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 TitleDate AddedCompany
whitepaper Quantifying the Total Cost of Upgrading HP-UX Environments From HP 9000 Servers to HP Integrity Servers2007-07-01 TechWise Research
  HP has been shipping HP 9000 servers with PA-RISC microprocessors since about 1990. Since that time, nearly 100 different models of servers have been introduced ranging from single-CPU entry-level machines to enterprise-class Superdome models that support 128 cores. Today, thousands of companies worldwide rely on HP 9000 servers and the HP-UX operating system as key components of their IT infrastructure. Several years ago HP made a strategic decision to consolidate its high performance server product line by replacing servers based on PA-RISC and Alpha chips with servers based on Intel's Itanium processor. HP's current plans are to continue selling HP 9000 systems until at least December 2008.

Tags: Processors, HP-UX		   
whitepaper Accelerating the Transformation: Intel's Leadership in Embedded Systems, Communications and Networking Maximizes Innovation and Choice for Network-Centric Warfare2007-07-01 Intel
  Intel's broad range of innovative, modular and standards-based technologies enable the Department of Defense (DoD) and its vendors to apply innovations which cost-effectively implement the network-centric vision. Based on proven leadership in modular embedded systems, communications and networking architectures, Intel is uniquely qualified to help integrators deliver standards-based Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) solutions capable of accelerating the ongoing process of force transformation.

Tags: Embedded Systems		   
whitepaper The Price of Safety: Evaluating IOMMU Performance2007-06-30 IBM
  IOMMUs, IO Memory Management Units, are hardware devices that translate device DMA addresses to machine addresses. An isolation capable IOMMU restricts a device so that it can only access parts of memory it has been explicitly granted access to. Isolation capable IOMMUs perform a valuable system service by preventing rogue devices from performing errant or malicious DMAs, thereby substantially increasing the system's reliability and availability. Without an IOMMU a peripheral device could be programmed to overwrite any part of the system's memory. Operating systems utilize IOMMUs to isolate device drivers; hypervisors utilize IOMMUs to grant secure direct hardware access to virtual machines.   
whitepaper Extreme High Performance Computing or Why Microkernels Suck2007-06-30 SGI
  One often wonders how well Linux scales. The suggestions frequently received say that Linux cannot scale because it is a monolithic operating system kernel. However, microkernels have never scaled well and Linux has been scaled up to support thousands of processors, terabytes of memory and hundreds of petabytes of disk storage which is the hardware limit these days. Some of the techniques used to make Linux scale were per cpu areas, per node structures, lock splitting, cache line optimizations, memory allocation control, scheduler optimizations and various other approaches. These required significant detail work on the code but no change in the general architecture of Linux. This paper gives an overview of why Linux scales and shows the hurdles microkernels would have to overcome in order to do the same.

Tags: Linux - Open Source, High Performance Computing		   
whitepaper Breaking the Chains - Using LinuxBIOS to Liberate Embedded x86 Processors2007-06-30 Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
  While x86 processors are an attractive option for embedded designs, many embedded developers avoid them because x86-based systems remain dependent on a legacy BIOS ROM to set up the system. LinuxBIOS is an open source solution that replaces the proprietary BIOS ROMs with a light-weight loader. LinuxBIOS frees the developer from complex CPU and chipset initialization and allows a variety of payloads to be loaded, including the Linux kernel itself. This paper reviews the journey of the AMD Geode processors and chipset as they were integrated into LinuxBIOS to become the centerpoint of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. The paper also discusses how embedded developers can take advantage of the LinuxBIOS environment for their own x86-based projects.

Tags: Linux - Open Source, x86-standard Servers		   
whitepaper Advanced Virtualization and Workload Management on Itanium 2-Based Servers2007-06-19 Itanium Solutions Alliance
  Virtualization and workload management are essential technologies for maximizing scalability, availability and value on high-end computing systems, and Itanium 2-based servers offer many options. One is SWsoft Virtuozzo, a proven, software-based virtualization solution for consolidating Linux and Windows applications. It provides granular control of workloads, along with exceptional performance and scalability - factors that make it ideal for many mission-critical environments.

Tags: Server Consolidation, Virtualization		   
whitepaper JouleSort: A Balanced Energy-Efficiency Benchmark2007-06-14 Association for Computing Machinery
  The energy efficiency of computer systems is an important concern in a variety of contexts. In data centers, reducing energy use improves operating cost, scalability, reliability, and other factors. For mobile devices, energy consumption directly affects functionality and usability. The paper proposes and motivates JouleSort, an external sort benchmark, for evaluating the energy efficiency of a wide range of computer systems from clusters to handhelds. The paper lists the criteria, challenges, and pitfalls from the experience in creating a fair energy-efficiency benchmark. Using a commercial sort, the paper demonstrates a JouleSort system that is over 3.5x as energy-efficient as last year's estimated winner. This system is quite different from those currently used in data centers.   
whitepaper Virtual Hierarchies to Support Server Consolidation2007-06-13 Association for Computing Machinery
  Server consolidation is becoming an increasingly popular technique to manage and utilize systems. This paper develops CMP memory systems for server consolidation where most sharing occurs within Virtual Machines (VMs). The memory systems maximize shared memory accesses serviced within a VM, minimize interference among separate VMs, facilitate dynamic reassignment of VMs to processors and memory, and support content-based page sharing among VMs. The paper begins with a tiled architecture where each of 64 tiles contains a processor, private L1 caches, and an L2 bank. It reveals why single-level directory designs fail to meet workload consolidation goals. It develops the paper's central idea of imposing a two-level virtual (or logical) coherence hierarchy on a physically flat CMP that harmonizes with VM assignment.

Tags: Server Consolidation		   
whitepaper Wasabi Certified BSD Board Support Package: Freescale MPC8548E CDS - Quick Reference2007-06-07 Wasabi Systems
  Wasabi Certified BSD (WCB) is a full-featured, modern operating system that extends open-source NetBSD with improved compiler technology, more capable device drivers, and thorough platform testing. The Freescale MPC8548E PowerQUICC III communications processor is designed to deliver gigahertz-plus communications processing performance and advanced features with exceptional integration and high-speed connectivity.

Tags: Desktop Systems - PCs, Linux - Open Source		   
whitepaper Wasabi Certified BSD Board Support Package: Freescale MPC8349EMDS - Quick Reference2007-06-07 Wasabi Systems
  Wasabi Certified BSD (WCB) is a full-featured, modern operating system that extends open-source NetBSD with improved compiler technology, more capable device drivers, and thorough platform testing. The Freescale MPC8349E processors are designed to provide a cost-effective, highly integrated control processing solution that addresses the needs of networking, communications, and pervasive computing applications.

Tags: Desktop Systems - PCs, Linux - Open Source