"For AMD, the future is Hammer." - Jerry Sanders, CEO AMD

AMD has started releasing the next line of Server and workstation Processors named Opteron. The word Opteron comes from the Latin word Optimus which means the Best.  This new line of cpu’s are designed to run both 32bit and 64bit simultaneously. This will allow for use of 32 bit programs while moving towards the 64 bit environment. The Opteron Processor is targeted to be sold to Enterprise, small or  medium size businesses.  The Opteron unlike the 32-bit processors operates at 40-bit physical and 48-bit virtual addressing allows up to 1 terabyte physical and 256 terabytes of virtual memory addressing space, compared to the 4GB memory cap of the 32-bit processors.  The processor will be manufactured in a 940pin ceramic micro PGA package. The Opteron Processor is available in three different series:

For server applications you can use up to 8 way, while the workstation platforms will utilize 1 to 4 way processors.  Below are some of the Key features that the Opteron  provides.

Integrated  DDR Memory Controller onboard

 The Processor has an integrated  DDR memory controller which will allow for better cpu performance, increased bandwidth and reduced memory latencies.  The memory bandwidth scales with the number of CPUs that are put into a system configuration.

 When using PC2700 DDR’s you can have up to 5.3 GB/s per processor of available bandwidth.  The memory controller is a  128-bit wide controller capable of supporting up to 8 registered DDR’s per Processor.

Opteron die showing enlarged L2 Cache

HyperTransport Technology

HyperTransport is a new technology that enables the the system to have scalable bandwidth between cpu’s and I/O subsystems.  The AMD-8111 I/O Hub will replace the southbridge and integrate audio, storage connectivity and security in a single chip.   It also has Support for up to 3 coherent HyperTransport links, that can provide up to  19.2 GB/s peak Bandwidth per Processor and supports up to 3 coherent HyperTransport links, which provides up to 19.2 GB/s peak band width for each processor.  New technology allows a very low power consumption of 1.2volts.  Also supports new interconnect technologies such as 10 gig Ethernet, AMD-8131 tunnel for PCI-X slots, DDR and InfiniBand.  The Dual PCI-X interface will be able to support  Pci Speeds from Legacy PCI up to 133Mhz cards.  These interconnects are possible by the processor being able to provide up to 6.4 GB/s bandwidth per link.  HyperTransport  will also provide  AMD-8151 AGP3.0 Graphics Tunnel which the top manufacturers will create chipsets around the platform the follow chipset vendors have jumped onboard Nvidia, VIA, SIS and ALI.

Other features of the new Processor are the use of .13 micron SOI (Silicon on Insulator) Process technology that will lower the temperature level of the Cpu. Is fully compatible with SSE2 Technology instructions. Also featured is protection for the L1 and L2 cache data by use of ECC Protection with hardware scrubbing for both Cache and Dram. The addition of two pipelines  was added to increase cpu frequency scalability and performance.
 

Current AMD Roadmap

Opteron Chipsets
 

As with most new products, the industry buzz for the Opteron is huge, and the support base is slowly, but steadily building. Manufacturers have been working to get Opteron Chipsets to market somewhat at the same time as the CPUs themselves. Currently the following manufacturers have announced or released Chipsets made for the AMD Opteron CPU: AMD, nVidia, SiS, VIA

Opteron Motherboards

ASI has already allocated a part number for Opteron motherboards from MSI, other manufacturers are sure to follow.

The MSI motherboards currently on order for ASI are the MSI K8D Master-F (MS-9131) (ASI SKU# 21283), and the MSI K8D Master-FT (MS-9131) (ASI SKU# 21285), the main difference in these motherboards being that one, the MSI K8D Master-FT is designed to be used in 1U rack mount chassis.

As you can see, the Master-FT Motherboard only has 1 64-bit/100MHz PCI-X slot and 1 Mini PCI slot as opposed to the 3 64-bit/100MHz PCI-X and 2 32-bit/33MHz PCI slots on the Master-F motherboard. The Mini PCI-X slot can be used for one of the 3 Mini PCI Cards that MSI offers, the MS-9513 VGA card, MS-9514 IEEE 1394 card, or the MS-9518 SCSI card.

The specs on the MSI Opteron motherboards are as follows:
 

ASI SKU	Mfr.	Model	CPU	Chipset	Memory	Slots	Video	Network
21283	MSI	K8D Master-F	AMD Opteron DP 940-pin	AMD 8131 AMD 8111	DDR 200, 266, 333MHz (ECC REG) 6 DIMMs, 12GB Max	3 PCI-X 64-bit 66/100MHz 2 PCI 32-bit/33MHz	ATI Rage XL 8MB	Dual Broadcom Gigabit
21285		K8D Master-FT (1U Rack)				1 PCI-X 64-bit 66/100MHz 1 Mini PCI

More information will be added to this article as new products and details are released.

From ancestor TN (Twisted Nematic + Film) technology to modern TFT, IPS, and MVA technology:

Thin Film Transistor (TFT): In a TFT screen, also known as active matrix, an extra matrix of transistors is connected to the LCD panel - one transistor for each colour (RGB) of each pixel. These eliminating the problems of ghosting and slow response speed that afflict non-TFT LCDs. IP-Plane Switching (IPS): This improves the viewing angles considerably, but means that two transistors are needed for every pixel, instead of the one needed for a standard TFT display. Using two transistors means brighter backlights must be used, which increasing power consumption and making the displays unsuitable for notebooks. Multi-Domain Vertical Alignment (MVA): An upgrade from predecessors VA. This is done by dividing the cell into two or more regions - called domains, which are needed to balance characteristics such as the contrast ratio, chromaticity, and brightness over different angles making an MVA-LCD particularly suitable for reproducing moving images.

LCD (liquid crystals display) monitor has becoming very popular in the U.S. and it’s market share are rising up the scale.  Soon LCD will dominate CRT in every aspect because of new technology are being developed and experiment to insure it’s quality and demand.   Active matrix TFT is the most popular and widely us by many manufacture because it's image quality, performance, and price are at a reasonable level, targeting toward general desktop user.  TFT + IPS would be something gear toward desktop publishing or user that want better viewing angle.  TFT + MVA would be the most expensive and typically have faster response time.  An excellent choice for multimedia and gamer user where there are great motion involvement needed. 

To determine LCD panel quality, there are several factors that need to be address.  First is the manufacturer. A well know and trustworthy  manufacturer provides quality components, excellent technical support, user friendly manuals, easy setup, a solid warranty, and friendly customer service. ASI currently stocks brand name LCD panels manufactured by:
 

• Viewsonic - PCWorld Top 10 15' LCDs 2003
• Samsung - PCWorld Top 10 15' LCDs 2003
• Cornea - PCWorld Top 10 15' LCDs 2003
• AOC - PCWorld Top 10 15' LCDs 2003
• Hansol - PCWorld Top 10 17' LCDs 2001

• CTX - PC Advisor Top 10 Flat-panel Display 2003
• Advueu
• BenQ
• Hyundai
• LG

Many LCD panels come with a base and software that permit people to pivot them from landscape to portrait orientation. Also, 2-way stereo speakers and USB hubs are being built on to some of the newer LCD panels.  Furthermore, high end LCD panels comes with DV (digital video) inputs and s-video connectors.  In general, DV should produce a sharper image without requiring adjustment.  Using DV and s-video port require a graphics card with an appropriate output port and cable.

In the future, scanning capability will be integrated to the LCD panels where you could use the LCD panel as a scanner. Proto-type of such technology has been unveiled by Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology (www.pcword.com).  There are 5 new technologies that are being developed and tested to overtake LCDs.  OLEDs, Bistable Displays, Microdisplays, Flexible-Substrate Displays, and FEDs.  OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Diode) is the current favorite to replace LCDs. OLEDs are compounds that emit light when a current is passed through them, much like the phosphors in a CRT. In general, it will produce a brighter image, a more vibrant color, and were much better when displaying moving images than similar LCDs. However, the drawback is the organic compounds, which have a shorter life span due to unstable organic compounds.

As Serial ATA becomes more common in the market, ASI continues to increase the amount of devices that we carry for it. Initially when Serial ATA was released, very few companies had any support for the standard. Even for the few that did, the drives were few and far between in the channel so their device support was very limited.

The Serial ATA devices below represent controller cards, RAID cards, and accessories for your Serial ATA drives.

As is often the case, many people crave new technology, but are hesitant to completely ditch their current PC setup and rebuild from scratch. The simple, and popular, solution to this is to simply add a new controller card to the system. Taking up only 1 PCI slot, and not needing to be configured, these add in controller cards have been very successful since their introduction into the market back when ATA33 was the standard in IDE technology. By adding a basic Serial ATA controller card, the customer can add up to 4 Serial ATA drives to their system, gaining bandwidth, while freeing up the slower IDE slots for other optical choices.

Combining the best of upcoming technologies, many customers are opting to add Serial ATA RAID cards to their systems. Adding additional, and redundant, storage space to a PC and increasing the overall transfer speed is highly desirable whether the customer is simply figuring out home finances, or running a server for a small to medium sized business. By moving to a Serial ATA RAID card and striping the hard drives, you maximize your i/o bandwidth and dramatically increase your transfer speeds.

Accessories

Beyond controller cards and drives, there are other accessories that people using Serial ATA technology will need. Whether transitioning from IDE to Serial and needing adapters to help you along the way, or diving head-first into Serial ATA with Hot Swap Disk Array Subsystems, ASI has you covered!

Highpoint has provided a converter for those customers who are ready for Serial ATA controllers but haven't made the jump to Serial ATA drives yet. The RocketHead100 is a SATA to IDE converter which allows you to connect ATA100 and ATA133 hard drives to a Serial ATA controller.

Manufacturer	Model	Description	SKU
Highpoint	RocketHead 100	SATA to IDE Converter	19076

HighPoint has also released a SATA to IDE Disk Enclosure called the RocketMate1000. This allows you to add an additional IDE hard drive to your existing system using your SATA controller card connected to the outside of the case VIA the Highpoint B11 External SATA Bracket

If you're ready to go head first into SATA technology and use several SATA hard drives in an array, Supermicro has two different solutions waiting for you.

Both Hot-Swap drive housings feature Fan Fail Detecting LED's and Alarms and Overheat LED indication.

    Introduction

  Windows Server 2003, an evolutionary version of Windows 2000 Server, was officially released on April 24^th 2003 .  It is a continuation of the NT Server family and one of its major new features is supporting the .NET framework.

 The .NET Framework is the platform for next generation, distributed Web applications. It enables the creation of software that connects information, people, systems, and devices.  It enables new levels of software integration through XML Web services.  XML (eXtensible Markup Language) adds meta-tags to documents in a universal data format.

 Microsoft has focused on making Windows 2003 Server provide the greatest productivity and lower cost of ownership than any previous Windows Server by improving upon many existing technologies.  Reliability, scalability, performance and security are among the major design features that will help businesses maintain their network and web services without interruption.  For example, there will be both 32 and 64 bit editions of the Enterprise and Datacenter versions, and all versions offer web load balancing and fail-over clustering features.

 Another plus is much of the look and feel of Windows 2000/Windows XP has been retained, and virtually all the tools, menus, utilities are in the same place in the interface.  Still, do not mistake this as a simple upgrade to Windows 2000, it is considered a major release with many critical enhancements.  Windows Server 2003 offers a major advancements in technology while maintaining compatibility with existing networks and company domains.

Microsoft has created four versions of Server 2003 to meet different business needs.  

• Server 2003 Standard Edition: The dependable server operating system ideal for everyday needs of business of all sizes, providing the optimal solution for file and printer sharing, secure Internet connectivity, centralized desktop application deployment, and a rich connected environment among employees, partners, and customers.
• Server 2003 Enterprise Edition: The platform of choice for large enterprises as well as small and medium-size businesses to develop, deliver, and secure applications, Web services, and infrastructure—delivering high reliability, performance, and superior business value.  Enterprise Edition will be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions.
• Server 2003 Datacenter Edition: This is the server of choice for business-critical and mission-critical applications that demand the highest levels of scalability and availability.  Datacenter Edition will be available through the Datacenter Program in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions.
• Server 2003 Web Edition: Optimized for serving and hosting web pages, while maintaining the core functionalities that support enhanced reliability, manageability, and security.

Most versions of Windows 2003 Server can upgrade existing NT based Servers and even entire Domains (Domain Migration).  This includes NT 4. Server and Windows 2000 Server.  However certain Editions can only upgrade similar older editions (example you must upgrade Windows 2000 Datacenter to Windows 2003 Datacenter).  NT 3.51 cannot be upgraded.

For more info see this page: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/whyupgrade/supportedpaths.mspx 

Windows 2003 Server can now be preinstalled in much the same way as Windows 2000 Pro and XP and comes with an improved set of deployment tools located on the CD-ROM: Support\Tools\Deploy.cab. 

Server 2003 can now be installed using RIS (Remote Installation Service), previously only Windows 2000 Professional could be installed this way.  You can also do a CD-ROM preinstall using a winnt.sif file which provides a fully automated setup process.  Next you can image the Server and then run sysprep.exe to prepare for deployment.

For more info see this page: www.asisupport.com/preinstall_win2003.htm 

    Top Improvements + New Features

Easier to Deploy and Manage: With its familiar Windows interface, Windows Server 2003 is easy to use. New streamlined wizards simplify the setup of specific server roles and routine server management tasks so that even servers without a dedicated administrator are easy to manage. In addition, administrators have several new and improved features designed to make it easier to deploy Active Directory.   Active Directory itself has been greatly upgraded with new tools Active Directory Migration Tool (ADMT 2.0), Domain Rename ability, Schema Redefine, and many other tools. See: www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/overview/technologies/activedirectory.mspx

Secure Connected Infrastructure: Efficient and secure networked computing is more important than ever for a business to remain competitive. Windows Server 2003 lets organizations take advantage of existing IT investments, and extend those advantages to partners, customers, and suppliers by deploying key features like cross-forest trusts in the Microsoft Active Directory® service as well as Microsoft .NET Passport integration. Identity management in Active Directory spans the entire network, helping ensure security throughout the enterprise

Web Application Server Role: Windows Server 2003 is a full Web application server that integrates the .NET Framework with core server resources to help users to develop, deploy and manage applications and XML Web services. The .NET Framework provides a fully managed, protected and feature-rich application execution environment, simplified development and deployment and seamless integration with a wide variety of programming languages. Windows Server 2003 is built on industry standards that allow customers to extend and develop applications. Developers can build directly on the application server using XML Web services and managed code and run applications on any Web application platform 

Manage Your Server Wizard: The new Manage Your Server Wizard in Windows .NET Server 2003 replaces the Configure Your Server Wizard that was used in Windows 2000 Server. The Manage Your Server Wizard exposes common tasks that administrators need to carry out, as well as documentation and Help files to help complete those tasks. One of the main goals of the Manage Your Server Wizard is to allow administrators to set a server up to carry out a specific task, such as creating a domain controller, DNS server, DHCP server, Web server and so on. The wizard allows administrators to chose the role or roles which the server will fill and make configuration changes as appropriate for that role.

IIS 6.0 (Internet Information Services):  A Web service for sharing information among partners, customers and employees over an intranet, the Internet or via an extranet.  It provides enhanced security and a dependable architecture that offers application isolation and greatly improved performance. The result: higher overall reliability and uptime. And Microsoft Windows Media services makes it easy to build streaming media solutions with dynamic content programming as well as faster and more reliable performance. This version is new to Server 2003

Wireless LAN Support: Provides security and performance improvements for wireless local area networks (LANs) including automatic key management, user authentication and authorization prior to LAN access.  

Increased Document Protection and Availability: With the new shadow copy restore feature, users can retrieve previous versions of files instantly, without requiring costly assistance from a support professional. Enhancements to the Distributed File System (DFS) and File Replication service (FRS) provide users with a consistent way to access their files wherever they are.

    FURTHER INFORMATION  FROM MICROSOFT

MAIN PAGE: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/default.mspx

NEW FEATURES: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/features/default.mspx