Itanium 2, With Up To Twice the Oomph of Itanium, Due in Early July
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Intel raised the curtain on the forthcoming "McKinley" Itanium 2 processor last week, which more or less fulfills the promises Intel made back in 1996 for the "Merced" first generation Itanium chip. The company says that the 1 GHz Itanium 2 will offer from 1.5 to 2 times the performance as the 800 MHz Merceds, which shipped last year, and that Itanium 2 will ship in mid-year. The scuttlebutt is that Itanium 2 will debut on July 8. READ MORE >

Linux Vendors to Create Single UnitedLinux Distribution
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Four big commercial Linux distributors ganged up last week to do what should have been done years ago: create a single Linux distribution that is certified across the widest variety of desktop, workstation, and server platforms. Caldera International, Conectiva, SuSE, and Turbolinux essentially want to commercialize the Linux Standard Base (LSB) specification of Linux, and get all of the Linux vendors, including Red Hat to use it so they can all focus on providing auxiliary programs and services that run on this UnitedLinux distribution. READ MORE >

Server Sales Down in First Quarter, Says Gartner
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

If you're wondering why server vendors are knocking on your door these days, the answer is simple: The server market is contracting. Potential server buyers are flush with excess capacity, but not with cash. Server vendors big and small are chasing the same shrinking budget pie, and slashing prices to make demand where there isn't any. Hence, the worldwide server market shrank by 15 percent in the first quarter, says the Dataquest unit of consultancy Gartner . READ MORE >

Wine Club Case Study, Part Two: IT Takes a Village
by Alex Woodie

Technology companies can be very hesitant to work together on a job for the obvious reason that they'll have to split the money when they're done. However, when three companies came together last year to build a new customer management system for the Gundlach Bundschu winery (click here to read the story, "Sonoma Winery's CRM Push Unearths New App"), the result was a satisfied customer, a new application to take to a developing niche market, and a Beacon award from IBM . READ MORE >

Reader Feedback and Insights

We value your feedback and your insights into the OS/400 market. Feel free to drop us a letter to the editor and we will post them in a reader feedback column associated with this newsletter. READ MORE >