Intel Aims Dual-Core Itaniums at RISC, Mainframe Servers
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

After about 18 months of delays and having some features stripped out of it and its clock speed reduced, Intel has nonetheless been able to get its dual-core "Montecito" Itanium processors, dubbed the 9000 series, out the door of its chip fabs and moving into high-end machines from key players in the enterprise server racket. READ MORE >

HP Gears Up for Montecito Itanium Shipments
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

While this week finally saw the launch of the dual-core "Montecito" Itanium processors from Intel, it is going to take some time for vendors to get enough chips and to qualify the chips in their new, modified, or unchanged product lines. And so it is for Hewlett-Packard the dominant supplier of Itanium-based systems in the world. HP has not yet set an exact date for shipping, apparently. READ MORE >

IBM Has Its Financial Ups and Downs in Q2
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

IBM reported its financial results for its second quarter on Tuesday after the markets closed, and as is often the case with a company as large as Big Blue, there were some good things and not so good things in the quarter. IBM's sales of System z mainframes and various software were up, but the transition to the Power5+ chip in the System p and System i Power-based servers and other issues with System x servers resulted in disappointing sales for these products, and services books and revenues were also down. READ MORE >

As I See It: The Great Disconnect
by Victor Rozek

There is a reason why programmers don't write code on typewriters: disconnecting software from a computer strips it of its utility. Without a machine to run it, the code might still be elegant, but it would no longer be relevant. And no matter how inspired and dedicated the programmer, without that essential connection, the results will be less than favorable. READ MORE >