New processor designs boost graphics to speed up Windows

New processor designs boost graphics to speed up Windows:

New processors from AMD and Intel will provide the horsepower for next generation desktop applications, that could previously only run on specialist workstations.

Integrated chips used to be the poor cousins of dedicated systems. PC manufacturers offered low-cost PC hardware – with integrated sound and video chips – that were lower cost than machines equipped with dedicated audio and video hardware.


But these integrated devices balanced cost with performance, and it was the performance that often suffered as a result of design compromises.

The industry has moved on and the integrated chip design, now called System on a Chip (SoC), is set to provide processing, graphics and multimedia in the next generation of PC and hybrid PC/tablet devices.

Intel's approach is called IntelHD, which offers built in graphics, although its performance is inferior to dedicated graphics processors (GPU) according to industry benchmarks. 

The company did attempt to develop its own GPU, code-named Larrabee, but this project has been dropped. However, the latest Atom SoC design, the z2760, which will power the new Dell, Fujitsu, HP Asus and Acer Windows 8 Pro tablets, uses the Imagination PowerVR graphics core chip to improve graphics.

In its market trends report for electronic equipment published in July 2012, analyst Gartner noted that graphics processing units (GPUs), digital signal processors (DSPs) and other specialised cores will take centre stage in future SoC designs. 

“The importance of multimedia content to a broad variety of electronic equipment makes the ability to manage the presentation of the content critical. For most processor architectures, this is now handled by a graphics processing core that manages the resolution and the quality of the images rendered.” 

Integrating the GPU onto a SoC design will enhance the performance in future application processor units, according to Gartner.

This is exactly what AMD has been developing since it acquired graphics card maker ATI, in 2006. 

“We put a GPU right beside a CPU core," says Adam Kozak, AMD client desktop product marketing manager. "We are implementing AES encryption (256-bit), up to four processor cores,and HT7000 graphics, all on a single chip.” 

According to Kozak, graphics processing is the chipmaker's strongest area. He says the design philosophy of the company is to concentrate on developing high-performance chips at a low cost.

The latest so-called APU chip provides 4.2GHz on the CPU, 8GHz on the GPU, which, according to AMD's data, is capable of delivering 736 GFlops.

But does a PC need all this processing power, just to run Windows 8?  

Kozak believes so. Microsoft is using its DirectX graphics interfaces to speed-up rendering of the Windows 8 user interface and Office 12 also makes use of graphics acceleration. He says that in Windows 8, the AMD processor can display three monitors from a single chip, without the need for additional graphics cards.

There is growing interest in using the powerful GPU in a PC to run supercomputer-like applications. In fact, graphics card maker Nvidia has developed Cuda (Compute Unified Device Architecture), an architecture for running computationally intensive applications on the multiple cores in its high-performance graphics card family.

But Cuda is proprietary to Nvidia. Kozak says the new Microsoft  DirectCompute programming platform will enable application developers to target the CPU and the GPU in standard way, not just on Nvidia GPUs. This will mean applications can take advantage of the raw processing power available on the high performance GPU core that now resides in the AMD SoC designs.

As an alternative to Microsoft DirectCompute, applications can also use the OpenCL programming interfaces, which effectively does the same thing. Image-processing applications like Adobe Photoshop use OpenCL to boost performance of computationally intensive graphics rendering tasks. Kozak says the OpenCL architecture can also be used in more mainstream applications, like Winzip, for speeding up the compression and decompression of zip files.

Google opens €75m energy-efficient datacentre facility in Dublin

Google opens €75m energy-efficient datacentre facility in Dublin:

Google’s new €75m Dublin datacentre facility, which houses computers that provide critical cloud-based services such as the Google search engine, Gmail and Google Maps, is now operational.

The datacentre, at Profile Park in Clondalkin, Dublin – which took almost a year to build – uses an advanced air-cooling system and takes advantage of Ireland’s naturally cool climate. According to Google, this enables it to reduce power requirements significantly.  

Using natural or free-air cooling means the facility does not require costly and power-hungry air-conditioning units, which are still used in many traditional datacentres.

“As a company committed to carbon neutrality, we make sure that our datacentres are extremely efficient in their use of electricity," said Dan Costello, Google’s global datacentre operations director. "We use around 50% less energy than a typical datacentre. The new Dublin datacentre, with its highly efficient air-cooling system, continues this trend.”

Now that it is operational, the datacentre will provide employment opportunities in a range of roles including computer technicians, electrical and mechanical engineers, catering and security staff.

The IT facility was officially opened by Ireland’s Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton.

“Cloud computing forms a key part of the government’s action plan for jobs. Our technological infrastructure is improving and cloud computing is one area where our climate gives us advantages,” said Bruton.

In total, approximately 400,000 man-hours were dedicated to design and construction of the Dublin datacentre and employed over 1,000 professionals, according to Google.

“Demand for our services has grown rapidly in the past few years and our footprint in Ireland has expanded too - we now employ over 2,500 people here in Dublin, up from around 2,000 a year ago. Our new datacentre is a long-term investment and further strengthens our ties with Ireland,”said John Herlihy, head of Google in Ireland.

Fujitsu blacklisting part of tighter government policy

Fujitsu blacklisting part of tighter government policy:

The labelling of two IT suppliers as high-risk by government is part of a tightening-up of outsourcing, but how far can the government practically address the problem of failing outsourcing contracts?

Fujitsu is among the companies labelled as high-risk by government to alert all departments if a supplier has poorly performed.

Fujitsu has a number of contracts with government and a public sector IT services operation that accounts for over half of its UK business.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said the department cannot comment on the status of individual suppliers, but stressed that the government will not tolerate poor supplier performance.

He added that the government is improving its post-contract management capabilities and sharing information on supplier performance across government departments.

“We want to strengthen our contract management by reporting on suppliers’ performance against criteria and sharing the information across government. This means information on a supplier’s performance will be available and taken into consideration at the start of and during the procurement process (pre-contract),” he said. 

“Suppliers with poor performance may therefore find it more difficult to secure new work with HMG.”

He said the announcement that Fujitsu is now classified as high-risk is part of this strategy. 

“This policy will include the identification of any high-risk suppliers so that performance issues are properly taken into account before any new contracts are given.

“High-risk classification is based on material performance concerns. Suppliers deemed high-risk will be subject to particularly close scrutiny when awarding new work.”

The government said this is simple good business practice with the government emulating the private sector. But it remains to be seen how much difference will it make in a sector where so many IT services contracts are dominated by so few suppliers.

If contracts are already in place, the blacklisting will have little effect on extensions or changes in scope, said one source.

He told Computer Weekly that the blacklisting of Fujitsu has not stopped it from winning bids. 

“Fujitsu are not as down as a result of this as you would expect. Fujitsu is winning government contracts through extensions and relationships they have with other suppliers.” 

Fujitsu is part of the Aspire contact as a subcontractor to the HMRC and the Atlas consortium of suppliers to the MoD.

The Cabinet Office spokesman said he believed the government is getting tougher through the Cabinet Office. “The Cabinet Office is being much more the deciding factor than ever before and this is the most centralised control of suppliers and contracts I have seen in my time.”

Microsoft wins third German patent victory over Google Motorola technology

Microsoft wins third German patent victory over Google Motorola technology

Microsoft has won a third victory in Germany over Google's Motorola unit in the ongoing patent wars between the two companies.

A German court ruled that several Motorola tablets and phones infringe a Microsoft patented method for apps to handle different kinds of user input, such as on-screen letter and numeric keyboards, handwriting and drawing interfaces, and voice recognition, according to the BBC.

Samsung, HTC and others smartphone makers have licensed the technology from Microsoft, but Motorola had resisted. Google now faces additional sales restrictions on its products in Germany unless it makes significant changes to its Android operating system (OS).

Commentators believe it may be easier for Google to pay a licence fee than to issue a software update for its Android OS.

"We're pleased this decision builds on previous rulings in Germany that have already found Motorola is broadly infringing Microsoft's intellectual property," said David Howard, Microsoft's deputy general counsel.

"We will continue to enforce injunctions against Motorola products in Germany and hope Motorola will join other Android device makers by taking a licence to Microsoft's patented inventions."

Google said in a statement that it is waiting for the court’s written decision and is evaluating its options, including an appeal.

UK faces BlackBerry outage again

UK faces BlackBerry outage again

BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) has issued a statement apologising for yet another service outage across the UK, Europe and the Middle East.

RIM said: “We are currently experiencing a BlackBerry service issue affecting some users in Europe, Middle East & Africa. All relevant support teams are working to resolve the issue. We apologise to any customers who may be affected.”

The ailing smartphone company has had a number of high profile outages and is facing commercial pressure from Apple and Android smartphones that are capable of providing "good-enough" email security for all but the most security-conscious IT environments.

In October 2011, users experienced the largest outage in the history of the BlackBerry service. The three-day outage affected major businesses and government departments that rely on RIM's enterprise messaging service to deliver mobile email.

This latest services distribution could put into question whether businesses should rely on BlackBerry smartphones, due to the single point of failure within RIM's network and IT infrastructure.

In the past, users relied on the BlackBerry service – which has proven to be highly resilient – due to the high-level of security offered through the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The service was certified by the CESG, the UK Government's National Technical Authority for Information Assurance, for restricted data access within the government. But Apple and Android are working towards certification and these outages increase the pressure on RIM.

The First Watch That Automatically Can Set Itself Anywhere

The First Watch That Automatically Can Set Itself Anywhere...!!

SEIKO ASTRON
Face Size 1.5 inches
Weight 4.8 ounces
Price From $2,300


Even watches that sync with an atomic clock aren’t accurate everywhere. They contain a radio that picks up a signal from a long-range tower connected to atomic clocks around the world. But the towers have a range of only about 1,500 miles, leaving large regions, including South America and Canada, uncovered. The Seiko Astron is the first watch that uses GPS, so it can automatically set the time anywhere.

Seiko engineers connected the Astron’s quartz movement to a custom circuit board that contains a processor and GPS radio. The team programmed the processor with a world map broken into one million square quadrants, each associated with one of 39 time zones. Once a day, the GPS radio turns on and connects with four or more satellites orbiting the globe to pinpoint its location; the processor then determines which time zone it’s in and sets the date and time accordingly. (Users can also force the watch to reset by pressing a button on the side.) The Astron takes 30 seconds to sync, whereas atomic watches can take up to two minutes. And, because the lithium-ion-powered watch’s 1.5-inch face is made from a matrix of seven solar cells, travelers will never be caught with either the incorrect time or a stopped watch.

Government launches £3.8m cyber security institute

Government launches £3.8m cyber security institute

The government has ramped up moves to tackle growing cyber security threats by launching a £3.8m research institute.

The research institute in the science of cyber security will act as a virtual organisation bringing together academics in cyber security, mathematics, and computer scientists across the UK. It will comprise of seven universities and has backing from the government’s security arm GCHQ.The institute follows the launch of a recent government advice urging companies to tackle the exponential growth in cyber threats at board-level.

David Willetts, minister for Universities and Science, said the institute would enable businesses, government and individuals to better protect themselves from cyber threats: "Britain has one of the largest online economies in the world and a growing cyber security sector, and we need to ensure this success continues,” he said.

Francis Maude, Cabinet Office minister, added: "The UK's first academic research institute will strengthen capability in a strategically important area, keeping the UK at the forefront of international research in the field."

The research institute will open on October 1 2012 for a period of three and a half years.

University College London has been selected to host the research institute, with Angela Sasse taking the role of director of research.

Sasse said: “I am delighted to be leading the new research Institute.  This is an opportunity to work closely with colleagues from different scientific disciplines to tackle the technical, social and psychological challenges that effective cyber security presents.”

HP struggles as Dell and Cisco push enterprise servers

HP struggles as Dell and Cisco push enterprise servers

HP is continuing to suffer as a result of Oracle dropping Itanium support while Dell’s enterprise strategy gains momentum, according to the latest market data from Gartner.

The company posted worldwide server supplier revenue of $3.7bn, 28.7% of the total market share for the second quarter of 2012, although revenue was down compared to last year.

Adrian Connell, a research director at Gartner, said,  “HP is having a challenging time (see box below). The business is suffering from weak Unix sales. HP has been suffering since Oracle said it would not support Itanium.”

In spite of winning a legal battle to force Oracle to continue Itanium support, HP was looking to increase the mission-critical aspects of its commodity x86 Proliant PC server platform. “The challenge for HP is to migrate customers from Itanium to x86,”  he added: “HP has always pushed the envelope of the x86 platform.”

Connell predicted that over time businesses still relying on high-end Unix servers will migrate to Windows Server and Linux–based x86 PC-server hardware.

HP is also coming under pressure from competitors in the x86 server market. Dell has been growing particularly strongly and Cisco with its unified computing system (UCS) is making inroads in the server blades market, where HP has previously been strong, according to Connell.

Over the last few years, Dell has been trying to become more enterprise-focused. Connell said, “Its product portfolio is very different compared to three years ago. Dell has also transformed how its sales force engages with customers. In the last few quarters we are seeing concerted benefits.”

Apple launches the iPhone 5

Apple launches the iPhone 5

The iPhone 5 has a larger 4-inch retina screen, yet is 18% thinner and 20% lighter than its predecessor, the iPhone 4S. The extra height in the device, allows an extra row of apps, which should reduce the number of home screens needed to swipe through.

Specs

• Height: 123.8 mm

• Width: 58.6 mm

• Depth: 7.6 mm

• Weight: 112 grams

• Display: 1136x640 pixels

• Camera: 8 megapixel and HD front facing camera

• Processor: A6 chip (providing longer battery life)

• Memory: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB

O2 builds free public Wi-Fi on Cisco networking equipment

O2 builds free public Wi-Fi on Cisco networking equipment

O2 will build out its free Wi-Fi network using networking technology from Cisco.

Access to O2 Wi-Fi will be free for all customers, regardless of which provider they use. The roll-out of the network has already begun. During the Olympics, O2 provided free Wi-Fi in central London.

The mobile operator originally unveiled its plans for a free public Wi-Fi network in January 2011. The service will cover 15,000 UK locations over the next two years.

“O2 Wi-Fi hotspots will bring high-quality public wireless internet access to the majority of mobile users," said Gavin Franks, managing director of O2 Wi-Fi.

O2 Wi-Fi hotspot locations will use Cisco Aironet 3500 Series access points. The access points provide self-healing and self-optimising functionality through Cisco’s CleanAir technology. 

According to Cisco, CleanAir technology is designed to optimise wireless performance by detecting interference, identifying and locating its source, and then making automatic adjustments to help ensure a high-quality service.

Free Wi-Fi is seen by many industry commentators as an enabler for mobile commerce. A number of retailers, including Tesco, Debenhams and Pizza Express, are providing their own free Wi-Fi service to customers.

Leading PC suppliers announce Windows 8 devices

Leading PC suppliers announce Windows 8 devices

Several leading PC suppliers, including HP, Dell, Asus, Toshiba and Sony, have announced products from laptops to smartphones that will run Microsoft’s newest operating system Windows 8, expected to be released in October.

Windows 8 supports the use of touchscreen technology and many of the new products announced are hybrid devices, combining tablet and laptop capability in one. 

HP announced a hybrid device, the Envy x2, which doubles as a notebook and a tablet by using a detachable touchscreen.

Dell’s offering is branded under its XPS range. Products include the XPS Duo 12, a hybrid laptop and tablet with a flip-hinge touchscreen display allowing the device to be used as a touch-driven slate as well as a traditional laptop. Dell also announced the 10-inch XPS 10 tablet, which will run the Windows RT version of the operating system (OS).

Toshiba has introduced its Satellite U920T, a tablet with a slide-out keyboard running Windows 8. Sony’s Vaio Duo 11 is a touchscreen tablet that also features a small keyboard which users slide to unveil.

Asus launched a number of devices in June, which also run Windows 8, including the Vivo range with a detachable keyboard, and the Taichi device which has a double-sided display and acts as a tablet when the lid of the laptop is closed.

Lenovo also announced a series of Windows 8 devices. Lenovo’s products are traditional laptops which are not hybrid or touch screen, however the S Series laptops will feature Windows 8 functionality once available this Autumn.

Seeing the big players announcing  products on the highly anticipated operating system is encouraging, but it won’t necessarily convince businesses to upgrade, according to Rob Bamforth, principal analyst at Quocirca.

“OS upgrades don’t happen quickly based on hardware, they tend to move based on software decisions. More often, if a piece of software isn’t going to be supported on a new OS, that pulls people forward to upgrade," he said.

“Businesses will like the direction Microsoft is going in, with mobile and desktop looking a lot closer and happier together, which it hasn’t in the past. This will be seen as encouraging but not enough to switch or upgrade.”

Microsoft’s two-pronged desktop and mobile approach puts the firm in a much better position than Blackberry and Android-based devices to compete with Apple in the growing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend, said Bamforth.

But he is not convinced that hybrid devices will take off in the enterprise market: “It’s not necessarily about replacing a specific device, but a way of working. It’s about how people work and how people are comfortable," he said.

“I’m not convinced by the transformer-type model. Tablets with detachable keyboards which can be left behind rather than forced to carry around, will take off more than the flip-type models. There are more usage scenarios where you don’t need a keyboard all the time - and people who do might just stick with a laptop.”