Intel Talks Up X64, Itanium Roadmaps Ahead of IDF
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

It's a few weeks before the Intel Developer Forum will capture a lot of the headlines in the IT trade press, but the company decided this week that it just can't want to talk about its future processors and their roadmaps. Especially with rival Advanced Micro Devices still not shipping bug-free quad-core Opterons and Athlons, other rival Sun Microsystems talking about its 'Rock' chips slipping a year into 2009, and final rival IBM doing a ramp of its dual-core Power6 chips in slow motion, Intel can rub it in a little. READ MORE >

Sun Backs Into the SMB Customer Space
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Server and operating system maker Sun Microsystems is known for being a player in the data center, but its servers are not known to be popular among small and medium businesses. And Solaris, like Linux and unlike Windows, is not exactly known as an appropriate platform for SMB shops. But, with a new focus on SMB sales, Sun has committed itself to chase down the SMB customer base to peddle its entry servers, mainly because IT spending in SMB shops is growing a lot faster than spending in the big data centers where Sun is a player. READ MORE >

Bye Bye System p and i, Hello Power Systems
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

It's been a little more than a decade in the making, but I have a hunch that IBM is getting closer to doing with brands what it has already done with technology when it comes to its System i and System p Power-based machinery: consolidate. Server consolidation is one of the driving forces--if not the driving force--in the server racket these days, so there is logic here, and once IBM merged the System i and System p development and manufacturing operations into Power Systems last July, it has always been just a matter of time before Big Blue would do away with the System i and System p brands. READ MORE >

As I See It: Bringing the Funny
by Victor Rozek

One of the early traumas that children suffer is often at the hands of well-meaning parents who hire clowns to entertain at birthday parties. The grotesquely painted face, the loud unfamiliar costume, the over-sized feet, and the parental pressure to have fun because this is costing Daddy a couple-hundred bucks all combine to confuse and frighten the child. More than one party has been disrupted when the birthday celebrant runs off crying in search of his or her mother. READ MORE >