ARM said its next generation architecture will offer cores capable of 64-bit computing. The boost from 32-bits to 64-bits will push ARM-based processors over the last big hurdle keeping the chip IP company outside the enterprise and corporate computing market, and pit it squarely against Intel. Read more »
The Open Compute Foundation, with directors including Andy Bechtolsheim, aims to bring more vendors to the Open Compute mix, make sure contributed IP is well tended, and foster the idea that open-source development — so important in software — can benefit the stodgy world of data center servers. Read more »
A little over a week after releasing its App Player for Windows software that lets computer users run Android apps, BlueStacks now says that it has raised a strategic investment from AMD and Citrix Systems along with funding from existing investors. Read more »
Microsoft and Intel unveiled initiatives Tuesday that show how the Wintel partners are trying to separately navigate a new post-PC world. Microsoft unveiled Windows 8, which will work on ARM-based tablets and computers while Intel announced a partnership with Google to optimize its chips for Android. Read more »
AMD says it has set a new record for the “highest frequency of a computer processor” by overclocking its 8-core AMD FX desktop processor. The chip had a top speed of 8.429 gigahertz on Aug. 31. The previous record was 8.308 GHz. Read more »
With power accounting for between 30 and 50 percent of functional operating costs in a data center, power consumption is on everyone’s mind. So much so that at semiconductor conference Hotchips on Friday, Intel and AMD, two companies that have long competed around processor performance, spent hours discussing ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The future of data centers is not about performance. It’s about performance per watt. It’s about building a data center that uses less power, lowers operating costs and leaves a smaller carbon footprint. Read more »
Facebook engineers have tested a 64-core chip from Tilera and found it ideal for grabbing data quickly from key value stores. This may galvanize the creation of new benchmarks as the debate of which architecture works best for webscale and cloud computing rages. Read more »
Intel has purchased an Ethernet silicon company in a move that mimics the industry trend toward viewing the data center as the computer as computing becomes more distributed. Intel said on Tuesday it would buy Fulcrum Microsystems, a venture-backed company that’s 11 years old. Read more »
SeaMicro, a low-power server maker, has managed to increase the amount of computing power under its hood by 50 percent while decreasing the power consumption of its machines by a quarter. But perhaps most interesting, it has managed three new products in the last year. Read more »
We give Intel a lot of flack here at GigaOM for not being mobile enough or low power enough for scale out computing, but the chipmaker is doing all right in the server category. We discussed how well and the future for servers in this video. Read more »
Big processors or little processors, scale-up or scale-out, on-premise or in the cloud: the answers might not be as easy as one would think. Web-style, scale-out architectures, low-power server processors and cloud computing are getting more attention by the day, but they have their limits. Read more »
Mobile phone manufacturer HTC has purchased VIA Semiconductor’s graphics business. The deal is indicative of the need for compelling graphics on mobiles as well as an admission that mobile device makers may get an edge if they can bring some silicon capabilities in house. Read more »
After launching an open server and data center design in April, Facebook is prepping for version 2.0 of its hardware, and huge server buyers are playing along. From Rackspace to major financial services companies, big hardware buyers are getting into Open Compute. Read more »
New MacBook Airs could be right around the corner, according to stock shortages at retail partners like Best Buy and Amazon. OS X Lion is also arriving in July, which begins in only a few short days, and the Air could arrive at the same time. Read more »
In the debate over the future of server hardware, it comes down to the need for highly efficient hardware using up a fraction of the space and a fraction of the power of legacy hardware solutions, versus the desire for more powerful options from existing manufacturers. Read more »
For decades, innovation in the chip industry has largely been governed by the needs of personal computers. But thanks to the proliferation of connected mobile devices, the growth of the consumer web and services available online and on-demand, the PC’s influence on chip design is fading. Read more »
Compute giant Hewlett-Packard has teamed up with Nvidia to make a server containing up to eight graphics processors designed for the high performance computing market. The two have built the world’s “Greenest Production Supercomputer” together, and the machine using Nvidia’s latest GPUs offers more performance. Read more »
Considering purchasing a new iMac? Here’s a look at what the new models can do, compared to the previous generation, as per Apple in a call Tuesday morning with GigaOM. The key takeaway here is that these new iMacs are very, very fast. Read more »
Two markets stand out above all else when looking at the first quarter of 2011: infrastructure as a service (IaaS) — the epitome of cloud computing — and big data. Amazon Web Services continues to lead the IaaS space in terms of customers and innovation, while Rackspace, buoyed by momentum around OpenStack, will be its primary competitor for mainstream customers. In the big data space, there are so many players and terms floating about it’s difficult for outsiders to get a handle on who’s who and what’s what, though such activity validates the technologies. Other developments this quarter included HP’s impending presence in the cloud computing and big data spaces and the realization that Intel won’t be left to die if low-power servers based on x86 processors catch on like the buzz late last year suggests they will. Additional companies mentioned in this report include VMware, Microsoft, Cloudera, SeaMicro and Facebook. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The biggest deal about Facebook’s open compute project isn’t the project, it’s the wave of innovation this can bring forward at the systems level — which will affect everyone from the chipmakers to the giant systems vendors and data center operators. Read more »
Facebook has shared the details of its server and data center design, taking its commitment to openness to a new level for the industry by sharing its infrastructure secrets like it has shared its software code.And that data center? It has a PUE of 1.07. Read more »
The move toward cloud computing and webscale computing has helped Intel drive its earnings higher, while, a number of startups clearly see an opportunity to redesign servers and try new chip archiectures to deliver more power efficient performance for different workloads. But where is AMD? Read more »
It’s an interesting collection of links today, most of which are focused on money — specifically, Google’s sky-high Q4 infrastructure spending and AMD’s continually dismal performance. There’s also a great analysis of the PaaS market post-Elastic Beanstalk and a look at Heroku’s recent security hole. Read more »
Some might call this past quarter in the infrastructure space transformative. The rise of ARM-based processing suggests the days of x86 dominance might be coming to an end, while the Amazon Web Services-WikiLeaks controversy cast new light on the legal aspects of cloud computing. Big data got bigger, meanwhile, as the Hadoop ecosystem expanded, and amid all these cutting-edge technologies, two archaic topics — Novell and Java — proved they aren’t going anywhere soon. Companies mentioned in this report include Intel, AMD, Amazon Web Services, IBM, Yahoo, Appistry, VMware, Joyent and Microsoft. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
AMD recently spilled the beans on an upcoming partnership with Apple during an AMD Financial Analyst Day presentation. Senior VP and Chief Sales Officer Emilio Ghilardi gave a presentation to analysts in attendance which confirmed Apple will be a hardware partner for its Fusion processing platform. Read more »
Bolstering the argument that money makes the world go ’round, Google’s earnings, and spending, were big news today, as is the third-quarter decrease in VC funding. AMD’s “better than expected” net loss and the prospect of cloud-caused job losses also garnered attention. Read more »
Last year, the Structure conference confirmed my beliefs that the community had moved beyond asking what cloud computing is, and was moving toward asking how users can best leverage it. This year, I learned even ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Soon, cloud providers will be struggling to squeeze more computing out of the power they have on hand. Let’s look at two themes to emerge from Structure 2010 that can help IT vendors cater to their data center energy efficiency ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
When it comes to computing platforms, the two most prevalent choices are Intel and AMD. What’s the difference between them? All things being equal, one is generally less expensive but offers more oomph while the other plods along slower but longer. Which is right for you? Read more »
Mobile augmented reality (AR) brings computer-generated multimedia into an end-user’s literal field of vision. It merges real-time digital information with the user’s perceptions of his or her immediate physical surroundings. The mobile AR user simultaneously experiences physical reality and digital media consumption. This report looks at the growing mobile AR ecosystem, from the technologies and trends supporting its development to the applications, players, and business models driving innovation. The report includes a forecast for the number of mobile AR–capable devices, summarizes existing revenue forecasts for the nascent market, and leverages three in-depth case studies to demonstrate the intersections between markets, technologies, and companies in emerging applications. Read more »
As the year winds to close, GigaOM Pro’s crack team of contributors takes a look back at what went right, what went wrong, and for ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The mobile computing space has become the new center of innovation and new products after years of shifting away from desktop computing. Mobile technology has been domain of 2-D content and viewing, but we see prospects for a sharp increase in 3-D in coming months and ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
In recent years, virtual worlds (also known as massively multiplayer online games, or MMOs) have shown tremendous growth in terms of user numbers and revenue. However, the market for them is currently in tremendous flux, with the most well-known sub-genre — the subscriber-based fantasy role playing games (MMORPGs) — suffering a growth plateau, due to the dominating success of World of Warcraft. At the same time, user activity in “freemium” virtual worlds continues to explode, most especially in the tween/adolescent market, which is likely to reach a market saturation point soon, though monetization prospects for all but the established players remain uncertain. The explosion of social networks, which share numerous traits with virtual worlds, have created a new potential audience for this genre, while the mass adoption of web plug-ins and smartphones like the iPhone have opened up new markets for the genre.
In this transitional period, many of the best investment and growth opportunities to watch are not the worlds themselves, but the solution providers offering developers the means to better monetize their existing MMOs. Opportunities also exist in niche MMOs that appeal to consumers seeking entertainment outside the established fantasy and kids social MMO space. However, new players that would enter this already crowded market must foster a community of users by rewarding user-created content and continued engagement, while also being architected with multiple revenue streams and play platforms. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
More Online Video at Democratic Convention; YouTube, Dailymotion and Stickam all contribute to the new media coverage (good thing Level3 has installed more than five miles of fiber optic cable for the event). Want to watch the show online? Check out our handy guide. AMD Sells […] Read more »
