HP today announced that the HP Z1 Workstation is now available worldwide for a starting price of $1,899 through global resellers and retailers, including CDW, MelroseMAC and PC Mall. The world's first all-in-one workstation with a 27-inch diagonal display was unveiled in Las Vegas on Feb. 14 at the HP Global Partnership Conference.

Built for computer-aided design, digital media and entertainment professionals, the HP Z1 provides blazingly fast rendering and performance. It offers a full range of workstation-class graphics cards and processors and is thoroughly tested and certified to work with today's leading industry applications.

MAINGEAR, an award-winning custom PC builder offering custom desktops, gaming notebooks, PC workstations, updates their Quantum SHIFT4K workstation, designed for maximum scalability and performance in Adobe Creative Suite while working with 4K source material.

MAINGEAR's powerhouse Quantum SHIFT4K PC workstations steps up the standard for workstation excellence by offering robust support for Adobe Creative Suite version 5.5. Designed to enhance workflow instead of requiring workarounds, the Quantum SHIFT 4K is a graphic and video editing PC and content creation powerhouse; courtesy of the new 8-core Intel Xeon processors E5-2600 product family that deliver up to 80% more performance vs. previous generation of Intel Xeon 5600 processors. With support for XML, EDL, and OMF import/export and networked storage, collaboration between editors and 3rd party post production houses is seamless with Quantum SHIFT 4K PC workstations. And with a wide selection of hardware options, the Quantum SHIFT 4K supports the hardware necessary to build a 4K editing PC that fits any professional editing environment. The Quantum SHIFT 4K with Adobe CS5.5 can be built to suit an existing infrastructure, not forcing the need to reinvest in new equipment.

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., today announced that it has expanded its portfolio of Hitachi Compute Systems with the addition of the new Hitachi Compute Blade 500. The new blade server is the first Hitachi Data Systems product to incorporate the latest Intel Xeon processor E5-2600. The open, flexible architecture and high-performance, high-availability features of Hitachi Compute Blade 500 make it an ideal platform for virtualized infrastructures and demanding cloud applications.

Intel is planning to launch a line of low-power Xeon processors in Q2-2012, which will be the company's first Xeon processors built on the 22 nm fab process, with 3D transistors. It is quite likely that these chips are built in the LGA1155 package, however Intel is only releasing low-power variants, which ensures performance-segment Xeon E3-1200 family isn't disturbed, and more importantly, it doesn't have to pull out the best bins of its 22 nm Ivy Bridge silicon just yet (for use in higher clock-speed Xeon parts).

Intel has another emerging problem. With the advent of "micro-servers" (low power independent servers in high-density data-centers, which provide better cost-performance and manageability than virtual servers), ARM processor architecture is making inroads to the enterprise computing market. Intel's answer to that is refining the same silicon that goes into making low-power Atom processors, and making it enterprise-grade. This part is codenamed "Centerton", and Intel expects an entire micro-server platform based on these chips to be out in the second half of 2012.

Not everyone can possess a rackmount NAS. If you don't have the specific infrastructure, it's not really convenient. However, it's apparent that everyone requires more and more storage space and file sharing! That's why Thecus came out with a brand new tower series with 6, 8 and 10-bay NAS. Each has been designed to be flexible and ideal for specific business network architecture.

TopTower N6850: Versatile Storage Solution

Thecus is known for releasing NAS of uncommon size to meet customers' needs. Between the already best-selling N5200XXX and the famous N7700 series, the N6850 perfectly fills the gap.

Featuring an Intel Pentium G620 Dual-Core 2.6 GHz and 2 GB of RAM, this NAS can pile up to 18 TB of data capacity. With this power, advanced RAID levels such as RAID10 or RAID50 can be enabled and won't suffer from CPU lag: not only is your data more secure, but transfers are even faster!

Ideal for multi-users, the N6850 is a premium choice for SMB users willing to centralize their data.

SGI, the trusted leader in technical computing, today announced the introduction of SGI NAS, a powerful, no-compromise, full-featured enterprise-class open storage solution that delivers maximum flexibility to IT managers who must master the challenges of inexorable data growth. As the first fully integrated solution in the SGI Modular InfiniteStorage product family, SGI NAS provides organizations with a full-featured platform that can start small and yet scale to multiple petabytes of unified storage according to business demands. This storage solution supports advanced enterprise architecture from virtualization to the complete lifecycle of data -from creation to archive - with a minimum of datacenter real estate.

Throughout Intel Corporation's developer forum that starts today, company executives emphasized the importance of collaborating with China's government and industry to help create new business and innovation opportunities for Intel and its 14 million developers worldwide. The management team detailed its vision of how such collaborations could potentially spawn the next-generation of advances in business, consumer electronics and many more industries around the globe.

"The impact of major global trends, such as the rapidly growing middle class as well as the explosive growth of connected, mobile Internet and cloud computing traffic, is playing out ten-fold in China," said Sean Maloney, executive vice president of Intel Corporation and chairman of Intel China.

Eurocom Corporation, a developer of long lifespan, fully upgradable Notebooks, high performance Mobile Workstations and Mobile Servers is now supporting the Intel Xeon Processor E5-2690 in its Panther 4.0 Mobile Servers, along with an entire range of Intel Xeon E5 processors.

Eurocom's Panther line of high performance Mobile Servers will be bolstered by the introduction of the Intel Xeon Processor E5-2690 and complete line of Intel LGA2011 processors. The Panther 4.0 is the world's first Sandy Bridge-E notebook with a full X79 chipset using the LGA2011 socket. Eurocom Mobile Servers are ideal for professionals and teams who frequently travel yet need access to high performance computing.

TYAN has launched 8 cutting-edge platforms based on the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family. These platforms are designed to deliver the benefits of Intel's latest processor architecture. We offer high peak performance along with outstanding power efficiency and are designed for today's HPC/GPU and general server applications. These products help channel customers build solutions for applications ranging from the largest data centers all the way down to the smallest server room implementations in a quick and efficient way.

Transcend Information, Inc. (Transcend), a worldwide leader in storage and multimedia products, is proud to announce its launch of 16 GB DDR3-1600 Registered DIMM (RDIMM) and 8GB DDR3L-1333 Low Voltage RDIMM modules. Fully compatible with the latest generation of Intel Xeon and Core i7 processors, the cost-effective DDR3 memory modules provide increased memory density and higher performance, while significantly reducing power consumption.

As Transcend's highest density DDR3 module, the 16GB DDR3-1600 RDIMM is constructed with top quality 4 Gb DDR3 1 Gbx4 35nm DRAM chips that deliver stable performance and durability. A single 16 GB memory module can lower power consumption by a staggering 75% compared with using four 4 GB modules, thereby saving energy and costs. The 16GB DDR3 module is rated at 1600 MHz with low latency of 11-11-11-28 and an operating voltage of a mere 1.5V. Offering memory bandwidth up to 12.8 GB/s and the flexibility to expand maximum capacity to 96 GB (per processor), the 16GB DDR3-1600 RDIMM module allows administrators to create a robust infrastructure that runs memory-intensive applications such as virtualization and cloud computing with ease.

After last week's launch of the Xeon "Romley" platform, which replaces the Xeon 5500 "Tylersburg" platform, Intel has a retirement plan ready for the latter. Tylersburg was introduced in 2009, based on Intel's Nehalem architecture. Intel introduced product change notification (PCN) documents that detail these plans. The following models will be discontinued:

• High-end: W5590, W5580, X5570, X5560 and X5550
• Mid-tier versions: E5540, E5530, E5520, E5507, E5506, E5504, E5503 and E5502
• Entry-level versions: L5530, L5520 and L5506

September 28, 2012 is set as the last date of orders for these chips. After this date, Intel will work to clear the last orders, and the products will attain end-of-life (EOL) status. Small stocks will still be held to honor any warranty claims.

The design of the E5 Xeon processor is directly related to the vastly growing data center industry as we know it. Oriented toward new cloud-connected features, the Xeon E5 processors will help drive the server and workstation industry like never seen before. E5 processors are offered in three variants: Quad-core, Six-core, and Eight-core chips will help end-users decide what should be utilized for the task in mind.

Intel offers a wide variety of E5 Xeon processors, the E5-2603 quad-core being the low-end of the spectrum, and the E5-2690 eight-core providing high-ranked performance over previous Xeon processors. It is also very important to note power consumption will increase with the capabilities of each chip, but this also creates numerous possibilities for a multitude of configurations. To introduce a more unique experience for each end-user, AVADirect provides over 1000 different combinations of components for configurations that feature the E5 Xeon processors.

GIGABYTE introduces its latest dual socket 1U rack server based on Intel's brand new Xeon E5-2600 generation. With the significant computing speed boost brought by these new processors, the GS-R12PE deploys powerful computing capabilities which, coupled together with a large and fast memory platform, makes it an ideal product for cloud computing and speed demanding applications such as finance or oil industries.

With up to 8 cores / 16 threads per socket, TDP up to 135W, cache size increased up to 20MB, increased QPI frequency, and doubled inter-socket QPI links, this new Xeon generation brings a significant increase in computing power for demanding server and datacenter applications.

GIGABYTE announces the launch of a new high end workstation motherboard based on Intel's brand new Xeon E5-1600 CPU family and the Intel C604 chipset. This single socket board aimed at the extreme performance desktop and enterprise segments offers the features below:

Intel Xeon E5-1600 CPU Series

With up to 6 cores / 12 threads per socket, TDP up to 130W, cache size increased up to 15 MB, increased QPI frequency, and doubled inter-socket QPI links, this new Xeon generation brings a significant increase in computing power for demanding workstation applications.

Digital Power Control

The GA-6PXSV1 is equipped with a brand new digital PWM controller allowing the user to get full control of the power delivery steadiness to the CPU and the memory, in any given loading. The system stability can therefore be fully fine-tuned and optimized in the BIOS controls by adjusting parameters like voltage, phase and frequency. Moreover, this controller, its associated chokes, and all the board's capacitors are selected ultra high quality components chosen to deliver the best durability and reliability.

NVIDIA today announced that its NVIDIA Tesla GPUs will be included in HP ProLiant Generation 8 (Gen8) servers, delivering new levels of computational performance for scientific applications at world-class power efficiency.

HP ProLiant SL250 Gen8 CPU-GPU hybrid servers combine the world's most powerful parallel processors, NVIDIA Tesla M2090 GPUs, with new Intel Xeon E5-2600 series CPUs based on the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture.

ASUS made its workstation-grade Z9PE-D8 WS motherboard official. The board is built for 2P Xeon E5-2600 series processors in the LGA2011 package, is based on the Intel C606 "Patsburg" chipset, and is built in the 30.5 x 33 cm EEB form-factor. Each of the two sockets is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting quad-channel memory, each. Up to 256 GB of registered DDR3 memory is supported.

Expansion slots include four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (blue), two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (electrical x8, top two black), and one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, bottommost black). 4-way SLI and CrossFireX are supported. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s (two from the PCH, four from two Marvell 9230 chips), and eight SATA 3 Gb/s (all from the PCH). An ASPEED ASMB6 provides basic display and iKVM functions. Realtek ALC898 provides 8-channel HD audio. There are two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, driven by Intel 82574L chips. The Z9PE-D8 WS from ASUS is priced around US $630.

At CeBIT, Gigabyte unveiled what many may have overlooked for bearing a strong resemblance to the GA-X79-UD5, the GA-X79S-UD5. This board is designed to be a 1P workstation-grade motherboard, probably with out of the box support for the latest Xeon processors in the LGA2011 package, apart from Core i7 ones. The upper-half of this board is nearly identical to that of the X79-UD5. The LGA2011 CPU is powered by a 14-phase VRM, wired to eight DDR3 DIMM slots (two on either sides), supporting quad-channel memory. There are minor differences (as far as the upper-half is concerned). Tantulum capacitors on the X79-UD5 are replaced with cylindrical solid-state ones on the X79S-UD5, the FrescoLogic-made USB 3.0 controller is replaced with a VLI-made one.

It's the lower half of the X79S-UD5, where all the action is. The expansion slot load-out consists of five long PCI-Express x16 slots. Among these, two are PCI-Express 3.0 x16 capable, one is PCI-Express 3.0 x8 capable (by taking 8 lanes from one of the two x16 links), and two appear to be PCI-Express 2.0 x4. Then there's a legacy PCI slot. The PCH heatsink is identical to the one on the X79-UD5, but what's under it is what counts. Although named "X79"S-UD5, the board is actually based on the Intel C606 "Patsburg", which is an enterprise-grade chipset for Intel's Sandy Bridge-EP platforms. Apart from six SATA ports (2x 6 Gb/s + 4x 3 Gb/s), the C606 PCH provides eight SAS (Serial-attached SCSI) ports, running at 3 Gb/s speeds. The rest of the connectivity is completely identical to that of the X79-UD5.

ORIGIN PC announced today the launch of their new line of desktops and laptops for professionals. Featuring options like the latest Intel Xeon E5 processors, ORIGIN PC professional overclocking, and NVIDIA Quadro workstation graphics cards. The new PRO line of systems from ORIGIN PC is designed specifically for artists, engineers, and professionals. ORIGIN PC now offers its award-winning performance, endless customization options, and industry leading U.S. based lifetime 24/7 support to professionals worldwide.

ORIGIN PC's custom workstations offer a wide range of solutions to fit mostly any workspace or budget:

- The small form factor CHRONOS PRO starts at $1299
- The mid-tower MILLENNIUM PRO starts at $1396
- The full-tower GENESIS PRO starts at $2131
- The EON15-PRO mobile workstation starts at $1581

Puget Systems, a boutique integrator of custom PC systems for enthusiasts, gamers, consumers and SMB markets, today announced availability of Intel Sandy Bridge-E to its line of workstations and servers.

Sandy Bridge-EP incorporates improved memory bandwidth, more PCI-E lanes, and uses Intel's Turbo Boost Technology 2.0, providing even more performance when needed. For more information, a full Sandy Bridge-E technology primer is available from Puget Systems.

PMC-Sierra, Inc., (Nasdaq:PMCS) or PMC, the semiconductor innovator transforming storage, optical and mobile networks, today announced that Adaptec by PMC is demonstrating a server that doubles storage performance, reduces power consumption and increases reliability in a smaller data center footprint to help meet the soaring demands on data centers while driving down total cost of ownership. The CeBIT demonstration features a RAID controller card prototype based on the industry's only PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0 capable 24-port RAID-on-Chip (RoC) from PMC, installed in a system based on the new Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family, and 22 Seagate Pulsar enterprise solid state drives (SSDs). Visit Adaptec in the CeBIT Storage Pavilion, Hall 2, Stand E51 to view the demonstration.

The server configuration delivers a sustained data transfer rate of 6600 MB/s in reads and 5000 MB/s in writes. This performance is made possible by the significant bandwidth advantages of the new Intel platform's PCIe 3.0 interface combined with the SRCv's 24-6Gb/s SAS interfaces and Seagate's SAS Pulsar SSDs that deliver sequential reads of 370 MB/s and sequential writes of 200 MB/s. Previous-generation systems based on PCIe 2.0 are typically capable of less than 3000 MB/s data transfer rates.

Fujitsu today launches the new PRIMERGY CX400 S1 multi-node Cloud eXtension server. This innovative technology requires only half the space of a standard rack server to provide enterprises with cost-effective, energy-efficient access to smart scale-out capabilities for deployments such as private cloud, high-performance computing (HPC) and large-scale virtualization.

Enterprise customers of all sizes are increasingly looking for improved energy efficiency, higher platform density and better management effectiveness when realizing their cloud computing, high performance computing, virtualization, hosting, or virtual-client computing strategies.

BOXX Technologies, the leading innovator of high-performance workstations and rendering systems, today announced the introduction of the 3DBOXX 8920 workstation which delivers an 80% application performance increase over its predecessor, the 3DBOXX 8520. The latest addition to their heralded 3DBOXX 8500/8900 workstation line, 8920 features dual, eight-core Intel Xeon E5-2600 series processors, along with a host of other technology upgrades that boost overall performance for VFX artists, animators, designers, engineers, and other creative professionals.

"Our BOXX is better than their box," said Shoaib Mohammad, BOXX VP of Marketing and Business Development, in response to being asked what's separates the workstation manufacturer from its competitors. "At BOXX, we understand the applications our customers employ to create, test, and modify their ideas. And we create optimized configurations using the latest Intel Xeon processors in order to provide the best possible user experience when dealing with complex simulations, rendering, and ray tracing applications."
The 3DBOXX 8920 features up to 16 cores (32 threads) of high-powered, multitasking performance for 3D design, animation, rendering, visualization, VFX compositing, and more. Designed to accommodate multi-threading, multiple applications, and complex production pipelines, the new 8920 has also expanded to include additional memory and up to three NVIDIA GPUs. The result is faster performance for both CPU- and GPU-based rendering, simulation, and ray tracing tasks.

NVIDIA today announced that its NVIDIA Tesla GPUs will be featured, for the first time, on two Dell PowerEdge 12th generation rack and tower servers.

Dell designed the new GPU-enabled PowerEdge R720 and PowerEdge T620 servers to accelerate a wide range of computationally intensive, industry standard applications, including Mathworks MATLAB (for computational research) and SIMULIA Abaqus (for computer-aided engineering). In addition, the new servers combine the 512-core NVIDIA Tesla M2090 GPUs with the latest Intel Xeon E5/R CPUs based on the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture to accelerate a range of scientific applications in fields such as life sciences, engineering, weather and climate, and others.

NextComputing, a leading manufacturer of portable and small footprint workstations and servers, announces the addition of the Intel Xeon E5-2600 processor product family to its line portable workstations, compact towers, and high-density rack-mount computers. Intel Xeon E5-2600 processors offer up to eight (8) processor cores per CPU, plus leading edge features like PCI Express 3.0. With support for up to two of these processors (16 cores), and multiple PCI Express slots, NextComputing has delivered the industry's highest performance computing platforms in the most compact form-factors available.

ADLINK Technology, Inc., a leading provider of trusted telecom computing products, today announced availability of the aTCA-6200, a next-generation AdvancedTCA (ATCA) processor blade that demonstrates ADLINK's leadership in the development of high performance compute blades with flexible expansion capabilities.

The aTCA-6200 features two 1.8 GHz eight-core Intel Xeon processors E5-2648L, the Intel C604 chipset, DDR3-1600 memory up to 128 GB, and a PICMG mid-size AMC bay. On-card connectivity includes dual 10GBASE-KX4 Fabric Interfaces, dual GbE Base Interfaces, dual front panel GbE egress ports, CFast socket, and quad SAS channels, which provide leading-edge network performance and storage capabilities. The aTCA-6200 is ideal for carrier-grade applications such as media servers in IPTV, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) broadband networks, and wireless infrastructures, providing telecom equipment manufacturers (TEMs) and network equipment providers (NEPs) with a flexible, cost-effective solution for mission-critical applications and a reliable, smooth path for scalability and expansion.