Niagara-2 Chips Double Entry Sparc Server Performance
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The entry Sparc server lines from Sun Microsystems and Fujitsu-Siemens got an upgrade this week as the two companies began selling new servers based on Sun's 'Niagara-2' Sparc T2 multicore processor. The Sparc T2 is a considerable upgrade to the first-generation T1 chips, and even though it runs a little hotter, the roughly doubling of performance in the new Niagara servers more than makes up for the extra heat, yielding substantial improvements in performance per watt. READ MORE >

Akamai Debuts Service to Speed Any IP-Based Application
by Alex Woodie

Akamai Technologies this week unveiled IP Application Accelerator, a new service designed to boost the throughput of any Internet-based application from a factor of five to 10. The network optimization company says all IP-based applications can benefit from the new service, but chatty client-server applications, such as terminal emulation, VPNs, chat, and VoIP, have the most to gain from the packet loss reduction and latency minimization that Akamai's techniques can deliver. READ MORE >

IBM Tweaks BladeCenter S for the Office, Preps Power6 Blades
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Back in June, IBM previewed a blade server chassis aimed at moving blades from the data centers of the world's largest organizations, who have been trying to cram as much computing power as they can in as small a space as possible, to small and medium businesses, who want integrated systems that fit in a closet, in a corner, or under a desk. The BladeCenter S was IBM's initial foray, and now that Hewlett-Packard has announced its 'Shorty' BladeSystem c3000 chassis, IBM has rejiggered the BladeCenter S chassis to better compete in the SMB space. READ MORE >

Growing Businesses, Upgrades Drive IT Hiring in Q4
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Fears of recession subsided last week thanks to a mediocre jobs report from the U.S. Labor Department that said employers added 110,000 jobs in September and 89,000 jobs in August, despite a slowdown in the construction and manufacturing sectors and jitters in the stock and mortgage markets. People were cheered last week--particularly on Wall Street--because jobs grew even though the economy seems to be slowing down a bit. So far, if surveys by Robert Half Technology are any indication, IT managers are still optimistic about the hiring they planned to do in the remaining three months of 2007. READ MORE >