Dell (Dell) on Tuesday introduced a rack workstation that the vendor claims is a better buy than blade workstations.
In unveiling the Precision R5400, Dell also introduced a PC-over-IP remote access device called the FX100, which the company said offers hardware-based encryption and compression that doesn’t compromise system performance.

More Hardware InsightsWhite PapersWindows Server 2008 Backup Tool - A Review of Its Features Windows Server 2008: What to Expect ReportsOregon Goes Lean, Mean, And Green 7 Enterprise Management Tools That Cost Less Than $10,000 The Precision R5400 lets customers place data and applications in a secure central location or data center. In addition, the remote system removes the heat and noise desktop systems add to workspaces, such as financial trading floors, according to Dell.
Compared with similar blade systems, the rack product offers greater flexibility in system configuration, the vendor said. Read the rest of this entry »

Sony on Thursday released a software upgrade that opens up the company’s e-book reading device to online stores other than its own.

More Hardware InsightsWhite PapersWindows Server 2008 Backup Tool - A Review of Its Features Windows Server 2008: What to Expect ReportsOregon Goes Lean, Mean, And Green 7 Enterprise Management Tools That Cost Less Than $10,000 The move is expected to increase the number electronic books available for Sony’s Reader, which only supported the 45,000 books Sony had in its library. By comparison, Amazon.com’s competing Kindle could download 140,000 e-books available through the online retailer.
The Kindle, however, is tethered to Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN).com, supporting only what’s available through the retailer. In opening up its Reader, Sony could be marking the beginning of more openness in the young e-book market.

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Apple this week confirmed some MobileMe customers have been unable to send or receive e-mails, adding more problems to the wireless syncing program since its rollout earlier this month.On a support page, the company said a “serious issue” with a mail server has left about 1% of MobileMe subscribers without access to e-mails for the last six days. The number represents nearly 200,000 Apple customers.

MobileMe was described as “Exchange for the rest of us,” but it has been plagued with technical issues since its launch. Some users reported issues with syncing contacts, backing up data, accessing the Web portal Me.com, and a slow update speed.In acknowledging its problems, Apple dropped the word “push” from the MobileMe service description. It has also given subscribers a free month of service to make up for the bugs, but some customers are still upset.

“I think it has incredible potential, and the convenience is simply fantastic,” read a note from a user named RodneyW on Apple’s support forum. “However there are some pretty significant issues that have been exposed by the MobileMe rollout — especially for hardcore users of the e-mail service.” Read the rest of this entry »

Western Digital, a leading maker of hard disk drives (HDDs) on Wednesday unveiled a version of its WD VelociRaptor hard drive designed for enterprise and business customers. The novelty should bring performance increases to those customers, who have been using original WD Raptor drives.

WD VelociRaptor features 300GB capacity, 10 000rpm rotational speed, 16MB cache, 4.2ms read seek time, 4.7ms write seek time and average latency of 3ms, an improvement over the model aimed at enthusiasts, which has average latency time of 5.5ms. The VelociRaptor hard drive is designed for Serial ATA-300 interface and supports such enhancements as NCQ technology.

Business-oriented WD VelociRaptor model WD3000BLFS comes without IcePack heatsink that is featured on enthusiast oriented WD VelociRaptor model WD3000GLFS, thus, it suits well for integration into 1U or 2U servers.

ā€œIn the server market, demand for high performance drives continues to shift from the 3.5ā€¯ form factor to the enterprise 2.5ā€¯ form factor. The new 2.5ā€¯ WD VelociRaptor drive is the only drive available that can offer server customers the flexibility of integrating SATA technology while benefiting from server-class performance and reliability,ā€¯ said Tom McDorman, vice president and general manager of WDā€™s enterprise storage solutions business unit. Read the rest of this entry »

Walton Chaintech has just launched APOGEE GT Blazer DDR3-1800 memory module featuring EPP 2.0 technologies. EPP 2.0 (Enhanced Performance Profiles) technology allows DDR3 memory modules negotiate with memory controller betters timings and the higher clock under which they can work in order to achieve the best performance. This technology works only with nVidia chipsets. This new Walton Chaintech module has 8-8-8-24 timings at 1.8 V and it is available in 4 GB kits.

V1 AX (CL-P0508) is a CPU cooler designed for Intel (socket 775) and AMD (socket 940/AM2/AM2+) processors that has been recently launched by Thermaltake. Its base is made of copper with four heat-pipes connecting its base to two coolerā€™s structures featuring aluminum fins. Between these structures there is a 110-mm fan that glows in blue when the system is turned on. The fan speed can be manually-adjustable (1.300 rpm to 2,000 rpm) thru a knob that can be installed on the back of the case in any available expansion slot. V1 AX weight 14,81 oz (420 g) and has the following dimensions: 147 mm x 92 mm x 143 mm (L x W x H). Its MSRP isnā€™t available yet.