Lenovo Puts Power and Performance at Center Court with New ThinkStation Brand

Lenovo today showcased its powerful new entry into the workstation PC market with the launch of the ThinkStation brand. Unveiled in cooperation with the NBA at the NBA Store, ThinkStation marks more than ten years since a major PC vendor has entered the workstation market¹.

As the first new Think brand introduced in five years, the ThinkStation S10 and D10 workstations are designed to offer Lenovo's highest performance and reliability for professionals in the most demanding data and graphics-intensive environments, such as computer-aided design/engineering, digital content creation, oil and gas exploration and electronic design automation.

The workstations are based on the upcoming Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processor 5400 series and Intel® Core™2 Extreme processors, the first processors based on new 45-nanometer technology that nearly doubles the density of transistors on the chips for new levels of energy-efficient performance.

Two organizations highly dependent upon using the latest technologies, the AT&T Williams Formula One team and the NBA, are evaluating the workstations for possible integration into their operations.

"Since October 2006, we've depended on Lenovo technology to run NBA operations on and off the court, including the real time collection and transmission of NBA statistics at arenas across the country," said Steve Hellmuth, executive vice president, Operations and Technology, NBA. "Lenovo technology has worked flawlessly, exceeding our expectations in delivering the quality and performance our business demands. This workstation performs at a professional level and we look forward to exploring how ThinkStation can further enhance the game."

Workstation Designed for Maximum Performance and Usability
The dual processor ThinkStation D10 workstation will offer the Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processor 5400 series, while the single processor ThinkStation S10 workstation will offer the latest Intel® Core 2 processors including the Intel® Core™2 Extreme processor QX9650 along with the latest graphics solutions from NVIDIA. They also come equipped with dual Gigabit Ethernet and multiple slots, bays and USB ports for expandability.

"For professional users of graphically and computationally-intensive applications who require a level of performance unattainable with a standard desktop PC, ThinkStation is Lenovo's best engineering at work," said Tom Tobul, executive director, Emerging Products Marketing, Lenovo. "In addition to offering Lenovo's highest performance and quality with leading-edge acoustics, the workstations also have an environmentally-responsible, user-centric design that further drives productivity."

Lenovo is collaborating with leading independent software vendors to obtain the certifications that ensure seamless hardware and software interaction. Lenovo will offer a variety of storage, graphics adapters, memory and rail kits for the workstations.

"Both Lenovo and Intel understand the challenges customers face, particularly the increased performance to handle evermore complex computational problems and visualization applications," said Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager, Digital Enterprise Group, Intel. "Lenovo and Intel combined their engineering expertise, Intel's groundbreaking processor technology and Lenovo's understanding of the client experience. The results are systems with greater efficiency, speed, memory and throughput to meet customers' needs."

Beyond the high-performance focus, Lenovo designed the workstations with the environment in mind by offering models complying with the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star® 4.0 requirements to help users manage energy usage and costs. The workstations feature 80 percent efficient power supplies. Additionally, they contain more than 50 percent recycled plastics content.

The workstations also incorporate usability along with their cutting-edge performance. Lenovo's user-centric design includes a removable top handle for moving the workstation easily in a variety of work environments as well as a side cover latch for easy access to the system. The workstations also include illuminated front I/O ports to help users work in multiple system and low light conditions. For a cool and quiet experience, Lenovo's unique thermal design provides workstation performance with the acoustics of a standard Lenovo desktop PC.

To help increase user productivity and reduce system downtime, the workstations come equipped with a range of ThinkVantage Technologies including Rescue and Recovery, Client Security System and Image Ultra Builder. These unique productivity tools help reduce the total cost of system ownership.

(Copied by www.lenovo.com)

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New IBM Security Scanning Software Protects Businesses From Hackers

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today introduced new software to help customers protect their business from today's most advanced and complex web application security attacks. The first release of IBM Rational AppScan, a market leading web application security technology acquired by IBM from Watchfire in July 2007, is a key-part of IBM's software portfolio that helps ensures high quality applications are delivered to the marketplace.

Web applications are high value targets for hackers, yet many organizations have a difficult time tackling security due, in part, to a lack of application security knowledge and the size and complexity of today's websites that incorporate the latest in Web 2.0 technology. Businesses need automated solutions capable of identifying and protecting applications from these weaknesses. IBM Rational AppScan identifies, validates and reports on application security vulnerabilities and with this new version, introduces new features and reporting methods for security auditors while enabling a broader pool of IT roles to participate in and drive critical web application security testing.

Traditionally, testers, developers, and IT professionals have lacked the specific security knowledge needed to effectively run scans. New capabilities in IBM Rational AppScan, such as Scan Expert and State Inducer, broaden the availability of this critical function so IT personnel, software developers and testers are capable of running successful scans while at the same time also add new features to assist security professionals.

• Scan Expert packages the best practices of an expert such as automatically profiling an application and providing the best test configuration for a successful scan. This enables more successful scanning for users with little IBM Rational AppScan or web application security experience, while improving efficiency for more knowledgeable security experts.

• Furthering its leadership in support of complex Web 2.0 technologies that includes support for Ajax and Flash, the new State Inducer feature introduces accurate assessment of multi-step processes within applications. These include adding to a shopping cart and checking out, filling multiple forms while applying for a loan, or booking an airline reservation. Until now, users would have to manually test each of these areas of the application. With State Inducer, IBM Rational AppScan can learn these sequences, ensuring they are accurately assessed for security issues, further automating, saving time and simplifying the testing process.

• Cross site request forgery is a malicious Web site exploit in which an attacker can fake a request to a site gaining access to sensitive information. IBM Rational AppScan identifies areas in a Web site where businesses would be susceptible to cross-site forgery requests.

IBM Rational AppScan now includes educational material to help users build more secure applications. The product adds recorded web-based training (WBT) advisories that incorporate the industry's first application security training directly into the solution. WBT is an ideal way to educate non-security professionals on application security fundamentals and product best practices. With the rapid emergence of new compliance legislation, IBM Rational AppScan helps organizations comply with dozens of industry standards and has been updated to include a leading 44 out-of-the-box compliance reports including the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and payment application best practices (PABP) as suggested by the credit card industry.

"With IBM Rational AppScan, Standard Chartered Bank is educating its developers and IT staff on the importance of web application security incorporated throughout the development lifecycle," said John Meakin, group head of information security, Standard Chartered Bank. "IBM Rational AppScan lets us establish best practice in our coding and testing processes, thereby ensuring the security and compliance of our web applications. This is reducing costs, enhancing the security of our products, and improving our security testing productivity."

Businesses today have hundreds of critical applications that need to be tested in a timely manner. Integrating security with quality management testing tools simplifies security testing and remediation throughout the software lifecycle. IBM has also introduced new enhancements to its IBM Rational software delivery portfolio to make it even easier for customers to deliver higher quality, scalable applications.

For example, telecommunications companies can now take advantage of IBM Rational Performance Tester's support for VoIP systems, internet telephony and instant messaging via SIP (session initiation protocol) -- a key standard in the telecommunications industry. New data-driven keyword testing capabilities in IBM Rational Manual testers now allows business users and manual testers to easily automate and reuse test assets without incurring excessive automation overhead and investment.

Best of breed security and quality testing solutions integrated from one vendor enables IBM customers to more effectively build security into their application delivery process.

"Traditionally, Web application security testing has been owned by security experts, but that is not enough to stay in synch with the requirements of processes within companies today," said Dr. Danny Sabbah, general manager, IBM Rational Software. "The addition of IBM Rational AppScan will help users save time and money by incorporating web application testing much earlier in the software lifecycle process."

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OLPC laptop production started

A nonprofit group said on Tuesday production of a new laptop computer for children in developing countries had begun, a milestone that could shake up the PC industry by ushering in a new era of low-cost computing.

The One Laptop Per Child Foundation (OLPC), started in 2005 by MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte, said Taiwan's Quanta Computer Inc. had started mass production of its first product, the lime-green-and-white XO laptop computer, at a factory in Changshu, China.
The group has already announced orders for children in Uruguay and Mongolia. It also plans to offer the laptops to Americans and Canadians through a $399 holiday charity program that covers the cost of providing a second machine to a child overseas.

The device, which runs on free Linux software, has already had a significant impact on the industry. Negroponte has traveled the globe meeting world leaders and talking to the public about speeding introduction of computers to children in the developing world. The XO is designed for elementary school students who are given the machines to take to and from school, like textbooks.

Analysts said the publicity he generated, along with concern that his foundation's laptop might take business from commercial products, prompted companies, including chip maker Intel Corp. and software maker Microsoft Corp., to boost investment in developing countries.
It has also spurred the launch of a new class of low-cost computers for a market broader than schoolchildren.

Intel has developed the Classmate PC for the education market in developing countries, a laptop that it said costs $200 to build. So far, its biggest customer is Pakistan's Allama Iqbal Open University, which ordered 700,000.

Taiwan's Asustek Computer Inc. recently introduced a line of notebook computers, the Eee PCs, that retail for as little as $245 in some countries and are targeted at children and women.
On Friday, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. offered a limited number of laptops from Acer Inc. for $348. It is possible that Wal-Mart might repeat the promotion or that other retailers will offer similar deals during the holiday shopping season.

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CCTV - More Recent Developments

The first CCTV (Closed-Circuit Television) cameras used in public spaces were crude, conspicuous, low definition black and white systems without the ability to zoom or pan. Modern CCTV cameras use small high definition colour cameras that can not only focus to resolve minute detail, but by linking the control of the cameras to a computer, objects can be tracked semi-automatically. For example, they can track movement across a scene where there should be no movement, or they can lock onto a single object in a busy environment and follow it. Being computerised, this tracking process can also work between cameras.

The implementation of automatic number plate recognition produces a potential source of information on the location of persons or groups.

There is no technological limitation preventing a network of such cameras from tracking the movement of individuals. Reports have also been made of plate recognition misreading numbers leading to the billing of the entirely wrong people.[18]

CCTV critics see the most disturbing extension to this technology as the recognition of faces from high-definition CCTV images. This could determine a persons identity without alerting him that his identity is being checked and logged. The systems can check many thousands of faces in a database in under a second. The combination of CCTV and facial recognition has been tried as a form of mass surveillance, but has been ineffective because of the low discriminating power of facial recognition technology and the very high number of false positives generated. This type of system has been proposed to compare faces at airports and seaports with those of suspected terrorists or other undesirable entrants.

Computerized monitoring of CCTV images is under development, so that a human CCTV operator does not have to endlessly look at all the screens, allowing an operator to observe many more CCTV cameras. These systems do not observe people directly. Instead they track their behaviour by looking for particular types of body movement behavior, or particular types of clothing or baggage. The theory behind this is that in public spaces people behave in predictable ways. People who are not part of the 'crowd', for example car thieves, do not behave in the same way. The computer can identify their movements, and alert the operator that they are acting out of the ordinary. Recently in the latter part of 2006, news reports on UK television brought to light new technology developed which uses microphones in conjunction with CCTV. If a person is observed to be shouting in an aggressive manner (i.e., provoking a fight), the camera can automatically zoom in and pinpoint the individual and alert a camera operator. Of course this then lead to the discussion that the technology can also be used to eavesdrop and record private conversations from a reasonable distance (e.g., 100 metres or about 330 feet).

The same type of system can track an identified individual as they move through the area covered by CCTV. This is being developed in the USA as part of the project co-funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. With software tools, the system will be able to develop three-dimensional models of an area and track/monitor the movement of objects within it.

To many, the development of CCTV in public areas, linked to computer databases of people's pictures and identity, presents a serious breach of civil liberties. Critics fear the possibility that one would not be able to meet anonymously in a public place or drive and walk anonymously around a city. Demonstrations or assemblies in public places could be affected as the state would be able to collate lists of those leading them, taking part, or even just talking with protesters in the street

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More Than 4,000 Products Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ by the Wi-Fi Alliance®

Austin, Texas - November 12, 2007 - The Wi-Fi Alliance today announced that more than 4,000 products have been Wi-Fi CERTIFED™ since the testing program began in March of 2000. Growth in the diversity of Wi-Fi-enabled product types, including consumer electronics and dual-mode mobile phones, as well as next-generation 802.11n draft 2.0 products, have led to the certification of more than 1,000 Wi-Fi® products over the last 15 months.

Wi-Fi CERTIFIED testing has grown at a rapid rate as manufacturers of networking and consumer Wi-Fi enabled products seek the Wi-Fi Alliance's "seal of approval" for industry-wide product interoperability and security. Contributing to this growth is the launch of the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 802.11n draft 2.0 program in June of this year. The Wi-Fi Alliance has certified 140 products for 802.11n draft 2.0 since the program began. This is nearly three times the number of products certified for 802.11a/b/g in the first three months of their respective testing programs.

ABI Research predicts that by 2012, 90% of Wi-Fi chipsets shipped will support 802.11n. The increasing market adoption of this next-generation Wi-Fi technology is helping drive the 802.11n draft 2.0 certification rate.

"Wi-Fi has become a ubiquitous technology that is part of our daily lives, whether we are connecting at home, at work, at an airport, at a park, or at a local coffee shop. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED brings more confidence that Wi-Fi products will work together and have the latest security protections on board," said Karen Hanley, senior director of the Wi-Fi Alliance. "By offering Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products, manufacturers and telecom carriers help ensure higher customer satisfaction, which ultimately improves their bottom lines."

Market forecasts indicate rapid growth of Wi-Fi technology is set to continue into the future. ABI Research predicts as many as 1.2 billion Wi-Fi chipsets will ship in 2012. Of those shipments, more than 500 million are estimated to be in mobile handset devices and 326 million in consumer electronics. The research firm also predicts that in 2012, the Wi-Fi industry will generate more than $19 billion in Wi-Fi products in services.

"The 4,000 Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products milestone illustrates the growing awareness and value of the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED brand as well as manufacturers' commitment to provide users a positive experience with Wi-Fi-enabled products," said Stan Schatt, vice president and research director, Networking, ABI Research.

Consumers and enterprise users of Wi-Fi products can find a comprehensive list of the more than 4,000 Wi-Fi CERTIFIED products -- phones, gaming devices, cameras, laptops, access points and more

(Copied by : www.wi-fi.org)

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VoIP

Voice over Internet Protocol, also called VoIP (pronounced voyp), IP Telephony, Internet telephony, Broadband telephony, Broadband Phone and Voice over Broadband is the routing of voice conversations over the Internet or through any other IP-based network.

Companies providing VoIP service are commonly referred to as providers, and protocols which are used to carry voice signals over the IP network are commonly referred to as Voice over IP or VoIP protocols. They may be viewed as commercial realizations of the experimental Network Voice Protocol (1973) invented for the ARPANET providers. Some cost savings are due to utilizing a single network to carry voice and data, especially where users have existing underutilized network capacity that can carry VoIP at no additional cost. VoIP to VoIP phone calls are sometimes free, while VoIP to public switched telephone networks, PSTN, may have a cost that is borne by the VoIP user.

Voice over IP protocols carry telephony signals as digital audio, typically reduced in data rate using speech data compression techniques, encapsulated in a data packet stream over IP.

There are two types of PSTN to VoIP services: Direct Inward Dialing (DID) and access numbers. DID will connect the caller directly to the VoIP user while access numbers require the caller to input the extension

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iPhoto '08

The new version of iPhoto ditches the old idea of "film rolls" for "events," collections of photos themed by day or time. Events are automatically generated by date, with some flexibility as to where to draw the lines; you can then merge or split events to make them more accurate. Think of them as the raw material for albums. Once you have, say, 176 photos in your "Miami Trip" event, you can flick your mouse over the event's thumbnail to "skim" through the included pics, or expand the event to full screen to pick out the photos you want. The date-focused events also take the place of a timeline. Skimming through and merging events was speedy, even in my 20,000-photo library. I ran into only one problem: iPhoto relies heavily on EXIF data from your digital camera, and if the camera put the wrong dates on your photos, pictures will be spewed all over your timeline; fortunately, it's possible to batch-change dates by hand. Still, I'd recommend making sure the date is right in your camera if you're going to be upgrading to iLife '08.

iPhoto '08 keeps iPhoto's basic, easy-to-use editing tools (including a blemish remover and flexible sharpness and noise-reduction filters) and adds a new one: a "straighten" command that lets you rotate a photo freely until it's right.

The '08 version expands iPhoto's printing and sharing options, too. New printed book options include a spiral-bound softcover, there are new greeting-card styles, and there's a one-touch button to publish to a slick AJAX-enabled gallery on your .Mac account or to autogenerate iWeb pages.

On the Windows side, Sharpcast and Phanfare do similar tricks, and Sharpcast is free. But no other program brings together all the pieces of management, printing and sharing in something quite so fun and easy to use. For Mac users, there's no better option than the new iPhoto

(Copied by : www.pcmag.com)

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AMD Phenom X4 Retail Prices Surface

Chicago (IL) – If we ever had some doubt that AMD would be able to deliver its desktop quad-core processors in time for Christmas, there are now signs that a release of the CPUs may be closer than we previously thought: Several online stores have published retail prices of AMD’s new processors, indicating how AMD’s new CPUs will be competing with Intel’s Penryn processors.

Curious minds anticipating the launch of the new processors can check Google’s Product Search as well as the usual suspects such as it4profit.com to see in which price range AMD’s Phenom CPU may land. At this time, three CPUs are being published. The 2.2 GHz Phenom X4 9500, the 2.3 GHz 9600 and the 2.4 GHz 9700. While we always have to take these pre-launch prices with a grain of salt, it is already clear that AMD will be aggressive in its pricing and is unlikely to be able to attack Intel in the $500+ segment.

The 9500 is currently indicated to hit the retail market in the $260-$270 range; the 9600 could be available for prices between $290 and $300 and the 9700 is listed for prices between $310 and $330. These numbers would put the new Phenoms squarely against Intel’s new Penryn quad-core desktop processors, which are scheduled to debut with the high-end QX9650 next Monday.

According to sources, Intel will not deviate from the pricing strategy that has been in place since the introduction of the Core architecture in July of last year. Its high-end enthusiast chip (QX9650, 3.0 GHz, 12 MB L2 cache) will launch at $999, the high-end mainstream-processor (in this case the Q9550, 2.83 GHz, 12 MB L2 cache) at $530 and the mainstream versions below at $316 (Q9450, 2.66 GHz, 12 MB L2 cache) and $266 (Q9300, 2.50 GHz, 6 MB L2 cache). History tells us that retail prices of these new processors will be substantially higher for at least several weeks after launch.

If AMD follows through with its strategy, then the new dual-core (Phenom X2) will be positioned below the $260 mark to compete with Intel’s Penryn-based dual-cores E8500 (3.16 GHz, 6 MB L2 cache, $266), E8400 (3.0 GHz, $183), E8300 (2.83 GHz, $174) and E8200 (2.66 GHz, $163).

While quad-core pricing is now nearing mainstream levels and quad-core PCs may become more affordable for more consumers, dual-core systems will continue to dominate the desktop market for the foreseeable time. In that view, it will be interesting to see how AMD will position its triple-core Phenom X3 against Intel’s dual-core CPUs – and between its own X2 and X4 processors.

The company will have to shift pricing of either the dual-cores or the quad-cores and, from today’s view, there appears to be virtual no chance for AMD to increase pricing of its X4 CPUs. It is more likely that the company will drop the prices of its X2 chips to protect its higher-margin X4 processors, which in turn, could put some pressure on Intel’s dual-core processors and ring in a new round of the price war between the two companies.

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Apple Patches Security Hole With iPhone Update

Apple has pushed out its iPhone 1.1.2 firmware update to users of its popular mobile phone, fixing a widely publicized bug in the iPhone's browser.

Apple made the software available for download last Thursday, but on Monday it began pushing it out automatically to users via its iTunes updating mechanism.The iPhone uses iTunes to scan for security updates once per week, so users will gradually be offered this new firmware over the next seven days.

The update fixes a bug in the way that the iPhone renders TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) images.

The bug patch is a bit of a mixed blessing for iPhone enthusiasts. While it fixes a critical security vulnerability, that flaw had been used by iPhone developers in the unauthorized Jailbreak software that is used to run third-party applications. The update makes it difficult for users of brand-new iPhones to install Jailbreak.

Apple has been in a tug of war with some developers who have had to circumvent Apple's security measures in order to get their software to run on the iPhone. Apple initially wanted to prevent all third-party code from running directly on its mobile device, but in recent months the company has reversed course and promised to give developers a way to run their code on the iPhone. This software development kit (SDK) will become available in February 2008.

Apple's unauthorized developers have already found a way to stay ahead of Apple's latest software update.

Users with Jailbreak on their iPhone 1.1.1 systems are being advised to first install an application called OktoPrep, according to a post on the Unofficial Apple Weblog. This allows them to update to 1.1.2 without compromising their ability to run unauthorized software on the device.

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Oracle Aims For The Simple Life

SAN FRANCISCO—Gone, for the moment, at least, is the pulse and presentation of glitz and glam that was so prevalent in past years at Oracle OpenWorld. This year's conference at Moscone Center seems to be more about calm reassurance than pumping up the future.

While questions surrounding Fusion Middleware – and Oracle's potentially pending acquisition of BEA – remain unanswered, Oracle President Charles Phillips focused on helping customers simplify complexity.

"The biggest problem in the industry is the complexity of environments. It's a complex problem and the way to attack it is to break it up into chunks, solve one problem at a time. You had no other choice – the size of the problem was so big. The result is a fragmented tech stack with boundaries between processes," said Phillips during his Monday address here.

Phillips said the Application Integration Architecture [AIA], a process integration framework that was announced some months ago, will help customers integrate best-of-breed applications without the customary pain associated with this type of integration.

A lot of that pain could be said to being caused by Oracle itself, given that it has acquired many of the best of breed applications companies out there.

"We've done 41 acquisitions in 45 months," Phillips admitted. "My head is spinning. And you might be asking, 'what is the purpose behind all this.' Let me summarize why, what's changed and what our strategy is."

Phillips said that Oracle now has the infrastructure, applications and integration technology needed to handle customers' integration quagmires. "Now that we are at scale – we had the resources, the capital and hopefully the vision – let us step back and do that for you," said Phillips. "Let us take integration off your shoulders. We're good at it. We're going to do integration differently than in the past."

Phillips also said customers should lean on Oracle's Application Integration Architecture [AIA], a process integration framework announced some months ago, that allows customers to integrate application components based on industry-specific configurations or packaged process integrations put together by Oracle.

To this end, the company on Monday announced another significant aspect to that architecture in the form of its AIA Foundation Pack.

Developed for Oracle's Fusion Middleware stack, the Foundation Pack provides access to Oracle objects, services, methodologies and infrastructure components to develop their own end-to-end process integrations, officials said.

PointerTo read about Oracle getting competant, click here.

The idea is that by providing customers with a reference architecture and reusable Web services and objects, users have a common model approach to integrate applications – and create composite applications based on those application (or component) integrations.

While Phillips didn't mention the Foundation Pack at all during his keynote address – odd given the focus on AIA during a half dozen or so demos of the integration framework based on different departmental and industry scenarios – the ability for users to create composite applications using AIA is really quite a big step.

eWEEK.com Special Report: Oracle's Security Woes

But it leads to several fundamental questions: What about Fusion Middleware? The impetus for Fusion Middleware is to integrate Oracle applications with third-party applications and, through its BPEL [Business Process Execution Language] engine, to orchestrate and integrate processes. While AIA is clearly defined as using Fusion Middleware as its underlying infrastructure, it's not clear why Oracle felt the need to develop AIA on top of Fusion Middleware.

And why did the company feel the need to acquire BEA Systems last month?

"I don't understand the whole BEA thing," said one Oracle customer, Steve Canter, CIO of Berlin Packaging, in an October interview with eWeek. "If Fusion Middleware were as great as Oracle is saying, why yet another middleware [company]?"

Indeed, while Phillips was urging customers to let Oracle reduce the complexity, left unanswered is why Oracle was adding the complexity to begin with.

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What is Computer?

A programmable machine. The two principal characteristics of a computer are:

• It responds to a specific set of instructions in a well-defined manner.

• It can execute a prerecorded list of instructions (a program).

Modern computers are electronic and digital. The actual machinery -- wires, transistors, and circuits -- is called hardware; the instructions and data are called software.

All general-purpose computers require the following hardware components:

• memory : Enables a computer to store, at least temporarily, data and programs.

• mass storage device : Allows a computer to permanently retain large amounts of data. Common mass storage devices include disk drives and tape drives.

• input device : Usually a keyboard and mouse, the input device is the conduit through which data and instructions enter a computer.

• output device : A display screen, printer, or other device that lets you see what the computer has accomplished.

• central processing unit (CPU): The heart of the computer, this is the component that actually executes instructions.

In addition to these components, many others make it possible for the basic components to work together efficiently. For example, every computer requires a bus that transmits data from one part of the computer to another.

Computers can be generally classified by size and power as follows, though there is considerable overlap:

• personal computer : A small, single-user computer based on a microprocessor. In addition to the microprocessor, a personal computer has a keyboard for entering data, a monitor for displaying information, and a storage device for saving data.

• workstation : A powerful, single-user computer. A workstation is like a personal computer, but it has a more powerful microprocessor and a higher-quality monitor.

• minicomputer : A multi-user computer capable of supporting from 10 to hundreds of users simultaneously.

• mainframe : A powerful multi-user computer capable of supporting many hundreds or thousands of users simultaneously.

• supercomputer : An extremely fast computer that can perform hundreds of millions of instructions per second.

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About The Computer Society

With nearly 90,000 members, the IEEE Computer Society is the world's leading organization of computer professionals. Founded in 1946, it is the largest of the 39 societies of the IEEE.

The IEEE Computer Society's vision is to be the leading provider of technical information, community services, and personalized services to the world's computing professionals.

The Society is dedicated to advancing the theory, practice, and application of computer and information processing technology. Through its conferences, applications-related and research-oriented journals, local and student chapters, e-learning campus, technical committees, and standards working groups, the Society promotes an active exchange of information, ideas, and technological innovation among its members. In addition, the Society maintains close ties with the US Computing Sciences Accreditation Board and Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, monitoring and evaluating curriculum accreditation guidelines.

With about 40 percent of our members living and working outside the United States, the Computer Society fosters international communication, cooperation, and information exchange. To meet the needs of our members conveniently and efficiently, the Society maintains a service center office in Tokyo, Japan; a publications office in Los Alamitos, California; and its headquarters in Washington, DC.

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