Intel Debuts Pentium 350 Chip for Low-End Servers

Intel, the most widely renowned and largest computer chip manufacturer on the planet, has just introduced a brand new, low-power Pentium 350 processor which is specifically aimed at low-end servers. The company had talked previously about its intentions to move into the low-end server market by producing "server versions" of the Atom processor which would support technologies like ECC memory.

However, Intel has taken that idea and done something that simply has most tech industry professionals scratching their heads. Intel has gone ahead and jumped right into the market, though with a Pentium branded processor instead of an Atom. The processor the company has decided to use? The dual-core 1.2GHz Pentium 350.

Even though the Pentium brand from Intel is extremely well known, the company has relegated it to cut down processors, effectively taking the place of the company's Celeron processors. Regardless, the Pentium 350 supports Hyperthreading and, most importantly, has a thermal design power (TDP) of only 15W.

What makes the Intel Pentium 350 processor a server-oriented chip is the complete lack of an on-chip GPU and support for ECC memory with the memory controller supporting two channels. In addition to that, there is support for Intel's Vpro virtualization technology, presumably meaning that the Pentium 350 chip was designed for very specific and traditional workloads.

The Xeon range of processors from Intel currently dominates the commodity server market, though the company needs to start producing lower power chips to compete with ARM-based servers in the future. It was expected that Chipzilla would serve the low-end server market with an Atom processor, but for now the 15W Pentium chip will have to take its place until 22nm Atom chips begin coming off of Intel's production lines sometime next year.

Source: The Inquirer - Intel outs 15W Pentium 350 chip for servers

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New SQL Server Licensing from Microsoft

It seems that most people, on the internet at least, have come to accept some new changes to Microsoft's SQL Server 2012 licensing model which is a clear contrast to the anarchy that ensued over changes to VMware's vSphere 5.0 back in July. In that case complaints forced VMware to modify its pricing. Microsoft debuted SQL Server 2012 earlier in the month as the relational database management system upgraded from SQL 2008. However, it is still going to take some effort by customers to figure out what these new changes mean for them, as well as for their IT budgets.

On the other hand, Microsoft is attempting to make it as easy as possible with an SQL Server 2012 Licensing Datasheet. Microsoft explains, in a six-page PDF, the different licensing options, differences among the different editions and how to transition from SQL 2008 to SQL 2012 licenses. However, it is still recommended that users consult with a Microsoft sales representative, preferably one that is the most familiar with their account.

Last month Microsoft and HP jointly announced the development of HP Alliance which will be able to run SQL 2012. VMware landed in some hot water with more than a few customers when it introduced a new licensing policy with vSphere 5.0, specifically when the company switched from a hardware-based licensing model per physical server to a "vRAM metric", where the company billed the amount of virtual RAM per physical server.

A plethora of blogs and reports noted complaints about the limitation on the number of vRAMs per license and, after only three weeks of customer disapproval, VMware relented and increased the limits per license of vRAM. It is no surprise that the backlash of that business venture is on the minds of the people at Microsoft who are responsible for SQL 2012. Some of the highlights of the new release include a new license category called Business Intelligence (BI) Edition, which fits between the existing Standard Edition (SE) and the Enterprise Edition (EE).

The BI Edition is fine-tuned to manage databases that are tied to a business intelligence application, which just so happens to be a growing category of IT for companies that are looking to crunch petabytes of data in order to get a little insight into how to run their businesses. Each edition of SQL 2012 will offer two broad options, pricing based on computing power and pricing based on the total number of end users. This is known as the Client Access License (CAL). However, computing power in the Enterprise Edition will be based on the number of sockets in a server as opposed to the number of processors.

Pricing information is detailed in the datasheet that notes that in EE a license is $6,874 per core for mission-critical apps. The BI edition is $3,952 per server plus an additional $209 per CAL. The SE edition is sold on a per-server ($898) or per-core ($1,793) basis with the addition of the same $209 per CAL license. It's going to take some calculations on the customer's part to determine if it is financially better to go with a per-server or per-core plan. Regardless, SQL Server 2012 will be available sometime in the first quarter of 2012.

Source: Information Week - Microsoft Revamps SQL Server Licensing

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ARM Enters the World of 64-bit with New ARMv8 Chip Architecture

ARM has just introduced its very first 64-bit microprocessor architecture, known as ARMv8. This new architecture should enable wider use of ARM chips in servers as well as other enterprise equipment and also increase the competition the company currently has with Intel.

ARMv8 adds 64-bit addressing capabilities, which is an improvement over the ARMv7-A architecture. The ARMv7-A architecture is capable of up to 40-bit addressing, though this new architecture puts ARM into more direct competition with Intel and its 65-bit Xeon processors.

The new architecture will take time to show up, though. ARM expects to release its first ARMv8 processor designs next year with prototype consumer and enterprise systems not expected to arrive until sometime in 2014 according to ARM. In a speech by ARM CTO Mike Muller at ARM TechCon on Thursday where the new design was announced, Muller stated, "This is the beginning of quite a long road to 64-bit products."

The ARMv8 processor architecture will offer backwards compatibility as well as migration for existing software, ARM added. Most of the PC and server operating systems in today's market ar 64-bit. 64-bit allows computers to address larger amounts of storage and memory, something that is especially useful for data-intensive applications.

ARM licenses processor architectures and designs to mobile chip companies, like Nvidia, Samsung, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, and the company's processors are also used in most smartphones and tablets on today's market. However, the company has practically no presence in the server and PC markets, both of which are dominated by Intel and its x86 processors.

The new ARM architecture will be implemented in chips that range from tiny sensors to large-scale infrastructure equipment, according to ARM, who also stated that it will bring "energy-efficient 64-bit computing" to high-end servers. Microsoft has said previously that 64-bit applications run faster than 32-bit applications, and ARM's new architecture could make future chips with ARM processors capable of running 64-bit Windows applications.

Microsoft's Windows 8 will work on ARM and x86 processors, and devices like tablets have been demonstrated running on ARM's 31-bit processors. The lack of 64-bit capabilities was considered a drawback in ARM's efforts to enter the PC and server markets with most applications running 64-bits. ARM had previously stated that it would address 64-bit only when necessary, pointing out that it would not sacrifice power consumption in order to bring more performance. It looks like that time has come.

Source: Computer World - ARM goes 64-bit with new ARMv8 chip architecture

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Microsoft Announces HP Enterprise Database Consolidation Appliance for SQL Server

Microsoft, along with HP, has just announced that the HP Enterprise Database Consolidation Appliance for SQL Server will be available this November. The hardware-software package is targeted directly at increasing the speed of deployment and simplifying the management of hundreds to thousands of database instances in a virtualized "private cloud" environment.

Microsoft has stated that the appliance will allow customers to deploy new database instances in a matter of minutes while also reducing the cost of operations by as much as 75% over conventional database deployments. This is accomplished via savings on floor space, energy usage and infrastructure.

Microsoft has also described the new appliance as an industry first due to its ability to consolidate a database with no application or database changes using built-in tools for database migration as well as management. However, the device is clearly the Microsoft-HP answer to Oracle's Exadata, which now claims to have more than 1,000 deployments.

The HP Enterprise Database Consolidation Appliance is basically the transactional-side counterpart to the HP Enterprise Data Warehouse Appliance which was introduced earlier in the year. The HP Enterprise Data Warehouse Appliance runs on Microsoft's SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse.

The full rack consolidation appliance provides 58 terabytes of storage as well as 400 hard drives, 192 logical processors and 2 terabytes of RAM. If that seems like it may be overkill for what you need, you can always opt for a half rack option which, obviously, takes everything offered by the full rack and cuts it in half. Supporting software includes Windows Server Datacenter 2008 R2, new Microsoft Database Consolidation 2012 software to manage the appliance, SQL Server virtual machines and new appliance tools for configuration, testing and day-to-day management.

Source: Information Week - Microsoft Counters Exadata With SQL Server Appliance

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UTStarcom Debuts MS 3005 Blade Server

UTStarcom Holdings Corporation, one of the leading providers of interactive IP-based network solutions in iDTV, IPTV, Internet TV and broadband for telecom and operators, has just announced the launch of its MS 3005 streaming media storage unit and blade server, both of which provide users with expanded storage capabilities as well as faster processing capacities.

The MS 3005 server allows operators of IPTV, iDTV and Internet TV to stream large amounts of HD content while also providing added-value services including video-on-demand and expanded recording capabilities. In addition to that, this new product also allows operators to manage and store different types of media data collected from TV, Mobile PC and other digital media more efficiently.

Environmentalist will appreciate the fact that the new MS 3005 server is also more energy efficient compared to the previous version, consuming less electricity per hour. As a result of this energy savings, operators will be able to enjoy energy and maintenance cost-savings. Improved technology as well as high storage density also help reduce costs in processing, storage, and spare parts while at the same time enhancing the operator's efficiency and scalability.

When combined with the new MC6098B HD set-top box, the MS 3005 blade server also enhances the experience of the subscriber while also improving not only the telecom operator's service capabilities but also the cable operator's service capabilities through UTStarcom's integrated Internet TV solution.

Source: Market Watch - UTStarcom Launches MS 3005 Server

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Security Flaw at Oracle Could Take Down Application Servers

Oracle just released an emergency patch that is designed to fix a vulnerability that, according to the company, could bring down HTTP application servers sold by Oracle, ones that are also based on Apache 2.0 or 2.2.

According to a statement released by Oracle, hackers have the ability to exploit weaknesses remotely without the need of a username or password for entry. There are multiple products that are affected by the bug, including Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1, versions 11.1.1.3.0, 11.1.1.4.0 and 11.1.1.5.0; Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3, version 10.1.1.5.0 and Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2, version 10.1.2.3.0.

The United States Government's National Vulnerability Database has already assigned a Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) rating of 7.8 to the bug, indicating a "complete Operating System denial of service (dos)", according to the company. However, Oracle did take issue with the assessment in its security alert.

According to the company, "A complete Operating System denial of service is not possible on any platform supported by Oracle, and as a result, Oracle has given the vulnerability a CVSS Base Score of 5.0 indicating a complete denial of service of the Oracle HTTP Server but not the Operating System."

Regardless of how you score it, the bug was, evidently, serious enough for Oracle to release a patch for it outside of the company's usual large quarterly update schedule, the next of which is poised to take place on October 18, 2011.

The hack at Oracle is just the latest in a series of hacks against large corporations, government websites and other companies from multiple hacker groups that like to be known as "hacktivists". These attacks have gotten so bad, actually, that the government has started an all out campaign against these hackers in an attempt to stop them before they cause any extremely serious damage.

Source: PC World - Oracle: Security Flaw Could Bring Down App Servers

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Microsoft SQL Server Switching to Open Database Connectivty

Microsoft just announced on Monday a roadmap shift indicating that it will shift focus on supporting the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) approach for SQL Server application programming interfaces in the very near future. This is an important announcement for C/C++ developers who are writing applications for relational database management systems, especially if they are using other Microsoft-supported APIs like Object Linking and Embedding Database (OLE DB).

In addition to that, Microsoft has announced that it will be slowly cutting ties with OLE DB support. According to Microsoft, there will be a 7-year phase out period for OLE DB which will correspond with the life cycle support period of SQL Server code-named "Denali" after that product launches. Denali will be the last Microsoft SQL Server database management product to support OLE DB.

According to a blog post from Microsoft, "OLE DB will supported for seven years from launch, the life of SQL Server Code Name 'Denali' support, to allow you a large window of opportunity for change before depreciation. We encourage you to adopt ODBC in any future version or new application development."

Microsoft has yet to announce a release date for Denali though the common expectation is that Denali will be released in the fourth quarter of this year. In addition to that, it is also expected that details will come from Microsoft's PASS Summit 2011 event in October.

Interestingly enough, Microsoft is accepting that the OBDC open standard it developed with Simba Technologies back in 1992 has become the widely accepted standard for database APIs. ODBC has overshadowed the other attempts by Microsoft to improve on the standard with its OLE DB according to Simba's history of ODBC.

According to Microsoft, "This depreciation applies to the Microsoft SQL Server OLE DB provider only. Other OLE DB providers as well as the OLE DB standard will continue to be supported until explicitly announced." However, a Microsoft FAQ does indicate that ADO will also be affected by the phase out of OLE DB.

"Providers like ADO.net which can run on top of OLE DB will not support OLE DB once the latter is depreciated," says the FAQ. "At that time the clients using the underlying provider need to update their application to use a different provider."

If you are a developer, then you should consider moving to ODBC over the 7-year period in order to align with this general plan. OLE DB was the proprietary technology of Microsoft, however, Microsoft has now admitted that ODBC was a better choice.

According to the FAQ, "OLE DB was introduced primarily to provide uniform data access to non-relational data as well as relational data. But it is Microsoft's proprietary technology that worked only on Microsoft platforms. When it comes to uniform data access to SQL Server from different platforms, ODBC has always been a better choice and that was consistently quoted by all of our customers in various surveys, SDRs and forums. By fully aligning with ODBC, Microsoft will be focusing on one set of industry standard APIS that are widely used by many of our customers."

Source: Redmondmag.com - Microsoft Shifting To Open Database Connectivity for SQL Server

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