Keystone Computer Group

IBM's veteran mid-range computers are to merge onto a standard software platform this year
The RS6000, renamed the pSeries, runs on AIX, IBM's version of UNIX; and the AS/400, now called the iSeries, runs the proprietary OS/400. Frank Soltis, IBM's chief scientist and creator of the System 38 and AS/400 machines, gave an overview of the merger, speaking of high-level supervisory software, called the "hypervisor". The hardware mechanisms of the two computers were essentially the same, so all the changes would be made through the software.

Death of the Microprocessor
As originally published in Computer World, Keystone can reveal to you that Sun Microsystems have announced that the death knell will sound for the Microprocessor this year. They have stated that they will begin to replace Microprocessors with "Microsystems" that include all the things you find on today's motherboards, stamped on a single silicon chip. They claim that for IT managers, the impact will be significant as the rise of "Microsystems" will drive costs down dramatically. Read more...

Solaris 10 set for release
Trying to find the release date for Solaris 10 has been a daunting task, as more of our customers are asking for the projected release date and statements from SUN. The original release date was for this month, but was soon retracted and we were led to believe May was more likely, now we have been told September would probably be more accurate. No official statements to report but we can tell you that there are rumours the software might not be called Solaris 10 but remarketed as Version "X". There will be however, an early access version out late this summer, but if you want you can download the "Version 10/so far" and start testing it for free. If you would like to create a controlled test environment please call your Keystone Account Manager. Read more and download V10 FREE...

Ideal NAS Solution
A Marketing Company found that their graphics and literature were quickly filling up the disks in one of their file servers (it was necessary for them to keep this information immediately available). As a consequence they found that they had to keep upgrading the server with higher capacity disks – and suffer the associated downtime to backup, upgrade and reload. Keystone consultants suggested that the company use the NAS Solution. NAS (Network Attached Storage) sits on a network without directly affecting the server and provides 700GB of ‘server storage’. This is in the form of a RAID-5 configuration and can be upgraded to 2.1TB useable disk space (in RAID-5 configuration, 3TD in JBOD). Included as a bonus, is the facility to back up all the clients PCs, too.

Keystone to participate in 24hr Karting "Charity" Event
Keystone are preparing themselves to take part in a 24hr record-breaking Karting event this month. The event which is to raise money for the participating team’s chosen charities (all money raised by Keystone will go to the Marie Curie Fellowship Association), will take place at Fast Lane Karting, in Fenton and will see teams of go-karters including Keystone, gearing up to complete a total of 6,000 miles in laps around a track. A musical festival will also be held at the Karting center at the same time as the race with performers raising money for One World Beat – a global concert event supporting children with HIV and Aids. Find out more about the event…

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Julie Davies

Email: marketing@keystonegroup.co.uk