IBM's Power-Based Servers Save the Day in Q3
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

With the slump in the financial services market causing a 31 percent dive in mainframe revenues and an almost steep drop in Power-based System i servers in the third quarter, IBM's financial cookies were once again saved by the strength of the AIX and Linux of its Power server line, the System p. But even though System p sales were up, driven in large measure by the uptake for new Power6-based servers, growth has slowed. With IBM cutting prices on System p 590 and 595 systems and upgrades, it looks like the fourth quarter could be a challenge for the System p. READ MORE >

Sun Puts Intel Quad-Core Chips into Ultra Workstations
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The company may have changed its stock ticker symbol from SUNW to JAVA, and it may generate the bulk of its revenues from servers, but Sun Microsystems got its start as a workstation vendor and the company still wants to engineer powerful desktop machines that appeal to its installed base of Sparc/Solaris customers. And sometimes that means peddling the fastest X64 boxes that can be put in the field. Such is the case with the Ultra 24 workstation Sun announced this week. READ MORE >

Intel Is Back on Track in Q3, AMD Is Fighting to Get There
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The two engines of the X64 processor market, Intel and its long-time upstart rival, Advanced Micro Devices, reported their financial results for the third quarter. Sales at both companies were up dramatically, which put Intel back on a profitable footing. But AMD is in a price war with Intel, and delays in its 'Barcelona' quad-core Opteron processors and costs associated with its acquisition of graphics chip maker ATI pushed the company to a loss in the quarter. READ MORE >

Mad Dog 21/21: Symphony for the Devil
by Hesh Wiener

Symphony is what IBM calls its collection of free (as in free beer) productivity applications based on free (as in free speech) OpenOffice code. IBM has given its OpenOffice distro a recycled brand name and put it to work as a printer's devil for its Lotus Notes client and Domino collaboration and publishing server. But IBM is giving away ice in the winter. You don't need IBM to get OpenOffice, and, besides, productivity applications are headed for the Web or, as Sun Microsystems said before the Dot Com Crash wiped the smile off its overbite, the network is the computer. READ MORE >