Short takes from this week's technology and tech data
news
Frozen chips provide silicon with extra
sizzle
IBM is developing chip-freezing technology to run processors
faster. Using liquid helium to freeze a prototype silicon-germanium
chip to 451 degrees below zero Fahrenheit increased processing
speed to 500GHz from 300GHz at room temperature.
Bank trades up to open messaging standard
Bank JPMorgan Chase has joined Cisco and Red Hat in backing
Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) – an open standard that
interoperates with protocols such as Java Message Service, Soap,
WS-Security and WS-Transactions. JPMorgan has rolled out an
AMQP-based global trading system to 800 users.
Callisto emerges from Eclipse community
Open source group the Eclipse Foundation has released Callisto,
bringing together the work of 10 Eclipse community application
development projects. Callisto includes a C++ programming
environment, reporting, GUI, and testing and modelling tools.
Skype to let VoIP users run their own ID
checks
Skype is to enhance the user name authentication process of its
voice over IP system. Currently, Skype automatically authenticates
callers, which prevents users performing their own checks.
Xeon servers get power and performance
boost
This week, servers based on Intel's Woodcrest Xeon DP chip will
go on sale from the likes of HP, IBM and Dell. Intel said Woodcrest
would perform 80% better and use 35% less energy than the Intel
Xeon 2.8GHz chip. Woodcrest-based desktop and mobile processors are
due later this year.
Peoplesoft v9 takes on the vertical
challenge
Oracle has made "hundreds" of modifications to Peoplesoft
Enterprise v9. Many are usability changes, although this major
release also expands capabilities for industries such as public
sector, healthcare, financial services, and communications, Oracle
said.
Cisco doubles bandwidth for grid switches
Cisco has released SFS 7000D Series Infiniband DDR switches that
scale from 24 to 288 ports. Double data rate capabilities double
the bandwidth to 20gbps, and decrease latency. The switches
integrate Ethernet and Infiniband in a common framework.
IBM cuts new blades to fit quad-core chips
IBM is to release a Bladecenter HS21 blade server, along with
System x servers and workstations that support forthcoming
quad-core chips, which are designed to cut power costs and improve
application performance.