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Advanced Micro Devices has had the sort of week that might make a computer chip company wonder if Murphy's Law was running the show instead of Moore's Law.

AMD CEO Lisa Su's spilling the beans about the month Microsoft plans to release Windows 10 was the most glaring misstep by the company. It was also by far the least worrisome, though we'd hate to have been the recipient of whatever choice words Redmond sent AMD's way over that goof.

Facebook this week unveiled a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) server solution based on Intel's new 14-nanometer Xeon D processors for "heavily parallelizable workloads" in the data center.

Facebook introduced its SoC microserver platform, code named Yosemite, at the Open Compute Project (OCP) Summit in San Jose, Calif., where the social network also announced open low-level motherboard management software for BMC processor-based systems called OpenBMC.

Intel on Monday introduced its 14-nanometer Xeon D family of microserver processors, bringing System-on-a-Chip (SoC) capabilities to the company's Xeon line of datacenter products for the first time.

The first Xeon D products are the quad-core Xeon Processor D-1520, priced at $199, and the eight-core Xeon Processor D-1540, priced at $581. Both new SoCs are available today. More than 50 new systems using Xeon D chips are currently being designed by Intel OEM partners, with about three-quarters of those developing network, storage, and Internet of Things (IoT) systems.

Eight years ago, author and business strategist Fred Reichheld published The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth. In it, he detailed the meaning of "bad profits," or a company that is making money while its reputation goes down the tubes.

It happens for a number of reasons: Misleading prices, poor customer service, or bad products. Customers feel marginalized, misled, and mistreated. As Reichheld says, "bad profits are about extracting value from customers, not creating value."

Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said Wednesday that the company intends to start building chips for servers using the processor architecture it has refined for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

Mollenkopf, pictured, was speaking at an analyst event in New York. He said Qualcomm was "in a unique position" to take advantage of cutting-edge semiconductor fabrication processes in order to sell its products into the data center for the first time.

AMD will be developing an exascale node architecture using its own Heterogeneous System Architecture-based APUs.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded Advanced Micro Devices a $32 million grant for exascale computing research as part of the DOE FastForward 2 program, the company said. AMD will be developing an exascale node architecture using its own Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA)-based APUs and a "new generation of memory interfaces," the company said. The DOE's FastForward 2 initiative is intended to develop eventual commercial technology applications, the chip maker noted, so the IP "created as part of this research will make its way into various future AMD products." The DOE grant is the third in as many years awarded to AMD. The company's earlier research for the department includes work on interconnect architectures and massive processing node projects. "This is a big deal for the industry. Exascale supercomputers will be capable of performing more than one quintillion, or a billion billion calculations per second, roughly 30 to 60 times faster than today's fastest available supercomputers," AMD chief technology officer Mark Papermaster said in a blog post. "This research aims to deliver those huge increases in performance—without significant increases in energy consumption—to enable advances in diverse fields ranging from medical science to astrophysics and climate modeling. These could arrive as prototypes over the next several years, with full production units early in the next decade." Papermaster said he expected AMD's newly funded research into exascale computing to "aid any form of high-performance computing, including managing vast quantities of information for Big Data analytics and for rapidly processing the massive wave of anticipated Web requests." Original link

SANTA CLARA—There's an old story about a distinguished thinker—in some tellings, it's Bertrand Russell, in others, it's William James—who is confronted by a little old lady after a lecture on the nature of the cosmos. The woman objects to the scientist's description of star systems and galaxies, proclaiming that in fact, the Earth rests on the back of a giant turtle.

The scientist laughs and asks, "So what is the turtle resting on?" Another turtle, comes the confident reply. And what is that turtle standing on? "Oh, it's turtles all the way down," the little old lady says.

Microsoft's Tuesday's event was all about the enterprise; Redmond's meat-and-potatoes base. A first look at the Windows Technical Preview for Enterprise client and Windows Server Technical Preview show a host of cosmetic changes designed to appease business customers who were outraged over the UI of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, both of which were criticized as impractical in enterprise environments.

And has Microsoft taken heed! Windows 10 Enterprise client and Server are step backs to the mouse-and-keyboard user experience of Windows 7, but retain the many security, performance, and ease-of-management capabilities that Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 delivered. In fact, the latest server OS has many under-the-hood enhancements that IT professionals have demanded.

SANTA CLARA—Applied Micro showed up at ARM TechCon with a new 64-bit ARM processor called HeliX, an embedded chip aimed at market segments like networking and communications, imaging, storage, and industrial systems.

"With the growth of I/O needs in switches etc., in storage with bigger Hadoop-type clusters, there's just pull here for 64-bit. Even for those apps that don't need the memory it's still nice having the tool set," said Applied Micro's Pat Patla.

Applied Micro and Hewlett-Packard have teamed up to release the first commercially available 64-bit ARMv8 server, the ProLiant m400 cartridge for HP's Moonshot server framework.

The new server is based on Applied Micro's X-Gene System-on-a-Chip (SoC) and runs Canonical's Ubuntu operating system. Designed for primarily for Web caching workloads, the ProLiant m400 provides power, cooling, and space savings compared with traditional rack servers to the tune of an "up to 35 percent reduction in total cost of ownership," according to HP.

Automating server tasks just got a lot easier for Mac and Linux users, thanks to Microsoft's decision to open source its PowerShell automation platform and scripting language for Windows and Windows Server.

PowerShell is a task-based, command-line scripting language built on the .NET Framework, which helps IT professionals control and automate the administration of servers. .NET itself completed a gradual open-source transition earlier this year, following Microsoft's acquisition of Xamarin.

A single P100 delivers the performance of dozens of traditional CPU nodes.

Nvidia's Tesla P100 GPU, capable of replacing dozens of traditional CPU nodes to speed up the processing of complex algorithms, will now be offered in a PCIe form factor, the company announced today. PCIe makes it easier for the P100 to be installed in the server banks that can benefit most from its ability to accelerate computing tasks, especially the machine-learning algorithms that power artificial intelligence applications. When Nvidia originally announced the P100 in April, CEO Jen-Hsun Huang described his company as "all-in" when it comes to artificial intelligence and virtual reality. The P100 is based on the Pascal GPU architecture. With support for PCIe Gen 3, which offers a bandwidth of 32GB per second, each P100 processor provides the throughput of more than 32 CPU-based nodes. Its 18.7 teraflops of half-precision performance, however, means that the PCIe version will take a slight performance hit compared to the original P100, which offers 21 teraflops. That difference won't be much of an issue for massive server banks, but it could be noticeable for smaller installations, such as autonomous car testing. Non-server farm customers for whom that performance drop presents an issue will likely consider Nvidia's in-house supercomputer offering, the P100-powered DGX-1. Using eight Tesla P100 cores, it delivers 170 teraflops of half-precision peak performance, the equivalent of 250 CPU-based servers. The first PCIe-based P100s will be available in servers from Dell, HP, IBM, and other companies beginning in fall 2016. One of its first applications will be in Europe's fastest supercomputer, the Piz Daint system at the Swiss National Supercomputing Center in Lugano. Original link

The client/server relationship goes back decades and even as the cloud permeates our culture, it's very unlikely to stop anytime soon. A server holds files and programs closer than the Internet, but not quite as close as your local hard drive, so it's all sharable and yet imminently accessible. That's why in our recent survey covering network-attached storage (NAS) devices and servers, we took time to ask PCMag readers specifically how they feel about the servers they use at the office, from SOHOs up to big enterprises. The results are below.

You can be part of Business Choice! Sign up for the Readers' Choice Survey mailing list to receive invitations in the future.

There's no hard drive or operating system, but even with those additional costs, this is still a top-notch value.

For a limited time, Dell is selling the bare-bones PowerEdge T110 II dual-core server for just $259. Without any need for a coupon or rebate, you'll instantly save $507 off the list price by ordering directly from Dell. Get this deal On the inside, this model sports a dual-core 3.3GHz Intel Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM, a gigabit network adaptor, and a DVD drive. However, no hard drive or operating system come along with your purchase, so you'll need to invest in those as well. You can snag 2TB drives for about $70 a pop, and an OEM copy of Windows 10 Pro (64-bit) is already less than $90 on Amazon. But even with those additional costs factored in, this is still a top-notch value. Better yet, one year of Pro support is included at no extra cost. Whether you plan on using this as a server for your small business or simply as network-attached storage at home, you can rest easy knowing that you're covered if a problem crops up. No matter what time of day, you'll have access to enterprise-grade support to get you back up and running as soon as possible. Not interested in opening up the case to install drives by hand? Fear not! You can easily customize your machine during checkout to include drives, an operating system, and additional memory. The cost will be significantly higher, but that's the price you have to pay for convenience. For more great deals, check out TechBargains.com. Our commerce group sources the best deals and products for the PCMag Deals posts. We operate independently of Editorial and Advertising and may earn a percentage of the sale, if you buy something via a link on the post. If you are interested in promoting your deals, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Original link

This is a little bit of a DIY project, but most of the work here is already done.

The quad-core Lenovo ThinkServer TS440 is currently on sale for just $299.99 when you buy from TigerDirect. And while this configuration normally sells for $829.99, today's deal will instantly save you $530—a whopping 63 percent off the sticker price. Even better, the shipping is free. Get this deal On the inside, this model features a quad-core 3.2GHz Intel Xeon processor, integrated Intel HD Graphics P4600, 4GB of RAM, and a DVD burner. Keep in mind, this is a barebones server, though. It doesn't ship with an operating system or a hard drive. This is a little bit of a DIY project, but most of the work here is already done. So if you're comfortable installing drives yourself, this is a superb bargain. Why bother investing in server hardware anyway? Besides the powerful Xeon-class CPU, it also has loads of room for expansion. It offers two 5.25-inch drive bays, four hot-swappable 3.5-inch drive bays, four RAM slots (room for 32GB), three PCIe slots, a PCI slot, and eight USB ports. If affordable versatility is what you're looking for out of a tower, the ThinkServer TS440 is what you need. Additionally, it's 80 Plus Gold certified and Energy Star qualified, so you can rest assured that it won't be needlessly running up your power bill. And if you run into hardware problems, it's covered by a one-year manufacturer warranty. If you've ever wanted a server of your very own, this truly is the perfect opportunity. For more great deals, check out TechBargains.com. Our commerce group sources the best deals and products for the PCMag Deals posts. We operate independently of Editorial and Advertising and may earn a percentage of the sale, if you buy something via a link on the post. If you are interested in promoting your deals, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Original link

On July 14 Microsoft will terminate extended support for Windows Server 2003. This means that there will be "no more patches fixing security vulnerabilities, non-security defects," etc. If Windows Server 2003 and the applications running on it play a critical role in your infrastructure, you need to start migrating to a new server platform now (if you haven't already).

While migration begins with the physical or virtual server and the operating system, it doesn't stop there. Ensuring a smooth upgrade path for applications will minimize downtime. It's important to understand the ramifications of migration up and down the stack, from operating system to database to application to Web front end. There are plenty of places to break the stack during migration, so careful planning and testing are requirements that need to be built into your project timeline.

July 14, 2015. That's the date. Microsoft will terminate extended support for Windows Server 2003. And it's right around the corner. This means that there will be no more patches for security vulnerabilities or non-security defects from Microsoft. Nor will there be support for third-party applications, as defects in the underlying OS can't be addressed.

Yet there is no one-size-fits-all recommendation for what to do with all of your Windows Server 2003 servers. The migration process could take months depending on how complex existing systems are. And options abound. You could migrate to a newer Windows Server OS, Microsoft Azure, Office 365, another cloud provider, or even another server OS. With so many options it may be difficult to make a choice and take action.

Intel on Tuesday announced the availability of the Xeon E7 v3 processor family for scale-out data center operations and big data analytics solutions that are increasingly transforming how people do business.

Xeon E7 v3 chips boast up to 18 dual-threaded cores and up to 45MB of L3 cache, helping these processors deliver a 40 percent performance boost over the preceding generation of Xeon E7 v2 parts, according to Intel.

Microsoft is putting Windows Server 2003 out to pasture on July 14, 2015. As the server operating system goes end-of-life, Microsoft will drop support and stop issuing security and other patches. Many third-party application providers will stop supporting the platform as well. Continuing to rely on Windows Server 2003 will put your business at risk of falling out of compliance with regulations such as HIPAA and PCI. It's pretty clear that you need to migrate away from Windows Server 2003.

In the first part in this series, we provided a methodology for planning and executing a successful migration. In this article, we'll talk about your options for migration and how to choose the right platform.

If you're running Windows Server 2003 on production systems, you need to etch the date July 14, 2015 into your brain, because that's when Microsoft will terminate extended support for the venerable OS. That date is rapidly approaching, so it's time to get moving on your migration plans. The more complex your operation is and the more heavily you rely on Windows Server 2003 to run production systems, the more time and effort you're going to have to put into migration. It's possible that your operation will require three or more months to make the switch, which means that you'd better get on this now.

Migrating from Windows Server 2003 is critically important as extended support for Standard, Enterprise and Data Center (32-bit and 64-bit) will end. This means that there will be no more patches of security vulnerabilities or non-security defects or operational issues. Moreover, third-party products such as business applications will not be supported on Windows Server 2003. No third party could guarantee that their software would continue to run on unsupported systems, because defects might arise in the underlying OS that can't be addressed.