IBM has unveiled a range of servers that it says will
provide industry-leading price performance in blade, desk side, and
rack-mounted systems.
IBM says its Quad Core Module systems are the industry’s only
four-core processor module and are designed to offer clients the
performance, reliability features and flexibility of a Power5+
system, while being priced competitively with x86-based
systems.
Additionally, says IBM, clients will get virtualisation,
improved RAS features and what the company boasts is a proven track
record for running some of the world’s most demanding applications.
Designed and priced specifically for mid-sized businesses, the
System p5 Express machines are attributed with outperforming the
competition on workloads including transaction processing,
high-performance computing, Java business operations, SAP and
floating point.
The servers offer optional Advanced Power Virtualisation (APV),
which includes Micro-Partitioning technology and Virtual I/O Server
(VIOS) V1.3 to help drive system efficiency and utilisation. System
p5 express servers with APV also support Integrated Virtualisation
Manager (IVM), a Web-based tool that allows clients to set up and
manage virtualisation, and also includes IBM Director for
comprehensive
platform management of heterogeneous systems from a simple,
graphical interface.
At the power end of the portfolio is the System p5 505Q Express,
a compact 1U 4-core server using IBM’s Power5+ QCM (Quad Core
Module) technology. The 505Q Express, along with its siblings, the
System p 5, 505, 510, 510Q, 520, 520Q, 550 and 550Q, are powered by
IBM’s Power 5+ processors. There are two new lines of entry System
p servers.
IBM has also updated its line of Quad Core systems – the first
in the industry with four cores per socket – with the new 1.65 GHz
Power5+ Quad Core Module, delivering tremendous performance density
and value at prices on par with less capable commodity servers.
IBM has also introduced a 2.1 GHz model of its 2 & 4-core
system System p5 550 Express and the BladeCenter JS21 Express blade
server, designed with the latest PowerPC 970MP processor
technology.