IBM Corp. announced two additions to its eServer xSeries product line on Monday based on Intel Corp.’s new Xeon MP and Xeon DP processors and provided a snapshot preview of several other new servers based on Intel’s latest Itanium 2 processors.
Available immediately are the eServer x360 and eServer x255. The x360 is a single-processor configuration that includes four Intel Xeon MP processors at 2GHz and 1GB of memory. The x360 configuration starts at US$7,059, which does not include a hard drive or operating systems. Also based on the Intel Xeon processor, the 2GHz eServer x255 has 512MB of memory. IBM said the x360 may not include a hard drive or operating system. Pricing for the x255 was not available on Monday.
Big Blue also outlined additional servers that will be available over the next month.
The x445 will be the first to offer the new Itanium 2 processor. The new Intel Itanium processors add speed and cache to the 64-bit processor architecture, which, according to industry experts, is finally ready for mainstream takeoff.
The x445 model will offer eight processors, includes up to 64GB of memory per chassis and uses IBM’s latest version of its Enterprise X-Architecture (EXA) chipset. It is primarily used for server consolidation and connecting processors, the company said. The x445 is available July 1 with a base price of US$18,599. Singapore Polytechnic, an educational institute, has already selected the x445 to conduct its e-cell research project, the vendor said.
The eServer x450 includes 6MB of Layer 3 cache memory and uses 7-inches of standard rack space. The x450 starts at US$25,999 and will be released on July 18.
IBM also said that the new Intel Xeon processors would be available for several eServer and tower systems including the eServer x360 and x205. Its eServer xSeries systems are available on the company’s latest IBM Director systems and management software.
Also on Monday, Dell Computer Corp. unveiled its PowerEdge 3250 server that is also based on Intel’s new Itanium 2 processor and starts at US$5,999. The 8-node clustered PowerEdge configuration is listed at US$88,600. Dell will also offer Intel’s latest Xeon MP processor with up to 2.8GHz and 2MB of embedded cache on its PowerEdge 6650 and 6600 four-way servers priced at US$4,999 and US$5,499 respectively.
IBM in Markham, Ont. is online at www.ibm.com and Dell in Toronto is at www.dell.com.
