High-performance computing (HPC) has been the new trend in our recent times. The applications for HPC range from big data, IOT (internet of things), AI (artificial intelligence), deep learning and blockchains, requires advanced computer hardware to perform their intended functions. From time to time, the performance of HPC has been limited by data storage hardware due to its slow transfer speed, which caps the I/O intensive requirements for these applications. The evolution of data storage from mechanical hard drives to NVMe (non-volatile memory express) SSDs have eventually unleashed the next level of high-performance computing and its applications.

It's clear that installing NVMe U.2 drives requires not only a whole system upgrade but also a system that allows for easy maintenance. Enabling hot-swap functions on NVMe U.2 SSDs and finding the proper equipment in a computer or rackmount system has become a new challenge for many companies, as the current computer chassis are not optimized for NVMe U.2 SSDs. With more than 20 years of expertise, ICY DOCK, who specializes in enterprise data storage enclosures, has already implemented to this drastic change in data storage technology and created the world first NVMe removable drive enclosure, the ToughArmor NVMe series. The ToughArmor's removable drive caddy allows for easy NVMe drive installation and system maintenance for any companies who wish to utilize the benefits of using the next-generation NVMe U.2 SSDs.

Business leaders worldwide are balancing two objectives: keeping the business running smoothly by preventing security and productivity disruptions while simultaneously tapping into the incredible potential of new innovations, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and VR/AR. Dell is introducing new solutions across its commercial PC portfolio designed to help businesses of all sizes achieve that critical balance. In addition to being the world's most secure and manageable commercial PCs, Dell's updated commercial lineup features advances in smart design, productivity and sustainability to meet the ever-expanding needs of a global, diverse workforce.

"For many of our customers, work is no longer a place they go -- it's an activity," said Jay Parker, president, Client Product Group, Dell. "And smart companies that want to attract and keep the best talent have embraced the evolving needs and expectations of their employees. IT departments are working with Dell to build a technology strategy that gives employees the power and flexibility to get their jobs done, whenever and wherever it best fits their lifestyle, while keeping data secure and TCO low."

MSI, a world leader in computer hardware, continues to innovate its workstation line with the Vortex W25 and updated WT75, WS63 and WE series of mobile workstations. The Vortex W25 is the world's first 2.5L desktop powered by NVIDIA's Quadro P5200 GPU. "The Vortex W25 is one of the smallest and most capable workstations on the market," said Andy Tung, President of MSI. "We first created the chassis for powerful gaming performance with the Vortex G25, but we believe the innovative design will translate easily to those who need desktop-grade power in a small form factor."

Vortex W25
The Vortex W25 is the world's first 2.5L desktop powered by the NVIDIA Quadro P5200 GPU. In addition to its powerful graphics card, the Vortex also comes equipped with the latest Intel 8th generation processor. The new processor with its six cores of computing power, is up to 30 percent more powerful than the previous generation. The Quadro GPU provides up to 40 percent more performance than its predecessor. These performance upgrades make the Vortex W25 ideal for high-end 3D or VR tasks.

GIGABYTE Technology, an industry leader in high-performance servers, graphics and gaming platforms with a broad portfolio of workstation products, and Cavium, Inc., a leading provider of semiconductor products for enterprise, data center, cloud, wired and wireless networking, today announced the availability of ThunderXStation: the industry's first 64-bit Armv8 workstation platform based on Cavium's flagship ThunderX2 processor.

Workstations are standalone platforms with high performance CPUs, lots of memory and excellent graphics capabilities, widely used for advanced software development. ThunderXStation integrates dual socket ThunderX2 motherboard in a 4U tower suitable for office environments. Arm has a very strong ecosystem with millions of developers and is the processor of choice for a variety of verticals such as mobile, embedded and IoT. Arm software developers currently utilize binary translators and cross compilers resulting in increased development and debug cycles. By delivering native performance and eliminating the need for cross compilers, ThunderXStation simplifies software development for Arm and significantly improves time to solution delivery.

Today Wacom announced the Wacom Cintiq Pro Engine, a creative PC module available in two configurations that fully integrates into the Cintiq Pro 24-inch pen display (announced today in a separate release). Designed for professional illustrators, designers, engineers and motion graphics users who require professional computing power and graphics performance, the modular Cintiq Pro Engine slots into the back of the Cintiq Pro 24, eliminating the space, cable clutter and compatibility issues that often result from using external computers and laptops.

"It is our mission to help professionals create with the least amount of distraction and clutter and to give them the power to tackle the new spaces of creating content for AR, VR and MR. The Wacom Cintiq Pro Engine provides a beautiful, easy to use solution for creatives everywhere," said Faik Karaoglu, Executive Vice President of the Creative Business Unit at Wacom.

In a blog post, Microsoft detailed some new features that have become available for Microsoft's Insider Program Fast Ring users, of which the titular "Ultimate Performance Mode" certainly wrings the most attention. The Ultimate Performance Mode is really a performance plan integrated into Windows, which basically throws all power saving features out the Window to make sure that the underlying hardware is always running at its peak performance. Microsoft says that latencies and microstutters should be reduced as much as possible, thus allowing users to wring "ultimate performance" from their systems.

Microsoft says this is focused on the Workstation market, and should be especially deployed in mission critical scenarios where every second counts (wait, doesn't gaming qualify by this measure?) As a result of this re-balancing on idle and power states, power consumption goes up; the main reason why Microsoft isn't making this feature available for battery-powered devices - at least for now. The consumer side of the equation is being left out in the cold, for now, when it comes to this Ultimate Performance Mode; but users should remain optimistic. There's no reason why Microsoft would leave this option to Workstation environments only, so a consumer-focused release (be it in the Insider Fast Ring or on the regular Windows 10 update cycles) is still out in the open.

Fujitsu is recalling the Panasonic lithium-ion battery packs used in their CELSIUS H720, LIFEBOOK E752, E733, E743, E753, P702, P772, S710, S752, S762, T732, T734, and T902 notebooks. The battery packs with the CP556150-03, CP579060-01 and CP629458-03 product numbers can overheat and cause serious injuries to consumers. Both the product and serial numbers are visible on the white sticker that's located on the battery. Out of the 5,800 units sold in the United States and 606 units in Canada, Fujitsu has only received one report of the battery catching fire so far. Owners with the affected models should remove their battery packs as soon as possible and contact Fujitsu for a free replacement. They can continue to use their notebooks normally by plugging in the AC power while they wait for the replacement battery.

At SOLIDWORKS World, HP today announced it will power its bestselling performance workstation, the HP Z4, with a choice of Intel Xeon or Core X processors and support dual extreme graphics. HP's latest technology was showcased at SOLIDWORKS World, where it also unveiled its low-cost, full-color 3D printers -- highlighting the company's comprehensive end-to-end solutions for product developers.

"The revamped Z4 workstation, along with our latest HP Windows Mixed Reality Headset and new customer-friendly VR solutions and services, will transform the way products across industries are developed," said Xavier Garcia, vice president and general manager, Z Workstations, HP Inc. "Over the past year, HP has launched the world's most powerful workstation, the most powerful detachable PC and the first-ever professional VR backpack. Today's news reflects our focus on continuously raising the bar with a portfolio of workstations and VR capabilities that will enable amazing new experiences and define the future of computing."

Built on Intel's C621 chipset, ASUS's new WS C621E SAGE motherboard possesses some interesting traits. For a start, this workstation motherboard not only supports one LGA-3647 socket processor, but two of them in tandem. That's right. Enterprise users in need of raw processing power can drop in a pair of Intel Xeon Platinum 8180 processors and build themselves a beastly workstation with 56 cores and 112 threads at their disposal. But, what really separates the WS C621E SAGE from the competition is the motherboard's overclocking capability. Since Intel locks the multiplier for their Xeon processors, owners are accustomed to settle for factory clock speeds. However, ASUS has engineered a method to allow Xeon owners to overclock their processors to take their performance to a next level. Given the locked multiplier, we assume that overclocking is probably done through base clock adjustments.

Processing power is crucial for productivity, but having enough memory for heavy-duty tasks is equally important. For that same reason, ASUS has incorporated 12 DDR4 memory slots into the WS C621E SAGE. Users can go with either RDIMM or LR-DIMM ECC modules with speeds up to DDR4-2666. This opens the door to running 1.5 TB of memory. Now that's something you don't see everyday.

In a response to AMD's current uptake in the consumer, HEDT and server markets with its vertical slice of the Zen architecture, Intel has started rebranding their products and image, changing product names and placement in a bid to increase the "freshness" factor of its offerings. E5 and E7 Xeons are gone, with the introduction of a metallic naming scheme: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum are now Intel's Xeon products, and Xeon-W takes the spot as Intel's workstation-oriented product stack. They do this by being - essentially - a conversion of Intel's Core i9 X299 family of processors towards the professional market with inclusion of professional-geared features. And as is usual with Intel, a new chipset - C422 - is needed in order for these to properly function.

The new Xeon-W product family will still make use of the LGA 2066 socket, bringing with them ECC and vPro support. The Xeon-W CPU family will feature 4 to 18 cores, support up to 512GB of ECC RDIMM/LRDIMM memory, support dual 512-bit FMAs, and peak clocks of 4 GHz base and 4.5 GHz Turbo. All the parts will support 48 PCIe 3.0 lanes from the processor,and CPUs in the Xeon-W stack are rated at 140W TDP: with exception of the quad cores, which come in at at 120W. Xeon-W processors only support Turbo Boost 2.0, instead of their Core i9 counterparts' Turbo 3.0.

AMD has recently added two new offerings to their WX series of professional, workstation-oriented graphics cards. The WX 2100 and WX 3100 are entry-level offerings for the professional market, with 512 stream processors running at 1,219 MHz on a 14 nm graphics processor based on the Polaris architecture. The RX 2100 features 2GB of GDDR5 memory on a 64-bit interface; the RX 3100 doubles those figures to 4GB of memory on a 128-bit interface.

On performance, AMD said that the soon to be released WX 2100 and WX 3100 deliver up to 2x the performance of previous entry-level professional AMD graphics, and up to 28% faster performance than competing NVIDIA offerings. The WX 2100 is expected to cost $149, while the WX 3100 is expected to go for $199. AMD said the Radeon Pro WX 2100 and WX 3100 are both expected to launch in June; an exact date wasn't provided. The company also said both cards are covered by 24/7 customer support and a three-year limited warranty that can be extended up to seven years.

AMD has tentatively announced the existence of an additional Ryzen line-up, Ryzen PRO, which AMD pits against Intel's i5-7500 with some interesting performance claims for professional-grade workloads.

HP Inc. today announced its most secure and manageable HP ZBook Mobile Workstations to-date. The new solutions-packed devices include award-winning display technology, 3D graphics and server-grade processing power -- all in a compact, mobile design. With its new workstation line up, HP continues to offer world-class innovation to power filmmakers, designers, artists, explorers and other visionary thinkers.

"As a longtime partner to the creative industry, Z Workstations have earned their position as the ultimate innovative and reliable technology for creators," said Josh Peterson, vice president of product management for Z Workstations. "Our fourth generation ZBook Mobile Workstations are the most secure and manageable mobile workstations in the industry. By protecting the intellectual property of digital creators everywhere, HP enables the creative industry to focus on bringing their best work to-life without the worry of IP theft or breaches."

Today at Autodesk University, HP Inc. unveiled the world's first mini workstation designed for users in CAD and other compute-intensive industries. The stylish, new HP Z2 Mini Workstation delivers breakthrough power and versatility and at only 2.3" high is 90% smaller than a traditional business-class tower. With this new offering, HP is positioned to extend its workstation leadership by delivering a new category of workstation that offers superb performance, elegance and efficiency.

HP Z Workstation products have become the industry standard for customers demanding a full performance workstation. Building off the success of the HP Z240 SFF, the HP Z2 Mini Workstation is twice as powerful as any commercial mini PC on the market today and has the ability to support six displays right out of the box. The HP Z2 Mini was designed for the millions of CAD users demanding smaller hardware without compromising acoustics and performance and mission-critical reliability.

ASUS today unveiled the X99-E 10G WS workstation motherboard. Although based on the X99 Express chipset, this board supports Intel Xeon E5-1600 and E5-2600 (v3 and v4) processors, besides Core i7 "Haswell-E" and "Broadwell-E" processors in the LGA2011v3 package. The board's eight DDR4 DIMM slots support up to 128 GB of quad-channel DDR4 memory. The board is built in the SSI-CEB form-factor (305 mm x 267 mm). The board features seven PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, and uses PLX PEX-8747 x48 bridge chips to provide either two x16 slots with direct wiring to the CPU, or four x16 slots running at full x16 bandwidth, or seven x16 slots in x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8 configuration.

Storage connectivity includes one 32 Gb/s U.2 port, a 32 Gb/s M.2 slot, and a total of ten SATA 6 Gb/s ports. The board derives its name from support for 10 Gbps Ethernet, and features a pair of 10 Gbps connections driven by an Intel X550-AT2 controller. Other modern connectivity includes two USB 3.1 ports (of which one is type-C), eight USB 3.0 ports, and 8-channel HD audio with a 115 dBA SNR CODEC. The board draws power from a 24-pin ATX, a 6-pin PCIe, and two 8-pin EPS connectors, and uses an 8-phase VRM to condition power for the CPU. ASUS didn't reveal pricing.

Lian-Li Industrial Co. Ltd is excited to launch its DK-12 and DK-16 motorized standing desks. Following the success of the DK-04 and earlier computer desk chassis, Lian Li adds a pair of more conventional standing desks to its repertoire. The DK-12 and DK-16 provide health-conscious users a stylish workspace designed with PC workstations in mind. Who better to make a desk for a PC than a case maker.

It is true that people sit for most of their day, increasing the risk of diabetes and heart disease. With manifold health benefits discovered by prevailing studies these past few years, standing desks are a vogue choice for employers and office workers seeking to improve their habits and lifestyle. Many vaunt standing desks not only for health benefits, but even boosting productivity. With everything to gain and nothing to lose, why not start standing.

MSI, industry leading motherboard brand, is proud to announce its latest addition to its X99 portfolio, the X99A WORKSTATION. Dedicated towards users demanding perfect stability & performance for optimal productivity while in search of a wide variety in connectivity & storage options, the new X99A WORKSTATION is sure to impress. Built from the ground up using Military Class 5 components, the X99A WORKSTATION is optimized to use ECC Registered DIMM (RDIMM) memory while benefiting from enhanced performance & stability through the presence of DDR4 Boost. The X99A WORKSTATION supports the latest Intel processors out of the box, both Broadwell-E and XEON based models. The X99A WORKSTATION motherboard is the perfect multi-tasking powerhouse to cater even the most demanding professional.

To be qualified as a true workstation motherboard, optimal & stable data handling needs to be guaranteed, no matter what. By using industries' highest quality components combined with an unmatched R&D design and extreme QA testing, the X99A WORKSTATION motherboard PCB design has been optimized to do just that. To protect the PCB and its components, besides looking cool an IO & audio cover ensures worry free use. The data and audio signals are also shielded against EMI. Heavy plated heatsinks, with a touch of grey, green and white, are used to ensure perfect operation at even the most extreme conditions. To transfer countless data, a wide variety of storage connecters such as U.2 , M.2 and SATA ports are demanded by most workstation users. The X99A WORKSTATION allows any of the latest and greatest HDD, SSD or other storage devices to be connected.

MSI, the leading motherboard brand, is proud to announce the world's first channel motherboard that passed the NVIDIA Quadro SLI certification, the upcoming MSI X99A WORKSTATION. With server level design and reliable stability, the MSI X99A WORKSTATION is optimized for NVIDIA Quadro SLI and VR SLI, built for high-end content creation PCs and the best rendering efficiency.

Moreover, X99A WORKSTATION adopts the unique Steel Armor and optimized PCI Express slots placement as well, to ensure perfect stability and compatibility. Steel Armor on the MSI X99A WORKSTATION has more solder points on the PCB for more strength. It also protects the PCI-Express signals against electromagnetic interference for hassle-free rendering and stability during heavy tasks.

NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) today opened the path toward virtualizing all enterprise applications with the introduction of NVIDIA GRID with the new NVIDIA Tesla M10 GPU. The offering provides the industry's highest user density -- supporting 64 desktops per board and 128 desktops per server -- so businesses can deliver virtualized desktops to all of their employees at an affordable cost.

The NVIDIA GRID software lets enterprises simplify deployments of virtual applications, desktops and workstations to meet all use cases and workloads. It provides a great user experience for every modern business application, such as Outlook, Office 2016, web browsers, Adobe Photoshop and the Windows 10 operating system. In addition, the offering eases enterprise adoption through a flexible subscription model that allows organizations to balance capital and operating expenses while enjoying the lowest total cost of ownership. Ongoing software updates provide the latest innovations to customers.

MSI, world leading in motherboards and most popular brand in the gaming market is pleased to announce two new C232 based motherboards, the E3 KRAIT GAMING V5 and E3M WORKSTATION V5. With the their ability to use the less expensive Intel Xeon CPUs make both models a promising solution for users who are looking to build a Xeon based gaming or workstation PC while demanding reliable and long term system stability.

More Reliable Platform of LGA1151
The Intel Xeon processors are designed for use in workstation, servers or datacenters which require high stability and reliability. The E3 KRAIT GAMINNG V5 and E3M WORKSTAION V5 motherboards support Intel E3-1200 v5 series processors with a lot of CPU power, lower cost and great level of stability. Moreover, these two motherboards support ECC memory, offering better compatibility & stability and catering to the industries preferred choice over general non-ECC DDR4 memory.

HP Inc. today announced a bold evolution and a series of updates to the world's first workstation all-in-one - the new HP Z1 G3 Workstation - combining the simplicity of an All-in-One design with performance typically found in traditional tower workstations.

Built for demanding users, the third generation HP Z1 Workstation is smaller, thinner and lighter delivering screaming performance at a great value.

• 47 percent smaller, 51 percent lighter and 21 percent less expensive than the previous generation.
• 23.6 inch diagonal anti-glare UHD 4K display for the outstanding visual clarity when working on graphic intensive projects.
• Intel Xeon processor options for powerful workstation-class processing technology for the most demanding applications.

HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) today announced it is collaborating with NVIDIA to deliver workstations for 3D content creators, media professionals, game and application developers, and others to create visually engaging and immersive virtual reality experiences. New HP Z Workstation configurations are NVIDIA VR Ready systems, equipped with NVIDIA Quadro professional GPUs. The new configurations provide the performance necessary for content creators to deliver a seamless and accurate VR experience. Each configuration is tested with optional HTC Vive head mounted displays to ensure a smooth path to the creation of inspiring, immersive content. The companies announced the systems at NVIDIA's GPU Technology Conference, running April 4-7 at the San Jose Convention Center. The ultimate content creation configuration features dual NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24GB cards with availability planned this quarter.

"We are embarking on a new frontier that will change how content producers and artists develop the most immersive, visually stimulating content available," said Jeff Wood, vice president, Worldwide Product Management, Workstations and Thin Clients, HP Inc. "HP Z desktop workstations with NVIDIA graphics are the ideal combination for this new content creation era."

MSI, leading in motherboard design, launches two new motherboards to fully utilize the power of the Intel Xeon E3 v5 series CPUs. The C236A WORKSTATION and C236M WORKSTATION motherboards are engineered to offer the best performance and stability for workstation, entry server and datacenter use, catering to the most demanding heavy-duty computer users.

MSI C236 WORKSTATION motherboards are optimized for professional and industrial use. Advanced PCB design, engineered using industry leading standards and the use of the highest quality components passing the most extreme quality validation, the C236A WORKSTATION and C236M WORKSTATION motherboards guarantee the best in performance and reliability. Designed and optimized for NVIDIA Quadro and AMD FirePro graphics cards multi-GPU setups, equipped with unique Steel Armor and optimal PCI Express slot placement ensure great efficiency and perfect stability for heavy duty computing.

Velocity Micro, the premier builder of award winning enthusiast desktops, laptops, and peripherals announces the availability of Gaming/Enthusiast and Workstation PCs featuring 6th Generation Intel Core processors. Hand-crafted, made in the USA desktops using Asus Z170 chipset motherboards start at just $1,479, with shipments beginning immediately.

"This is a huge step forward for gamers, media creators and CAD designers, and even standard home office users," said Randy Copeland, President and CEO of Velocity Micro. "We're excited to offer next-gen enthusiast desktop Intel Core Processors as a part of our ongoing pursuit to create award winning, ultra-performance desktop PCs."

GIGABYTE Technology, a leading creator of high performance server and workstation hardware, is happy to present today the MW70-3S0, its latest dual socket workstation motherboard based on the Intel C612 chipset. It joins the single socket MW50-SV0 to complement GIGABYTE's line of 2011-3 socket based workstation motherboards, and offers workstation builders a high end product featuring the latest technologies and the most reliable components. The MW70-3S0 has been designed with flexibility in mind, through large memory, storage and PCI-Express platforms that will satisfy the most demanding performance requirements of professional workstation users.