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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
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Special Features:
THIS WEEK'S BRIEF ANALYSES OF
RECENT GRIDtoday NEWS ITEMS
By Rolf McClellan
Following are brief evaluations of recent news stories from GRIDtoday. Rolf
McClellan has nearly 20 years of experience in the network and computer
industry. www.mcclellanconsulting.com
Sun, SupplyScape Work To Combat Drug Counterfeiting (02/20/04)
Sun Microsystems Inc and SupplyScape Corp have announced a RFID-based
solution
enabling companies in the pharmaceutical industry to combat product
counterfeiting and diversion while gaining efficiencies throughout the supply
chain.
Analysis: What's the connection with the Grid? None really, except this
software happens to be based on Sun Java Enterprise System Software, and runs
on a Linux platform.
TACC Releases Beta Version Of GridPort 3.0 (02/20/04)
The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas has
announced version 3.0 of the Grid Portal (GridPort)Toolkit (GP3). GridPort is
TACC's toolkit for building Web portals that enable researchers to make use of
computational resources connected by Grid computing software. GP3 facilitates
the creation of portals that shield the user from the underlying complexity of
the Grid.
Analysis: GP3 has been written in Java (vs. Perl for GP2) with the design
goals of adding functionality and improving compatibility with emerging
standards for the transition of Grid computing to a Web services-based
architecture.
Fujitsu Microelectronics To Highlight 10Gb Ethernet Technology (02/20/04)
Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc (FMA), a semiconductor company
offering
application-specific ICs for 10Gbps systems has announced the industry's first
single-chip 10Gbps Ethernet switch IC. The new chip supports 12 10 Gigabit
Ethernet ports. The wire-speed, Layer 2 switch uses a shared memory
architecture and includes integrated XAUI SERDES and 10G MAC
functionality.
Analysis: Low port-count Gigabit Ethernet switches have been commoditized
for
some time now due of the availability of inexpensive single-chip switch ICs
and the low cost per port of 1000Base-T copper interfaces. Chips similar to
this one may eventually help lead to lower cost 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches,
especially in conjunction with 10 Gigabit copper interfaces. The 10GBase-CX4
specification with a range of 15 meters over 4 twinax pairs is expected to
debut by the end of the year at roughly half the price of fiber interfaces.
10GBase-T, expected in 2006, will extend the range to 100m over cat 7 and 55m
over cat 6e twisted pair. However, neither of these standards is likely to
reach high production volumes because few desktops will need this sort of
bandwidth. Volume of 10GBase-T may be further restricted if it doesn't support
cat 5e pairs.
BEA Triples World Record Benchmark At Low Price/Performance (02/19/04)
BEA Systems Inc announced that a two-tier application server/database
server
configuration has set new records for DualNode TOPS and US$/TOPS using the
industry-standard SPECjAppServer2002 benchmark. The results were achieved
using BEA WebLogic Server and BEA WebLogic Jrockit with Windows Server 2003
Enterprise Edition (64-bit) and SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition (64-bit)
running on HP Integrity rx4640 servers (with 64-bit Itanium2 processors).
Comment: In spite of the results, Microsoft will probably not consider
taking
a more benign stance on Java as a tool for building business-related
enterprise applications or Web services on Windows servers.
Platform Computing Appoints Paul McFeeters As CFO (02/19/04)
Platform Computing Inc announced that it has appointed Paul McFeeters as
chief
financial officer.
Comment: Appointing a new CFO with experience on both acquisitions and
public
offerings might be a signal that Platform Computing expects to play a central
role in a possible rapid growth phase of the Grid market.
WebMethods Integration Platform 6.1 Increases Performance (02/18/04)
WebMethods Inc announced the availability of the latest release of the
WebMethods Integration Platform, version 6.1.
Analysis: The platform offers support for the recent developments in Web
services and messaging standards to facilitate the implementation of projects
in EAI and business process automation.
ObjectWeb Licenses J2EE Technology Compatibility Test Suite (02/18/04)
The ObjectWeb Consortium has licensed the J2EE technology and the CTS test
suite from Sun Microsystems to ensure the compatibility of the open source
JOnAS application server with the J2EE Specifications. Previous open source
licensees of J2EE include the Apache Software Foundation and the JBoss
Group.
Comment: Sun is promoting the J2EE platform as the premier platform for Web
services in the open source community.
Phoenix Launches Adv. Dev. Environment For Core Software (02/18/04)
Phoenix Technologies Ltd announced its CoreArchitect advanced firmware
development environment for implementation of Core System Software (CSS) for
PCs and other networked devices. Phoenix CoreArchitect is integrated with
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003, which Phoenix has customized for CSS code
development, system analysis and accelerated deployment of x86-architecture
systems.
Analysis: Phoenix CoreArchitect allows OEMs to readily migrate "trusted
computing" technologies and networking standards (such as XML, HTML and
TCP/IP) into the device's core firmware as an extension of the traditional PC
BIOS.
Force10 Introduces Zero Packet Loss Hitless Technology (02/18/04)
Force10 Networks announced a hitless failover technology that protects all
bridged and routed traffic (Layer 2 and Layer 3 switched) carried by its
E-Series of 10 Gigabit switches. Hitless failover leverages route processor
redundancy to eliminate packet loss in the event the primary route processor
fails or is undergoing a software upgrade. During the brief switchover or
automatic failover period (greater than 10 microseconds), the non-stop
forwarding feature allows the switch to continue forwarding traffic based on
the existing forwarding tables.
Analysis: Ethernet service continuity ensured by high availability and
resilency features such as hitless failover is an attractive switch attribute
for service providers and for enterprises deploying mission critical
distributed applications, including those applications that have been adapted
to cluster and Grid computing.
New Access Grid Tutorials For AG 2.1.2 Released (02/17/04)
The Access Grid Training Project (AGTP) group announced the release of two
new
on-line WebCT tutorials: Installing and Configuring AG 2.1.2 on Personal and
Room-Based Nodes and Access Grid Video Troubleshooting.
Comment: The "Access Grid" is visual media and video conferencing on
steroids
based on mullti-megabit access to the portions of the Internet that support IP
multicast.
IBM Perfects Making Low Power, High Performance Processors (02/17/04)
IBM has announced that it will begin manufacturing 64-bit PowerPC 970FX
microprocessors using a new process that combines silicon-on-insulator (SOI),
strained silicon, and copper wiring technologies. The new combination of
process technologies will reduce the power consumption of high performance,
high clock rate microprocessors. Apple has already announced that it will use
the PowerPC 970FX in its Xserve G5 1U rack-mount servers.
Analysis: Lower power consumption will enable higher performance per chip
via
higher clock frequencies and denser packaging of processors. The combination
should prove attractive to designers of high performance computing clusters
based on the 64-bit G5 chip.
GreenTea Software Establishes Grids (02/17/04)
GreenTea Software is new Java-based software that uses a peer-to-peer (P2P)
model as the means of marshalling computer resources for distributed computing
and Grid computing.
GreenTea is a total resource aggregation and resource sharing platform that
provides access to both hard resources (e.g. CPU, RAM, hard disk, network
bandwidth, etc) and soft resources (e.g. files, software applications and
services, etc).
Analysis: The P2P model of distributed computing and resource sharing
continue
to draw attention as means of simplifying system configuration and reducing
the reliance on expensive centralized resources to coordinate a large array of
complex resources. In addition to Grid computing, P2P is also being applied to
serverless versions of IP telephony and collaboration software.
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