David Needle

Intel is best known as the company behind the microprocessor inside most desktop computers and servers, but it’s also making its mark at the high end of computing. This week, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company released five software development tools for the creation of distributed applications used in high-performance computing clusters. The five Intel cluster […]

A single chip solution for remote server access was announced by Peppercon this week. The chip is expected to show up in servers from SuperMicro and other vendors by February. By integrating the Peppercon KIRA100 chip in the server, Peppercon says remote server management becomes less expensive than PCI add-in cards and other solutions costing […]

Speech-recognition is often heralded as one of the next great ease-of-use breakthroughs in computing. The technology seems to get better every year but never quite good enough for the masses. After all, if you could just tell your computer what to do, wouldn’t that be easier than pull-down menus, cut-and-paste and good old typing? If […]

SAN FRANCISCO –- Clearly it’s more of a semantic argument than really the death of chips. Right? Sun’s CTO, Greg Papadopoulos, raised more than a few eyebrows when he declared the imminent demise of the microprocessor at a technology briefing for press and analysts here this week. As Papadopoulos sees it, we are on the […]

Dual-core processors are fast becoming the next big wave in computing. AMD more than got Intel’s attention when AMD’s dual-core Opteron started making big inroads in Intel’s server business. Intel has since committed to moving its whole line of desktop and server processors to dual and multi-core. IBM is quick to remind rivals that it […]

Delivering on earlier promises to bring hardware virtualization to the desktop this year, Intel announced new processors Monday that a handful of PC makers plan to ship in systems over the next several weeks. Much broader adoption of the technology is expected for the first quarter of 2006 when Intel includes the technology in new […]

In the mid-1960s, it was not uncommon for Captain Kirk’s banter with the crew of the Starship Enterprise to be interrupted by a request to give his approval signature on a tablet. That’s about as far as the show’s writers took the idea but, as any visiting UPS delivery driver can show you, it proved […]

To hear Sun Microsystems tell it, the question surrounding utility computing isn’t if it will take off, but when. Same with HP. The company considers it a key component of the data center of the future. Both companies are but two examples of the quickening pace of service offerings in the industry. Sun announced this […]

Dell is out, and Sun and AMD are in at NewEnergy Associates. In a customer win for both Sun Microsystems and AMD , NewEnergy Associates is replacing its entire Houston data center, comprised of 22 Intel processor-based servers, with two dual-core Sun Fire X4200 servers, part of Sun’s Galaxy server line announced mid-September. NewEnergy, an […]

AMD cleared a major hurdle when it beat rival Intel as the leading supplier of processors for the U.S. retail personal computer market last month. According to a report just released by Current Analysis, 49.8 percent of the personal computers (desktops and notebooks combined) sold in the U.S. in October ran on AMD processors, which […]

There appears to be a solid inventory of chips in the supply chain, though according to a Merrill Lynch report published this week, there’s room to grow. The report, “Semiconductors: Q3 2005 Supply Chain Analysis,” which is the result of a survey of some 22 PC companies, says that inventory remains “high but flat” versus […]

Pioneer comparison shopping site Bookfinder.com has been purchased by Abebooks.com, one of the largest online sites for new and used books. Both companies started in 1996, about a year after Amazon.com burst onto the scene with a new way to purchase books online. The deal was announced today, and the plan is for Berkeley, Calif.-based […]