Technically Speaking

A little over a month ago, I did a article about Personal Servers. It looks like we are closer to making them a reality. Antelope Technologies is about ready to debut its version of a personal server, they call it a “Modular Computing Core” or “MCC”.

Modular Computing is a simple but revolutionary concept that extends the desktop computing paradigm to mobile computers. Today, the desktop computer under your desk is physically separate from the monitor, keyboard, and mouse that are on top of your desk. You can upgrade your “computer” (the device that powers your applications and stores your data) at any time without changing the screen, keyboard, or mouse (the devices you use to interact with your computer).

Antelope Technologies has extended this model to every place where computing power is, or soon will be, important to you. The result of nearly 4 years of research and development work and over a year of customer trials, Antelope will ship the first public release of the Modular Computing Platform on November 7th, 2003.

A good amount of functionality is already incorporated into this product . According to what I have read so far the MCC will be the ultimate in mobile computing. The MCC is a windows based device that can run any software that a traditional computer can. The need to carry a laptop and PDA are now nonexistent for the MCC does the job of them both and it is a lot easier to carry, being roughly the size of a PDA.

The MCC contains all the normal features of a desktop computer: a processor, a hard drive, memory, video card, audio card, Windows XPTM Professional, and more. It is an amazingly compact replacement for that big computer box under your desk. And by being so small, you can take it with you at all times (in your pocket if you like), unlike your desktop computer.

There is already a lot of technology built around the MCC. It looks positioned to make a great impact on the everyday computing practices. Its initial pricing, $3,970, is comparable to that of a hi-end computer. I’m sure that it will come down to the price of a moderate laptop in a year’s time. Also, Intel is working hard on their product. Competition is always good for the sake of pricing.

This is the first step in the arena of personal servers and I expect it to last about 3 - 5 years. From there we should see the same type of devices but with greater storage and smaller enclosures.

Here are some specs on the MMC:

The MCC
contains the following:

• Highly power
  efficient Transmeta Crusoe Processor at 1 GHz using the
  LongRun advanced power management technology

• 256 MB of
  DDR-SDRAM Main Memory

• 10 GB (or
  optional 15 GB) Hard Drive with a shock rating of 200g
  operational and 1,000g non-operational

• 2D/3D
  Graphics supporting analog and LVDS displays at
  1280×1024 maximum resolution

• Sound
  Blaster Compatible Stereo Audio supporting microphone
  in, stereo out, and line out

• Dense 160
  pin Modular Computing Docking connector

• Windows XP^TM
  Pro, or other optional standard operating systems

• Plug and
  play compatibility

For more
detailed specifications, please see our
specification
download page.

Source: Antelope Technologies

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 26th, 2003 at 10:46 pm and is filed under Laptop/PC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.