Toshiba Launches AV notebook PCs that integrate TOSHIBA Quad Core HD Processor

High-resolution function upscales standard images to high definition quality

TOKYO--Toshiba Corporation today announced that it will enhance its Japanese line-up of industry leading Qosmio AV notebooks with the launch of new models, the Qosmio G50 series and Qosmio F40 series, that integrate the streaming media processing power of the TOSHIBA Quad Core HD Processor SpursEngine™ SE1000 ("SpursEngine™"). Both new series will be brought to market in Japan in late July. In parallel, Toshiba also announced the launch of the new dynabook Qosmio FX, which integrates the latest high performance graphics processor.

As computers continue to add functionality, they are increasingly used to create, edit, download and view video sources at ever-higher definitions. However, image recognition and processing imposes increased burdens on the CPU performance. The SpursEngine™ removes these burdens, and brings powerful new functions to the Qosmio line-up.

Derived from the high performance multi-core technology of the Cell Broadband Engine™ (Cell/B.E.), and combined with Toshiba's advanced image processing technology, the SpursEngine™ integrates four synergistic processing elements (S.P.E.s) and functions as a dedicated co-processor that supports the smooth handling of high definition video streams, image recognition and image processing.

This new processor is designed to remove the burden of processing high definition video data streams from CPU, and it significantly improves processing power and speeds up the handling of multiple, resource-intensive video processing tasks such as conversion of standard definition video content to high definition quality.

The capabilities of the SpursEngine™ go far beyond simply supporting the CPU, and bring a whole range of new features to the new Qosmio G50 series and Qosmio F40 series.

First among these is support for Toshiba’s breakthrough "High-resolution function" that upscales standard definition video sources and bring them to screen in high definition picture quality. This allows users to experience standard DVD video content with high definition quality.

Users viewing video on the new Qosmios can also enjoy other new functions. The "Face navigation function" recognizes and memorizes faces as they appear on screen, and displays them in an easily searched index that can be used to playback video segments featuring a specific person. "Scene Thumb" takes thumbnail snapshots of a user-recorded video, lines them up one after another, and any one can be individually viewed by running the cursor over it. "Scene Thumb" provides users with a unique approach to finding just the moment they want to view. Another feature of thumbnail search is the ability to search by highlight level and section bar, allowing viewers to home on in, for example, heavy applause during a concert video.

The high-end Qosmio G50 series also adds "Gesture Control" for gesture-based interfacing: simple hand movements captured by the PC’s integrated CCD camera, can be used to control video playback and pause, for example, without a mouse or remote controller.

One aspect of the new Qosmio performance that users will really appreciate is its extensive range of recording capabilities. In addition to the ability to upscale standard definition video to high definition quality as it records, the new Qosmios are also able to cut recording time by half, and to boost recording density by a factor of approximately eight—recording up to eight hours of video on the storage capacity usually required for one hour. This is done by real-time compression of high definition digital terrestrial broadcasts into the H.264 format during recording.

Along with the SpursEngine™, the new Qosmios also integrate a complete suite of the latest hardware, including a next generation Intel® CPU processor and the latest NVIDIA graphic accelerator. The result is a platform offering high-speed processing and high-level graphic processing.

Toshiba has also given the new Qosmio PC a more sophisticated and elegant design, by forming a distinctive pattern on the surface of the case during molding. The high-end Qosmio G50 series complement stylish appearance with an 18.4-inch LCD with 16:9 aspect ratio, which adds a new level of dynamism to enjoyment of video sources.

In advancing its strategy of adding differentiating technologies to commodity products, Toshiba also unveiled the dynabook Qosmio FX series, which achieve enhanced graphic processing by integrating the latest NVIDIA graphic accelerator. High speed graphic capabilities make it a great notebook PC for gamers.

Toshiba remains committed to providing users around the world with innovative notebook PCs that bring those new capabilities and heightened convenience. Toshiba also seeks to contribute to lower CO₂ emissions from the home by developing notebook PCs that use less energy than desktop PCs.

Outline of New Models

Qosmio series

Model Name		Launch in Japan	Suggested Retail Price
Qosmio G50	G50/98G	Late July	Open
	G50/97G	Late July
Qosmio F50	F50/88G	Late July

dynabook Qosmio FX series

Model Name		Launch in Japan	Suggested Retail Price
dynabook Qosmio FX	FX/77G	Late July	Open

For more info: http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2008_06/pr2301.htm

Microsoft Expands List of Formats Supported in Microsoft Office

Microsoft Corp. is offering customers greater choice and more flexibility among document formats, as well as creating additional opportunities for developer and competitors, by expanding the range of document formats supported in its flagship Office productivity suite.

The 2007 Microsoft Office system already provides support for 20 different document formats within Microsoft Office Word, Office Excel and Office PowerPoint. With the release of Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) scheduled for the first half of 2009, the list will grow to include support for XML Paper Specification (XPS), Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.5, PDF/A and Open Document Format (ODF) v1.1.

When using SP2, customers will be able to open, edit and save documents using ODF and save documents into the XPS and PDF fixed formats from directly within the application without having to install any other code. It will also allow customers to set ODF as the default file format for Office 2007. To also provide ODF support for users of earlier versions of Microsoft Office (Office XP and Office 2003), Microsoft will continue to collaborate with the open source community in the ongoing development of the Open XML-ODF translator project on SourceForge.net.

In addition, Microsoft has defined a road map for its implementation of the newly ratified International Standard ISO/IEC 29500 (Office Open XML). IS29500, which was approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in March, is already substantially supported in Office 2007, and the company plans to update that support in the next major version release of the Microsoft Office system, code-named “Office 14.”

Consistent with its interoperability principles, in which the company committed to work with others toward robust, consistent and interoperable implementations across a broad range of widely deployed products, the company has also announced it will be an active participant in the future evolution of ODF, Open XML, XPS and PDF standards.

Microsoft will join the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) technical committee working on the next version of ODF and will take part in the ISO/IEC working group being formed to work on ODF maintenance. Microsoft employees will also take part in the ISO/IEC working group that is being formed to maintain Open XML and the ISO/IEC working group that is being formed to improve interoperability between these and other ISO/IEC-recognized document formats. The company will also be an active participant in the ongoing standardization and maintenance activities for XPS and PDF. It will also continue to work with the IT community to promote interoperability between document file formats, including Open XML and ODF, as well as Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY XML), the foundation of the globally accepted DAISY standard for reading and publishing navigable multimedia content.

Microsoft is also committed to providing Office customers with the ability to open, edit and save documents in the Chinese national document file format standard, Uniform Office Format (UOF). The company does so today by supporting the continued development of the UOF-Open XML translator project on SourceForge.net, and will take additional steps to promote the distribution and ease of use of the translator. As UOF develops and achieves market adoption in China, Microsoft will distribute support for this format with Office to its customers in China.

“We are committed to providing Office users with greater choice among document formats and enhanced interoperability between those formats and the applications that implement them,” said Chris Capossela, senior vice president for the Microsoft Business Division. “By increasing the openness of our products and participating actively in the development and maintenance of document format standards, we believe we can help create opportunities for developers and competitors, including members of the open source communities, to innovate and deliver new value for customers.”

Microsoft recognizes that customers care most about real-world interoperability in the marketplace, so the company is committed to continuing to engage the IT community to achieve that goal when it comes to document format standards. It will work with the Interoperability Executive Customer Council and other customers to identify the areas where document format interoperability matters most, and then collaborate with other vendors to achieve interoperability between their implementations of the formats that customers are using today. This work will continue to be carried out in the Interop Vendor Alliance (http://www.interopvendoralliance.org), the Document Interoperability Initiative (http://www.microsoft.com/interop), and a range of other interoperability labs and collaborative venues.

“Microsoft’s support for ODF in Office is a great step that enables customers to work with the document format that best meets their needs, and it enables interoperability in the marketplace,” said Roger Levy, senior vice president and general manager of Open Platform Solutions for Novell Inc. “Novell is proud to be an industry leader in cross-platform document interoperability through our work in the Document Interoperability Initiative, the Interop Vendor Alliance and with our direct collaboration with Microsoft in our Interoperability Lab. We look forward to continuing this work for the benefit of customers across the IT spectrum.”

“The demand for a document format that everyone can use is something I hear from our customers on a regular basis,” said John D. Head, framework manager at PSC Group LLC, a Chicago headquartered information-technology and professional services consulting firm. “I am very pleased that Microsoft is enabling Microsoft Office to support ODF directly from the software. This will allow us to develop solutions that create documents that can be edited by any user, regardless of what software or operating system they use. In a world where software companies want people to select one software package for their entire user base, the reality is that different user groups and types need options. Microsoft is now enabling users to make that choice. This is a very smart move by Microsoft, and one that lets the most important person — the customer — be the winner.”

This work on document formats is only one aspect of how Microsoft is delivering choice, interoperability and innovative solutions to the marketplace. Microsoft will continue to work with its customers and partners and the rest of the industry to continue advancing in the area. More information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/interop.

IBM Worldwide Market Share Leader in Web Portal Software

ARMONK, N.Y. - 20 Jun 2008: IBM (NYSE: IBM) on 20th june announced that analyst firm Gartner, Inc. has ranked IBM as the worldwide market share leader in the enterprise portal software market based on total software revenue for 2007.(1)

With more than 6,000 portal customers such as Cisco Systems, Inc., Duke Medicine, the Australian government, and the Gauteng Disaster Management Center in South Africa, IBM is the worldwide enterprise portal software market leader for the seventh consecutive year.

Portal software enables external and internal Web sites to deliver information, applications and business processes in a personalized way to individuals. Increasingly, Web 2.0 technologies are enabling Web portals to provide employees with the content, social connections and other resources to solve business problems.

According to the independent report, the enterprise portals software market grew 16.5 percent in 2007 to approximately $1.1 Billion.(1)

"At IBM, we've designed our portal software with easy-to-use Web 2.0 technologies that put people in control of IT, not the other way around," said Larry Bowden, vice president, IBM Portals and Mashups. "Individuals at work and at home increasingly want to gain insight, publish content, and access services on their own."

IBM's portal software is used for a variety of purposes -- everything from communications, education, health, emergency and municipal services, increasingly with Web 2.0 technologies such as mashups, composite applications and text tagging.

The Australian government uses IBM WebSphere Portal software as the backbone for the delivery of Centrelink's information and on-line services through its 'customer portal' web site. Approximately 6.5 million customers, or about one third of Australia's population access Centrelink regularly for a variety of services and information which is delivered on behalf of a number of government agencies.

On-line services via the Centrelink portal has more than 40,000 authenticated visitors daily. It also provides visitors personalized news via the IBM Web Content Management software.

"We're pleased with the results of IBM's portal software for our customer and other portal websites. This technology, delivered as part of our IT Refresh program, gives our customers a personalized view of the services they can access and perform, as well as other capabilities such as advanced search, aggregated news and single sign-on," said Centrelink Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Information Technology, John Wadeson.

Centrelink has developed five enterprise portals as part of their IT Refresh program for customers, staff, business, government and emergency management. The Centrelink customer portal is available at http://myaccount.centrelink.gov.au.

As 80 percent of American adults who have internet access seek health information on-line regularly, IBM portal software is also being used by several medical organizations worldwide including Duke Medicine. The information patients most commonly seek is about specific diseases and medical conditions, medical treatments and procedures, diet, nutrition, vitamins, and nutritional supplements.

The Duke Medicine portal allows patients to schedule an appointment, access personal health profiles, account billing and insurance information and other data and services. "In order to build deeper relationships with patients, we needed a unified communication tool that would bring together different data for a holistic view," said Asif Ahmad, vice president, Diagnostic Services and CIO, Duke University Health System and Duke University Medical Center. "Through the HealthView Portal, Duke Medicine is improving patient satisfaction and safety by giving patients and clinicians the information they need to work together for better health outcomes."

Additionally, organizations worldwide, like the Gauteng Disaster Management Center in South Africa, are using IBM portal technology behind the scenes to help them manage emergency services. A team in the Gauteng Province, which is made up of Johannesburg and several other cities and municipalities, uses IBM's portal-based disaster and emergency management solution known as Virtual Operation Center, to support its 10 million residents around the clock.

"This IBM portal software is absolutely critical because our on-line center is used to protect and save lives," said Colin Deiner of the Gauteng Disaster Management Center. For more information, visit http://www.gautengonline.gov.za.

Information technology companies are also using this technology. Cisco is implementing IBM WebSphere Portal software to enhance the internal and customer user experience. For more information visit http://www.cisco.com.

IBM has recently offered customers the opportunity to experiment with the latest version of its WebSphere Portal software and gain hands-on experience free through IBM Lotus Greenhouse. Lotus Greenhouse is a Web site where anyone can register and try out this portal software as well as IBM's new Mashup Center, IBM Lotus Connections, Lotus Quickr, and Lotus Sametime. This gives customers a safe environment to try the technology and evaluate IBM portal potential without installing anything in their own environment.

IBM will ship the latest version of its new IBM WebSphere Portal software, version 6.1, this month. Designed to securely combine information form both enterprise and the Web, it has a variety of expanded Web 2.0 features to help people be more productive and find key information faster. Its live text feature allows a user to click on text, in context of the business process being used, and see supporting information right there related to the job at hand. For example, a sales woman clicks on the address of her customer and a map with directions appears; or she clicks on the name of the customer and an electronic business card pops up.

IBM is releasing the new software after gathering feedback from 4,000 beta testers. As a result of the testing, the company has made several improvements, making it a more powerful choice to help teams collaborate and innovate.

For more information about IBM WebSphere portal software, visit www.ibm.com/software/lotus/

Dell: Virtualization Helps Stoneridge Reduce Data Center Costs

Stoneridge is saving money and data center space worldwide by simplifying its IT operations with Dell PowerEdge servers supported by Dell EqualLogic Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage area networks (SANs).

Stoneridge, Inc., headquartered in Warren, Ohio, is an independent designer and manufacturer of highly engineered electrical and electronic components, modules and systems principally for the automotive, medium- and heavy-duty truck, agricultural and off-highway vehicle markets. Stoneridge has IT presence in most of its locations in 15 countries. Dell helped the company standardize onto a centralized IT network, providing greater economy and global efficiency.

“Having Dell as our global IT supplier for servers and end-user devices enabled us to dramatically shrink our IT footprint and spend,” said Bill Johnson, Chief Information Officer, Stoneridge. “Virtualization architecture on Dell PowerEdge servers has resulted in cost savings across a range of areas, including energy and datacenter real estate.”

Using Dell PowerEdge R900 and Dell PowerEdge 2900 servers, with VMware Infrastructure 3 virtualization software. Stoneridge retired 89 percent of its active servers in the company’s main data center. Stoneridge is using Dell EqualLogic iSCSI SANs to support the virtualized server infrastructure, providing high transactional performance and scalability while simplifying management and administration.

“With the Dell EqualLogic iSCSI SANs, we can leverage our existing networks, switches, and experience and get great performance without a costly infrastructure upgrade,” Johnson said.

Stoneridge was able to consolidate IT server infrastructure by more than 50 percent, eliminating more than $1 million in server hardware and reduced recurring annual server hardware replacement costs by approximately $330,000 in 2007. Virtualization architecture on Dell PowerEdge servers also has helped reduce power use at Stoneridge’s main data center by 58 percent.

“Stoneridge is a perfect example of how Dell simplifies IT for its customers,” said Bill Rodrigues, vice president of Dell’s Corporate Business Group. “By removing cost and complexity for our customers, we are enabling them to realize significant cost savings in terms of energy, real estate, IT infrastructure and staffing costs.”

Dell and Goodwill Launch Free Computer Recycling Service For Consumers in Western New York

Reconnect, a free drop-off program to recycle unwanted computers, was introduced by Dell and Goodwill Industries of Western New York.

Reconnect offers consumers in Western New York free recycling for any brand of computer equipment in any condition. Residents can find a drop-off location at www.reconnectpartnership.com or www.goodwillwny.org. Program goals are to divert over 450,000 pounds of used computers and computer equipment from area landfills over the next year; and provide consumer education on the importance of environmentally-responsible computer disposal. Reconnect also can help create job opportunities for individuals with disabilities and other employment barriers. Reconnect programs currently exist in Austin, Texas, (15 counties in Central Texas), San Francisco (Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties), San Antonio (23 counties in Central and South Texas), Houston (15 counties) North Carolina (49 counties), San Diego County, Pittsburgh, Northern New Jersey, Northwest Ohio and throughout the state of Michigan. Dell provides consumers worldwide free computer recycling. In 2007 the company collected 102 million pounds of IT equipment from customers, a 20 percent increase over 2006.

“Goodwill Industries of Western New York is very happy to be a part of the partnership with Dell,” said Florence Conti, Goodwill’s President and CEO. “Responsible recycling of e-waste is critical to our environment and we are excited to offer this program to the communities we serve. We are glad to join other Goodwill/Dell Reconnect partners around the country in this beneficial community effort while supporting Goodwill’s mission and creating new jobs.”

“Dell wants to make computer recycling easy, convenient and free for any consumer, and Reconnect is an important program that helps make that possible,” said Joe Strathmann, head of product recycling services for Dell. “This program is a win on all fronts, it benefits the environment, the community and consumers in Western New York.”

source: Dell.com

Seagate Young Innovators Inspires The Next Generation

SPRINGTOWN -Eight hundred of Northern Ireland’s finest young minds are preparing to attended Seagate Young Innovators on Thursday 19th June 2008 at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast.

The annual science fair, which features six competition categories, is the largest showcase of science, engineering and technology projects for young people in the United Kingdom. The event is the product of a long-standing partnership between Sentinus, one of the largest providers of business education activity in Europe, and Seagate (NYSE: STX), the worldwide leader in hard drives and storage solutions.

Regional heats for ‘Junior Engineers for Britain’ and the ‘Primary Science & Technology Challenge’ are complete with successful primary school students securing a place at Seagate Young Innovators. The other primary event, the ‘Junior Industry Challenge’, involves schools achieving gold level accreditation for project work around the development of a mini enterprise. Work has to be carried out in partnership with a local company.

Seagate Young Innovators gives special schools from across Northern Ireland an opportunity to exhibit their projects in the ‘Special Schools Challenge’. The main event and the largest in the day involves secondary students exhibiting their innovative solutions to research and development problems and combines the ‘Northern Ireland Young Scientist’, and ‘Young Engineers for Britain’ competitions.

Seagate Young Innovators is admission-free and commences at 10:00am with fifty primary school teams participating in live design-and-build challenges as part of the ‘Junior Engineers for Britain’ and ‘Primary Science and Technology Challenge’ regional finals. Alongside this hub of activity, 200 imaginative projects that utilize elements of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are on display for the judges and public to browse.

Keen to show children the wide range of career opportunities in STEM fields, including the less traditional ones, John Spangler, vice president and managing director at Seagate’s Springtown facility, said; “We are enthusiastic about being involved in Seagate Young Innovators as the event inspires the careers of the next generation. High tech companies like Seagate rely on a steady flow of graduates with STEM skills.

“It’s good to see the vitality and enthusiasm that’s generated when hundreds of young people, from 8 to 18 years, gather to compete. The challenges set in each category give young people a feel for science and engineering and can help them decide what subjects they should study at higher levels to help them along their career path.” continued Spangler.

“Judges are not only looking for excellence in the ‘build’ quality of each project but also at how well students present and understand their solution. Innovative design is very important in impressing the judges,” says Brian Campbell, chief executive of Sentinus.

“Seagate Young Innovators involves young people working on STEM projects from a young age. It motivates and challenges them to look at the subjects in a new way. Many previous participants have gone on to take STEM courses at higher education level and have followed successful careers in engineering or science. That’s what makes this our flagship event. It is an excellent example of how industry and education can work together in partnership,” concluded Campbell.

TV personality Frank Mitchell is Master of Ceremonies for the 3:00 p.m. Awards Ceremony, when participants will find out if they have won one of the fifty prizes on offer—some of which involve trips to national and international science fairs.

Source: Seagate.com

Toshiba achieves higher hole mobility for future generation CMOS.

TOKYO--Toshiba Corporation announced that, together with IBM Corporation, it has developed a higher performance CMOS FET, a high priority for advanced system LSI. The new technology matches the highest possible performance, and opens the way for further advances in process technology. Toshiba and IBM announced the achievement on June 19, at the VLSI Symposia 2008, in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.

High performance, low power and scalability have won CMOS technology a central place in semiconductor technology, a position now under threat as CMOS scaling edges towards fundamental physical limits that inhibit further advances in transistor performance and migration to finer process technology. As a consequence, the industry is seeking new ways to overcome these challenges. These approaches include adoption of new materials such as High-K and metal gates and new structures. Another way to improve performance is to increase the mobility of electron , or holes, through device channels; direct silicon bonding (DSB) wafers, a bulk CMOS hybrid type wafer that bonds (100) and (110) substrates, is a recognized candidate for advancing this approach.

In developing the new methodology, obtaining standard (100) silicon wafers by rotating the plane of the (100) layer by 45 degrees and thinning the DSB layer of the (110) substrate, Toshiba and IBM have successfully integrated technology with improving 10% delay of the ring oscillator than achievement compared to conventional DSB substrate 0 degree (100) wafers, which bonds to a wafer two silicon substrates, a (100) and a (110) substrate. The development improved the ring oscillator delay to a point of 30% than the standard (100) wafers. The achievement can be integrated with technologies that can reach even higher advances.

CMOS makes use of two types of transistors: positively-charged field effect transistors (PFETs), and negatively charged FETs (NFETs). For PFETs, hole mobility is known to achieve a higher performance on a substrate with (110) surface-orientation than on a substrate with (100) surface-orientation. However, for NFETs, electric charge mobility deteriorates on a substrate with (110) surface-orientation, compared to mobility on a substrate (100) surface-orientation. Toshiba and IBM achieved the newly announced performance using new hybrid-orientation technology fabricated on a hybrid substrate with different crystal orientations to achieve significant PFET performance improvement without any deterioration in NFET performance.

Toshiba is studying various technologies for future advanced devices, and believes that the new technology is a step forward to more powerful practical devices.

source: Toshiba.com

Toshiba Signs Memorandum of Advancement of Mutual Cooperation in the Nuclear Industry with Kazakhstan's Kazatomprom.

Tokyo-Toshiba Corporation on 20th june signed a memorandum of understanding on advancing mutual cooperation in the nuclear industry with Kazatomprom, a state-owned corporation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In April 2007, Japan and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on the development and enhancement of a strategic partnership in the field of nuclear energy, while Toshiba and Kazatomprom agreed to study collaboration in specific projects towards establishing a complementary partnership. The two companies further deepened cooperation through Toshiba's participation in the Kharassan uranium mine development project, and by Kazatomprom becoming an indirect minority shareholder in Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, in which Toshiba hold majority ownership.

Today's memorandum reconfirms Toshiba and Kazatomprom's intent to promote further collaboration, and their agreement to study opportunities for possible collaboration, based on the basic framework for cooperation, in rare metals related to nuclear energy, such as beryllium and tantalum.

Toshiba and Kazatomprom will also study the possibility of expanding collaboration, to include manufacture of components for nuclear power stations and construction of supply chain systems.

The two companies will continue to study possible means to build up a mutually beneficial partnership in the nuclear power industry.

Source: Toshiba.com