WebProNews

Tag: nec

  • Microsoft and AT&T Partner to Integrate 5G and Microsoft’s Edge Computing Services

    Microsoft and AT&T Partner to Integrate 5G and Microsoft’s Edge Computing Services

    Microsoft and AT&T announced a partnership in July and the first fruits of that are coming into view. A press release issued by Microsoft outlines the first step of the two companies’ partnership.

    “The companies are opening select preview availability for Network Edge Compute (NEC) technology, which weaves Microsoft Azure cloud services into AT&T network edge locations closer to customers. This means AT&T’s software-defined and virtualized 5G core – what the company calls the Network Cloud – is now capable of delivering Azure services. NEC will initially be available for a limited set of select customers in Dallas. Next year, Los Angeles and Atlanta are targeted for select customer availability.”

    Edge computing is a process whereby data is processed onsite or near the point of collection, rather than routed to a data center for processing. It is becoming far more important in the age of the Internet of Things (IoT) where a myriad of connected devices collect data. The partnership between AT&T and Microsoft will help take that a step further, using 5G and edge computing to deliver much smaller devices that offload their data processing.

    “This innovation points to a future where high-end augmented reality glasses are as thin and stylish as a standard pair of eyeglasses, lightweight drones can track themselves and thousands of nearby companions in near-real time, and autonomous cars have access to nearly-instant data processing capabilities without having to install a mini data center in the trunk.”

    The companies promise this is just the beginning, with much more to come.

    “AT&T and Microsoft will have more to share over the coming months and years as this unique alliance continues to evolve and expand. The two companies will both create and adopt new technologies to develop tools, commercial services and consumer applications that benefit everyone.”

  • HGST and NEC Launch PCIe SSD Appliance for Microsoft SQL Server

    Western Digital’s HGST and NEC announced a PCIe SSD Appliance for Microsoft SQL Server built on NEC Express 5800 and HGST FlashMAX II PCIe server-mounted flash storage.

    The appliance is aimed at boosting performance and reducing total cost of ownership by cutting rack space and power requirements. It offers twice the computer power of the previous generation 4CPU platform in one 4U server. According to the companies, it reduces rack space requirements by 69% and power consumption by 27%.

    “HGST is pleased to work with NEC to provide customers with this validated reference architecture and solution that has proven performance,” said Mike Gustafson, senior vice president and general manager, HGST Flash Platforms Group. “With the need for high-performance being a driving force in data center operations, the FlashMAX II was built from the ground up to provide unconditional and consistent levels of IOPS across a broad range of applications and workloads at all capacity utilization levels.”

    “NEC is excited about this announcement of the reference architecture combining our Scalable Enterprise Server and HGST FlashMax technology, providing secure and scalable capacity with unmatched performance,” said Tomoyasu Nishimura, general manager of NEC IT Platform Division. “We have a proven track record with HGST FlashMAX II technology, and we look forward to bringing this appliance as well as others to the market with a superior value proposition.”

    HGST’s FlashMAX II provides 8.8TB of flash per server, and doubles that of logical scan rates to 8.2GBps.

    The companies say, “With features once only found on mainframe or UNIX servers, this new appliance delivers significant and predicable performance, as well as scalability, to keep pace with the changing demands of today’s enterprise data center operations.”

    Image via Facebook

  • NEC Develops Super Thin Battery For IC Cards

    NEC recently announced the development of an ultra thin 0.3 mm organic radical battery (ORB) that is compatible with standard Integrated circuit (IC) cards (found on some credit cards, public transportation passes, and hotel keys).

    Until now ORBs of 0.7mm thickness were standard, but this thickness is difficult to integrate into a plastic card that is only 0.76mm.

    This new battery is superior in many ways and will offer new functionality that previous ORBs could not. The new ORB is more flexible, offers higher output and recharges faster. This could lead to cards that include an electronic display, antennae, or more advanced encryption technology.

    The reduction in size was accomplished through new printing technologies that allow the battery to be printed directly on the card. A new polymer film of 0.05mm thickness was used, replacing the 0.2mm thickness aluminum laminate that is conventional for ORBs.

    Prototypes are capable of 2,000 display screen updates, 360 consecutive flash firings and 35 location transmissions on a single charge. Furthermore, charge-discharge tests indicate that the batteries maintain 75% of their initial charge-discharge capacity after 500 cycles, equivalent to the performance of lithium-ion batteries for mobile phones.

    Though the total power output is low at 3mAh capacity, the power density per volume is high at 5kW/L.

    This technology could be used on IC credit cards to display the current balance directly on the card, or for security purposes to track where the card is without it physically being used. If they find a way to increase the power capacity, while maintaining the high power density per volume, the potential for this technology would be limitless.