The Memory line is available at three different levels, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB sizes, in a range of price points and speeds.

Semiconductor manufacturer AMD announced the availability of the first AMD Memory branded desktop system memory modules, debuting with partners Patriot Memory and VisionTek Products. The Memory branded products are designed to help take the guesswork out of DRAM selection, providing an improved experience when looking for the match for gaming or multimedia PC needs.

The Memory line is available at three different levels–2GB, 4GB and 8GB sizes–in a range of price points and speeds. The Entertainment category will feature 1333 MHz and 1600 MHz speed RAM, designed for quiet Home Theater PC applications. The Performance version supports speed up to 1600 MHz with low latency and comes in matched pairs. Finally, Radeon Edition DRAM will run at 1866 MHz, and is tuned, tested and certified for specific AMD platforms.

As part of AMD”s development of personal computer platforms, the company has used the company’s OverDrive performance optimization tool to test and optimize DRAM in conjunction with the company”s APUs, CPUs, GPUs and chipset platforms. The process helping AMD tune and optimize memory modules for other manufacturers.

“Patriot Memory will bring over two decades of experience and expertise into this ecosystem,” said Paul Jones, CEO of Patriot Memory. “Our proven ability to deliver the best technology at the most competitive prices will help pave the way to success for this memory line.”

In addition to leveraging AMD”s experience in creating graphics, CPUs, APUs and motherboard chipsets, the product line also helps retailers to round out AMD bundles with memory, and places a heavy emphasis on compatibility and stability. The combination is designed to help customers purchase a complete package designed to deliver top performance and maximum value. VisionTek will have availability of AMD-licensed memory through its North American distribution partner D&H. The initiative builds on AMD”s history of helping to supply DDR3 modules to video card add-in-board manufacturers in an effort to help ensure availability.

“AMD has been our strategic technology partner for 10 years and VisionTek has focused our efforts on bringing their PC upgrade products to the North American market,” said Michael Innes, chief operating officer of VisionTek. “The AMD brand means cutting edge technology, as well as uncompromising quality and compatibility for PC users. AMD Memory will help expand the ability to optimize performance in personal computers of today and tomorrow.”

AMD is collaborating with memory module makers to create AMD Memory branded products from components qualified to meet certain specifications. By testing and certifying the memory components, users can be assured of compatibility with AMD platforms. The Memory line is also designed to deliver quality and reliability with compatible chipsets and processors from other manufacturers.

“AMD has been supplying and validating memory for Radeon graphics cards for several years,” said Matt Skynner, corporate vice president and general manager, of AMD’s GPU division. “Based on this experience, adding system memory to our product line was a clear opportunity for us. This move provides our partners and end-users with a trusted brand synonymous with quality–we can help ensure performance and reliability with AMD Memory.”

Paris – The SD Association (SDA) today announced a new collaboration with GlobalPlatform to include smart-chip technology in SD standards to enable mobile phones and other portable CE devices to provide authentication services with SD memory cards.

SDA said standardized authentication services on SD and MicroSD memory cards “would transform consumers” mobile phones and CE devices into electronic wallets carrying cashless currency and paperless identification for use in making everyday purchases such as groceries or train tickets, or in receiving customized subscription services like mobile television.”

The new standard would provide consumers with greater security than Cloud-based solutions, the association said, since smart-chip-enabled SD memory cards would only be active in an authorized device.

“SD standards are proven to drive new applications in consumer electronics. The association”s strategy is to leverage SD standards to create opportunities in new markets, clearing market hurdles of price, size limitations and security, and enabling new technologies, ” said Norm Frentz, SD Association president. “Collaborating with GlobalPlatform complements and accelerates our plans to support near-field technology and gives device manufacturers and anyone providing content or service to consumers the turnkey to mass market mobile commerce and smart IDs.”

Joseph Unsworth, research director with Gartner, said, “Using the SD interface, with its ubiquitous presence of MicroSD memory cards and SD-slotted devices, gives manufacturers, service providers and consumers of smart cards and smart card applications considerable momentum. Service and content providers, as well as CE manufacturers, could use the SD interface to offer new value-added services that are standardized and secure and use near-field communications to authenticate transactions and identity. SD standards are already supported in at least 80 percent of all mobile phones with removable memory to enrich mobile phone features and services.

The SDA and GlobalPlatform both said they are committed to a spec that is backward-compatible with SD-enabled devices.

In a statement, the association listed a number of business scenarios that would be enabled by a secure SD standard, including:

Mobile commerce. Consumers will use CE devices equipped with smart MicroSD cards as cashless currency, authorizing secure financial transfers to buy everything from groceries to subway fare and restaurant meals.

Customized services. Content and service providers can customize features, offers and rewards automatically, eliminating manual entry of customer identifiers such as account or rewards card numbers. Car navigation services could provide customized concierge services including special pricing, reservations, coupons and other offers from locations near the car or at the destination. Airlines could automatically review customer accounts for upgrade and other frequent flier rewards

Secure access/Personal ID.  Integrating smart SD memory cards into mobile devices makes ID and access solutions flexible and customizable to suit multiple applications.

Secure voice.  Smart MicroSD cards can support hardware encrypted voice services, a proven security method used by potential new markets for SD standards, including government, emergency services and corporations.

For more information about SDA or to join, visit the association”s website.

You kids today have it so easy. Back in the old days, using technology like digital cameras and photo editing programs was difficult. My first book on digital photography came out around 1998 and was filled with page after page of arcane troubleshooting tips, like how to get your camera connected to a PC”s serial port (this was before USB) and how to get your software to read TIFF files. But whether you”re just starting out and looking for tipsor you”re a veteran who has been reading this column for years, I bet there are still some things about photo files you don”t know.

This week, I”ve put together a primer on everything you ever wanted to know about photo files–megapixels, megabytes, dpi, and more. This is sure to help you better understand digital photography.

It All Starts With a Question

Digital photo jargon can be perplexing, especially when so many terms sound so similar. I frequently get questions from people who confuse megapixel and megabyte, for example. And this recent question, from reader Sue Scott of Phoenix, Arizona, addresses one of the most confusing issues of all: How on earth do you interpret the “dpi” value associated with your photos?

Sue”s question: “When I e-mail a photo that”s 300 dpi, it gets changed to 72 dpi. Why does it do that? How do I send it so it maintains its resolution?”

Let”s Start with Megapixels (How Big)

First the good news: Sue is facing a false dilemma, and things aren”t nearly as bad as they seem. But to explain why that”s the case, I need to take you on a journey through some fascinating trivia about digital photography related to the size of digital photos. Ready to go?

Cameras are most often characterized by the term megapixel, or how many millions of pixels their sensors can pack into a photo. A 10-megapixel camera takes pictures with 10 million pixels. For example, my Nikon D200 shoots photos that are 3872 pixels wide by 2592 pixels high. Multiply those two numbers together and you get 10 million pixels.

So megapixels defines the size of the photo a camera can take, as measured by how many pixels it contains.

Next Up: Megabytes (How Heavy)

It”s also important to be able to measure a photo by its file size, or the number of megabytes it takes up on your memory card or hard disk. I like to think of this as how “heavy” a file is, as if you were weighing it on a scale.

Megapixels and file size have virtually no relation to each other. A 10-megapixel photo might “weigh” less than a megabyte on your hard drive. Or it might “weigh” as much as 6 megabytes. The file size depends on several factors, including the number of megapixels, the file format you”re using (such as JPEG or RAW), and the amount of file compression used to save the photo, which is sometimes referred to as the quality setting.

DPI Measures the Density of the Pixels

Finally, there”s the thing that Sue actually asked about: dots per inch, or dpi. Dpi has no inherent value of its own when describing the size of a photo. The only thing that dpi does is help you to understand how large a photo can be printed or displayed, and–here”s the key thing–it refers to the display medium, not to the photo itself.

What am I talking about? Suppose you take the 10-megapixel photo I mentioned at the beginning of this article and display it on a computer screen. Computer screens tend to have a resolution of around 72 dpi, which means the screen has about 72 pixels per linear inch. If you show the photo at its “full size” (so every pixel in the photo uses a pixel on the screen) then you”d divide 3872 by 72 and find that the photo would be about 53 inches across. But send that same photo to a 300-dpi inkjet printer, and you would expect that you could make a high-quality print that”s about 12 inches across (3872/300).

In Summary

So what does all this teach us? A few things:

Megapixels are a general guide to the size of the photo, as measured by the number of pixels it includes. Megapixels is a strong indicator of quality in the sense that it helps you know how large the photo can be safely printed–more megapixels equals a larger print–but it doesn”t really tell you anything about the quality of the camera”s sensor or its lens. And other factors, like a high level of JPEG compression, can affect the quality as well.

Megabytes tells you how much space a photo takes up on your hard drive, and has nothing to do with your camera”s megapixels. The same photo, saved at different JPEG quality levels, will yield wildly different file sizes in megabytes.

Dots per inch (dpi) is just plain meaningless most of the time. You can use this number, along with the photo”s resolution, to find how large it can be printed or displayed on a particular device. But to be useful, you need to know the dpi of the device in question–for example, most inkjet printers give good results at no more than about 300 dpi.

Here”s the annoying thing, and what is no doubt tripping up Sue: A dpi value is usually stored as metadata with your digital photo. That”s really misleading, especially when a program resets the dpi value for some mysterious reason. As a general rule, you should ignore the dpi value and pay attention to the photo”s resolution in pixels. That”s the real indication of a photo”s size.

Through-silicon via (TSV) on chip interconnection of memory, processor and sensor elements looks the most likely route for 3D chip design, writes Richard Wilson

As the complexity of system-on-chip semiconductor devices grows designers are exploring the practicality of so-called 3D chips.

3D chips can take many forms but the most practical would seem to be through-silicon via (TSV) technology which allows die to be stacked on top of one another.

A common element of all processor-based systems is memory and Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology are proposing an open interface specification for TSV-based memory technology called the Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC).

Details of HMC technology are vague, but it uses a stack of TSV-bonded DRAM die with the potential for higher memory density and data paths.

The companies claim a x15 improvement in density over traditional DDR3 DRAM devices.

“This collaborative is an accelerator for highly promising technology that will benefit the entire industry,” said Jim Elliott, v-p memory marketing at Samsung Semiconductor.

“HMC is unlike anything currently on the radar,” said Robert Feurle, Micron’s v-p for DRAM marketing.

Samsung has already demonstrated how TSVs and 3D packaging can reduce power consumption in 32Gbyte DDR3 registered DIMMs.

“TSV allows us to stack dies onto one another and therefore increase the density of any given package,” Samsung spokeswoman Ujeong Jahnke told Electronics Weekly. “The RDIMM is manufactured by stacking 4Gbit DRAM die.”

The module consumes 4.5W, claims Samsung: “Compared to the 30nm-class 32Gbyte load-reduced DIMM, which offers advantages in constructing 32Gbyte or higher memory solutions, the 32Gbyte RDIMM module provides approximately 30% energy savings.”

For the TSV system processor you can use an FPGA. FPGA firms Altera and Xilinx also support the TSV memory interface specification.

Xilinx has described a multi-die Virtex-7 design with up to four FPGA slices configured side-by-side with interconnection provided by a silicon interconnect die stacked beneath the FPGA slices.

“The aim is to remove the need for chip-to-chip interconnections in the highest density FPGAs, with two million logic cells, which can limit signal bandwith and add to power consumption,” said the FPGA company.

With the FPGA slices stacked onto of the silicon interconnection layer TSVs are used for the chip connections.

The stacked silicon interconnect structure means that data flows between the adjacent FPGA die through fixed data paths in the silicon interconnect layer.

The company also claims that be sitting multiple die side-by-side rather than stacked on top of each other will improve thermal management.

Another area of embedded system design is sensor technology and STMicroelectronics is implementing through-silicon via technology (TSV) in MEMS sensor devices.

The TSVs replace on-chip bond wiring with short vertical interconnects in multi-chip MEMS devices, such as smart sensors and multi-axis inertial modules.

ST already has its TSV technology in full production MEMS devices.

“There is a great demand for smaller packages in the consumer market.  This implementation of TSV in MEMS devices opens a path to reduced footprints and increased functionality in mobile phones and other gadgets,” said Benedetto Vigna, general manager of ST’s analogue, MEMS and sensor group.

www.hybridmemorycube.org

Micron has added a self-encrypting drive (SED) to its lineup of RealSSD C400 line of SSDs.

Tuesday Micron Technology revealed a new version of its popular RealSSD C400 that features self-encryption. Called the C400 SED (Self-Encrypting Drive), it”s based on the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) Opal specifications and delivers sequential read and write speeds of up to 500 MB/s and 260 MB/s respectively using an SATA 6 Gb/s interface.

“The C400 SED’s encryption capabilities are delivered through a hardware-based, AES-256-bit encryption engine and advanced security firmware,” the company said. “Micron’s firmware is designed to comply with the TCG Opal specification. TCG Opal is an open industry standard that provides a verifiable path for companies who need to prove they’re compliant with tough data security regulations when devices or drives are lost or stolen.”

Micron added that the C400 SED was developed in conjunction with Wave Systems” EMBASSY encryption management system which provides policy-based access controls, comprehensive reporting, directory services integration and end-user access recovery. That said, the new C400 SED was designed with large corporations, government systems and other multiple-user networks in mind that require maximum security without cumbersome workflow interruptions or decreased performance.

“Markets are grappling with the mounting challenges for protection of information and operations,” the company stated in an email. “As a result, there’s a growing demand for hardware encryption that provides the strongest security and fastest data access. As self-encrypting drives become the future of data protection, Micron’s new C400 SED will be priced very competitively and achieve a low total cost of ownership that makes it feasible to economically replace client hard drives.”

Micron”s RealSSD C400 SED will go into production during the fourth quarter of this year. When it eventually arrives on the market, the drive will be available in two form factors — 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch — and three capacities: 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB. Pricing and actual availability is unknown, so stay tuned.

f you”re a heavy data user, Sprint offers the most bang for your buck, according to a study released today.

For $1, you get 12.5 megabytes of data, which breaks down to 8 cents per megabyte, by far the best among the national carriers. Surprisingly, T-Mobile offers the worst deal at 4.3 megabytes for every dollar spent, or 23 cents per megabyte.

That”s based on a study of “real world” prices conducted by Validas, which provides automated wireless bill analysis and reduction services to consumers and companies.

AT&T, meanwhile, came in second at 5.6 megabytes for every $1 spent, or 18 cents per megabyte, while Verizon Wireless offered 5 megabytes per data, or 20 cents per megabyte.

The study looked at how much, on average, a customer spent on a smartphone data plan and looked at how much data was consumed at each carrier. Sprint got the best stats because more of its customers are on a higher-speed 4G network: a faster connection means more data consumed. The carrier also offers attractive data rates and a completely unlimited plan, which has liked drawn in heavy users.

Sprint doesn”t offer the best prices on an absolute prices. For that, you would have to go to T-Mobile, which has been slashing its smartphone plans as it seeks to win back customers. But on a per-megabyte basis, you end up getting more value from Sprint.

The award will add to the USAF”s 900,000 units of HP products deployed in the past five years throughout the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific and is part of the USAF CCS (client, computer and servers) Quantum Enterprise Buy (QEB). In compliance with USAF requirements, HP will include customized agency configurations that meet strict standards and tests for memory, audio, video and other specifications.

The Air Force Information Technology Commodity Council (AF ITCC), composed of top USAF officials, selects vendors for the QEB by evaluating the performance quality of their enterprise computing products in harsh environments. HP has consistently proven to be a “Best Value” vendor through the assessment.

USAF facilities worldwide will use an array of HP platforms, including HP Workstations and HP Compaq 6005 Business Pro PCs that combine high performance, energy efficiency and security features.

“For more than 60 years, the U.S. military and federal government has relied on HP for state-of-the-art technology products and solutions,” said Stephen DiFranco, senior vice president and general manager, Personal Systems Group, HP. “We are proud of our strong performance record and look forward to providing the USAF with premier technology that aides in the management of the forces protecting our nation.”

Powerful, versatile, reliable

The QEB award will include the HP Z800 Workstation and HP Z400 Workstation. The HP Z800 Workstation offers Intel(R) Xeon(R) 5500 and 5600 series processors, providing up to 12 processing cores,(1) up to 192 gigabytes of ECC memory,(2) up to 10 terabytes of high-speed storage(3) and up to dual NVIDIA Quadro FX 5800 graphics.

The HP Z400 offers up to six processing cores using Intel Xeon 3500 series processors, providing up to 24 GB of ECC memory, up to 8 TB of high-speed storage and up to NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 or dual NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800 graphics.

HP Z Workstations are designed to optimize energy use while maintaining high-performance power, versatility and reliability. They include at least 85 percent efficient power supplies helping to reduce both overall energy usage and the amount of waste heat released. HP Workstations also offer ENERGY STAR(R) 5.0 qualified configurations while all HP Z Workstations are more than 90 percent recyclable by weight and registered as EPEAT(R) Gold.

Industry research firm IDC reported that HP led the desktop and mobile workstation category in market share in the second quarter of 2011, retaking the No. 1 position in the United States.(4)

The HP Compaq 6005 Pro Business PCs will be available in two configurations — small form factor and microtower — that both meet the USAF”s secure product category requirements and offer secure hardware, software and firmware. Both models are EPEAT Gold registered and include energy-efficient features that conserve power, enabling PCs to last longer.

The HP and USAF contract number is FA8771-10-A-0601. More information about the USAF”s quarterly IT purchase process is available on the AF Way website, https://www.afway.af.mil/ or by contacting Sonya Smith, contracting officer, U.S. Air Force at +1 334 416 5318 or sonya.smith@gunter.af.mil, or Martin Toland, QEB program manager, U.S. Air Force at +1 334 416 4846 or martin.toland@gunter.af.mil.

About HP

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world”s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure at the convergence of the cloud and connectivity, creating seamless, secure, context-aware experiences for a connected world. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com

(1) Multi-Core is designed to improve performance of certain software products. Not all customers or software applications will necessarily benefit from use of this technology. 64-bit computing on Intel architecture requires a computer system with a processor, chipset, BIOS, operating system, device drivers, and applications enabled for Intel 64 architecture. Processors will not operate (including 32-bit operation) without an Intel 64 architecture-enabled BIOS. Performance will vary depending on your hardware and software configurations.

(2) Maximum memory capacities assume Windows(R) 64-bit operating systems or Linux. With Windows 32-bit operating systems, memory above 3 GB may not all be available due to system resource requirements.

(3) For hard drives, 1 GB = 1 billion bytes, 1 TB = 12 trillion bytes. Actual formatted capacity is less. Up to 8 GB of system disk is reserved.

(4) Workstation Tracker, IDC, Q2 2011.

Intel and Xeon are registered trademarks of Intel Corp. in the United States and other countries. ENERGY STAR is a registered mark owned by the U.S. government. Windows is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

Weighing in 10,368 cores with a peak speed of 100 teraflops, 20 terabytes of memory and 39 terabytes of flash memory, the new SDSC and Appro-designed super could be another proving ground for the future of flash-based memory in large-scale HPC systems.

The Trestles supercomputer is one of a handful HPC systems making use of flash memory—the same kind of memory that is used in any number of handheld or tablet devices. Allan Snavely, who serves as the associate director of SDSC and co-PI for Trestles explained the reason for choosing the slower-spinning disk technology over other more traditional HPC memory solutions.

“Flash disks can read data as much as 100 times faster than spinning disk, write data faster, and are more energy-efficient and reliable…Trestles uses 120GB flash drives in each node and users have already demonstrated substantial performance improvements for many applications compared to spinning disk.”

Another system at SDSC, the upcoming 1024-node Gordon super will also be incorporating flash into its architecture to make it more adept at solving data-intensive problems with greater speed.

As Matthew Dublin stated this week, part of the reason some supers utilize flash is because of the improvements in I/O speed and more significantly, power savings as they have no moving parts, unlike disk-based memory with its spinning motorized components.”

Richard Moore, deputy director of SDSC said that the system will support a large, diverse group of TeraGrid and other users with projects contingent on rapid turnaround times. He said in a statement last week that “to respond to user requirements for more flexible access modules, we have enabled pre-emptive on-demand queues for application which require urgent access in response to unpredictable natural or manmade events that have a societal impact, as well as user-settable reservations for researchers who need predictable access for their workflows.”

Full story at GenomeWeb

New supercomputer delivers increased productivity, on-demand access

Trestles, a supercomputer launched earlier this year by the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, is proving itself as a valuable resource for researchers across a wide range of disciplines, from astrophysics to molecular dynamics, who need access to computational resources with rapid turnaround.

In the seven months since its launch, more than 50 separate research projects have been granted time on Trestles. As the system is targeted to serve a large number of users, project allocations are capped at 1.5M SUs (service units, or single processor hours) annually on the new SDSC system.

With 10,368 processor cores, a peak speed of 100 teraflop/s, 20 terabytes memory, and 39 terabytes of flash memory, Trestles is one of several new HPC (high-performance computing) systems at SDSC. The center is pioneering the use of flash-based memory, common in much smaller devices such as mobile phones and laptop computers but relatively new for supercomputers, which typically rely on slower spinning disk technology. “Flash disks can read data as much as 100 times faster than spinning disk, write data faster, and are more energy-efficient and reliable,” said Allan Snavely, associate director of SDSC and co-PI for the new system. “Trestles uses 120GB flash drives in each node, and users have already demonstrated substantial performance improvements for many applications compared to spinning disk.”

Trestles is appropriately named because it is serving as a bridge between SDSC”s current resources such as Dash, and Gordon, a much larger data-intensive system scheduled for deployment in late 2011/early 2012. Like Dash and the upcoming Gordon system, Trestles is available to users of the NSF”s TeraGrid, the nation”s largest open-access scientific discovery infrastructure. TeraGrid is transitioning this summer to a new phase called XSEDE (Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment), the result of a new multi-year NSF award.

Trestles is among the five largest supercomputers in the TeraGrid/XSEDE repertoire, and is backed by SDSC”s Advanced User Support group, which has established key benchmarks to accelerate user applications and assist users in optimizing applications. Trestles provides the Portland Group (PGI), Intel, and GNU compilers. MPI implementations provided are mvapich2 and openMPI. The majority of libraries are compiled for PGI and mvapich2 support, which have been shown to give optimal performance on the system. As such, they are loaded by default in the login shell. Intel and GNU compilers should only be used for compatibility, if necessary. Similarly, mvapich2 should be used over OpenMPI whenever possible. For more information, click here