To address soaring demand from users for more powerful storage solutions, Silicon Graphics has unveiled the SGI InfiniteStorage TP9700 RAID storage array. This marks the industry's first Fibre Channel storage array equipped with a 4Gb/second (gigabit per second) Fibre Channel interface, doubling the performance of SGI's previous offerings. The increased performance of the TP9700 means that users need far less infrastructure - adapters, cabling, switch ports, etc - to access and manage their storage. Bottom line, this results in lower cost of ownership and far simpler configurations to manage.

SGI InfiniteStorage solutions are taking front and centre stage in a newly expanded SGI Channel Programme. A special emphasis has been placed on recruiting new storage-centric value-added resellers (VARs) whose primary business is the supply and integration of data storage solutions and services. Recently SGI has signed reseller agreements with twelve storage-dedicated Solution Providers that join a global community representing SGI InfiniteStorage to customers around the world.

Bull extends its Escala AIX/POWER5 processor-based server offer with the announcement of the Escala PL250R-L model, an entry-level server running AIX 5.2 and 5.3. This model, in a compact 2U format, combines the strength of the new generation of POWER 5 RISC processors, flexibility through on-demand usage, advanced functionalities such as resource virtualization through AIX/Power micro partitioning and I/O and network virtualization. These functionalities allow the co-hosting or the straightforward consolidation of many applications per server, all at a very competitive price: less than 5400 euro, 3-year guaranty included.

Voltaire, specialized in interconnect solutions for high performance Grid computing, has contributed its iSER (iSCSI RDMA) protocol sources to the Linux community. The move underscores Voltaire's commitment to drive adoption of open InfiniBand-based solutions for server, network and storage networking and virtualization in enterprise Grid and high performance computing applications.

Topspin Communications has been selected by Hitachi Ltd. to provide its Infiniband-based server switching products as part of Hitachi's BladeSymphony blade server product line. The combined solution will deliver a compelling return-on-investment (ROI) for Hitachi customers.

HP researchers have proven that a technology they invented could replace the transistor - the fundamental building block of computers for the last half century - leading to a new way to construct computers in the future. In a paper published in today'sJournal of Applied Physics, three members of HP Labs' Quantum Science Research (QSR) group propose and demonstrate a "crossbar latch," which provides the signal restoration and inversion required for general computing without the need for transistors. The technology could result in computers that are thousands of times more powerful than those that exist today.

At next month's CeBIT, Fujitsu Siemens Computers will present its new SX150 business server, a model that outperforms its predecessors by around 40 percent. The system, which is based on SPARC64 V processor technology and available immediately, supports different operating systems and applications running in parallel under BS2000/OSD and Solaris in separate hardware partitions. This increases the flexibility of the Dynamic Data Center and allows new web-oriented applications, for example, to be linked to mainframe applications. Such mainframe features should appeal in particular to mid-tier enterprises looking to consolidate their servers, integrate their business critical applications into e-business solutions, or simply gain more capacity.

Fujitsu Siemens Computers has the power of its PRIMERGY BX660 server blade worldwide by setting a new record in the MAPI Messaging Benchmark (MMB3). On January 21, 2005, it achieved the outstanding result of 9500 MMB3 users in the single server category, the best mark for all published 4-way servers,