http://www.osnews.com/ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2008, David Adams OSNews version 4 donotreply@osnews.com (Adam Scheinberg) donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Sat, 17 May 2008 04:34:32 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com/ 120 http://www.osnews.com/story/19604/IBM_Smacks_Rivals_with_5.0GHz_Power6_Beast/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19604/IBM_Smacks_Rivals_with_5.0GHz_Power6_Beast/ "The rest of the server world can play with their piddling 2-3GHz chips. IBM, meanwhile, is prepared to deal in the 5GHz realm. The hardware maker has unveiled a Power6-based version of its highest-end Unix server - the Power 595. The box runs on 32 dual-core 5GHz Power6 processors, making it a true performance beast. This big box completes a protracted roll out of the Power6 chip across IBM's Unix server line." Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:51:18 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) IBM 30 http://www.osnews.com/topics/8 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19597/IBM_Makes_Server_OS_Name_Change_Consolidates_Platforms/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19597/IBM_Makes_Server_OS_Name_Change_Consolidates_Platforms/ IBM is discontinuing the System p and System i server brands and changing the name of the i5/OS operating system to "i" or "i for business." An IT Jungle article notes that "servers developed and manufactured by its newly christened Power Systems division with the name--drum roll please--"Power." As in Power 520, Power 550, Power 570, and Power 595, whether the machine is running AIX, Linux, or the operating system formerly known as i5/OS." Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:27:56 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) IBM 8 http://www.osnews.com/topics/8 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19402/IBMs_64-Processor_Quad-Core_Mainframe_Unveiled/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19402/IBMs_64-Processor_Quad-Core_Mainframe_Unveiled/ IBM has unveiled its latest mainframe, the System z10. The product is designed to improve performance and reduce power requirements and cooling costs. The new machine, based on quad-core technology, is equivalent, in terms of performance to nearly 1500 x86 servers, according to IBM. The z10 is designed to be up to 50% faster and offers up to 100% performance improvement for CPU-intensive jobs compared with its predecessor, the z9, with up to 70% more capacity, IBM said. IBM said the new mainframe would also consume 85% less energy and have a footprint that is up to 85% smaller. Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:04:37 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) IBM 26 http://www.osnews.com/topics/8 News Moulinneuf http://www.osnews.com/story/19294/IBM_Explores_67.1m-Core_Computer_for_Running_Entire_Internet/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19294/IBM_Explores_67.1m-Core_Computer_for_Running_Entire_Internet/ "The Register has unearthed a research paper that shows IBM working on a computing system capable 'of hosting the entire internet as an application'. This mega system relies on a re-tooled version of IBM's Blue Gene supercomputers so loved by the high performance computing crowd. IBM's researchers have proposed tweaking the Blue Gene systems to run today's most popular web applications such as Linux, Apache, MySQL and Ruby on Rails." Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:26:47 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) IBM 6 http://www.osnews.com/topics/8 News ericvh http://www.osnews.com/story/18635/IBM_To_Offer_Office_Software_Free_in_Challenge_to_Microsoft’s_Line/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18635/IBM_To_Offer_Office_Software_Free_in_Challenge_to_Microsoft’s_Line/ IBM plans to mount its most ambitious challenge in years to Microsoft's dominance of personal computer software, by offering free programs for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. Steven A. Mills, senior vice president of IBM's software group, said the programs promote an open-source document format. The company is announcing the desktop software, called IBM Lotus Symphony, at an event today in New York. The programs will be available as free downloads from the IBM Web site. Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:56:37 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) IBM 63 http://www.osnews.com/topics/8 News jchildrose http://www.osnews.com/story/18539/Simplified_Kernel_Extensions_with_AIX_Version_6/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18539/Simplified_Kernel_Extensions_with_AIX_Version_6/ "Discover why you need to change your applications and build environments that supply 32-bit-only kernel extensions to accommodate IBM AIX Version 6. With AIX Version 6, the kernel environment is 64-bit kernel only. Previously, the AIX operating system provided both 32-bit and 64-bit kernels, requiring 32-bit and 64-bit kernel extensions. In this article, apply two easy solutions to help you make the transition and start reaping the benefits of the simplified kernel environment." Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:13:01 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) IBM 0 http://www.osnews.com/topics/8 News BlueVoodoo http://www.osnews.com/story/18477/IBM_Bolsters_Security_of_Mainframe_OS/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18477/IBM_Bolsters_Security_of_Mainframe_OS/ IBM has introduced a release of its z/OS mainframe operating system with new features that increase the system's security for online commerce and business transactions. IBM officials said the new operating system release is in line with what the company has been calling the renaissance of the mainframe. And as mainframes run a vast portion of the world's financial services, retail and other large businesses, security was a major concern for this latest release, IBM officials said, in Armonk, N.Y. Sat, 18 Aug 2007 20:12:50 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) IBM 0 http://www.osnews.com/topics/8 News http://www.osnews.com/story/18474/The_LXer_Interview:_Bob_Sutor_of_IBM/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18474/The_LXer_Interview:_Bob_Sutor_of_IBM/ An interview with IBM's Vice President of Open Source and Standards about their Open Source Strategy, the recent pledge of its patents for more than 150 open software standards, his take on the ODF vs. XML issue, and much more in The LXer Interview of Bob Sutor. Fri, 17 Aug 2007 06:06:06 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia Loli-Queru) IBM 11 http://www.osnews.com/topics/8 News sharkscott http://www.osnews.com/story/18471/IBM_To_Implement_Sun_Solaris_on_x86-Based_System_x/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18471/IBM_To_Implement_Sun_Solaris_on_x86-Based_System_x/ "IBM and Sun Microsystems did indeed announce an agreement for deploying the Solaris operating system on IBM servers, but it wasn't the system we guessed: IBM will deploy Solaris for its Intel x86-based System x and BladeCenter servers. It's a significant move, as it validates the presence of Sun's operating system among a broad customer base that few can mistake as a "niche." As Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz told reporters today, IBM becomes the first Tier 1 reseller of Solaris products and services for x86 platforms." His blog is here. Thu, 16 Aug 2007 23:17:41 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) IBM 20 http://www.osnews.com/topics/8 News flanque http://www.osnews.com/story/18339/IBM_Launches_16-Core_Processor_Server/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18339/IBM_Launches_16-Core_Processor_Server/ IBM has announced a version of its System i business server range that uses the company's Power6 processor, which the tech giant claims is the fastest chip it has ever built. The System i 570 uses the 4.7GHz Power6, launched in May, with up to 16 cores, a processor that has come top in many industry benchmarks. Fri, 27 Jul 2007 09:39:50 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) IBM 5 http://www.osnews.com/topics/8 News Johnan http://www.osnews.com/story/18253/Optimizing_AIX_5L_Performance_Through_Disk_I_O/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18253/Optimizing_AIX_5L_Performance_Through_Disk_I_O/ While disk tuning is arguably less exciting than CPU or memory tuning, it is a crucial component in optimizing server performance. Learn more about direct I/O, concurrent I/O, asynchronous I/O, and best practices for each method of I/O implementation. Thu, 12 Jul 2007 19:39:37 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Eugenia Loli-Queru) IBM 1 http://www.osnews.com/topics/8 News BlueVoodoo http://www.osnews.com/story/18246/AIX_6_Beta_Program_Opens/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18246/AIX_6_Beta_Program_Opens/ IBM has opened the AIX 6 beta program. "AIX 6 Open Beta participants will be able to download the AIX 6 beta code, Mozilla Firefox, and updates to enable previously purchased IBM compilers to run on AIX 6." Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:09:39 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) IBM 16 http://www.osnews.com/topics/8 News BlueVoodoo http://www.osnews.com/story/18102/Plan_9_Running_on_Blue_Gene_L/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18102/Plan_9_Running_on_Blue_Gene_L/ A team comprised of members from Bell-Labs, IBM Research, Sandia National Labs, and Vita Nuova has completed a port of Plan 9 to the Blue Gene supercomputer. Plan 9 kernels are running on both the compute nodes and the I/O nodes and the Ethernet, Torus, Collective Network, Barrier Network, and Management network are all supported. Screenshots are available on the development blog, and a live-demo will be attempted during the USENIX poster session. Mon, 18 Jun 2007 21:54:43 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) IBM 33 http://www.osnews.com/topics/8 News ericvh http://www.osnews.com/story/18008/Developing_a_File_System_for_AIX/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18008/Developing_a_File_System_for_AIX/ "Learn the intricacies of the AIX file system framework. Every operating system provides a native kernel framework that kernel developers have to understand and adhere to when developing a piece of a kernel component for that operating system. This article sheds some light on the AIX file system framework. You need to understand the framework in order to develop a new file system, or to port an existing file system to the AIX operating system." Thu, 31 May 2007 20:57:29 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) IBM 24 http://www.osnews.com/topics/8 News BlueVoodoo http://www.osnews.com/story/17957/IBM_Powers_up_Performance_with_Power6_Processor/ http://www.osnews.com/story/17957/IBM_Powers_up_Performance_with_Power6_Processor/ IBM finally took the wraps off its much anticipated Power6 microprocessor, which company executives said will double the clock speed of its current Power5 chip, without stretching the power envelope. The Power6 processor, unveiled at an event on May 21 in London, is a dual-core chip with a top clock speed of 4.7GHz, double the 2.3GHz of the Power5+ processors. The new chip also includes 8MB of L2 cache - four times as large as the current Power5 offering - and an internal bandwidth of 300GB per second. Ars' John 'Hannibal' Stokes obviously also has his say. Tue, 22 May 2007 00:15:11 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) IBM 69 http://www.osnews.com/topics/8 News