Welcome to Russell Hitchcock's Section

Russell Hitchcock is an independent technology consultant whose specialties include networked hardware, control systems, and antennae. Russell also has extensive technical writing experience on the above topics.

You can contact Russell at rghitch@gmail.com.

Russell Hitchcock's Latest Contributions

Hardware Acceleration: Date - Oct 06, 2011; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; In this article the author discusses concepts and ideas related to hardware acceleration.
Data Furnaces: Date - Sep 08, 2011; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Cloud Computing; In this article the author discusses an idea recently presented by Microsoft researchers.
Phase Change Memory: Date - Aug 23, 2011; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; In this article the author revisits a previous article to expand upon a new memory technology.
Silicon (Part 1): Date - Jun 09, 2011; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; In this article the author explores how silicon is used in the electronic components of computer hardware.
QuickPath Interconnect: Date - Mar 17, 2011; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; In this article the author discusses Intel's QuickPath technology and how it relates to HyperTransport.
Single Chip Cloud Computer: Date - Feb 03, 2011; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Cloud Computing; In this article the author discusses Intel's new 1000 core processor.
Direct Memory Access: Date - Nov 09, 2010; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; This article discusses common architectures used to implement direct memory access.
Intel’s Hyper-Threading Technology: Date - Oct 05, 2010; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; Taking a deep dive into multi-core CPUs and Multithreading, building up on previous articles to discuss Intel technology called Hyper-Threading.
Storage Configurations: Date - Sep 14, 2010; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; In this article the author explains three common network storage configurations.
Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks: Date - Jul 27, 2010; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; A short description of each of the six original RAID architectures. Introducing some of the common terminology associated with RAID and computer storage in general.
Why is FusionIO so awesome?: Date - Jul 13, 2010; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; An overview of solid state drive technology and an explanation on how innovation (specifically Fusion IO’s innovation) is reducing some of these limitations.
Internet Routing: More Complicated Than You Thought: Date - May 25, 2010; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; Taking a deep dive into internet routing.
Specialized Router Operating Software: Date - Apr 08, 2010; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; Various operating systems used on network routing hardware; focussing on large-scale implementations.
WiMax vs. LTE: Part 3: Date - Feb 02, 2010; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols; Concluding the three part series by predicting a winner of the competition between WiMax and LTE.
WiMax vs LTE: Part 2 LTE: Date - Jan 12, 2010; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols; In part two of the series, the author discusses Long Term Evolution as a competitor to WiMax.
WiMax (Part 1): Date - Nov 26, 2009; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols; A three part series on 3G wireless broadband by discussing WiMax.
The evolution and future of Wi-Fi (Part 2): Date - Oct 06, 2009; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols; Discussing the present state of Wi-Fi technology, 802.11n.
The evolution and future of Wi-Fi (Part 1): Date - Sep 10, 2009; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Network Protocols; Wi-Fi began in 1997. Today, the technology has evolved and we now have 802.11n. This article describes some of the basics of this new technology, accompanied by a short outline of its evolution.
Fiber Optics: Date - May 19, 2009; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; Taking a deep dive into Fibre Optics. Discussing their importance in the world today.
HyperTransport: Date - Apr 15, 2009; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; Data transfer capability is the limiting factor towards overall system performance. Here is a solution towards this performance issue.
The Arithmetic Logic Unit: Date - Feb 26, 2009; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; How a processor performs logic and arithmetic operations.
Processor Affinity: Date - Jan 27, 2009; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Windows Vista; How to take advantage of multiple cores while using applications that are single threaded.
Cache Coherency: Date - Dec 18, 2008; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; Cache coherency as it relates to multi-core processors.
Multi-core Programming: Taking Advantage of Multi-cores: Date - Nov 06, 2008; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; A deeper look into the world of multithreading and highlighting some ways which can alleviate some of the difficulties developing a well threaded application.
OSI Reference Model: Layer 7 Hardware: Date - Oct 21, 2008; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; A continuation in a series; this article will discus the seventh layer of the OSI Reference Model from a hardware perspective.
OSI Reference Model: Layer 6 Hardware: Date - Oct 02, 2008; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; We will discuss the sixth layer, the Presentation Layer, which is the first layer concerned with transmitting data across a network at a more abstract level than just ones and zeros.
OSI Reference Model: Layer 5 Hardware: Date - Sep 03, 2008; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; This article discusses the fifth layer of the OSI Reference Model, called the Session layer. This layer is responsible for the management of sessions between two communicating end points.
OSI Reference Model: Layer 4 Hardware: Date - Aug 05, 2008; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; The previous articles in the series have discussed the first three layers of the OSI Reference Model. We will now discuss the fourth layer; the Transport layer.
OSI Reference Model: Layer 3 Hardware: Date - Jul 01, 2008; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; A discussion of the third layer of the OSI reference model, focusing mostly on routers and why they are usually placed in this layer.
OSI Reference Model: Layer 2 Hardware: Date - Jun 04, 2008; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; A discussion of the second layer of the OSI reference model from a hardware perspective.
OSI Reference Model: Layer 1 hardware: Date - May 08, 2008; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; A description of layer 1 of the OSI reference model and the hardware which relates to that layer.
High Assurance Strategies: Date - Apr 10, 2008; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; How to set up a high assurance network taking into account security and proper high availability measures.
Graphic Cards: Date - Mar 20, 2008; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; An overview of graphic cards, why they are important in some businesses, and some common features.
Batteries: Date - Dec 18, 2007; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; Explanation of common battery technologies seen in the computer industry.
Computer Cooling Technologies: Date - Nov 22, 2007; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; An overview of some different computer cooling technologies and an introduction to some of the issues involved when attempting to limit your network's energy usage.
Multi-Core CPUs: Date - Oct 23, 2007; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; Topics related to the adoption of multi-core CPUs.
Memory and Storage - Part 3: Bus Specifications: Date - Sep 11, 2007; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; Understanding how memory is connected to the CPU and how it can be manipulated.
Memory and Storage - Part 2: New Memory Technologies: Date - Aug 02, 2007; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; Data storage up-and-coming technologies
Memory and Storage - Part 1: Date - Jul 17, 2007; Section - Articles & Tutorials / Common for all OSes; Common forms of data storage, up-and-coming technologies and common memory addressing protocols.
Copper and Glass: A Guide to Network Cables: Date - May 08, 2007; Section - Articles & Tutorials / General Networking; A high level overview of twisted pair cables, Coax cables, and Fibre optic cables.