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Systems
By Eileen Yu, ZDNet Asia
Imagine a supercomputer so powerful it can run 280.6 trillion calculations per second. Now imagine it sitting on your lap, in the size of a notebook computer, and costing a mere US$100. Impossible? Not really, and that's the reason why this category's Top Tech companies play a crucial role in helping the industry advance toward this future.
Vendors in the systems market segment include makers of processors, desktop and notebook computers, computing peripherals, servers and networking equipment.
It was in 1997 when a IBM-developed supercomputer dubbed Blue Gene, famously defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov, marking the first victory for a chess-playing machine.
Last month, IBM once again proved its weight in this market segment when it unveiled the Blue Gene/L supercomputer, outdoing its own record for the world's fastest system. The 65,536-processor system is capable of transacting 280.6 trillion calculations per second, or 280.6 teraflops, more than double the previous record of 136.8 trillion calculations per second.
Big Blue currently sells the Blue Gene machines for US$2 million per 1,024-processor rack, a figure that's far from affordability for the general market. But, according to some industry observers, there could be a future where supercomputers are accessible to the masses.
Driven by price-performance demands, more supercomputers today are being built on industry-standard, commodity-based processor platforms, such as AMD's Opteron and Intel's Itanium chips. Market experts predict that this could push higher computing power into the mainstream market.
Indeed, as chipmakers continue to make deeper inroads into the market and persist with their ambitious product roadmaps, power to the masses might just be a reality in the near future.
And with computer shipments soaring, where user demand is high even among smaller businesses, hardware manufacturers including Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Apple Computer, will play an important role in driving down the cost of computing, to even as low as sub-US$100 levels.
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Top Tech 50 companies in Systems
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Apple Computer
Think Different. One of the most successful slogans in Apple Computer's history, these two words effectively sum up the company.
Canon
Founded in 1933 to research into the development of quality cameras, Canon today has firmly established itself as a global brand offering a range of consumer and office products such as printers, copiers and scanners.
Dell Computer
When Michael Dell first started his company in 1984, while still a student at the University of Texas, he decided that a direct sales model was the best way to make computing accessible to customers around the globe. This strategy proved successful, because for the past 20 years, Dell has firmly established itself as one of the leading PC brands in the world.
Emerson
Consumers, homes and businesses rely on Emerson for a myriad of things. Founded in the United States in 1890, Emerson is a global company that uses technology and engineering to provide innovative solutions for a wide range of industrial, commercial, and consumer markets.
Fujitsu
The world's third-largest IT services provider, Fujitsu was established in June 1935 as a subsidiary of Fuji Electric.
Hewlett-Packard
Do not dismiss Hewlett-Packard just yet. The once-troubled ship found itself a new captain, CEO Mark Hurd, and he could be just the one to steer the company back onto the right course.
IBM
Over the last 10 years, IBM has succeeded in transitioning from a mainframe systems company to a top provider of IT business services. This business now accounts for about half of its revenues.
Intel
Intel is one heavyweight difficult to bring down, despite fervent and highly-publicized attempts by its rivals to do so.
LG Electronics
Tired of playing second fiddle to rival Korean powerhouse Samsung, LG Electronics is aiming to be among the "Global Top 3"--the world's top three electronics, information and communications brands-- by 2010.
NCR
The next time you visit an automated teller machine (ATM) to withdraw some cash, you might be able to spot a three-letter acronym NCR, engraved somewhere on the system.
NEC
An industry veteran, NEC was founded in Japan in 1899. Originally known as Nippon Electric Company, the company's early business dealt with the production, sales and maintenance of telephones and switches. Its global expansion took place in the 1950s, with the setting up of Nippon Electric New York (now NEC America). It was also during this period that NEC ventured into computing systems.
Samsung Electronics
From its early roots of dealing with dried fruits and vegetables, Samsung--literally meaning "three stars" in Korean--has come a long way. Today, it has subsidiary companies dealing in different areas ranging from chemicals to machinery and electronics.
Sony
Think of Sony and some of the things that come immediately to mind are the Walkman music player and the Playstation game console.
Toshiba
When you next pop your favorite DVD movie into your DVD player, stop and thank Toshiba, one of the first companies to develop the format.
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|  | Go IBM!
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| | ibm rocks!
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| | nice
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| | nice
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| | Go Go IBM!
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Systems | Networking and communications | Storage management | Security | Software Infrastructure | Services | Business applications | Internet services
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