Sun custom builds enterprise software

Sun Microsystems officially unveiled its simplified software suites, under the Java brand, that it will offer pre-customised to individual requirements and which it claims will cost about a quarter of the price of its rivals. Scott McNealy, CEO at Sun, said: 'The new Sun Java System totally changes the rules and reinforces Sun's commitment to 'systemsness'. Our total focus on delivering systems for network computing that solve customer problems. ...more

Duron steps out at 900Mhz

AMD has released the latest addition to its Duron stable, this time in a 900Mhz flavour. The chips cost $129 each for a batch of 1,000. The chip will maintains the Duron Socket A infrastructure. ...more

Champions League to be simulcast on Internet

TV companies bidding for the rights to show Champions League football from 2006 to 2009 will also have to provide simultaneous Internet coverage. European football's governing body, Uefa, is insisting that the bidders also provide streamed coverage for computers and mobile devices, partly to satisfy EU competition authorities and partly to placate the broadcasters themselves, who are worried about the threat of competition if online rights are sold separately. However the move is likely to annoy some clubs hoping to sell Internet rights themselves. ...more

High-tech giants back faster transport

Cisco, Sun and Apple are among a number of leading high-tech companies that have formed the HyperTransport Technology Consortium to promote that development and deployment of AMD's HyperTransport I/O Link specification. HyperTransport is a chip-to-chip communications technology that enables microprocessors within computers to "talk" to each other. As a universal connection, it allows manufacturers to 'mix and match' components with differing bus widths and speeds, reducing the number of buses within a system and enabling "highly scalable multiprocessing systems". ...more

French government considers switch to Linux

The French government is considering a move to Linux in a bid to stem its public spending and avoid breaking the three per cent of GDP EU limit for the third year running. According to Reuters, France's public sector shells out nearly ?200mn on office programs alone. But ministers reckon they can halve the software bill by moving to Open Source software. ...more