Intel flagship processor line, the Pentium 4, will receive a double dose of improvements this fall when the chip maker releases a new version revved up to 3GHz with an additional performance-enhancing technology called hyperthreading.
Hyperthreading, which first appeared in Intel Xeon chips for workstations and servers this year, enables software to take greater advantage of untapped computing power within a processor. The technology allows Intel's chips to process more streams of data, called threads, than they otherwise would, by having applications view a single processor as two virtual CPUs.
One of the major announcements at this autumn's Intel Developer Forum has been Banias, the code name for the company's next generation portable IA-32 processor. Running the same software as existing Pentiums, Banias is Intel's first totally new mainstream mobile processor since the 80386SL in 1990. Although the company hasn't revealed the final configuration of the new chip, it has outlined the major architectural changes that reduce power consumption--from 7 watts at full power to under 1 watt on average--while in some cases, it claims, actually increasing performance.
Most power management systems in microprocessors adjust the frequency and voltages supplied to various areas of the chip, and Banias is no exception. However, the processor has the next generation of Intel's SpeedStep technology, with much finer control over more aspects of the chip's functioning. There is full support for power control across the pipeline, and subunits of the chip can be turned on and off in a single clock cycle. Most of the hardware is off most of the time, says Intel.
The concept of software delivered as a service took a step backwards today as software giant Microsoft Corp. announced it has abandoned its subscription licensing model for Office XP. Its mechanics proved too confusing for local customers, according to the results of a trial. In May last year, Microsoft started a pilot in Australia, New Zealand and France for Office XP Subscription, a way to license Office on an annual subscription basis. If successful, Microsoft planned to take the model global. However, customers found the "exact mechanics" of this model confusing, according to Microsoft product evaluations. As a result of this feedback from resellers and customers, the pilot has been discontinued.
A senior executive with Intel Corp. Tuesday revealed plans for a dual-core Itanium processor, belittled Sun Microsystems Inc.'s rival product as "old fashioned" and hinted that Dell Computer Corp. may be out of its league in the 64-bit arena during a briefing to tout the chip maker's Itanium product line. Mike Fister, general manager of Intel's Enterprise Platforms Group, expressed his views on the high-end 64-bit computing market during a meeting with reporters at the Intel Developer Forum here. The executive added that Intel's decision to roll out hyperthreading technologies across all its desktop and server processors will help set the stage for a transition to a dual-core design. Specifically, hyperthreading enables a single processor to handle dual data streams, like two virtual processors.
At its developer forum here on Wednesday Intel plans to introduce 2.6- and 2.8-GHz versions of its Xeon server chip, for dual- and single-processor applications such as Web hosting, security and streaming media. The current Xeon processor, unvieled in February, tops out at 2.4 Ghz. Intel's faster Xeon chips, codenamed Prestonia, represent "an indication of the pace of how we're able to increase performance on the architecture," said Lisa Hambrick, Intel director of enterprise processor marketing, in Santa Clara, Calif.
Also at IDF Wednesday, Intel plans to release details on changes in its chipset technology. The company in the fourth quarter of this year is moving to a 533-MHz front bus for servers and workstations. A 533-MHz bus also is planned for chipsets. The current speed is 400 MHz.
While Microsoft's real-time communications server, code-named Greenwich, will follow by several months Microsoft's delivery of its base Windows .Net Server 2003 platform, the software giant's ultimate goal is to make the base Greenwich services part of the Windows "platform."
In addition to the basic SIP communications mechanisms, Microsoft will offer a number of Greenwich applications, such as corporate instant messaging and archiving, and, over time, conferencing functionality that Microsoft currently delivers in its Exchange Conferencing Server product, company executives acknowledged. Greenwich also will include support for "presence," or the ability to determine automatically the state and location of a person or an entity.
Microsoft Tuesday said it has purchased a Mountain View, Calif.-based security company to better secure its core file services including its Windows platform and .NET initiative. The Redmond, Wash-based software giant has acquired the assets of XDegrees for an undisclosed amount of cash and is in the process of relocating the team of 12 or 14 engineers to the Microsoft campus.
While Microsoft is not talking about the specific details of the deal, Tanne did confirm that XDegrees would be working with Dave Thompson and Microsoft's core file services group. The two companies have worked before, but not on a commercial basis. Last November, XDegrees developed a new application for secure information exchange for use with Microsoft's Windows Messenger and Microsoft.NET My Services. Tanne said it was up to Microsoft to fill in the "how and when" they would announce products with XDegrees inside.
Microsoft is aiming to shore up the security of its SQL Server database management software. The next version of SQL Server, code-named "Yukon," will include a long list of new security-related features when it debuts in 2003, said James Hamilton, SQL Server's design architect. He said that Microsoft's database team spent more than a month auditing the software code for security holes. Yukon will include the ability to more easily add security fixes, Hamilton said. Previously, database administrators had to install patches one at a time, a several-step process in which mistakes could be made, he added.
Microsoft has touted its next-generation database as having new data storage architecture intended to make it easier to find and use corporate data. In fact, a forthcoming version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, will use Yukon's data storage capability.
At its Windows .NET Server DevCon conference last week, Microsoft demonstrated 64-bit versions of its forthcoming Windows .NET Server 2003 Datacenter Edition and SQL Server products running on a 32-way Itanium 2-based ES7000 system designed by Unisys Corp.
Microsoft and Unisys divided a 32-way Itanium 2-based ES7000 system into two discrete logical partitions. One partition of 16 Itanium 2 processors limited its SQL Server database to 4 GB of addressable memory - the maximum amount of memory available in a conventional 32-bit environment. The other partition of 16 Itanium 2 microprocessors was outfitted with 64 GB of database memory - the maximum amount of memory addressable by Itanium 2.
As what passes for the resident Microsoft zealot here at Builder.com, I had quite a few people drop by my office or e-mail to let me know about Bill Gates' admission in late July that his company may have "made a misstep" with Microsoft .NET. Those visitors typically got the same pat response from me: "Which .NET was he talking about?" I'm still not sure who was surprised and who was annoyed by my unconcerned response.
I think that Gates was referring to .NET-as-marketing-initiative, but I'm by no means certain. Frankly, I'm not sure that even he knew which .NET he was talking about. Such confusion is understandable, given that the Redmond camp seems to have taken to referring to everything under the sun as .NET. The zaniness at present includes several development platforms, a development tool, a marketing strategy, a server operating system (and I think everyone stopped trying to figure out the rationale behind Windows version monikers a decade ago), a method of identifying Internet users, and an Internet information storage platform. A slick but technically insubstantial "one degree of separation" advertising campaign hasn't helped anyone keep things straight.