Intel launches vPro business bundle
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(InfoWorld) - Intel Corp. Thursday launched itsÂ vPro technology bundle for business desktops built into new PCs from Gateway Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP). A desktop with the vPro package of hardware and software will give IT managers better control over security threats, cost of ownership, resource allocation and asset management, said Robert Crooke, vice president and general manager of Intel's business client group. Early testers at BMW AG and ING Groep NV have used the vPro bundle to save money on PC maintenance and labor costs by reducing the number of desk-side visits they had to make to tune and repair employees' PCs, Intel said. Intel, which has watched its profits drop in recent quarters and on Tuesday announced it wouldÂ lay off 10,500 employees by the middle of 2007, hopes this bundle will duplicate the market success it had with the Centrino technology bundle for wireless laptops. The company's last effort to launch another bundle -- the Viiv system for entertainment PCs -- has not caught on with consumers. The vPro system is based on Intel's new Core 2 Duo processor for desktops, combined with a Q965 Express chipset, 82566DM Gigabit Ethernet Network Connection, Active Management Technology (AMT) and Virtualization Technology (VT). The bundle is available only on desktops today, but Intel plans to roll it out to laptops in 2007 with a new Centrino platform code-named "Santa Rosa." Business customers can buy vPro-enabled desktops today from HP, which Wednesday added the capability to its dc7700, dc5700 and dc5750 models, or from Gateway. Gateway will host the vPro bundle on its E-4610 desktop, a PC that is designed to meet both the manageability needs of enterprise-level IT departments and the performance needs of small and medium businesses. Gateway is selling the E-4610 for US$939, as fitted with Intel's E6300 Core 2 Duo processor, 512M bytes memory, an 80G byte hard drive, and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP Pro OS. Â
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Intel Corp. later this year will help server network interfaces take advantage of the major recent advances in data centers: multiprocessor systems, multicore processors and virtualization.
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(InfoWorld) - Intel said Monday it plans to buy a $218.5 million stake in the software firm VMware, bolstering the companies' existing agreement to run VMware's virtualization software on Intel's processors. Intel has been selling chips since November 2005 with specialized technology that allows enterprise IT managers to use a VMware application that treats each hardware platform as multiple "virtual" platforms. The companies also cooperate on their marketing and product development strategies. The chip giant will make the purchase through its investment arm, Intel Capital, subject to approval by U.S. antitrust regulators. The purchase will be part ofÂ an IPO, in which VMware plans to sell 10 percent of the company. VMware has not set a date for that sale, but it is expected to happen in the second half of 2007. In addition to purchasing stock, Intel will also gain the power to appoint one of its executives to the VMware board of directors. However, Intel will still hold a minority stake in the company with just 2.5 percent of VMware stock, according to an IPO registration form filed Monday by VMware with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The majority of VMware stock -- 89 percent -- will be held by EMC, the enterprise data storage company that acquired VMware in January 2004. That investment has paid off well as VMware has grown quickly. VMware revenue rose 82 percent last year, from $387.1 million in 2005 to $703.9 million in 2006. VMware says that growth rate will continueÂ as currently just a small fraction of existing servers and business desktop and notebook PCs use virtualization software. At the same time, many companies use only a portion of their computing power because the latest multicore processors have allowed their processing power to grow faster than workloads. To solve that problem, businesses can use virtualization software to separate the operating system and application software from the underlying hardware. That allows them to combine multiple servers, storage, and networking units into pools of capacity they can allocate to wherever it is needed most, VMware said in the SEC form. Coming so close to VMware's stock offering, Intel's investment is likely to generate greater demand for the new stock, and for the virtualization industry in general, one analyst said. "Intel likes to know it has a more personal stake instead of waiting for market forces to advance the application of virtualization software," said Richard Doherty, research director at The Envisioneering Group. "It's not like that money was gathering dust on their shelf, but Intel's venture arm tends to trigger others to invest in an industry sector too." The purchase also underlines a growing problem for software firms that have historically charged their licensing fees per processor, Doherty said. In this age of quad-core chips and virtualized server networks, that model could spell trouble for enterprise software providers, who could see their customers doing more work with fewer seats of software. By taking a stake in VMware, Intel is indicating that it sees virtualization firms claiming some of that revenue. Also on Monday, VMware launched Lab Manager 2.5, a new version of its lab automation software. IT organizations use the application to efficiently manage their software development and testing labs, save money on IT management and deliver new software applications to market sooner, the company said. In a separate announcement, Borland Software said it would integrate Lab Manager 2.5 with its Lifecycle Quality Management application, SilkCentral Test Manager 2007. Together, those applications will allow software developers to test their applications across multiple configurations using virtual platforms, instead of having to own many separate, physical test labs, Borland said.
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Sale would strengthen Intel's commitment to virtualization and its agreement to run VMware's virtualization software on Intel processors.
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IntelÂ has released its Quick Start Kit for Linux, stepping up support for Asian system integrators that offer Linux-based desktop PCs.
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Â Hewlett-Packard Co. on Thursday signaled its commitment to the Intel Corp. processor architecture and carrier-grade Linux for telecommunications infrastructure, announcing it will introduce a blade server based on those specifications as part of a new hardware, software and services strategy.
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Intel is working on another laptop aimed at serving the developing world.
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Updated OS includes software applications designed for business users.
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The virtualization start-up will support new Intel processor features, and Intel will help market SWsoft's software.
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Intel announced on Thursday a component that&#39;s compatible with all Wi-Fi standards, which will let the chipmaker reach the full audience of individuals seeking to be wirelessly connected.
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HP and Red Hat have announced a new low-cost Linux desktop bundle for small and medium businesses in Australia.
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In the three months since IBM and Intel opened design specifications for Big Blue&#39;s BladeCenter, more than 100 vendors have signed up to use the information, meaning that end users will soon have access to network switches, adapter cards and other
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Highlights of this year's Intel Developer forum included new 45nm Penryn and Nehalem CPUs, upcoming server and enthusisat motherboards, $200 laptops, and a talk with Gordon Moore. Here's what it all looked like.
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NvidiaÂ and IntelÂ have signed a multiyear cross-licensing agreement that entitles Nvidia to build chipsets for Intel's processors, the companies announced Friday.ADVERTISEMENTSolaris 10(TM) OS: Position your business ten moves ahead.Solaris 10 OS has arrived and provides even more reasons for the world's most demanding businesses to operate on this, the leading UNIX platform. Like the fact you can run Linux and Solaris applications side-by-side and run the same OS on SPARC(R), AMD Opteron(TM), and Intel processor-based systems. Discover more reasons and how Solaris 10 OS can move your business ahead today.
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Intel has unveiled a new Centrino chipset that supports three  Wi-Fi standards, along with new wireless software and improved security features.
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Intel has launched an online community to solicit suggestions for new features in the next generation of its vPro chips.
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Intel demonstrated new &quot;Penryn&quot; server and enthusiast CPUs that will launch in November, as well as its next-generation CPU architecture and manufacturing process at the first day of its Intel Developer Forum.