I did not have time to post my computer technologies predictions t the ends of 2016. Because I missed the year end deadline, I though that there is no point on posting anything before the news from CES 2017 have been published. Here are some of myck picks on the current computer technologies trends:
CES 2017 had 3 significant technology trends: deep learning goes deep, Alexa everywhere and Wi-Fi gets meshy. The PC sector seemed to be pretty boring.
Gartner expects that IT sales will growth (2.7%) but hardware sales will not have any growth – can drop this year. TEKsystems 2017 IT forecast shows IT budgets rebounding from a slump in 2016, and IT leaders’ confidence high going into the new year. But challenges around talent acquisition and organizational alignment will persist. Programming and software development continue to be among the most crucial and hard-to-find IT skill sets.
Smart phones sales (expected to be 1.89 billion) and PC sales (expected to be 432 million) do not grow in 2017. According to IDC PC shipments declined for a fifth consecutive year in 2016 as the industry continued to suffer from stagnation and lack of compelling drivers for upgrades. Both Gartner and IDC estimated that PC shipments declined about 6% in 2016.Revenue in the traditional (non-cloud) IT infrastructure segment decreased 10.8 per cent year over year in the third quarter of 2016. Only PC category that has potential for growth is ultramobile (includes Microsoft Surface ja Apple MacBook Air). Need for memory chips is increasing.
Browser suffers from JavaScript-creep disease: This causes that the browing experience seems to be become slower even though computer and broadband connections are getting faster all the time. Bloat on web pages has been going on for ages, and this trend seems to continue.
Microsoft tries all it can to make people to switch from older Windows versions to Windows 10. Microsoft says that continued usage of Windows 7 increases maintenance and operating costs for businesses as malware attacks that could have been avoided by upgrading to Windows 10. Microsoft says that continued usage of Windows 7 increases maintenance and operating costs for businesses. Microsoft: Windows 7 Does Not Meet the Demands of Modern Technology; Recommends Windows 10. On February 2017 Microsoft stops the 20 year long tradition of monthly security updates. Windows 10 “Creators Update” coming early 2017 for free, featuring 3D and mixed reality, 4K gaming, more.
Microsoft plans to emulate x86 instructions on ARM chips, throwing a compatibility lifeline to future Windows tablets and phones. Microsoft’s x86 on ARM64 Emulation is coming in 2017. This capability is coming to Windows 10, though not until “Redstone 3″ in the Fall of 2017.
Parents should worry less about the amount of time their children spend using smartphones, computers and playing video games because screen time is actually beneficial, the University of Oxford has concluded. 257 minutes is the time teens can spend on computers each day before harming wellbeing.
Outsourcing IT operations to foreign countries is not trendy anymore and companied live at uncertain times. India’s $150 billion outsourcing industry stares at an uncertain future. In the past five years, revenue and profit growth for the top five companies listed on the BSE have halved. Industry leader TCS too felt the impact as it made a shift in business model towards software platforms and chased digital contacts.
Containers will become hot this year and cloud will stay hot. Research firm 451 Research predicts this year containerization will be US $ 762 million business and that Containers will become 2.6 billion worth of software business in 2020. (40 per cent a year growth rate).
Cloud services are expected to have 22 percent annual growth rate. By 2020, the sector would grow from the current 22.2 billion to $ 46 billion. In Finland 30% of companies now prefer to buy cloud services when buying IT (20 per cent of IT budget goes to cloud).Cloud spend to make up over a third of IT budgets by 2017. Cloud and hosting services will be responsible for 34% of IT budgets by 2017, up from 28% by the end of 2016, according to 451 Research. Cloud services have many advantages, but cloud services have also disadvantages. In five years, SaaS will be the cloud that matters.
When cloud is growing, so is the spending on cloud hardware by the cloud companies. Cloud hardware spend hits US$8.4bn/quarter, as traditional kit sinks – 2017 forecast to see cloud kit clock $11bn every 90 days. In 2016′s third quarter vendor revenue from sales of infrastructure products (server, storage, and Ethernet switch) for cloud IT, including public and private cloud, grew by 8.1 per cent year over year to $8.4 billion. Private cloud accounted for $3.3 billion with the rest going to public clouds. Data centers need lower latency components so Google Searches for Better Silicon.
The first signs of the decline and fall of the 20+ year x86 hegemony will appear in 2017. The availability of industry leading fab processes will allow other processor architectures (including AMD x86, ARM, Open Power and even the new RISC-V architecture) to compete with Intel on a level playing field.
USB-C will now come to screens – C-type USB connector promises to really become the only all equipment for the physical interface.The HDMI connection will be lost from laptops in the future. Thunderbolt 3 is arranged to work with USB Type-C, but it’s not the same thing (Thunderbolt is four times faster than USB 3.1).
World’s first ‘exascale’ supercomputer prototype will be ready by the end of 2017, says China
It seems that Oracle Begins Aggressively Pursuing Java Licensing Fees in 2017. Java SE is free, but Java SE Suite and various flavors of Java SE Advanced are not. Oracle is massively ramping up audits of Java customers it claims are in breach of its licences – six years after it bought Sun Microsystems. Huge sums of money are at stake. The version of Java in contention is Java SE, with three paid flavours that range from $40 to $300 per named user and from $5,000 to $15,000 for a processor licence. If you download Java, you get everything – and you need to make sure you are installing only the components you are entitled to and you need to remove the bits you aren’t using.
Your Year in Review, Unsung Hero article sees the following trends in 2017:
- A battle between ASICs, GPUs, and FPGAs to run emerging workloads in artificial intelligence
- A race to create the first generation of 5G silicon
- Continued efforts to define new memories that have meaningful impact
- New players trying to take share in the huge market for smartphones
- An emerging market for VR gaining critical mass
Virtual Reality Will Stay Hot on both PC and mobile.“VR is the heaviest heterogeneous workload we encounter in mobile—there’s a lot going on, much more than in a standard app,” said Tim Leland, a vice president for graphics and imaging at Qualcomm. The challenges are in the needs to calculate data from multiple sensors and respond to it with updated visuals in less than 18 ms to keep up with the viewer’s head motions so the CPUs, GPUs, DSPs, sensor fusion core, display engine, and video-decoding block are all running at close to full tilt.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel Investor Relations:
Intel beats Q3 estimates with $16.1B revenue, up 2% YoY, vs. $15.7B expected, as net income rises 34% YoY to $4.5B
http://s21.q4cdn.com/600692695/files/doc_events/Earnings/Q3-2017_EarningsRelease_Final.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft Investor Relations:
Microsoft beats with Q1 revenue of $24.54B, up 12% YoY, vs. $23.56B expected; net income up 16% YoY to $6.6B; Intelligent Cloud revenue up 14% YoY to $6.9B
Earnings Release FY18 Q1
Microsoft Cloud Continues to Grow, Powers First Quarter Results
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2018-Q1/press-release-webcast
Tomi Engdahl says:
Business Wire:
Amazon beats with Q3 revenue of $43.74B, up 34% YoY, vs. $42.14B expected; net income of $256M, up from $252M YoY; stock up 7%+ after hours
Amazon.com Announces Third Quarter Sales up 34% to $43.7 Billion
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171026006422/en/Amazon.com-Announces-Quarter-Sales-34-43.7-Billion
Tomi Engdahl says:
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
AMD debuts Ryzen Mobile CPUs for ultrathin notebooks: 2.2GHz Ryzen 7 2700U with 3.8GHz Turbo, 10 Vega cores; 2GHz Ryzen 5 2500U with 3.8Ghz Turbo, 8 Vega cores — It’s been a revival year for AMD. Its Ryzen chips thrust it back into the desktop arena — so much so that it practically forced Intel …
AMD stuffs Radeon Vega graphics into its Ryzen Mobile chips
It wants to bring desktop-class speed and graphics into ultrathin notebooks
https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/26/amd-ryzen-mobile-radeon-vega/?sr_source=Twitter
Tomi Engdahl says:
Forget One Windows, Microsoft says it’s time to modernize your apps
Unpicking Redmond’s strategy for devs following the launch of an updated Visual Studio
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/25/microsoft_developer_strategy_after_uwp/
Remember when Microsoft first hyped the Windows 10 development platform? “One Windows” was the theme. “Just one API and one package to reach all Windows 10 devices – PC, tablet, phone and more,” said Windows developer corporate VP Kevin Gallo at the time.
That was in April 2015. Just two months later, everything was different, as the company “aligned its engineering efforts” or, put more bluntly, started the process of scrapping Windows Phone.
The “Universal Windows Platform” (UWP) remains, though if developers want to code a .NET app that is in any sense universal, they must choose a Xamarin cross-platform app, not UWP.
What then does Microsoft’s Windows development strategy look like today?
What is modernization? The term is a catch-all for trends including seamless install and uninstall, mobility of experience across devices, up-to-date design, and access to cloud services.
“Modernization is a journey that we’re always on. The world is expanding more capabilities faster than most of us can learn the technologies. We’re investing in AI. We’re investing in ML. We’re investing in all these services that will hopefully give you a leap forward over the competition,” said Gallo.
Specifically, Gallo noted that “in the Fall Creator’s update we’re providing three key technologies to help you modernize your applications. Modern installer, modern UI controls with Fluent Design, and seamless cross-device engagement with device relay and activity feed.”
These terms need unpacking. “Modern installer” means deploying applications as Appx packages, which can be delivered from what is now called the Microsoft Store, either publicly, via a private Store portal for employees, or through a Mobile Device Management tool.
Microsoft has just released Visual Studio 2017 15.4, and one of its key features is the Windows Application Packaging Project. This is a simple way to use the Desktop Bridge to package any application as an Appx.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fore! PCI Express 4.0 finally lands on Earth
Laggardly spec will help gear get faster and may vanish soon after
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/26/fore_pci_express_40_finally_lands/
Somewhat later than expected, the Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group, or PCI-SIG, has finally gotten around to releasing the PCIe 4.0 specification, which describes the technical requirements for connecting devices through the PCI Express I/O bus in personal computers and servers.
“The delivery of the PCIe 4.0 specification to the industry is an important addition to our spec library as it delivers high performance 16GT/s data rates with flexible lane width configurations, while continuing to meet the industry’s requirements for low power,” said Al Yanes, chairman and president of the industry consortium, in a blog post.
Version 4.0, first announced in 2011, doubles the data transfer rate available in PCIe 3.0, which debuted in 2010.
The server-focused consortium in August announced that it had managed to transfer data at a rate of 25 Gbps, three times faster than PCIe 3.0, the current standard, and faster than PCIe 4.0.
Interconnection
That rate is similar to what another interconnection group, OpenCAPI, claims it can achieve.
PCI-SIG may be able to avoid being outpaced by its members through the acceleration of its delivery timeline. PCIe 5.0, announced in June and capable of 32GT/s, is scheduled to arrive in less than two years, Q2 2019.
CCIX Technology Demo Proves 25Gbps Performance over PCIe 4.0
https://www.ccixconsortium.com/single-post/2017/08/15/CCIX-Technology-Demo-Proves-25Gbps-Performance-over-PCIe-40
Tomi Engdahl says:
PCI-SIG Releases PCIe 4.0 Specs
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/pci-sig-releases-pcie-4-specs,35767.html
PCI-SIG released the specs for PCIe 4.0, which promises data transfer rates of 16GTps, and said work on PCIe 5.0 is well under way.
Al Yanes, the chairman and president of PCI-SIG, discussed PCIe 4.0′s highlights in a blog post. Yanes said the protocol offers:
Extended tags and credits for service devices
Reduced system latency
Lane margining
Superior RAS capabilities
Scalability for added lanes and bandwidth
Improved I/O virtualization and platform integration
These appear to be significant improvements to PCIe. As we said when we reported on PCIe 4.0 back in August 2016, the protocol isn’t just for video cards anymore. Many different components, from storage to networking, are using PCIe to send signals to a CPU. PCIe 4.0 could reduce the price of NVMe SSDs (thanks to needing only half the lanes) and enable 10GbE connections over a single lane, for example.
Now that the specification is set, companies can build compliant products. A number of PCIe 4.0-related news also appeared today in the form of protocol analyzers. In the last week, we’ve had a number of PCIe 4.0 product leaks. An AMD roadmap pins a GPGPU / GPU with the technology in Q4 2018. Several retailers that listed the upcoming Intel Optane SSD 900P early show PCIe 4.0 connectivity (although we think this is in error), and Intel has muttered about PCIe 4.0 a time or two, with upcoming chipsets set for release in 2018.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Laptop manufacturers overstate battery life, Which? tests find You may only achieve half the stated battery life on many laptops
Read more: https://www.which.co.uk/news/2017/03/which-laptop-battery-tests-manufacturers-overstate/ – Which?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Michael Zelenko / The Verge:
Survey of US sentiment toward big tech firms including Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and others on trust, privacy, news accuracy, more — Illustrations by Garret Beard and William Joel — This year marked a sea change in our attitude toward tech’s largest players — and not for the better.
The Verge Tech Survey
How Americans really feel about Facebook, Apple, and more
https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/27/16550640/verge-tech-survey-amazon-facebook-google-twitter-popularity
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM offloads Notes and Domino to India’s HCL Technologies
‘Partnership’ will see HCL run future development, starting with version 10 in 2018
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/30/ibm_hcl_notes_domino_partnership/
IBM has struck a “strategic partnership” with HCL Technologies that will see the latter firm take over development of its Notes, Domino, Sametime and Verse collaboration tools.
IBM and India’s HCL have done this before: Big Blue sent Rational and Tivoli products to HCL in 2016, along with some IBM staff. The Register understands that deal resulted in Stateside job losses.
Big Blue’s announcement is light on details
IBM Announces Investment in Notes Domino Version 10 and Beyond
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/social-business/2017/10/25/ibm-announces-investment-notes-domino-version-10-beyond/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Magnetic Tape Storage May Not be Retro
https://hackaday.com/2017/10/29/magnetic-tape-storage-may-not-be-retro/
Magnetic storage is quickly becoming an antiquated technology but IBM may have given it a few more years. Currently, magnetic storage is still manufactured as hard disk drives (HDDs) but you won’t find a tape drive in a modern consumer computer. That’s not likely to change but IBM is pushing the envelope to make a tape drive that will be smaller and more economical than other massive storage options. In many ways, they’re the antithesis of solid state drives (SSDs) because tape drives are slow to retrieve data but capable of holding a lot inexpensively.
Three Advances Make Magnetic Tape More Than a Memory
Sony and IBM keep tape storage running apace, with these key developments
https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/three-advances-make-magnetic-tape-more-than-a-memory
In the age of flash memory and DNA-based data storage, magnetic tape sounds like an anachronism. But the workhorse storage technology is racing along. Scientists at IBM Research say they can now store 201 gigabits per square inch on a special “sputtered” tape made by Sony Storage Media Solutions.
The palm-size cartridge, into which IBM scientists squeezed a kilometer-long ribbon of tape, could hold 330 terabytes of data, or roughly 330 million books’ worth.
By comparison, the largest solid-state drive, made by Seagate, is twice as big and can store 60 TB, while the largest hard disk can store only 12 TB. IBM’s best commercial tape cartridge, which began shipping this year, holds 15 TB.
IBM’s first tape drive, introduced in 1952, had an areal density of 1,400 bits per square inch and a capacity of approximately 2.3 megabytes.
IBM sees a growing business opportunity in tape storage, particularly for storing data in the cloud, which is called cold storage. Hard disks are reaching the end of their capacity scaling. And though flash might be much zippier, tape is by far the cheapest and most energy-efficient medium for storing large amounts of data you don’t need to access much.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD has introduced a laptops processor that may for the first time pose a serious challenge to Intel Core i7 and i5 processors. AMD is finally capable of low power consumption while the graphics power is better than Intel’s.
It’s about the new Ryzen 7 processors. The 2700 U model competes directly with Core i7 circuits. The clock frequency is higher in the base mode (2.2 vs 1.8 gigahertz) and the quad-core processor has a Radeon Vega graphics processor running at 1.3 gigahertz with 10 kernel power.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7073-amd-n-uusin-hakkaa-intelin-grafiikassa
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Linux kernel will soon have 25 million lines of code
Overall, code kernels in the kernel 4.1 release nearly 24.8 million. In the first version of the kernel coded by Linus Torvalds there were about 10,000 code lines. During the last year, from version 4.8 to version 4.13, developers added more than 15 files to the kernel and 7500 lines each day.
The development of a new version of each kernel follows a well-established formula. The new version of development takes 9-10 weeks, during which Torvalds releases a new RC version of the weekly version of the new kernel.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7067-linux-ytimessae-pian-25-miljoonaa-koodiriviae
Tomi Engdahl says:
Licensing rejig and standard price rises set for Windows Server 2016
Be afraid, very afraid
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/30/windows_server_2016_price_surge/
Microsoft stands accused of forcing customers to migrate to cloud services by introducing new licensing terms and raising prices for hosted Windows Server 2016, which could see monthly costs more than doubling.
When Microsoft launched WS16 last autumn, it shifted from licensing per CPU to licensing per core for the Standard and Datacenter editions. All physical cores on the server must be licensed, with a minimum of eight core licences per physical processor and a minimum of 16 core licences per server.
Core licences are sold in packs of two, and two eight-core packs are the minimum required to license each physical server, Microsoft confirmed in its Ts&Cs.
But according to hosting firms that sell Service Provider Licensing Agreements (SPLA), all other editions of WS16 will be licensed in the same way from January 2019.
This will “work out [as] considerably more expensive”
For example, a customer paying for WS16 would have paid £77.26 per-CPU licence under the previous model. Two hosts on Datacenter edition licensing allows for an unlimited number of VMs to be hosted, and using one processor each would cost £154.52.
On the new core-based licensing introduced with WS16, the price changed to £19.31/two cores (minimum of 8/processors and 16/server). Two hosts on Datacenter edition licensing allows for an unlimited number of VMs and using one processor in each would cost £308.96
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jeff Bezos is now the richest man in the world with $90 billion
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/27/jeff-bezos-is-now-the-richest-man-in-the-world-with-90-billion.html
Jeff Bezos became the richest man in the world Friday morning.
The gain in Amazon stock’ price added nearly $7 billion to his wealth overnight.
This isn’t the first time Bezos has passed Bill Gates, who formerly held the No. 1 spot.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This Company Added the Word ‘Blockchain’ to Its Name and Saw Its Shares Surge 394%
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-27/what-s-in-a-name-u-k-stock-surges-394-on-blockchain-rebrand
A British company that has been investing in internet and information businesses is having its best day on record.
On-line Plc jumped as much as 394 percent on Friday after announcing plans to change its name to On-line Blockchain Plc, following an initial climb of 19 percent on Thursday when it first announced the news. It’s the biggest one-day gain for the small-cap company since its December 1996 listing. The trading volume that reached 2.9 million shares by early afternoon in London is equal to more than 16 times the entire year’s trading before the last two days.
“Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are a new and exciting area we have been working on for some time,” the Essex-based company said in a statement on Thursday. “We feel the time is right to re-name the company to reflect these developments, where we believe the future growth will be in our sector.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft and Amazon partner to simplify deep learning development
http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2017/10/microsoft-and-amazon-partner-to-simplify-deep-learning-development.html?cmpid=enl_vsd_vsd_newsletter_2017-10-30
Microsoft and Amazon have jointly introduced a new deep learning library, or interface, called Gluon which is a programming API that simplifies the process for creating deep learning models with compromising training speed.
“We believe bringing AI advances to all developers, on any platform, using any language, with an open AI ecosystem, will help ensure AI is more accessible and valuable to all,” wrote Eric Boyd, CVP AI Data and Infrastructure, Microsoft, in a statement.
Gluon will provide an API that gives developers the choice of interchangeably running multiple deep learning libraries, according to Microsoft. It provides an interface for building neural networks and can be used with either Apache MXNet or Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit, and will be supported in all Azure services, tools and infrastructure. Gluon will reportedly make it easier for developers to learn, define, debug, and then iterate or maintain deep neural networks, allowing developers to build and train their networks quickly. Key highlights of the new API are identified here.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft employee installs Chrome mid-presentation because Edge keeps crashing
https://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2017/10/30/microsoft-engineer-chrome-edge-google/
This is truly half-brutal, half-hilarious. A Microsoft employee was forced to pause his Azure presentation in the middle of a live demo session in order to install Google’s Chrome… because the company’s own Edge browser kept crashing.
But here is the best part: this comical occurrence was recorded and uploaded to YouTube – by none other than Microsoft itself.
The presentation in question aims to show potential customers how to migrate their applications and data to Redmond’s cloud service. But midway through the session, Edge crashes.
In all fairness, the employee handles the situation quite admirably – and the audience nothing but confirms this with numerous giggles in the back.
Migrating your applications, data, and workloads to Microsoft Azure – BRK2233
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eELI2J-CpZg&feature=youtu.be
Tomi Engdahl says:
Will NVRAM replace SSDs or DRAM?
http://www.zdnet.com/article/will-nvram-replace-ssds-or-dram/
NVRAM is a technology that could replace both solid-state drives (SSDs) or memory (DRAM). Which will it be?
Storage Class Memory
Storage Class Memory (SCM) is a concept that has been talked about for years, and for good reason: it will radically change how we architect systems. It has two essential features: 1) contents are persistent (non-volatile), like storage; and, it is byte addressable, like memory.
Since it has the characteristics of both, which market will it invade? A first approximation analysis: it replaces the costlier technology, i.e. DRAM.
As flash prices start to drop again next year, due to new fabs coming on line and improvements in 3D and TLC production, the trend towards broader use of TLC will gain momentum. At the same time 3D XPoint and – I trust – ReRAM (resistance RAM) products from Nantero and Crossbar will start giving architects more options.
2nd gen TLC flash will be 30% cheaper than today’s TLC, which means ReRAM won’t be cost competitive with flash any time soon. But as Intel has promised that 3D XPoint will be cheaper than DRAM, we can be confident that it will be cost-competitive with DRAM.
But does cost matter when DRAM is faster and more durable? Yes, it does. When NAND flash became cheaper than DRAM around 2005, it soon became the Next Big Thing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
NetMarketShare: No good news for Microsoft in latest OS and Browser numbers
https://mspoweruser.com/netmarketshare-no-good-news-microsoft-latest-os-browser-numbers/
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD, Which Lost Over $2.8 Billion In 5 Years, Takes a Hit After New Report
https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/10/31/2045204/amd-which-lost-over-28-billion-in-5-years-takes-a-hit-after-new-report?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot%2Fto+%28%28Title%29Slashdot+%28rdf%29%29
On Monday, AMD’s stock price plunged nearly 9 percent after a report by Morgan Stanley, a major investment bank, which found that “microprocessor momentum” has slowed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg:
Lenovo buys 51% of Fujitsu’s PC business for $157M+, as its Q2 earnings beat estimates with revenue up 5% to $11.8B YoY, profit down 11% to $139M YoY — Lenovo Group Ltd. posted better-than-expected revenue as the PC maker benefited from a stabilizing global personal computer market.
Lenovo Takes Control of Fujitsu PCs as Revenue Tops Estimates
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-02/lenovo-s-revenue-beats-estimates-as-global-pc-market-stabilizes
Chinese PC maker’s sales beat as global market stabilizes
Lenovo is paying upwards of $157 million for Fujitsu unit
Lenovo Group Ltd. unveiled plans to take over Fujitsu Ltd.’s personal computer business for at least $157 million after posting its strongest revenue growth in two years amid signs the PC market is stabilizing.
China’s largest PC maker reported a 5 percent jump in revenue to $11.8 billion in the quarter ended September, surpassing projections for $11.3 billion and marking the biggest rise since the same period of 2015. Net income fell 11 percent to $139 million, which was bolstered by accounting gains. Lenovo rose as much as 5 percent in the afternoon, erasing year-to-date losses.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HP completes $1.05 billion Samsung printer business purchase
http://www.zdnet.com/article/hp-completes-1-05-billion-samsung-printer-business-purchase/
The largest print acquisition in HP’s history paves the way for ‘future printing innovation in the currently stagnant copier segment’, according to the company.
HP Inc has on Wednesday announced completion of its acquisition of Samsung Electronics’ printer business for $1.05 billion.
HP takes a 100 percent stake in the unit and its overseas assets as part of the deal, originally announced in September last year. It also gains 6,500 of Samsung’s printing patents and a workforce of nearly 1,300 researchers and engineers with expertise in laser technology, imaging electronics, and supplies and accessories, the company said.
Samsung’s printer business employs 6,000 people and includes production facilities in China and 50 sales offices globally, as of last year.
The Korean tech giant will also be making a $100 million to $300 million equity investment through open market purchases as part of the deal.
HP said it aims to replace outdated copiers in the enterprise with multifunction printers (MFPs) that now includes Samsung’s portfolio of A3 MFPs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Inside The Great Poop Emoji Feud
https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/inside-the-great-poop-emoji-feud?utm_term=.er8YmQeoD0#.inmAB0Zqem
Unicode, the organization that oversees the evolution of Emoji, is in the middle of a fierce debate over a frowning pile of poop.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Open-source database startup MariaDB confirms $27M Series C led by Alibaba; valuation was reported as $354M in September — Open source database startup MariaDB has announced a new $27 million round of funding led by Alibaba, confirming the news that TechCrunch reported in September.
Open source database startup MariaDB confirms $27M investment led by Alibaba
https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/02/mariadb-confirms-27m-investment-led-by-alibaba/
Tomi Engdahl says:
David C. Brock / IEEE Spectrum:
The history of Forethought, the company which originally created PowerPoint for the Macintosh, before being bought by Microsoft in 1987 for $14M
The Improbable Origins of PowerPoint
Here’s the surprising story behind the software that conquered the world, one slide at a time
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/cyberspace/the-improbable-origins-of-powerpoint
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ted Greenwald / Wall Street Journal:
Source: Intel and AMD are teaming up for a new laptop chip that combines an Intel processor and an AMD graphics unit, in a bid to compete with Nvidia
Rivals Intel and AMD Team Up on PC Chips to Battle Nvidia
New laptop-computer chip will combine an Intel processor and an AMD graphics unit
https://www.wsj.com/articles/rivals-intel-and-amd-team-up-on-pc-chips-to-battle-nvidia-1509966064
Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., archrivals for decades, are teaming up to thwart a common competitor, Nvidia Corp.
Intel planned to announce Monday a laptop-computer chip that combines an Intel processor and an AMD graphics unit
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tablet Shipments Decline for 12th Straight Quarter
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332563&
Tablet shipments declined 5.4 percent year-over-year in the third quarter, the 12th consecutive quarter of declining shipments for the once hot electronics device, according to market research firm IDC.
IDC (Framingham, Mass.) maintains that the tablet market is caught in “an awkward middle ground that it has not been able to escape” precipitated by the growing demand for smartphones, the lengthening replacement cycle of tablets and the strengthening position of traditional PCs.
Tablet shipments declined to 40 million units in the third quarter, down from a peak of 78.6 million shipments in the fourth quarter of 2013, IDC said. Shipments increased sequentially from about 38 million units in the second quarter.
Tomi Engdahl says:
7 habits of highly effective digital transformations
https://www.cio.com/article/3235958/digital-transformation/habits-of-highly-effective-digital-transformations.html?nsdr=true
A technology-first approach to digital transformation is a recipe for disaster. Start instead by overhauling your organization with a customer-centric end goal in mind.
One of the habits from Stephen Covey’s bestselling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is to begin with the end in mind. Putting that in today’s business context, organizations need to figure out what digital transformation means for their business and what their goals are before they go throwing a bunch of new technologies at an ill-defined problem. By focusing too closely on being competitive and innovative and putting the bulk of their efforts into technology, they might be missing the boat.
Technology, of course, is a key driver. IDC estimates $1.2 trillion will be spent on digital transformation technologies in 2017, an increase of 17.8 percent over 2016.
Yet, a significant number of organizations are not getting transformation right because of a fundamental quandary over what digital transformation really is, says Brian Solis, principal analyst and futurist at Altimeter, a Prophet company.
Digital transformation is really about human transformation
Take a customer-centric approach
Create new teams
Fostering collaboration as technology is deployed
Be unapologetic about change
Adopt a startup mentality
Drive management buy-in
“We know people believe this is a life strategy and will transform the company,’’ he says, and leadership is committed, and they can personally see how we can make a big difference.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Digital transformation: Your career at a crossroads
https://www.cio.com/article/3229666/digital-transformation/digital-transformation-your-career-at-a-crossroads.html
IT leaders find themselves in need of new skills and strategies, thanks to digital transformation. Here’s how to keep ahead of the curve before digital disruption curtails your career aspirations
“Some of the ways that I learn about new technologies [are] spending considerable time at trade shows and other industry events, as well as partnering with major technology players and [venture capital] firms in order to learn about new technologies as soon as possible,” he says.
Lowey is certainly not alone. As digital transformation becomes a more frequent part of the enterprise lexicon, CIOs and other IT leaders find themselves scrambling to update their skills and capabilities as they forge ahead in their modernization efforts. Those who prepare reap the benefits: 71% say their standing within the business has improved in the past three years, and 60% say they are able to influence broader company strategy compared with 45% of their traditional CIO peers, according to a report from Ernest & Young.
The challenge: Reinventing IT for the next generation
Digital transformation: Career disruptor
How to keep your edge
“It is important to have good feedback loops with these folks so that there is mutual benefit between parties,’’ Lowey says. Also important is “spending time at trade shows meeting with people and not necessarily spending a lot of time in the exhibit hall. Networking is key, and building a network around you is absolutely critical.”
The crux? To constantly evolve
Tomi Engdahl says:
The 2017 State of Digital Transformation
Are Companies Investing in Digital Strategies?
http://www2.prophet.com/2017-state-digital-transformation
Key insights from the report include:
While businesses cite “evolving customer behaviors and preferences” as the top driver of digital transformation, fewer than half invest in understanding digital customers.
Some executives are beginning to own digital transformation efforts, and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) is most often at the helm (28%). As all companies increasingly become “technology companies,” the roles of the CIO and IT department are more important than ever — but true success in digital transformation is an enterprise-wide, cross-functional endeavor.
Companies and their change agents still face big challenges in the pursuit of digital transformation, including a lack of digital talent and expertise (31.4%), the perception that digital transformation is a cost center and not an investment (31%), and general culture issues (31%).
While companies are making attempts to modernize employees’ skillsets for a digital economy with new training programs (62%), only about half are investing in new digital talent. The employee experience is a crucial, yet often overlooked element of a successful digital transformation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
David Lumb / Engadget:
Facebook launches closed beta of Customer Chat, a plugin for businesses to enable Messenger chats on company websites that works across multiple devices — While most of the billion-plus users on Facebook Messenger are individuals, the company has refined its messaging platform to be more business-friendly.
Facebook Messenger plugin enables cross-platform customer service
Businesses can install the plugin to carry chats over to their own sites.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/11/07/facebook-messenger-customer-chat-update/
Tomi Engdahl says:
7 sure-fire ways to fail at data analytics
https://www.cio.com/article/3235959/analytics/7-sure-fire-ways-to-fail-at-data-analytics.html
Data analytics is fast becoming the key to a winning business strategy. But without the right approach, skills, and tactics, your data initiatives may never add up.
Data analytics has emerged as one of the most important business and technology differentiators for organizations, giving them the power to draw keen insights about virtually any aspect of their operations and thereby gain an edge on the competition.
Research firm Gartner earlier this year predicted that 2017 would be the year data and analytics go mainstream, creating value both inside and outside organizations that have prepared for the shift. Approaches to data analytics are becoming more holistic and encompassing the entire business, the firm says.
Among the key trends emerging, according to Gartner: Analytics will drive modern business operations, not simply reflect their performance; enterprises will create end-to-end architectures allowing for data management and analytics from the core to the edge of the organization; and executives will make data and analytics part of the business strategy, enabling data and analytics professionals to assume new roles and create business growth
1. Jump in without knowing what you’re looking for
2. Build (and maintain) your own infrastructure
3. Be a data divider, not a data unifier
4. Eschew good data hygiene
5. Forgo executive sponsorship of analytics initiatives
6. Ignore middle- and lower-level managers
7. Lack the culture and skills to support good data analytics
And organizations continue to struggle to find data scientists and other professionals with analytics skills. “One of the best ways to develop this capability is to groom this talent, instead of scouting out superstars outside your organization,” Miglani says. “Many projects fail or get delayed because [companies] are not able to hire analytics folks on time, or lose them to high attrition.”
The secrets of highly successful data analytics teams
https://www.cio.com/article/3234353/analytics/the-secrets-of-highly-successful-data-analytics-teams.html
Effective data teams bring diverse, cross-functional skill sets to bear on clearly defined business priorities — without losing sight of the value of experimentation and ongoing education.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Exclusive ⋮ Hardware
Exclusive: Raja Koduri Will Be Seeking New Horizons At Intel
https://wccftech.com/exclusive-raja-koduri-will-seeking-new-horizons-intel/
Exclusive ⋮ Hardware
Exclusive: Raja Koduri Will Be Seeking New Horizons At Intel
Author Photo
By Usman Pirzada
12 hours ago
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We recently published a story that Raja Koduri has left AMD and we now have an exclusive update as a follow up. Sources close to the related companies have informed me that Raja Koduri will be landing a role at Intel soon – and this will be announced soon.
Raja Koduri to join Intel – will provide tremendous value to Intel-Radeon synergy as well as AI chip efforts
It would appear that Intel is gunning against NVIDIA in more ways than one. Raja Koduri was essential in the development of Vega and his experience as an engineer could prove to be critical for Intel’s recent ventures. Intel recently signed a deal with AMD to house their dedicated Radeon GPUs inside their KBL-G lineup which means synergy with its x86 rival is at an all time high. While Intel will profit from the sales of the full processor, AMD will profit from the deal as well, as it will get a piece of the pie. The only looser in this equation becomes NVIDIA.
Raja Koduri, AMD’s Radeon Tech Group Leader, Resigns
by Ryan Smith on November 7, 2017 6:00 PM EST
https://www.anandtech.com/show/12011/raja-koduri-resigns-from-amd
On the day following what’s perhaps one of the greatest (and oddest) product design wins for AMD’s Radeon Technologies Group, a second bit of surprising news is coming out of AMD. Raja Koduri, the Senior VP and Chief Architect of the group, who has been its leader since the RTG was formed two years ago, has announced that he is resigning from the company, effective tomorrow.
Word of Raja’s resignation originally broke via an internal memo penned by Raja and acquired by Hexus. And while AMD will not confirm the validity of the memo, the company is confirming that Raja has decided to leave the company.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD, Intel hate Nvidia so much they’re building a laptop chip to spite it
Just months after Chipzilla trashed its new best friend as an ‘unreliable supplier’
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/06/amd_intel_laptop_chip/
Arch-rivals AMD and Intel have put aside their animosity toward each other, and united against a common foe: Nvidia.
On Monday the pair revealed they are working on a chip family that will combine an Intel Core x86 processor, a customized AMD Radeon GPU, and HBM2 – high-bandwidth memory – all in one package. The silicon will, we’re told, hit the market in the first quarter of 2018 in thin and lightweight notebooks, allowing them to, it is hoped, play top-end games.
Specifically, the chipset will use Intel’s eight-generation H-series Core family, presumably from its Kaby Lake blueprints, and an AMD Radeon-branded architecture, either Vega or Polaris. Both Chipzilla and mini-Chipzilla are keeping quiet on the exact specifications until launch. It appears Intel is buying the GPU silicon from AMD, and using a driver from its new best friend, rather than licensing technology.
Crucially, Intel will use its Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB) technique to glue the GPU tightly to the HBM2 RAM to increase performance and lower the power drain. The AMD part is then wired to the x86 system-on-chip as usual, presumably via PCIe.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Created AIs That Can Teach and Program Themselves
https://www.designnews.com/automation-motion-control/google-created-ais-can-teach-and-program-themselves/65133272757764?ADTRK=UBM&elq_mid=1925&elq_cid=876648
Two breakthrough projects from Google – a new, self-taught version of the AlphaGo AI and AutoML, an algorithm capable of creating machine learning architectures – are pointing toward the next level of artificial intelligence.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A development-oriented, operational or evolving IT organization?
In the past few years, I have witnessed the separation from IT organizations time has really begun. If, in the past, the operations of information management were fairly straightforward, there might be huge differences between the two adjacent businesses in the same block.
The biggest differences appear in the ability to innovate and harness technology effectively to support business growth. Based on this, IT organizations have three clear groups:
1. Development-oriented organizations
These organizations have invested heavily in the development of people and practices and have shaken their structures. They use tools that release time and energy for business: constant dialogue, service design, service production automation, and service integration are familiar with things.
2. Operational Organizations
For these organizations, it is typical that they have been developing their operational activities for a long time and are now proactive business developers. The development of people and practices has been identified – perhaps it is going forward – but the focus is still largely operational.
While the importance of development is well-known, the perspective of operative-oriented organizations is in production and in the coming months projects. Even though the activities are organized, the IT management team’s agenda is constantly on the rise that consumes energy from development and takes time from strategic thinking.
I encourage the operational organizations to be bolder and to push further. They are in an excellent position to learn from development-oriented organizations
3. Existing organizations
Surprising organizations are like a journey to the early 2000s operating models. Ark is literally coping. Surprises occur with continuous feed and the same problems are repeated when their roots are not solved. There is little chance for development, and a hectic atmosphere takes the resources to think beyond a few weeks.
In surviving organizations, the perspective is very operative and the focus of the focus is technology-driven. Dialogue between business and IT is weak. A shadow-IT rampant around the organization is a typical symptom of the surviving organization.
In my opinion, it is a great deal of experimentation in such organizations.
In the survival mode, I’m hoping, above all, the opportunity for an IT manager in the organization fighting for the rat race to get out of the rat race.
Why do these differences matter? The way in which an IT organization is operating has long contributed significantly to the success of the company – and in the future it will have even more effect.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kumppanit/Sofigate/kehittamissuuntautunut-operatiivinen-vai-selviytyva-it-organisaatio-6675531
Tomi Engdahl says:
NVIDIA Newsroom:
Nvidia beats with Q3 revenue of $2.64B, up 32% YoY, vs $2.36B expected; net income of $838M, up 55% YoY; company expects ~$2.65B in Q4 revenue
NVIDIA Announces Financial Results for Third Quarter Fiscal 2018
https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-announces-financial-results-for-third-quarter-fiscal-2018
Tomi Engdahl says:
Did Apple Make Intel and AMD Play Nice?
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=40&doc_id=1332588&
Apple’s fingerprints may or may not be all over the collaboration between ancient rivals in the microprocessor market.
Hell has frozen over. Pigs have flown, and dogs and cats are living together. Broadcom is trying to buy Qualcomm, and Intel is marketing a multi-chip package that combines its processor and with a discrete graphics chip from AMD.
The Broadcom-Qualcomm thing can best be explained by Hock Tan’s quest for world domination. Tan told the Wall Street Journal earlier this week: “When a business in No. 1 in technology and No. 1 in market position, we acquire it and put it on our Broadcom platform and grow through that strategy.” Sounds reasonable. But it’s really hard to see this deal coming to pass for a number of reasons.
As for the Intel-AMD alliance, that might be even more interesting, particularly given that just days after the announcement came word that Intel had hired away AMD’s graphics chip head to give developing a discrete graphics competitor to AMD and Nvidia a third try. Intel may have shown that it’s willing to step away from the “not invented here” dogma, but when push comes to shove it would really prefer it to be invented there.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home Server has AMD CPU and IKEA case
https://hackaday.com/2017/11/09/home-server-has-amd-cpu-and-ikea-case/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm is shipping next chip it’ll perhaps get sued for: ARM server processor Centriq 2400
Microsoft, Google keen to use CPUs and push Intel Outside
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/08/qualcomm_centriq_2400/
Putting aside its legal battles and lawsuits for a few hours, Qualcomm today said is it shipping the Centriq 2400 – its ARM-based server-grade processor, and the world’s first 10nm data-center CPU.
“This chip is now shipping for revenue,” said Anand Chandrasekher, the boss of Qualcomm Datacenter Technologies, adding that the silicon is likely to be deployed in production by customers over the next 12 months.
Previous ARM-compatible server CPUs have failed, notably the Calxeda parts, because, basically, they were 32-bit. Qualcomm’s Centriq is, crucially, 64-bit as well as ARMv8-A compatible, multicore, draws up to just 120W, has suitably fat caches, and server-friendly IO and memory interfaces, and is aimed at data-center workloads. It took more than four years to produce, we’re told.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Compulab Launches the Fitlet2 Passive SFF PC with Apollo Lake SoCs
by Anton Shilov on November 9, 2017 9:15 AM EST
https://www.anandtech.com/show/12006/compulab-launches-fitlet2-sff-pc-for-iot-apollo-lake-passive
Compulab has announced its new fitlet2 ultra-compact PC designed for a broad range of applications, including office, IoT and industrial. The Compulab fitlet2 is a small unit, cooled passively using its own chassis made of die-cast metal. The system supports Compulab’s function and connectivity extension T-cards (FACET cards) that add functionality, such as extra GbE or USB ports, or even a 4G modem.
The Compulab fitlet2 measures 112 mm by 84 mm, meaning that it is smaller than Intel’s NUCs and other UCFF-class PCs. Depending on exact model, the Compulab fitlet2 can be based on Intel’s Atom x7-E3950, Atom x5-E3930 or a Celeron J3455, all based on Intel’s Apollo Lake cores.
By default, the Compulab fitlet2 system comes with two GbE ports, two USB 3.0 connectors, two USB 2.0 headers, a COM port, audio jacks, a microSD slot, an HDMI 1.4, and an mDP 1.2 output. Users can install one of Compulab’s FACET cards to get other connectivity features, including (but not limited to) a 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2 module, a 4G modem, two extra GbE ports, four additional USB headers, or an M.2 E-key slot.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Billion dollars for IT procurement in Europe
European companies and organizations will invest more than a trillion in the new IT technology next year, or $ 1 trillion. According to Gartner, the gigantic figure is 4.9 percent higher than this year.
Investments will grow in Europe in every sector. Most money is spent on telecommunications services, or $ 409.2 billion. IT services will be invested at $ 286.2 billion for equipment worth $ 174.2 billion.
European Businesses and Organizations will invest $ 45.9 billion in data centers next year. For example, enterprise software goes more than twice as much money.
Europeans now benefit from the appreciation of the euro against the dollar.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7129-biljoona-dollaria-it-hankintoihin-euroopassa
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm has already begun to bulk server vendors with a new ARM-based processor. The Centriq 2400 processor is the world’s first 10-nanometer server processor and is facing a tough challenge for Intel.
The chip has a massive 18 billion transistor. For comparison: For example, Huawei’s new Kirin 970 smartphone has 5.5 billion transistors.
With only transistors, Intel will not be overthrown. The Centriq 2400 has all 48 64-bit processors with a clock of 2.6 gigahertz. The hubs are connected to a ring type bus, whereby data can be transferred to 250 gigabytes per second.
According to Qualcomm, the performance of a circuit for power consumption is very good for comparison with Intel. The Centriq 2400 consumes 120 watts of power.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7144-maailman-tehokkain-amr-prosessori-haastaa-intelin-palvelimissa
Tomi Engdahl says:
Digital KPIs: Your keys to measuring digital transformation success
https://www.cio.com/article/3236446/digital-transformation/digital-kpis-your-keys-to-measuring-digital-transformation-success.html
Digital KPIs enable CIOs to gauge the impact of digital business initiatives — and help them recalibrate and tweak digital models based on measurable value and performance.
Ask a CIO how he or she quantifies the impact of their digital transformations and you may get a funny look, like you told tasteless joke. The reality is that many CIOs don’t have metrics for gauging the success of digital projects, such as new ecommerce platforms, mobile apps and chatbots. But CIOs who fail to quantify these initiatives may find themselves outflanked by nimbler rivals, analysts say.
To score the value of their transformation efforts, CIOs must use digital key performance indicators (KPIs) as their “enterprise compass,” Peter Sondergaard, Gartner’s global head of research said at the company’s Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2017 this October. But there’s a chicken-egg quandary at work: You can’t measure what you haven’t defined.
“The biggest limitation [of digital KPIs] is the lack of a clearly defined digital ambition,” or strategy, Gartner analyst Paul Proctor told CIO.com recently. “Having a clear idea of your digital ambition will give you some ideas of what you should be measuring to measure your progress. You can’t measure something you don’t have a measuring stick for.”
The digital workplace: 8 steps to greater agility, productivity
https://www.cio.com/article/3229104/digital-transformation/the-digital-workplace-8-steps-to-greater-agility-productivity.html
Your digital transformation is doomed to fail unless you empower employees with a digital workplace. Here’s how to craft a workplace that boosts engagement and agility.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ARM emulator in a VM? Yup, done. Ready to roll, no config required
Also does MIPS, PowerPC, Sparc, and AARCH64
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/13/arm_emulator_in_a_vm/
Hacking ARM processors just became a little easier after a researcher who operates under the name Azeria Labs put together virtual machines that emulate common hardware.
Azeria’s ARM Lab Environment, here, is a VM that offers a QEMU ARMv6 image on Ubuntu.
http://azeria-labs.com/arm-lab-vm/
Tomi Engdahl says:
This release adds support for bigger memory limits in x86 hardware (128PiB of virtual address space, 4PiB of physical address space); support for AMD Secure Memory Encryption; a new unwinder that provides better kernel traces and a smaller kernel size; support for the zstd compression algorithm has been added to Btrfs and Squashfs; support for zero-copy of data from user memory to sockets; support for Heterogeneous Memory Management that will be needed in future GPUs; better cpufreq behaviour in some corner cases; faster TBL flushing by using the PCID instruction; asynchronous non-blocking buffered reads; and many new drivers and other improvements.
https://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_4.14
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel Brings Esports to PyeongChang ahead of the Olympic Winter Games
https://newsroom.intel.com/news/intel-brings-esports-pyeongchang-ahead-olympic-winter-games/
Today, Intel announced plans to bring amazing gaming experiences to PyeongChang ahead of next February’s Olympic Winter Games. As an extension of Intel’s Worldwide TOP Partnership and with support from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Intel will deliver two distinct gaming experiences to Korea in the lead up to PyeongChang 2018: the Intel® Extreme Masters PyeongChang esports tournament featuring one of the most celebrated esports titles of all time, Blizzard Entertainment’s “StarCraft® II,” and a separate exhibition featuring Ubisoft’s action-sports title “Steep™ Road to the Olympics,” the official licensed game of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.
Tomi Engdahl says:
DRAM Price Increases Expected to Persist in Q4
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332597&
DRAM revenue climbed to a historic high of $19.2 billion in the third quarter as contract prices for DRAM chips rose by about 5 percent on average amid a memory chip capacity crunch, according to market research firm DRAMeXchange.
DRAM sales increased by 16 percent in the third quarter compared to the second quarter as the electronics industry geared up for the holiday season, DRAMeXchange (Taipei) said.
Avril Wu, a research director at DRAMeXchange, said she expects DRAM prices will increase about 10 percent in the fourth quarter. She attributed the price increase largely to influence of the booming mobile DRAM market.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Future graphics memory faster than expected
Next year, the first GDRR6 graphics graphics storage devices should come to the market. Originally, they were gearing up to 14 Gigabytes (Gigabytes), but apparently the districts that got Samsung’s first market are even quicker.
Samsung’s GDDR6 memory has now been released as one of the many award-winning products of the January CES Fair. Samsung now announces that every GDDR6 chip transfers data at 16GB per second.
If the GDDR6 memory uses the same 32-bit data connection, it can be reached in data transfer to 64 gigabytes per second. In practice, this would double the speed of the memory card memory card only by switching the RAM to a new one.
In addition, the GDDR6 memory consumes less power, as it operates at 1.35 volts instead of 1.5 volts of GDDR5.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7154-tuleva-grafiikkamuisti-odotettua-nopeampi