Terra Soft to Build Cell-Based Super Out of PS3 Beta Iron
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Commercial Linux distributor Terra Soft Solutions is best known for its PowerPC and Power Linux variant. But now it will be known for another reason. Terra Soft has been tapped by Sony's Computer Entertainment division to make good use of the beta versions of the PlayStation 3 machines that were formerly in the hands of the developers of games for those future Power-based consoles. As many of us have been joking might happen, Terra Soft is going to build two supercomputer clusters based on the machines. READ MORE >

Gateway Rolls Out Xeon Servers, Readies Opterons
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

While Gateway is best known as a vendor of personal computers--and one of the innovators in direct marketing of PCs--the company has tried a number of times to get a toe-hold in the server business. The reason is simple: servers and the software and services that are usually sold in conjunction with them have a lot bigger inherent profit margins than do PCs. Of course, if there is a business that is almost as cut-throat as the PC business, it is the X64 server market. READ MORE >

Itanium Platform Boasts More Than 10,000 Applications
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

To say that the Itanium platform hasn't gotten a lot of respect except in perhaps the past year is an understatement. To help counter the talking points that those who don't peddle Itanium-based processors use to constantly bash the Itanium platform, the companies behind the Itanium created the Itanium Solutions Alliance, which has hosted its first summit meeting. READ MORE >

As I See It: History Makers
by Victor Rozek

In the early 1960s, when IBM abruptly bolted from New York City, Armonk was a remote and barely inhabited woodland. On my only visit to the IBM mothership nearly two decades ago, I remember wondering why a big-city company would select such an out-of-the-way site to house its world headquarters. Like guys with a Rolex, successful companies enjoy showing off their architectural bling-bling. Power and status find their expression in steel and glass and are typically flaunted, not hidden. READ MORE >