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Scientists have set a new world record for data transmission by transferring a data rate of 2.56 Terabit per second over a glass fibre link of 160 km length.
2,560,000,000,000 bits are equivalent to the contents of 60 DVDs.
By comparison, the fastest high-speed links currently carry data at a maximum 40 Gbit/s, or around 50 times slower.
The research was carried out at Fraunhofer Institute which also developed computers with Emotion sense.
A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove you don't need it, said US actor Bob Hope. But on a serious note, there is no denying the fact that banks are to economies what souls are to human beings.
The Bankersalmanac.com ranks the world's largest banks by total assets in US dolalrs. By the way, according to Bankersalmanac.com, Citibank NA is the world's 16th largest bank. So which are the top 10? Read on to find out:
UBS AG , Zurich, Switzerland
UBS AG is the world's biggest manager of other people's money. The bank's asset stood at $1,963.227 billion as in January 2008.
Present in major financial centres worldwide, UBS has offices in 50 countries. The bank had 81,557 employees on June 30, 2007. It originated in 1747, with its maiden branch coming up in the Swiss region of Valposchiavo.
The new UBS evolved out of a merger of the Union Bank of Switzerland and the Swiss Bank Corporation in June 1998. The merged bank's new name was originally supposed to be the United Bank of Switzerland. But it had to be named UBS as the proposed name clashed with United Bank Switzerland.
Marcel Opel is the bank's chairman of the board of directors, its executive vice chairman is Marco Suter, and the group CEO is Marcel Rohner. The bank's main competitors are Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse etc.
Barclays PLC is a major bank operating in Europe, the United States, West Asia, Latin America, Australia, Asia and Africa. It operates through its subsidiary Barclays Bank PLC.
The bank has registered assets worth $1,951.041 billion. It is also the sponsor of the English Premier League. Forbes Global 2000 ranked Barclays PLC as the 18th largest company in the world in 2007.
The bank's roots can be traced back to 1690 in London. It borrowed its name from Alexander and David Barclay, who provided credit to slave traders. The bank is headed by Marcus Agius, the group chairman.
Barclays being a member of the global ATM Alliance, its customers can use ATMs of other banks free of charge.
BNP Paribas is a major European bank. It was created on May 23, 2000 through the merger of Banque Nationale de Paris and Paribas. As on January 31, the bank's assets stood at $1,899.186 billion.
It's history can be traced back to 1869, when a group of bankers and investors, including Adrien Delahante, Edmond Joubert and Henri Cernuschi, founded the Banque de Paris.
The bank employs 162,700 people and operates in 87 countries. The bank is active in the finance, investment and asset management markets.
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Edinburgh, UK, is the largest banking group in Scotland and the fifth largest in the world by market capitalisation. As on January 31, the bank's assets stood at $1,705.680 billion.
The bank originated from the Equivalent Society set up by investors in the bankrupt Company of Scotland. The Society was formed to protect the compensation the investors received as part of the arrangements of the 1707 Acts of Union.
Controversy has dogged the bank off and on. It has been infamously dubbed 'Oil Bank of Scotland' by environmentalists as it provides finance for the fossil fuel industry, thereby causing global warming.
In 2001, the bank received threats for having financed animal testing company Huntingdon Life Sciences. As a direct fallout of this, RBS withdrew the company's overdraft facility.
Credit Agricole SA is the largest retail banking group in France and the eighth largest in the world, according to The Banker magazine. On January 31, the bank's assets stood at $1,663.101 billion
Through its subsidiaries, Credit Agricole SA is involved in the following services:
The banks' varied activities are supervised by Rene Carron, the bank's chairman.
The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd came into being with the merger of The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Limited and UFJ Bank Limited. As on January 31, the bank's assets stood at $1,362.598 billion.
The bank, through its several subsidiaries, performs the following activities: commercial banking, trust banking, securities dealing, leasing, venture capital deals, factoring, research and consulting, securities custody service, etc.
The bank's CEO is Nobuo Kuroyanagi.
ABN AMRO Holding NV, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, evolved from the amalgamation of AMRO and ABN. As on January 31, the bank's assets stood at $1,301.508 billion.
The bank created history when the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Fortis and Banco Santander announced on October 8, 2007, that an offer for 86 per cent of outstanding ABN AMRO stock had been accepted. This made way for the largest ever bank takeover in history. On November 1 2007, an extraordinary shareholder meeting changed the bank's management.
Mark Fisher from RBS took over as the bank's CEO. Since then, Fortis has been using the ABN AMRO brand name for retail banking in the Netherlands.
Societe Generale, one of the oldest banks in France, is also one of the main European financial services companies. As on January 31, 2008, its assets stood at $1,261.657 billion.
It is headquartered in France with the main head office in Tours Societe Generale in the business district of La Defense west of Paris.
Bank of America was formed after the consolidation of quite a few historical banks, the most prominent of those being the Bank of Italy. On January 31, the bank's assets stood at $1,196.124 billion.
In 1958, the bank introduced the BankAmericard, which changed its name to VISA in 1977. A consortium of other California banks came up with Master Charge (now MasterCard).
Bank of America has divisions in US, Europe and Asia. The US headquarters are located in New York, European headquarters are based in London and Asia's headquarters are split between Singapore & Hong Kong.
SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft Corp said that it will discontinue sales of its subscription PC security service and instead offer free software to hel
p protect computers from viruses, spyware and other threats.
With the move, the software giant appears to be taking aim at McAfee Inc and Symantec Corp, its chief rivals in the PC security market.
Microsoft plans to halt sales of its Windows Live OneCare service on June 30. The service being discontinued costs $49.95 a year and covers up to three PCs.
The new security programme, which the company has code-named "Morro," will be available as a free download in the second half of next year.
Morro is designed to work with smaller, less powerful computers, the company said, which should make it appeal to a wide group of consumers.
However, McAfee said the move is a sign of capitulation on the part of Microsoft. McAfee said OneCare managed to capture less than 2 per cent of the market in the two years it has been out.
"Microsoft is giving up," a McAfee spokesman said. "They are now defaulting to a dressed-down free model that doesn't meet consumer security needs."
Microsoft has a history of butting heads with its competitors in the PC security space. In 2006 and 2007, Symantec and McAfee raised concerns that Microsoft had designed Windows Vista to deny them access to the heart of the operating system, which they needed to protect it from certain kinds of malicious software.
After negotiations, and some prodding from antitrust regulators in Brussels, Microsoft said it would provide the information needed.
Shares of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft closed up 43 cents, or 2.2 per cent, at $19.62. Shares of Cupertino, California-based Symantec finished at $12.40, up 24 cents, or 2 per cent, while shares of Santa Clara, California-based McAfee closed up 28 cents at $28.57.