The Kentsfield arrives- Ready to ravage the High-end

2 November,2006 will remain a day to remember in history as Intel takes us into the multi core era with the release of the much anticipated quad-core processor:The Kentsfield.

Codenamed Kentsfield, this will be known as the Core 2 Quadro and wiil be numbered QCxxxx.

For all those who were thinkin if this would really boost performance...perish the thought.This beast flays competition.The performance boost is awesome.Work time is cutdown to half.An encoding from MPEG2 to WMV9 that would take 5:08 mins on a Core 2 Duo E6700 now takes only 2:55 mins.Now thats performance.

The other end: applications not written to take advantage of the new multi core architecture will NOT show any performance boost- however this is not the case with most demanding applications like renderers and encoders or even games.

So, all in all , Intel's on a rampage ,literally , with its back to back releases ,it is trying to push AMD onto the wall.

All will be decided two weeks down the lane when AMD is all set to release its quadcore version.

Till then , Intel can hold on to its much-fought-and-won "King of the processors" crown.

IBM Launches Software Development Centers In China And India

Source:
By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek.

The build-out of IBM's global operations continued Tuesday as the company announced the opening of new software development centers in Pune, India, and Beijing, China.

The centers will each be staffed by 500 developers focused on creating so-called service-oriented architectures for customers around the world, including those located in the United States. SOAs feature standards-based software components that allow customers to easily connect and re-use various business applications and services. IBM says it expects the market for SOA-based services to reach $160 billion by 2008. The company did not disclose the level of financial investment it's making in the Pune and Beijing facilities.

The Pune center will focus on building SOA systems for the insurance and healthcare industries. The Beijing facility will create systems for the banking and state and local government markets. Software architectures that will power the child welfare systems for four U.S. states will be created from Beijing, says Jeby Cherian, head of IBM's global solutions delivery for India. Cherian declined to identify the states.

The announcement marks the latest step in IBM's plan to centralize business software development activities in low-cost regions that are stocked with an abundance of IT talent. Earlier this year, the company opened a major new facility in the Indian tech hub of Bangalore, from which IBM employees are designing business technology architectures and related software for customers worldwide.

Cherian says the Pune and Beijing facilities will act as satellites of the Bangalore center. "They will be fully integrated," Cherian says. He adds that the Beijing center also will allow IBM to more easily serve its large customer base in Japan.

IBM's operations in China are small compared to its vast and rapidly growing Indian presence. It currently maintains a services staff of 7,000 in the People's Republic. By contrast, the company employs more than 40,000 workers on the sub-continent. But IBM has big plans for China that could result in a dramatic increase in the size of its Chinese workforce. "Our strategy is about both India and China and we'll continue to make strategic investments in both countries" Cherian says. "The scale of the operations in each will be determined by customer demand."

On Monday, IBM said it would partner with U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers to launch a $180 million fund that will invest in midstage and mature Chinese businesses.

Further updates and author's comments will follow soon ;-)

IBM Launches Software Development Centers In China And India

Source:
By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek.

The build-out of IBM's global operations continued Tuesday as the company announced the opening of new software development centers in Pune, India, and Beijing, China.

The centers will each be staffed by 500 developers focused on creating so-called service-oriented architectures for customers around the world, including those located in the United States. SOAs feature standards-based software components that allow customers to easily connect and re-use various business applications and services. IBM says it expects the market for SOA-based services to reach $160 billion by 2008. The company did not disclose the level of financial investment it's making in the Pune and Beijing facilities.

The Pune center will focus on building SOA systems for the insurance and healthcare industries. The Beijing facility will create systems for the banking and state and local government markets. Software architectures that will power the child welfare systems for four U.S. states will be created from Beijing, says Jeby Cherian, head of IBM's global solutions delivery for India. Cherian declined to identify the states.

The announcement marks the latest step in IBM's plan to centralize business software development activities in low-cost regions that are stocked with an abundance of IT talent. Earlier this year, the company opened a major new facility in the Indian tech hub of Bangalore, from which IBM employees are designing business technology architectures and related software for customers worldwide.

Cherian says the Pune and Beijing facilities will act as satellites of the Bangalore center. "They will be fully integrated," Cherian says. He adds that the Beijing center also will allow IBM to more easily serve its large customer base in Japan.

IBM's operations in China are small compared to its vast and rapidly growing Indian presence. It currently maintains a services staff of 7,000 in the People's Republic. By contrast, the company employs more than 40,000 workers on the sub-continent. But IBM has big plans for China that could result in a dramatic increase in the size of its Chinese workforce. "Our strategy is about both India and China and we'll continue to make strategic investments in both countries" Cherian says. "The scale of the operations in each will be determined by customer demand."

On Monday, IBM said it would partner with U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers to launch a $180 million fund that will invest in midstage and mature Chinese businesses.

Further updates and author's comments will follow soon ;-)

Mmm......finally the question arises-What is a blog

This is a pretty long postand is an "edited rip-off" from an another blog.

It is very informative and might pretty well get you into blogging.

So what is a Blog anyway? This is a question asked every day by millions. If you’re reading this you may well be asking the same question.

There are a number of ways that one could answer this question ranging from the broad to the highly technical.

Here are a few definitions from other much wiser people to get us started:

‘A weblog is a hierarchy of text, images, media objects and data, arranged chronologically, that can be viewed in an HTML browser.’

‘A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links.’

‘From “Web log.” A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and someone who keeps a blog is a “blogger.”‘

‘A weblog is kind of a continual tour, with a human guide who you get to know. There are many guides to choose from, each develops an audience, and there’s also comraderie and politics between the people who run weblogs, they point to each other, in all kinds of structures, graphs, loops, etc.’

‘A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and someone who keeps a blog is a “blogger.” Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Postings on a blog are almost always arranged in cronological order with the most recent additions featured most prominantly.’

‘A blog is a website in which items are posted on a regular basis and displayed in reverse chronological order. The term blog is a shortened form of weblog or web log. Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog is called “blogging”. Individual articles on a blog are called “blog posts,” “posts” or “entries”. A person who posts these entries is called a “blogger”. A blog comprises text, hypertext, images, and links (to other web pages and to video, audio and other files). Blogs use a conversational style of documentation. Often blogs focus on a particular “area of interest”. Some blogs discuss personal experiences.

So What is a Blog???

Confused yet? Don’t be - its really quite simple. To put it as simply as possible - a blog is a type of website that is usually arranged in chronological order from the most recent ‘post’ (or entry) at the top of the main page to the older entries towards the bottom.

Blogs are usually (but not always) written by one person and are updated pretty regularly. Blogs are often (but not always) written on a particular topic - there are blogs on virtually any topic you can think of. From photography, to spirituality, to recipes, to personal diaries to hobbies - blogging has as many applications and varieties as you can imagine. Whole blog communities have sprung up around some of these topics putting people into contact with each other in relationships where they can learn, share ideas, make friends with and even do business with people with similar interests from around the world.

Blogs usually have a few features that are useful to know about if you want to get the most out of them as a reader. Lets examine a couple briefly.

You might look at the front page of a blog and think that there is not much to them. A few recent entries, some links to other sites and not much else. However its worth knowing that there is a lot more going on under the surface that might initially meet the eye.

When I write a post like this one it goes to the top of the front page. As it gets older and as I add more current posts it begins its journey down the page until it disappears from it. This is not the end of its life however, because it goes into the ‘Archives’ of my blog. It sounds like a dusty dark place but its really just like a filing cabinet that is easily accessible in a couple of ways. You can read my ‘archives’ simply by looking on the ’sidebar’ (over on the right of this blog) at the ‘archives’ or ‘categories’ section. There you will see links to all my old posts which you can access either by month or by category. Click on a month and you’ll see what I wrote during that period.

Not all blogs use comments - but most do. This blog is not a monologue but a conversation. You can give me feedback on almost everything I write simply by clicking the ‘comments’ link at the bottom of each one of my posts. This will take you to a little form where you leave your name, email and a link to your own blog if you have one as well as your feedback, comment, critique, question, essay on why you love my blog, promise of money…. etc). Try it now. Scroll to the bottom of this page, click ‘comments’ and fill in the blanks with a little introduction to yourself.

A great way to learn about blogs is to read a few. Leave some comments, ask questions and bookmark your favourites. An even better way to learn about blogs is to start your own. Ok - you might be laughing at me now - you think you are not web savy enough to have your own site? You wouldn’t know where to start? You don’t know how?

Are you still confused? Would you like more information? Below are a few helpful articles on the topic - there are many more on the web - just do a search on your favourite search engine. Otherwise shoot me an email using my ‘contact’ button with your question and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

• Rebecca Blood has written a helpful history of blogging for those who are interested in learning more about the blogging evolution over the past few years.
• Harvard Law has a helpful article titled What makes a Weblog a Weblog
• Trudy Schuett writes a good article title What is a blog and why do we need one?
• WordPress: Introduction to Blogging

So, go gab ('get a blog',I dunno if it's common though, an alteration of 'gal', now I'm not going to explain what that means!!!...you ought to know it.That, is common)

More joy for the Intel camper!!!

The review of the latest server side processors :Xenon (the new Woodcrest core based 5100 series) and Opteron ("Italy") provides every reason for the intel camper to rejoice.

Alas! What more reason do I need to celebrate than that Intel has "regained the throne for the best procesor(s)"

The Core 2 duo architecture is doing wonders for Intel...no hyperbole this.Lower power consumption ,more instructions per cycle . everything that one would want from a processor upgrade. The new Xenon's based on this are named Woodcrest as opposed to the previous version of the Xenon codenamed Dempsey. These will use Socket 771 (also called Socket J).

Technical specs apart ,the new Xenon's continue Intel's legacy of number crunching superiority in Video and Audio processing applications and infact gains from the single cycle SSE. The only downside about this continuing legacy being that the memory throughput cannot match that of AMD 's architecture.

But come to power consumption and behold the magic. The Xenon shows its main advantage under load and races ahead of all competition leaving the Opteron fuming (literally...and AMD along with it,probably!!!) behind.It consumes only about half of what the Opteron does!!!

The only thing strange with this release is that it only one month since Intel has released the "Dempsey" processors. the explanation might be that the Woodcrest might have been ready ahead of schedule and Intel thought it would be a safe bet to release it ahead of the schedule release of the newer Opteron X4 which is supposed to have an L3 cache.

As with the Core 2 Duo , the only thing that can be said about the new Xenon's is that Intel has come up with a winner again and AMD has a real challenge especially that there are the Quad core Xenon's(the mighty Clovertown) yet to be released.

All that I'll be doing though is keep my fingers crossed waiting for the Clovertown(I'm already drooling over the thought of the quad-cores ,including the for-the-desktop Kentsfield) and also keep this blog updated...

Till the Clovertown walks the ramp...

When I'll have no time but to re-read the specs and the performance...

To trust my eyes and trust the guys...

Who have reviewed...