A new announcement from G-Technology has stated that its entire G-SPEED RAID external storage family will be switching to enterprise-class hard drives. From this point on, every G-SPEED product, such as the G-SPEED Q, G-SPEED eS, and G-SPEED FC XL, will feature Hitachi Ultrastar drives. The enterprise-class SATA hard drives are specifically designed to withstand multi-user, 24x7 storage applications. The Ultrastar drives are rated at 1.2 million hours mean time between failure and undergo additional manufacturing testing at extended temperature ranges to ensure great...


G-Technology - RAID - Storage - Hardware - Subsystems www.electronista.com | 9/8/10 9:55 PM

The LifeStudio family creates a solution that seamlessly pulls in, organizes and protects consumers? priceless stored digital content. economictimes.indiatimes.com | 9/8/10 10:17 AM

The LifeStudio family creates a solution that seamlessly pulls in, organizes and protects consumers? priceless stored digital content. economictimes.indiatimes.com | 9/8/10 10:17 AM

A reminder, G-Technology by Hitachi are behind the new G-Technology Driven Creativity Awards, promising €5,000, around £4,112 to the top creative talent and IDG publications Macworld and Digital Arts as proud panel judges.

www.macworld.co.uk | 9/4/10 12:00 PM

Vidyo , a company that specializes in high-quality video conferencing technology for the enterprise, is betting big on bringing video conferencing to mobile devices, including tablets and smartphones. Similar to Skype, Vidyo offers a technology that allows people to connect with each other over the web via video conferencing. However, the company says that Vidyo system is focused more on the enterprise, providing a reliable system, allowing conferencing for many parties at once, and offering high quality video. And Vidyo has built a big business licensing its technology to large electronics companies, such as HP, Intel and Hitachi. Vidyo’s technology is also used by Google to power video for Google Chat. techcrunch.com | 9/4/10 2:10 AM

The bidding war between HP and Dell for 3PAR has created great theater. The rationale is simple, both HP and Dell want a complete set of products to sell into the new cloud space and 3PAR is the only bitsized morsel among EMC, IBM and Hitachi that addresses this space. What is the compelling advantage they offer in storage? Elasticity. 3PAR provides the ability for companies to add/remove storage in thin slices (AKA thin provisioning). How does this relate to ScaleDB? We do the exact same thing for databases in the cloud and we do it for the most popular database in the cloud, MySQL.How does VMWare play into this? Their CEO Paul Maritz was on CNBC talking about the hybrid cloud and how companies want to run core cloud capabilities on premise and then use the public cloud providers to handle compute overflow during peak usage. This means that public cloud value to corporations, assuming Maritz is correct, is based largely on their ability to provide elasticity. It will no longer be sufficient for public cloud companies to provide reserved servers, because the reserved servers will be run in the company’s data center. The public cloud will add/remove servers to handle peaks in usage. So elasticity is EVERYTHING. ScaleDB is all about elasticity for the database.It is also interesting to note from the Maritz interview that he sees the next wave of cloud (and hence the next wave of cloud consolidation) coming from the software sector. More specifically, the ability to take existing applications and make them run on the cloud. In other words, to make them elastic. Again, this is exactly what ScaleDB does. We take existing MySQL applications and make them elastic.It is also interesting to note that HP and Dell have decimated their own R&D and are now looking to acquire that expertise from outside, and they are willing to pay for the expertise.Another theme playing out in the background makes this situation even more interesting. Oracle has adopted a systems approach, where they combine their hardware and software:“The heart of the interview focused on Oracle's interest in Sun. By combining Sun's expertise in hardware with Oracle's software, Ellison suggested, the combined company can become a powerful "systems" company that sells solutions to businesses. The competitor that Ellison wants to beat: IBM.”Summary: Cloud is the next battle ground. It all starts with the hardware/infrastructure (e.g. 3PAR) and then moves upstream to software. Oracle will be focused on selling complete systems, alienating HP & Dell, among others. This is compounded by the fact that HP and Dell have decimated their R&D, so they are forced to partner/acquire. At the same time, if Maritz’s vision of public clouds becoming effectively excess capacity for handling peaks from corporations is realized, then elasticity in the cloud will become critical as well. This obviously plays to ScaleDB’s strengths. scaledb.blogspot.com | 8/31/10 5:59 PM

Hitachi Displays Ltd developed a projected capacitive touch panel that enables to input information by using a synthetic-resin pen or gloves without touching it by hand. techon.nikkeibp.co.jp | 8/30/10 10:44 AM

General Electric and Hitachi are making a fresh push to win nuclear plant contracts, adding five new joint sales offices this year as competition to build new reactors intensifies. online.wsj.com | 8/26/10 7:02 AM

The entry period closes at midnight on 29 September 2010

A reminder that  G-Technology by Hitachi are backing the G-Technology Driven Creativity Awards, promising €5,000, around £4,112 to the top creative talent.

www.macworld.co.uk | 8/20/10 3:30 PM

With the acquisition of 3Par, Dell is positioning itself against top data center storage providers, including IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi and even Dell-partner EMC. www.networkworld.com | 8/17/10 4:00 PM

Hitachi GST, Seagate and Western Digital have agreed to form a group that will jointly conduct research and define a road map for hard disk drive technology, ending a long and heated debate about the next big leap in disk technology. www.eetimes.com | 8/17/10 10:51 AM

Dell has agreed to acquire 3PAR , a competitor to the likes of IBM, HP, EMC and Hitachi in the data storage and management space. The transaction is valued at $18 per share in cash - marking a 86.5% premium to company's Friday closing price of $9.65 - or approximately $1.15 billion. techcrunch.com | 8/16/10 11:59 AM

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office has sued Sharp, LG Display, Hitachi and Samsung for allegedly price fixing LCD screens in a number of consumer electronics devices, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The lawsuit filed in a Manhattan state court alleges that an illegal cartel took out competition and made secret decisions to boost prices and took steps to make the prices remain high.... www.electronista.com | 8/6/10 10:50 PM

To become an integrated power equipment maker, city-based BGR Energy Systems Friday inducted two companies of the Japanese Hitachi group as joint venture partners in two subsidiaries.

www.topix.net | 8/6/10 5:54 PM

Hitachi Ltd explained the development strategy for its motor system technologies at a press conference Aug 4, 2010. techon.nikkeibp.co.jp | 8/5/10 4:55 AM

Can't say we didn't see this coming. After wooing us with a number of glasses-free 3D displays -- including the one that gives Nintendo 3DS its magic -- and 3D HD cameras for mobile devices, the company has finally laid down the gauntlet. It's promising to release a smartphone with such an autostereoscopic screen and 3D camera, just like we always wanted , before New Year's Day 2011. It certainly wouldn't be the first 3D phone in the market -- Hitachi touted one early last year for Japanese carrier KDDI, and NTT docomo has had a prototype 3D display -- but a Sharp spokeswoman said that this 3D smartphone would be going international. The more the merrier, we say. Now, how about some more details and a pretty picture or two, eh Sharp?

Sharp to launch glasses-free 3D smartphone with 3D camera globally this year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Aug 2010 01:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink  | Email this  | Comments www.engadget.com | 8/4/10 6:03 AM

"People still can't see the impact of a slowing U.S. economy and strengthening yen on company earnings from the second-half." Earnings boosted a number of blue-chip exporters on Monday, while the dollar's rise back above 86 yen provided some additional short-term support. Hitachi Ltd. rose 4.3 percent to 367 yen. The electronics and industrial group raised its first-half profit forecast by 82 percent to 100 billion yen (1.15 billion U.S. dollars). The company also report ... english.people.com.cn | 8/2/10 10:08 PM

Asian stocks rose, extending four consecutive weekly gains, as companies from Honda Motor Co. to Hyundai Mobis Co. reported higher earnings or forecasts. www.businessweek.com | 8/2/10 10:36 AM

Aug. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose, extending four consecutive weekly gains, as companies from Honda Motor Co. to Hyundai Mobis Co. reported higher earnings or forecasts. story.venezuelastar.com | 8/2/10 8:49 AM

Aug. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose, extending four consecutive weekly gains, as companies from Honda Motor Co. to Hyundai Mobis Co. reported higher earnings or forecasts. story.venezuelastar.com | 8/2/10 2:47 AM

Hitachi Ltd., Japan’s No. 3 company by sales, rose in Tokyo trading after the company reported first-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ estimates. www.businessweek.com | 8/2/10 12:37 AM

Hitachi Ltd., Japan’s No. 3 company by sales, had a third straight quarter of profit as economic growth in China and the U.S. and fueled demand for products including auto parts and hydraulic excavators. www.businessweek.com | 7/30/10 9:55 AM

Hitachi Ltd., Japan’s No.3 company by sales, posted a third consecutive quarterly profit as China’s economic growth and the recovery in the U.S. fueled demand for products ranging from auto components to hydraulic excavators. www.businessweek.com | 7/30/10 7:11 AM

Hitachi's already dipped its toes (or hands, as it were) into the gesture-based waters before, but it looks to have refined things quite a bit for its latest Minority Report -esque demo, which the company is showing off as part of its 100th anniversary celebration. While complete details are a bit light, the system does seem to be reasonably responsive, and appears to rely on a projection-based system and a single camera to track movements. Perhaps what's most interesting, however, is that Hitachi eventually sees systems like this being used in everything from digital signage to medical applications -- and, yes, even TVs and desktop computers (though not before mid-2011 at the earliest). Head on past the break to check it out in action.

Continue reading Hitachi shows off new gesture-based interface, touts grand plans

Hitachi shows off new gesture-based interface, touts grand plans originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   Technabob  |  Akihabara News  | Email this  | Comments www.engadget.com | 7/29/10 8:51 PM

For decades dorks have dreamed a "Life Recorder" the you can wear on your person to constantly take video and provide a positional GPS record your daily life for your personal entertainment, work, security or stalking.

www.topix.net | 7/29/10 2:22 AM

Japanese giant Hitachi is looking to buy an IT services business to bolster its information and communications system business.

www.topix.net | 7/27/10 8:34 PM

Hitachi Data Systems is the only world-class Japanese storage company, with its USP-V high-end enterprise arrays and AMS mid-range systems.

www.topix.net | 7/26/10 3:13 PM

Hitachi Ltd showcased watch-like life recorders for reference at Hitachi uVALUE Convention 2010, which took place from July 22 to 23, 2010, in Tokyo. techon.nikkeibp.co.jp | 7/26/10 2:00 AM

Sure, there's plenty of devices like the Fitbit that can track your movement and report on your general level of activity or laziness, but only Hitachi has what it's dubbed a "Life Microscope." That name apparently comes from the fact that the device is able to track your activity with more detail than other fitness monitors -- including, it seems, ...

www.topix.net | 7/25/10 12:21 AM

Hitachi 'Life Microscope' promises to track your every movement originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 12:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink    |  Akihabara News  | Email this  | Comments www.engadget.com | 7/24/10 4:11 PM

Hitachi, Ltd. served as the representative research center and the project lead on behalf of MIC.

www.topix.net | 7/20/10 11:41 PM

TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Hitachi Ltd. (6501.TO) and Toyo Engineering Corp. (6330.TO) are targeting a niche market that could meet a chunk of Asia's future natural gas consumption: small-scale liquefied na... story.venezuelastar.com | 7/20/10 4:17 AM

Joint venture with Hitachi to kick off work for Rs 3,200 crore facilities in a month. www.dnaindia.com | 7/19/10 8:58 PM

Nissan’s assembly lines in Japan came to a screeching halt this week, due to a delivery delay of ECU supplied by Hitachi. www.eetimes.com | 7/13/10 10:37 PM

Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s third- largest carmaker, may halt production at plants in Tennessee and Mexico because of delays in receiving engine parts from Hitachi Ltd., the company said. www.businessweek.com | 7/13/10 3:14 AM

Omron Antenna Boosts RFID Japan-based Omron Corp. has developed a electronic control antenna technology claimed to be the first embedded in an UHF-band RFID reader that can improve RFID tag reading performance.

www.topix.net | 7/12/10 12:39 PM

Hitachi Web Server Reverse Proxy Denial of Service Vulnerability www.securityfocus.com | 7/12/10 12:00 AM

Hitachi has come up with a rather interesting line of LifeStudio portable hard drives, which the company boasts will redefine external storage.

www.topix.net | 7/7/10 11:58 PM

If we said Hitachi's got a new line of external hard drives, you'd probably walk away -- but what if they were the smartest bricks of magnetic memory you'd ever seen? That's how Hitachi is billing the new LifeStudio array of drives, which feature not only the standard rotating disks, but also dockable USB keys, software that auto-organizes your media, and several gigabytes of cloud storage. At $80 for a basic 250GB 2.5-inch disk and $220 for the premium 2TB desktop unit, they're not the cheapest external storage on the block, but they claim to do so much more than store that we just had to give them a try. Read our full impressions after the break.

Continue reading Hitachi unveils LifeStudio content-aware external hard drives, we go hands-on

Hitachi unveils LifeStudio content-aware external hard drives, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink    |   | Email this  | Comments www.engadget.com | 7/7/10 7:41 AM

The Hitachi Life Studio is supposed to be the next generation of portable drives. Aside from the odd addition of a magnetic flash drive to the front of the case, this clever little drive includes media management software from Cooliris that essentially offers an "easier" way of browsing all the media on your computer. The drive also includes Hitachi's own back-up software, although you can simply format the drive and turn it into a Time Machine back-up volume. techcrunch.com | 7/7/10 7:00 AM

Hitachi Ltd and two Mitsubishi companies said on Monday they would integrate their hydroelectric power businesses to bolster their ability to win orders in the $5.7 billion global market. economictimes.indiatimes.com | 7/5/10 7:52 AM

Unspecified vulnerability in the Client Service for DPM in Hitachi ServerConductor / Deployment Manager 01-00, 01-01, and 06-00 through 06-00-/A; ServerConductor / Deployment Manager Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition 07-50 through 07-55, and 07-57 through 07-59; and JP1/ServerConductor/Deployment Manager Standard and Enterprise Edition 07-50 through 07-56-/F, 08-00 through 08-09-/E, 08-50 through 08-80-/A, 08-06 through 08-07, and 08-51 through 08-70; allows attackers to cause a denial ... web.nvd.nist.gov | 7/2/10 12:00 AM

Hitachi Data Systems wants to put pay-per-use private storage clouds at customer sites while working with large service providers to offer public storage clouds.

www.crn.com | 6/30/10 8:32 PM

Abu Dhabi's Nuclear Folly‘In December 2009, Abu Dhabi awarded South Korean companies a four-reactor BOT contract to generate 5,600 MW of electricity. In two contradictions, the emirate announced in February 2008 the plan to build Masdar City, a zero carbon, zero waste, and 100 percent renewable energy powered town; and in July 2009, it became the secretariat headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). This article argues that Abu Dhabi's non-representative, non-participatory governance enables a poorly informed ruling elite enjoying rentier economic circumstances to reach such decisions. It concludes that the Masdar spirit and IRENA's principles require Abu Dhabi to abandon nuclear energy for safe solar and wind power. On December 28, 2009, Abu Dhabi awarded a contract to build, operate, and transfer a 5,600 MW nuclear power plant composed of four reactors of 1,400 megawatt (MW) each to a consortium of South Korean firms. The firms are led by Korea Electric Power Corporation and include Hyundai Engineering and Construction as well as Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Company. The project is to be completed in three phases between 2017 and 2020. Its estimated cost is reported between $20 and $40 billion.’ UK gets a new plutonium lab‘The National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) has celebrated the start of work at the UK's only civil facility that works with plutonium samples on fuel cycle issues. The Plutonium and Minor Actinides Laboratory, dubbed 'Puma', can handle tens of grams of plutonium, said the NNL which added that the lab was "a unique facility in the UK for world-class chemistry and materials science." Most of the work that will be carried out at the Sellafield facility will be related to the 'back end' of nuclear fuel cycle and the reuse of plutonium and uranium oxides recovered from used fuel. The lab is part of the NNL's work to develop new 'grouped actinide extraction' processes to support an EU program on advanced used nuclear fuel recycling. One criticism of current methods of reprocessing and recycling is the security risk of separating plutonium, even though this is reactor grade and not weapons-grade material. In future a number of elements could be extracted as a group, resulting in a mixture that would be useless for weapons and very hard for any potential malevolent groups to separate. That project is funded partly by the EU under the seventh research framework as well as Sellafield Ltd, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and the Atomic Weapons Establishment. Plutonium samples for the work all come from the Sellafield site where Sellafield Ltd manages their care on behalf of owners the NDA.’Funding for Canadian isotope-producing accelerator‘A new advanced electron linear accelerator facility that will be able to produce medical isotopes will go ahead with the announcement of funding from the government of British Columbia.  The C$62.9 million ($60 million) Advanced Rare Isotope Laboratory, given the acronym Ariel, will be built at the Triumf subatomic physics laboratory in Vancouver. It will feature an underground beam tunnel surrounding a state-of-the-art electron linear accelerator (e-linac) capable of producing what Triumf describes as one of the most powerful beams in the world, with up to 500 kW of electron beam power. Ariel will use an e-linac that relies on superconducting radiofrequency technology to accelerate particles close to the speed of light and will provide Canada with a facility that will be at the forefront of particle and nuclear physics, according to British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell. Construction work on the facility is due to get under way in July 2010, with the e-linac due to be installed in 2013. The facility will be commissioned for isotope production in 2014 with routine 'round the clock' operation by 2015, according to Triumf, which is a joint venture of Canadian universities supported in its operations by the national government and in its building infrastructure by the provincial government of British Columbia.’US senator to introduce bill this week to boost nuclear‘The Energy Department's budget for developing advanced small modular reactors would be almost tripled, and the agency would have tens of billions of dollars more in loan guarantee authority for nuclear power projects, under legislation soon to be introduced by Senator George Voinovich. The Ohio Republican told a DOE workshop on SMR that his "Establishing the Nuclear Renaissance Act" would add $54 billion to DOE's authority to guarantee loans for new nuclear power plants. Currently DOE has $18.5 billion in authority, and has asked for $36 billion more in authority in its fiscal 2011 budget request. The Voinovich bill also would provide $100 million/year for 10 years for SMR research and development. DOE has requested $39 million for such R&D in fiscal 2011, but currently has no formal SMR program. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has been a strong proponent of small modular reactors, saying they could make the construction of nuclear power plants much cheaper and faster. Current nuclear power plants, which are about 1 GW or more, require a lengthy licensing process and cost billions of dollars.  The House and Senate appropriations committees are currently considering DOE's budget request, and it is unclear how much the agency will receive.’Zardari's July visit to China puts nuclear deal in focus‘Beijing: China said yesterday it will host President Asif Ali Zardari for top-level talks in early July, but would not say whether a controversial nuclear energy deal between the two nations will be discussed. Zardari is a regular visitor to China, and his next trip from July 6 to 11 will include meetings with President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular news conference. The announcement of the visit follows signs that China is moving forward with long-discussed plans to build two nuclear reactors at Pakistan's Chashma atomic complex, expanding a project that has worried Washington and India. Two Chinese nuclear companies this month signed a contract to cooperate in constructing the third and fourth plants at Chashma, building on China's rule at the complex in Punjab province. Pakistan faces severe power shortages. Qin did not directly answer reporters' questions about whether the deal will be discussed during Zardari's visit.’Iran says nuclear talks to resume with Brazil, Turkey‘TEHRAN: Iran said on Tuesday it would soon resume nuclear talks with Turkey and Brazil — a tentative first step back to international negotiations after new wave of sanctions was imposed on Tehran over its disputed nuclear work. Iran has belittled the UN, US and European sanctions and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday he would return to long-frozen talks with world powers but on certain conditions only, and not before the end of August. His foreign minister said talks would start before then with the two countries with which it agreed a nuclear fuel swap deal in May — echoing a UN-brokered pact that Tehran backed out of late last year — and which voted against the UN sanctions. "There were some contacts with the foreign ministers of the three countries (Iran, Turkey and Brazil)," Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference. "A joint meeting is on the agenda and we will announce it in the coming one or two days." Iran has held no substantive talks with world powers since the deal in principle on the fuel swap struck with Russia, France and the United States in October. The pact would have seen Iran sending 1.2 tons of low-enriched uranium (LEU) — about 70 percent of its stockpile at the time — abroad in exchange for specially processed fuel rods needed to keep the Tehran medical research reactor running. In a turnabout, Iran agreed in talks in May with Brazil and Turkey to part with 1.2 tons of LEU. But by then Iran's LEU reserve had doubled in size, devaluing the swap's terms in Western eyes since it would no longer divest Iran of enough LEU to prevent its use for an atom bomb, if refined to high purity.’Energy Dept. Cannot Drop Yucca Plan‘WASHINGTON — In a setback for the Obama administration, a panel of judges at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled on Tuesday that the Energy Department could not withdraw its application to open a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Making good on a campaign pledge by President Obama, the Energy Department had formally sought to drop its plan for Yucca Mountain, a volcanic structure about 100 miles from Las Vegas. But states with major accumulations of waste from nuclear weapons production had petitioned to prevent the department from doing so. In a 47-page decision, the three-member panel of administrative judges said the Energy Department lacked the authority to drop the petition because it would flout a law passed by Congress. In the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, Congress directed the Energy Department to file the application and the commission to consider it and “issue a final, merits-based decision approving or disapproving the construction,” the judges said. “Unless Congress directs otherwise, D.O.E. may not single-handedly derail the legislated decision-making process.” The effect of the decision is unclear for now. Congress would have to appropriate hundreds of millions of dollars a year for the Energy Department to pursue the application. But the president’s budget for next year proposes no money at all; and while some members of the House are eager to appropriate funds, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, is adamantly opposed to the project. Yet the decision could keep the application alive long enough for the politics to change.’GE Hitachi:To Resubmit Reactor Design To UK By June 2011‘LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.S.-Japanese joint venture GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy expects to resubmit its nuclear-reactor design into the U.K. regulatory process by June 2011, after it completes the process in the U.S., the company's senior vice president for nuclear plant projects said Tuesday. The design is expected to clear the U.K. regulatory process within two years, Danny Roderick told Dow Jones Newswires. The company withdrew its Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor design from the U.K. regulatory process in September 2008 to concentrate on getting its design licensed in the U.S.--a move Roderick said would speed up the certification process in the U.K. "We will provide them [the U.K. nuclear safety regulator] with a completed product no later than June next year--it fits the timeline we have from our customers," Roderick said in an interview, declining to name the customers. Electricite de France SA, using Areva SA technology, is leading the expansion and plans to have the first of four new nuclear power plants in the U.K. operations in 2017. German utilities E.ON AG and RWE AG have teamed up to build 6 GW by 2025 and a consortium comprising Iberdrola SA, GDF Suez and Scottish and Southern Energy PLC plans up to 3.6 GW. The U.K. nuclear safety regulator--the Health and Safety Executive--is assessing Areva's EPR reactor design and Toshiba Corp. (6502.TO) unit Westinghouse Electric Co.'s AP1000 for license for use in the U.K. That process is due to finish June 2011.’ feedproxy.google.com | 6/30/10 4:37 PM

Panasonic's stake in IPS Alpha Technology, which designs, manufactures and sells large LCD TV panels, will rise to 92% from 44.98%. Hitachi's stake will fall from 50.02%. www.dnaindia.com | 6/30/10 11:46 AM

TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Panasonic Corp. (6752.TO) has obtained a controlling interest in a liquid crystal display panel joint venture from its partner Hitachi Ltd. (6501.TO), the two companies said Wedne... story.venezuelastar.com | 6/30/10 8:50 AM

HDS customers pay per terabyte and keep data local

Hitachi Data Systems is preparing to offer cloud storage that even cloud-averse enterprises might accept: It resides in the customer's own data center.

www.macworld.co.uk | 6/30/10 7:10 AM

Jordan insists on right to nuclear power‘Energy-poor Jordan, which is in talks with the United States to sign a nuclear cooperation deal, said Monday it does not want to give up its right to peaceful atomic power under international treaties. "We are now in continuous negotiations with the United States, and the latest round was in Washington last week," Khaled Tukan, head of Jordan's Atomic Energy Commission, told AFP. "But I think we still don't have common ground. They started to understand our viewpoint, but still (there is) no common ground." Tukan said the Americans want their ally Jordan to sign a nuclear agreement similar to a deal they reached with the United Arab Emirates, which "has relinquished its rights under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)." "The United Arab Emirates has relinquished all its NPT rights to sensitive nuclear technology indefinitely," he said, adding: "Why should we give up our rights?" Tukan said Article Four of the NPT stipulates that "all countries have the right to full utilisation of peaceful nuclear energy, research and development." "We are sticking and adhering to the NPT, and (we want) full rights and privileges under the NPT," he said.’ New Brunswick talks with French firm about building 2nd nuclear reactor‘FREDERICTON - The New Brunswick government has renewed efforts to see a second nuclear reactor built in the province, but at least one industry observer doesn’t believe it will ever happen. Energy Minister Jack Keir is heading to Florida for three days of discussions with French nuclear engineering group Areva, starting Sunday. ‘I would categorize it as more than preliminary,’ Keir said Thursday of the discussions. ‘I don’t want to raise expectations until I come back, but I’m excited about the opportunity.’ Keir said he has talked with company officials a number of times since they contacted him before Christmas last year. ‘They’ve come forward with plans to build the merchant plant to look to the New England area to sell that electricity, and have come forward with discussions about setting up a centre of excellence in nuclear,’ Keir said. He said Areva, which is controlled by the government of France, likes New Brunswick’s geographic location and the fact the province is bilingual. He said universities in the province could conduct research and produce employees who speak both English and French’Areva Chief Talks Power‘This ought to give you a sense of the kind of confidence Anne Lauvergeon, chief executive of the French nuclear giant Areva, has: Her company signed an agreement to develop a new nuclear reactor in Fremont, Calif. in April. It's illegal to build a new nuclear reactor in California. "There is no solution without nuclear power," Lauvergeon declared during a visit to Forbes' offices on Friday. Of the California law: "One way or another, it will change," she said. Her confidence flies in the face of some harsh realities.  While there are still those who talk about a nuclear renaissance in the U.S., there is only one new reactor being built, it won't be complete until at least 2016, and it isn't an Areva design. There is political support in Washington for new reactors. George W. Bush set up loan guarantees of $18.5 billion to help build new reactors and President Obama has proposed tripling that to more than $54 billion. But so far only one loan guarantee has been offered, to Southern Co.'s Georgia Power to build a pair of Westinghouse reactors at its Plant Vogtle site, near Waynesboro, Georgia. Lauvergeon isn't concerned. She is betting big on the U.S. Areva is building a nuclear power plant component factory with Northrup Grumman in Virginia. It recently won a $2 billion Department of Energy loan guarantee to build a uranium enrichment facility in Idaho. It is building a facility in South Carolina to transform excess weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for nuclear reactors.’India has welcomed the 46-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) stand on China-Pakistan nuclear pact‘The five-day deliberations of the group held at Christchurch in New Zealand ended on Friday with no endorsement for Sino-Pak nuclear deal. Last-ditch efforts made by Pakistani establishment to get the NSG nod seems to have failed. Though officials were tightlipped, Indian official sources described the three-page statement ‘as a good one and we should welcome it’. In apparent reference to Sino-Pak nuclear deal, NSG said, ‘the group takes note of briefings on developments concerning non-NSG states (read Pakistan)’. Member states have reportedly agreed to continue consultations on the deal that has raised eyebrows from several quarters including India. India has already expressed its concerns with European Union, US and member-countries of NSG over Sino-Pak nuclear deal. Official sources confirmed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh might articulate India’s concerns with his counterparts in US, Britain, Japan, Canada and BRIC leaders. A chance meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao on the issue was also not ruled out.’Japan starts talks with India on nuclear power‘TOKYO - Japan began the first round of talks with India in Tokyo Monday on exporting nuclear power generation technology made by technology giants such as Toshiba and Hitachi, the foreign ministry said. The first round of two-day talks are aimed at devising a treaty to allow cooperation between both sides on peaceful use of nuclear power, but no deadline to reach an agreement has been set. Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said last week that Japan would urge India to make further efforts for nuclear non-proliferation. India, along with Pakistan, faced a backlash in 1998 when they declared themselves nuclear weapons states. However, New Delhi has since signed nuclear cooperation deals with the United States and other countries. Canada and India signed a landmark nuclear deal on Sunday, ending a quarter of a century of mistrust after India used Canadian technology to build its first nuclear bomb.’UK regulators query AP1000 ventilation system‘Nuclear regulators in the United Kingdom have questioned the design of the ventilation system of the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor design, which is currently undergoing a pre-certification design review called generic design assessment (GDA). The query concerns one of two plant ventilation systems during normal operations. They do not relate to the containment ventilation system, but to the radiologically controlled area ventilation system (VAS), which serves other areas of the site. As this area is not generally expected to be contaminated with radioactivity, it is discharged untreated into the main plant vent. If radiation monitors in the VAS stream are triggered, the ventilation is diverted into the containment ventilation system treatment stream, according to a UK Environment Agency consultation document published in late June. The issue may become a stumbling block for government's approval of the design. In the document, the Environment Agency listed this as one of three potential barriers to approval of the design. "We will apply a potential GDA issue to the radiologically controlled area ventilation system and any other ventilations systems [sic] where there is the potential for the release of radioactive wastes to the atmosphere which do not have passive HEPA filtration as part of the design".  The other two main issues it raised were how the reactor would be decommissioned, and how the spent fuel would be disposed.’Protesters on hand as MOX ship reaches Saga‘SAGA (Kyodo) A ship carrying recycled nuclear fuel from France arrived Monday at a Kyushu Electric Power Co. power plant in Saga Prefecture. The ship docked at the Genkai power plant early in the morning as Japan Coast Guard vessels patrolled the area. It is due to leave for its next destination, a Kansai Electric Power Co. nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, after unloading some of the fuel. The ship was loaded with 15 tons of uranium-plutonium mixed-oxide, or MOX, fuel when it left France in April, a French radio station said earlier. People opposed to pluthermal power generation on safety grounds staged protests outside the Genkai plant and presented protest letters to Kyushu Electric and Genkai town officials. Electric utilities have said they are not commissioning any more reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods or production of MOX fuel abroad because of plans to produce the fuel at a plant in the village of Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture. But it is unclear when the plant can begin full operations due to trouble experienced during the trial phase. The supply of MOX fuel could run low in a few years if the Rokkasho plant doesn't achieve full capacity. If the supply runs out, Kyushu Electric would be forced to suspend power output from MOX fuel and return to using conventional uranium fuel, experts say. If spent nuclear fuel rods can't be converted into MOX fuel and Japan continues to store them, worries could grow within the international community that Japan may be stockpiling plutonium to produce nuclear weapons.’ feedproxy.google.com | 6/29/10 2:55 PM

Japan and India began negotiations toward a civilian nuclear pact that could pave the way for major Japanese players in the field like Hitachi, Toshiba, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Corp. to expand into India's growing nuclear power sector. online.wsj.com | 6/29/10 1:02 AM

Hitachi Data Systems is updating the capabilities for its Adaptable Modular Storage 2000 (AMS) line of products to increase storage density, configuration options, and protocol flexibility. The new features include SAS disks for high-density trays and an expanded capacity for rack mounting, enabling what the company called "extremely large capacities" -- up to a full petabyte on a single floor tile.

For the AMS 2100 and 2300, Hitachi is offering expanded host port options to allow for combined Fibre Channel and iSCSI ports on the same system, or to add more Fibre Channel host ports. The use of iSCSI and Fibre Channel multiprotocol solutions allows customers to protect their storage system investment, Hitachi said, while they might be evaluating a protocol switch.

Reduce Costs, Increase Utilization

The AMS 2000 family of products is a storage platform designed to provide what the company described as flexible, "cost-effective performance" through three models -- the 2100, 2300 and 2500, which differ in capacity, connectivity, performance and price. The company said the AMS 2500 can achieve better than 89,000 IOPS, a SPC-1 benchmark measurement from the Storage Performance Council.

In its announcement, Hitachi pointed to flexible solutions in which customers can start small and then expand the number of host ports as data-center needs grow. Mike Walkey, senior vice president of Hitachi's Global Channels and Solutions, said that, by allowing companies to start small, "this new solution gives our partners the ability to achieve energy efficiency without compromising the reliability, availability or security of their customers' IT infrastructure."

He added that the new capabilities continue to "empower channel partners to reduce their customer costs while increasing asset utilization" in the data center.

The options to increase utilization include a SAS disk option for a high-density expansion tray, and host port expansion slots for AMS 2100 and 2300 controllers....

www.cio-today.com | 6/28/10 7:17 PM