IBM has introduced the first PC server based on the Intel Xeon MP
processor and a chipset derived from its mainframe and high-end
systems.
Three years in development, the new eServer x360 uses a compact
rack that IBM claims will offer users 40% more processors per rack
while taking up a third less floor space than competing systems.
The server runs Intel's new Xeon MP processor and IBM's XA-32
chipset - code named "Summit".
Tikiri Wanduragala, senior server consultant at IBM, said the
Summit chipset uses both IBM's "silicon on" insulator and copper
technologies from its high-end systems. This allows the chipset to
run cooler and faster.
Wanduragala said the architecture had been developed for high
reliability. "We are providing memory mirroring and Chipkill, which
is essentially Raid 3 disk recovery for memory," he said.
With these features Wanduragala believed it would be possible to
run applications reliably directly from memory rather than from
hard disk that is the norm today. "While today's disk access is
around 10 milliseconds, it would be possible to configure eServer
with 5Gbytes disk-in memory, which would make access 1,000 times
quicker," he said.
Another aspect of the design is what IBM describes as the RXE-100
Remote Expansion Enclosure, which supports PCI peripherals for both
PC and IBM's RS/6000 P Series Unix servers.
In the future, IBM said, it would be possible to configure systems
to share PCI peripherals between Unix and PC servers, giving
considerable cost savings in mixed PC and Unix environments.