IBM + SONY + TOSHIBA = ?? Cell

Well a decade ago the processor market was a virtual monopoly of the Intel corporation, But AMD’s persistance has cut intel’s margins sharply. And now its widely accepted that AMD’s dual cores are way ahead of Intel’s.

But away from all these IBM with SONY and Toshiba, is waiting for a debut in the big processor league. If whatever is promised is really achieved we could have a super computer inside an IBM branded processor (‘Cell’). Running with eight cores, the prototype chip is 221 mm2, integrates 234 million transistors, and is fabricated with 90 nm SOI technology. It promises to clock at 4GHZ. Clock speed is not big deal anymore..after AMD’s slower clocking processors consistantly beat their higher clocking Intel counterparts.So we cant compare Intel’s 4GHZ processor with the IBM’s “Cell” which could provide 10 times the processing power of any modern processors.

And not just the processor, but a new memory system XDR which supports datarates upto 8GHZ, and FlexIO processor buses (formerly Redwood) are capable of running up to 6.4 GHz data rates providing a claimed bandwidth that is more than four times faster than best-of-class processor buses available today.

The ‘Cell’ is expected to debut in Sony’s playstation, followed by TV’s and then to mainstream PC market..So lets get ready for bigger things!!

Microsoft SBS 2003 vs Microsoft Windows Server 2003 ent edn

Yesterday a gentleman queried me on the difference btwn SBS 2003 and MS Server 2003 ent edition..he levied a constraint ie i need to be quick.And i obliged here it is my 50 minute research....

Small Business Server 2003

The SBS is available typically for a smaller organisation upto the size of 75 computers connected in a single network.The main purpose for this edition is lower cost compared to complete Windows 2003 server edns.

The SBS(2003) supports a maximum of 2 hardware CPUs and 4 virtual CPUs compared to the 8 CPUs supported in Win server 2003 ent edn.The SBS comes along with a package of sw beside the windows 2003 server technologies.It is built on windows server 2003 but with additional packages which in case of Windows server 2003 ent(std also)need to be purchased separately.This brings down the costs by a huge amount.

There are two variants of SBS 2003 itself std(cheaper) and premium(std +sql server etc and costs little more)

The standard edition of Windows Small Business Server 2003 includes Windows Server 2003 technologies, including fax service, firewall service, and remote-access service. Additionally, it includes Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, enhanced tools for server monitoring and administration, and an out-of-the-box solution for internal Web sites. The standard edition is ideal for customers who do not require the higher-level functionality included in the premium edition.

The premium edition includes everything in the standard edition, plus Microsoft SQL Server 2000, Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004, and Microsoft FrontPage 2003. The premium edition is ideal for small businesses with more demanding IT needs, such as data-intensive line-of-business applications, or advanced firewall and Web-caching capabilities.

Disadvantages :

* Only single SBS is possible in ur nw.

* Domain trust keys r not available so its not possible to connect multiple domains of SBS.

* When u r starting a new branch office...no way u can connect the two servers in the branches(as no domain trust).Eachserver must be connected individually to internet.


Windows Server 2003 Enterprise :

(I have included features exclusive for enterprise edition leaving common features of windows server 2003 std edition)

Well as the name suggests this OS is built for enterprise scenario.A huge company having several branches can be seamlessly connected using Win server 2003 ent edn.This OS is built for mission critical operations.Even most failures or catastrophe would leave this reliable system running.It has the ability to withstand failures.

* Biggest memory support : The ent edn supports upto to 32GB of working memory ..More memory and virtually unlimited support for processes

* Ent edition supports cluster service,Server clusters provide high availability and disaster tolerance for mission-critical database management, file sharing, intranet data sharing, messaging, and general business applications. With Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition cluster service supports up to eight-node clusters for increased flexibility in adding and removing hardware in a widely distributed geographical envrnmnt.

* Windows Server 2003 Ent Edn, supports servers with up to 8 processors.

* The Windows System Resource Manager (WSRM) in ent edn enables an administrator to allocate CPU and memory utilization on a per-application basis.

* XML webservices and .Net(supported in both std and ent edns