customers cost-effective system-on-silicon solutions and manufacturing capabilities for our core business in communications and automotive/industrial areas."

"Major new challenges are expected at the 32nm node, both in materials as well as device structures," said Dr. Oh-Hyun Kwon, president, System LSI Division, Semiconductor Business, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. "We expect to deliver breakthrough technology by working together with our partners, who bring a variety of expertise as leaders in the industry."

IBM, Chartered and Samsung, as Common Platform technology manufacturers, will be able to use the jointly developed 32nm process technology and design kits to synchronize their manufacturing facilities. This helps facilitate the flexibility to produce nearly identical chips for their respective high-volume OEM clients, who require a multi-sourcing model and expect early access to process technology.

The five companies will work together to deliver industry-leading technology for high-performance and low-standby power products through:

• a focus on low cost and minimum complexity while retaining performance leadership


• implementation of new materials such as high-k/metal gate, advanced stress engineering, and extreme low-k films in the back-end-of-line (BEOL)


• state-of-the-art immersion lithography to achieve competitive density and chip size


• a focus on quality analog models for the digital communications marketplace


• providing a platform for derivative technologies such as RF CMOS and embedded DRAM, or eDRAM

In addition, by using common manufacturing electrical specifications across manufacturing platform partners, technologies can more easily be transferred between partner facilities.
"The industry has recognized the value and importance of the collaborative model in driving robust, cost-effective solutions," said Chia Song Hwee, president and CEO of Chartered. "As we now collaborate on our fourth node under this joint model, we have seen how each company brings unique strengths and expertise to drive a customer-centric offering. The results of our collaboration have served as a platform for providing customers with world-class, flexible sourcing solutions."

The 32nm cooperation will include the joint development of an enablement package, similar to previous alliance developments. This package will support the most common design tools that will allow customers to utilize the full potential of this advanced technology for their specific products.

As with previous nodes, 32nm development activities will be conducted at IBM's state-of-the-art 300 millimeter (mm) semiconductor fabrication facility in East Fishkill, N.Y. Freescale originally announced its membership in the alliance on Jan. 23.

About IBM

For more information about semiconductors, please visit: www.ibm.com/chips.

About Chartered

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (NASDAQ: CHRT) (SGX-ST: CHARTERED), one of the world's top dedicated semiconductor foundries, offers leading-edge technologies down to 65 nanometer (nm), enabling today's system-on-chip designs. The company further serves its customers' needs through a collaborative, joint development approach on a technology roadmap that extends to 32nm. Chartered's strategy is based on open and comprehensive design enablement solutions, manufacturing enhancement strategies, and a commitment to flexible sourcing. In Singapore, the company operates a 300mm fabrication facility and four 200mm facilities. Information about Chartered can be found at www.charteredsemi.com.

About Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2006 parent company sales of US$63.4 billion and net income of US$8.5 billion. Employing approximately 138,000 people in 124 offices in 56 countries, the company consists of five main business units: Digital Media Business, LCD Business, Semiconductor Business, Telecommunication Network Business, and Digital Appliance Business. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions addressing three central challenges to modern society -- energy efficiency, mobility and security. In fiscal year 2006 (ending September), the company achieved sales of Euro 7.9 billion (including Qimonda sales of Euro 3.8 billion) with approximately 42,000 employees worldwide (including approximately 12,000 Qimonda employees). With a global presence, Infineon operates through its subsidiaries in the US from San Jose, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore, and in Japan from Tokyo. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX).

About Freescale Semiconductor

Freescale Semiconductor is a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial, networking and wireless markets. The privately held company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing or sales operations in more than 30 countries. Freescale is one of the world's largest semiconductor companies with 2006 sales of $6.4 billion (USD). www.freescale.com

About the Common Platform

IBM, Chartered and Samsung Electronics have broken new ground in the semiconductor industry with a unique collaboration focused on leading-edge, jointly developed digital CMOS process technologies and advanced manufacturing. The Common Platform model is further supported by a comprehensive ecosystem of design enablement and implementation business partners from the EDA, IP and design services industries. This ecosystem allows foundry customers to potentially and competitively source their chip designs to multiple 300mm foundries with unprecedented flexibility and choice. The Common Platform model features 90nm, 65nm, 45nm and 32nm technologies.

The Common Platform concept and initial collaboration began in November 2002, with an agreement between Chartered and IBM to jointly develop advanced technology and provide cross foundry manufacturing capacity to mutual customers. Samsung joined the initiative in March 2004. Since then the three companies have worked with some of the world's leading electronics companies to provide access to the cutting-edge technology and seamless sourcing flexibility that Common Platform can enable.

Intel Eliminates Use Of Lead From Future Microprocessors

Intel Corporation today announced that its future processors, beginning with its entire family of 45 nanometer (nm) high-k metal gate (Hi-k) processors, are going 100 percent lead-free. The Intel 45nm Hi-k family includes the next-generation Intel® Core™ 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad and Xeon® processors, and the company will begin 45nm Hi-k production in the second half of this year.

"Intel is taking an aggressive stance toward environmental sustainability, from the elimination of lead and a focus on greater energy efficiency of our products to fewer air emissions and more water and materials recycling," said Nasser Grayeli, Intel vice president and director of assembly test technology development, Technology and Manufacturing Group.

Lead is used in a variety of micro-electronic "packages" and the "bumps" that attach an Intel chip to the packages. Packages wrap around the chip and ultimately connect it to the motherboard. Different types of packages are used for processors targeted at specific market segments, including mobile, desktop and server. Package designs include pin grid array, ball grid array and land grid array, and all are 100 percent lead-free in Intel's 45nm Hi-k technology generation. In 2008, the company will also transition its 65nm chipset products to 100 percent lead-free technology.

Intel's 45nm processors not only are lead-free, they also make use of the company's Hi-k silicon technology for reduced transistor leakage, enabling more energy-efficient, high-performance processors. The company's 45nm Hi-k silicon technology also includes third-generation strained silicon for improved drive current and a lower interconnect capacitance using low-k dielectrics for increased performance and lower power. Ultimately, Intel's 45nm Hi-k family of processors will enable sleeker, smaller and more energy-efficient desktop, notebook PC, mobile internet device and server designs.

The Road to Lead-Free
For many decades lead has been used in electronics because of its electrical and mechanical properties, making the search for replacement materials that meet performance and reliability requirements a significant scientific and technical challenge.

Due to lead's potential impact to the environment and public health, Intel has worked for years with its suppliers and other companies in the semiconductor and electronics industry to develop lead-free solutions as part of its long-standing commitment to environmental practices. In 2002, Intel produced its first lead-free flash memory products. In 2004, the company began shipping products with 95 percent less lead than previous microprocessor and chipset packages.

To replace the remaining 5 percent (about .02 grams) of lead solder historically found in the first-level interconnect -- the solder joint that connects the silicon die to the package substrate -- in processor packages, Intel will use a tin/silver/copper alloy. It is the way in which Intel will implement these new materials to replace the tin/lead solder that is the "secret sauce" of the company's solution. Because of the complex interconnect structure of Intel's advanced silicon technologies, a great deal of engineering work was required to remove the remaining lead in Intel's processor packages and integrate a new solder alloy system.

Intel engineers developed the assembly manufacturing processes involving the new solder alloys, and were able to accomplish this while still demonstrating the high level of performance, quality and reliability expected of Intel components.

Environmental Sustainability -- From Transistors to Factories
Intel has a long history of commitment to the environment, a philosophy that began with its founder Gordon Moore. In addition to eliminating the use of lead in its products, Intel has developed a number of environmental best-practices in its factories and operations. It is also designing and building energy efficiency into everything it does, from the smallest 45nm transistors in its forthcoming lead-free processors and today's high-performance Intel Core 2 Duo processors that consume up to 40 percent less energy to broad support for industry standards and strong public policies. Among many examples:

• Earlier this year Intel transitioned its Intel® StrataFlash® Cellular Memory packages to halogen-free technology. The company is currently evaluating the use of halogen-free flame retardants in its CPU package technologies.


• In 1996, Intel led an industry-wide agreement to reduce global warming gas emissions in semiconductor manufacturing, and today is working with the European Union (EU) to discuss how the technology sector can help meet the EU's target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020.


• Intel is focused on reducing the natural resource use and waste by products of its manufacturing process. In the past 3 years, the company has saved more than 9 billion gallons of fresh water through conservation measures, and reduced its global warming gas emissions by the equivalent of removing 50,000 automobiles from the road.


• It has reduced hazardous materials in its products and recycles more than 70 percent of its chemical and solid wastes.


• Intel makes renewable energy a priority. The company is the single-largest purchaser of wind power in Oregon and the largest industrial consumer of renewable energy in New Mexico.


• Through Intel's ongoing conversion from 200mm to 300mm wafers, it has been able to reduce water consumption by approximately 40 percent for each square centimeter of silicon produced.


• Intel has been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its work on Energy Star* and employee commuter programs.

For additional information about Intel's commitment to the environment, visit www.intel.com/go/responsibility.

View the complete Intel® Processors Go Lead-Free press kit at http://www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/45nm/leadfree.

Sybase iAnywhere Brings Natural Language Interfaces To Telematics And Embedded Devices

Sybase iAnywhere today announced it is enhancing its presence in the telematics and embedded devices markets by enabling embedded applications to provide intelligent user interfaces and context aware user interactions. Extending the company's Answers Anywhere™ technology, Sybase iAnywhere now offers a natural language engine that targets the memory constrained world of embedded devices.


The new Answers Anywhere functionality enables developers to improve the user experience of resource constrained devices which otherwise would have limited user interface capabilities. Interacting in a natural, free-form and context sensitive way will generate a higher degree of satisfaction, reduce training requirements, and result in a higher task completion rate for users. For example, an automotive telematics product would allow users to ask for information or control applications in their own words to easily access directions, weather, yellow page content or control functionality such as air conditioning or entertainment systems.

"Traditionally when using embedded applications, for example embedded speech recognition, users have to comply with the systems interface restrictions," said Babak Hodjat, senior director of engineering, Sybase iAnywhere. "Applying embedded capabilities to our natural language engine takes that burden off of the user, enabling a free-form context–aware dialog. Now, instead of following tedious voice menus to obtain traffic information from the in-car telematics system, a user can simply say 'I'm going to Comerica Park. Any traffic problems?'"

"We're excited about the new possibilities that Sybase iAnywhere brings to the development and deployment of embedded devices," said Naoki Hashimoto, senior manager, Software Development Group, at the Japan-based NEC Infrontia Corporation. "A natural language engine for embedded environments will enable developers to create applications with superior user interfaces, which in turn will deliver a greatly improved customer experience."

New Answers Anywhere functionality for telematics and embedded devices includes:

• A Java-based, graphics-oriented development tool for generating an agent network model of the natural language application,


• Automatic C++ code generator optimized for size and performance in embedded applications,


• Support for embedded systems running Windows CE or the QNX operating systems, and


• Adaptive, agent-oriented software architecture incorporating 22 natural language patents.

The new Answers Anywhere capabilities designed for telematics and embedded devices is available in June, 2007. To sign up for a Webcast demonstration of the new version on Tuesday, June 5 at 8 A.M. PT/11 A.M. ET, please register at: http://www.ianywhere.com/answersanywhere/webcast. To learn more about Answers Anywhere please call 1-800-801-2069 or visit: http://www.ianywhere.com/embeddedanswersanywhere

About Sybase iAnywhere

Sybase iAnywhere enables success at the front lines of business. The company holds worldwide market leadership positions in mobile and embedded databases, mobile management and security, mobile middleware and synchronization, and Bluetooth® and infrared protocol technologies. Tens of millions of mobile devices and over 20,000 customers and partners rely on the company's "Always Available" technologies, including SQL Anywhere and its Information Anywhere suite. iAnywhere is a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc. (NYSE:SY).

IBM Internet Security Systems Accelerates Network Performance With New Intrusion Prevention Appliance

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today unveiled an intrusion prevention appliance that is designed to transmit and protect network traffic at core network speeds. The new Proventia Network Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) GX6116 supports throughput of up to fifteen gigabits per second (Gbps) with preemptive protection for up to six Gbps of network traffic. The appliance is designed to operate at the network core and meet the needs of large enterprise or carrier deployments. By adding the Proventia Network IPS GX6116 to its Internet Security Systems (ISS) product line, IBM offers comprehensive, ahead-of-the-threat protection for the various layers of an enterprise network.

The new appliance further strengthens IBM's roster of technology and services dedicated to helping clients address IT Governance and Risk Management. This initiative consists of new technologies and services designed to help clients mitigate risk and enable effective IT governance in response to the rising complexity of the security threat landscape and increasing regulatory compliance demands.



Being in such a targeted industry as financial services, we must take all necessary precautions to ensure that our customers' sensitive data is not compromised," said Henry Gillard, a member of the Computer Incident Response Team at banking and payment technologies company, Metavante. "The Proventia Network IPS GX6116 has provided us with a powerful means of bolstering our security posture by protecting traffic at the core of our network without sacrificing the performance of our mission-critical business applications."

High-performance applications such as Internet telephony that operate at the network core require security solutions capable of delivering high throughput, maximum scalability and low latency. Proventia Network IPS GX6116 is designed to deliver on all three fronts with:


Fifteen gigabit per second (Gbps) throughput
Six gigabit per second (Gbps) inspection
Protection across eight network segments
Configurable latency

Protection at very high network speeds allows companies to implement security at the network core without impacting business and network performance. By protecting across eight network segments, IBM ISS surpasses the network protection capabilities of competitive solutions. This allows for maximum scalability and high ROI for security investments by decreasing the number of appliances enterprises need to purchase to achieve optimum protection. Configurable latency puts network administrators in control of performance and acceptable levels of risk for their enterprise, as opposed to being confined by pre-determined settings.
Proventia Network IPS GX6116 is designed to exceed the demanding requirements of the network core through a custom-built architecture featuring a network processing unit (NPU) tailored for high-speed processing of network packets. This architecture allows the Proventia Network IPS GX6116 to split the tasks of processing the flow of data from the task of inspecting that data, dramatically increasing the performance efficiency of preemptive network protection.

In addition to meeting the needs of large enterprises, the GX6116 also bolsters IBM ISS' ability to protect next-generation telecommunications networks, cellular IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) backbone networks, VoIP deployments and hosting environments by leveraging IBM ISS' protocol analysis technology.

IBM's Proventia portfolio is part of an integrated and unified security platform. The IBM Internet Security Systems product line integrates through a centralized management console, IBM Proventia Management SiteProtector™, to maximize protection and simplify management. The Proventia portfolio also integrates with the IBM Tivoli service management portfolio for an end-to-end secure infrastructure.

Through its Proventia protection platform, IBM ISS provides multi-layered protection for enterprises from network to host. By infusing products with security intelligence from the IBM Internet Security Systems X-Force® research and development team and its unique IBM Virtual Patch® technology, IBM security solutions are designed to protect customers before their business assets are impacted by online intrusions.

Proventia Network IPS GX6116 is scheduled to be available by the end of Q2. For further information on IBM ISS intrusion prevention technology, go to: http://iss.net/products/Proventia_Network_Intrusion_Prevention_System/product_main_page.html

For further details on IBM's activities at Interop Las Vegas, please visit Booth #810 or go to www.iss.net/2007/interop.

Further details on IBM's IT Governance & Risk Management initiative can be found at http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/21544.wss.

About IBM Internet Security Systems

IBM Internet Security Systems is the trusted security advisor to thousands of the world's leading businesses and governments, providing preemptive protection for networks, desktops and servers. An established leader in security since 1994, the IBM Proventia® integrated security platform is designed to automatically protect against both known and unknown threats, helping to keep networks up and running and shielding customers from online attacks before they impact business assets. IBM Internet Security Systems products and services are based on the proactive security intelligence of its X-Force® research and development team -- the unequivocal world authority in vulnerability and threat research. The Internet Security Systems product line is also complemented by comprehensive Managed Security Services and Professional Security Services. For more information, visit the Internet Security Systems Web site at www.iss.net or call 800-776-2362.

Sun Microsystems Expands Leading Storage Virtualization Platform with Latest Addition to High-End Storage Portfolio

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW) today announced the expansion of its leading storage virtualization portfolio with the introduction of the Sun StorageTek 9990V Enterprise Storage System, concurrent with its technology partner Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT). Today's announcement further drives the development of the OpenSolaris storage community and is the latest in a long and successful partnership between the two companies that has yielded some of the industry's most important storage technology breakthroughs to help enterprises solve complex data management challenges.


The new Sun StorageTek 9990V storage system delivers industry-leading performance and scalability along with new thin provisioning capabilities with Dynamic Provisioning software that improves storage utilization, saves money and gives customers an easy, transparent way of adding additional storage as needed over time. The StorageTek 9990V expands Sun's StorageTek 9900 product family to include the enterprise-entry Sun StorageTek 9985, Sun StorageTek 9990 storage system for the data center and new Sun StorageTek 9990V storage offering for the highest-end of the data center market.

"Sun and Hitachi Data Systems have a rich history of solving complex data management problems that reduce time-to-market and total cost of ownership (TCO) for high-end enterprise customers. Together we have helped thousands of enterprises in all industries across the globe address their unique data management challenges. We are pleased to bring the new dynamic provisioning capabilities to customers," said Nigel Dessau, senior vice-president of marketing and business operations, Storage, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

For more information, please see www.sun.com/storage

IBM Unleashes World's Fastest Chip in Powerful New Computer

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today simultaneously launched the fastest microprocessor ever built and an ultra-powerful new computer server that leverages the chip’s many breakthroughs in energy conservation and virtualization technology. The new server is the first ever to hold all four major benchmark speed records for business and technical performance (1).

At 4.7 GHz, the dual-core POWER6™ processor doubles the speed of the previous generation POWER5™ while using nearly the same amount of electricity to run and cool it. This means customers can use the new processor to either increase their performance by 100 percent or cut their power consumption virtually in half.


IBM’s new 2- to 16-core server also offers three times the performance per core of the HP Superdome machine, based on the key TPC-C benchmark (2). The processor speed of the POWER6 chip is nearly three times faster than the latest HP Itanium processor that runs HP’s server line. Even more impressive, the processor bandwidth of the POWER6 chip – 300 gigabytes per second -- could download the entire iTunes catalog in about 60 seconds – 30 times faster than HP’s Itanium.


But the new server offers more than just raw performance – it is the world’s most powerful midrange consolidation machine, containing special hardware and software that allows it to create many “virtual” servers on a single box.


IBM calculates that 30 SunFire v890s can be consolidated into a single rack of the new IBM machine, saving more than $100,000 per year on energy costs (3). According to IDC, IBM has gained 10.4 points of UNIX revenue share in the past five years -- versus HP’s loss of 5.3 points and Sun’s loss of 1.4 points (4). IBM will use the new machine to target customers with less-efficient HP, Sun and Dell servers.


Benchmark Grand Slam

Demonstrating its remarkable versatility, the new IBM System p 570, running the POWER6 processor, claims the No.1 spots in the four most widely used performance benchmarks for Unix servers – SPECint2006 (measuring integer-calculating throughput common in business applications), SPECfp2006 (measuring floating point-calculating throughput required for scientific applications), SPECjbb2005 (measuring Java™ performance in business operations per second) and TPC-C (measuring transaction processing capability) (1). This is the first time that a single system has owned all four categories. The new System p 570 now holds 25 benchmark records across a broad portfolio of business and technical applications (5).


The performance leadership is largely attributed the system’s balanced design. Unlike competing servers, IBM succeeded in scaling the new server’s processor performance and system design (cache sizes and bandwidth) in a balanced way. The POWER6 chip has a total cache size of 8MB per chip – four times the POWER5 chip – to keep pace with the awesome processor bandwidth. By contrast, many other servers concentrate mainly on processor performance, at the expense of the server’s ability to feed data to the chip at a rate that takes advantage of the processor’s speed.


“Like the victory of IBM’s Deep Blue chess-playing supercomputer 10 years ago this month, the debut of POWER6 processor-based systems proves that relentless innovation brings ‘impossible’ goals within reach,” said Bill Zeitler, senior vice president, IBM Systems and Technology Group. “The POWER6 processor forges blazing performance and energy conservation technologies into a single piece of silicon, driving unprecedented business value for our customers.”


The POWER6 Chip: a Convention-Shattering Design

The POWER6 chip in the new IBM System p™ 570 server owns a number of industry “firsts.” It is the first UNIX microprocessor able to calculate decimal floating point arithmetic in hardware. Until now, calculations involving decimal numbers with floating decimal points were done using software. The built-in decimal floating point capability gives tremendous advantage to enterprises running complex tax, financial and ERP programs.


The POWER6 processor is built using IBM’s state-of-the-art 65 nanometer process technology. Coming at a time when some experts have predicted an end to Moore’s Law, which holds that processor speed doubles every 18 months, the IBM breakthrough is driven by a host of technical achievements scored during the five-year research and development effort to develop the POWER6 chip. These include:


A dramatic improvement in the way instructions are executed inside the chip. IBM scientists increased chip performance by keeping static the number of pipeline stages – the chunks of operations that must be completed in a single cycle of clock time -- but making each stage faster, removing unnecessary work and doing more in parallel. As a result, execution time is cut in half or energy consumption is reduced.

Separating circuits that can’t support low voltage operation onto their own power supply “rails,” allowing IBM to dramatically reduce power for the rest of the chip.
Voltage/frequency “slewing,” enabling the chip to lower electricity consumption by up to 50 percent, with minimal performance impact.
A new method of chip design that enables POWER6 to operate at low voltages, allowing the same chip to be used in low power blade environments as well as large, high-performance symmetric multiprocessing machines. The chip has configurable bandwidth, enabling customers to choose maximum performance or minimal cost.

The POWER6 chip includes additional techniques to conserve power and reduce heat generated by POWER6 processor-based servers. Processor clocks can be dynamically turned off when there is no useful work to be done and turned back on when there are instructions to be executed.

Power saving is also realized when the memory is not fully utilized, as power to parts of the memory not being utilized is dynamically turned off and then turned back on when needed. In cases where an over-temperature condition is detected, the POWER6 chip can reduce the rate of instruction execution to remain within an acceptable, user-defined temperature envelope.


IBM plans to introduce the POWER6 chip throughout the System p and System i server lines.


World’s first UNIX server with active virtual machine mobility

Also announced today, IBM is unveiling an industry-first with a new feature that provides customers with the ability to move live virtual machines from one physical UNIX server to another while maintaining continuous availability. Coined the POWER6 Live Partition Mobility function, this technology -- currently in beta, with general availability planned for later this year -- enables customers to move active virtualized partitions without temporarily suspending them. While competing offerings require a disruptive reboot of the UNIX system and software stack, IBM is the first vendor to help clients optimize resource utilization on a broader scale by allowing administrators to think of large groups of servers as a fluid resource rather than focusing on each server as a single entity with a dedicated purpose.


On the services front, IBM Global Technology Services announced implementation, migration & assessment service products that help clients shorten the time required to plan, implement and integrate new System p POWER6 processor-based servers into their production environment.

For more information, please visit www.ibm.com.


All statements regarding IBM's future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.


IBM results to be submitted by 5/21/07. All competitive benchmark results current as of 5/18/07.


Sources: http://www.tpc.org, http://www.spec.org.

SAP Acquires Wicom Communications to Deliver Communication-Enabled Business Processes

In a move that will enable companies to streamline and improve the agility of their customer-facing processes, SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today announced the acquisition of Wicom Communications, a leading, privately-held provider of all-IP contact center and enterprise communications software based in Espoo, Finland. The acquisition will enable SAP to offer companies the ability to better integrate communications technologies and business systems so that they can more effectively serve their customers, regardless of how they connect to the business; connecting functions such as customer service, marketing, finance and sales; and making sure that all customer-facing employees wherever they are located have access to the same relevant knowledge and data. Founded in 1999, Wicom delivers concrete business benefits for approximately 200 contact centers and contact-intensive multi-sited enterprises in 18 countries. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE® ’07, SAP’s international customer conference, being held in Vienna, Austria, May 14 – 16.

SAP sees a growing market trend for companies to create, mature and service their business network: including customers, partners, suppliers and competitors; extending business processes beyond the traditional enterprise boundaries. To successfully leverage these network members, companies must be able to build and manage virtual business processes and teams to harness the full range of knowledge, resources and communication channels. With the addition of Wicom, SAP will enable our customers to leverage communication-enabled business processes to more effectively serve and manage their business networks to deliver superior customer experience.

“To successfully create an agile enterprise, executives must radically alter how they harness their communications to create more-effective business processes,” said Bern Elliot, Gartner, Inc. “These changes will result in faster response times, more accurate interactions and better social context for the communications.”1

In today’s global business marketplace, people, processes, knowledge and contact points are distributed across multiple geographies, functions and organizations. At the same time, customers are increasingly seeking service by connecting to companies’ personnel through multiple channels; including voice, SMS, Web, e-mail and mobile phones; making it challenging to synchronize activity across these communication silos. With Wicom Communications, SAP will deliver a multichannel all-IP, end-to-end contact center solution, integrating communication processes into customer service. This solution will help customers streamline the integration of disparate hardware and software components while allowing for central management and reporting of dispersed resources and processes.

“Wicom firmly established itself as an innovator in improving the performance and quality of customer service, telesales and daily business interactions for our growing customer base,” said Ilkka Kivimäki, CEO, Wicom. “Together, SAP and Wicom will support communication-enabled business processes, starting with a complete solution for a multichannel all-IP contact center. Joining SAP opens up our innovation to a larger set of business and development opportunities. I’m excited for our employees to join the SAP team and for our customers, who will benefit from a unified solution to manage communication-enabled business processes.”

Today, Wicom solutions focus primarily on improving the performance and quality of business processes within contact centers and contact intensive multi-sited enterprises. The company’s current solution can be deployed flexibly (using hosted, on-premise or hybrid deployment models) and provides standard Web service-based integration to SAP® Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM). Wicom capabilities are complementary to and integrate with SAP’s existing contact center application, SAP® Interaction Center, which will continue to integrate with a range of different telephony options and vendors, meeting a broad range of customer needs.

“The market is moving to a more communications-intensive enablement of business processes, and SAP’s acquisition positions us to leverage our leadership in CRM, and our unique understanding of business process to help customers benefit from the transition,” said Bob Stutz, senior vice president and general manager, SAP CRM Strategy and Product. “With the addition of Wicom Communications, SAP will offer game-changing communication-enabled business processes to organizations to help improve the customer experience, streamline operations and lower TCO. At the same, our powerful ecosystem provides customers with the best possible range of choices and options for the deployment and execution of CRM and communications technologies. We welcome the Wicom team, partners and customers to the SAP family.”

The transaction with Wicom Communications is continuing evidence of the SAP strategy to use well-placed, fill-in acquisitions to add to its broad solution offering by gaining specific technologies and capabilities that meet the needs of its customers, within industries or across industries, while maintaining its successful organic growth track record. SAP reported that the acquisition of Wicom was completed on May 7, 2007, and integration planning is underway.

1 Gartner, Inc., “Achieving Agility Through Communication-Enabled Business Processes,” by Bern Elliot, Steve Blood and Bob Hafner, April 4, 2006.

About Wicom
Wicom Communications is a leading European provider of all-IP contact center and enterprise communications software. The Wicom solution replaces all traditional telephone systems, offering the functions of a PBX, mobile PBX and contact center as a single centrally managed system. Wicom software ensures the availability of services and personnel regardless of time, location and contact channel. Currently used in 18 countries with 200+ client organizations, Wicom solutions are available through selected partners throughout Europe. Wicom has been commended for its innovative technology by leading industry experts such as Frost & Sullivan and Red Herring. For more information, please visit www.wicom.com

About SAP® Customer Relationship Management
SAP offers market-leading customer relationship management (CRM) solutions that help companies drive new growth, maintain competitive agility and attain operational excellence through customer-centric processes. Delivering best-in-class front-office capabilities and enabling end-to-end, industry-specific processes, the SAP® CRM application is simple, flexible and comprehensive, driving rapid user adoption and enhanced productivity. The software helps companies empower employees with the real time information and analysis they need to gain customer insight, acquire new customers, boost customer loyalty and build lasting relationships. With on-demand, on-premise and hybrid-delivery options, SAP offers flexible CRM deployment models that enable quick time to value and strategic CRM initiatives meeting both current and future business needs.

About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software*. Today, more than 39,400 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP® applications—from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small businesses and midsize companies to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver® platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol “SAP.” (Additional information at <http://www.sap.com>)

(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications such as supply chain management, customer relationship management, product life-cycle management and supplier relationship management.

IBM and Red Hat Announce Worldwide Enterprise Linux-On-Mainframe Program

IBM Corporation (NYSE:IBM) and Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced an initiative to encourage the dramatic growth of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM System z mainframes. The comprehensive program will further assist companies in the evaluation, deployment and support of this joint platform. It was created in response to the growing adoption of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on mainframes by governments and companies worldwide, who are taking advantage of the security, scalability and low operating costs of the joint platform.

Secure Platform

The companies today are highlighting the security advantages of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and System z. These include the superior physical security associated with a centralized mainframe server and storage installation, and the use of virtualization technologies such as logical partitions (LPARs), which divide the extensive resources of the mainframe between workloads, while securely isolating each application from the others. Any effective security regime requires comprehensive auditing, which both the System z hardware and Enterprise Linux 5 deliver so organizations can assess the efficacy of their security policies.

Unique among servers, the mainframe was designed from the beginning to incorporate processors that handle a variety of specialized tasks. For example, so-called specialty processors are designed for processing eligible Linux, Java and data workloads as well as encrypting and decrypting certain data. In addition, the mainframe can include up to 336 RISC processors to assist I/O.

System z also takes advantage of Red Hat's Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux). SELinux enables granular policy-based control over programs' access to data and kernel resources, preventing a compromised program from acting outside its policy. SELinux was developed in coordination with the open source community and the National Security Agency (NSA) to provide the highest levels of security for the Linux operating system. It is not a separate Linux distribution or code branch. Rather, it is a feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. By default, over 200 core system services in Enterprise Linux 5 are protected by targeted policies. This enables organizations to quickly benefit from the security provided by SELinux. As an added benefit, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 also includes enhanced SELinux management tools that simplify the process of creating, customizing, managing and troubleshooting SELinux policy.

The mainframe’s fortress-like security is legendary. In the security certification known as the Common Criteria's Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL), the IBM mainframe achieved one of the highest levels of certification -- Level 5 -- for logical partitioning, IBM's premier virtualization technology.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 is the first Linux operating system to ship with native support for the functionality necessary to meet Common Criteria for Trusted Operating Systems. This includes all functionality to enable EAL 4+ certification under the following protection profiles: CAPP (Controlled Access Protection Profile), RBAC (Role Based Access Control) and LSPP (Labeled Security Protection Profile). In addition to the Common Criteria certifications already available to customers of System z, IBM is sponsoring the EAL 4+ certification of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 on System z. The existing certifications, which include LSPP on z/VM and z/OS, combined with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 certification, provide a secure platform environment capable of meeting the most stringent public or private sector security policies. IBM and Red Hat have co-authored a whitepaper that explores the security benefits of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 on IBM’s System z platform. The whitepaper can be found on Red Hat and IBM websites.

“Governments and enterprises worldwide need highly available, highly secure IT resources. Enterprise Linux and System z uniquely meet those requirements,” said Jim Stallings, IBM VP and GM, System z. “We are pleased to announce an enhanced relationship with Red Hat to deliver more scalability, security and reliability to Enterprise Linux mainframe solutions.”

Joint Program

The program provides additional capabilities, premium support and an extended return for customers through a combination of open source value and mainframe reliability, availability and scalability (RAS) advantages. New and existing IBM mainframe customers seeking to expand their use of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on the mainframe will enjoy enhanced offerings through the program's product development, support and joint solution offerings

“The combination of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and IBM System z means we can securely run diverse applications and processes while leveraging shared System z resources like memory, storage and I/O,” said Beat Butikofer, Head of New Industry Development at Swisscom. “Because of the excellent support we receive from the IBM-Red Hat team, Swisscom can deliver the unbeatable service and support to our customers that we are known for.”

Product Development

Two key factors driving the growth of Linux partitions on the mainframe are the performance and security benefits of consolidating distributed applications. Customers are able to realize these benefits when the applications reside on Linux on System z, and the data also resides on System z on Linux or a traditional mainframe operating system such as z/OS. IBM and Red Hat are forming a joint engineering team to provide additional capabilities for running Linux-based applications on IBM System z. In addition, IBM and Red Hat technical teams have agreed to work together with the open source community as well as within Red Hat's engineering organization to investigate ways to accelerate and enhance Red Hat Enterprise Linux on System z.

Support

To ensure the best technical support for customers, Red Hat and IBM System z group have strengthened pre-sales and post-sales technical support through the addition of dedicated Red Hat technical staff dedicated to System z. Red Hat has committed engineering resources and will name System z Lead Architects in each of its major geographies. Additionally, Red Hat Global Support Services has created a System z-dedicated support team comprised of its IBM mainframe experts. In North America, 18 Red Hat Engineers have completed the first of a series of IBM/Red Hat worldwide technical bootcamps that ensures a deep-skilled bench of Red Hat Enterprise Linux System z engineers.

Now, with customers able to unify their IT infrastructure with Linux on their System z mainframe, an opportunity for unparalleled economies of scale and cost reduction has surfaced. In response, Red Hat has created an enhanced professional and support services offering suite, designed to help customers maximize their Linux-on-mainframe return. With varied level options, customers can choose from a number of Red Hat Enterprise Linux-for-System z services including configuration review, architecture consultation and on-site Technical Account Manager support.

Joint Solutions

IBM and Red Hat will provide customers with solutions that leverage the capabilities of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM System z in a manner that is easy to deploy. The first joint solution is security-enhanced Red Hat Enterprise Linux on System z that caters to government customers managing secure access to classified and non-classified data. Red Hat and IBM engineering teams have worked together to offer Labeled Security Protection Profile (LSPP) Common Criteria certification for this solution. This operating environment gives government customers the highest assurance that data is protected and that access is granted only to those with proper clearance. Today's announcement is the first in a series of initiatives the companies are implementing to deliver a broad range of solutions on System z and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

“Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the one major operating system which scales from commodity server to mainframe, giving customers the widest range of choices while standardizing and simplifying their IT environments,” said Alex Pinchev, Executive Vice President and President, International Operations at Red Hat. “For organizations requiring the highest security, scalability and reliability, System z and Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a compelling choice.”

For more information on IBM System Z, please visit http://www.ibm.com. For more information on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, please visit http://www.redhat.com.

About Red Hat, Inc.

Red Hat, the world's leading open source solutions provider, is headquartered in Raleigh, NC with over 50 satellite offices spanning the globe. CIOs have ranked Red Hat first for value in Enterprise Software for three consecutive years in the CIO Insight Magazine Vendor Value study. Red Hat provides high-quality, low-cost technology with its operating system platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, together with applications, management and Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) solutions, including the JBoss Enterprise Middleware Suite. Red Hat also offers support, training and consulting services to its customers worldwide. Learn more: http://www.redhat.com

Sun Microsystems Previews Latest Milestones In Project Open Enterprise Service Bus

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW) and the Project Open Enterprise Service Bus (Open ESB) community today announced the next preview release of Open ESB, the standards-based next generation integration platform. Open ESB is an industry-leading open sourced enterprise service bus (ESB) implementation developed under open community process. The latest release, Open ESB 2.0 Preview, allows developers to integrate Web services and enterprise applications as loosely coupled composite applications, thereby making large-scale implementation of service-oriented architecture (SOA) principles manageable in a heterogeneous world.


Open ESB includes a standards-compliant Java Business Integration (JBI) runtime and a variety of components and technologies designed to increase business agility and reduce overall integration costs. Furthermore, many of the features developed in Project Open ESB will be made available in future versions of Sun's Java Composite Application Platform Suite (Java CAPS), the company's commercially supported product offering for customers building integration and composite application solutions.

"The availability of Open ESB 2.0 Preview represents the commitment of Sun and the thriving Open ESB community to developing openness and greater interoperability in an area of the integration stack where it has been lacking," said Jim McHugh, vice president of software infrastructure, Sun Microsystems. "Software integration challenges are becoming increasingly complex due to evolving market conditions and the rise in mergers and acquisitions, creating immense challenges for CIOs looking to leverage existing investments and integrate disperse systems. Open ESB offers their developers the choice and flexibility needed to embark on SOA initiatives based on their unique circumstances by leveraging open source technologies and integrating best of breed components from ISVs."

Open ESB includes new features and tools to help enable the development and deployment of composite applications while leveraging existing applications and systems. Specifically, the open integration platform offers:

• Increased interoperability with third-party components and platform expansion opportunities that help enable developers to create additional plug-in components to fit specific tasks
  
• Greater integration with other open source software offerings, including Sun-led projects such as GlassFish, which offers an integrated runtime for Open ESB, and NetBeans , which provides developers with a single design tool to build, deploy and test an end-to-end composite application
  
• A viable alternative to proprietary ESB platforms that, through its transparent product development process, helps prevent vendor lock-in issues for developers and helps enable independent software vendors (ISVs) to extend established open platforms with customized offerings to meet specific customer needs

Open ESB 2.0 Preview is available today for free download at: http://open-esb.org. It is also included in the Java Application Platform SDK Update 3 Preview 2, which is available at: http://java.sun.com/javaee/downloads/index.jsp. Open ESB now includes NetBeans 6.0 IDE Preview release-based tools as well as updated version of the runtimes for JBI, Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) Service Engine, Intelligent Event Processing (IEP) Service Engine, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Binding Component and many other components. This combination of Open ESB, GlassFish V2 and the NetBeans architecture provides Java technology developers with powerful and quick access to building SOA-based composite applications. For a complete list of new Open ESB features and additional capabilities, visit: http://open-esb.org

Additional Information

To learn more about Project Open ESB, please visit: http://open-esb.org
For more information about JBI and integration technologies, please visit: http://java.sun.com/integration/
For more information about Sun's Java CAPS commercial product, please visit http://www.sun.com/javacaps

About the JavaOne Conference

Located at Moscone Center in San Francisco, May 8-11, the annual JavaOne conference is one of the leading events for Java technology developers. Established in 1996, the Conference provides technology enthusiasts the opportunity to learn about the latest technology innovations with Java technology, scripting, open source, Web 2.0 and more. Developers get hands-on experience with the technology, can network with their peers, and have the opportunity to network directly with technology experts from technology industry leaders. For more information about the JavaOne conference, visit http://java.sun.com/javaone

GE Fanuc Embedded Systems Announces Network-centric Data Acquisition and Signal Conditioning Systems

Broadening still further the company’s range of data acquisition and signal conditioning solutions, GE Fanuc Embedded Systems today announced the DaqScribe DSC-2200 series of signal conditioning systems and the DSC-2200.Net network-centric data acquisition systems. Housed in compact 2U rack mount enclosures, both systems are designed to offer low cost yet high performance with maximum ease of use.

“With these exciting new products, which we believe to be the most flexible in the marketplace, we are continuing to deliver data acquisition and signal processing capabilities that are characterized by their industry-leading bandwidth, their high performance and their cost-effectiveness,” said Arun Sheth of GE Fanuc Embedded Systems. “The broad range of systems we can now provide allows us to offer turnkey solutions for numerous military, aerospace and automotive applications.”

DSC-2200

The DSC-2200 system series supports up to 32 channels of signal conditioning – each of which is fully programmable and can be configured with its own ‘personality module’ - per chassis. ‘Personality modules’ include the DSC-2210 module for programmable amplification and filtering; the DSC-2220 module for strain gauge conditioning; and the DSC-2240 for ICP conditioning. Multiple user programmable gain (from 0.1. to 1,000) and filter settings (4-pole Bessel, Butterworth or Chebychev with three low-pass selections in addition to a wideband option) per channel can be selected. Analog bandwidth up to 1 MHz per channel is supported, and Ethernet connectivity is achieved via GUI-based software.

DSC-2200.Net

The DSC-2200.Net is designed to support low- to medium speed network-centric applications via the addition of a 16-bit, 1 MHz analog to digital converter (ADC) with an Ethernet controller to the DSC-2200. LXI-compliant, and as easy to install as a network printer, the DSC-2200.Net system supports between 16 and 256 (in increments of 16) channels of analog input through a single master unit, and multiple units can be synchronized for higher channel counts. It provides user-programmable sampling up to 1 MHz at 16-bit resolution. The DSC-2200.Net is provided with the powerful, versatile DSS160 software suite to enable turnkey operation, supporting real-time tabular and graphical displays.

The user has full control of the DSC2200.Net configuration over the network. Sampling rate is provided by an internal programmable clock which can also be used as an output to synchronize external equipment or other units. Onboard memory provides data buffering to manage network traffic variations while configured to minimize data latency.

For maximum flexibility, the DSC-2200.Net supports the same ‘personality modules’ as the DSC-2200, and provides digitized data over Ethernet and buffered analog output. It is planned that a complete line of network-centric products will be developed to support a wide variety of sensor inputs such as bridge, ICP, charge amplifiers, thermocouples, RTD and discrete I/O.

Availability of both the DSC-2200 and DSC-2200.Net is immediate.

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

Amazon.com and IBM Settle Patent Lawsuits

Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced they have settled all patent lawsuits between the companies for an undisclosed amount of money paid to IBM and a long-term patent cross-license agreement.


Scott Hayden, Amazon’s VP of Intellectual Property, said: “IBM’s patent portfolio is the largest and strongest in the IT industry. Our license to its portfolio, and specifically to its Web technology patents, gives us greater freedom to innovate for our customers.”

Dan Cerutti, IBM’s General Manager of Software Intellectual Property, said: “At IBM, we place a high value on our IP assets and believe this agreement substantiates the value of our portfolio. We're pleased this matter has been resolved through negotiation and licensing. We look forward to a more productive relationship with Amazon in the future.”

Sun Expands Solaris 10 Powered Network.com Service to 24 Countries

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) today announced wider international availability and addition of new features to the Sun Grid Compute Utility available from Network.com.


In addition to the United States, the $1/CPU-hr, pay-per-use Network.com utility offering is now available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. Developers, independent software vendors (ISVs) and end-users from these countries will now have immediate access to Network.com's powerful, on-demand computing infrastructure powered by the "Solaris 10 OS, as well as to the open source and ISV applications published in Network.com Application Catalog. Users signing up for a Network.com account will get 200 CPU-hrs free for a limited time.

"International availability is an important milestone for Network.com. A large number of new developers who specialize on building compute intensive applications can now deploy on Network.com," said Aisling MacRunnels, vice-president of Software Marketing, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "ISVs publishing applications in Network.com Application Catalog will find their addressable market segments rapidly increasing with the broader international access."

The newly announced features include Network.com Internet Access that enables applications running in Network.com to securely access external data and services over the Internet. This feature allows applications running on Sun Grid Compute Utility to access data irrespective of its location on the Internet. This opens the possibility for Network.com to offer new services that are mashups of data and services from multiple sources thereby enabling the developers to take advantage of the online services and databases in innovative ways.

Customers across a wide range of industries - from life sciences to education to manufacturing have already started leveraging the new features of Network.com in their applications. The Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR) project at Brookhaven National Laboratory is using the Network.com to supplement its massive computational needs. "We have recently ported Starsim, the mainstay simulation application for the STAR project, to the Solaris 10 OS to take advantage of the new features of the Network.com computing infrastructure," said Maxim Potekhin, the simulation leader of the STAR project. "We are approaching the next frontiers in our studies of the "perfect liquid" formed from nuclear matter under extreme conditions, and Network.com is helping us move our simulation effort forward efficiently and without additional infrastructure investment. Looking forward, the STAR project offers a unique opportunity to bridge commercial and non-commercial grids, making a step towards realization of the Sun Microsystem's vision of computing power as a utility."

Sun is also announcing the start of a limited Beta program for developers to try out the new Network.com Job Management Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). The APIs provide programmatic access for the most commonly used tasks such as transferring data, applications and results to and from the Sun Grid Compute Utility. The APIs enable integration of Network.com into the enterprise data center. They allow for automated offloading of peaks capacity requirements when demand exceeds available capacity in the enterprise data center.

"The availability of APIs is an important milestone in delivering developers with the ability to perform production scale tests right from their development systems" said Mark Herring, Director of Marketing for Network.com. "It provides developers with the necessary mechanisms to build applications that can truly harness the dynamic compute capacity provided by Network.com."

For more information, please see www.network.com

About Network.com

Network.com provides access to compute infrastructure on a pay-per-use basis via its Sun Grid Compute Utility at $1/CPU-hr. It is powered by the Solaris 10 OS and Sun Grid Engine running on Sun's x64 hardware. CPU-hr is defined as the aggregate time spent across all CPUs and rounded up to the next hour.

Microsoft Completes Acquisition of Tellme Networks

Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Tellme Networks Inc., the Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of voice services for everyday life, including nationwide directory assistance, enterprise customer service and voice-enabled mobile search.

Tellme, which has more than 320 employees, will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft from its Mountain View, Calif., offices. Tellme CEO Mike McCue will remain as Tellme’s senior leader and will report to Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft Business Division.