SPEC Creates New CPU2006 Benchmark Tests
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Like the computers that they stress and decent beer, benchmark tests have a shelf life. As desktop and server architectures evolve and the applications that we all use change with the times, a benchmark test that was appropriate for gauging performance is no longer as useful because it cannot stress a system that has more inherent capacity--clock cycles, cache and main memory, I/O bandwidth, and so forth--in the same way as it could a machine with a much leaner architecture. That's why the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation, or SPEC, has just released a new series of benchmark tests. READ MORE >

Intel Delivers 'Tulsa' Xeon MP Server Chip Early
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Intel this week rolled out its next-generation Xeon MP processor for high-end servers, code-named "Tulsa" and sold under the Xeon 7100 series brand name. The Tulsa chips are, unlike their "Paxville" Xeon MP predecessors, true dual-core processors. They are not just two single-core chips jammed into a chip package that fits in a single processor socket. Servers using the Tulsa chip can deliver between 60 and 70 percent more performance than those using the Paxvilles. And they are coming to market a little bit earlier than expected. READ MORE >

Scalent to Support Solaris with Virtual Operating Environment
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

As everyone now knows, the IT industry is in the midst of a transition from physical to virtual computing. But what many people do not know is that this transition is just getting under way, and that logical or virtual hypervisors, which virtualize processors and therefore the operating systems and applications that run on top of them, is only part of what needs to be virtualized. Network and storage interfaces have to also be virtualized, and that is why Scalent Systems has created what it calls the Virtual Operating Environment. READ MORE >

As I See It: Productivity and Relationship
by Victor Rozek

It has become an axiom of American life that the more successful you are in business, the less likely you are to have a successful relationship. "The job" is often cited as the villain in relationship failures but, more accurately, it is the single-minded dedication to the job that leaves little time for the demands of partnership. But if jobs can destroy relationships, then the loss of a relationship can also effect a person's ability to perform on the job. People in the throes of dissolution are usually pained, distracted, and performing at less than optimal levels. Simply stated, productivity suffers when relationships fail. READ MORE >