The loss of unencrypted storage media from an Iron Mountain Inc. vehicle last month renewed calls for IT managers to better protect data stored off site.

The Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOFSA) said the unencrypted data lost from the vehicle of its contractor on Sept. 19 included the names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of thousands of state residents.

The state agency, based in Port Allen, La., administers several state scholarship programs as well as the state’s 529 College Savings Plan.

Sue Boutte, assistant executive director and chief operating officer of the agency, this week declined to say whether the unencrypted data was stored on tape or disk drives.

(Full article ‘Encrypt data stored off site, warns Louisiana agency’)

The “Black Edition” of AMD’s Athlon 64 X2 5000+ features an unlocked multiplier. Unlike the first Black Edition model, the 90nm 6400+, the new processor is produced on a 65 nm process. As a result, it only draws about half as much power as the 6400+, and offers enormous overclocking potential. Pushed to its limit, this processor is faster than an Athlon X2 6000+ or Intel’s Core 2 Duo E6550. Among today’s CPUs, this $130 processor is unique in that its performance can be increased without having to raise either the FSB or the memory frequency, making it a safe choice for any AM2 board. Let’s get right to it: If you’re considering buying the 5000+ Black Edition, chances are that you intend to overclock it - and we mean really overclock it. (Full article ‘AMD’s Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Black Edition’)

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies today unveiled the new Deskstar P7K500 desktop hard drive, which it claims cuts power requirements by up to 40% over its predecessor T7K500 offering.

Hitachi said the 250GB version of the new drive requires 3.6 watts of power in idle mode, while higher-end models that store 350GB and more require 4.8 watts. Active Deskstar PK7500 machines require 6.4 watts to 8.2 watts of energy, the Tokyo-based company said.

The new Hitachi desktop drives will start shipping in volume before the end of the year, Hitachi officials said in a statement.

John Rydning, an analyst at Framingham, Mass.-based IDC, noted that most vendors are paying less attention to cutting desktop power requirements than they are to reducing those of larger systems.

(Full article ‘Hitachi says new drive cuts power needs by 40%’)

Hewlett-Packard Co. officials are marking the 30th anniversary of the OpenVMS operating system’s introduction by telling users of the software that it still doesn’t have an expiration date.

To deliver that message, HP has brought out some of its top executives, including Martin Fink, senior vice president and general manager of the company’s business-critical systems group. During a webcast on Friday, Fink responded to questions submitted by members of the Chicago-based Encompass user group. Encompass, which originated as a group for customers of the former Digital Equipment Corp., also posted a document containing written responses to questions that were posed to Fink in advance of the webcast (PDF format).

In addition, Mark Hurd, HP’s chairman, CEO and president, has recorded a video that can be viewed on an OpenVMS 30th anniversary Web site that the vendor has set up.

(Full article ‘HP tries to assure OpenVMS users that OS still has a future’)

Santa Clara (CA) – Following servers with Intel’s Xeon processors, Sun today introduced workstations based on Intel’s Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors. Yes, that’s an Intel logo on this Sun workstation Sun now has a third workstation family, adding to the existing models based on single- and dual socket AMD Opteron-based systems (Ultra 20, Ultra 40 M2) as well as single- and dual-socket UltraSparc IIIi (Ultra 25, Ultra 45) models. The new Ultra 24 is based on Intel’s Core processors and, in the case of a Core 2 Quad configuration, is Sun’s first (single-socket) quad-core workstation. The Ultra 24 has the identical outside look of its two sister models, making the Intel Core 2 logo the only differentiator to the 20, 40, 25 and 45. (Full article ‘Intel CPUs expand SunВ’s workstation portfolio’)