Computing

Six-core upgrade has 70 percent more computational muscle than last year’s quad-core

November 16, 2009 -- Washington, DC —An upgrade to a Cray XT5 high-performance computing system deployed by the Department of Energy has made the “Jaguar” supercomputer the world’s fastest. Located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Jaguar is the scientific research community’s most powerful computational tool for exploring solutions to some of today’s most difficult problems.

The upgrade, funded with $19.9 million under the Recovery Act, will enable scientific simulations for exploring solutions to climate change and the development of new energy technologies.    » read more »

November 16, 2009 -- BOULDER, Colo.— Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated the first “universal” programmable quantum information processor able to run any program allowed by quantum mechanics—the rules governing the submicroscopic world—using two quantum bits (qubits) of information. The processor could be a module in a future quantum computer, which theoretically could solve some important problems that are intractable today.    » read more »

State’s Supercomputer enables Projects Eligibility for Funding

November 13, 2009 -- SANTA FE -- New Mexico Governor Richardson today announced that the National Science Foundation has awarded the University of New Mexico $41M for collaborative projects involving the state’s supercomputer, Encanto.

The New Mexico Computing Applications Center, which oversees Encanto, is under contract for $5.3 million in support of those grants. The awards will provide funding over a five-year period to the supercomputing center.    » read more »

ARMONK, N.Y. - 09 Nov 2009: IBM (NYSE: IBM) has selected five solutions developed within the company for recognition under its new Corporate Environmental Innovation Program, which highlights innovations that significantly improve energy efficiency or reduce environmental impact.

IBM introduced the program earlier this year to highlight the best solutions developed by employees that address energy and environmental challenges for the company and its clients. The goal is to showcase these solutions and encourage other IBM employees to develop new technologies and offerings that address these global issues.    » read more »

Scientists will examine cloud computing as a cost-effective and energy-efficient computing paradigm to accelerate discoveries in biology, climate change and physics.

October 14, 2009 -- ARGONNE, IL, and BERKELEY, CA –- Cloud computing is gaining traction in the commercial world, but can such an approach also meet the computing and data storage demands of the nation’s scientific community?

A new program funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will examine cloud computing as a cost-effective and energy-efficient computing paradigm for scientists to accelerate discoveries in a variety of disciplines, including analysis of scientific data sets in biology, climate change and physics.    » read more »

October 8, 2009 -- Because it will be difficult to prevent cyber attacks on critical civilian and military computer networks by threatening to punish attackers, the United States must focus its efforts on defending these networks from cyber attack, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

The study finds that the United States and other nations that rely on externally accessible computer networks—such as ones used for electric power, telephone service, banking, and military command and control—as a foundation for their military and economic power are subject to cyber attack.    » read more »

Direct reuse of waste heat. Aims to cut energy consumption by 40% and carbon-dioxide emissions by up to 85%

ZURICH - 23 Jun 2009: In an effort to achieve energy-aware computing, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), and IBM today announced plans to build a first-of-a-kind water-cooled supercomputer that will directly repurpose excess heat for the university buildings.

The innovative system, dubbed Aquasar, is expected to decrease the carbon footprint of the system by up to 85% and estimated to save up to 30 tons of CO2 per year, compared to a similar system using today's cooling technologies.(1)    » read more »

IBM Research Innovation, Partnerships and New Services Help Clients Increase Efficiency, Achieve Sustainability and Cut Costs

SAN FRANCISCO - 23 Jun 2009 -- Ahead of a Green and Beyond Summit here today, IBM (NYSE: IBM) detailed new computing systems, research initiatives, client results and partnerships aimed at meeting the rising demand by businesses and governments worldwide to reduce energy costs and consumption by optimizing their systems and resources, while at the same time becoming more accountable and socially responsible.    » read more »

Partners With Metering, Monitoring, Automation, Communication, Software Leaders for 'Green' Solutions

SAN FRANCISCO - 23 Jun 2009 -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) has created an industry alliance with key leaders in metering, monitoring, automation, data communications and software to provide smart solutions for energy, water, waste and greenhouse gas management.

Charter members of the Green Sigma™ Coalition are Johnson Controls, Honeywell Building Solutions, ABB, Eaton, ESS, Cisco, Siemens Building Technologies Division, Schneider Electric and SAP. The coalition members will work with IBM to integrate their products and services with IBM's Green Sigma™ solution.    » read more »

ARMONK, N.Y. - 18 Jun 2009: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it signed a $97 million information technology (IT) services agreement with the ACE Group (NYSE: ACE), a global leader in insurance and reinsurance. The revamped and extended contract will support ACE's infrastructure and application management environments in North America.

More specifically, IBM will provide mainframe, mid-range server, storage, network, and disaster recovery services as well as help desk, workstation, mobile device support, and application management services for a portion of ACE's portfolio. As part of the agreement, IBM will transform ACE's data center environment with consolidation, virtualization and standard tools and processes for improved service while lowering overall costs.    » read more »

The scores of all but nine of the 70 countries in the study decline in 2009

17 Jun 2009 -- A sharp deterioration in business environments owing to the economic crisis has taken a toll on countries' e-readiness—their ability to harness ICT for social and economic development. The Economist Intelligence Unit maintains that a stable and transparent business environment is essential to fostering development and utilisation of digital technologies and services.    » read more »

Washington, DC - 06/11/2009 - A majority of American adults look online for health information and most are accessing reviews and comments posted by fellow consumers.

According to a report released today by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project and the California HealthCare Foundation, 61% of adults look online for health information. Of those, 59% have done at least one of the following activities:

* Read someone else's commentary or experience about health or medical issues on an online news group, website, or blog
* Consulted rankings or reviews online of doctors or other providers
* Consulted rankings or reviews online of hospitals or other medical facilities
* Signed up to receive updates about health or medical issues    » read more »

ARMONK, N.Y. - 09 Jun 2009: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a new social networking community designed to help its partners more easily connect and collaborate with each other from anywhere around the world to bring new technologies to market and close sales faster and more efficiently.

The new community enables companies to gain real-time access to IBM subject matter experts to support sales leads and client implementations. Partners can also create personalized profiling tools to develop online communities that make their skills visible to other partners, connect with them on new technology innovations and joint sales leads and develop and deliver new technologies online through interactive forums before test-marketing or taking offerings directly to clients.    » read more »

SYDNEY - 09 Jun 2009: Telstra announced today that it has extended its information technology (IT) operations and services agreement with IBM until the year 2014. The five-year contract, which is an extension of an existing services agreement, is worth a total of AU$745million. It will result in greater automation and improved remote management capability of Telstra's IT systems, while reducing server build time enabling the telecommunications giant to more efficiently execute complex projects across its IT infrastructure.    » read more »

Company's Proposal Focuses on Access, Demand and Adoption

June 8, 2009 -- WASHINGTON - Verizon on Monday (June 8) submitted its suggestions for the national broadband plan called for by Congress and President Obama. The suggestions are contained in a detailed, 10-point proposal filed with the Federal Communications Commission.

"Verizon looks forward to working with policymakers and other stakeholders in developing broadband policies that will ensure broadband availability to all Americans, encourage widespread adoption of broadband services, and empower consumers to make their own choices," Verizon said in its filing.

The FCC is assembling recommendations for Congress to consider for the plan, which is due in February 2010.    » read more »