Shimane Fujitsu marks production of 20 millionth PC
On February 22, Fujitsu Limited announced that Shimane Fujitsu Limited, which manufactures personal computers for the Fujitsu Group, passed the significant manufacturing milestone of 20 million computers.
Shimane Fujitsu started operations on October 1, 1990 as a desktop computer manufacturing plant. In 1995, desktop computer production was transferred to Fujitsu Isotec Limited, and Shimane Fujitsu currently manufactures notebook computers, including LifeBook notebooks and Stylistic tablet computers, bringing outstanding "Made in Japan" products directly to international markets.
While many of Japan's computer manufacturers have moved manufacturing to outside contractors in foreign countries to reduce costs, Fujitsu continues to manufacture its high-quality notebook computers in Japan and handles its computers' creation in-house, from the initial design of the circuit boards to manufacturing and final assembly, even tailoring solutions to meet customer needs.
Since the introduction of the Toyota Production System in 2005, Shimane Fujitsu has shortened lead times, improved operations management, and reduced costs while maintaining quality, enabling the company to quickly launch new models in response to customer requirements.
In August 2000, Shimane Fujitsu passed the 5-million milestone, and passed the 10-million mark in June 2003. On February 22, the company produced and shipped its 20 millionth computer, marking the occasion with a ceremony and the donation of notebook computers to the town of Hikawa and in the prefecture of Shimane, western Japan, where the plant is located.
To read the entire press release about this important milestone, click here.
LifeBook P8010 notebook wins Best of FOSE Award for Portable PCs
At the FOSE Conference and Exposition held in Washington D.C. this week, the Fujitsu LifeBook P8010 notebook won the GCN Best of FOSE Award in the Portable PC category. The annual competition designates the best new products showcased at the conference.
As in years past, the Government Computer News Lab oversaw the selection process, which picked the best submissions from more 100 different companies. Editorial and testing staffs from Government Computer News and Washington Technology reviewed each entry. Winners were chosen based on four criteria: innovation, usability/applicability to government, relative performance based on specifications and value.
“The U.S. government is the world’s largest purchaser of IT products. FOSE continues to be a showcase for the latest in technology offerings for the government – and in particular, products that meet the government’s demanding requirements for scale and security,” said Wyatt Kash, editor in chief of Government Computer News. “With so many quality submissions, we struggled to narrow down the 2008 GCN Best of FOSE winners, suggesting once again the degree of technology innovation that companies are focusing on for public sector applications.”
To read the entire press release, please go to the GCN website.
“Enhancing Business Mobility with Pen Computing” webcast available
For years pen-enabled computing devices have enjoyed great success and acceptance in highly vertical industries like delivery services, auditing, and POS.
The primary limitations of early pen computing devices, which were the hurdles to early mainstream adoption, were the power limitations of the devices, no stable OS environment for application development, and the lack of a keyboard for traditional input.
Now, with the availability of Windows XP Tablet PC edition and Vista, which are both pen-enabled operating systems, the flexibility afforded by dual function convertible notebooks and a host of third-party applications, pen computing has expanded into areas like healthcare, insurance, education, retail, and sales force automation. What used to be strictly vertical has now caught on as a preferred alternative to standard notebooks.
In a recent webcast sponsored by TechRepublic, Paul Moore, Senior Director of Product Marketing for Fujitsu Computer Systems, discusses with TechRepublic’s James Hilliard the strides that pen computing has made in the recent past.
Fujitsu LifeBook S6150 rated as one of the greenest available
In a recent issue of PC Magazine, the Fujitsu LifeBook S6510 was rated 4 out of 5 as one of the greenest desktops and laptops on the market today. In their effort to determine the most environmentally-friendly systems, PC Magazine states that “2008 will go down as the year the industry made a concerted effort to build PCs that are energy-efficient (and therefore cheaper to run) and easy to recycle. To gauge their efforts, PC Magazine has created a new suite of benchmark tests and a new seal of approval.
“We tested laptop and desktop PCs under a series of energy-usage scenarios. Since your computer sits idle most of the time, we measured each system in the idle state, open to the desktop. We also took a reading after putting each PC into sleep mode, and another reading with the system completely off to test the power brick's energy usage. Finally, we measured how much energy each system consumed while it was doing real work.”
As the review states, “Don't let the Fujitsu Lifebook S6510's … 14-inch widescreen fool you into thinking this is a hefty business laptop. At 4 pounds, it's definitely an ultraportable. You can reap all the benefits of a true road-warrior laptop without compromising screen real estate. Even better, no performance sacrifices were made to lower the weight. This configuration loads a standard-voltage 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 and 2GB of RAM.”
To read the entire article, go to the PC Magazine website.
ETERNUS systems receive Microsoft Simple SAN designation
The Fujitsu ETERNUS2000 and ETERNUS4000 Storage Systems were recently designated as Microsoft Simple SAN (Storage Area Network) components. The Simple SAN program is designed to simplify SAN installation and reduce the costs of Windows server environments by reducing their complexity.
The Simple SAN designation provides further proof of the simplicity and ease of use of the ETERNUS Disk Storage Systems. To read more about the ETERNUS systems and the Simple SAN designation, go to this link.
Fujitsu becomes first Japanese contributor member of the Green Grid Consortium
On March 24, Fujitsu Limited announced that it had become a Contributor Member of the Green Grid, the first Japanese company to take a leadership role in the global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems.
The membership will help to promote Fujitsu's initiatives to improve the energy efficiency of its data centers and its server and storage products, and support the company's overall environmental goal of preventing global warming through the reduction of IT-generated carbon dioxide emissions.
The membership is part of the overarching Green Policy Innovation initiative Fujitsu announced in December 2007, aimed at achieving a 7-million-ton reduction in CO2 emissions by 2010. To read more about the Green Gris Consortium and the Fujitsu Environmental Protection Initiatives, please go to this press release.
Fujitsu receives Novell YES Certification for SLED on four LifeBooks
On March 16, at the opening day of BrainShare 2008, Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation announced that the Fujitsu LifeBook U810, LifeBook T2010, and LifeBook P1620 ultra-portable convertible notebooks, and the LifeBook S6510 thin and light notebook have been YES Certified by Novell. The certification means the notebooks have been stringently tested for compatibility with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop from Novell. Fujitsu Computer Systems also announced a distribution agreement with EmperorLinux, a leading Linux reseller that specializes in the installation and configuration of the Linux operating system on notebooks.
"Fujitsu customers have expressed interest in gaining support for the Linux operating system," said Paul Moore, senior director of mobile product marketing, Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation. "With Novell YES certification for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop on four popular LifeBook Series convertible tablet PCs and notebooks, Fujitsu provides these customers the opportunity to select the highly reliable and durable Fujitsu notebook that meets their business requirements." "YES certification on a range of Fujitsu LifeBook Series notebooks is an important addition to the lineup of systems that support SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop," said Justin Steinman, director of marketing for Linux and Open Platform Solutions at Novell. "The leading role Fujitsu plays in the convertible laptop market provides another opportunity for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop to continue to grow its presence in the enterprise." Click here to read the entire press release about this important certification.