IBM Gets Power6 Chips into Entry System p Servers
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The wait for the Power6 processors to make their way down into the low-end of the System p line is over--or, very nearly so. On Tuesday, IBM did what its top brass said it would do a few weeks ago: started ramping up the Power6 platform on its entry servers and chasing customers with the high performance, respectable thermals, and very good virtualization embodied in the System p line, the Power6 processors, the AIX 6.1 operating system, and the related PowerVM hypervisor, formerly known as Advanced Power Virtualization. READ MORE >

IBM Creates Entry PowerVM Hypervisor, Gives Rebates on Unix Gear
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

In an effort to preserve its entry Unix server business from the attacks of powerful and virtualized Windows and Linux boxes and to increase its competitive position against Unix alternatives from Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard, IBM this week announced a new low-cost hypervisor for its Power-based servers. The hypervisor is a key feature in the new Power6-based entry servers, also announced this week, and so are some rebates Big Blue is giving on Sun and HP iron. READ MORE >

Sun Makes an Honest Profit in Fiscal Q2 on Weak Growth
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The official financial results for the second quarter of Sun Microsystems' fiscal 2008 came out last Thursday after the market closed, and this was clearly a better day to do such an announcement than earlier in the week, when Wall Street was getting hammered. Sun had previewed its financials a little bit two weeks ago when it announced its $1 billion acquisition of open source database maker MySQL, but last week, it put the guts in and the flesh and skin on the skeleton. READ MORE >

As I See It: Avatar Nation
by Victor Rozek

Let's say that you want to attend a conference this year. (I would say Uniforum, but that show is long since dead.) But this year, whatever the conference is, it is in Dallas, or Boston, or Seattle, or Chicago, or San Diego, or anywhere except where you are. First, you'd have to budget for the trip a year ahead, or there would be no money for travel. Next, you'd have to grovel for permission from management. Then you'd have to book a flight, make your hotel reservations, and rent a car. On your travel day, you would probably get up at some ungodly hour to get to the airport early, leave your car in the ridiculously expensive long-term parking, and subject yourself to the indignities of search and seizure. READ MORE >