Power6 Ups the Ante for Virtualization, Power Management
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Last month, IBM told the world about some of the features that it had built into its future Power6 RISC processors, which are expected to appear in IBM's System p machines around mid-2007 and maybe in its System i machines around that time, or maybe in late 2007 and perhaps early 2008. Big Blue is being a little vague about exactly when Power6 will come out for reasons it has not specified. But the company is being clear that when it does come out, Power6 will be jammed full of improvements. READ MORE >

HP's Financials Weather the Ethics Storm in Fiscal Q4
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Hewlett-Packard reported its financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter ended October 31 after the markets closed today, and the embarrassing legal and ethical woes the company has endured thanks to its pretexting scandal seems to have had little effect on its sales and profits. In the fourth quarter, HP had total sales of $24.6 billion, up 7 percent, and net income rose by 308 percent to $1.7 billion. "This is the most balanced operating performance we have had in many years," said HP's chairman and chief executive officer, Mark Hurd. READ MORE >

Dual-Core Processors Begin Takeover of Top 500 Super Ranking
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

It's the fall, so that means it is time once again for the semi-annual ranking of the Top 500 supercomputer sites in the world. The ranking this time around is timed to coincide with the SuperComputing 2006 show in Tampa, Florida, which started on Saturday. The Top 500 ranking is a kind of leading indicator for server technology. While it is interesting to talk about different architectures, operating systems, and interconnects, perhaps the most significant statistic in this fall's ranking is the increasing use of dual-core processors inside the machines at the largest supercomputing centers in academia, government, and business. READ MORE >

As I See It: The Workplace Politician
by Victor Rozek

Politics is a great tree burdened with rotting fruit, and there's nothing like a recent election to remind us of why it can be so distasteful. If political ads are any measure of gravitas, politics is full of brash sound and feigned fury signifying rudeness. Although politics is associated primarily with governance, the term is also used in the workplace, where it describes the backroom and boardroom decisions that impact employees--often adversely--but have little or nothing to do with the actual running of the business. READ MORE >