Intel unveils futuristic chip

The world’s leading chipmaker, Intel Technologies, unveiled its futuristic chip which was developed with significant contributions from its research and development centre in Bangalore.

The concept chip, which has 48-cores called ‘single-chip cloud computer,’ has processing power 20 times higher than the ones currently being used. The chip developed over a period of two years saw a team of 40 people across three labs of Intel globally -- Hillsboro, US, Braunschweig, Germany and Bangalore contributing equally to the project.

The Bangalore lab contributed in the areas of circuit and physical design, memory controller logic and the mesh interconnect network. According to Vasantha Erranguntla, senior engineering manager, Intel Labs India, “The single-chip cloud computer was designed as a concept vehicle for parallel software research.”
For now, this concept chip would be largely used for academic and research purposes. Intel’s 48 core chip is also an extension of its earlier research called the teraflop processor which had 80 cores, in which the Bangalore centre had a major part to play.

Intel started its R&D operations in Bangalore in 1998 and it has grown to become one of the largest centre outside US with an estimated headcount in excess of 2,500.

The Bangalore R&D centre has also been part of the various commercial launches of Intel with most notable being the six-core x86 microprocessor called the Xeon 7400 series.

The Xeon 7400 series saw the Bangalore centre executing the end-to-end design activity and also for the first time working on the 45 nm technology.

On the 48 core chip, Intel is expecting the processor to get into commercial production only in the next three to four years. This could be largely used in the area of data centres or conducting very large computing applications.

Though for now, Intel is looking to engage industry and academia next year by sharing 100 or more of these experimental chips for hands-on research in developing new software applications and programming models.

Ms Erranguntla said they were also holding discussions with several research labs and universities in India also to be part of this concept chip.

Six-core Intel Core i9 Gulftown Processor tests shows Boost in Performance

Intel's six-core Gulftown processors got delayed to second quarter of 2010 and was tested by Polish site PC Lab. This six-core Intel Gulftown processor is from the 32nm Westmere family flagship with 12MB shared L3 cache and compatible with Intel Socket LGA1366 based motherboards. As per the tests, this multi-core Gulftown chip showed 50 percent boost in the performance. These Gulftown lines up CPUs are likely to be dubbed as Core i9 chips.

PC Labs found that 2.86GHz clocked 32nm Core i9 'Gulftown' CPU showed about 50 percent faster video encoding and 3D modeling than the Core i7 with the same clock speed. Other multicore core tests didn't show large gains for the non-optimized tasks. Only when more multi-core utilization friendly applications will be released, the maximum would be made off the six cores. The memory speed and performance may not be as high as anticipated. Though BIOS for the available motherboards didn't offer any support, PC Labs guys managed to over clock the chip to 4.3GHz on the air cooling.

The 32nm die shrink brought significant reduction in power consumption and used less power as compared with its Core i7 and Core 2 Quad counterparts. The current engineering sample was able to carry maximum load at a temperature lower than the Core i7 chip. More efficient transistors are packed in the smaller 32nm die shrink so they will give power efficient performance as compared with the other Socket LGA1366 chips.

It's the additional two cores and hyperthreading support backed by appropriate power consumption that will prove true prowess of Gulftown chip. Intel is rumored to release this hexa-core chip in first quarter of 2010 and might get delayed to early second quarter.

Dell Favors AMD over Intel Chips

Dell has announced that it will begin using processors from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) in place of those from Intel, as part of a broader plan to regain its lost market share.

Dell said that the AMD-based Dell high-end servers with four Opteron processors will be introduced by end 2006.

The move has major implications for the computer industry because the Dell-Intel association has been one of the mightiest in the world of technology, and is considered a key contributor to Dell's success in the past. However, since last year, AMD has been trying to take on market dominance.

Kevin B Rollins, chief executive, Dell, said that it is a fairly small category that has been given to AMD. He also said that Intel would continue to remain supplier of the vast majority of processors used by Dell. Several pipeline projects will also utilize Intel chips.

Rollins explained that the market had intensified, and that some of the competitors had proved to be a tad stronger than what was originally perceived by the company. Rollins said that Dell is hence making investments in technology and customer experience, to resume its past pattern of growth. As such, the company has planned to speed up efforts so as to reduce costs by around $3 billion. The savings would come from improved quality to lower warranty costs, and from changes in materials and components.

Dell said it intends to spend over $100 million towards improving its customer service that the company acknowledged had deteriorated and affected its image and sales. The company said that it has hired 2,000 new sales and support staff and retrained 5,000 others for this purpose.

According to industry analysts, Dell's switch from Intel to AMD in a small portion of its server line will not go too far in solving problems. However, it is a sign of the company's willingness to change.

Comparing the market situation between Dell and Hewlett Packard (HP), HP has been giving its customers more choice over price and performance. In the earning season, Dell's desktop PC sales grew 3 percent in the quarter while HP sales grew by 1 percent. But in the laptop category, Dell grew only by 12 percent as compared to HP which grew by 27 percent.

Intel Kick-Starts Multi Core PC Era

Kicking-off the industry's multi-core PC era, Intel has introduced the Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5300 and Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core processor families, delivering four cores or computing "brains" inside a single microprocessor.

All new processors promise superior speed and responsiveness for workstations and general purpose servers, as also for other segments such as digital media creation, high-end gaming, etc.

At the launch, Paul Otellini, President and CEO of Intel, said, "The capabilities of Quad-Core microprocessors will bring new possibilities for Science, Entertainment, and Business. I'm incredibly proud of what Intel's employees have achieved with these new products."

The new Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5300 processors deliver up to 50 percent faster performance, with the same power consumption and cost as Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 processors that were launched less than 5 months ago.

Four such Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5300 processors have been launched, with clock speeds ranging from 1.60GHz to 2.66GHz; front side bus (FSB) speeds ranging from 1066MHz to 1333MHz; and thermal design power (TDP) of either 80 Watts or performance-optimized 120 Watt option.

Promising to be the world's best desktop processor for multimedia applications, the Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core processor QX6700 is up to 80 percent faster than the company s current Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor X6800.

The QX6700 is the world's first Quad-Core desktop processor meant for unmatched, highly threaded performance. It is available at 2.66GHz with a 1066MHz FSB, and runs on Intel's existing 975X Express chipset family.

Besides, Intel plans to offer a mainstream Quad-Core processor, beginning Q1 of 2007 that will be an ideal choice for processor-intensive, highly threaded programs such as Entertainment, Gaming, and Multimedia activities.

The configuration and prices of the new processors are as follows:
Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor X5355 2.66GHz 1333MHz 8MB 120W: $1172
Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor E5345 2.33GHz 1333MHz 8MB 80W: $851
Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor E5320 1.86GHz 1066MHz 8MB 80W: $690
Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor E5310 1.60GHz 1066MHz 8MB 80W: $455
Intel Core 2 Extreme quad-core processor QX6700 2.66GHz 1066MHz 8MB 130W: $999

Naming the Coolest Technologies

Pentium

When Intel had developed the successor to the i486 and was getting ready for its launch, they had the name i586 in mind for the new processor. Intel wanted to trademark this name because of competitors using similar names with the numbers (such as Am486 from AMD), but US courts would not allow numbers as trademarks. Intel asked Lexicon Branding to create a brand that could be trademarked for their new processors. The name Pentium was suggested as it contained "Pente" meaning five in Greek and "ium" which is the Latin ending for neutral nouns.

Walkman

Who doesn't know about the Walkman? Ever since the first one was launched in 1979, the name has become synonymous to a personal stereo player. The device was designed by Sony audio division engineer Nobutoshi Kihara for Sony co-chairman Akio Morita who wanted to be able to listen to operas during his transatlantic plane trips. The name Walkman expresses the freedom to listen to music while walking down the street. Although it was marketed as Walkman only in Japan, it was known as Soundabout in many countries including US, Freestyle in Sweden and Stowaway in the UK. The name Walkman eventually was found to be more popular and hence the other two names were dropped.

iPod

While the development of Apple's MP3 player was in progress, Steve Jobs expressed his vision of the MP3 player as a hub to other gadgets. Freelancer copywriter Vinnie Chieco, whom Apple had hired to help arrive at a name, brainstormed hubs of all kinds and eventually decided to come up with something related to spaceships, where you can leave it for some time, but will have to eventually return to refuel. The plastic front of the prototype MP3 player inspired him with the word "pod", while the 'i' gives it the Mac connection. The MP3 player was thus christened iPod.

BlackBerry

In 2001, Canadian company Research In Mobile asked Lexicon Branding to give a name for its new e-mail device. Research suggests that the word "e-mail" can increase your blood pressure, so the consultancy asked RIMs founder to distance the name of this new device from that word. Rather, they tried to come up with a word for a name to evoke feelings of joy and peace. Just then, someone made a comment that the keys on the device looked like seeds, which got Lexicon team to search for words such as melon, strawberry and various other vegetables. Finally, they arrived at 'BlackBerry', which is a word that is both pleasing as well as brought up the black colour of the device.

Android

As you may already know, Android is Google's newest operating system for mobile devices with Open Handset Alliance supporting this platform. But do you know how it got its name? When work started on this project in 2005, Google quietly acquired a mysterious startup named Android Inc. According to the BusinessWeek, this startup had been working under "a cloak of secrecy" on "making software for mobile phones". Leaked news and internet hype combined with Google's secrecy resulted into the name "Android" getting stuck to this.

Firefox

Mozilla did have its share of problems naming its famous browser. An early version of Mozilla's browser was called Firebird, but since that name was already being used by another open-source project, the browser was named Firefox instead. Firefox is another name for red panda. When asked why this browser was named so, the reply of Mozilla elders was, "It's easy to remember. It sounds good. It's unique. We like it."

Twitter

The only thing that came to cofounder Biz Stone's mind when he saw the application created by Jack Dorsey in 2006 was the way birds communicate - "Short bursts of information...Everyone is chirping, having a good time." Stone responded by "twttr" and they eventually added a few vowels to come to "Twitter". Thus, what started as being described as merely trivial bursts of bird communication, has become one of the most popular and powerful means of social networking, news, etc. You can now find "Follow on Twitter" links on practically every website today.

ThinkPad

The highly reliable and respected lineup of notebook computers from IBM was launched in 1992. But before they could launch it, they just could not come up with a name to give it. While the pen-computing group of IBM wanted to keep it simple and thought about ThinkPad, the corporate naming committee didn't like it. IBM products always had a number in the name and they wanted to carry on that tradition with this new notebook range. Also, they wondered how the word ThinkPad would translate into other languages. "ThinkPad" eventually won due to the clout of the IBMer who unveiled it and went on to become a huge hit.

Windows 7

There was a whole lot of speculation as to what the newest iteration of Windows will be named as. Windows Vista has been disappointing for Microsoft, so they did not want to go with any similar naming convention. Meanwhile, Windows releases preceded by a numeral have done remarkably well. The reason can be anything, but the name became clear when Microsoft's Mike Nash announced, "Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore 'Windows 7' just makes sense." As has been seen thus far, this is probably on its way to become the most successful OS from Microsoft since a long time.

Amazon Kindle

Amazon Kindle is arguably the device that revolutionized the way e-books are read. Kindle was named by a husband and wife team of designers from San Francisco, Michael Cronan and Karen Hibma. Cronan was asked by Lab126 - an Amazon.com company, to name this device. According to Hibma, Michael came up with the name through the usual practice of exploring the depths of what the potential of the new product could be and how the company would like to present it.

Hibma says, "We didn't want it to be 'techie' or trite, and we wanted it to be memorable, and meaningful in many ways of expression, from 'I love curling up with my Kindle to read a new book' to 'When I'm stuck in the airport or in line, I can Kindle my newspaper, favorite blogs or half a dozen books I'm reading." Kindle means to burn or set alight, to arouse or be aroused, or to make or become bright. It has its roots in the Old Norse word kyndill, meaning candle.

Hibma says, "From Voltaire: 'The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate it to others and it becomes the property of all'."

       

Gigabyte's USB 3.0, SATA 3.0 Mainboards

Gigabyte has announced seven new Gigabyte P55A-series motherboards featuring new Fast 333 onboard acceleration. Three technologies USB 3.0, SATA Rev. 3.0 and three times boost in USB together combined offer blazing fast data transfer speeds to Intel P55 Express chipset based Gigabyte motherboards.

New Gigabyte motherboards are Windows 7 ready, support LGA 1156 socket bearing Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors with DDR3 memory modules. The seven new Gigabyte P55A series use USB 3.0 certified host controller from NEC Electronics. As per the USB 3.0 specifications, phenomenal 5GB/sec speeds are promised. But this will help only when more USB 3.0 specification based peripherals would be made available in the market.

The seven Gigabyte P55A series motherboards are:

GA-P55A-UD6
GA-P55A-UD5
GA-P55A-UD4P
GA-P55A-UD3P
GA-P55A-UD3R
GA-P55A-UD3

Supporting the all new Serial-ATA revision 3.0 version, high-speed storage devices can offer data transfer speeds of up to 6Gbps. SATA rev 3.0 is capable of boosting transfer speeds by up to four times than those available in SATA 2.0 when storage drives are configured in RAID 0 mode.

Apparently, Seagate's Barracuda XT would be first hard disk to support SATA rev 3.0 connectivity interface. However, we'd like to know if the Windows 7-iPhone sync woes would continue with these new motherboards based on Intel P55 series chipset. Asus had also launched USB 3.0 featuring Asus P7P55D-E Premium motherboard

How some Tech Companies Got Their Names

Adobe

Adobe was named after the Adobe Creek in Los Altos, California, which ran behind the home of cofounder John Warnock.







Apple Computers

The first slogan of this company was "Bite into an Apple", while its more famous slogan is "Think Different". Probably thinking differently, the founder, Steve Jobs, named this company "Apple Computers" while he was driving along with Steve Wozniak between Palo Alto and Los Altos. Jobs and his friends used to work on a community farm cultivating apples while he was working in the Bay Area of San Francisco. Jobs was three months late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his company Apple Computers if his colleagues didn't suggest a better name. As you can guess, they didn't come up with anything better and the rest is history. Other theories are that Jobs wanted his company to feature before Atari in the phone book, while yet another suggestion is that it was a tribute to Apple Records, which was the music label of the Beatles.

Cisco

Even though its current headquarters is in San Jose, California, this company was founded in San Francisco, California in 1984 and took the last five letters of the name of this city for the company name. This is the reason why the company's engineers insisted on using the name in lower case as "cisco" previously rather than "Cisco" as it is now known. The company logo also has the stylized Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco.

Google

The name of this company started as a jockey boast about the amount of information the search-engine would be able to search. The word "Google" is a misspelling of the word "Googol", which means a number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros. After founders - Stanford graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry Page presented their project to an angel investor and received a cheque made out to "Google". The search engine of this company was originally nicknamed "BackRub" because the system checked backlinks to estimate the importance of a site and rank it in the search.

Hewlett-Packard

HP or Hewlett-Packard got its name from the founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, but the story of its name is nonetheless interesting. Hewlett and Packard could not agree as to whether the company should be named Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett, so they decided to resolve the matter by tossing a coin. Packard won the toss and decided to name it Hewlett-Packard Company in 1939.

Hotmail

The founder of this company, Jack Smith, came up with the idea of accessing email via the web from a computer anywhere in the world without having the prevailing restrictive system of having to use the email server provided by the ISP. When the other founder, Sabeer Bhatia came up with the business plan for the mail service, he tried all kinds of names ending with 'mail', and finally settled for Hotmail, as it included the letters "HTML", which is Hyper Text Markup Language - the programming language used to write web pages. Launched on July 4, 1996, it was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective upper casing.

Intel

At its inception, founders Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new company "Moore Noyce" but discovered that this name was already trademarked by a hotel chain. Also, they felt that it didn't sound nice as the pronunciation was eerily similar to 'more noise', which is not suitable for a semiconductor company. They used the name NM Electronics for the first year before arriving at Intel, which is the acronym of INTegrated Electronics and that is how the company has been known since.

Lotus

Founder, Mitch Kapor, christened this company as Lotus, inspired by the "padmasana" or the yoga asana with a lotus position. The roots to this choice of name could be the fact that Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.