AMD Finally Ships Quad-Core Opterons

Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday announced it was shipping the quad-core Opteron chip in volume after fixing a bug, but concerns are being raised about AMD’s abilities to stick to its product roadmap, analysts said.

The chip, code-named Barcelona, was delayed in December because of a bug in the L3 cache that caused applications to fail. The chip maker started shipping the chip in September in limited quantities to vendors running high-performance computers.

The new chip is shipping in volume to computer makers including top server vendors Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, IBM and Dell.

AMD didn’t feel comfortable shipping a chip with the problem, said Steve Demski, AMD Opteron product manager. “We’re glad to have this one errata behind us. This is a product we’ve been waiting to offer for a long time.”

The Barcelona chip created much enthusiasm 18 months ago as the first quad-core chip when it broke away from Intel’s traditional multicore architecture, said Richard Doherty, research director at The Envisioneering Group. In an industry that has its own challenges, customers were waiting for Barcelona and still kept waiting until interest waned, Doherty said.

“The goodwill and camaraderie and enthusiasm at a peak two years ago has more than waned. In the silicon [industry] you have to ship on time,” Doherty said.

Computer makers want to offer customers an alternative, but need from chip makers a clear message and dependable delivery schedule from which they can plan shipments. “Nearly everyone wants a robust competitive economy besides Intel,” Doherty said, referring to Intel’s dominant position in the chip market.

However, AMD did not deliver chips on time, and customers shifted to Intel quad-core processors, which have stayed on schedule and fairly faithful to their roadmap. Intel currently has a sizeable lead over AMD in the global microprocessor market. Meanwhile, AMD has filed antitrust lawsuits and complaints globally accusing Intel of anticompetitive behavior.

The Envisioneering Group, which benchmarks chips, hasn’t yet received a Barcelona chip from AMD for benchmarking despite requests.

“[It] is not good because every vendor who has said we are going with multiple suppliers wanted [AMD] to succeed better. Now there’s just tremendous doubt,” Doherty said.

Barcelona’s bugs and delays cost AMD momentum, time, money and credibility, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst with Insight 64. The company has a lot of work to do with customers and computer makers to build back its reputation, he said.

“Now that the product is available and [AMD] put the chips in systems, they can get back on track” and compete with Intel, Brookwood said. “There’s been a lot of concern, and what AMD’s saying here, is we’ve got it under control.”

The Barcelona delays have also generated concern about AMD’s ability to deliver its next quad-core server chip, Brookwood said. Code-named Shanghai, the chip will be manufactured using the 45-nanometer process and is due to go into production in the second half of 2008, he said.

“They said they will be able to. It’s just not enough to say that, they have to do that. If they can, they can be back in the game,” Brookwood said.

Intel is also making moves in the multi-core game. As the quad-core Shanghai goes into production, Intel plans to ship a Xeon server chip, code-named Dunnington, which will have six cores. Intel will start shipping server chips based on its new architecture, code-named Nehalem, in the second half of 2008. Nehalem chips will come with four and eight cores.

AMD said that in the “latter half” of 2009 it will ship its next server chip, code-named Montreal, which will come with four and eight cores.

New Attack Kit Targets Bag of ActiveX Bugs

Hackers are using a new multiple-attack package composed of seven ActiveX exploits, many of them never seen in the wild before, said a security company on Friday.

Fewer than half of the flawed ActiveX controls have been patched.

The attack framework probes Windows PCs for vulnerable ActiveX controls from software vendors Microsoft, Citrix Systems and Macrovision, as well as hardware makers D-Link, Hewlett-Packard, Gateway and Sony, said a Symantec researcher.

“What’s interesting about this attack is that there are so many vulnerabilities in one attack that have not been seen in the wild previously,” said Symantec researcher Patrick Jungles, who wrote an analysis of the multistrike package for customers of the company’s DeepSight threat service.

According to Jungles, visitors to compromised Web sites are redirected by a rogue IFRAME to a malicious site serving the package. The attack pack tests the victim’s PC for each ActiveX control, detects whether a vulnerable version of a control is installed, and then launches an attack when it finds one.

Bugs in ActiveX, a Microsoft technology used most often to create add-ons for the company’s Internet Explorer browser, have always been common, but so many serious flaws have been disclosed of late that some security experts have recommended that users do without them.

The seven exploited in the package outlined by Jungles are a mix of old and brand-new flaws. For example, Microsoft’s own ActiveX vulnerability — a bug in IE’s Speech API — was disclosed in June 2007, while the vulnerability in the Citrix Presentation Server Client control harks back even further, to December 2006. Others, such as the ActiveX bugs in D-Link’s security webcams and in Sony’s ImageStation, are much more recent, having been revealed in February.

Four of the seven ActiveX flaws — those in the D-Link, Gateway, Sony and Macrovision products — have not been patched, said Jungles.

Assuming the exploit framework succeeds in compromising a PC, the hackers drop a Trojan on the machine that turns it into a spam-spewing zombie; the Trojan includes a rootkit component to mask the malware from antivirus scanners.

Symantec added that while the initial IP address that sent users to the malicious site was no longer infected with the IFRAME code, other addresses were redirecting users.

“The list of IPs involved in the exploitation is by no means comprehensive,” said Jungles, “because the nature of the exploitation indicates that several other sites are likely forwarding victims.” The IFRAME code, he continued, had been found embedded in the legitimate sites’ HTML and was at times distributed via online advertisements; DNS poisoning, he said, was also suspected.

Jungles’ report recommended that users apply patches, when they’re available, and set the “kill bit” on those ActiveX controls that have not yet been updated by their makers.

HP Pavilion dv3000 Notebook Unveiled in India

HP’s latest offering – Pavilion dv3000 Entertainment Notebook PC – labeled ‘The One’ in marketing campaigns was launched in India.

 

The notebook has been designed for the mobile professional and comes with powerful computing capabilities, convenient security and multimedia features.

 

The HP Pavilion dv3000 features a 13.3-inch wide-screen display based on HP BrightView technology, a built-in webcam, a full-sized keyboard and a remote control.

 

Priced at Rs. 53990, the notebook comes with a fingerprint reader and the HP 3D DriveGuard protects the hard drive while on the go.

Nokia, RIM Lead in Phone Innovation: Study

Nokia is the mobile device maker with the best innovation and implementation strategies, followed by Research In Motion (RIM), which produces the popular BlackBerry smartphone, and Samsung, according to a recent analyst report.

The ranking was issued by technology market research firm ABI Research, whose innovation scores for the 10 companies included were based on a handful of factors, including choice of partnerships with cellular carriers, distribution channels, relative cost, hardware scalability, interface customization, handset differentiation, patent portfolio, battery life, handset size, support for third party application developers and operating system source code licenses, among others. ABI’s implementation rankings were based on factors like smartphone shipments, brand equity, the number of handset models available, choice of OS, smartphone market share, smartphone average selling prices, distribution networks, operator relationships, and manufacturing facilities.

Nokia scored the highest in both innovation and implementation.

“Nokia’s commitment to driving smart OS into a wider range of devices, and the success of its N series devices, especially the N95, gives it a huge market presence,” said Stuart Carlaw, ABI research director, in a statement.

Espoo, Finland-based Nokia is also the world’s leading producer of smartphones, and the Symbian operating system (OS) found within the vast majority of Nokia handsets is the most widely used mobile OS, followed by Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and RIM’s BlackBerry OS, respectively, according to Canalys, another technology market research firm.

Nokia may be the global smartphone leader, but in the enterprise space RIM is king with nearly three-quarters of business users, a ChangeWave survey recently found. Palm is RIM’s closest competitor for enterprise smartphone users with 18 percent of the market, followed by Motorola’s nine percent share and Nokia’s seven percent of users, according to the ChangeWave survey.

ABI also predicts that the worldwide market for smartphones will triple over the coming five years from 10 percent of the total handset market in 2007 to 31 percent by 2013.

ABI’s full ranking of the top 10 smartphone vendors is as follows:

1. Nokia
2. RIM
3. Samsung
4. Motorola
5. Sony Ericsson
6. High Tech Corp (HTC)
7. Palm
8. LG
9. Sharp
10. Hewlett-Packard (HP)

HP Shows Off Future Printing Technologies

Hewlett-Packard offered a peek into future printing technologies, introducing a new inkjet printer that prints thousands of pages per minute and ink that retains its shine even when exposed to extreme elements.

HP’s water-based Latex Ink is specially formulated to embed in a surface and become part of a media print, said Stephen Nigro, senior vice president of HP’s graphics and imaging business. HP’s Latex Ink can withstand snow and rain and is useful for large-format media used on billboards and outdoor signs.

The company also launched the Inkjet Web Press printer, which can print up to 2,600 A4-sized color pages a minute at a cost of under US$0.01 per color page, Nigro said.

The products were introduced at an event in Tel Aviv.

The Latex Ink includes a specially created formula, called latex polymer, that provides the print surface its durability and color, according to HP. Water-based ink ejected carries the latex polymer and pigment particles to the surface. The inks are 70 percent water and 30 percent of additives and other inks, HP said. The ink was developed by HP and HP Labs.

Unlaminated outdoor displays using the ink can last up to three years, while unlaminated in-window displays can last up to five years.

The printer cartridge uses recyclable material and the company has developed new recyclable substrates for the ink to make printing environmentally friendly, HP said. Other printing technology for large-format media include UV (ultraviolet) curable ink, which interacts with an ultraviolet light source to create a print.

Avoiding speculation, Nigro said Latex Ink may or may not reach consumers in the future. For now, the ink is targeted at enterprises including companies creating billboards, Nigro said. HP is expected to announce products using the ink technology later this year.

HP also showed the Inkjet Web Press, a printer that prints up to 2,600 A4-sized color pages a minute. The printer will be able to print on pages up to 30 inches (76.2 centimeters) wide, Nigro said. It is targeted at replacing the printed pages coming from traditional offset presses.

A printing job with a traditional offset press takes hours and it’s not possible to print on demand. With a traditional offset press, a machine first creates a physical plate with the image etched on it, which is then sent to print. With the Inkjet Web Press platform, hitting the print button sends the image directly to a printer, making high-volume printing more productive by eliminating analog elements like a plate, Nigro said.

The printer is capable of printing broadsheet newspapers and other documents, he said.

The Inkjet Web Press is a breakthrough product as it is 20 percent faster than any other inkjet printer on the market, said Gilles Biscos, president of Interquest, an analysis firm. The speed and width makes it flexible for many different marketplaces including direct mail and books, he said. HP has been in the inkjet business and its research is trickling into many consumer and enterprise spaces.

The printer is built around the Scalable Printing Technology (SPT) platform, which improves the quality of prints by spraying more ink on pages using thousands of nozzles on a single printhead. SPT is already in use on printers like HP’s Photosmart, Nigro said. HP introduced the Photosmart Minilab ml1000 inkjet printer earlier this year, which can print 4-by-6-inch photos as fast as 1,500 prints per hour.

Both announcements are part of HP’s attempt to create a revenue stream by offering more printer supplies, management tools and services. As printer prices decline, customers will continue to pay for supplies like cartridges and services like digital photo prints, which will ultimately generate larger revenues than printer units shipped, HP executives have said.

HP has about a 1.8 percent share in the pages printed segment, and doubling that, will double HP’s printing revenue, Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president of HP’s Imaging and Printing Group, said in an speech last week.

In 2009, 53 trillion documents will be printed, of which 9 percent will be digital, Nigro said. Creating digital pages like image files creates new printing opportunities, like ordering bound specialty photobooks online. That is not possible with an analog press as set-up costs could be high, he said.