UK Network Delivers 100 GIGABITS per Second

UK Network Delivers 100 GIGABITS per Second.

JANET is the first National Research and Education Network in the world successfully to complete a 100Gbit/s network trial.The trial was conducted over a 103 km section of fibre between JANET core network points of presence (PoPs) in London and Reading during April 2009. The fibre infrastructure and facilities were provided by Verizon Business, the supplier and operator of JANET’s UK backbone network, with Nortel providing the 100Gbit/s optical technology and test equipment.

JANET(UK) recently completed a major upgrade of its national UK backbone network to 40Gbit/s. Jeremy Sharp, Head of Strategic Technologies at JANET(UK), commented that "Whilst introducing 40Gbit/s technology was an important move that will support traffic growth over the next few years, it's envisaged that 100Gbit/s circuits may be required within the next two to three years in the busiest parts of the network. This trial is an important preparatory step towards doing this, and we are pleased to have worked with our industry partners to achieve this."

The Nortel 40G/100G Adaptive Optical Engine technology used in the JANET trial is unique in that it automatically corrects for signal degradations due to fibre impairments that particularly manifest themselves at higher speeds of 40Gbit/s and 100Gbit/s. It is also designed to operate with compatible performance to today’s 10Gbit/s networks while increasing capacity ten-fold. The solution requires no expensive network re-engineering and it can use existing assets including in-ground fibre. "With the Nortel-supplied 40Gbit/s already in operation on major long distance routes, demonstrating the network’s upgrade potential to 100Gbit/s and the ease with which it can be done shows how JANET can achieve a ten-fold increase in its network capacity without needing to lease and light new fibres," said Jamie Jefferies (Leader Metro Ethernet Networks, EMEA), Nortel. Verizon Business has worked closely with JANET(UK) for more than eight years supporting its objective of establishing an innovative means of sharing of ideas, data and learning across the UK-based academic community.

Last year the company helped to deliver the ambitious 40Gbit/s upgrade programme, assuring that the JANET service remains a world-class infrastructure for UK education and research. "Verizon Business is pleased to support JANET(UK) in undertaking this field trial of 100Gbit/s technology," said Michael Bauer, director of European network planning for Verizon Business. "For customers such as JANET, collaboration is critical, and so we are delighted to be able to bring our expertise to bear in support of the company’s network goals.”

The trial consisted of a combination of existing 10Gbit/s and 40Gbit/s test traffic with wavelengths set on either side of the 100Gbit/s traffic within a 50Ghz grid. External polarisation dispersion (pd has the effect of limiting fibre bandwidth) was added and exercised, and demonstrated the extra performance that the coherent optical receiver in the Adaptive Optical Engine enables. Greater than 25ps dispersion was added, which resulted in error-free performance over the link.

Source : ja.net

Disney Japan to sell movies in tiny memory cards

Disney Japan to sell movies in tiny memory cards.

Walt Disney Co's Japan unit said it would sell movies on flash memory cards as small as a fingernail so that people can watch them on mobile phones and other portable devices.

The movie studio plans to package pre-recorded microSD cards together with DVDs holding the same movie content, allowing customers to watch at home as well as on the go. These cards will be available in November.

Users can watch movies stored on microSD cards on mobile phones capable of showing terrestrial digital broadcasting, and other portable gear such as car navigation systems.

For new movies, the package of a DVD and microSD card is expected to retail for 4,935 yen ($53), about 1,000 yen higher than the DVD alone, a spokesman at the Japan unit said.

It is difficult to make a sales forecast since this would be the first time for Disney to put its movies in microSD cards, he said.

Initial titles in the microSD format include "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "National Treasure" series.

Panasonic Corp is set to provide Disney with microSD cards, the spokesman said.

SOURCE: @internet magzine

Facebook Membership Hits 250 Million

Facebook Membership Hits 250 Million.

Facebook has passed the 250 million member mark, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced Wednesday.

“For us, growing to 250 million users isn't just an impressive number; it is a mark of how many personal connections all of you have made, and how far we at Facebook have to go to extend the power of connection to the billions of people around the world," Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post.

The milestone comes just three months after Facebook reached 200 million members, and one month after Facebook bypassed MySpace in terms of total U.S. visitors for the first time.

“The rapid pace of our growth is humbling and exciting for us, and it affirms that people everywhere are realizing the power of staying connected to everything they care about on Facebook," Zuckerberg said.

In May, Facebook pulled in 70.278 million unique visitors in the states, compared to MySpace's 70.237 million, according to data released by ComScore. That made Facebook the most popular site in the U.S., in terms of visitors. Just a month earlier, Facebook had a little over 67 million U.S. visitors behind MySpace's 70.9 million.

SOURCE: PC Magazine

BlackBerry cries foul over UAE ‘spyware’

BlackBerry cries foul over UAE ‘spyware’

The makers of BlackBerry have charged that an update issued by UAE telecommunications company Etisalat was actually spyware, the local press reported on Wednesday.

BlackBerry's parent company Research in Motion said the software offered by Etisalat could “enable unauthorised access to private or confidential information stored on the user's smartphone,” according to a statement carried in several newspapers.

'RIM confirms that this software is not a patch and it is not a RIM-authorised upgrade. RIM did not develop this software application and RIM was not involved in any way in the testing, promotion or distribution of this software application,' it said.

There was no immediate comment from Etisalat, which offered the 'performance enhancing' patch to the 145,000 BlackBerry users on its network about two weeks ago.

The Khaleej Times newspaper said the 'snifferware' could intercept emails and drain battery life quickly, with more than 300 users reporting that the phone had been rendered useless with the battery dying in less than 60 minutes.

Pakistani Students Win Top Honors In Global Thinkquest

Pakistani Students Win Top Honors In Global Thinkquest.

Pakistani students took top honors in the 2009 global ThinkQuest competition online out of 955 teams of 83 countries including Australia, China, India, Pakistan, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States. ThinkQuest, sponsored by the Oracle Education Foundation (OEF) is a protected, online learning platform that enables teachers to integrate learning projects into their classroom curriculum and students to develop 21st century skills.

The competition includes a Website Competition that challenges student teams

to develop educational websites on topics of their choosing and a Narrative Competition that challenges student teams to publish their ideas on topics of global importance using OEF’s ThinkQuest Projects platform.

Muhammad, Muznah and Rida of Generation’s School collaborated with students in Singapore to create a website called “Portable Partners—Friends or Foes”, which examined common mobile devices used by young people.

“The Oracle Education Foundation is pleased to recognize the outstanding achievements of all the students who participated in the ThinkQuest Competitions,” said Clare Dolan, Vice President, Oracle Corporate Citizenship.

“These students developed skills that are critical for success in the 21st century while producing outstanding educational resources that will benefit their peers globally.”

“ThinkQuest was a challenging yet enjoyable experience for me.

It was an honor for me not only to compete on an international platform, but also to represent Pakistan,” said Muhammad, a student team member from Generation’s School. “My teammates and I gave it our best shot to make our website a worthy contestant in ThinkQuest. The news about our victory was a complete surprise and I would like to acknowledge my teammates and coaches for their hard work and guidance.”

Prizes for winning teams include laptop computers, digital cameras, school grants, and a trip to the awards event in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Intel Releases Moblin 2.0 Netbook OS and New Pineview Atom Processor.

Last week Intel was fined record $1.45bn by the EU, but this didn’t stop the company from moving on, and it has released a new Atom processor and an operating system specially designed for netbooks. The new Intel Atom processor is called Pineview and it features the memory and the graphics controller on the same tiny piece of silicon. This processor technology is called Pine Trail, and it should become available in Q4 of 2009.

On the other hand, Intel’s netbook operating system is called Moblin, and many have said that it cannot compete against Windows XP or some Linux distros as the netbook OS market share is already taken by those 2. However, Intel released Moblin 2.0 which is a Linux distro therefore it’s available for free. Intel Moblin v2.0 was built to work with Atom processors on netbooks and nettops (or mini desktops).

Intel Pineview platform is based on only two chips, not three like before, and this will lower the manufacturing costs hence the costs of netbooks will lower, and the power consumption will go down too. Even if Pineview already features an integrated graphics card, users can always choose a NVIDIA Ion graphics card.

Intel Moblin will also lower the costs for a netbook, and the OS features a new user interface called M-zone (My Zone) which comes packed with e-mail tools, IM (instant messaging), social networking, and a media player. For now Moblin is used by only a very small share of netbook users, and all Linux distros represent 4.5% of the OS on netbooks. This means that it will be very hard for Moblin to resist and be used, but Intel says that Moblin v2.0 can be modified by computer manufacturers so that they can add their own brand, looks, and touches.

If you own a netbook and you have Moblin installed, then you might want to let us know how it works. I hope that you are very satisfied with it, and that you will enjoy Moblin 2.0 in the future.

Microsoft Confirms Windows 7 Is Done

Microsoft Confirms Windows 7 Is Done.

Microsoft officially signed off on Windows Vista SE 7 and released the code of the software to manufacturing. The RTM code will be available for select customers and developers beginning on August 6, while the general public will have to wait until October 22. Windows Server 2008 R2 reached the RTM phase as well and will be “available on or before that date.”

Windows 7 is likely to be the most important operating system Microsoft has ever released, as the software will have to repair the reputation and perception Windows Vista has damaged and defend Microsoft against rivals such as Apple’s Mac OS X and some Linux distributions, which gained market share during Vista’s time. With Windows 7 at RTM, Microsoft sees the light at the end of the tunnel and can prepare to get rid of the current desktop Windows operating system and its broken brand.

Hardware and software vendors will use Windows 7 RTM (build 7600) to finalize their products that will adapt the operating system. As previously reported, Microsoft will begin selling the software on October 22, just in time for the Christmas season. However, developers and certain customers, including Technet subscribers, will be able to download the operating system as early as August 6.

Intel Touts Solid State Drive Breakthrough.

Intel Touts Solid State Drive Breakthrough.

Technology gaint Intel has claimed that a breakthrough in the design of solid state drives (SSDs) will allow prices to fall to as low as 60 per cent of the current cost.

The drop is down to the use of new 34nm Nand Flash memory chips in place of the older 50nm chips. The smaller die size allows for lower production costs, making the drives more efficient and cheaper to manufacture.

Intel will price the first of the new drives to system builders at $225 (£137) per unit. The 80GB X25-M model will replace a drive of the same size which currently costs $595 (£363).

"Our goal was to be the first to achieve 34nm Nand Flash memory lithography, and to do so with the same or better performance than our 50nm version," said Randy Wilhelm, vice president and general manager for Intel's Nand solutions group.

"We made quite an impact with our breakthrough SSDs last year and, by delivering the same or even better performance with today's new products, our customers, both consumers and manufacturers, can now enjoy them at a fraction of the cost."

Intel hopes that the lower costs could widen the potential market for SSD hardware. SSDs are faster and more efficient than disc-based drives, but the high cost of manufacturing has limited the technology to high-end and specialised systems.

Apple Can't Meet iPhone Demand Amid Record Profits

Apple Can't Meet iPhone Demand Amid Record Profits.

Global recession? Not for Apple, whose Wall St. financials are blissfully unaware of Main St. reality. Apple's sadness? They can't keep up with demand.

First the supply side: If you want to purchase an iPhone 3GS right now, especially a white one, be sure to check Apple'siPhone availability toolbefore heading to the mall. Some models--color and memory combinations--are locally scarce, though the situation can change hourly.

Speaking on a Tuesday conference call for financial analysts, Apple execs said they are working on solving supply issues and still plan to introduce the 3GS in China later this year.

Some MacBook models are also supply-constrained, the company said. That is expected to resolve itself over the next few weeks.

But, don't cry for Apple over missed sales. The company also announced its best non-holiday quarter ever, reporting a profit of $1.23 billion on revenue of $8.34 billion during its third quarter.

Now, the demand side: "We're making our most innovative products ever and our customers are responding," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs, in a statement. "We're thrilled to have sold over 5.2 million iPhones during the quarter and users have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications from our App Store in its first year."

Strange! Humans Glow in Visible Light

Strange! Humans Glow in Visible Light.

The human body literally glows, emitting a visible light in extremely small quantities at levels that rise and fall with the day, scientists now reveal.

Past research has shown that the body emits visible light, 1,000 times less intense than the levels to which our naked eyes are sensitive. In fact, virtually all living creatures emit very weak light, which is thought to be a byproduct of biochemical reactions involving free radicals.

(This visible light differs from the infrared radiation — an invisible form of light — that comes from body heat.)

To learn more about this faint visible light, scientists in Japan employed extraordinarily sensitive cameras capable of detecting single photons. Five healthy male volunteers in their 20s were placed bare-chested in front of the cameras in complete darkness in light-tight rooms for 20 minutes every three hours from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. for three days.

The researchers found the body glow rose and fell over the day, with its lowest point at 10 a.m. and its peak at 4 p.m., dropping gradually after that. These findings suggest there is light emission linked to our body clocks, most likely due to how our metabolic rhythms fluctuate over the course of the day.

Faces glowed more than the rest of the body. This might be because faces are more tanned than the rest of the body, since they get more exposure to sunlight — the pigment behind skin color, melanin, has fluorescent components that could enhance the body's miniscule light production.

Since this faint light is linked with the body's metabolism, this finding suggests cameras that can spot the weak emissions could help spot medical conditions, said researcher Hitoshi Okamura, a circadian biologist at Kyoto University in Japan.

"If you can see the glimmer from the body's surface, you could see the whole body condition," said researcher Masaki Kobayashi, a biomedical photonics specialist at the Tohoku Institute of Technology in Sendai, Japan.

Kingston Unveils World's First 256GB USB Flash Drive

Kingston Unveils World's First 256GB USB Flash Drive.

The Kingston DataTraveler300 is ideal for netbook users who want to extend the limited capacity of their machines. It can also be used by business consumers who work with large databases, or even designers who need to transfer large graphic files from one place to another.

“The DataTraveler 300 will enable users to carry huge volumes of data with them everywhere they go - up to 365 CDs for example. That’s one album for every day of the year, and it demonstrates how far flash technology has developed,” said Kirsty Miller, Product Marketing Manager - Consumer, Kingston Technology Europe. “Business users and consumers can also safeguard their data by initializing the Password Traveler software which will allowthem to password protect their data in a privacy zone without the need of administrator rights.”

The Kingston DataTraveler 300 features a sleek cap-less design that will protect the USB connector when it is not in use and is enhanced for Windows Readyboost. The Kingston DataTraveler 300 is available only in 256GB and is backed by a five-year warranty. The Kingston DataTraveler is built to order only; customers who wish to purchase the drive can place an order with many reseller and e-tailers.

DataTraveler 300 Product Features and Specifications:

Capacity — 256 GB
Speed — Data transfer rates of up to 20 MB/sec. read and 10 MB/sec. write
Safeguarded — includes Password Traveler security software for Windows
Convenient — does not require Administrator rights to access the Privacy Zone
Dimensions — 2.78” x 0.67” x 0.87” (70.68 mm x 16.90 mm x 21.99 mm)
Operating Temperature — 32° to 140° F (0° to 60° C)
Storage Temperature — -4° to 185° F (-20° to 85° C)

Enhanced — for Windows ReadyBoost on Vista-based systems

Source: Kingston

Yahoo Reveals Its Most Significant Redesign Ever

Yahoo Reveals Its Most Significant Redesign Ever.

Yahoo unveiled a redesigned Yahoo.com front page on Tuesday, billing it as the Web portal's most significant redesign ever. Taking a cue from Google's iGoogle, the new page is gives users a way to personalize Yahoo.com so they can check in with other sites, such as Facebook or Gmail using a brand-new "My Favorites" section. Yahoo has built Web widgets that link to more than 65 other sites. These can all be added with a simple point and click, but users can add their own Web sites too and edit the layout of the front page.

The redesigned front page is leaner and more contemporary looking, featuring less advertising than its predecessor. For example, Yahoo has scrapped its "Marketplace" section, which featured links to advertising.

INTEL HONORS YOUNG SCIENTISTS.

INTEL HONORS YOUNG SCIENTISTS.

The Intel Foundation recently announced top winners of the world's largest pre-college science fair, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), a program of Society for Science & the Public. Tara Adiseshan, 14, of Charlottesville, Va.; Li Boynton, 17, of Houston; and Olivia Schwob, 16, of Boston were selected from 1,563 young scientists from 56 countries, regions and territories for their commitment to innovation and science. Each received a $50,000 scholarship from the Intel Foundation. Three students from Pakistan also participated in this prestigious international competition. Winners of the Intel National Science Olympiad, held early this year in Islamabad, who represented Pakistan were individual project winner Malik Usama from Pak Turk International School and College, Khairpur with his project 'Waste water sewage treatment' and Group project winners, Mohammad Naeem Khan, and Zaki Hussain from Sir Syed Science College, Rawalpindi with their project titled 'Hovercraft.' In addition to the three $50,000 top winners, more than 500 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair participants received scholarships and prizes for their groundbreaking work. Intel awards included 19 "Best of Category" winners who each received a $5,000 Intel scholarship and a new laptop powered by the Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Intel also awarded a $1,000 grant to the winner's school and the Intel ISEF-affiliated fair they represent.

Apple launches talking ipod shuffle

Apple launches talking ipod shuffle.

The new stainless steel shuffle, which is half the size of its predecessor and smaller than an AA battery, can store up to 1,000 songs, and provides around 10 hours of music playback on a single battery charge. There are no buttons on the device itself – instead it is controlled by a button on the earphone cord, which enables users to play and pause songs, adjust the volume, flick through playlists, and hear track information.

The shuffle can ‘speak’ 14 different languages, including Czech, Dutch and Mandarin as well as English, and can automatically switch between providing battery or track information in English and pronouncing foreign song titles in the appropriate language.

“Imagine your music player talking to you, telling you your song titles, artists and playlist names,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of iPod and iPhone product marketing. “The new iPod shuffle is the world’s smallest music player and takes a revolutionary approach to how you listen to your music by talking to you, also making it the first iPod shuffle with playlists.”

The 4GB device, which will be available in black or silver, will cost £59. Apple will continue to sell the 1GB entry-level iPod shuffle, which can store around 240 songs, for £31.

Some gadget fans have expressed disappointment that the new iPod shuffle does not include a screen showing track information, and that users will have to use the Apple headphones supplied with the shuffle in order to use the device.

“We’ve rejected the idea of a screen on all our iPod shuffles, because you can only really fit a one- or two-line display and keep the size small,” said Mr Joswiak. “We don’t think that’s a very good way to navigate your music collection. With the new shuffle and VoiceOver, you get all the benefits of the display without having to have one. It’s the best of both worlds.”

Mr Joswiak also said that Apple had been working with accessory makers to ensure iPod shuffle controls are built into a wide variety of new headphones, such as sports earphones.

“They’ll be introducing headphones that have the controller integrated into their headphone design,” he said. “There will also be adapter cables available, so you can use your existing headphones with the new shuffle too.”

Mobile phone battery that can be charged in just 10 seconds

Mobile phone battery that can be charged in just 10 seconds.

A revolutionary mobile phone battery that recharges in 10 seconds instead of several hours has been created by scientists.

The new device charges 100 times as fast as a conventional battery and could also be used in phones, laptops, iPods and digital cameras within just two or three years, they say.

The same technology could even allow an electric car to be charged up in the same time that it takes to fill a conventional car with

petrol - removing one of the biggest obstacles to green, clean motoring.

The quick-charge battery is the brainchild of engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The MIT team say their invention uses materials already available to battery manufacturers and would be simple to mass produce.

The invention is based on conventional lithium ion rechargeable batteries found in most cameras, phones and portable computers.

Intel Pushes Atom Chip Beyond PCs.

Intel has introduced Atom processors that take the low-power chips into new markets, including in-car infotainment systems, Internet-based telephones, and other non-PC devices.

The Z500 series makes the Atom useful for applications other than mini-laptops, also called netbooks. The ultraportable systems with screen sizes of 10 inches or less have accounted for most Atom sales to date.

The latest models include industrial temperature options, as well as different package size choices better suited for embedded industries. In addition, the new products have integrated 2-D and 3-D graphics, video-acceleration technology, and support for multiple operating systems, including Linux and several versions of Windows.

Intel's major competitor in these new markets will be ARM, which designs power-efficient RISC processors. ARM products are often found in smartphones, such as the popular Apple iPhone.

Intel's Atom isn't yet ready to meet the low-power and design needs of smart phone makers, but the latest announcement is an indication that Intel continues to move in that direction.

Along with in-car applications, the Z500 series is aimed at what Intel calls "media phones," which provide voice communications over the Internet, as well as access to applications such as e-mail and text messaging, as well as Web content.

Along with the latest Atom chips, introduced Monday, Intel unveiled a reference design for media phones. The hardware development platform includes schematics and validated software stacks.

The Atom Z500 series is scheduled to be available in the second quarter. Intel has launched a Web site for more information on potential uses for the new products.

Intel introduced the latest series the same day the company announced collaboration with semiconductor manufacturer TSMC to develop the Atom for smartphones and mobile Internet devices. The latter are larger than a mobile phone but smaller than a netbook.

Kingston Releases 16GB microSDHC Card

Kingston Releases 16GB microSDHC Card.

Kingston Technology Company, Inc., Announced it is releasing a 16GB microSDHC Flash memory card for use in mobile phones. The larger capacity card offers greater storage options for the latest mobile phones and other digital devices and joins the microSDHC card family which includes the 4- and 8GB products.

“The increased functionality of the latest mobile phones has helped fuel and raise consumers’ appetites for more digital content,” said Nathan Su, Flash Memory Product Manager, APAC Region, and Kingston. “Today’s mobile lifestyle includes using phones as portable media players and as a camera. The Kingston 16GB microSDHC card removes the barrier of limited internal handset or device memory and allows users to store more photos, songs, games and videos.”

Kingston 16GB microSDHC cards can store more than 3,000 digital songs, over 9,000 images from a 5MP cameraphone, or up to 16 hours of video, offering the most convenient means to store, move and play digital content via a handset’s storage slot. Newer handset models from manufacturers such as LG, Motorola, Nokia, RIM and Sony Ericsson support 16GB external storage.

The Kingston 16GB microSDHC card is backed by a lifetime warranty and free technical support. Although the microSDHC card format is identical in physical size to the original microSD card, microSDHC is compatible with microSDHC host devices and not backward caompatible with standard microSD-enabled devices or readers.

Nokia look to bring social network to mobiles, Facebook.

Nokia look to bring social network to mobiles, Facebook.

Facebook is in discussions with Nokia on ways to integrate the wildly popular social network into mobile phones made by the Finnish giant, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The newspaper, citing "people familiar with the matter," said Palo Alto, California-based Facebook and Nokia were discussing a partnership that would embed parts of the social network into some Nokia phones.

The Journal said the talks have been going on for months. Financial terms of the potential deal could not be obtained, it said.

The newspaper said Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, was deciding whether it wanted to team up with an established Web player like Facebook or "build a social network from the ground up."

It said the two companies were looking at potentially integrating contact information stored in Facebook with a phone's address book.

"When users looked up a contact, they could see whether their Facebook friends were logged on, send them messages and post comments on their profile pages," the Journal said.

Facebook is also working with US handset maker Palm on integrating aspects of the social network into its new mobile operating system, the Journal said, and has also held talks with another US mobile phone maker, Motorola.

It quoted a Facebook spokeswoman as saying the company is "dedicated to working with and developing partnerships with mobile operators and device makers all over the world."

Facebook has already built software applications for Research in Motion's Blackberry and Apple's iPhone.

According to Nielsen Co. figures cited by the Journal, Facebook in December surpassed rival MySpace in terms of the number of visitors from mobile phones -- seven million US mobile users for Facebook compared with 5.7 million US mobile users for MySpace.

Ghost Caller Blockade System on the Cards: PTA Chief

Ghost Caller Blockade System on the Cards: PTA Chief

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is working on a strategy to introduce a Ghost Caller Blockade system to protect users from unwanted callers, said PTA Chairman Dr Muhammad Yaseen while talking to local news channel.

“One operator has already initiated the service, while others are being pursued to follow the suit as soon as possible aiming to ensure provision of quality services to all strata of society” added Dr. Yaseen.

He said PTA would soon establish a special Consumer Protection Cell to register and redress complaints of consumers regarding extra charges by the operators. Now-a-days negotiations are underway with the operators and consumers to formulate regulations and the Consumer Protection Cell would start operations soon after completion of the negotiations, he said.

In a bid to lure renowned vendors to initiate mobile manufacturing in Pakistan, he added that a research cell has also been established in the PTA for the purpose. Responding to a question, he assured mobile consumers would soon be provided internet services on reduced rates within a period of one month.

Pakistan would be made a hub for international mobile internet traffic. Transit services would be offered to China, central Asian States, far eastern countries and India. This will generate revenues and also provide cheap services to country’s mobile internet users, he concluded.

Intel plans 32nm Westmere chips for 2009.

Intel is to invest $7bn (£4.7bn) over the next two years to bring 32nm chips to market, the company has revealed. The first such processors are now expected to go into production later this year, with additional products following in 2010.

The first 32nm processors are codenamed Westmere and will be a die-shrink of the current Nehalem architecture, but with graphics capabilities integrated with the processor. The initial chips will target mainstream mobile and desktop systems, and were demonstrated by Intel at an event in San Francisco today.

Stephen Smith, vice president of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, detailed the firm's roadmap to 32nm processors, saying that it will first deliver new 45nm quad-core Nehalem chips codenamed Lynnfield and Clarksfield that target mainstream desktop and thin-and-light laptops respectively.

These will be followed by 32nm processors called Clarkdale and Arrandale, similarly aimed at desktops and laptops, but these initial Westmere chips will have two cores and integrated graphics functions.

"The smaller production process will enable us to reduce the core size while still delivering two threads per core, and with graphics integrated into the processor," said Smith.

Westmere will eventually scale to a six-core/12-thread client processor called Gulftown, he added, as well as platforms for servers.

Intel also said that its 32nm process will be split into two versions, one optimised for mainstream chips and one for system-on-a-chip (SoC) processors aimed at netbooks and other mobile devices.

Mark Bohr, Intel senior fellow for logic development, explained that this is because mainstream chips call for fast-switching transistors, while SoCs require low leakage current to optimise power efficiency.

The graphics inside the Westmere processors will be based on the current graphics functions integrated into Intel's current 4-series motherboard chipsets, but provide "a significant boost in performance", according to Smith.