Technology Mindset

Not too long ago, just after the release of AMD’s latest Radeon HD 4000-series graphics cards, a rather surprising announcement were made by the graphics firm Gainward. The company, which until that time had one of NVIDIA’s best board partners, decided to extend a pair of new ATI Radeon-based graphics cards, with the latest HD 4850 and 4870 graphics processors.
Well, because it was almost two months ago, it is very likely that the company’s relationship with AMD has been strengthened over time, making it possible Gainward to prepare a custom design for one of AMD’s advanced graphics, HD 4870.

First and foremost, keep in mind that non-reference video card is designed to boost graphics performance and provide the computer gaming enthusiasts with the latest tools for high-end gaming. The Gainward HD 4870-based graphics card, which is yet to be officially unveiled, should make an exception to that rule, especially since it is equipped with a custom dual-slot, dual-fan cooler to effectively lower the GPU temperatures. Leaks out photos, as well as several of the card’s specifications, has already signed on Expreview site.

This is not the company’s first non-reference Radeon-based graphics cards, but it is the first to incorporate an HD 4870 GPU and a high-performance custom cooler. According to the information published on the above website, the card is clocked at a GPU speed of 775MHz, while 512 GDDR5 memory is clocked at 1000Mhz. The card will have an additional BIOS setup that will produce the card with reference clock rates, namely the 750MHz and 950MHz for the core and memory, respectively.

In the case of custom dual-fan cooler, it seems that Gainward decided to equip the card with a 80mm fan and a second, smaller 70mm fan, to keep the high-speed GPU in a cool temperature. Although no details about pricing are yet available, it is believed that the card will fall in stores in early September.

Graphics chip vendor Nvidia reported will introduce a line of processors designed for small, portable computers, in Computex exhibition in Taipei next week.

In the Inquirer report sheds light on a product called Tegra, that Nvidia plans to unveil this week. While Tegra name is known for some time, Nvidia has kept the details of the product under wraps.

According to the report, Tegra will include two products for Tegra APX 2500 and CSK 600/650, which are based on one processor core Arm11 and will compete in this space against Intel Centrino chip package of Atom, announced in April.
In Tegra products will be placed on the same graphical capabilities of current Nvidia GeForce staff, said the report.

In 2500 APX the information is intended for portable computers, while CSK chips will be used in larger funds. Devices based on the chip will run Windows CE, instead of Windows XP, as Arm processor cores are not in support of the latest operating system.
Nvidia is also expected to unveil a cheaper product in computer Computex, in conjunction with Via Technologies. Nvidia will make a chip, which maintains a set of the forthcoming Isaiah Via processor and offer better graphics capabilities than previously available to the Via processor line.

Its look like that IBM is not the one play in Blade server technology, the leading hardware industry such HP, DELL and SUN also take a part of it. Blade server claims as a green data center storage.

Virtualization is also the top news and now more possible to do it in blade technology.

Server virtualisation is rapidly gaining market acceptance for server provisioning. The introduction of virtual HBA technology will allow users to combine and leverage virtual servers and storage networks into flexible, secure and reliable solutions. The early generations of blades offered little synergy with virtualisation, but the convergence of blades and virtualisation is accelerating due to various factors outlined in this whitepaper.

“If the blades are completely diskless, that means they are booting via Preboot Execution Environment (PXE). This is probably the area where the concern lies due to the http-like nature of PXE. This environment, at least today, does not provide a way for detecting and disallowing unknown servers from performing remote installations. Because of this, one would follow the same best practices to secure the PXE as they would to secure their overall network such as:

* Physical security

* Firewalls

* Auditing and monitoring for intrusions

* Strong password protocols/procedures”

No more security issue in server, Blade server security is not unlike rack or standalone server security, but here you’ll find a few ways to ensure a secure blade server environment. As we know, data storage the first target for hackers, with blade server your network admin can take a rest any time they want.

Most of top brand server producer such as Dell, IBM, HP are now they talk about Blade server technology. A blade server is a server chassis housing multiple thin, modular electronic circuit boards, known as server blades. This technology claims as a green technology, Each blade typically comes with one or two local ATA or SCSI drives.

Blade servers allow more processing power in less rack space, simplifying cabling and reducing power consumption. According to a SearchWinSystems.com article on server technology, enterprises moving to blade servers can experience as much as an 85% reduction in cabling for blade installations over conventional 1U or tower servers. With so much less cabling, IT administrators can spend less time managing the infrastructure and more time ensuring high availability.

By the way who is the first talk about this technology? and why blade server?

Blade server technology was initially developed in the early millennium through a partnership between IBM and Intel. Later, a number of major companies, led by IBM, formed an “industry community” in February 2006, with a website base at blade.org. The mission of the community is to “accelerate the growth and adoption of [blade] technologies in the market.” So, that is the reason why blade server?

Do I need to migrate to blade right now?

As customers look to grow their data centers or replace aging infrastructures, many are turning to blades to save space, increase density and decrease power consumption, while lowering total cost and improving infrastructure flexibility, blade server is the answer

The benefit of Blade server

The open BladeCenter design specifications are intended to enable companies to develop and build compatible networking switches, blade adapter cards (daughter cards), and appliance and communications blades. Hardware developers can now more easily develop and build compatible blade products in these categories and participate in the rapidly growing blades market served by the IBM BladeCenter and Intel Enterprise Blade Server platforms. Through the release of the design specifications, we can harness the development power of the industry and deliver a more comprehensive solution roadmap for our diverse customer base.

In the near future all of server should be like this, all are move to Blade server technology. The chassis and included blade servers may require a substantial initial investment in hardware and implementation for a business, even when compared to traditional rack-servers. However, blade servers bring advantages in space, power consumption, cable reduction, reliability, and economy of scale that may offer considerable longer term benefits.

Hewlett-Packard has a set of USB sticks for ProLiant servers by many models, but the USB contents malicious software which allow an attacker could be supported on an infected system.

The worms contained on the 256KB and 1GB USB drives have been identified as W32.Fakerecy and W32.SillyFDC. The worms spread by copying themselves to removable or mapped drives and affect systems running Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows XP, Windows Me, Windows NT and Windows 2000, according to AusCERT.

HP Software Security Response Team AusCERT issued a warning this week, after it was discovered on USB sticks, and also a list of servers, for security response organization.

To determine whether a disk is infected, HP recommends the inclusion in a system with an upgrade of the anti-virus software. The systems with an update of the anti-virus must be protected from the threat, according to HP.

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