Today, Intel announced the Intel Ethernet Controller X540, the industry's first fully integrated 10GBASE-T controller. This space-saving single-chip solution delivers outstanding performance for low-cost, low-power LAN on motherboard (LOM) and Converged Network Adapter (CNA) designs. The Intel Ethernet Controller X540 will help drive broader 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) adoption by providing connections that are backward-compatible with existing Gigabit Ethernet networks. Like other Intel Ethernet 10 Gigabit products, the Intel Ethernet Controller X540 features advanced I/O virtualization, supports Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), and takes advantage of platform I/O enhancements in the Intel Xeon processor E5 family.

The end is nigh, for the 311 Series and 510 Series solid state drives, as Intel decided they can retire and leave more breathing room for models using 25 nm NAND Flash, namely the (now confirmed) 313 Series and the (already released) 520 Series.

Both the 311 Series and 510 Series, which feature 34 nm NAND Flash, will be available for ordering until June 7th and will continue shipping up till September 7th (2012).

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.

Earlier today, Anandtech posted its preview of the Core i7-3770K "Ivy Bridge" processor. The i7-3770K will be the fastest Ivy Bridge LGA1155 processor, when launched. Anandtech put the chip through a battery of tests, starting from overall system performance synthetic test suites, such as SysMark 2012, content-creation, video transcoding, gaming, and system power consumption. The one conclusion you can draw out of these tests is that the Ivy Bridge kicks butt. It has higher performance per core, and single-threaded performance than even the Sandy Bridge-E (LGA2011) chips, it aces content-creation, shines with gaming, and has power-draw lower than even the Core i5-2400 from the previous generation. If you've been holding out over a platform upgrade for a while, the Core i7-3770K is rewarding. But then there's no big incentive, if you're coming from Sandy Bridge LGA1155 chips such as the Core i7-2600K. Read the full review at the source.

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.

Toshiba UK today unveils the launch of the new Satellite P series - a premium collection of multimedia laptops built to provide raw power and lightning-fast performance. Comprising four models, the new P series features the latest generation of processors, dedicated graphics and optional glasses-free 3D support - all packed into a sleek, stylish design.

The ideal choice for home entertainment enthusiasts looking for enough power to handle demanding multimedia applications, the Satellite P series features two 36.9 cm (15.6") models, the Satellite P850 and the Satellite P855, available with an incredible glasses-free 3D screen. Two 43.9 cm (17.3") options, the Satellite P875 and Satellite P870 offer ideal options for those requiring a powerful laptop with a large screen, such as designers, photographers and entertainment enthusiasts.

SMART Modular Technologies ("SMART Modular"), a leading independent manufacturer of memory modules and embedded flash products announces its 64GB DDR3 load-reduced DIMM (LRDIMM). SMART Modular's 64GB LRDIMM is optimized for high-end servers and will be launching in Q2'12 to serve scientific, engineering, and financial computing applications that require high memory capacity and performance. Specifically, this product targets next-generation Intel Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge server platforms for high-performance computing applications.

The new LRDIMM combines innovative module packaging technology leveraging off-the-shelf commodity DRAMs to provide the industry's highest density LRDIMM at the lowest possible cost. Highlighting SMART Modular's design expertise, the new 64GB LRDIMM utilizes a single JEDEC-compliant memory buffer chip, a dual PCB structure and a leading edge interconnect technology to provide maximum performance and density while achieving server-grade quality and reliability.

Toshiba UK today announces the launch of its latest generation Satellite C series - a collection of high quality notebooks offering powerful features, a new slim line design and comprehensive connectivity at an affordable price. Ideal for users such as students or families, the Satellite C series provides essential features such as large storage capacities, high power processors and flexible connectivity in two screen sizes.

Available with a choice of the latest Intel or AMD processors, and dedicated graphics with up to 2 GB VRAM, each model lets users enjoy movies, browse the internet or run multiple applications with ease. An integrated hard disk drive (HDD) of up to 1 TB also provides huge storage capacity that's ideal for storing large music, video and large image libraries, removing the need for external storage devices.

Toshiba UK today announces the launch of a new Satellite Pro range - a collection of reliable and affordable business laptops offering powerful processors, enhanced connectivity features and a choice of designs. Comprising of the value-packed Satellite Pro C series models and three step-up Satellite Pro L series machines, the new range is available in a variety of screen sizes and design options, offering solutions for individuals or entire workforces alike.

Powered by the latest Intel processors and a featuring a new slimline design, the new Satellite Pro models are ideal for professionals looking for a reliable, affordable and stylish business computing. Efficient processing and low power consumption ensures a longer battery life is maintained, while a comprehensive connectivity suite provides workers with outstanding flexibility, wherever they are. Windows 7 Professional comes is available on all models, ensuring IT managers have all the tools required to keep networks secure and easily manage remote workforces.

Toshiba UK today announces the launch of the Mini NB510, the latest model in the award winning Mini NB500 netbook range. Available in a choice of stylish colours, the Mini NB510 features an all-day battery, high definition connectivity and a compact design - matching convenience with portability.

The latest Intel Atom processor and 1 GB of DDR3 RAM ensure the Mini NB510 is capable of running multiple programs simultaneously. Powerful dual-core performance allows users to enjoy high definition movies, stream TV shows on-demand and use social networks on the move. Up to 10 hours of battery life makes the Mini NB510 an ideal companion for travellers on long-haul journeys, or using away from power sockets for extended periods of time.

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.

With the new Ultrabook specification being governed by Intel, and compatible Ivy Bridge Core processors facing delays, Taiwan-based notebook vendors are finding incentives in launching "Ultrabook-like" PCs, notebooks that are about as compact as Ultrabooks, but with vendors' own hardware specifications. Such PCs are also said to be designed keeping in mind lower price-points, such as $600. These notebooks will do away with expensive metal unibody chassis, hollow hinges, and SSDs, and replace them with more cost-effective ones. For example, 7 mm-thick HDDs are already announced. Those could make viable alternatives for SSDs. Such Ultrabook-alternatives could be launched as early as in Q2-2012, sources note.

At last, we're getting to see visuals of MSI's top LGA1155 motherboard based on Intel Z77 chipset, the Z77A-GD80, featuring Intel's Thunderbolt interconnect. Thunderbolt is a unified interconnect that provides 10 Gb/s of raw bus bandwidth to connected devices, and passes through digital display. The connector itself resembles mini-DisplayPort. On the Z77A-GD80, the Thunderbolt port is located below a D-Sub connector. Naturally, is passes both 10 Gb/s Thunderbolt (which can be daisy-chained through multiple bandwidth-hungry devices), and display relayed from Intel processor-integrated graphics. Lucid VirtuMVP lets you harness the pixel-crunching power of your favourite discrete graphics card over this port, as well.

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.

Over the past year, Microsoft has been discussing the vast possibilities offered by the emergence of a new category within the traditional embedded market - intelligent systems.

A critical component of Microsoft's enterprise strategy, intelligent systems enable an unprecedented flow of data with the power to transform industries such as retail, manufacturing and medicine, by connecting devices where data is generated through employees and customers to back-end systems and services where it is translated into strategic insight to inform business decisions.

Shuttle unveiled the XPC Z77R5 mini-PC barebone at CeBIT. It is built into a familiar-looking XPC chassis, but with a new motherboard based on the Intel Z77 chipset, which lends it support for "Ivy Bridge" Core i7/i5/i3 processors out of the box, apart from support for LGA1155 "Sandy Bridge" processors. Connectors include six USB 2.0, four USB 3.0, HDMI, DVI, RJ-45 (gigabit Ethernet), 2x SATA 6 Gb/s, eSATA, and 8-ch HD audio. There are four expansion slots, one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, one PCI-Express 2.0 x4, and two mini-PCIe.

The chassis includes drive bays for 1 5.25" drive (such as optical drives), two internal+exposed 3.5" bays, for gadgets such as card readers. The power supply is rated at 500W, with 80 Plus Bronze efficiency rating. The XPC Z77R5 chassis measures 32.5 x 21.5 x 19.8 cm (DxWxH). Pricing and availability information was not given out.

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.

SGI, the trusted leader in technical computing, today announced that it is continuing its march toward exascale computing with the integration of the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 family into all of its high performance compute (HPC) server and storage platforms and product families. Full support for the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 family in the SGI Rackable, SGI ICE X HPC and SGI Modular InfiniteStorage (MIS) platforms is also now available.

SGI has been shipping Rackable servers to its public cloud customers since September 2011, and is shipping 26.73 teraflops per rack this month in its ICE X platform. The MIS server platform represents the densest storage server platform in the industry today, and is based solely on the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 family. As the most flexible, high-performance computing platform in the industry, the SGI Rackable line takes advantage of the new Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 family to drive the most dramatic performance improvements in a typical product generation - in some cases up to 2X¹ and beyond the performance of the previous generation for high-performance computing (HPC) workloads.

Addressing the incredible growth of data traffic in the cloud, Intel Corporation announced the record-breaking Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family. These new processors deliver leadership performance, best data center performance per watt1,4, breakthrough I/O innovation and trusted hardware security features to enable IT to scale. These processors are not only at the heart of servers and workstations, but will also power the next generation of storage and communication systems from leading vendors around the world.

Forecasts call for 15 billion connected devices and over 3 billion connected users by 2015. The amount of global data center IP traffic is forecasted to grow by 33 percent annually through 2015, surpassing 4.8 zetabytes per year, more than 3 times the amount in 2011. At these levels, each connected user will generate more than 4 GB of data traffic every day - the equivalent of a 4-hour HD movie. This will increase the amount of data that needs to be stored by almost 50 percent per year. In order to scale to meet this growth, the worldwide number of cloud servers is expected to more than triple by 2015.

In line with a solid strategy for commercial products, Acer has advanced its server line with a whole new line up of refreshed server products. This time around, Acer has not only updated the specifications to support the latest Intel Xeon processors E5 family, but has expanded its business portfolio and management tools to provide greater flexibility in modern datacenters.

Greater performance and expandability

The new product designs feature Intel's latest line up of Intel Xeon processor E5 family of CPUs, which give up to two times the performance for certain benchmarks, and up to 8 cores per CPU. The F2 generation, also provides greater expandability and more robust specifications built into every platform. Hardware-aside, the F2 generation will improve on operating system support to include mainstream and open source platforms, and its management tools are enhanced to improve IT ease of use.

Acer has unveiled the V3 Series, a range of notebooks optimized for today's digital needs, available in 14-, 15.6- and 17.3-inch models. With excellent performance, entertainment enhancements, communication tools and a classy design, these notebooks are intended for tech-savvy users who want daily high-definition audio and visual experiences.

The latest generation Intel Core family processors, plus NVIDA GeForce GT Series graphics ensure excellent performance for multitasking with lots of apps, music, Internet video, movies, games and more.

HP today introduced new multicore updates and increased expandability on its powerful line of HP Z Workstations. The new workstations feature the latest eight-core Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family, offer up to 512 gigabytes (GB) of DDR3 memory, and support multithreaded workstation applications that professionals rely on.

The latest additions to the industry-leading line of HP Z Workstations also feature third-generation PCI Express technology, providing customers increased performance and seamless integration of new graphics cards.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards is delighted to showcase its forthcoming 7 series motherboard designs supporting 3rd generation Intel Core processors, showcasing a range of features including the new All Digital Engine, GIGABYTE 3D BIOS and GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 4 technology. Join GIGABYTE at CeBIT 2012 in Hall 15, D19 from March 6th through March 10th 2012.

Visitors to CeBIT 2012 can have an exclusive look at motherboards that feature the latest All Digital Engine design for the PWM. Our new All Digital power design allows users greater control over the power delivered to their 3rd generation Intel Core processors that use the LGA 1155 socket. Using entirely digital controllers for the CPU, processor graphics, VTT and system memory, users can enjoy more precise power delivery to the PC's energy sensitive components than previously possible.

Apart from two of the most notable products from ASRock's booth, the X79 Extreme11 and Z77E-ITX, ASRock unveiled almost every other 7-series chipset motherboard it has in the works. The lineup is diverse, and based on every chipset model Intel will launch in the 7-series.

The Q77M-vPro is designed for commercial desktops that are part of extremely dense local network (such as corporate networks), with an established network hierarchy, and environments that demand greater manageability and data-security. The B75M is based on the Intel B75 chipset, and designed for more mainstream business desktops for small and medium enterprises.

ASUS is readying five new Eee PC netbooks for launch at CeBIT, these include the Eee PC X101CH, Eee PC 1011CX, two variants of the Eee PC 1015BX, and the Eee PC 1025C. The X101CH and 1011CX are driven by Intel Atom N2600 processor, the 1025C by Atom N2800, while the 1015BX has two variants, driven by AMD Vision C50 or C60 APUs. All of these are 10.1-inchers. Also common between these models are 1 GB RAM, 320 GB storage, and Windows 7 Starter Edition operating system. The five Eee PCs also feature ASUS Express Gate, a lean web-oriented operating system. In related news, ASUS is also working on 11.6-inch Eee PC 1225B/C, which feature larger screens, with 1366x768 pixels resolution.