Tag: core

Core is One Identity’s Partner of the Year

Posted on May 16, 2018 by - News

two-clouds-1385018843_27_contentfullwidthCloudy outfit Core has been named UK Partner of the Year by One Identity at its recent UNITE Conference.

This award recognises the success of Core’s cloud-hosted Identity as a Service platform Aurora, which uses One Identity software. Aurora is used by large-scale organisations including government bodies, and Core currently manages around 26,000 identities through the platform.

This is set to increase by 19,000 -to 45,000 identities- in May 2018. The volume of users and this significant increase is another reason why Core has been awarded UK Partner of the Year. Core’s Head of Infrastructure and Cloud Technologies, Tim Eichmann, was at the event in Nice to accept the award on Core’s behalf.

Core’s CEO, Conor Callanan, said of the win: “Core is delighted to have been awarded One Identity UK Partner of the Year. It’s great to receive the recognition for the innovative ways we are taking One Identity solutions to market, helping customers to simply and effectively manage identity and security. We look forward to building on this partnership in 2018.”

Andrew Clarke, Director of EMEA Strategic Alliances and Channel Partnerships at One Identity, was also thrilled to see Core scoop the award. “I am very pleased to see Core win the UK Partner Award at the 2018 One Identity UNITE Conference in Nice. Core has continued to demonstrate great ideas, deep knowledge and continual innovation that culminates in excellent customer care. As an early adopter of One Identity’s Starling platform, they have not only embraced the technology but shared their ideas and feedback with our product management team, so the solution can better address their customer needs.”

Core and One Identity have enjoyed a “thriving” working partnership, with Core’s Managed Services customers benefiting greatly from One Identity’s Active Roles product. This latest award comes after Core was recognised as Access Management Cloud Service Provider of the Year by One Identity in 2016.

Microsoft moves server software to per-core licensing

Posted on December 7, 2015 by - News, Products

microsoft-in-chinaMicrosoft seems set to move its Windows Server 2016 to a per-core licensing system.

Windows Server will not arrive until the second half of next year, but Vole will probably change the way it licenses its server operating system.  Currently Microsoft uses a per socket licensing system, but now it wants to charge per core.

Windows Server 2012’s two main editions, Standard and Datacenter, had identical features, and differed only in terms of the number of virtual operating system instances they supported. Standard supported two virtual machines while the Datacenter product was unlimited. Licenses for both editions were sold in two socket units and a license was needed for each pair of sockets a system contained.

What appears to be happening with Windows Server 2016 is that this simple system is going to become more complex. There will be functional differences between Standard and Datacenter editions. Datacenter will gain additional storage replication capabilities, a new network stack with richer virtualisation options, and shielded virtual machines that protect the content of a virtual machine from the administrator of the host operating system.

More significant is that 2016 will use a two core pack, with the licence cost of each 2016 pack being 1/8th the price of the corresponding two socket pack for 2012. Each system running Windows Server 2016 must have a minimum of eight cores per processor, and a minimum of 16 cores per system.

In most cases with systems with up to four processors and up to eight cores per processor, this won’t change the overall licensing cost. But for heavier multi-processing and core use the prices will increase. Two or four processors with 10 cores per processor will cost 25 percent more to run Windows Server 2016 than they did 2012.

Those who know the black art which is Microsoft’s licensing will realise that this brings Windows Server’s licensing in line with SQL Server’s.  SQL Server has been using a per core model since 2014. BizTalk has been using the model since 2013. Azure is also licensed on the basis of virtual machine cores, rather than sockets.

What Microsoft appears to be doing is adapting its licencing to increased  processor core counts and a marked reduction of high socket count systems.

Some customers are going to lose money on the move, particularly those who are unfortunate enough to have Software Assurance agreements that cover systems that were licensed using 2012’s socket-based scheme.

Intel ready to release the Atom

Posted on March 3, 2015 by - News

Intel Q4_14_ResultsIntel has announced details of its new family of Atom processors, and, as we predicted it has changed its naming strategy to mirror the Core series of processors.

Intel is renaming its Atom family with x3, x5, and x7 designations.

At the low end, the 28nm Atom x3, is basically a smartphone chip with Intel Architecture (SoFIA). The Atom x3 will be available in three distinct variants; all of which will come with integrated modems. All three are 64-bit capable.

The Atom x3-C3130 tops out at 1GHz, incorporates a Mali 400 MP2 GPU, and includes an integrated 3G (HSPA+) modem. The Atom x3-C3230RK has a clock speed of 1.2GHz and has a Mali 450 MP4 GPU, and a 3G modem. The Atom x3-C3440 clocks in at 1.4GHz, features a Mali T720 MP2 graphics core, incorporates a Category 6 LTE modem, and can optionally support NFC.
After looking at its own benchmarks, Intel said that the Atom x3-C3230RK can offer up to 1.8x the media editing performance of competing SoCs from Qualcomm and MediaTek.

The Atom x5 and x7 are Cherry Trail-based and the first Atom SoCs to be built using a 14nm manufacturing process. Both processor families support 64-bit processing, incorporate eighth generation Intel graphics, and support Windows and Android. They also support RealSense, True Key, and Pro WiDi. They don’t feature integrated modems but support Intel’s next generation XMM 726x and 7360 LTE modems.

Intel insists that the x7 offers two times the graphics performance of the existing Atom Z3795 in the GFXBench 2.7 T-Rex HD benchmark and 50 percent greater performance on the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited benchmark.
Intel has already announced that the Atom x3 and Bay Trail-based Atom x5 and x7 processors are shipping, and that products using the processors should be available during the first half of 2015.

Intel brings the Joy of X to the Atom

Posted on February 26, 2015 by - News

atomIntel has finally woken up to the fact that its esoteric branding of Atom chips is leading to a lot of confusion amongst suppliers and customers.

Historically Intel has thought that customers and suppliers would instinctively know the difference between the Atom Z3735F or the Atom Z3735G.

Now Intel has decided to bring in naming designations which are similar to its Core brands and Xing up Atom at the same time.

New Atom chips will have the X3, X5 and X7 designations. An Atom X3 will deliver good performance, X5 will be better and X7 will be the best, an Intel rep said.

Faster X7 chips for high-end tablets may have better graphics and more wireless connectivity options than X5 chips and will cost more.

Intel’s name change comes ahead of the Mobile World Congress trade show, where Intel is expected to announce new mobile chips. It’s likely that X3 will be the formal name for Atom smartphone chips code-named Sofia, while the Atom X5 and X7 will be names for tablet chips for Cherry Trail.

In 2009, Intel similarly renamed its Core processors, a move met with some opposition among chip enthusiasts. The resistance quickly crumbled as the new names caught on.  It is likely that the Atom name changes will be greeted with the same enthusiasm.