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Feb 04, `08 — The first chip to pack more than two billion transistors has been launched by silicon giant Intel. The quad-core chip, known as Tukwila, is designed for high-end servers rather than personal computers.

It operates at speeds of up to 2Ghz, the equivalent of a standard PC chip. A large number of the transistors on the new Intel chip are used for memory. “[It] contains lots off onboard memory and registers which are just a very efficient computer architecture to process data faster. Cache memory holds data to be processed by the chip. The closer it is to the processor, the quicker the data can be crunched.

Intel will also show off a chip designed for ultra-mobile devices, known as Silverthorne. The processor is based on the firms latest transistor technology which contains features just 45 nanometers (billionth of a meter) wide.

Both chips will be shown off at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco.

Cupertino, Calif — Apple on Wednesday, Jan 30, announced that MacBook Air, the world’s thinnest notebook, is now shipping.

MacBook Air measures an unprecedented 0.16-inches at its thinnest point, while its maximum height of 0.76-inches is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks.

MacBook Air has a stunning 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, a full-size and backlit keyboard, a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing, and a spacious trackpad with multi-touch gesture support so users can pinch, rotate and swipe. MacBook Air is powered by a 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache, and includes as standard features 2GB of memory, an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive, and the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi technology and Bluetooth 2.1.

Pricing & Availability
The new MacBook Air is now shipping and will be available through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $1,799 (US), and includes:

* 13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with 1280×800 resolution;
* 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache;
* 800 MHz front-side bus;
* 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM;
* 80GB hard disk drive with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100;
* Micro-DVI port (includes Micro-DVI to VGA and Micro-DVI to DVI Adapters);
* built-in iSight video camera;
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
* one USB 2.0 port;
* one headphone port;
* multi-touch TrackPad with support for advanced multi-touch gestures including tap, scroll, pinch, rotate and swipe; and
* 45 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Build-to-order options and accessories for MacBook Air include the ability to upgrade to a 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor; 64GB solid state drive, MacBook Air SuperDrive, Apple USB Ethernet Adapter, Apple USB Modem, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter, Apple Remote and the AppleCare Protection Plan. Additional build-to-order options also include pre-installed copies of iWork ‘08, Logic Express 8, Final Cut Express 4 and Aperture 1.5. More at Apple.

BOISE, Idaho & SANTA CLARA, Calif –BUSINESS WIRE– Feb 01, `08 — Intel and Micron Technology today unveiled a high speed NAND flash memory technology that can greatly enhance the access and transfer of data in devices that use silicon for storage. The new technology – developed jointly by Intel and Micron and manufactured by the companies’ NAND flash joint venture, IM Flash Technologies (IMFT) – is five times faster than conventional NAND, allowing data to be transferred in a fraction of the time for computing, video, photography and other consumer applications.

The new high speed NAND can reach speeds up to 200 megabytes per second (MB/s) for reading data and 100 MB/s for writing data, achieved by leveraging the new ONFI 2.0 specification and a four-plane architecture with higher clock speeds. In comparison, conventional single level cell NAND is limited to 40 MB/s for reading data and less than 20 MB/s for writing data.

“The computing market is embracing NAND-based solutions to accelerate system performance through the use of caching and solid-state drives,” said Pete Hazen, director of marketing, Intel NAND Products Group. “At up to five times the performance over conventional NAND, the high speed NAND from Intel and Micron, based on the ONFi 2.0 industry standard, will enable new embedded solutions and removable solutions that take advantage of high–performance system interfaces, including PCIe and upcoming standards such as USB 3.0.”

For example, the specific performance advantages of high speed NAND in today’s most popular devices include:

* When used in a hybrid hard drive, high speed NAND can allow the system to read and write data anywhere between two or four times the speed when compared to conventional hard drives.
* With the popularity of digital video cameras and video on demand services, high speed NAND can enable a high-definition movie to be transferred five times faster than conventional NAND.
* With the pending USB 3.0 interface, high speed NAND is expected to effectively deliver on the increased data transfer rates of the new specification, where conventional NAND would act as the bottleneck in system performance. USB 3.0 is aiming for 10 times the bandwidth of current USB 2.0 solutions, or approximately achieving 4.8 gigabits per second.
* As NAND continues to move into the PC platform, the Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface (NVMHCI) can take advantage of high speed NAND in solutions such as Intel Turbo Memory, allowing for even better system performance. NVMHCI is designed to provide a standard software programming interface allowing operating system drivers to access NAND flash memory storage in applications such as hard drive caching and solid-state drives. More at Micron.

CES 2008 — Las Vegas — Jan 07, `08 — Intel unveiled 16 products today, including the company’s first 45 nanometer (nm) processors for Intel Centrino Processor Technology based laptops.

With the introduction of the new processors, Intel will offer 32 desktop, laptop and server processors based on these innovations. Intel also announced continuing momentum in ultra mobile computing and WiMAX.

Mobility: Intel Announces Santa Rosa Refresh Product Line
Santa Rosa Refresh – Intel launched “Santa Rosa Refresh,” an update to Intel Centrino processor technology that includes the next-generation 45nm high-k (Hi-k) mobile processor (codenamed “Penryn”) and improved graphics capabilities.

• 45nm Hi-k Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processor for Centrino — Taking advantage of the Hafnium-based, Hi-k metal gate reinvented transistors inside, Santa Rosa Refresh-based notebooks deliver improved platform performance and great battery life. Graphics improvement focuses on HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc support with an optional third-party decoder, as well as enhanced content and gaming capabilities.
• Santa Rosa Refresh for Desktop — Intel will also use this new mobile technology foundation with the energy-efficient performance of the 45nm Intel Core 2 Duo processor to enable a variety of smaller, cooler and quieter, stylish desktop designs.

Mobile Internet Devices:
• Intel confirms “Menlow” platform shipments in the first half of 2008: Intel is getting ready to ship its first-generation low-power platform, codenamed “Menlow,” in the first half of the year. The Menlow platform is comprised of the “Silverthorne” processor and the “Poulsbo” chipset, both being designed from the ground up for MIDs and UMPCs. At CES, Intel provided a sneak peek of some of the upcoming “Menlow”-based devices and applications that are being optimized for this platform.
• Intel unveils customers planning to launch Menlow-based platforms at CES: In a sign of growing momentum behind MIDs and UMPCs, Intel is showcasing a range of Menlow-based devices from customers who expect to ship these products later this year. In its technology showcase, Intel has Menlow-based MIDs and UMPCs from Aigo, Asus, BenQ, Clarion, Compal, Digifriends, EB, Gigabyte, Lenovo, LG-E, LiteOn, Quanta, Toshiba, USI, and Willcom.
• Skype announces support for Intel-based MIDs: Skype announced a collaboration with Intel to develop a mobile Skype experience for MIDs based on Intel low power processors and chipsets. Mobile users will be able to make Skype voice and video calls and send instant messages on the move while harnessing the PC-like performance of Intel’s MIDs. This new category of small, truly mobile consumer devices with WiMAX and Wi-Fi capabilities will enable free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls and cheap SkypeOut calls to be made on open wireless networks.

WiMAX: Mobile WiMAX Takes the Stage in 2008
Intel’s integrated Wi-Fi/WiMAX module (codenamed “Echo Peak”) will debut in certain next-generation Intel Centrino processor-based laptops (codenamed “Montevina”) beginning in the middle of the year. The company’s low-power mobile WiMAX silicon specifically designed for mobile Internet and consumer electronic devices (codenamed “Baxter Peal”) will also be available this year.

Consumer Desktop PCs: 45nm Goes Mainstream this Quarter
• “Penryn” family of processors comes to mainstream desktop PCs – Intel announced three quad-core and four dual-core 45nm-based processors for consumer desktop PCs arriving later this month and throughout the first quarter of the year. The new 45nm Intel Core 2 Quad and Intel Core 2 Duo processors have a range of speeds and feature large L2 caches and Intel HD Boost, which delivers increased performance on such multimedia applications as video editing and encoding.
• Intel Core 2 Processor with Viiv technology – Intel will also extend the performance and energy efficiency of the new 45nm processors with Intel HD Boost to the Intel Core 2 Processor with Viiv technology platform. The company will also focus future plans on delivering silicon-driven capabilities that support the areas of better connecting, protecting and managing digital content – as well as delivering the performance required to view, share and enjoy it.

• Later this quarter:
– The Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 Processor (3.2 GHz/1600 MHz system bus 45nm Hi-k metal gate processor formerly codenamed “Yorkfield”) and Intel X48 Express Chipset targeted at high-end PC users and enthusiasts. The Intel X48 Express Chipset continues to push the performance envelope with native support for XMP 1600 DDR3 memory.
– “Skulltrail” is a new dual processor-based platform that will provide extreme high-end enthusiasts with a fantastic professional media creation and gaming experience. The platform will feature two quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme processors for 8-core performance and 4 PCI Express x16 Gen 1.1 slots with planned support for up to 4 graphics cards. More at Intel (in pdf).

SANTA CLARA, Calif — On Tuesday Dec 18, Intel released a software initiator package to drive the development of Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) solutions for the Linux operating system.

FCoE is a proposed specification that will allow Fibre Channel SAN traffic to run over Ethernet. By consolidating LAN and SAN traffic onto a single fabric, FCoE will simplify network infrastructure in the datacenter.

The FCoE software package is now available for download at Open-FCoE.org and can be modified according to the terms of the GPLv2 license. As part of the package, Intel has included a target simulator, so Linux developers can test and modify the FCoE software stack. Open-FCoE.org is open to all FCoE developers for source code download, code contribution and feedback.

Cisco Systems submitted the initial FCoE proposal to the Fibre Channel standards body, T11, in April. As a member of the T11, Intel is committed to working with Cisco and other companies to drive industry enablement of FCoE.

“Fiber Channel over Ethernet will be a key capability for our customers offering seamless server and storage access in the data center,” said Jayshree Ullal, senior vice president of the Data Center, Switching and Services Group at Cisco Systems. “The emergence of 10 Gigabit Ethernet bandwidth combined with Cisco’s proposed extensions to Ethernet, enables a lossless and resilient fabric for Data Center I/O consolidation. Cisco is pleased to see Intel taking a leadership role in FCoE.”

The new FCoE initiator code is based on a specification being developed by the T11 in the FC-BB-5 work group. The FCoE specification is expected to be completed in 2008. More at Intel.

Taipei, Taiwan — On Dec 17, Micro-Star International (MSI) announced that it has already prepared P7N Diamond and P7N SLI Platinum mainboards to support the 45nm Intel processor at the same time when new nForce chipset launches.

P7N Diamond utilizes nForce780i chipset together with top performance specifications and supports 3-way SLI technology. While, P7N SLI Platinum utilizes nForce750i chipset, making this mainboard cost-effective.

Highly Efficient Circu-Pipe and GreenPower Design
The use of selected high-grade components is the common characteristic of the P7N series mainboards. Although the two mainboards have different market segments, they both come with MSI’s exclusive Circu-Pipe design. Circu-pipe can effectively reduce the high temperature from the chipset and MOSFET.

Selected high-quality solid capacitors and POSCAP!
The all capacitors on these two mainboards are high-quality solid capacitors that are made in Japan. These capacitors with low impedance and high ripple current and other characteristics provide better filtering effect. To further highlight P7N Diamond products, the PWM capacitors on this mainboard are based on POSCAP. POSCAP (Polymerized Organic Semiconductor Capacitor) is a high grade product recently developed by Sanyo.

45nm Processor and 3-way SLI ready!
P7N series mainboards are Intel 45nm processor and 3-way SLI ready. The 45nm Quad Core CPU support brings more benefits to multimedia and multitasking by enhancing the performance and reducing the waiting time for any kind of applications. It provides extremely high definition audio/video stream editing and offers higher performance on 3D gaming and professional graphic rendering.

MSI design quad PCI-E VGA slot on P7N Diamond for more than the new Nvidia 3-way SLI technology, also comes with PCI-E Gen2 to offer wider bandwidth. This will bring higher 3D gaming resolutions with more detail DX10 effects. More at Micro-Star International.

Taipei, Taiwan — Dec 19, `07 — DigiTimes brings us another Intel launch-delay news, just 2 days after Intel’s X48 chipset postponement.

DigiTimes reports on Intel adjusting its product strategy and delaying three 45nm quad-core CPUs, Core 2 Quad Q9300, Q9450 and Q9550, that were originally scheduled to launch in January next year, citing sources at motherboard makers.

“Intel has already notified its partners that it will push back the launch of the three CPUs to February or March next year, depending on AMD’s schedule for triple-core and the upcoming Phenom CPUs.

Launching the CPUs now will not benefit Intel much in its battle with AMD, while they could cause damage to Intel’s 65nm quad-core CPUs, therefore the company has decided it is in no rush to release new products until AMD is able to present more of a threat.” More at DigiTimes.

SAN JOSE, Calif — Dec 17, `07 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — As a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance, SiRF today announced it will rapidly implement key end-to-end location-awareness features needed to enable mobile devices powered by the Android platform to provide an optimal location awareness experience for consumers.

SiRF has joined with Google and more than 30 other companies worldwide to develop and deploy Android, the Alliance’s open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. SiRF’s commitment to Android is the latest in the company’s efforts to bring the power of location to the mainstream market by making location an intrinsic part of the mobile experience.

SiRF is actively working on the Android platform to include some of the more innovative features of Secure User Plane Location (SUPL), a standards-based protocol that allows a mobile handset client to communicate with a SUPL Location Platform (SLP), including transport layer security (TLS) for location privacy and multiple session capabilities to provide the most compelling user experience.

SiRF is also implementing support for Android-based assisted GPS (A-GPS) handsets, including mobile station based (MSB) and mobile station assisted (MSA) positioning methods to facilitate the Android platform passing Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) and 3GPP conformance testing for third-party certification.

Sixty years ago three scientists, , from Bell Laboratory in the US invented the Transistor - the tiny switches at the heart of all silicon chips - replacing vacuum tubes and mechanical relays and revolutionizing the entire electronics world. The team was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1956.

Analyst Malcolm Penn at BBC News writes an in-depth article on the history of transistor: “Following the transistor’s invention by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley at Bell Labs in 1947, no one really knew quite what to do with the invention.

Little more than a laboratory curiosity, it was not until manufacturers realized that the tiny switches would enable products to be built smaller, more reliably and with less power consumption than with conventional electronic valves that the market started to develop.

It took the technologists five years to come up with the first practical transistor application - a hearing aid in 1952.

Eight years after the transistors first laboratory demonstration, launched in December 1955, the watershed product that truly grabbed the world’s attention was the first transistor radio, pocket-sized Regency TR1.

Most of the early device manufacturers were traditional valve companies, soon to be displaced by the fledgling specialist semiconductor companies, the most famous of which being Fairchild Semiconductor in Palo Alto, California and Texas Instruments (TI) in Dallas, Texas.

A spin out from Shockley Semiconductors, Fairchild proved to be a hotbed of technology innovation throughout the whole of the 1960s, including the invention of the Planar manufacturing process - the ability to print tiny patterns on the silicon surface using photographic techniques - still the foundation for today’s mainstream technology.

It was at Fairchild in 1965 that Gordon Moore, one of the co-founders of chip-giant Intel, sketched out his prediction of the pace of silicon technology, subsequently became known as Moore’s law.” More at BBC News, Nobelprize.org.

Taipei, Taiwan — Dec 17, `07 — DigiTimes is reporting on Intel delaying the launch of its X48 Chipset by 1-2 months because one of the first-tier motherboard makers still holds a large volume of X38 chipset inventory, citing sources at motherboard makers.

DigiTimes further reports, “The motherboard maker fears that the X48 chipset will slow down clearance of its X38 chipset inventory and has negotiated with Intel to delay the launch of its X48 chipset. However the delay is expected to hurt makers who do not have an overstock X38 chipsets.” More at DigiTimes.

Still Q1-08 launch seems very likely as Intel confirms the X48 Chipset launch along with Core 2 Extreme QX9770 processor in Q1 of next year in its ‘News Fact Sheet’ dated Dec 14, `07.

“• In the first quarter of 2008, Intel will continue its progression of leading-edge technology products:
-  The Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 Processor (3.2 GHz/1600 MHz system bus 45nm Hi-k metal gate processor formerly codenamed “Yorkfield”) and Intel X48 Express Chipset targeted at high-end PC users and enthusiasts. The Intel X48 Express Chipset continues to push the performance envelope with native support for XMP 1600 DDR3 memory.” More at Intel (in pdf).

On  Dec 14 Intel announced the Intel Z-P140 PATA Solid State Drive (SSD), an ultra-small - smaller than a penny, weighing less than a drop of water - complete storage solution for mobile digital entertainment, and embedded applications, offering low-power, high performance, and durability, which is also 400x smaller than a 1.8″ hard-drive.

Using the industry standard PATA interface, the Intel Z-P140 PATA SSD offers the capacity and features to accelerate computing trends towards greater mobility.

Right Fit
Using the standard PATA interface, chipscale package-on-package technology, and a form factor significantly smaller than hard disk drives, the Z-P140 PATA SSD enables smaller and easier storage design.

Right Capacity
2, 4, 8, and 16GB capacities are enough to support operating system storage, applications, data, and media storage, meeting mainstream density requirements for most computing markets.

Right Performance
Fast to boot, load, and run applications, with low power and extended durability, solid state technology has no moving parts, allowing for faster system response and longer battery life.

More at Intel here and here (in pdf).

Dec 13, ‘07 — Intel is challenging modders to show off their creative skills in building Intel processor-based mods for an online competition. Intel delivers the unrivaled performance and energy efficient processors that modders can then build just about anything from, including an 18-wheeler Mac truck.

Get a glimpse at these creations and vote on your favorite one by visiting the Intel Modding Competition Group on Channel Intel. Check out the contest and see why modders Demand Intel.

Excerpts from IntelModder Group’s welcome message:

“Now, just join the group, upload a video of your Intel processor-based mod, and start voting! Click more to learn about the contest details.

Why submit? In addition to bragging rights, we’ll be giving away some pretty sweet prizes to the top 3 submissions.

-The Grand Prize Winner receives their choice of any Intel desktop or notebook processor, their choice of Intel motherboard, an Intel backpack stuffed with Marriott Bucks ($200), a gift certificate for Ubisoft ($50) games, specialty coffee bucks ($15), 20 free Wi-Fi sessions and 3 months free broadband TV from AT&T.

The contest requires two things:
1- Your mod needs to be based on any Intel processor and
2- You must submit a video shorter than 1 minute to the ‘mod contest site that shows the how cool your ‘mod is.

The official rules and all the details can be viewed in the Intel Modding Competition video on the site. We’re going to be running this contest through the New Year and will be accepting video submissions until 11:59:59 pm on January 14th.”

More at IntelModder Group.

MOSCOW, Russia — In an effort to bring people faster, lower cost and a truly mobile, data broadband technology, Comstar, Russia’s leading telecomm provider, and Intel Corporation on Tuesday, Dec 11, announced a collaboration to develop mobile WiMAX in Russia.

The joint effort will initially focus on building a city-wide mobile WiMAX network in Moscow. Comstar plans to use its 2.5-2.7Ghz spectrum footprint in the city to build the network and is targeting its commercial launch for late 2008. Intel will drive an ecosystem of the client devices with embedded WiMAX solutions.

Intel is already developing embedded mobile WiMAX solutions for notebook PCs and ultra mobile and mobile Internet devices. Starting in mid-2008 the company will offer its first embedded mobile WiMAX/Wi-Fi module, codenamed “Echo Peak,” with its next-generation Intel Centrino processor technology for notebooks and ultra-mobile devices. A solution optimized for mobile Internet devices with low-power consumption, codenamed “Baxter Peak,” is also expected to be available next year.

Mobile WiMAX is a broadband wireless technology that provides low-cost, multi-megabit speed, and great throughput for accessing large amounts of such data as movies and multi-media content. It is based on the IEEE 802.16e standard and is expected to be deployed around the world starting next year.

Intel will work manufacturers worldwide to develop and test notebook PCs and mobile devices to work with mobile WiMAX networks. A number of PC and device manufacturers have already expressed intent to embed these solutions into systems next year and more are expected in the next several months.

Comstar, part of services conglomerate Sistema, provides voice, data, Internet, pay-TV and other services. It has around 452K broadband Internet subscribers in Moscow. More at Intel.

Taipei, Taiwan — Dec 06, ‘07 — DigiTimes is reporting on Intel releasing its first desktop dual-core Celeron series, E1000, on January 20, citing sources at motherboard makers.

DigiTimes further writes, “The first dual-core Celeron processor, the E1200, will have core frequency of 1.6GHz, 800MHz FSB and 512KB L2 cache with a price of US$53 in thousand-unit quantities.

On the same day, Intel will also launch three quad-core (Yorkfield) CPUs, the Q9300, Q9450 and Q9550 and another four dual-core (Wolfdale) CPUs, the E8190, E8200, E8400 and E8500 for desktops, the motherboard makers added.”

Meanwhile, Intel will also roll out the quad-core QX9770 processor which features a frequency of 3.2GHz, 1600MHz FSB, 12MB cache and TDP of 136W with a price tag of US$1,399 in thousand-unit quantities in January. Before March, the company will also introduce a high-end quad-core QX9775 processor with a frequency of 3.2GHz, 1600MHz FSB, 12MB L2 cache and 150W TDP. Pricing in thousand-unit quantities will be US$1,499, said the DigiTimes sources. More at DigiTimes.

PASADENA, Calif — Dec 06, ‘07 –  The California Institute of Technology and the University of California have received a $200 million commitment over nine years from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation toward the further development and construction of the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT). Funding under this commitment will be shared equally between the two universities, with matching gifts from the two institutions expected to bring the total to $300 million. When built, TMT will be the largest telescope in the world.

The telescope design is being developed by a U.S.-Canadian team that includes the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy (ACURA), with completion of the design development expected by March 2009.

With the TMT, astronomers will be able to locate and analyze the light from the first stellar systems born soon after the Big Bang, determine the physical processes governing the formation and evolution of galaxies like our own Milky Way, study planet formation around nearby stars, and make observations that test the fundamental laws of physics. However, it is the unexpected discoveries that TMT will make that will likely be the most exciting.

TMT will consist of a primary mirror with 492 individual 1.45-meter segments that together measure 30 meters in diameter, providing more than eight times the collecting area of the current largest telescope. All segments will be under precision computer control so that they will work together as a single mirror. This revolutionary technology was developed for the 10-meter mirrors in the two Keck telescopes in Hawaii.

The TMT will not only be the largest optical-infrared telescope in the world, but it will also be at the forefront of technology in virtually every aspect of its design. Adaptive optics (AO) will allow the TMT to achieve a resolution superior to that of the Hubble Space Telescope.

The TMT AO system will use six laser beams to create six luminous spots in a layer of sodium atoms high in Earth’s upper atmosphere. These bright artificial stars serve as references for measuring the turbulence in the atmosphere, allowing the AO system to compensate for blurring of starlight by Earth’s fluctuating atmosphere. This technology was pioneered at the Lick Observatory 3-meter telescope and has been developed further at the Palomar 5-meter and Keck 10-meter telescopes. More at Caltech.

Microsoft delivers next milestone for highly anticipated Windows Server 2008, makes RC1 (release candidate one) ready for testing; industry readies for worldwide launch wave with “Heroes Happen Here” launch theme.

REDMOND, Wash — Dec 5, 2007 — Reaching a major milestone in development, Microsoft today made available the Windows Server 2008 release candidate one (RC1) for customers to download and evaluate.

In addition, Microsoft committed more than $150 million (U.S.) worldwide for outreach and demand generation to IT professionals and developers, and disclosed additional details and partner programs in preparation for the “Heroes Happen Here” launch events, beginning on Feb. 27, 2008, in Los Angeles.

Windows Server 2008 RC1
Windows Server 2008, which is scheduled to release to manufacturing (RTM) by the Feb. 27 launch event, reached the RC1 milestone today and is available to customers for download at Microsoft.com/ws08eval.

With RC1, Microsoft is enhancing Group Policy with Group Policy Preferences, formerly known as PolicyMaker Standard Edition and Policy Share Manager. As the code approaches final signoff, RC1 is one of the last opportunities for customers and partners to evaluate it and provide feedback. So far, more than 1.8 million customers have obtained Windows Server 2008 evaluation code.

Industry Partners Kick Off Windows Server 2008 Launch Wave
As the industry gears up for the new enterprise and developer platform, thousands of industry partners have been working with Microsoft on product testing and evaluation, and are currently developing new applications, device drivers, services and solutions.

Ten partners in particular — Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Citrix Systems, Dell, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, Intel, Quest Software, SAP AG and Unisys — have already invested significant time and resources to be platinum sponsors of the upcoming launch, demonstrating their strong support for and excitement about Microsoft’s next-generation products.

To date more than 140,000 IT professionals and developers have been trained on Windows Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008, and 3,100 certifications have been granted on Windows Server 2008. More at Microsoft.

Dec 05, ‘07 — DailyTech is reporting on Intel showing no signs of slowing down when it comes to its mobile processors.

“Intel will up the ante again on January 6, 2008 with its new 45nm Penryn-based Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme dual core processors.

It’s highly plausible that the chips could make their first appearance at CES 2008 (January 7, 2008) with further unveils at MacWorld 2008 in Apple’s oft-rumored tablet, revamped MacBook Pros or refreshed iMac desktops.

Initial Penryn mobile processors will launch exclusively with a 35W thermal envelope. Existing Merom mobile processors (T7000-series) also fit inside the 35W envelope at standard voltage. However, with the Montevina Centrino refresh in the second half of 2008, new Penryn mobile processors will receive a 25W TDP rating instead.” More at DailyTech, Intel Laptop Roadmap (in pdf).

Dec 04, ‘07 — Dell has teamed up with the folks at Blizzard Entertainment to create a product that allows fans of World of Warcraft (WoW) to immerse themselves in the game and today unveiled XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition.

Every system comes pre-loaded with the games themselves: World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade expansion pack. Dell will also install all the major client patches for both games as well and will continue to test and ship future patches pre-installed as they are released by Blizzard.

Everyone who orders this system will get three things: a Quest Envelope, a WoW backpack full of stuff and the system itself.

XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition

* 17″ HD widescreen notebook complete with World of Warcraft backpack
* Illuminated speaker grills and faction specific Honor Badges
* Back-lit keyboard stays awake as long as you can
* Track your stats with the world’s first built-in notebook Logitech GamePanel LCD
* Pre-loaded with World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade and all major game patches
* Golden Ticket for a custom FigurePrint of your actual in-game World of Warcraft character with your actual armor and weapons
* World of Warcraft Beta Club Key Card with a key to future World of Warcraft beta tests
* World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade Collector’s Edition Account Upgrade Certificates
* Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
* Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate Edition
* 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
* Speed: 160GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
* CD / DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW Drive)
* 1Yr LoJack for Laptops Theft Protection (CD Shipped Separately)
* 17inch UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-screen WUXGA
* 512MB Dual NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT with NVIDIA SLI
* AGEIA PhysX Physics Accelerator
It starts at $4500 and still comes with just one year warrenty. You can get one here.

Nov 27, ‘07 — Dell today introduced two new models of its Dell Precision^M  workstations, the world’s top-selling line of professional workstations for the past eight years. Available today with prices starting at approximately $1,600 and $1,850 respectively, the Dell Precision T5400 and the Dell Precision T7400 provide the highest levels of performance and expandability available in a Dell workstation.

Dell will be the first tier-one vendor to ship workstations with the latest Quad-Core and Dual-Core Intel  Xeon  processors 5400 and 5200 series, using Intel’s latest 45-nm manufacturing process.

“These systems have some of the fastest Intel processors, high-end OpenGL graphics and massive scalability and memory capacities. In fact, we’ve designed configurations with an industry-leading 1600MHz front-side bus to help provide screaming performance,” said Antonio Julio, director worldwide marketing, Dell Precision workstations.

Key Features

• A dual-socket design supports up to two next-generation multi-core Intel Xeon processors. Dell offers some of the fastest Intel Xeon processors available, up to 3.2GHz. Multiple processor cores can increase application performance dramatically in multi-threaded and multi-tasking environments.

• Dual, full-performance PCI Express Gen2 x16 graphics slots providing up to double the maximum bandwidth of PCI Express x16. This enables customers to include up to two high-performance OpenGL®  graphics cards and support up to four 30-inch DellTM  UltraSharpTM  flat panel monitors at full resolution.

• The T5400/7400 uses a dual independent front-side bus design – up to 1333MHz on the T5400 and up to 1600MHz on the T7400 – to provide a fast data path between processors, memory and chipset, benefiting memory bandwidth-intensive applications.

• Both models use a fully buffered DIMM architecture with up to 800MHz front-side bus on the T7400, which will also support up to 128GB of system memory when 8GB DIMMs become available.

• Dell-engineered acoustic improvements make these systems up to 33 percent quieter than their predecessors.

• Designed with the environment in mind to meet or exceed the worldwide mutually recognized Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Standard 4.0. Both models also use 80-plus percent efficient power supplies to reduce power consumption.

More at Dell.

Taipei, Taiwan — Nov 22, ‘07 –A few Taiwan-based OEMs who are working with Intel to promote the chipmaker’s mobile Internet devices (MIDs) have already started cooperation talks with telecom carriers in Taiwan in order to lower the price for the products and turn them into the next market mainstream, according to industry sources, says Digitimes.

Digitimes further writes, “The sources said Intel has high hopes for MIDS, which will not be volume produced until the second quarter of 2008.

Intel may place an average US$499 price tag on various MIDs, but the high prices would deter potential consumers, despite the fact that MIDs may be richer in features than iPhones, the sources said. In order to lower the prices, the OEMs are seeking to reach bundle deals with Taiwan’s telecom carriers, similar to the ones under which iPhones are currently sold, the sources disclosed.

Both the OEMs and telecom carriers are probing the possibility of lowering the MID prices to US$199-299, the sources added.” Digitimes.

Nov 23, ‘07 — Digitimes is reporting on Asustek Computer adjusting its notebook strategy to increase the proportion of Intel’s Santa Rosa Refresh and Montevina platforms up to 90% of its notebook shipments, while dropping AMD-based platforms from 30% to around 10%, citing sources at the company.

Digitimes further reports, “In line with Asustek’s move, market sources commented that as AMD has not shown any obvious growth in its notebook platforms, the company’s notebook market share might only reach 12-13% in 2008.

Asustek expects its notebook shipments in 2007 will increase to 7.2 million units, with branded notebooks occupying 4.2 million of the total, noted the company sources.Asustek aims to become one of the top-five notebook vendors worldwide in 2010 and a top-three vendor in 2013, according to the company.” More at Digitimes.