Velocity Micro Introduces Gaming PCs Powered By AGEIA PhysX

Samsung Unveils World's Slimmest Phone

IBM Unveils High-Bandwidth Storage System For SMBs

Gecube Ships Radeon X1900GT 256MB

Motion Sensing Controllers For New Gaming Consoles

Fujitsu Siemens Unveils New FibreCAT CX Storage Systems

Velocity Micro Introduces Gaming PCs Powered By AGEIA PhysX

Velocity Micro announced the availability of gaming systems with the new AGEIA PhysX graphics solution. Customers can configure Gamers' Edge and Raptor PCs with the new physics card, which utilizes new graphics technology to deliver a more realistic 3D gaming experience.

The AGEIA PhysX physics processing unit (PPU) is the world's first dedicated, hardware-based physics accelerator. PhysX handles the ever-increasing processing demands of 3D games by offloading the calculation of complex physical interactions from the PC's CPU and GPU. In games designed to take advantage of AGEIA PhysX, this technology can more accurately depict real-world objects and allow many more scene elements to interact in a realistic way. Explosions cause collateral damage to surrounding objects, scene elements can look and react more convincingly to player input, and smoke, fog, and liquids look more genuine.

Prices for such rigs start from about $2000.

Source: Velocity Micro

Samsung Unveils World's Slimmest Phone

Samsung unveiled the first in the upcoming series of its ultra slim line-ups. The Samsung X820, which will be displayed for the first time at the Sviaz ExpoComm 2006, boasts the world's thinnest profile of only 6.9 mm. Also on display will be Samsung's D900, the world's slimmest slider with the depth of only 13mm.

Samsung's tri-band X820 weighs only 66 grams with slender 6.9mm thinness. The fiberglass-infused plastic is used to increase durability while keeping it lightweight.

Underneath its protective outer shell, the X820's wealth of features is compressed using the Smart Surface Mounting Technology (SSMT). The phone features the 2-megapixel camera, a TV output, is able to play and record video (MPEG4/H.263) and play audio (MP3/AAC/ACC+/AAC+(e)/WMA). There also are Bluetooth, USB, PictBridge, document viewer, and speakerphone.

Samsung's SGH-D900 is a 13mm-thin quad-band slider that comes with a 3.13 megapixel camera. It also includes business features such as document viewer, TV-output function, and also supports Bluetooth stereo headset (A2DP) function. The D900 also boasts 2.1" 240x320 262K color screen and an external microSD slot allows for additional storage.

Both phones also have 80MB of embedded memory.

With a variety of color ways in the making, the X820 will first hit the Russian market next month, followed by other European markets.

Source: Samsung

IBM Unveils High-Bandwidth Storage System For SMBs

IBM announced the IBM System Storage DS4700 Express, a high-bandwidth storage system featuring front- to back-end 4 Gbps technology.

Aimed at and priced for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), the new midrange storage system is designed for clients who need faster access to their business critical information.

The IBM System Storage DS4700 Express series is designed to provide users with increased connectivity, including 16 disk drive bays inside the controller and up to 8 host ports, reducing the need for a switch to be incorporated into the network. To handle up to 112 disk drives, customers have the option of attaching either the EXP710 or the recently announced EXP810 expansion unit to the back-end. Available in two versions, the Model 70 and Model 72 feature different amounts of cache and number of host ports. Also, a new 4Gb disk drive option (15,000 RPM) is available on the DS4700.

The DS4700 is fully-enabled with DACstore technology, which enables dynamic, data-intact portability on every drive in the subsystem. It is also designed to provide end-to-end 4 Gbps-capable support when using the new System p5 single and dual port 4 Gbps Fibre Channel HBA available in both AIX 5L and Linux on Power.

The 4 Gbps Fibre Channel interfaces are designed to auto negotiate down to 1 Gbps and 2 Gbps for backward compatibility. It can also be upgraded to the DS4800.

The products announced today will be available starting June 9, 2006. The IBM System Storage DS4700 is available with starting list prices of $19,449. The pricing includes a 3-year warranty on hardware and software.

Source: IBM

Gecube Ships Radeon X1900GT 256MB

Gecube announced its new GECUBE X1900GT product line that features 256MB GDDR3 memory and features 36 pixel pipelines with a core memory refresh rate of up to 575MHz/1.2GHz.

The X1900GT can simultaneously initiate HDR and antialiasing functions and supports CrossFire platforms with advanced functions such as AFR, SuperTiling, Scissor and SuperAA Rendering mode. Resolution can reach 2048x1536@70+ while execution with existing dual graphics cards can initiate 12x MultiSampling AA effects as well as 2x Super Sampling AA mode, achieving 14x AA.

The novelty, priced at $299, is bundled with Delta Force Xtreme 3D game and is RoHS-compliant.

Source: Gecube

Motion Sensing Controllers For New Gaming Consoles

In a move that may shift the focus in the videogame console battle from fast, powerful processing engines to more intuitive user interfaces, Nintendo yesterday unveiled a videogame controller that uses three-axis motion signal-processing technology. The controller was shown at the E3 game show in Los Angeles.

Analog Devices and STMicroelectronics are key suppliers for the microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensors used in the controller. The system comprises two controller units -- main and freestyle -- each powered by a motion sensor. ADI sensors are used in the main controller; ST won the socket for the freestyle unit.

Nintendo developed the controller platform for its next-generation video console, called Wii (pronounced "whee"). Details about that console are not scheduled to be revealed until later this year.

Not to be outdone, Sony Computer Entertainment disclosed this week that its Playstation 3 includes a videogame controller equipped with a six-axis sensing system. Sony was mum about how its new controller works and the identity of the motion sensor supplier.

Whereas a conventional videogame controller is held with two hands, Wii's main and freestyle controllers are designed to be held in one hand. They can also be swung, aimed, twisted and turned as if they were the player's sword, motorcycle handle or tennis racket. Some games will use only the main controller; others will use both controllers, tethered by a cable.

Critical to the new generation of game applications is the MEMS device's ability to sense a player's movements in three dimensions: forward/backward, left/right and up/down. When the unit is grasped, the system senses motion, depth and positioning as dictated by the acceleration of the controller, ADI said.

Source: EETimes

Fujitsu Siemens Unveils New FibreCAT CX Storage Systems

Fujitsu Siemens Computers has taken the wraps off three new FibreCAT CX models for midsize to large companies. Designed to accommodate the 365 GB to 239 TB range, the FibreCAT CX3-20, FibreCAT CX3-40 and FibreCAT CX3-80 disk storage systems are designed for departmental applications and to back up mission-critical material in data centers. The FibreCAT CX3 systems can be integrated into solutions involving any Fujitsu Siemens Computers servers and will be ready to ship in June 2006.

All new models feature 4 Gb/s FibreChannel technology plus the very latest Pentium 4 Xeon CPUs, larger caches, and storage processors with the PCI Express-based UltraScale architecture. High speeds, high availability and fat bandwidth thus ensure that users experience faster OLTP response times, faster data replication and better support for compute-intensive applications.

To upgrade the FibreCAT CX3-20 and FibreCAT CX3-40 systems, all you have to do is replace the storage controller. With the data-in-place option in most cases existing disk drives can stay in use, so you don't even have to migrate your data. The same also applies to previous generations of FibreCAT CX systems.

The FibreCAT CX3 systems naturally also feature both Navisphere system management and all the FibreCAT replication functions. This has the extra advantage that, when an upgrade is performed, there is no need to modify data center processes.

Source: Fujitsu Siemens Computers

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