CONTACT Software, Faster time to market for innovative products
Mouser Electronics and Grant Imahara Launch 2019 Empowering Innovation Together Series, “Engineering Big Ideas”
Leading Omani Pharmacy Chain Relies on InfiNet Wireless for High-Bandwidth, Always-On Connectivity
ProLabs to unveil Multi-Service Optical platform for extending and monitoring networks at LINX 2019
Nuvoton Technology Launches brand new M261/M262/M263 Series Microcontroller with Low Power and Robust Security designed for IoT applications
The World’s Top 4 Ride-Hailing Companies Are Worth More Than $166 Billion
Mouser Electronics New Product Insider: July 2019
Nuvoton Announces M483KGCAE2A, Arm Cortex-M4F based Microcontroller, with dual ADC for Motor Control and camera interface for Image Recognition
Avnet Marks Community Milestones
SANBlaze Tests NVMe over FC, RoCE, and TCP at UNH-IOL Plugfest 2019
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hyperMILL® Integrates Turbomachinery Design Solution
OPEN MIND Technologies AG has now announced a cooperative agreement with CFturbo to provide a complete design to manufacture workflow process to produce turbomachines such as pumps, compressors, turbines, fans and blowers. CFturbo is acknowledged as an industry leader in the turbomachinery sector with its design software that takes businesses from conceptual design through to complete 3D model. The modern, powerful software platform for interactive design enables the end-user to start from scratch or re-design existing geometries like impellers, stators and volutes. Now, the collaboration with OPEN MIND Technologies will enable turbomachinery designers to take their design concept beyond the 3D model and through to complete CAM model for production. CFturbo incorporates functions and menu options to convert its design output files into widely recognised design platforms such as AutoCAD, SOLIDWORKS, Siemens NX, Catia and Inventor. With the collaborative agreement, CFturbo users can now export design files into the hyperMILL® platform to generate CAM files for streamlined design to production workflows. The collaboration will accelerate the product development and production processes for designer and manufacturers, while maintaining a high level of accuracy and consistency. The CFturbo software platform provides an integrated and streamlined approach to turbo machinery design that enables users to rapidly proceed from conceptual design through meshing and 3D CAD platforms and onward to CFD and FEA simulation, complete CAE workflows, analysis and testing and validation. The co-operation with OPEN MIND now allows CFturbo users to go beyond simulation, analysis and test validation through to complete CAM NC programming for production purposes. hyperMILL® is a modular complete CAM solution for 2.5D, 3D, 5-axis, HSC/HPC, and mill-turning processes as well as its special applications and highly efficient automation solutions. The CAM software provides technology-leading geometry analysis and tool path calculations. There are specialized routines designed for efficient programming and machining of these components on 5-axis milling or mill-turn machines. The multi-blade and single-blade turbomachinery solutions are embedded within hyperMILL® that is applied to more broad-based milling, drilling and turning applications, allowing an all-in-one CAM system for turbomachinery developers. Robust CNC postprocessors are also provided to assure strong communication to machine tool controllers. This partnership between CFturbo and OPEN MIND brings product, services, sales and technical teams together for a complete end-to-end software solution. Customers can work with each company to obtain tools, training and services from these industry experts. Both companies are well represented with direct employees and authorized resellers.
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QNAP Launches myRMA Service To Offer Users Simple and Transparent RMA Process
To improve the quality and transparency of product repair services, QNAP® Systems, Inc. today launched myRMA, providing users suitable Return Material Authorization (RMA) services based on their product warranty status in the event of product damage. Users also have the option of purchasing QNAP’s Extended Warranty Service for extending their product warranty coverage for up to five years. QNAP has been largely investing in online service optimization. Users can now access the new Service Portal by logging in to the QNAP official website with their QNAP ID. In the event of product damage, users can contact QNAP by creating a support ticket on the Service Portal. Based on the user’s product condition, QNAP customer service will verify if RMA is required. If the product warranty is still valid, users can receive repair or replacement services for free. If the product warranty has expired, QNAP myRMA also offers paid repair services. QNAP customer service will verify the product condition and give a repair quotation based on three damage levels. (Please see the table below for each damage level definition.) The QNAP repair quotation includes the following costs: replacement of components, labor, and one-way shipping. After users agree to the total costs listed in the repair quotation and complete online payment, they can send the defective product to a QNAP designated service center for repair. QNAP offers all repaired out-of-warranty products a free 180-day warranty period, starting from the repaired product delivery date. In the event of unexpected product damage, QNAP recommends that users purchase warranty extensions.
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Avnet Appoints Prince Yun to President of Asia Pacific
Avnet Asia Pacific, a leading global technology solutions provider, today announced the promotion of Prince Yun to president of Avnet Asia Pacific. Yun reports to Phil Gallagher, global president of electronic components at Avnet. Most recently, Yun was sales president for Avnet Asia. In this new role, Yun will lead Avnet's multi-billion dollar business in Asia Pacific. He will be responsible for the region's sales, supplier relationships, product marketing and business operations. "This is a time of tremendous opportunity for Avnet to extend our best-in-class solutions across the industry. We support customers at every stage of their product lifecycle to reduce the time, cost and complexities of bringing products to market. Together with our end-to-end Internet of Things solutions and extensive ecosystem of experts, Avnet brings even greater value to our customers as a single partner resource," said Prince Yun. He added, "It is with great honor that I take on this role to propel our business forward and to solidify our market position in the region with the support of our customers and suppliers." Yun possesses strong business acumen, deep knowledge of the industry, sales expertise, and experience managing a multi-million dollar business. He is a veteran leader with more than 30 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. He joined Avnet Asia as part of its 1988 acquisition of Mercuries & Associates. During his term as regional president, Taiwan and South Asia, Avnet was named among the "Best Companies to Work for" in Taiwan, Singapore and India in 2018. "We win as a team, and I am confident that Prince is the right leader to take the helm of Avnet's Asia Pacific region," said Phil Gallagher, global president, electronic components, Avnet. "Prince knows this industry well, has built great relationships, and will create new forms of value for our customers and suppliers by leveraging the unique capabilities of our ecosystem. This is a well-deserved promotion for Prince, and I know he will have a strong impact in his new role."
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QNAP Releases QTS 4.4.1 Beta 3 Version: Introducing VJBOD Cloudfor Integrated Cloud Object Storage, Cache Mount for Low-latency Cloud Data Access, and
QNAP® Systems, Inc. (QNAP) today released QTS 4.4.1 beta 3, the latest version of the acclaimed QNAP NAS operating system. Starting from today, QNAP NAS users will receive the QTS 4.4.1 beta 3 update. QNAP sincerely invites users to join the Beta Program and provide feedback, so QNAP can further improve QTS to provide an even more comprehensive and secure user experience. The highly-anticipated VJBOD Cloud, a block-based cloud storage gateway service, is now available from QTS 4.4.1 beta 3. VJBOD Cloud allows mapping cloud storage space to a QNAP NAS as block-based cloud volumes, providing a secure and scalable method to store local application data, user data, or perform secure backups. The support of local caching realizes low-latency accessibility to alleviate access speed concerns. VJBOD Cloud supports ten cloud object storage services (including Amazon S3®, Google Cloud™, and Azure®). The mounting cloud storage and local caching functions in VJBOD Cloud enable near-LAN access speed to cloud data. Besides VJBOD Cloud, QNAP NAS also supports CacheMount, a file-based cloud storage gateway service that enables local caching for connected cloud storage, providing a comprehensive hybrid-cloud experience to optimally fulfill user needs for versatile use cases. CacheMount replaces the Remote Mount feature in File Station and Connect to Cloud Drive. Users need to install CacheMount in the App Center to use remote mount services. Other key new features and enhancements of the QTS 4.4.1 beta 3 include, but not limited to, the following: • Multimedia Console consolidates all QTS multimedia applications into one utility, allowing simple and centralized multimedia app management. Multimedia Console supports Qsirch for advanced photo indexing and allows configuring a CacheMount shared folder as a background transcoding folder. • File Station integrates Microsoft® Office Online allowing users to preview and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files stored on the NAS online. File Station now also supports CloudConvert for converting Apple® iWork file formats to Microsoft Office file formats. • Users can create and centrally manage VJBOD Cloud volumes in the Storage and Snapshots, and use Resource Monitor to monitor VJBOD cloud volumes.
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CIMdata recommends CONTACT Elements
The internationally leading PLM consulting and market research company CIMdata is convinced of CONTACT's technology platform. The analysts rate CONTACT Elements as an excellent, future-proof digital platform. As digitalization increases, companies are facing a fundamental change in their PLM strategy. Closed-loop lifecycle management and the Internet of Things for networked and smart products require outstanding platform features: open, modular and scalable. According to CIMdata experts, end-to-end lifecycle management is critical to future business success. Based on a catalogue of criteria, the consulting firm evaluates which solutions meet these requirements. CONTACT's technology platform CONTACT Elements convinced the analysts in all aspects. Particularly impressive was the open architecture with flexibly combinable, coordinated software modules. They support companies in optimizing their added value along the entire product life cycle - from the development and improvement of smart products based on their operating data to the realization of IoT applications using Artificial Intelligence. In its conclusion, CIMdata evaluates CONTACT Elements as an outstanding example of an agile and future-proof digital platform: "CIMdata is impressed with CONTACT Software’s Product Innovation Platform and recommends industrial companies to consider it to support their future proof Product Innovation Platform needs. * URL : https://bit.ly/2LdWdyl
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Mellanox HDR 200G InfiniBand Accelerates New Generation of World-Wide HPC and AI Supercomputers
Mellanox® Technologies, Ltd. today announced that HDR 200G InfiniBand accelerates the next generation of supercomputers world-wide, enabling higher levels of research and scientific discovery. HDR 200G InfiniBand solutions include the ConnectX-6 adapters, Mellanox Quantum switches, LinkX cables and transceivers and software packages. With its highest data throughput, extremely low latency, and smart In-Network Computing acceleration engines, HDR InfiniBand provides world leading performance and scalability for the most demanding compute and data applications. HDR 200G InfiniBand introduces new offload and acceleration engines, for delivering leading performance and scalability for high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, cloud, storage, and other applications. InfiniBand, a standards-based interconnect technology, enjoys the continuous development of new capabilities, while maintaining backward and forward software compatibility. InfiniBand is the preferred choice for world leading supercomputers, replacing lower performance or proprietary interconnect options. “We are proud to have our HDR InfiniBand solutions accelerate supercomputers around the world, enhance research and discoveries, and advancing Exascale programs, “ said Gilad Shainer, senior vice president of marketing at Mellanox Technologies. “InfiniBand continues to gain market share, and be selected by many research, educational and government institutes, weather and climate facilities, and commercial organizations. The technology advantages of InfiniBand make it the interconnect of choice for compute and storage infrastructures.” The Texas Advanced Computing Center’s (TACC) Frontera supercomputer, funded by the National Science Foundation, is the fastest supercomputer at any U.S. university and one of the most powerful systems in the world. Ranked #5 on the June 2019 TOP500 Supercomputers list, Frontera utilizes HDR InfiniBand, and in particular multiple 800-port HDR InfiniBand switches, to deliver unprecedented computing power for science and engineering. “HDR InfiniBand enabled us to build a world-leading, 8,000+ node, top 5 supercomputer that will serve our users’ needs for the next several years,” said Dan Stanzione, TACC Executive Director. “We appreciate the deep collaboration with Mellanox and are proud to host one of the fastest supercomputers in the world. We look forward to utilizing the advanced routing capabilities and the In-Network Computing acceleration engines to enhance our users’ research activities and scientific discoveries.” Located at the Mississippi State University High Performance Computing Collaboratory, the new HDR InfiniBand-based Orion supercomputer will accelerate the university research, educational and service activities. Ranked #62 on the June 2019 TOP500 list, the 1800-node supercomputer leverages the performance advantages of HDR InfiniBand and its application acceleration engines to provide new levels of application performance and scalability. “HDR InfiniBand brings us leading performance and the ability to build very scalable and cost efficient supercomputers utilizing its high switch port density and configurable network topology,” said Trey Breckenridge, Director for High Performance Computing at Mississippi State University. “Over 16 years ago MSU became one of the first adopters of the InfiniBand technology in HPC. We are excited to continue that legacy by leveraging the latest InfiniBand technology to enhance the capabilities of our newest HPC system.” CSC, the Finnish IT Center for Science, and the Finnish Meteorological Institute Selected HDR 200G InfiniBand to accelerate a multi-phase supercomputer program. The program will serve researchers in Finnish universities and research institutes, enhancing their research into climatescience, renewable energy, astrophysics, nanomaterials, and bioscience, among a wide range of exploration activities. The first supercomputer is ranked #166 on the TOP500 list. “The new supercomputer will enable our researchers and scientists to leverage the most efficient HPC and AI platform to enhance their competitiveness for years to come,” said Pekka Lehtovuori, Director of services for research at CSC. “The HDR InfiniBand technology, and the Dragonfly+ network topology will provide our users with leading performance and scalability while optimizing our total cost of ownership.” Cygnus is the first HDR InfiniBand supercomputer in Japan, located in the Center for Computational Sciences at the University of Tsukuba. Ranked #264 on the TOP500 list, Cygnus leverages HDR InfiniBand to connect CPUs, GPUs and FPGAs together, enabling accelerated research in the areas of astrophysics, particle physics, material science, life, meteorology and artificial intelligence. “The Cygnus supercomputer utilizes the advantage of InfiniBand to connect the variety of compute elements, such as CPUs, GPUs, and additional FPGAs, in the most effective and high-performance way, ,” said Prof. Taisuke Boku, Director of Center for Computational Sciences, University of Tsukuba. “Our multi-hybrid heterogeneous compute platform with the HDR InfiniBand technology enables the university to enhance our research activities, and to develop the applications and tools for the Exascale era.” The Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has selected HDR InfiniBand for India’s national supercomputing mission. The C-DAC HDR InfiniBand supercomputer advances India’s research, technology, and product development capabilities. “The Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), an autonomous R&D institution under the Ministry of Electronics and IT, Government of India with its focus in Advanced Computing is uniquely positioned to establish dependable and secure Exascale Ecosystem offering services in various domains. As our nation embarks upon its most revolutionary phase of Digital Transformation, C-DAC has committed itself to explore and engage in the avant-garde visionary areas excelling beyond in the present areas of research transforming human lives through technological advancement,” said Dr Hemant Darbari, Director General, C-DAC. “C-DAC is spearheading the build, design and develop approach of National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) of the country. The first Supercomputer under NSM Build Approach by C-DAC was launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister at IIT (BHU) Varanasi, the solution comprising of Mellanox HDR InfiniBand Interconnect selected through a competitive evaluation process. C-DAC will build such solutions across the country under NSM contributingto advancing India’s research, technology and product development capabilities. We have been using Mellanox InfiniBand Interconnect to our satisfaction as a part of our HPC solution deployed at C-DAC and various research and technical institutions in the country and look forward to continue working on developing our future supercomputers” Mellanox will showcase the HDR InfiniBand solutions at the International Supercomputing conference in Frankfurt Germany, June 17-19, at booth number E-911.
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Mellanox HDR 200G InfiniBand Accelerates New Generation of World-Wide HPC and AI Supercomputers
Mellanox® Technologies, Ltd. (NASDAQ: MLNX), a leading supplier of high-performance, end-to-end smart interconnect solutions for data center servers and storage systems, today announced that HDR 200G InfiniBand accelerates the next generation of supercomputers world-wide, enabling higher levels of research and scientific discovery. HDR 200G InfiniBand solutions include the ConnectX-6 adapters, Mellanox Quantum switches, LinkX cables and transceivers and software packages. With its highest data throughput, extremely low latency, and smart In-Network Computing acceleration engines, HDR InfiniBand provides world leading performance and scalability for the most demanding compute and data applications. HDR 200G InfiniBand introduces new offload and acceleration engines, for delivering leading performance and scalability for high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, cloud, storage, and other applications. InfiniBand, a standards-based interconnect technology, enjoys the continuous development of new capabilities, while maintaining backward and forward software compatibility. InfiniBand is the preferred choice for world leading supercomputers, replacing lower performance or proprietary interconnect options. “We are proud to have our HDR InfiniBand solutions accelerate supercomputers around the world, enhance research and discoveries, and advancing Exascale programs, “ said Gilad Shainer, senior vice president of marketing at Mellanox Technologies. “InfiniBand continues to gain market share, and be selected by many research, educational and government institutes, weather and climate facilities, and commercial organizations. The technology advantages of InfiniBand make it the interconnect of choice for compute and storage infrastructures.” The Texas Advanced Computing Center’s (TACC) Frontera supercomputer, funded by the National Science Foundation, is the fastest supercomputer at any U.S. university and one of the most powerful systems in the world. Ranked #5 on the June 2019 TOP500 Supercomputers list, Frontera utilizes HDR InfiniBand, and in particular multiple 800-port HDR InfiniBand switches, to deliver unprecedented computing power for science and engineering. “HDR InfiniBand enabled us to build a world-leading, 8,000+ node, top 5 supercomputer that will serve our users’ needs for the next several years,” said Dan Stanzione, TACC Executive Director. “We appreciate the deep collaboration with Mellanox and are proud to host one of the fastest supercomputers in the world. We look forward to utilizing the advanced routing capabilities and the In-Network Computing acceleration engines to enhance our users’ research activities and scientific discoveries.” Located at the Mississippi State University High Performance Computing Collaboratory, the new HDR InfiniBand-based Orion supercomputer will accelerate the university research, educational and service activities. Ranked #62 on the June 2019 TOP500 list, the 1800-node supercomputer leverages the performance advantages of HDR InfiniBand and its application acceleration engines to provide new levels of application performance and scalability. “HDR InfiniBand brings us leading performance and the ability to build very scalable and cost efficient supercomputers utilizing its high switch port density and configurable network topology,” said Trey Breckenridge, Director for High Performance Computing at Mississippi State University. “Over 16 years ago MSU became one of the first adopters of the InfiniBand technology in HPC. We are excited to continue that legacy by leveraging the latest InfiniBand technology to enhance the capabilities of our newest HPC system.” CSC, the Finnish IT Center for Science, and the Finnish Meteorological Institute Selected HDR 200G InfiniBand to accelerate a multi-phase supercomputer program. The program will serve researchers in Finnish universities and research institutes, enhancing their research into climatescience, renewable energy, astrophysics, nanomaterials, and bioscience, among a wide range of exploration activities. The first supercomputer is ranked #166 on the TOP500 list. “The new supercomputer will enable our researchers and scientists to leverage the most efficient HPC and AI platform to enhance their competitiveness for years to come,” said Pekka Lehtovuori, Director of services for research at CSC. “The HDR InfiniBand technology, and the Dragonfly+ network topology will provide our users with leading performance and scalability while optimizing our total cost of ownership.” Cygnus is the first HDR InfiniBand supercomputer in Japan, located in the Center for Computational Sciences at the University of Tsukuba. Ranked #264 on the TOP500 list, Cygnus leverages HDR InfiniBand to connect CPUs, GPUs and FPGAs together, enabling accelerated research in the areas of astrophysics, particle physics, material science, life, meteorology and artificial intelligence. “The Cygnus supercomputer utilizes the advantage of InfiniBand to connect the variety of compute elements, such as CPUs, GPUs, and additional FPGAs, in the most effective and high-performance way, ,” said Prof. Taisuke Boku, Director of Center for Computational Sciences, University of Tsukuba. “Our multi-hybrid heterogeneous compute platform with the HDR InfiniBand technology enables the university to enhance our research activities, and to develop the applications and tools for the Exascale era.” The Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has selected HDR InfiniBand for India’s national supercomputing mission. The C-DAC HDR InfiniBand supercomputer advances India’s research, technology, and product development capabilities. “The Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), an autonomous R&D institution under the Ministry of Electronics and IT, Government of India with its focus in Advanced Computing is uniquely positioned to establish dependable and secure Exascale Ecosystem offering services in various domains. As our nation embarks upon its most revolutionary phase of Digital Transformation, C-DAC has committed itself to explore and engage in the avant-garde visionary areas excelling beyond in the present areas of research transforming human lives through technological advancement,” said Dr Hemant Darbari, Director General, C-DAC. “C-DAC is spearheading the build, design and develop approach of National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) of the country. The first Supercomputer under NSM Build Approach by C-DAC was launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister at IIT (BHU) Varanasi, the solution comprising of Mellanox HDR InfiniBand Interconnect selected through a competitive evaluation process. C-DAC will build such solutions across the country under NSM contributingto advancing India’s research, technology and product development capabilities. We have been using Mellanox InfiniBand Interconnect to our satisfaction as a part of our HPC solution deployed at C-DAC and various research and technical institutions in the country and look forward to continue working on developing our future supercomputers” Mellanox will showcase the HDR InfiniBand solutions at the International Supercomputing conference in Frankfurt Germany, June 17-19, at booth number E-911.
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Kerlink and Tata Communications Transformation Services launch partnership to expand LoRaWAN(R) network deployments
Kerlink (ALKLK - FR0013156007), a specialist and global leader in solutions dedicated to the Internet of Things (IoT), and Tata Communications Transformation Services (TCTS), a partner of choice for the world’s leading Communication Service Providers (CSPs) and a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Communications Limited, today announced a partnership to promote and deploy LoRaWAN® IoT networks globally. The partnership was announced at the LoRa AllianceTM three-day All Members Meeting in Berlin. Kerlink and TCTS will demonstrate to telecom carriers, start-up IoT connectivity providers, cities and large multinationals how LoRa® technology is one of the most responsive and reliable protocols for IoT connectivity. Kerlink and TCTS will offer easily installed and managed networks that include the full range of smart-city applications for lighting, parking, building, energy and refuse management, as well as smart agriculture, metering, and safety and security applications. “Despite the rapid growth of IoT, many companies and cities are still searching for a private IoT network solution that can be customized for their specific goals and deployed and managed easily,” said Madhusudhan Mysore, Executive Chairman and CEO, Tata Communications Transformation Services. “TCTS and Kerlink will focus on this market and demonstrate – based on extensive telecom experience, multiple IoT use cases in critical applications, and a proven record of deployments around the world – that LoRaWAN® technology is the ideal private-network solution for these groups,” he added. Tata Communications, part of the US$100+ billion Tata Group along with TCTS, and Kerlink have deployed LoRaWAN® networks in more than 40 Indian communities and cities, touching over 250 million people in total. The nationwide deployment is powered by more than 10,000 Kerlink Wirnet iBTS Compact stations. Tata Communications’ LoRaWAN® networks offer an overall availability higher than 99 percent, and Kerlink carrier-grade solutions have demonstrated their robustness and reliability through three monsoon cycles in India. “There is a compelling story to tell about how Tata Communications and Kerlink customers in India and around the world quickly and easily deployed LoRaWAN® -based solutions that deliver multiple IoT benefits to users over long-range, low-power, and bidirectional networks,” said Eric Torres, VP & Head of Business Operations and Solution Engineering, Tata Communications Transformation Services. "TCTS and Kerlink have joined forces to share this story and to bring turnkey network consulting and smart applications, sensors, connectivity, and operations management to help cities and companies worldwide deploy IoT solutions that leverage LoRaWAN® networks’ key capabilities.” “This is an exciting opportunity for Kerlink and TCTS to combine our deep technological know-how and broad on-the-ground experience in designing and deploying reliable telecommunications networks that are tailored to meet our customers’ goals,” said Robert Clapham, Kerlink’s deputy CEO. “Kerlink’s high-performance equipment and network design and management offerings, which have been validated in challenging environments around the world, will be key components of this joint offer with TCTS.” TCTS provides business transformation, managed network operations, network outsourcing and consultancy services to telecommunication companies around the world. In this partnership with Kerlink, the company will provide customers with sensors, integration expertise and the applications needed for its networks. Kerlink will bring Wirnet iBTS stations for low-power/wide-area (LPWA) connectivity. It will also provide its Wanesy Management Center for deploying and operating networks with an optimised total cost of ownership (TCO) and increased return on investment (ROI). The company has served customer rollouts of LoRaWAN® networks in 69 countries.
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RavenDB Adds Pull Replication and Distributed Online Counters to its Open Source NoSQL Document Database Offering
RavenDB, today announced that the company has released a new version of its open source NoSQL document database product. In this new release, RavenDB 4.2, the company has added pull replication and distributed counters along with cluster wide transactions and graph queries. RavenDB’s new pull replication capabilities improve the existing practices of external data replication, which require data replication definitions at both the central and remote nodes for edge nodes to pull data from a central database. With the new pull replication feature, RavenDB allows new edge nodes to be defined without any impact on or new configurations at the central cluster. The benefit of this approach is that a new edge node initiates the connection with the central database, so that any new edge node can be deployed behind the NAT without any concerns for tunneling issues. RavenDB 4.2 also includes a new distributed counters feature that improves Internet-based voting and polling systems that required the aggregation of large volumes of simultaneously inputted data from multiple sources. By separating the counter from the actual document, RavenDB allows performance to remain optimal. Graph queries are also a new feature in RavenDB 4.2 and enable users to add graph functionality to existing data by processing documents as nodes and edges in order to detect patterns between data points. This new graphic functionality is valuable for predictive analytics, fraud detection and social media applications. “We provide a programmer productivity tracking service that relies on the RavenDB to perform highly granular, real-time analysis,” explained said Federico Lois, CTO at Codealike. “This new version of RavenDB includes major enhancements that will improve the value we provide our customers by processing more information in less time and with greater consistency.” “RavenDB offers a unique and mature approach to database management that removes the need to have full time DBAs hoving over your databases,” said Oren Eini, CEO of RavenDB. “The RavenDB databases are self-managing with zero overhead for which every single one of our customers has deployed over million instances.” “We are proud to announce the new 4.2 release, which brings to the table even more features for edge processing and the ability to perform graph queries directly on your data without the need to manually generate the connections between the nodes,” continued Eini. “These enhancements will reduce the total cost of ownership and time-to-market for our customers, building upon our proven and reliable technology that offers unmatched performance.” RavenDB is an open source NoSQL document database. RavenDB supports rapid scalability with a distributed cluster and operates at speeds up to 1,000,000 reads and 150,000 writes per second on a single node using commodity hardware. It can be used on-premise or in cloud solutions like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and more. RavenDB is available in Community, Professional and Enterprise licenses. RavenDB is currently offering a free trial of its new RavenDB v4.2 product.
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NetFoundry Brings Cloud-Native, Zero Trust Connectivity to IBM Cloud Apps
The NetFoundry IBM Cloud Application Connection Gateway is now available on IBM’s Marketplace. Businesses leverage NetFoundry’s software to spin up Zero Trust application connectivity in minutes – connecting the IBM cloud with any set of edges, clouds and service meshes. NetFoundry is also an IBM Voice Agent with Watson provider. The NetFoundry solution makes it simple, secure and cost-effective to connect edge and cloud distributed apps, enabling businesses to spin up app connections in minutes. The IBM Marketplace enables over 25 million IBM customers, visitors, partners, and developers to leverage a rich ecosystem of solutions. With NetFoundry, secure, high-performance IBM Cloud access is now at the fingertips of this ecosystem, without the costs and complexity of hardware, VPNs or private circuits. “NetFoundry’s IBM Cloud Application Connection Gateway enables our customers to seamlessly meet their multicloud, service mesh and hybrid cloud needs, with zero trust security, software-only simplicity and cost-effectiveness. We are thrilled to continue our growing partnership with IBM, while we provide our customers with the cloud native networking they need to match their cloud native applications and digital transformation journeys. said Mike Kochanik, Head of Alliances, for NetFoundry. NetFoundry’s Cloud Application Connection Gateway on the IBM Marketplace offers the following: Multicloud Agility – With NetFoundry’s IBM gateway added to existing NetFoundry gateways in marketplaces such as AWS, AWS IoT, Azure, Azure Stack and Digital Ocean, businesses can instantly spin up & rapidly scale multicloud and multiple service mesh applications. Simplicity and DevOps Automation – NetFoundry enables practitioners, developers and network admins to spin up overlay networks without building or managing the underlying infrastructure (delivered by NetFoundry as a SaaS). Manage NetFoundry from DevOps tools (connectivity as code) such as Ansible, Jenkins and Terraform, or via NetFoundry’s web console. Zero Trust Security – Multi-dimensional security with least privileged access application connections from any Internet connection, supported by API integrations in Identity Access Management (IAM) and hardware root of trust, in combination with leading security providers. Performance – NetFoundry delivers 3-5x performance gains compared to leading VPNs and minimizes latency and packet loss across the dynamic NetFoundry managed Fabric, accessed from any Internet connection, and managed by NetFoundry as part of NetFoundry’s managed service.
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Technical Overview of the 2nd Gen Xeon Scalable Processors
Intel hosted ‘Intel Data-Centric Press Workshop’ at Intel Jones Farm Campus in Hillsboro, Oregon, US on March 5 and 6, and introduced Intel's portfolio of solutions for the data-centric era. At the workshop, the technical characteristics of the next generation processors and platforms including Next-Gen Xeon Scalable Processors and Optane DC Persistent Memory were introduced. Changes in IT technology, from IoT, cloud to 5G and artificial intelligence, are creating trends of explosive data growth, and the ability to handle this data is being linked to competitiveness. In addition, transition to cloud computing, increase of the use of AI and analysis, and cloudification of network and edge are driving the demand for change of IT infrastructure. Intel expects to have the largest market opportunity ever in this data-centric era, with a total size of $200 billion. Therefore, Intel introduced plans to offer software and system-level optimized solutions that can process everything, store more, and move faster to prepare for this market. As a new portfolio for the data-centric era, Intel introduced the second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors, a new Xeon D-1600 processor, Agilex FPGA, Optane DC Persistent Memory, Optane DC SSD, QLC 3D NAND-based DC series SSD, and 800 series Ethernet adapter. The new Xeon Scalable Processors, Optane DC Persistent Memory, Optane DC SSD, and Ethernet technologies are expected to provide superior performance and efficiency in a variety of workloads through being tightly coupled in a system-level and optimization of software levels. What’s more, these innovations will be available faster through ‘Intel Select Solutions’ with a proven, optimized configuration. ▲ Known as the codename ‘Cascade Lake’, the second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors ▲ Ian Steiner, who took a lead architect of ‘Cascade Lake’ ▲ Major technical features of the 2nd-Gen Xeon Scalable Processors Ian Steiner, a lead architect of the second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors, introduced about the second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors, which are also known as the codename ‘Cascade Lake’. He first compared the situation when Sandy Bridge-based Xeon E5-2600 series was introduced seven years ago to the present situation. At that time, it was in the early stages of cloudification, but now, cloud is activated in all the areas. Also, while the power consumption was important seven years ago, all of the parts are counted as ‘cost’ now. In addition, the fields where heavy computing power is required have been expanded to HPC, Analytics, AI and everywhere, and the usage of the workload specialized custom processor has increased. The second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors provide improved performance, scalability and efficiency based on the features or platforms of the existing Skylake architecture. As for the memory support, the support capacity has doubled with 16Gb DDR4, and memory controller operation speed has increased up to DDR4-2933. The performance of AI inference has been greatly improved through AVX-512 VNNI and DL Boost technology, and the hardware-level countermeasures against vulnerabilities such as meltdown and spectre were applied. Moreover, although it uses 14nm process, there has been an improvement to achieve higher operating speed and power efficiency. The second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors offer up to 28 cores in the 8200 series and up to 56 cores in the 9200 series. The features including cache configuration, maximum three 10.4GT/s UPI connections for die-to-die connectivity and maximum 48 lane PCIe connections are maintained. The maximum memory capacity has been increased with the support of 16Gb DDR4, and the operating speed has increased with the support of 6-channel DDR4-2933. With Optane DC Persistent Memory, it supports up to 4.5TB of memory configuration per processor. On top of that, vector operations can handle 16 DP, 32 SP and 128 INT8 MACs with DL Boost in a single cycle via AVX-512. First introduced in the second-generation Xeon Scalable Processor family, the Xeon Platinum 9200 series processor is in the form of two processor die in one package and linked with UPI. Supporting up to two processor configurations, the Xeon Platinum 9200 Series is logically identical to the existing four-socket system in dual-processor configurations, but can be configured for higher compute densities in terms of latency or smaller form factors. The memory controller provides up to 281 GB/s of bandwidth in a 12-channel configuration per processor, utilizing both die. The Xeon Platinum 9200 series is supplied in a BGA bonded form on the motherboard and has a TDP of 250 to 400W. ▲ VNNI allows to complete the inference-related operations that took three cycles in a single cycle ▲ Software optimization and hardware support can lead to significant inference performance improvement Matrix multiplication, which is mainly used in a deep learning environment, is a process of collecting values obtained by multiplying a plurality of rows and columns into a single value. And in traditional HPC or AI training workloads, floating-point operations were used here. In this case, the wide range of possible values was a drawback in performance. On the other hand, in the case of using INT8 instead of FP for inferencing, greatly reduced range of values to consider, higher power efficiency through fewer multiplications, and reduced pressure on cache and memory subsystems were mentioned as the advantages. When AVX-512 and VNNI are used in the second-generation Xeon Scalable Processor, it becomes possible to achieve four times better performance than AVX2 in the operation of receiving INT8 value and outputting to INT32. Previously, INT8 value was input to obtain the result of INT32. The result is obtained through three stages of multiplication, up-conversion, and accumulation, and up to 128 MACs are processed using two ports and three cycles per core. However, when using VNNI, these three steps can be processed in a single cycle with a single instruction, which in theory can triple the performance. When using MKL-DNN library, it is possible to improve performance by 1.33 times by switching from AVX-512 based FP32 to INT8, and by 3 times by switching from AVX-512 based INT8 to VNNI-based INT8. Intel introduced that in the micro-benchmark scenario of MKL-DNN, the performance per watt can be greatly increased by utilizing VNNI. When VNNI is used, the power consumption per socket becomes similar to that of FP32, but the power consumption per unit performance is greatly reduced as much as the greatly improved performance. In addition, when DL Boost technology is used, the processor's L2 cache miss probability is significantly reduced than FP32, and memory bandwidth usage also decreases. ▲ The memory bandwidth allocation function is added to Intel Resource Director Technology. ▲ Types of speed shift technologies applied to N-series products mainly specialized in network workload ▲ Types of speed shift technologies applied to Y-series products specialized for data centers Optane DC Persistent Memory, which is officially supported from the second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors, can be used in two modes; ‘Memory Mode’, which uses DRAM as a cache to expand the total memory capacity, and ‘App Direct Mode’, which is a workload-optimized form that allows applications to directly access DRAM and Optane DC Persistent Memory according to the purposes. It is compatible with DDR4 interface and 128~512GB module will be introduced. At the same time, Intel emphasized that in the development of Optane DC Persistent Memory, processors and modules were developed together from the beginning. Intel Resource Director Technology (RDT) has also added a new technology. By using RDT, it is possible to divide the processor area so that it does not affect the performance of each job. By prioritizing and processing jobs, it is possible to maximize system utilization while maintaining SLA compliance. Moreover, RDT allows for monitoring and controlling of L3 cache and memory bandwidth. In the second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors, the Memory Bandwidth Allocation technology is added to allocate or limit the memory bandwidth for specific tasks, minimizing the performance impact of specific tasks across the entire system and ensuring compliance with SLAs. The Intel Speed Select Technology (SST) for workload-optimized environments is made up of three specific technologies, and the application of each technology depends on the product family. Among them, SST-CP maintains a higher operating speed for priority tasks and slows down the processor operation in other lower priority tasks, while SST-BF (Base Frequency) sets a certain core to a higher operating speed and assigns a specific workload to it. With this technology, the total power consumption can be kept at a constant level while providing the optimum environment for workloads that are sensitive and non-sensitive to operating speeds. SST-PP allows the flexibility of processor selection and server operation, and it can separately set up the maximum temperature, TDP, operating speed, or the number of cores activated by up to 3 profiles in one product. This allows choosing among the settings such as a setting of reduced number of actives cores in the processor and increased operating speed and a setting of lowered operating speed and maximized number of active cores according to the situation. In terms of the usage of this technology, it was introduced that it is possible to boot the server and provision the workload by selecting the profile of SST-PP in Ironic, an OpenStack bare-metal provisioning system. The benefits of this technology include enhancing flexibility in the infrastructure that handles workloads with different characteristics and changes. ▲ The dual processor configuration of Xeon Platinum 9200 series processors is logically consistent with the existing 4-socket configuration. Kartik Ananth, Senior Principal Engineer of Intel Data Center Group, introduced about Xeon Platinum 9200 series processors and platforms. One of the most significant features of this processor is the fact that it has excellent processor performance per socket by configuring two second-generation Xeon scalable Processor die into a single processor and socket. In addition, two die configurations can achieve twice the memory bandwidth per processor, yet each die is accessed with single hop latency. So, if the 'density' of computing power is important, it is possible to achieve equal capacity with less area than the existing 4 socket configuration. The Xeon Platinum 9200 processor has a configuration of two die connected via UPI to a single processor. It supports up to two processor configurations, which are logically identical to the existing four socket configuration, with three UPIs per die connected directly to the other die. It has a 6-channel DDR4 memory controller per die, so it becomes a 12-channel DDR4 memory controller on a per-processor basis. The processor package is a BGA with 5903 contacts using 0.99mm pitch, which will be supplied at the system level with the motherboard. The Intel Server System S9200WK, featuring dual processor configurations of the Xeon Platinum 9200 series, offers up to 80 PCIe 3.0 lanes. The Xeon Platinum 9200 series processors are available in 32-, 48- and 56-core configurations and feature 12-channel DDR4 memory controllers on all processors, delivering outstanding performance on memory performance-intensive workloads. Intel's test results show up to 407GB/s STREAM-TRIAD performance on dual processor configurations. Memory bandwidth per core is allocated at 3.6 GB/s per core on a 56-core processor and 6.2 GB/s per core on a 32-core processor, providing a favorable environment for memory bandwidth sensitive applications such as HPC applications. Furthermore, the entire TDP can be extinguished with a single heat sink in all product families. ▲ Main features of Intel Server System S9200WK for Xeon Platinum 9200 ▲ Xeon Platinum 9200 series processors are based on the system level configuration. Xeon Platinum 9200 series processors come with Intel Server System S9200WK. The S9200WK is a 2U rack form factor with up to four independent compute nodes depending on the node configuration, and each node is capable of warm-swap. Memory is available in 12-channel configurations with 12 DIMMs per processor, and storage can use two hot-swap U.2 NVMe SSDs per module in a 2U compute module. The power supply uses 3 units of hot-swap 2100W or 1600W in the chassis and has both air and liquid cooling options. The compute modules include 1U 1/2 width liquid-cooled compute sled, 2U 1/2 width liquid-cooled service sled, and 2U 1/2 width air-cooled compute/service sled. Hot-swap storage is only available in 2U compute modules, and NVMe has 2 M.2 per node in 1U, 2 M.2 and 2 U.2 in 2U. PCIe extensions can use two LP PCIe cards per node in 1U and four LP PCIe cards per node in 2U. Intel Server Chassis FC2000 is Intel's disaggregated server configuration, offering power and cooling in a shared form, with three unit configurations of 1600W or 2100W for high availability and air or liquid cooling options provided. In aspects of software architecture-wide optimization, Xeon Platinum 9200 processors have additional information on multichip packaging in CPUID. As a result, the Xeon Platinum 9200 processors with two die might recognize as two processors but the information makes it possible to logically recognize and operate as a single physical package. In addition, benefits such as the DL Boost technology of the second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors, AVX-512 support, and various software optimizations for AI can be obtained equally through Xeon Platinum 9200 processors. On top of that, AI inference performance of Xeon Platinum 8280 processors is 14 times higher than that of Xeon Scalable Processors in the early period, and Xeon Platinum 9282 achieves 30 times the improvement.
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QNAP Launches New TDS-16489U R2 NAS Featuring Dual Intel Xeon E5 CPU with Support for QES/QTS Operating System
QNAP® Systems, Inc. today launched the next-gen TDS-16489U R2 NAS that features dual Intel® Xeon® E5-2600 v4 processors, and a dual OS system for businesses to flexibly deploy an operating system that fits their needs and goals. Users can take advantage of the ZFS-based QES for enterprise-level, efficient and reliable storage for mission-critical tasks, or to install QTS for virtual machine applications, diverse applications, and auto-tiered storage. “With QTS and QES, QNAP have developed two operating systems that provide users with exceptional functionality based on their needs. By supporting both systems, users have greater flexibility on how to use their TDS-16489U R2,” said David Tsao, Product Manager of QNAP, adding “Whether for a file server, virtualization server, VDI, medium-scale data center, video streaming, surveillance storage, or efficient file backup/recovery, the cost-efficient TDS-16489U R2 with dual processors and dual OS options demonstrates an ideal storage solution.” With an extraordinary hardware design, the TDS-16489U R2 features two processors (with Intel® Xeon® E5-2620 v4 8-core CPU and Intel® Xeon® E5-2630 v4 10-core CPU configurations), three independent SAS 12Gb/s controllers, and up to 1 TB quad-channel DDR4 2133MHz RDIMM/LRDIMM RAM (16 DIMM) to deliver the utmost performance. Four 10GbE SFP+ ports fulfill bandwidth-demanding applications such as virtualization, large file sharing, and fast backup/restoration. Four PCIe Gen3 slots allow flexible expansion for 40GbE/25GbE/10GbE NICs, graphics cards, QM2 cards, 12Gb/s SAS HBA, or Fibre Channel adapters (FC support available from QES 2.2.0 and QTS 4.4.1). The TDS-16489U R2 offers an extra four 2.5-inch drive trays at the rear to provide SSD caching, supports IPMI that facilitates remote IT manageability, and features redundant 770 watt power supplies to ensure system reliability. The TDS-16489U R2 is preinstalled with QES, and supports numerous ZFS-based data protection and restoration features including end-to-end checksums to detect and correct silent data corruption, near-unlimited snapshots for iSCSI LUN and shared folders, and SnapSync to accelerate remote backups. SnapSync also supports VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) to offer an enterprise-class remote backup and disaster recovery solution for virtual applications. Inline data deduplication and compression can optimize storage utilization and VDI performance. QES also supports OpenStack® Cinder and Manila file sharing services to provide out-of-the-box enterprise cloud services. With QES the TDS-16489U R2 also can serve as perfect backup storage for the dual-controller Enterprise ZFS NAS ( ES1640dc v2) using SnapSync. The TDS-16489U R2 with QTS performs as an all-in-one NAS solution. It not only serves as ideal virtualization storage (supports VMware®, Citrix®, Microsoft® Hyper-V® and Windows Server® 2016 virtualization) but also can host virtual machines and containers to operate diversified application servers. Users can efficiently complete their backup plans with Hybrid Backup Sync, volume/LUN snapshots, and virtual machine backups. IOPS-demanding applications can benefit from SSD caching, alongside QTS' software-defined SSD extra over-provisioning to optimize random write speeds and to extend SSD lifespan. QNAP’s Qtier™ Technology empowers the TDS-16489U R2 as tiered storage that balances optimal performance and storage efficiency. The built-in App Center features hundreds of install-on-demand apps to provide greater NAS functionality (including QVR Pro for video surveillance, Q'center for centrally managing multiple QNAP NAS, and more).
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Intel Announced New Portfolio for Data-Centric Era
Intel hosted ‘Intel Data-Centric Press Workshop’ at Intel Jones Farm Campus in Hillsboro, Oregon, US on March 5 and 6, and introduced Intel's portfolio of solutions for the data-centric era. At the workshop, the technical characteristics of the next generation processors and platforms including Next-Gen Xeon Scalable Processors and Optane DC Persistent Memory were introduced. Changes in IT technology, from IoT, cloud to 5G and artificial intelligence, are creating trends of explosive data growth, and the ability to handle this data is being linked to competitiveness. In addition, transition to cloud computing, increase of the use of AI and analysis, and cloudification of network and edge are driving the demand for change of IT infrastructure. Intel expects to have the largest market opportunity ever in this data-centric era, with a total size of $200 billion. Therefore, Intel introduced plans to offer software and system-level optimized solutions that can process everything, store more, and move faster to prepare for this market. As a new portfolio for the data-centric era, Intel introduced the second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors, a new Xeon D-1600 processor, Agilex FPGA, Optane DC Persistent Memory, Optane DC SSD, QLC 3D NAND-based DC series SSD, and 800 series Ethernet adapter. The new Xeon Scalable Processors, Optane DC Persistent Memory, Optane DC SSD, and Ethernet technologies are expected to provide superior performance and efficiency in a variety of workloads through being tightly coupled in a system-level and optimization of software levels. What’s more, these innovations will be available faster through ‘Intel Select Solutions’ with a proven, optimized configuration. ▲ Lisa Spelman, Vice President of Data Center Group and General Manager of Intel Xeon Processors and Data Center Marketing at Intel Corp. ▲ Intel is leading innovations in all of various solutions for data-centric era. Lisa Spelman, Vice President of Data Center Group and General Manager of Intel Xeon Processors and Data Center Marketing at Intel Corp., introduced the prospect of the recent data growth that the data, which was about 33ZB in 2018, will grow by an average of 25% per year, reaching 175ZB in 2025. She also said that the extension of data center area up to the edge-level is one of the important trends. In terms of growth trends in real-time applications, she stated that they will account for about 30% of the data produced in 2025, with more than 150 billion connected devices running by 2025. As major drivers of these changes, (1) move to cloud computing, (2) growth of AI and analytics and (3) cloudification of the network and edge were mentioned. And in a series of infrastructure configurations ranging from devices to edge, core, data center and cloud, Intel has a 10nm-based ‘Snow Ridge’ for edge, ‘Xeon D’ for cores, and also Xeon processors and FPGA portfolio for data center and cloud. In particular, in the case of edge infrastructures, the model of classifying, processing the data generated by the device on the edge and moving it to the data center became popular. Also, there are many other ways of using such as implementing 5G or AI at the edge level. As for the six pillars of innovation, Lisa Spelman pointed out (1) Process, (2) Architecture, (3) Memory, (4) Interconnect, (5) Security, and (6) Software. In addition, the components for a new data-centric innovation include processing everything through the processors and FPGA, storing more with Optane technologies and others, and moving faster through Silicon Photonics, Omni-Path Fabric, and Ethernet. She highlighted that these values can be offered in an optimized form at the software and system-level through ‘Intel Select Solutions’. On top of that, she stated that in the data-centric era in the future, the four markets including data center, non-volatile memory, IoT & ADAS and FPGA have faced unprecedented opportunities in history, and the rapid change of the markets into new products are expected. ▲ Jennifer Huffstetler, Vice President of Data Center Group and General Manager of Datacenter Product Marketing and Storage at Intel Corp. ▲ The second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors showed some significant changes over the previous generation. Jennifer Huffstetler, Vice President of Data Center Group and General Manager of Datacenter Product Marketing and Storage at Intel Corp., introduced Intel's new product portfolio for the data-centric era. As the common challenges in cloud service providers, communication service providers, and enterprise environment, she explained the implementation of infrastructure that is more secure and can rapidly respond to various changes, handle data more easily, and manage large-scales more efficiently. And she pointed out that 90% of the existing data is generated in the last two years, but only about 2% of the data is actually utilized. As for the requirements for data-centric era, she mentioned propelling insights through workload accelerated performance, business resilience through hardware-enhanced security, and agile service delivery through cloud-scale orchestration. Moreover, she introduced new products for accelerating data-centric transformation; the second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors, new Xeon D-1600 Processor, new Agilex FPGA, Optane DC Persistent Memory, Optane DC SSD, QLC 3D NAND-based DC series SSD product, Intel 800 series Ethernet, and more expanded ‘Intel Select Solutions’. The second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors, codenamed "Cascade Lake," are available in platinum 9200, 8200, gold 6200, 5200, silver 4200 and bronze 3200. The features in this family include enhanced memory scalability through Optane DC Persistent Memory support as well as improved performance, DL Boost capability that can significantly improve AI inference performance, advanced system management and operational technologies, and enhanced hardware-based security Technology. In particular, the second-generation Xeon scalable Processors have a hardware-wise countermeasure for processor security problems found in the previous generation architectures. ▲ The flagship of this generation is Xeon Platinum 9200 series processors with up to 56 cores. ▲ The second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors showed significant performance improvements over previous generations. The new Xeon Platinum 9200 series processors have two dies in a single processor package, enabling high-density configurations of up to 56 cores per processor and 112 cores with maximum two processors. The processor is optimized for HPC, AI, analytics, and high-density infrastructure configurations, providing up to twice the compute density and up to 3TB of memory when configuring two processors. The product family will be composed of 9282 of 56 cores, 9242 of 48 cores, 9222 of 32 cores, and packaged together with motherboard. The second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors provide up to 8-socket glueless connectivity. With additional socket configurations, they could support socket configurations more than that and provide up to 4.4GHz turbo boost clock speed. In terms of memory, they support 16 Gb memory with support for DDR4-2933, which maximum memory capacity can be supported became doubled over previous generations and higher performance than the previous generations. With Optane DC persistent memory, the system memory can be expanded up to 36TB in an 8-socket configuration. On top of that, the processor can show up to 1.33 times the average performance of the previous generation and 3.5 times better performance than that of the system five years ago. What’s more, AI performance with DL Boost technology provides 14 times better performance than that of the early release period of previous generation. In the security area, the second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors have been improved with hardware-leveled countermeasures to kwon weaknesses such as Meltdown, Spectre, and so on. In addition, in terms of encryption acceleration, QuickAssist technology or AVX-512 is used to provide high processing performance, and Optane DC Persistent Memory also utilizes encryption in module units. In addition, a secure operating environment will be provided through a new threat detection technology, trusted execution technology (TXT), or cloud integrity technology. ▲ DL Boost provides more than twice as much AI inference performance as previous generations. ▲ Xeon D-1600 processor for intelligent edge infrastructure As a technology for high-efficiency and agile service delivery environments, Intel introduced DL Boost, which shows more than double the AI inference performance of the previous generation and 14 times the performance compared to the initial release of previous generation Xeon Scalable Processor. Vector Neural Network Instruction (VNNI) based on AVX-512 enables to process the inference operation which took three cycles so far in one cycle, so it performs theoretically up to 3 times. In addition, the second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors and platforms feature a workload-specific product family optimized for the type of workload and also showcase technologies that maximize them. Workload specialized processors with 'Speed Select' technology are identified by 'Y' in the model name, and you can select one of up to three processor configuration presets. This allows you to optimize the processor's operating speed and number of cores, depending on the situation. In addition, there are 'V' series specialized for VM density value and ‘S’ series specialized for search applications. The second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors specialized for NFV (Network Function Virtualization) environment is classified as an 'N' series. Intel Speed Select technology is applied for the series to provide more service capacity and to maximize the performance by assigning specific tasks to specific cores driven at high operating speed depending on workload characteristics. Besides, the 'T' series specialized for IoT and networking features low power, low heat generation and long term use environment. The Xeon D-1600 Processors for edge infrastructures has up to eight cores and a turbo boost operating speed of 3.2GHz and a 1.5x improvement in the base frequency improvement compared to the Xeon D-1500 Processor. It is a one-chip SoC solution with various components integrated, with maximum 30Gbps throughput of encryption, compression and decompression acceleration function, and four 10Gbps Ethernet interfaces. In addition, Intel's new Agilex FPGAs support cache-coherent connectivity with Intel Xeon Processor, enabling more processor-intensive accelerators than traditional PCIe-based FPGA connections. ▲ Memory and storage based on Optane technology tightly fill large gap between storage tiers ▲ Application Device Queues (ADQ) of the Intel Ethernet 800 series greatly improves the latency and throughput of the network. Known as the codename, "Columbiaville", in the network connection, the Intel Ethernet 800 series has a complete programmable pipeline that was implemented partially in the existing 700 series, with the new function, Application Device Queues (ADQ). ADQ is a way to prioritize packet workloads and hardware-wise control them, allowing for more sophisticated QoS compliance and reducing application network latency by 45% and more than 30% of throughput performance improvement. Furthermore, consistent and predictable application response rates can be achieved. In the memory and storage strategy, the plan to newly establish the balance between performance and cost by configuring the gap between DRAM and cold data with Optane DC Persistent Memory, Optane DC SSD, and a QLC 3D NAND-based SSD. As Optane DC Persistent Memory, which is officially supported from the second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors, can be utilized as DRAM expansion or high-speed storage of DRAM class according to the usage method, it is expected to suggest greater possibilities in large-scale VM operations and in-memory analysis. The storage tier provides high availability and resiliency for mission-critical applications and high performance through Optane SSD DC D4800X with dual port interface at hot storage where frequently used data is stored. Moreover, the SSD D5-P4326 based on QLC 3D NAND was mentioned in terms of a cost-effective warm storage level to accommodate increasingly rapid data generation. This SSD uses the E1.L form factor scalable up to 1TB in 1U, so a high density and high capacity storage can be obtained relatively cost-effectively. ▲ The portfolio of ‘Intel Select Solutions’ has also become more diverse. Meanwhile, Intel is offering software and system-level optimized environments to maximize capabilities of processors and platforms. As for the optimized software among them, they provide support across the development environment ranging from the libraries including Math Kernel Library (MKL) and Machine Learning Scalable (MLS) to optimized AI frameworks, parallel programming framework, compilers, profiling tools, and tool suites. In terms of system-level optimized platforms, S9200WK product family for Xeon Platinum 9200, and S2600WFxR, BxR and STxR server systems for the second-generation Xeon Scalable Platform were introduced. As for the support for a highly secure data center environment, security libraries for the data center were introduced. The new features that can be used with second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors include Threat Detection, which uses machine learning and CPU telemetry to detect advanced threats. What’s more, SGX card was introduced as a new option for cloud service providers to simply implement Software Guard Extensions (SGX) environments. It is a PCIe-type card mounted on a general-purpose server based on the second-generation Xeon Scalable Processors, and it can replace the existing SGX server 12 nodes thereby greatly increasing the service density in a secure cloud service. 'Intel Select Solutions' is already proven to reduce the time, effort and cost of deploying, optimizing and verifying the introduction and transition of a new IT environment, allowing you to reduce the time it takes to create value. The portfolio of ‘Intel Select solutions’ with multiple key ISV/OSV partners, system OEM partners and scale partners will include solutions such as SAP HANA, AI Inference, Visual Cloud Delivery Network and HPC AI Converged in the first half of 2019. The existing MS SQL Server Business Operations, MS SQL Enterprise Data Warehouse, VMware vSAN, MS Windows Server Software Definition, Red Hat and Ubuntu based NFVi will be refreshing soon.
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Lux Research Evaluates Technologies to Valorize More Than 3.5 Billion Tons of Waste Annually
Billions of tons of waste are generated per year across a diverse mix of waste streams – including municipal solid waste, plastic waste, organic waste, and waste textiles and tires – due to the linear nature of today's economy. However, according to the team at Lux Research, a leading provider of tech-enabled research and advisory services for technology innovation, there is growing interest and innovation in utilizing waste streams to create high-value products and a circular economy. A new report from Lux, "Waste Conversion Innovations to Enable a Circular Economy," defines a circular economy as converting waste to either a virgin-quality feedstock or another higher-value product. The report details the challenges and opportunities in converting waste to fuels, chemicals, materials, feed, fertilizer, food, cellulose pulp, and carbon black. Lux goes on to provide an analysis of emerging waste conversion technologies across waste streams. "Technologies that convert waste to its material precursors, such as chemical- and solvent-based recycling (of both plastic and textile waste), are at an early stage. However, they can provide significant value as bolt-on technologies that recirculate industrial waste back into production as post-consumer waste management capabilities ramp up," said Gihan Hewage, Analyst at Lux Research. "The diversity of waste is a challenge, but each waste stream has innovation potential. These innovations, paired with improvements in sensing and sorting as well as product design that strike a better balance between in-use performance and end of life, are the keys to making the shift to a circular economy." Below are snapshots of the current gaps and conversation developments in progress to manage specific waste streams: Municipal solid waste (MSW) – As landfills reach capacity, efforts to commercialize gasification technologies are ramping up to prevent incineration. Companies that dominate the MSW conversion landscape have not developed overly unique technologies, but have scaled up more rapidly than the competition, allowing them to secure strong partnerships. Plastic waste – Scrutiny on accumulation has led to numerous efforts to use plastic waste as a feedstock for materials and fuels. Companies focused on converting waste PET to monomers dominate the waste plastic startup landscape. Organic waste – Ineffective organic waste management is leading to higher-value conversion technology development. While this waste cannot be converted to its original form, developers are working to produce high-value products like animal feed, polymers, fertilizer, fiber, biofuels, and other food products. Waste textiles and tires – Inconsistent collection has led to recycling technologies with high impurity tolerances. Textile recycling is still in its infancy and is hindered by blended fabrics. Solvents that can recover the polyester component could be added within the next five years to recover a larger portion of the waste stream. Because tire pyrolysis is an established technology, startup activity in the space has focused on either reducing costs or modifying the process to recover high-value chemicals. Lux's "Waste Conversion Innovations to Enable a Circular Economy" report dives into additional details about the incumbent technologies, gaps, challenges, innovations, and innovators in each waste stream. It also includes a list of waste conversion technology developers for every waste stream, along with the Lux Take on the market potential for each.
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NetFoundry & Blazeclan Partner To Enable Businesses to Gain Competitive Advantages With Optimum AWS Deployments
NetFoundry, an AWS Advanced Technology Partner and the leader in Application Specific Networking, and Blazeclan, whom serves over 200 customers including McDonalds, Mondelez International and Viacom, are showcasing their integrated AWS solutions in the Blazeclan booth at the AWS Summit at the MAX Atria @ Singapore Expo, on April 9th. Together, Blazeclan and NetFoundry enable businesses to swiftly and cost effectively migrate applications to AWS, spin up and manage cloud native apps in AWS, and leverage AWS-hosted SaaS applications: ·Blazeclan reduces their customers’ time-to-deployment, derisks AWS migration projects and scales digital transformations ·NetFoundry enables businesses to simply, securely and cost effectively connect to AWS, offering its platform to businesses as a fully managed SaaS, enabling businesses to easily manage AWS app connections, without requiring VPNs, private circuits or additional hardware. "Blazeclan partnered with NetFoundry to enable businesses to successfully adopt, migrate and implement Cloud Solutions with a faster, flexible and secured network connectivity. The partnership helps our customers attain reduced time to market, deliver maximum value and unlock the potential of cloud computing to accelerate business growth." Varoon Rajani, CEO, Co-founder | Blazeclan Technologies “Blazeclan found that many cloud infrastructure projects developed challenges such as budget overruns, unnecessary complexity, and significant capacity crawl when it came to establishing connections to public clouds such as AWS for the purposes of migrating workloads and for connecting those workloads post-migration. NetFoundry simplifies and automates the connectivity, resulting in programmable, secure (Zero Trust), high performance connections” said Dipesh Ranjan, Head of Asia Pacific at NetFoundry.
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Telco Systems Joins VMware SD-WAN Ecosystem to Ease VNF Service Deployments
Telco Systems today announced technology collaboration with VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud. As part of the collaboration between the two companies, Telco Systems will be offering an open uCPE pre-integrated and optimized with the VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud solution. The solution allows a service provider to rapidly deploy SD-WAN services running on any hardware of its choice. Telco Systems’ NFVi-OS, which is part of its NVFTime suite, will give service providers the agility to remotely offer any additional VNF service chain, including vFirewall, vProbe, vSecurity and others, at any time with zero-touch provisioning. NFVTime is a service-ready, plug-and-play uCPE solution that provides a complete service environment for rapidly launching virtual network services. NFVTime includes an NFVi-OS, uCPE MANO and a broad portfolio of certified VNFs that are centrally managed and orchestrated. NFVTime’s NFVi-OS can turn any commercial off-the-shelf x86 or Arm white box hardware device into a fully operational uCPE. “VMware SD-WAN is known for its flexibility, enhanced reliability and security and the collaboration with Telco Systems based on its NFVTime uCPE will deliver significant practical benefits to our mutual customers,” said Sanjay Uppal, Vice President and General Manager of the VeloCloud Business Unit at VMware. “Telco Systems is a leader and a valued technology partner, while its NFVTime uCPE uniquely supports both x86 and Arm devices, providing ease of deployment and superior performance.” “We are excited to work with VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud and are looking forward to providing our mutual customers with a highly optimized and efficient offering in the coming months,” said Ariel Efrati, CEO at Telco Systems. “Our existing service provider customers, who are already using the VMware SD-WAN VNF with our NFVTime solution, can serve as examples to other service providers worldwide that are considering moving away from the deployment of dedicated SD-WAN appliances and look for open uCPE platforms.” Telco Systems will be presenting a live demonstration of the Telco Systems-VMware uCPE for SD-WAN offering running as a VNF service on the network of a managed service provider customer in the Telco Systems uCPE ecosystem showcase pavilion at the MPLS+SDN+NFV World Congress in Paris on April 9 – 12 at Booth 201.
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QNAP to Leverage 2ND GEN INTEL XEON SCALABLE PROCESSORS for Data-centric Workflows with Software-defined Network and Storage Solutions
With the launch of 2nd GENERATION INTEL® XEON® SCALABLE PROCESSORS, QNAP® will soon introduce new products that feature dual processors with higher performance and hardware-enhanced security in its future network and storage solutions to assure agile service delivery for the ever-demanding data-centric workloads. QNAP not only empowers storage solutions with software-defined services and computing capabilities but also innovates network products to optimize high-speed IT environment for tech-challenged businesses. “The rampant growth of data and demands in network transformation are placing a lot of businesses under pressure to find more compelling solutions that can continue to perform,” said YT Lee, Vice President of QNAP, adding “As a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, QNAP is also investing more efforts to develop uCPE (Universal Customer Premise Equipment) solutions, and the integration of the next generation Intel Xeon processors helps upgrade our solutions to the next level for tackling the most demanding workloads: from multi-Cloud to intelligent Edge and back.” 2nd GENERATION INTEL® XEON® SCALABLE PROCESSORs are designed to support an expanding range of existing and emerging data center, and network workloads. QNAP is committed to deliver a new content aware storage solution that optimizes mission-critical streaming tasks and boasts unrivaled performance for the CDN (Content Delivery Network), and co-work with IEI® to deliver powerful NFVi (Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure) for the increasingly complex network. Both companies will provide industrial strength means of resolving challenges in data-centric era by implementing Intel Xeon Scalable platforms that feature higher performance and breakthrough memory technology. These two solution configurations will be submitted for verification as Intel® Select Solutions for Visual Cloud Delivery Network and NFVI respectively. QNAP continues to develop more software-defined storage and network solutions to swap out single-purpose hardware for variable applications, while Intel’s cutting-edge solutions provide absolute performance and features to back QNAP products into the future.
