IBM Transforms Intel Servers With Its New Modular Architecture
Three Years in the Making, IBM eServer Breaks Price and Performance Barriers in the Data Center Environment
Armonk, NY - 13 Mar 2002 - IBM today announced a powerful eServer* system, breaking price and performance barriers that until now have generally kept large Intel®-processor-based servers out of the mainstream of corporate data center computing. The IBM eServer offers a "building-block"-style, highly reliable architecture that allows customers to pay for computing power incrementally as they need it, and is designed to support up to 16 processors and 64 GB of memory.(1)
The new IBM system, called the IBM eServer xSeries™ 440 with Enterprise X-Architecture™ technology, caps a three-year development effort to build an exceptionally powerful Intel-based machine, using industry standard technologies, that is designed to handle the core applications that power e-businesses. The x440 performs smoothly with the Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Datacenter Server product to offer our customers high reliability and scalability.
Industry leading flexibility for e-business
The IBM eServer x440 is aimed at e-businesses where it provides a platform for both
server consolidation and large, single system applications. The x440 can be used
as a single big server to run a large database for business intelligence, or to
consolidate many small "virtual servers" -- such as multiple e-mail servers -- under
one roof to reduce costs. The eServer x440 supports the Microsoft Windows® operating
system within a single SMP configuration, and also is designed to support up to
four physical partitions or up to 64 virtual partitions. Initial companies that
have received the IBM eServer x440 include Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, and Honeywell.
"At Morgan Stanley, we have been very interested in leveraging the commodity of Intel-based servers to support some of our application and infrastructure workload," said Richard Anfang, Managing Director of Morgan Stanley. "Working very closely with the IBM support team, we are hoping to utilize the power, reliability and scalability of the IBM eServer x440 system that are the minimum requirements for these distributed applications."
Powered by IBM's Enterprise X-Architecture technology, the x440 server is designed to scale to 16 Intel IA-32 Xeon™ processors MP -- twice the number of processors in an 8U system than the nearest competitor with a 7U system, and four times the processors of most other shipped Intel Xeon™-based systems.
"Three years ago, IBM set out to reinvent the high-end of Intel servers. Today we are delivering a groundbreaking product that addresses long held customer requirements in this Intel server segment," said William Zeitler, senior vice president and group executive, IBM Server Group. "Technology and mainframe qualities are very important at the high-end. IBM has an important advantage over vendors who assemble off-the-shelf components. They will be challenged to provide the scale and reliability that customers demand in this part of their e-business infrastructure."
Breaks the Price Barrier
IBM plans to offer customers a system designed to support a 16-way Intel-based server
capability at a fraction of the cost of a Unisys 16-way machine today. Priced at
just over $100,000, this IBM system with 32 GBs SDRAM, expected to be available
in July 2002, would cost about 78 percent less than an Unisys 16-way server, based
on current Unisys' prices as reported by Competitive Profiles. (2) Configured as
an 8-way box with 16 GBs SDRAM, the IBM x440 costs about 47 percent less than a
similarly configured Compaq 8-way system, based on current Compaq prices.(3) Customers
can also purchase a two-way IBM eServer x440 for as low as $18,500 with one 36 GB
hard drive included.
Benchmark Leader
IBM has proved its leadership in high end Intel servers by delivering superior results
on a wide-range of industry standard benchmarks:
"We are excited to see IBM plan to extend their xSeries line to 16-way in response to the accelerating customer demand for Windows-based systems in high-end, mission critical computing environments," Jim Allchin, Group Vice President, Platforms Group, at Microsoft Corp. "IBM's new modular xSeries combined with Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, delivers a solution that grows as customers' data center requirements change, at an aggressive price/performance."
Innovations of the new IBM eServer x440 include:
Building Block Scalability -- XpandOnDemand™ technology helps customers meet unexpected growth in their businesses. A simple "pay as you grow" configuration option, XpandOnDemand™ is an alternative to other expensive, complex offerings. With planned 16-way support from IBM, businesses can start with a single 4-way building-block and increase computing capacity to enable support for up to 16-processor systems using additional 4-processor modules when needed.
High Performance Scaling -- Powered by the new XceL4™ Server Accelerator Cache, which places frequently used data close to the microprocessors for better throughput, the xSeries 440 is optimized for peak performance on mission-critical e-business solution applications such as database, CRM, ERP, and business intelligence.
Density -- The IBM x440 offers the industry's densest large scale Intel Xeon™ -based server -- a compact 8U (14 inches) form factor that will support a fully configured 16-way server in a space one fifth the size (8U compared to 40U) of a competitive Unisys 16 way box.(7) In addition, IBM eServer x440 8-way system is 4U (7 inches) in size while the current 8-way Compaq, Dell and HP systems are 75% larger measuring at 7U (12.25 inches).(8)
Workload Consolidation -- System partitioning will provide customers with
a system designed to support 16 processors to run one operating system or be
divided into as many as 4 'physical' server partitions. With tools such as VMWare
ESX Server software, available separately from VMWare, Inc., the system designed
to support a 16 way processing system can be divided into 64 virtual partitions
that can run combinations of Microsoft® or other operating systems.(9)
Self-Healing Project eLiza™ Technologies -- Active Memory™ with memory mirroring
and Memory ProteXion™ help keep systems running through failures that would
otherwise bring an Intel-based system down. Other advanced self-healing features
such as Real Time Diagnostics, Software Rejuvenation and Chipkill™ technology
are designed to predict and repair potential problems without taking the server
off line or shutting it down.
Remote I/O -- The PCI-X I/O capacity is connected via high speed interconnect ports with technology borrowed from IBM's high-end eServer pSeries™ UNIX® systems. Remote I/O allows for a dozen PCI/PCI-X adapter slots to be added several yards away, outside the server, via high speed interconnect port for enhanced reliability and flexibility in expanding I/O devices like storage and networking controllers, fax/modems or specialized network interface cards for telecommunications environments.