Intel to Acquire Wind River Systems For Approximately $884 Million

Intel Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wind River Systems Inc, under which Intel will acquire all outstanding Wind River common stock for $11.50 per share in cash, or approximately $884 million in the aggregate. Wind River is a leading software vendor in embedded devices, and will become part of Intel's strategy to grow its processor and software presence outside the traditional PC and server market segments into embedded systems and mobile handheld devices.

Wind River will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel and continue with its current business model of supplying leading-edge products and services to its customers worldwide.

"This acquisition will bring us complementary, market-leading software assets and an incredibly talented group of people to help us continue to grow our embedded systems and mobile device capabilities," said Renee James, Intel vice president and general manager of the company's Software and Services Group. "Wind River has thousands of customers in a wide range of markets, and now both companies will be better positioned to meet growth opportunities in these areas."

"Our combination of strengths will be of great benefit to Wind River's existing and future customers," said Ken Klein, Wind River Chairman, president and CEO. "As a wholly owned subsidiary, Wind River will more tightly align its software expertise to Intel's platforms to speed the pace of progress and software innovation. We remain committed to continuing to provide leading solutions across multiple hardware architectures and delivering the same world-class support to which our customers have grown accustomed."

The acquisition will deliver to Intel robust software capabilities in embedded systems and mobile devices, both important growth areas for the company. Embedded systems and mobile devices include smart phones, mobile Internet devices, other consumer electronics (CE) devices, in-car "info-tainment" systems and other automotive areas, networking equipment, aerospace and defense, energy and thousands of other devices. This multi-billion dollar market opportunity is increasingly becoming connected and more intelligent, requiring supporting applications and services as well as full Internet functionality.

The board of directors of Wind River has unanimously approved the transaction. It is expected to close this summer, subject to certain regulatory approvals and other conditions specified in the definitive agreement. Upon completion of the acquisition, Wind River will report into Intel's Software and Services Group, headed by Renee James.

Wind River – A Leader in Embedded Software

As an Intel subsidiary, Wind River will continue to develop innovative, commercial-grade software platforms that support multiple hardware architectures that are optimized for the needs of its many embedded and mobile customers. The acquisition will boost Wind River's Intel-architecture focused sales as it gains access to the company's technology investments, brand, employees and global sales force.

Founded in 1981, Wind River is a publicly held company with headquarters in Alameda, Calif., with more than 1,600 employees and operations in more than 15 countries. During its fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2009, Wind River reported annual revenues of $359.7 million.

Wind River develops operating systems, middleware (software found between an OS and software application), and software design tools for a variety of embedded computing systems. Its main products include VxWorks, the market-leading proprietary and multicore-ready real-time operating system, and commercial-grade Linux software platforms. The company also provides design services and software expertise, including custom-built solutions, development tools and device testing products.

With thousands of customers, Wind River technology is relied upon by most major computer and networking communications companies, and used by corporations and government agencies such as Alcatel-Lucent, BMW, Boeing, Bombardier Transportation, Mitsubishi, Motorola, NASA, Sony, Verizon and many more.

Intel Acquires A Network Connectivity Solutions Company NetEffect for $8 Million

Intel Corporation today announced its acquisition of the assets of NetEffect Inc., a network connectivity solutions company specializing in Ethernet products and technologies for server compute clusters.

"NetEffect's role as a data communications solution provider and the company's technology will enhance Intel's current Ethernet efforts," said Tom Swinford, general manager, Intel LAN Access Division. "The combination of Intel and NetEffect technology will allow Intel to address our customers' most important 10 Gigabit Ethernet needs, including server virtualization, convergence of network and storage traffic, and server compute clusters."

Intel purchased NetEffect's assets for $8 million, which include the company's Ethernet product portfolio, intellectual property and technology. NetEffect was a provider of solutions incorporating iWARP, an Ethernet alternative to InfiniBand. NetEffect's product portfolio includes 1 Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) adapters for servers and blade configurations as well as 10 GbE Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs).

Designed for multi-core processor-based servers and optimized for virtualization, Intel's current portfolio of 10GbE server adapters includes single and dual port versions for both copper and fiber implementations. The NetEffect acquisition provides complementary High Performance Network Interface Card (NIC) products to Intel's Ethernet portfolio.

NetEffect was founded in 1998 as Banderacom, a company focused on InfiniBand adapters and 16-port IB switch, and was recapitalized in 2004 as NetEffect. Thirty employees, primarily engineers, have joined the Intel team from NetEffect and will continue to be based in Austin, Texas.

Intel, Facebook Sign Infrastructure Solutions Agreement

Facebook and Intel Corporation will work together to optimize Facebook's hardware and software as the company builds out its datacenter infrastructure. With growing global popularity, Facebook plans to deploy thousands of Intel® Xeon® processor-based servers over the next year to help scale rapid global expansion and meet processing needs of the company's increasingly rich media applications that span videos, music, photos and more.

To maximize the return on this infrastructure investment, Facebook and Intel have signed a collaboration agreement that focuses on technology evaluation, benchmarking and optimization of software for Intel architecture. Intel will work to address Facebook's processing needs through assessment of various chipset and server platform configurations, delivery of the most energy efficient processors and allocation of software engineering to evaluate ways to harness the optimal performance from Facebook's servers.

"We are pleased to expand our relationship with Intel," said Jonathan Heiliger, vice president of Technical Operations at Facebook, "Intel has demonstrated that the performance of their systems can help Facebook scale our infrastructure and continue to deliver the best experience to users around the world."

"Intel is excited to engage with Facebook as they are a dynamic force in the evolution of the Internet," said Kirk Skaugen, vice president and general manager of Intel's Server Platforms Group. "Facebook's selection of Intel Xeon processors for their next round of infrastructure growth is a testament to the performance, energy efficiency and technology benefits Intel can provide."

Over the past several months, Facebook rigorously tested and benchmarked a number of server platforms and scenarios, and ultimately selected the Intel Xeon processor 5400 series for its round of new deployments that begin in July.

"When you are responsible for providing a fast, high-quality experience to more than 90 million people worldwide, every ounce of efficiency matters," Heiliger said. "Intel's Xeon processors play a critical role in achieving our infrastructure efficiency."

Both companies envision that the collaboration may benefit not only Facebook, but ideally the Web 2.0 industry at-large. Intel plans to work with Facebook to evaluate ways to improve its software performance on Intel-based servers. Intel has a wealth of software engineering expertise as well as such tools as Intel VTune™ and Intel Thread Checker to help companies improve application performance on multi-core Intel processors. Since Facebook's applications are mostly built on open source technologies, the companies believe that some of the insights from this collaboration may be contributed back to the open source community, benefiting other companies that use similar underlying technologies.

HP, Intel and Yahoo! Create Global Cloud Computing Research Test Bed

HP, Intel Corporation and Yahoo! Inc. today announced the creation of a global, multi-data center, open source test bed for the advancement of cloud computing research and education. The goal of the initiative is to promote open collaboration among industry, academia and governments by removing the financial and logistical barriers to research in data-intensive, Internet-scale computing.

The HP, Intel and Yahoo! Cloud Computing Test Bed will provide a globally distributed, Internet-scale testing environment designed to encourage research on the software, data center management and hardware issues associated with cloud computing at a larger scale than ever before. The initiative will also support research of cloud applications and services.

HP, Intel and Yahoo! have partnered with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany to form the research initiative. The partnership with Illinois also includes the National Science Foundation.

The test bed will initially consist of six “centers of excellence” at IDA facilities, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Steinbuch Centre for Computing of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, HP Labs, Intel Research and Yahoo!. Each location will host a cloud computing infrastructure, largely based on HP hardware and Intel processors, and will have 1,000 to 4,000 processor cores capable of supporting the data-intensive research associated with cloud computing. The test bed locations are expected to be fully operational and made accessible to researchers worldwide through a selection process later this year.

The test bed will leverage Yahoo!’s technical leadership in open source projects by running Apache Hadoop – an open source, distributed computing project of the Apache Software Foundation – and other open source, distributed computing software such as Pig, the parallel programming language developed by Yahoo! Research.

“The HP, Intel and Yahoo! Cloud Computing Test Bed furthers our commitment to the global, collaborative research community that is advancing the new sciences of the Internet,” said Prabhakar Raghavan, head of Yahoo! Research. “With this test bed, not only can researchers test applications at Internet scale, they will also have access to the underlying computing systems to advance understanding of how systems software and hardware function in a cloud environment.”

Researchers at HP Labs, the central research arm of HP, will use the test bed to conduct advanced research in the areas of intelligent infrastructure and dynamic cloud services. HP Labs recently sharpened its focus to help HP and its customers capitalize on the industry’s shift toward cloud computing, a driving force behind HP’s vision of Everything as a Service. With Everything as a Service, devices and services will interact seamlessly through the cloud, and businesses and individuals will use services that anticipate their needs based on location, preferences, calendar and communities.

“To realize the full potential of cloud computing, the technology industry must think about the cloud as a platform for creating new services and experiences. This requires an entirely new approach to the way we design, deploy and manage cloud infrastructure and services,” said Prith Banerjee, senior vice president of Research at HP and director of HP Labs. “The HP, Intel and Yahoo! Cloud Computing Test Bed lets us tap the brightest minds in the industry, academia and government to drive innovation in this area.”

Intel is a leading provider of platform technologies, including processors, chipsets, networking and SSD (solid state drives), for cloud computing data centers. Current platform features such as Data Center Management Interface (DCMI), Node Manager (NM) and virtualization have been designed to improve the manageability and energy efficiency of data centers. This open, collaborative research effort will give researchers full access to the system’s hardware for further innovation of existing and future platform features.

“We are pleased to engage with the academic research community – open collaboration with the academia is in our DNA at Intel Research,” said Andrew A. Chien, vice president and director of Intel Research. “Creating large-scale test beds is important because they lower barriers to innovation and provide the opportunity to experiment and learn at scale. Intel’s support of Tashi, an open source cluster management system for cloud computing, and this HP, Intel, Yahoo! Cloud Computing Test Bed are a natural extension of our ongoing, mutually beneficial partnerships with the research community, such as the Universal Parallel Computing Research Centers.”

IDA will facilitate research in the test bed by providing its users with the computing resources required to develop cloud computing software and applications. IDA will also leverage the test bed and its industry partnerships to train local students and professionals on the technologies and programs associated with cloud computing.

“With the ready and available Internet-scale resources in Singapore to support cloud computer research and development work, we can collaborate with like-minded partners to advance the field,” said Khoong Hock Yun, assistant chief executive of the Infrastructure Development Group at the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. “Cloud computing is considered by many to be the next paradigm shift in computer technology, and this may be the next ‘platform’ for innovative ecosystems. Partnerships like this will allow Singapore to leverage this new paradigm for greater economic and social growth.”

Partnership builds on initiatives in cloud computing

The Cloud Computing Test Bed is the next step in expanding each company’s ongoing initiatives in cloud computing. In November 2007, Yahoo! announced the deployment of a supercomputing-class data center, called M45, for cloud computing research; Carnegie Mellon University was the first institution to take advantage of this supercomputer. Yahoo! also announced this year an agreement with Computational Research Laboratories (CRL) to jointly support cloud computing research and make one of the 10 fastest supercomputers in the world available to academic institutions in India. Earlier this year, Yahoo! hosted the first-ever Hadoop Summit and Data-Intensive Computing Symposium. Co-sponsored with the Computing Community Consortium (CCC), these meetings brought together leading experts from industry, academia and government to discuss the future directions of Hadoop and data-intensive computing.

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Intel Launches PC.com to Provide Valuable Information Related to PC

Owned and managed by Intel Corporation, PC.com was developed to provide you with valuable resources on computers and the amazing things you can do with them.

Throughout the site, you'll find informative articles, news, and more. This site will be helpful to those who want to learn and want to know more details about PC.

There are basically three things you will find there.

1. Learn : Here you can learn lots of new thing about your PC that you probably not know even though you use PC more than 4-5 hours in a day. Some cool facts and tips for your PC. Advice from experts and news. Some how-to Stuff.

2. Ask : This is basically Q & A section. Any thing you want to know about PC, just ask here and get them answered. You can join the PC.com community where you can,

• Ask questions and get answers.
• Share your knowledge and write a review.
• Rate computers you have used and browse top rated systems.

3. Shop : In the "Shop" section, you'll only find Intel® processor-based computers ;).

The site also features a number of web video shows which includes PC Advisor, PC 101 &Tech News and a hosted Q&A series.

Site is under beta, so we can expect more from Intel to be happened there.

IBM, Intel and Cisco Open High-Performance Computing Center

IBM, Intel and Cisco announced that they have opened a High-Performance Computing (HPC) Center, expanding IBM’s existing HPC facility here. The expanded state-of-the-art HPC center will offer customers, business partners and independent software vendors the ability to test and benchmark analytic software, engineering, aerospace design and other high-performance applications.

The opening of this center combines the world’s fastest cluster computers from IBM with the high-performance InfiniBand and Ethernet networking technology from Cisco and Intel’s most advanced multi-core processors. Together these technologies provide customers a comprehensive test-bed to simplify the set-up and operation of their high performance infrastructure.

“We’re pleased to expand our Montpellier Center with new HPC technologies from Intel and Cisco,” said Dave Jursik, VP of sales for IBM Deep Computing. “This new capability will leverage the HPC resources and expertise in Montpellier and help IBM bring the benefits of high-performance computing to departmental and mid-scale users. Customers and partners, for example, will be able to size, test and benchmark critical applications such as Fluent.”

IBM leads the industry with 186 clusters on the November, 2007 TOP500 Supercomputer Sites List. IBM offers a range of Intel-based cluster solutions including the System Cluster 1350 – an integrated HPC cluster solution that blends System x and BladeCenter servers with key systems management and applications software.

“As the need for high-performance computing applications continues to grow, customers need to test drive these applications on a real-world IT infrastructure that uses the market leading HPC technologies,” added Phil Andrews, director of DataCentre Technologies for Cisco Europe. “Together with IBM and Intel, we are providing a center where our customers can come and experience their applications at the speed of high performance computing and determine the technologies they need create the same experience in their own environment.”

Cisco Infiniband Technology is the leading networking solution for High-Performance Computing from Cisco. The Cisco SFS7000 and SFS3000 Infiniband technology products support the needs of applications that need to be deployed on HPC clusters with the highest possible performance. The products are also extensively used in low latency networks for financial trading systems. Deployed in some of the largest HPC clusters in the world and at some of the largest financial institutions, Cisco is a leader in Infiniband technology.

“Intel is proud to be a part of this project.” said Christian Morales, Vice President and General Manager, Intel EMEA. “A growing number of companies are seeking to increase their competitiveness and operational efficiency by taking advantage of the benefits that high performance compute clusters bring. Customers and integrators of midsized and smaller cluster solutions can use the Montpellier center to develop, tune and fully test their solutions on servers based on Intel’s latest 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon microprocessors. Intel brings HPC application expertise, ground breaking processing capacity and energy-efficient performance to this collaboration”

The center will be equipped with a mix of 45nm and 65nm based Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® microprocessors on 32 IBM BladeCenter servers, interconnected by Cisco Infiniband and Ethernet switches. The companies plan to expand the facility as new technology becomes available to keep customers on the leading edge of cluster computing.

Intel Unveils First Notebook Chips Built on 45nm Technology

Intel Corporation unveiled 16 products today, including the company's first 45 nanometer (nm) processors for Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology based laptops.

All of these new chips include the company's new transistor formula and 45nm manufacturing process that boost a PC's speed, reduces power requirements, saves on battery life, helps the environment and comes in smaller packages for more fashionable and compact computer designs. With the introduction of the new processors, Intel will be offering a total of 32 desktop, laptop and server processors based on these industry-leading innovations.

The company also highlighted how it will take advantage of its transistor and manufacturing advances to spur a category of small form-factor, low-powered, high-performance devices that deliver broadband Internet access "in your pocket." The processors are up to 25 percent smaller than previous versions so computer makers can create sleek, new designs for consumers ranging from stylish all-in-one desktop PCs to smaller notebooks.

Among the 16 new products, 12 are designed for new laptops and desktops products and four are for servers. All are now lead-free1 and, starting this year, halogen-free2, making the processors more eco-friendly.

"The new products we're announcing today provide consumers and businesses with the benefit of sleeker and higher-performing laptops and more powerful and fashionable PCs that deliver for the most hard-core gamer, high-definition enthusiast and just about every other consumer demand," said Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager, mobile platforms group, Intel. "And later this year, Intel will begin delivering the mobile Internet with much smaller, lighter and powerful Internet-enabled devices that ultimately will fit right into your pocket."

Intel Adds Mobile Processors to Line-up

Intel is shipping five new mobile processors, enabling breakthrough performance and improved battery life, providing consumers with the ability to be more productive or just enjoy their digital entertainment while on the go. Helping to extend battery life is also a new Intel Core microarchitecture design feature for advanced power management state called Deep Power Down Technology that reduces the power of the processor when it's not running data or instructions to the laptop.

The processors are the foundation for the company's popular Intel® Centrino® technology for laptops, and deliver improved content and video capabilities with HD DVD* and Blu-Ray* support with an optional third-party decoder. Centrino-based notebooks also come with the Mobile Intel® 965 Express Chipset and wireless networking including the optional support for 802.11n networks with Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N.

Intel has also added new video and graphics capabilities with Intel® HD Boost that includes Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 4 (SSE4) for speeding up workloads including video encoding for high-definition and photo manipulation.

Intel will also use this mobile technology foundation and energy-efficient performance to enable a variety of smaller, cooler and quieter, stylish desktop designs. These computers, including the increasingly popular "all-in-one" category, provide the performance to run a variety of digital media and the latest software simultaneously, as well as enhanced high-definition video and smoother playback using Intel® Clear Video Technology.

More Mobility on Tap: in Your Pocket; Wireless WiMAX

Pushing the power of the full Internet "in your pocket," Intel's strategy for using low-power Intel Architecture platforms that drastically reduce CPU and chipset power, and package size continues to gain momentum. Intel plans to ship in the first half of this year its first-generation low-power platform chipset that will help deliver a range of ultra mobile and mobile Internet devices from a growing ecosystem of customers.

Intel also continues to work closely with carriers around the world to deploy mobile WiMAX networks. These networks will help deliver true high-speed mobile Internet experiences to a variety of digital devices starting later this year.

Mainstream Desktop PCs Get 45nm Performance and Efficiency Boost

Building on its November 2007 introduction (the Intel® Core™2 Extreme quad-core processor QX9650), Intel announced three quad core and four dual core 45nm-based processors for mainstream desktop PCs arriving later this month and throughout the first quarter of the year.

The new Intel® Core™ 2 Quad and Intel Core™ 2 Duo processor offerings will speed the transition to Intel's newest processor line and multicore adoption, and are arriving at a time when digital and high-definition content, including photos, home videos, music, television shows and social networking, continues to grow exponentially.

Consumers will realize more performance at a variety of PC purchase prices as these processors feature a range of clock speeds, large L2 caches, and also come equipped with Intel® HD Boost (SSE4 instructions). These 45nm processors are also a requirement for computer-makers carrying the Intel Core™2 Processor with Viiv™ technology brand, making it easier for consumers to select a great entertainment PC with Intel's most innovative technologies.

Dual core desktop processor-based PCs using these new processors begin shipping this month; quad core-based systems plan to arrive later this quarter.

The company also introduced four Intel Xeon processors for servers and workstations; they are expected to ship this quarter.

Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) solutions for the Linux OS by INTEL

Intel Corporation has 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 www.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.

"Server virtualization, database growth and compliance requirements have created a greater need for network storage," said Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manger of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group. "FCoE makes it easier and less expensive to connect servers to the SAN. We're taking a leadership role by releasing this stack and supporting industry standardization efforts. We expect the open source community to use this initiator stack to create reliable, standards-based FCoE solutions for their customers."

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.

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Intel Unveils Seven New Intel® Itanium® Processors

Underscoring strong momentum and industry support, Intel Corporation yesterday unveiled Dual-Core Intel® Itanium® Processor 9100 series processors. Built for managing high-end applications and armed with advanced features that improve reliability and reduce power consumption, the 9100 series accentuates the ongoing shift from proprietary RISC products to the choice offered by Itanium-based servers. The 9100 series represents the sixth generation of Itanium chips, with three future generations under development.

The Itanium platform's mission-critical support is strengthened by a new feature called Core Level Lock-Step that improves the data integrity and reliability of applications by eliminating undetected errors in the core. Core Level Lock-Step joins existing Socket Level Lock-Step technology to deliver greater reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) by guaranteeing that calculation results are consistent among the cores and sockets.

Another new feature, Demand Based Switching (DBS), reduces server power consumption during low utilization periods, which can result in energy cost savings.

The 9100 series features clock speed of up to 1.66 GHz and 667 MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) within a 104W power envelope. A three-load bus – two processors and a chipset on the same bus - provides increased bandwidth for enterprise and high-performance computing tasks.

Ecosystem Momentum

"The Itanium ecosystem continues to grow as customers choose industry standard platforms supported by leading system OEMs that provide them with the broadest choice of applications." said Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager, Intel's Digital Enterprise Group.

Unlike products from the remaining RISC vendors, the 9100 series continues to offer end-user freedom through a broad choice of software with more than 12,000 applications in production, and flexibility to support multiple operating systems, including Linux, Windows, HP-UX, HP NonStop, HP OpenVMS, z/OS and Solaris/SPARC.

"Microsoft continues to be a committed supporter of the Itanium architecture, and with the 9100 series our enterprise customers can run even more highly scalable and reliable databases and business applications," said Bill Laing, general manager, Windows Server Division at Microsoft. "Supporting the Demand-Based Switching feature on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems will help businesses better manage power consumption and improve the efficiency of their enterprise operations."

"Red Hat is excited about the launch of Intel's latest Itanium processor-based platforms," said Paul Cormier, Red Hat's executive vice president of Worldwide Engineering. "We have worked closely with Intel in an effort to ensure that our upcoming release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 fully supports the latest RAS and virtualization features that Intel delivers with this platform. By working closely together, we are able to deliver the industry-leading 64-bit platform our customers are asking for, presenting them with an opportunity to significantly drive down their total cost of ownership in the datacenter."

Customers in industries that rely on real-time decision-making based on large amounts of data, such as energy, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and telecommunications, are taking advantage of Itanium's open architecture, advanced parallelism, and extreme scalability and flexibility.

All server-maker members of the Itanium Solutions Alliance (ISA) will launch new Dual-Core Intel Itanium Processor 9100 series-based products, including Bull, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, HP, Hitachi, Intel, NEC, SGI and Unisys.

Intel Itanium Virtualization Technology

The 9100 series, with its extensive virtualization partitioning features, is the premier platform for RISC and mainframe migration. Itanium offers a single platform for virtualization of diverse OS environments such zOS, legacy Unix, Linux and Windows; allowing for the consolidation of applications from old proprietary platforms. The 9100 series has also garnered virtualization support from key developers, including Transitive and SWsoft.

"SWsoft Virtuozzo 4.0 on the new Itanium processor will enhance operating-system level virtualization support for Windows and Linux server infrastructure," said SWsoft CEO Serguei Beloussov. "The combination of scalability in Itanium platforms and the proven density and performance characteristics of Virtuozzo virtualization make an ideal platform for consolidation of mission-critical applications."

"Transitive is releasing its QuickTransit for Solaris/Sparc-to-Linux/Itanium solution today." said Transitive President and CEO Bob Wiederhold. "The combination of QuickTransit with servers equipped with Itanium processors provides datacenter operators with the ability to run legacy Solaris/SPARC applications on standards-based platforms without porting or recompilation, thereby allowing them greater efficiency, flexibility and return on investment."

Pricing and availability

Six Intel dual-core and a single-core Itanium 9100 series processors are shipping today, with prices ranging from $696 to $3,692 depending on order volume, features and performance. Parts supporting Core level Lock-Step will begin shipping in the first quarter of 2008.

Intel Introduced Cool Software : Online Community of People Passionate About Software

CoolSW is an online community of people passionate about software. Members post information about an interesting new software company and, more important, the community votes on whether they think a software company is, well, "cool." Companies that receive a lot of votes get elevated to the site's front page where the casual visitor can see what community members consider the most interesting software.

The site is designed to engage anyone interested in identifying and ranking innovative new software companies and applications that are pushing the boundaries of compute technology and/or forming compelling new usage models - in short, cool software.

How does Cool Software work?
The basic concept of this site is simple and based on three key activities:

• Post a cool software application URL (home page) with a headline and brief paragraph that will let everyone know what's exciting.

• Review other member posts and vote for those you think are really interesting (feel free to add comments too!) If enough members agree, the URL will be promoted to the Cool Software home page where even more votes could make it the coolest software ever!

• Look at the coolest SW list by clicking on the relevant time period Under "Sort software by:" to see which companies/applications are getting the highest rate of votes. The software applications are submitted by members, and then promoted ("voted") to the front page through a user-based ranking system. When you first post a new software application/company on Cool Software it is automatically placed in the queue to be voted on. It receives one vote per your original post. As more members view the post and vote on the "coolest" software the application or software company will rise in popularity through the number of votes. To see the coolest software of all time, click on "All Software" and then "Most Popular".

Intel To Acquire Havok for it's Visual Computing and Graphics efforts

Intel Corporation yesterday announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Havok Inc., the leading provider of interactive software and services used by digital media creators in the game and movie industries. Havok will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel.

The acquisition will enable developers in the digital animation and game communities to take advantage of Intel's innovation and technology leadership in the creation of digital media.

"Havok is a proven leader in physics technology for gaming and digital content, and will become a key element of Intel's visual computing and graphics efforts," said Renee J. James, vice president and general manager of Intel's Software and Solutions Group. "Havok will operate its business as usual, which will allow them to continue developing products that are offered across all platforms in the industry."

Havok's modular suite of software development tools is used by game and digital animation creators to build realistic video games for all types of hardware and digitally animated movies. The company's combination of superior technology and dedication to customers has led to its technology being used in more than 150 of the world's best-known game titles, including "BioShock," "Stranglehold," "Halo 2," "Half Life 2," "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion," "Crackdown," "Lost Planet: Extreme Condition," "MotorStorm" and "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." In addition, Havok products have been used to create special effects in movies such as "Poseidon," "The Matrix," "Troy," "Kingdom of Heaven" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

"This is a great fit for Havok products, customers and employees," said Havok CEO David O'Meara. "Intel's scale of technology investment and customer reach enable Havok with opportunities to grow more quickly into new market segments with new products than we could have done organically. We believe the winning combination is Havok's technology and customer know-how with Intel's scale. I am excited to be part of this next phase of Havok's growth."

About Havok

Havok was founded in 1998 in Dublin, Ireland, and has offices in San Francisco, San Antonio, Stockholm, Calcutta, Munich and Tokyo. Havok is the premier provider of interactive software and services for digital media creators in the games and movie industries. Havok work in partnership with the world’s best known game developers - including Sony, Microsoft, Midway, EA, Ubisoft and Activision. Havok’s cross-platform, professionally supported technology is available for the Wii™, PLAYSTATION®3, PLAYSTATION®2, PSP™, Xbox™, Xbox 360™, GameCube™, and the PC. Havok’s superior technology being used in more than 170 of the world’s best known game titles, including Halo 3, Halo 2, Stranglehold, BioShock, Crackdown, MotorStorm, and many more.

Havok products have been used to drive special effects in movies such as Poseidon, The Matrix, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Havok provides the dynamics driving 3ds Max from Autodesk Media and Entertainment.

The company will be a wholly owned Intel subsidiary and continue to operate as an independent business working with its customers in developing digital media content. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Unveiling the newest generation of Intel® vPro™ processor technology

Intel Corporation today further reinforced desktop PC security by unveiling the newest generation of Intel® vPro™ processor technology for businesses and IT with new innovations that add better protection against hacking, viruses and other threats.

Intel vPro processor technology packages a powerful new Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor, Intel® Q35 Express chipset and several technology innovations offering a host of security and management capabilities for desktop PCs, including some that were previously impossible, such as the ability to wake and repair a computer with an inoperative operating system or hard drive. As a result, businesses can reduce costs by limiting expensive and time-consuming deskside visits, and by improving power savings through the ability to turn off PCs and securely wake them when required.

Security features included in this latest Intel vPro processor technology (formerly codenamed Weybridge) are designed to protect against software-based attacks and also filter and defend against viruses and other threats.

"Today, the business desktop PC just got more secure," said Robert B. Crooke, vice president and general manager of Intel's Business Client Group. "This generation of Intel vPro processor technology arrives with new security and management capabilities along with support from every leading PC manufacturer and software solution vendor in the world."

The latest version of Intel vPro processor technology also offers an embedded trust agent, the first certified by Cisco, providing the industry's only 802.1x compatible manageability solution not dependent on OS-availability. This trust agent offers Cisco's IT customers the ability to manage systems, even if powered off or the OS is down, without lowering the security on 802.1x networks and Cisco* Self-Defending Network products.

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Two new Ethernet controllers from Intel

Intel Corporation yesterday announced two new Ethernet controllers that facilitate high traffic flow and optimize I/O performance in such enterprise server environments as multicore Intel Xeon processor-based systems and virtualized datacenters. The Intel 82598 and Intel 82575 Ethernet controllers distribute workloads across all available processing cores to reduce utilization and achieve optimal system performance.

The Intel 82598 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller provides energy-efficient, dual-port, PCI Express-based 10GbE connectivity to handle high-speed interconnects. This product addresses the networking bottlenecks associated with server consolidation and is ideal for virtualization and such demanding enterprise applications as storage and high performance computing.

The Intel 82575 Gigabit Ethernet Controller offers many of the same features at 1GbE connectivity. This new dual-port controller, which provides virtualization optimizations, is designed for use in Intel's next-generation low-profile, quad-port server adapters.

The Intel 82575 Gigabit Ethernet Controller is available now, and the Intel 82598 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller will be available for volume shipment in September.

Check details about these controller.

Intel introduced the world's highest-performing mobile processor : Core™2 Extreme

Intel Corporation has introduced its first Intel® Core™2 Extreme mobile dual-core processor, adopting the brand from the company's flagship desktop offerings. Laptops are the fastest-growing computing market segment, and there is increasing demand from those who crave the ultimate in gaming and multimedia performance yet want the freedom and flexibility that a laptop brings.

The company also introduced new desktop processors and said it expects to announce battery-friendly quad-core processors for laptop computers next year.

The Intel Core 2 Extreme X7800 mobile dual-core processor, with both cores running at a brisk 2.6 GHz, also features mobile-specific power-saving features that help Intel's computer-maker customers deliver more energy-efficient and higher-performing designs.

For example, the Intel Core 2 Extreme mobile processor X7800 offers up to 28 percent more performance2 than our previous-generation mobile processor. In addition, for experienced enthusiasts who desire more capability, the Intel Core 2 Extreme mobile processor bus ratio locks (overspeed protection) have been removed3. This offers added technical flexibility in customizing the system so OEMs can unleash even more performance.

New Processor Pricing and Availability

The Intel Core 2 Extreme X7800 mobile processor, running at 2.6 GHz with 4 MB of L2 cache, is available to OEMs now at a cost of $851. Notebook systems will appear on the market within the next two weeks. The new Intel desktop processors are also shipping to OEMs now, with product available to end users within the next two weeks. Pricing and specifications for the new desktop processors are as follows:

For more information and high-resolution images, visit the Intel Core™2 Extreme mobile processor press kit at:
www.intel.com/pressroom/kits/mobile/core2extreme