IBM unveils x86 server breakthrough

IBM has claimed that today's virtualised farms of commodity x86 servers represent a fundamentally broken model for enterprise computing, introducing at CeBIT what it calls the "first major overhaul" of the x86 server platform in 30 years, says CRN Australia.

In a bold statement, IBM said its new eX5 server platform, built on Intel's Nehalem EX processor and IBM's X Architecture chipset, is the first to effectively 'decouple' memory performance and capacity from the processor, which enables its memory capacity to scale up to six times other servers in its class.

"It will change the rules," said Peter Hedges, business development manager at IBM's Systems and Technology Group. "HP has been put on notice."

Microsoft-owned developer Rare has unveiled plans to establish a new base in the Midlands for testing emerging technologies such as Project Natal, states Digital Spy.

Opening in April, the studio in Fazeley, near Birmingham, will complement Rare's long-standing headquarters in Twycross.

The Fazeley site's main area of focus will be production, testing and usability for Rare's "evolving methodology in game creation". Around 90 people will work at the site, although staff numbers will fluctuate at different points of the development cycle.

General Electric chief executive Jeffrey Immelt says the US can lead the global clean energy race but this will hinge on Washington providing the appropriate policy framework allowing investment needed for companies to compete, innovate and scale-up technologies, reports Recharge.

”Policy is a catalyst to innovation,” he told the US Energy Department's ARPA-E Innovation Summit in National Harbor, Maryland.

Several persons in attendance openly asked if the US could regain the lead in emerging technologies such as advanced energy storage batteries and plug-in electric vehicles without enlightened and savvy political leadership in the legislative branch.