AMD introduced the ATI Radeon E2400, a high-performance graphic processing unit that delivers the latest 2D, 3D and multimedia graphics performance to the embedded market in a solution that reduces footprint, reduces design complexity, and helps speed time to market. The benefits of the ATI Radeon E2400 make it ideal for demanding embedded graphics applications such as test and instrumentation, human machine interfaces (such as Kiosks, Point-of-Sale, and Automated Teller Machines), display walls, patient monitoring, casino and arcade gaming, and various multi-display applications. The new graphics technology is backed by a planned five-year availability and long-term support offering reliability for a variety of applications on operating systems featuring Microsoft DirectX 10 and OpenGL 2.0.
"Embedded designers don’t have to be satisfied with the performance of low-end graphics devices just because their designs are space constrained or require extended availability and support," said Richard Jaenicke, Director of Embedded Graphics for AMD. "With the input of major original equipment manufacturers and platform developers, we have designed the ATI Radeon E2400 from the start to deliver high graphics performance while meeting the unique requirements of the embedded market."
ATI Radeon E2400 offers exceptional performance and flexibility in a compact package size for a wide variety of high quality graphics applications. Built on 65nm process technology, the ATI Radeon E2400 includes AMD’s revolutionary Unified Shader Architecture with support for Microsoft DirectX 10 allowing customers to develop advanced content for many applications. The device package incorporates 128MB of on-chip GDDR3 memory for graphic-intensive applications, eliminating the space, effort, and cost of external memory designs.
For designs that require a low profile solution in space-constrained environments, AMD offers the ATI Radeon E2400 MXM-II module based on the open standard MXM-II specifications. This compact graphics subsystem provides a documented upgrade path while enabling a plug-in solution for fast time-to-market. ATI Radeon E2400 MXM-II uses the ATI Radeon E2400 core and 256MB GDDR3 memory.
The ATI Radeon E2400 is scheduled to ship this month in production quantities. AMD will showcase the product both at Embedded World 2008 in Hall 9 Stand 9-231, February 26-28, 2008 in Nuremberg, Germany, and at Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley in booth 1036, April 14-18, 2008 in San Jose, California.
"Embedded designers don’t have to be satisfied with the performance of low-end graphics devices just because their designs are space constrained or require extended availability and support," said Richard Jaenicke, Director of Embedded Graphics for AMD. "With the input of major original equipment manufacturers and platform developers, we have designed the ATI Radeon E2400 from the start to deliver high graphics performance while meeting the unique requirements of the embedded market."
ATI Radeon E2400 offers exceptional performance and flexibility in a compact package size for a wide variety of high quality graphics applications. Built on 65nm process technology, the ATI Radeon E2400 includes AMD’s revolutionary Unified Shader Architecture with support for Microsoft DirectX 10 allowing customers to develop advanced content for many applications. The device package incorporates 128MB of on-chip GDDR3 memory for graphic-intensive applications, eliminating the space, effort, and cost of external memory designs.
For designs that require a low profile solution in space-constrained environments, AMD offers the ATI Radeon E2400 MXM-II module based on the open standard MXM-II specifications. This compact graphics subsystem provides a documented upgrade path while enabling a plug-in solution for fast time-to-market. ATI Radeon E2400 MXM-II uses the ATI Radeon E2400 core and 256MB GDDR3 memory.
The ATI Radeon E2400 is scheduled to ship this month in production quantities. AMD will showcase the product both at Embedded World 2008 in Hall 9 Stand 9-231, February 26-28, 2008 in Nuremberg, Germany, and at Embedded Systems Conference Silicon Valley in booth 1036, April 14-18, 2008 in San Jose, California.
-Microsoft Publicly Posts Additional Protocol Doc-
Microsoft Corp. took another step toward fulfilling its interoperability principle of ensuring open connections to its high-volume products and driving greater interoperability, opportunity and choice across the IT community of developers, partners, customers and competitors.
Microsoft posted on MSDN more than 14,000 pages of preliminary versions of technical documentation for Microsoft protocols built into Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. With this action, Microsoft will have posted a cumulative total of more than 44,000 pages of protocol documentation that it committed in its interoperability principles.
As a result of today's posting, all types of developers including independent software vendors, open source developers and developers in customer IT departments will have consistent, open access to this protocol documentation that defines how these high-volume Microsoft products communicate with other Microsoft products. This consistent, open access to information will promote more interoperability options for developers of all types and will help foster improved real-world interoperability solutions in the marketplace.
"Microsoft is pleased to announce today another step toward putting our interoperability principles into action with the public availability of these protocol specifications for Microsoft Office, Office SharePoint Server and Microsoft Exchange Server," said Tom Robertson, general manager of Interoperability and Standards at Microsoft. "We believe that providing open, consistent access to these protocols will further unleash the creativity of all developers to work on real-world interoperability solutions. The implementation of Microsoft's interoperability principles is an important component of our overall efforts to promote interoperability in the marketplace."
In another example, developers working with Exchange Server protocols will have additional resources to build applications that directly communicate and store information with either Exchange Server or Microsoft Office Outlook related to e-mail, calendars, contacts, voice mail and task tracking.
"Today we are posting preliminary versions of protocol documentation for Microsoft Office, Office SharePoint Server and Exchange Server," said Jean Paoli, general manager of Interoperability and XML Architecture at Microsoft. "We are very eager to receive feedback from members of the developer community as they access this documentation over the next several weeks and months so we can use that feedback to improve our final documentation to be released in June."
The preliminary versions of the material posted today represent the first of a three-phased approach Microsoft is taking to make the protocol information available and accessible to all developers. The second phase, which will run until June, will be the collection of input from the community as developers review the documentation and provide feedback. The third phase, which will occur by the end of June, will be the posting of the final versions of the documentation along with final patent licensing terms. Microsoft will also announce additional documentation and disclosure schedules in the future.
Microsoft posted on MSDN more than 14,000 pages of preliminary versions of technical documentation for Microsoft protocols built into Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. With this action, Microsoft will have posted a cumulative total of more than 44,000 pages of protocol documentation that it committed in its interoperability principles.
As a result of today's posting, all types of developers including independent software vendors, open source developers and developers in customer IT departments will have consistent, open access to this protocol documentation that defines how these high-volume Microsoft products communicate with other Microsoft products. This consistent, open access to information will promote more interoperability options for developers of all types and will help foster improved real-world interoperability solutions in the marketplace.
"Microsoft is pleased to announce today another step toward putting our interoperability principles into action with the public availability of these protocol specifications for Microsoft Office, Office SharePoint Server and Microsoft Exchange Server," said Tom Robertson, general manager of Interoperability and Standards at Microsoft. "We believe that providing open, consistent access to these protocols will further unleash the creativity of all developers to work on real-world interoperability solutions. The implementation of Microsoft's interoperability principles is an important component of our overall efforts to promote interoperability in the marketplace."
In another example, developers working with Exchange Server protocols will have additional resources to build applications that directly communicate and store information with either Exchange Server or Microsoft Office Outlook related to e-mail, calendars, contacts, voice mail and task tracking.
"Today we are posting preliminary versions of protocol documentation for Microsoft Office, Office SharePoint Server and Exchange Server," said Jean Paoli, general manager of Interoperability and XML Architecture at Microsoft. "We are very eager to receive feedback from members of the developer community as they access this documentation over the next several weeks and months so we can use that feedback to improve our final documentation to be released in June."
The preliminary versions of the material posted today represent the first of a three-phased approach Microsoft is taking to make the protocol information available and accessible to all developers. The second phase, which will run until June, will be the collection of input from the community as developers review the documentation and provide feedback. The third phase, which will occur by the end of June, will be the posting of the final versions of the documentation along with final patent licensing terms. Microsoft will also announce additional documentation and disclosure schedules in the future.
~Philips To Acquire TOMCAT Systems~
Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Belfast, Northern Ireland – Royal Philips Electronics announced it will acquire TOMCAT Systems Ltd., based in Northern Ireland. Terms of this acquisition were not disclosed. TOMCAT offers a software solution to collect and aggregate data relative to the cardiac care of patients, and allows for a comprehensive, patient-centric presentation of this data to care givers such as doctors and nurses.
Through this acquisition, Philips will expand the use of information technology in healthcare – and specifically in its cardiology business – to improve patient outcomes and help hospitals work more efficiently. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2008, upon which TOMCAT will become part of the Healthcare Informatics business group within the Philips Healthcare sector.
Oran Muduroglu, General Manager of the Healthcare Informatics business group within Philips Healthcare, explains: "TOMCAT’s solution is a great match with our current cardiology information systems, and as such already implemented as a total solution in various hospitals. Philips will now accelerate introduction of this integrated cardiology information solution in North America and in other selected markets."
TOMCAT's software addresses both the clinical and operational needs of a cardiovascular service line. It connects with different clinical information systems like cath lab workflow management systems, and picture archiving and communications systems (PACS). TOMCAT is able to seamlessly connect to Philips' Xcelera and Philips Xper Information Management, and also with systems from other vendors. TOMCAT’s software also provides scheduling, staff and resource management, cost capturing, and the generation of reports and statistical information, thereby supporting the management of a cardiovascular service line.
Through this acquisition, Philips will expand the use of information technology in healthcare – and specifically in its cardiology business – to improve patient outcomes and help hospitals work more efficiently. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2008, upon which TOMCAT will become part of the Healthcare Informatics business group within the Philips Healthcare sector.
Oran Muduroglu, General Manager of the Healthcare Informatics business group within Philips Healthcare, explains: "TOMCAT’s solution is a great match with our current cardiology information systems, and as such already implemented as a total solution in various hospitals. Philips will now accelerate introduction of this integrated cardiology information solution in North America and in other selected markets."
TOMCAT's software addresses both the clinical and operational needs of a cardiovascular service line. It connects with different clinical information systems like cath lab workflow management systems, and picture archiving and communications systems (PACS). TOMCAT is able to seamlessly connect to Philips' Xcelera and Philips Xper Information Management, and also with systems from other vendors. TOMCAT’s software also provides scheduling, staff and resource management, cost capturing, and the generation of reports and statistical information, thereby supporting the management of a cardiovascular service line.
-Yahoo tells Icahn that its own board knows best-
Yahoo has responded to investor Carl Icahn's threat to take control of Yahoo's board and force it back to the negotiating table with Microsoft. The search company said Icahn's proposal shows "a significant misunderstanding" of how it handled Microsoft's offer, and argued that Yahoo's current board remains "the best and most qualified group" to handle its affairs.
Free IT resource
* Tech-Ed 08|Microsoft's largest tech conference|June 08 in Orlando
* Sponsored by Microsoft
Related Stories
* Top 10: HP-EDS buy, Icahn strikes again, China quakes
* Report: Icahn to launch proxy fight against Yahoo
* Update: Icahn mulling Yahoo proxy fight
* Popular Tags
yahoo, microsoft, carl-icahn
» Back to special report: Microsoft makes $44.6 billion offer for Yahoo
Yahoo released its response to Icahn later Thursday, signed by board Chairman Roy Bostock.
"Unfortunately, your letter reflects a significant misunderstanding of the facts about the Microsoft proposal and the diligence with which our board evaluated and responded to that proposal," the company wrote. "A fair-minded review of the factual record leads to one conclusion: that Yahoo!'s ten-member board, comprised of nine independent directors along with Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, remains the best and most qualified group to maximize value for all Yahoo stockholders."
The letter describes the negotiations with Microsoft in detail, in a bid to show that Yahoo took the offer seriously. It says it would not be in the best interests of Yahoo's shareholders for Icahn to nominate a slate of directors "for the express purpose of trying to force a sale of Yahoo to a formerly interested buyer who has publicly stated that they have moved on.
"Please may I remind you that there is currently no acquisition offer on the table from that company or any other party," the letter states. "That said, we have been crystal clear in our stance that we have been and remain willing to consider any proposal from any party including Microsoft if it offers our stockholders full and certain value."
Microsoft announced its $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo on Feb. 1, but it walked away from the deal on May 3 after the two companies failed to agree on a price. Microsoft eventually raised its offer to $33 per share, or by about $5 billion, but Yahoo's board wanted $37 per share.
Icahn, a billionaire investor who last year pressured Motorola to spin off its mobile-phone division, has bought up 59 million Yahoo shares since Microsoft walked away from the deal and hopes to buy a further $2.5 billion of Yahoo stock. He argued Thursday that Microsoft's offer of $33 per share is "obviously" superior to Yahoo's prospects as a stand-alone company, and said "a number of shareholders" have asked him to launch the battle for Yahoo's board.
"I am perplexed by the board's actions," he wrote. "It is irresponsible to hide behind management's more than overly optimistic financial forecasts."
Yahoo stuck to its guns and insisted again that Microsoft's offer undervalues the company. It said its board has met more than 20 times to discuss Microsoft's offer and other alternatives. It said it solicited input from shareholders, and that "the senior-most management" from both companies met seven times in person to discuss the deal.
On May 2, Yahoo's board instructed Yang to tell Microsoft that Yahoo was prepared to be sold for $37 per share, provided that Microsoft could show it was reasonably certain it could close the deal without running into regulatory issues.
"This was communicated to Microsoft in-person at a meeting in Seattle on May 3rd. With Microsoft's offer at $33 and Yahoo's counter-proposal at $37, Microsoft elected, within hours, to walk away from the negotiating table and informed us that they were 'moving on,' having never engaged further on price or any of the key non-price deal terms."
The letter concludes that Yahoo is open to a deal "with Microsoft or any other party" for the right price, and that its own board can best steer the company moving forward.
"We look forward to a productive dialogue," it concludes, anticipating a response from Icahn.
Free IT resource
* Tech-Ed 08|Microsoft's largest tech conference|June 08 in Orlando
* Sponsored by Microsoft
Related Stories
* Top 10: HP-EDS buy, Icahn strikes again, China quakes
* Report: Icahn to launch proxy fight against Yahoo
* Update: Icahn mulling Yahoo proxy fight
* Popular Tags
yahoo, microsoft, carl-icahn
» Back to special report: Microsoft makes $44.6 billion offer for Yahoo
Yahoo released its response to Icahn later Thursday, signed by board Chairman Roy Bostock.
"Unfortunately, your letter reflects a significant misunderstanding of the facts about the Microsoft proposal and the diligence with which our board evaluated and responded to that proposal," the company wrote. "A fair-minded review of the factual record leads to one conclusion: that Yahoo!'s ten-member board, comprised of nine independent directors along with Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, remains the best and most qualified group to maximize value for all Yahoo stockholders."
The letter describes the negotiations with Microsoft in detail, in a bid to show that Yahoo took the offer seriously. It says it would not be in the best interests of Yahoo's shareholders for Icahn to nominate a slate of directors "for the express purpose of trying to force a sale of Yahoo to a formerly interested buyer who has publicly stated that they have moved on.
"Please may I remind you that there is currently no acquisition offer on the table from that company or any other party," the letter states. "That said, we have been crystal clear in our stance that we have been and remain willing to consider any proposal from any party including Microsoft if it offers our stockholders full and certain value."
Microsoft announced its $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo on Feb. 1, but it walked away from the deal on May 3 after the two companies failed to agree on a price. Microsoft eventually raised its offer to $33 per share, or by about $5 billion, but Yahoo's board wanted $37 per share.
Icahn, a billionaire investor who last year pressured Motorola to spin off its mobile-phone division, has bought up 59 million Yahoo shares since Microsoft walked away from the deal and hopes to buy a further $2.5 billion of Yahoo stock. He argued Thursday that Microsoft's offer of $33 per share is "obviously" superior to Yahoo's prospects as a stand-alone company, and said "a number of shareholders" have asked him to launch the battle for Yahoo's board.
"I am perplexed by the board's actions," he wrote. "It is irresponsible to hide behind management's more than overly optimistic financial forecasts."
Yahoo stuck to its guns and insisted again that Microsoft's offer undervalues the company. It said its board has met more than 20 times to discuss Microsoft's offer and other alternatives. It said it solicited input from shareholders, and that "the senior-most management" from both companies met seven times in person to discuss the deal.
On May 2, Yahoo's board instructed Yang to tell Microsoft that Yahoo was prepared to be sold for $37 per share, provided that Microsoft could show it was reasonably certain it could close the deal without running into regulatory issues.
"This was communicated to Microsoft in-person at a meeting in Seattle on May 3rd. With Microsoft's offer at $33 and Yahoo's counter-proposal at $37, Microsoft elected, within hours, to walk away from the negotiating table and informed us that they were 'moving on,' having never engaged further on price or any of the key non-price deal terms."
The letter concludes that Yahoo is open to a deal "with Microsoft or any other party" for the right price, and that its own board can best steer the company moving forward.
"We look forward to a productive dialogue," it concludes, anticipating a response from Icahn.
~More then 200,000 demand Microsoft save XP~
--Yahoo Search Monkey opens to all developers--
--Yahoo Search Monkey opens to all developers--
Yahoo has opened up its Search Monkey platform as part of its broader Open Strategy of opening up its platforms, sites, and services to outside developers
Yahoo will make its Search Monkey platform available to all developers on Thursday, another step in its wide-ranging effort to open up its sites and services.
Search Monkey is Yahoo's initiative to let external developers create applications to enhance its Web search results and, in theory, make them more appealing and useful.
"We're responding to people's demands to be able to complete tasks in search results," said Amit Kumar, Director of Product Management for Yahoo Search. "We're focused on creating a better search experience for our users and want to let developers with an understanding of structured data jump start the system with their apps."
It is the first component of Yahoo's broad Open Strategy, announced last month and described as a long-range plan to open all Yahoo sites, online services, and Web applications to outside developers, and give users a "social profile" dashboard to unify and manage their Yahoo services.
With Open Strategy, Yahoo wants to improve its position in key areas like search and social networking, and compete better against Google, MySpace, and Facebook.
IDC analyst Susan Feldman called Search Monkey a "really important" initiative that can differentiate Yahoo from Google. "From a market point of view, that's a great idea," she said.
From a technology perspective, if users can let Yahoo factor into search what it knows about them, "the experience will be quite different and it should also improve relevance," Feldman said.
The Search Monkey development platform, which has been in a closed beta test for the past several weeks, can be used by any outside developer and doesn't require Yahoo approval.
At the moment, developers can create two types of Search Monkey applications. One type, called Enhanced Results, acts as a richer, more useful replacement for standard search results, and can only link to the site in question. The other type, Infobar, opens up below a search result and can include complementary data and links to other related sites.
Kumar said that for now, Search Monkey will be specifically for applications for Yahoo's general Web search engine and not for its specialty engines for specific results like images and news.
In a few weeks, Yahoo expects to launch a gallery of Search Monkey applications that users of its Web search engine can install, he said.
Although there is no revenue-generating potential for Search Monkey applications, Yahoo is holding a contest called the Search Monkey Developer Challenge with $20,000 in prizes. Developers have until June 14 to submit their applications for consideration. Prizes will be awarded in several categories, including Best Enhanced Result, Best Infobar and Best Data Service.
Search Monkey is Yahoo's initiative to let external developers create applications to enhance its Web search results and, in theory, make them more appealing and useful.
"We're responding to people's demands to be able to complete tasks in search results," said Amit Kumar, Director of Product Management for Yahoo Search. "We're focused on creating a better search experience for our users and want to let developers with an understanding of structured data jump start the system with their apps."
It is the first component of Yahoo's broad Open Strategy, announced last month and described as a long-range plan to open all Yahoo sites, online services, and Web applications to outside developers, and give users a "social profile" dashboard to unify and manage their Yahoo services.
With Open Strategy, Yahoo wants to improve its position in key areas like search and social networking, and compete better against Google, MySpace, and Facebook.
IDC analyst Susan Feldman called Search Monkey a "really important" initiative that can differentiate Yahoo from Google. "From a market point of view, that's a great idea," she said.
From a technology perspective, if users can let Yahoo factor into search what it knows about them, "the experience will be quite different and it should also improve relevance," Feldman said.
The Search Monkey development platform, which has been in a closed beta test for the past several weeks, can be used by any outside developer and doesn't require Yahoo approval.
At the moment, developers can create two types of Search Monkey applications. One type, called Enhanced Results, acts as a richer, more useful replacement for standard search results, and can only link to the site in question. The other type, Infobar, opens up below a search result and can include complementary data and links to other related sites.
Kumar said that for now, Search Monkey will be specifically for applications for Yahoo's general Web search engine and not for its specialty engines for specific results like images and news.
In a few weeks, Yahoo expects to launch a gallery of Search Monkey applications that users of its Web search engine can install, he said.
Although there is no revenue-generating potential for Search Monkey applications, Yahoo is holding a contest called the Search Monkey Developer Challenge with $20,000 in prizes. Developers have until June 14 to submit their applications for consideration. Prizes will be awarded in several categories, including Best Enhanced Result, Best Infobar and Best Data Service.
