Hardware

Mainframes and Supercomputers Topic Center

Mainframe and supercomputer news, in-depth analysis and more

Intel acquires HPC interconnect assets from Cray

Intel has agreed to buy specific high-performance-computing interconnect assets from server company Cray, the chip maker said on Tuesday.
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Users: Oracle Exadata's speed comes with a cost

Few Oracle products in recent years have received as much hype as the Exadata database machine, with the vendor attempting to use it as a standard-bearer for a series of appliances that combine its software with storage, networking equipment and Sun servers.

Dell buys application modernization firm Clerity

Dell said Tuesday it has purchased application modernization vendor Clerity Solutions, in its second enterprise software-related acquisition news this week.

Intel 'superchip' will be aimed at high-performance computing

Intel this week said it was investing in the development of a "superchip" for high-performance computing systems that the company hopes will raise its supercomputing profile.

IBM's Watson expands cancer care resume

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has brought IBM's Watson supercomputer onboard to help it diagnose and treat cancer patients, just a few months after Watson was hired by Cedars-Sinai for the same purpose.

Oak Ridge lab to deploy fast Titan supercomputer

A government research lab in Tennessee will deploy a new supercomputer later this year that could put the U.S. back in contention for the top spot on the list of the world's fastest supercomputers.

HP's new x86 servers attack management, power costs

Hewlett-Packard's new x86 server line generation, announced Monday, aims to wring out as much management overhead as possible through automation and improved energy management.

Cray courts the big-data market

Supercomputer company Cray has created a new division that will sell big-data systems, the company has announced. The division will market its offerings to large enterprises, which will be a new kind of client for the company.

IBM's Watson Advises at Cancer Center

The Watson supercomputer is about to begin evaluating cancer treatment options that can be delivered to physicians in a matter of seconds.

IBM's Watson shows up for work at Cedars-Sinai's cancer center

IBM's Watson supercomputer is being used in the Cedars-Sinai cancer center to develop applications that will assist doctors in diagnosing and prescribing treatments for patients.

IT's most wanted: Mainframe programmers

As students study other technologies, vendors try to develop new talent and offer tools to fill the gap for these critical systems

Silver Surfers are past it? Never!

Been around a while? You may well be a "Silver surfer" and that makes you an IT hero!

You don't know tech: InfoWorld news quiz

Feb. 18, 2011: iPhones may get smaller, security firm gets unwelcome caller

Disruptors have lasting impact on IT

Major market shifts in the database world don't happen often. When they do, they're massive, creating an impact that can last 10 to 20 years. When I entered the job market, it was right at the tail end of the last major shift from the mainframe to client/server.

Looking for job security? Try Cobol

As long as there are mainframes, there will be Cobol. Learn the language and the culture and you might land a job that that lasts until retirement

Looking for job security? Try Cobol

As long as there are mainframes, there will be Cobol. Learn the language and the culture and you might land a job that that lasts until retirement

The 11 most influential microprocessors of all time

From the brains of the Voyager space mission to the inspiration for modern CPUs, here are the chips that built our modern technological culture.

Now Departing: Union Pacific's 40-Year-Old Mainframe

Union Pacific, the railroad company that transports chemicals, coal, food, minerals and automobiles in and around 23 Western U.S. states, has had two workhorses that toiled tirelessly for the past four decades: the diesel locomotive and the IBM mainframe.

Things CIOs Must Know About Mainframe Modernization

1. Mainframe shops have to make decisions: whether to migrate to other platforms, add service-oriented architecture (SOA) interfaces or rewrite applications. With a half-baked strategy, IT winds up "bolting on all sorts of unusual, often architecturally inelegant" work-arounds, argues John B. Rabon, manager of legacy modernization at Aflac. "We saw this happening. You hit this wall of unintended consequences." Aflac is now 60 percent finished with a major conversion initiative.

Swine flu spreads, Apple hires, Twitter hack

Hands down, the swine-flu outbreak captured the headlines this week (and led to some obviously hysterically hyped headlines along the way). Amid the speculation about how much havoc the new virus will wind up wreaking on the world, there also was some more moderated speculation about what Apple is up to in hiring a bunch of chip designers. Oh, and another high-profile Twitter account was hacked ... again.