Fujitsu PC Asia Pacific unveils the fashion forward Fujitsu LifeBook A1120 with replaceable lids for expressing your personality and complementing your style. Not just a good-looker, the Fujitsu LifeBook A1120 is also better in performance and higher in display brilliance than its predecessor, making itself a reliable and all-rounded performer.

The LifeBook A1120 is faster and lets you multi-task painlessly as it is powered by the Intel Core 2 Duo processor T6400 and can support up to 4GB memory. Together with the Mobile Intel GM45 Express Chipset and a mega storage capacity of up to 250GB on a 5400rpm SATA hard disk, the Fujitsu LifeBook A1120 endows users with maximum productivity with minimum effort.

Fujitsu Limited and Toshiba Corporation today announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the transfer of Fujitsu's hard disk drive (HDD) business to Toshiba. The companies plan to conclude a transfer contract at an early date, and aim to complete the transaction in the first quarter of fiscal 2009.

Fujitsu will facilitate the transfer by bringing its HDD-related businesses and functions together in a new company. Toshiba will acquire about an 80 percent stake in this company and make it a Toshiba Group subsidiary. In order to promote a smooth transfer, Fujitsu will continue to hold a stake of under 20 percent in the new company for a certain period of time, after which it will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Toshiba.

Japanese electronics firm Fujitsu has decided to closed down its hard disk drive (HDD) head production, to consolidate losses incurred by the business over the recent red quarters. Fujitsu produces HDD heads for both the components industry and its own HDDs. The company said it would book a loss of 5 billion Yen (US $55.8 M) in its investment in a manufacturing facility at Nagano, north-west of Tokyo.

The said facility will continue manufacturing other drive components such as circuit boards, while employees working for drive-head production will be moved to other jobs. While production of drive-heads will stop in March, the company is in talks with several companies over selling off its entire HDD business, according to company spokesperson Takashi Koto, without disclosing the names of the companies on table. Toshiba comes up as a prospective buyer. It has confirmed that it is in talks with Fujitsu over the sale of a business.

Toshiba Corp., Japan's biggest chipmaker, may buy the majority of Fujitsu's hard-disk drive business, according to information leaked over the net. A possible deal between the two companies will be possitive for them both. Fujitsu will sell its money-losing subdivision, while Toshiba will strengthen its position in the hard drive business and probably lower production costs of its storage goods. Unfortunately, when such a deal is ongoing and not yet finalized, there's not much information to share. Fujitsu's spokesman Etsuro Yamada said that his company is currently in discussions with several other companies about its hard-disk drive business, but did not say anything specific about Toshiba. On the other side Keisuke Ohmori, a spokesman at Toshiba in Tokyo, said: "It's true that we are in talks with Fujitsu on the matter, but nothing has been decided at the moment,"
An agreement may be reached by the end of this month, according to Bloomberg.com.

S3 Graphics will participate in the annual Lunch@Piero's press event, held during CES in Las Vegas on January 8th and 9th. Attendees at Lunch@Piero's can experience the latest HD IP-based media-on-demand based on a unique and innovative hardware-level IP protection mechanism showcased on the S3 Graphics Chrome 400 Series Hi-Def multimedia processor using a Content Protection LSI from Fujitsu Microelectronics Limited.

With the market transition to IP-based HD multimedia, movie studios and content creators canuse this new, secure multimedia platform to protect and control precious HD video IP distribution from source to display, while overcoming the inherent vulnerabilities of today's widely used software-based security methods.

VIA, the third active player in the x86 processor market, is known for its low-power processors catering to the ULPC segment of the market. Sources tell HKEPC that the firm is now readying a dual-core variant of its Intel Atom competitor, the Nano 3000. The Nano 3000 series, slated for launches throughout 2009 includes a new architecture by VIA, while bearing the same essential Nano-BGA package.

The processor would use a boarder system interface with the 1333 MHz VIA V4 bus (FSB). It will feature x86-64 extension along with the SSE4 instruction sets to make it standards compliant. It will feature 128KB of L1 and 1MB of L2 caches. VIA is also looking to improve the processor's number-crunching capabilities by working on its integer and floating-point operations efficiency. The processor will be built on the Japanese Fujitsu 65nm manufacturing process which has so far been VIA's foundry partner with processors and S3 Graphics products. The company is also considering a switch to the TSMC 40nm or 45nm node later, sources note. The VIA Nano 3000 Dual-Core variant can be expected in the second-half of 2009, while single core variants of the architecture can be expected earlier.

Fujitsu Limited today announced the development of two new series in its line of 2.5" enterprise hard disk drives (HDDs), the 10,025-rpm MBD2 RC series and 15,000-rpm MBE2 RC series, both of which provide standard support for the 6Gb/s SAS interface. The MBD2 RC series will be released in the first quarter of 2009 calendar year, and the MBE2 RC series will be available in the second quarter.
Compared to current 2.5" models, the new series improve performance by 60% in terms of internal transfer speeds. They are also more environmentally friendly, with halogen-free design - a first for Fujitsu's enterprise HDDs - and industry-leading power efficiency. Moreover, the series boast perpendicular magnetic recording, which enables increased recording density and allows the MBD2 series to have capacities up to 300 GB, noteworthy for 2.5" HDDs. The new models are well-suited to a range of applications, from servers to high-capacity storage systems.

Fujitsu Limited today announced that it has developed two new 500 GB 2.5" hard disk drive (HDD) models that feature a rotational speed of 5,400 RPM and deliver industry-leading levels of energy efficiency. The MJA2 BH series will be available from the end of December 2008, and the MJA2 CH series will be available in the first quarter of the 2009 calendar year. With industry-leading levels of energy efficiency, the new models consume only 1.4W of power when recording data, one-third less than previous models. Moreover, these are Fujitsu's first halogen-free HDD models, making them an environmentally friendly products across their lifecycle, from deployment to disposal.

A new rumour is spreading around the net, claiming that Fujitsu is in talks with WesternDigital to sell its hard disk drive business. Currently WD is the second-largest hard disk drive maker in the world behind Seagate Technology. Fujitsu's HDD business is ranked sixth. If there's a deal between WD and Fujitsu, it would raise WesternDigital's market share to almost the same level as the market leader Seagate Technology. A possible acquisition would include Fujitsu's plants in Japan, the Philippines and Thailand with a total of 15,000 workers.

It's necessary for Fujitsu to review its disk-drive operations because it's facing severe competition in an industry that requires large commitments to capital spending for companies to be competitive,

said Yukihiko Shimada, an analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co. The deal would be finalized by the end of the year, according to experts. WD and Fujitsu representatives declined to make any official statements and confirm the story.

Notebook PC makers and users desire the realism and performance of a discrete graphics processing unit (GPU), but they still demand maximum battery life. Now Sony, Fujitsu Siemens, and BenQ have announced the availability of notebooks that let users dynamically switch between a discrete NVIDIA GeForce GPU and Intel Centrino 2 integrated graphics without rebooting, giving users the choice of more visual computing performance or reducing power demands to extend battery life.

All GeForce 9M Series GPUs support the hybrid graphics feature, but the notebook must be designed to support the technology. The hybrid graphics feature is currently available in the following new notebook models:

Fujitsu's LifeBook FMV Biblo U/B50 will be its latest feature-rich UMPC offering. It offers a stylish, eye-catching chassis that holds a 5.6" display. This pushes it into the netbook domain but is quickly pulled back by its set of features at a point of portability. To begin with, the screen swivels like that of a tablet PC, just that it isn't a touch-screen. The screen offers a 1280 x 800 px native resolution, there is a fixed webcam too.

It is powered by the Intel Atom Z530 clocked at 1.60 GHz and 1 GB of DDR2 memory. Fujitsu claims it should suffice for Windows Vista, the OS it ships with. On to the connectivity front, There's 802.11n Wi-Fi, 3G, and Bluetooth to provide connectivity. Options with storage include 60GB, 100GB or 120GB HDD, or a 64GB SSD. Display outputs include the HDMI port facing its front to let you connect it to larger screens. Prepare to shell out ¥123,800 (that's US $ 1,128) if you want one in Japan.

Fujitsu has announced an Intel Atom-based UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC), not to be confused with ULPC. This ultra-portable will focus on the high-end market with a US $1000 to $1200 price tag. It has a 5.6-inch LCD screen, 3.5G data connectivity and GPS and tips the scales at 610g. Specifications can be summarized as:

• Intel Centrino Atom Z530
• SCH US15W (Poulsbo) Chipset
• Touch Screen, 5.6 inches diagonally, 1280 x 800 pixels (WXGA)
• 1 GB DDR2 533 MHz memory
• 60 GB conventional HDD
• Wireless interfaces - Wi-Fi 8021.11n and Bluetooth
• Other - fingerprinting sensor, web-camera, kartovod SD format and CF
• 20wh 2-cell battery

This notebook will be available in three colour models: U2010BU (Ocean Black), U2010GU (Pink Gold), U2010RU (Fuchsia Red).

Built for the fairer sex, in-built support for 3.5G (HSDPA) WWAN glossy color and appearance are the two highlights of this new lifestyle notebook, Fujitsu LifeBook P8010 Pink Gold Edition, dubbed a limited edition.

Tipping the scales at 1.3 kg, this notebook is equipped with a 12.1" SuperFine-widescreen display with 1280x800 (WXGA) display format with a contrast ratio of 400:1. At the heart of this notebook is an Intel Core 2 Duo SL7100. A 1.3 megapixel web-camera, DVD-RW and a fingerprint reader for enhanced security. It comes with up to six hours of battery life. It's priced at US $2600.

Fujitsu Limited today announced that it has developed a new series of 2.5" hard disk drives (HDDs) specifically designed for 24-hour continuous operation and are available in a category-leading capacity of 250 GB and a rotational speed of 7,200 RPM. Sales of the new MHZ2 BK Series will start at the end of July 2008.

Fujitsu Limited today announced the release of the MHZ2 CJ Series of 320GB 2.5" hard disk drives with automatic hardware-based encryption to effectively secure data against theft or loss, along with the industry's highest rotational speed of 7200-rpm and a 3.0 Gb/s Serial ATA interface. The new series of drives for computers and external storage devices will be available at the end of May 2008.

Fujitsu Limited today announced its new MHZ2 BJ series of 2.5" hard disk drives that feature a rotational speed of 7200 rpm and capacities of up to 320GB. The new disk is designed for use in high-performance PCs, such as high-end notebook computers and compact desktops. The MHZ2 BJ will be available in 80/120/160/250 and 320GB capacities, with SATA 3.0 Gb/s interface, 16MB buffer size, and 10.5ms (read) and 12.5ms (write) average seek times. Sales of the MHZ2 BJ series will begin at the end of June 2008.

CNET News.com has learned that Lenovo and Fujitsu are in the process of putting together systems based on the special Core 2 Duo chip that Apple is using in the MacBook Air. The new laptops should be out shortly, according to sources familiar with the companies' plans, and will give customers a chance to see what the rest of the PC industry can do with the ultra-low-power chips. Both manufacturers did not comment on the story. Apple asked Intel to design the special Core 2 Duo chip last year as it was putting together the design that would become the MacBook Air. The chip fits into a package that's significantly smaller than the standard Intel notebook chip, and it uses less power than the standard Core 2 Duo, allowing it to fit into the slim MacBook Air without melting the inside of the package or eating the battery.

Although not confirmed by any of the firms, this story could have your attention for a moment. According to unspecified sources Hitachi, the Japanese conglomerate, is talking to Toshiba and Fujitsu about forming a new company dedicated to hard drives and storage systems. The new company would combine the hard drive divisions of Hitachi and Toshiba as well as some of the storage systems technology from Fujitsu. Each name would own a third of the newly formed venture. It's not a secret that Hitachi is not happy with its current hard drive group, so this may be the best opportunity for them to continue in the right way.

This is another story which is still at the rumour stage I'm afraid, but some sources are claiming that Hitachi, Toshiba and Fujitsu could be planning to form a new company dedicated to producing hard drives and storage systems. The deal would be instead of Hitachi selling its struggling hard drive division to a private equity firm, and comes following unsuccessful talks with Silver Lake, the company responsible for turning around Seagate's fortunes years ago. It is thought that Hitachi is not particularly keen on selling part of its company to 'outsiders' such as Silver Lake for cultural reasons, and would be more trusting of other Japanese companies such as Toshiba and Fujitsu. Any deal is expected to be reached by April 1st, which represents the start of the business year in Japan.

Fujitsu General, maker of flat-panel TVs and monitors, will "discontinue participation in the visual display business at the end of March 2008." Falling prices and diminished profitability in the flat-panel category were reasons cited by the company, which issued a brief press release on December 27, 2007. The statement was released following a board meeting in which the company's board of directors decided to cease activity in the visual display market. "During the past several years, the pricing and profitability of this segment has compressed beyond the point which our company could realize a satisfactory return on investment. We expect that this market situation will continue in the future."

Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. is in development of a new type of resistive RAM (ReRAM), a type of non-volatile memory, which combines low power consumption with limited fluctuation of resistance value. By changing the structure of the ReRAM by adding titanium (Ti) to nickel oxide (NiO), and by limiting the current flow from the transistor, Fujitsu Labs has successfully reduced the current needed to erase memory to 100 micro-amperes or less. Furthermore, even in high-speed erasure operations requiring only 5 nanoseconds, fluctuation of resistance value which affects the device's quality has been reduced to one-tenth (1/10th) that of conventional ReRAMs. Fujitsu Labs views the new ReRAM as an alternative to flash memory that combines high speed and low power consumption, in a low-cost embedded memory.

Fujitsu Limited is in development of a new MHZ2 BH series of 2.5" hard disk drives with a maximum capacity of 320GB. Featuring a storage capacity for 2.5" HDDs that is among the highest in the industry, the MHZ2 BH series supports Serial ATA3.0Gb/s interface, 5400 rpm spin speed and 8MB data buffer. The series is designed primarily for use in compact desktop PCs, notebook PCs, and consumer electronics products, such as HDD recorders. Sales of the new Fujitsu hard drives will begin in February 2008.

New Fujitsu Siemens monitors are the first to consume no power in standby mode, the company claims. A relay cuts off the main power whenever the video stream stops while capacitors store enough charge to flick the relay back when the signal returns, that's how it works. The technology is ready for TVs and can go into any computer monitor, according to the vice president of peripherals at Fujitsu Siemens, Rajat Kakar. The company has applied for six patents covering the technology and the first monitors using it will go on sale next spring. Standby accounts for eight per cent of domestic electricity consumption, and the figure is rising according to a recent report by the UK Government. Some political parties have called for a Europe-wide ban on unnecessary stand-by. Fujitsu Siemens has already showed two 22in widescreen prototype monitors with power meters attached at a press event in Augsburg, Germany.

Most security scanners rely on reading fingerprints for biometric security. However, Fujitsu's new PalmSecure mouse has gone in a different direction and instead reads the vein patterns on the palms of users hands. Users can now casually place their hand on the mouse and unlock their workstation.

No official price or release date has been set for the PalmSecure mouse, however, it should be available soon and will come in gray, black, and white.

Fujitsu Korea unveiled its latest 2.5-inch 300GB external hard disk named Calmee Moon 300GB which features one touch backup function and 1.8mm-thick aluminum enclosure. The Calmee Moon also comes in 80GB, 100GB, 120GB, 160GB, 200GB and 250GB versions. Fujitsu hasn't released info on price and availability.