Themis Computer today announced the Intel Core i7 NanoPAK small form factor computer, the newest member of the Themis Tactical Systems product family. The small, light footprint and powerful performance of the Intel Core i7 NanoPAK make it an ideal solution for rugged commercial and military field applications. The NanoPAK i7 computer integrates an Intel 3rd generation Core i7 (Ivy Bridge) processor with FLASH storage in a small, light footprint that optimizes size, weight, power, and cooling. NanoPAK i7 computers are complete, stand alone systems designed for unmanned vehicles, ground vehicles, man-wearable, shipboard, and other extreme environments, where space, weight, power, and cost (SWAP-C) are critical.

Dell has this week updated its Linux offering by releasing the new XPS 13 Developer Edition laptop running Ubuntu. Codenamed Sputnik 3, this new client-to-cloud solution comes with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS pre-installed and features a 13.3-inch (1920 x 1080) LED-backlit touch display, an Intel Haswell processor (Core i5-4200U or i7-4500U), 8 GB of RAM, Intel HD 4400 graphics, a 128/256 GB mSATA solid state drive, a spill-resistant backlit chiclet keyboard, an HD webcam, Bluetooth, 802.11ac WiFi, and a 55WHr battery.

The XPS 13 Developer Edition is currently only available in the US (starting at $1,249) but will expand its reach quickly - next week it will go on sale in Canada, and by the end of the month it will also be found in 9 European countries.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today officially launched five business-class, SAS-enabled Turbo NAS models, including TS-EC1679U-SAS-RP and TS-EC1279U-SAS-RP which support both SAS and SATA 6Gbps hard drives, and the 2.5" high-density SS-EC2479U-SAS-RP, SS-EC1879U-SAS-RP and SS-EC1279U-SAS-RP. The support of SAS hard drives increases disk input/output performance and offers high reliability for data transmission and storage. The new models offer storage expansion port(s) allowing seamless capacity expansion with QNAP RAID expansion enclosures to easily fulfill mission-critical storage needs of small and medium businesses, with persistent throughput to balance resource-demanding applications.

The new SAS-enabled models are equipped with a Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3.4GHz processor with 8GB DDR3 ECC RAM, feature 10GbE-ready network connectivity, and support SSD caching to greatly boost IOPS performance, perfect for improving overall workflow of IOPS-demanding applications such as virtualization and data center deployment. "The new SAS-enabled Turbo NAS models support enterprise-level SAS hard drives that will greatly satisfy performance-demanding businesses," said David Tsao, product manager of QNAP. "The new models also support lower cost high-capacity SATA hard drives for large data archiving and high-speed, high stability SSDs for I/O-intensive operations. With the new SAS-enabled Turbo NAS, businesses can enjoy great flexibility in hard drive selection."

QNAP Security, a professional Linux-based stand-alone NVR provider, today updated their VioStor NVR firmware v4.1.1 with an enhanced storage expansion solution. The new firmware also supports a range of AXIS IP cameras for edge recording and two-way audio functions.

"We are glad that the favorable VioStor NVR storage expansion solution now applies to selective Turbo NAS models with the latest QTS operating system v4.0.2," said Andrew Yu, product manager of QNAP Security. "Now more QNAP users can easily expand their NVR's storage capacity and enjoy the intuitive QTS 4.0 Turbo NAS management system." By installing the StorageExpansion app (QPKG) on a Turbo NAS, administrators can connect their VioStor NVR with the Turbo NAS via network to flexibly enlarge the total storage capacity of the VioStor NVR.

At LinuxCon 2013, IBM announced plans to invest $1 billion (USD) in new Linux and open source technologies for IBM's Power Systems servers. The investment aims to help clients capitalize on big data and cloud computing with modern systems built to handle the new wave of applications coming to the data center in the post-PC era.

A new IBM Power Systems Linux Center for developers, clients and partners opened in Montpellier, France today. Joining similar centers in Asia and North America, the Montpellier center is an immediate result of a larger initiative by IBM to commit $1 billion towards Linux ecosystem growth on IBM's Power Systems line of servers. (Credit: IBM)

Eurocom (www.eurocom.com), has officially added support for RedHat Enterprise Server Edition 6.4 in its EUROCOM Panther 5SE Mobile Server solution for onsite, server deployment wherever needed.

"Eurocom is excited to offer an all in one Mobile Server enterprise solution in a Notebook Form Factor able to run RedHat Enterprise Server Edition 6.4, with no server room required. The Panther 5SE is a portable, mobile and scalable enterprise technology, designed specifically for fast growing and dynamic organizations that do not have or do not require a permanent IT infrastructure" EUROCOM President, Mark Bialic.

HighPoint, an industry leading Storage HBA and solutions manufacturer, has launched the industry's fastest 4-Port USB 3.0 HBA - the RocketU 1144C. Powered by four dedicated 5 Gb/s USB 3.0 ports, a PCI-E 2.0 x4 host interface, plus UASP (USB-attached SCSI protocol) performance-enhancement boost, HighPoint's RocketU 1144C is the industry's fastest USB 3.0 storage controller. The RocketU 1144C is optimized for today's fastest USB 3.0 devices, and is well suited for a wide-range of applications including portable/removable storage, storage expansion, personal media libraries, and backup solutions.

RocketU HBA's can deliver even higher levels of performance when paired with UAS capable storage devices, such as RocketStor USB 3.0 Storage Docks. UASP (USB-attached SCSI protocol) enables USB 3.0 devices to store and process multiple commands in parallel; significantly reducing wait time and streamlining data transfers. The RocketU 1144C's UAS capabilities allow it to fully utilize the PCI-E 2.0 x4 host bus interface and deliver uncompromised transfer bandwidth for UAS capable devices such as USB 3.0 SSD's, hard drives, and enclosures. The speed and efficiency advantages provided by UAS capable devices are ideal for multi-tasking and performance-hungry applications.

Advantech, a global embedded platform manufacturer, today unveiled the new ASMB-822I server-grade motherboard powered by Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 family technology. This new technology comprises 64-bit multi-core processors, PCI Express Gen3 high speed communications, and DDR3 memory with total capacity up to 96GB. ASMB-822I is perfect designed for high performance demands such as NVR, DVR and also target to video wall, video conferencing, surveillance and other mission-critical applications.

"Advantech is committed to providing a full spectrum of embedded systems with advanced and intelligent built-in technology, from fanless and ruggedized to high-performance solutions," said Linda Tsai,Director of Advantech Embedded Systems Group. The ASMB-822I is an ATX server board equipped with LGA 2011 Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 series and Intel C602J series chipset. It supports six DDR3 registered DIMM slots for a 96 GB total capacity and dual GbE LANs using Intel controllers.

Dell today launched the Latitude 3330, designed to help schools and educators teach tomorrow's leaders while providing excellent value school districts. The new laptop offers the robust computing features required to maximize learning productivity, compatibility with Dell's existing solutions and services for education and support for personalized learning opportunities in the classroom.

A snap to deploy, the Latitude 3330 easily integrates into a school's existing IT infrastructure, speeding up time to classroom and saving time and money. It's sleek, lightweight, and sturdy design stands up to the demands of even the youngest of students, fits easily on classroom desks and in backpacks and moves easily from classroom to classroom or home and back. The new laptop offers no compromise performance with full laptop productivity and all day battery life with a 6-cell battery.

SP/Silicon Power, the world's leading provider of memory storage solutions today unveils an ultra slim portable hard drive - Diamond D20. The all new D20 is built in a light-weighted and ultra slim design for easy carrying and fits perfectly in your pocket. Featuring a solid aluminum metal structure with unique carbon-like texture, D20 creates a new sense of digital fashion trend, ideal for those who looking for storage on the go.

Unlike a traditional hard drive with rigid angles, the SP Diamond D20 is surrounded with curved edges for easy storage. With the solid aluminum metal structure and the anti-scratch surface, SP D20 can make you free from worrying about fingerprints, scratches or dents when carrying it around. Coated in contrasting colors of black and white, the D20 is elegantly simple and exquisite.

During her keynote at the Intel Developer Forum today in Beijing, Diane Bryant, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Datacenter and Connected Systems Group, discussed how her company is helping users harness powerful new capabilities that will improve the lives of people by building smarter cities, healthier communities and thriving businesses.

Bryant unveiled details of upcoming technologies and products that show how Intel aims to transform the server, networking and storage capabilities of the datacenter. By addressing the full spectrum of workload demands and providing new levels of application optimized solutions for enterprise IT, technical computing and cloud service providers, unprecedented experiences can be delivered.

UNIGINE Corp. has released a new, enhanced version 4.0 of Heaven Benchmark, the GPU intensive benchmark that gained massive popularity among overclockers and hardware manufacturers for hammering their graphics cards to the limits. This powerful tool can be effectively used to determine the stability of a GPU under extremely stressful conditions, as well as check the cooling system's potential under maximum heat output. It provides completely unbiased results and generates true in-game rendering workloads across all platforms, such as Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

Heaven Benchmark immerses a user into a magical steampunk world of shiny brass, wood and gears. Nested on flying islands, a tiny village with its cozy, sun-heated cobblestone streets, an elaborately crafted dirigible above the expanse of fluffy clouds, and a majestic dragon on the central square gives a true sense of adventure. An interactive experience with fly-by and walk-through modes allows for exploring all corners of this world powered by the cutting-edge UNIGINE Engine that leverages the most advanced capabilities of graphics APIs and turns this benchmark into a visual masterpiece.DOWNLOAD: Unigine Heaven 4.0 for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux

QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced that its latest business-class, 2U rackmount TS-x70 series Turbo NAS start shipping now. The new generation TS-x70 series, including the 12-bay TS-1270U-RP and the 8-bay TS-870U-RP, are aiming to offer the business users a superb high-performance yet budget-friendly NAS solution to smooth daily file operations with low total cost of ownership. The models fulfill various business applications including high speed backup, server virtualization, iSCSI IP-SAN, video storage and centralized shared storage, and outstand as an affordable 10GbE ready NAS.

Powered by a high performance Dual-core Intel 2.4GHz processor, the new TS-x70 series are equipped with 4GB DDR3 RAM, which can be upgraded to 16GB optionally. The dual USB 3.0 ports allow high-speed server data backup. Featuring 10GbE re ady, the TS-x70 series provide dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, which can be expanded up to six Gigabit Ethernet ports, or four 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports plus two Gigabit Ethernet ports, benefit in aggregating and boosting network performance. "The TS-x70 series are proficient to fulfill mission-critical storage needs of small and medium businesses with maximum system uptime," said David Tsao, product manager of QNAP. "The 10GbE network expansion options can satisfy high-speed data transmission required in the business environment," added Tsao.

At the International CES 2013 opening today, QNAP , Inc. showcased its newly launched Turbo NAS TS-x70 series and its complete NAS lineup, presented its latest version of NAS firmware 3.8 with various enhanced business and home applications, and displayed the new VioStor NVR VS-x100 Pro+ series and powerful surveillance Central Management System , the CMS-2000. Visitors could experience the full-spectrum of Turbo NAS series and VioStor NVR series at CES 2013.

The newly launched business-class, 2U rackmount TS-x70 series Turbo NAS, including the 12-bay TS-1270U-RP and the 8-bay TS-870U-RP, are designed to offer the SMBs superb high-performance yet budget-friendly NAS solutions to smooth daily file operations with lo w total cost of ownership. Powered by a high performance Dual-core Intel 2.40 GHz processor, the TS-x70 series deliver exceptional performance at an exceptional price.

ASUSTOR Inc., a leading innovator and provider of network storage solutions, today announced the release of three new NAS Apps for its well-received AS 6 Series NAS devices. These new Apps consist of Symantec Backup Exec's RALUS, an acclaimed backup solution, Dropbox, a popular cloud storage and sync service and DVBLink TV Server, a digital television App. Additionally, two of ASUSTOR's existing Apps are being upgraded with advanced features and enhancements. Download Center now features the new and convenient Smart Download Folder function. Its mobile App, AiDownload, has added a push notification function and is now available for both iOS and Android. Not to be outdone, the Surveillance Center App now boasts added Daylight Saving Time adjustments along with full compatibility with Panasonic's BB and BL camera lines. Interested users may begin enjoying these new Apps and upgrades by downloading them through ASUSTOR's App Central.

MSC Embedded Inc., manufacturer of highly integrated standard board level products and customer-specific boards and systems, today introduced a powerful, new COM Express Type 6 module family. This family, called MSC C6C-A7, is based on the AMD embedded R-Series processors also known as accelerated processing units (APUs). MSC C6C-A7 members are compact form factor computer-on-modules characterized by very powerful graphics and high parallel computing performance with low power dissipation.

The MSC C6C-A7 module family integrates AMD R-460L 2.0 GHz (2.8 GHz Turbo) or AMD R-452L 1.6 GHz (2.4 GHz Turbo) quad-core processors. The thermal design power (TDP) levels are 25 W and 19 W, respectively. The two dual-core versions are populated with the AMD R-260H 2.1 GHz (2.6 GHz Turbo) processor or the AMD R-252F 1.7 GHz (2.3 GHz Turbo) processor -- each featuring 17 W TDP. The processors support the AMD64 technology and the AMD-V virtualization technology. The AMD Fusion Controller Hub (FCH) A75 chipset was also selected. The main memory can be expanded to 16 GB DDR3-1600 dual-channel SDRAM via two SO DIMM sockets.

AMD today unveiled nine new mid-range and entry-level AMD Opteron 4300 Series and 3300 Series server processors increasing performance per watt versus the previous generation to maximize compute capabilities in power-constrained environments1, while delivering outstanding value to cloud providers and web hosts. The AMD Opteron 3300 Series processors provide enterprise-class features in a low power envelope at a desktop processor price, making it ideal for web hosts and small- and medium-sized businesses.

The AMD Opteron 4300 Series processors offer up to 15 percent better performance versus the prior generation, based on SPECint benchmark results2. And SPECpower results show up to a 24 percent improvement in performance per watt. As with the AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors, these are socket compatible with the previous generation processor, providing an effortless upgrade path for customers.

Following ASUS' venture into the consumer NAS segment as ASUStor, Gigabyte responded with its own. The company launched its Home NAS family with the GR-EZI04H, a 4-bay consumer NAS based on the Intel Atom platform. Pictured below, it uses a common desktop cube form-factor, with a main lockable door covering its four caddies.

Gigabyte used an interesting combination of hardware. It combined a current-generation Atom D2500 dual-core processor clocked at 1.80 GHz, with an old (yet effective) ICH10R southbridge, instead of the usual NM10 PCH. The ICH10R has been used on high-end Intel 4-series and 5-series platforms, and provides six SATA 3 Gb/s ports with RAID 0/5/10. The GR-EZI04H features two gigabit Ethernet ports, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0/1.1 ports, and a VGA display output. Its OS, a choice between Windows Home Server 2011 and Embedded Linux, is stored on an mPCIe DOM. Gigabyte used a custom NAS management software that isn't extensively detailed, but features a standard feature-set. More details are awaited.

After launching its high-performance display driver for Linux that boosts GeForce graphics performance by 100%, NVIDIA released an open-source 2D driver code for its Tegra 2 and Tegra 3 SoCs, which is based on the experimental Direct Rendering Manager driver (DRM, not as in digital rights management). DRM was started as an independent project by Thierry Reding, but is now being worked on by NVIDIA, among others.

The open-source DRM driver code published by Terje Bergstrom today provide host1x and 2D on Tegra 2 and Tegra 3 SoCs, and was published by Terje Bergstrom. He writes "nvhost is the driver that controls host1x hardware. It supports host1x command channels, synchronization, run-time power management and memory management. It is sectioned into logical driver under drivers/video/tegra/host and physical driver under drivers/video/tegra/host/host1x. The physical driver is compiled with the hardware headers of the particular host1x version."

FXI, pioneer of the Cstick Any Screen Micro Computer, announced today that it releases a full system solution for ARM Linux and Android developers on its Cotton Candy device platform, targeting developers. The agreement and close collaboration with ARM will enable FXI to take full advantage of the resources of the Mali development community, while providing an easy to use, innovative development platform for Mali GPU developers. Existing owners of the Cotton Candy device can download development versions of Ubuntu Linux for ARM v12.04 and Android 4.0 in both source and binary forms by visiting this page. Developers can get Cotton Candy from here.

FXI is working closely with ARM to take full advantage of the capabilities of the ARM Mali-400 MP GPU (and other ARM technologies). The Cotton Candy Any Screen IP enables developers to work with the Cotton Candy device inserted in their PC and develop with their existing tool chains directly on the Cotton Candy. The combination of the ARM Cortex-A9 and Mali-400 MP can be found in a wide range of devices ranging from smartphones, tablets and smart TVs. By using Cotton Candy, which also uses this combination, developers can target a wide range of Cortex processors and Mali GPU based platforms -or for Cotton Candy itself- can develop on actual market leading Mali silicon.

Unity Technologies, provider of the Unity multi-platform engine and development tools, is proud to announce Unity 4.0 is now available for download. Unity 4, announced in June, will consist of a series of updates designed to improve the product through an extensive improvement of existing tech and the rollout of new features. The first in a series of updates for Unity 4, this version includes significant additions such as DirectX 11 support and Mecanim animation tools. In addition users will have access to a Linux deployment preview and the Adobe Flash Player deployment add-on.

"Unity 4 will see the addition of an incredible number of new, highly advanced, features and continuous improvement across the tech to be released in smaller, faster increments than Unity has seen in the past," said David Helgason, CEO, Unity Technologies. "It's an exciting time for Unity and the 4.0 release marks the beginning of a great new era for our technology."

NVIDIA today announced the latest NVIDIA GeForce drivers -- R310 -- double the performance and dramatically reduce game loading times for those gaming on the Linux operating system.

The result of almost a year of development by NVIDIA, Valve and other game developers, the new GeForce R310 drivers are designed to give GeForce customers the best possible Linux-based PC gaming experience -- and showcase the enormous potential of the world's biggest open-source operating system.

The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today announced that HP is making a strategic, long-term investment in Linux by upgrading to Platinum membership. Linux Foundation Platinum members include Fujitsu, IBM, Intel, NEC, Oracle, Qualcomm Innovation Center and Samsung. HP was previously a Gold member.

HP's business spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. The company has long been a contributor to the Linux and open source software communities and is well known for its work on open operating systems as well as the open cloud. With many of its products already running Linux, including servers, printers, networking equipment and more, HP understands that computing is changing rapidly and is prioritizing Linux and collaborative development to advance its development for the future.

Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (NASDAQ: CRAY) today announced the Cray XE6 and Cray XE6m supercomputers are now available with the new AMD Opteron 6300 Series processor, using its next-generation "Piledriver" core. With a performance-per-watt that is up to 40 percent higher than prior generations, these new AMD (NYSE: AMD) Opteron processors are designed to enhance power efficiency with more application performance within the same power budget.

"Cray supercomputers are specifically designed to allow our customers to easily upgrade their systems so they can take advantage of the latest, most innovative processing technologies while also reducing their total-cost-of-ownership over the life of the system," said Peg Williams, Cray's senior vice president of high performance computing systems. "We believe the new AMD Opteron 6300 Series processors will significantly improve the performance and efficiency for Cray customers upgrading their current Cray XE6 and Cray XE6m systems. We look forward to delivering this capability to our customers."

You can now sign up to test Steam for Linux, with Valve announcing an open Beta of the client. Valve is looking for users with generally high experience with Linux, so don't expect the Beta to be click-and-run. Interested users with Ubuntu 12.04 (and above) can sign up here. Steam for Linux targets Ubuntu, and the company plans to launch the platform with Left 4 Dead 2 with SteamPlay enabled, porting other Valve titles later.