First Glances: Servers Based On Nehalem Processor

Intel is calling Monday's processor launch the biggest ever, and server vendors were quick to agree.

Nearly all the tier-one and tier-two branded server vendors on Monday unveiled Nehalem-based servers ready to ship, while several custom server builders said they were ready to custom-build units for clients as soon as they placed their orders.

Common to all server vendors and their new rack-mount, blade and tower servers was an emphasis on not only the added performance from the new Xeon 5500 processor, but also their ability to significantly reduce power consumption and the data center footprint.

Turn the page for a first look at many of the new servers unveiled Monday.

Hewlett-Packard took the wraps off new Nehalem-based blade, rack-mount and tower servers with more than 1,000 individual SKUs in its ProLiant G6 family, plus related software and services, said John Gromala, director of product marketing for the company's Industry Standard Server division.

"It's the biggest launch in ProLiant history," Gromala said.

For the same workload, the new ProLiant G6 servers use only half the power of the current ProLiant G5 servers, Gromala said.

HP also added a collection of 32 smart sensors to dynamically adjust system components such as fans, memory and I/O processing; a choice of four power supplies; and HP Dynamic Power Capping, which allows customers to limit a server's power use.

"If they replace older servers with the G6 servers, they can get a return on investment over single-core servers in three to four months, or in 10 to 12 months for dual-core servers," he said.

HP on Monday unveiled five new Nehalem-based rack-mount servers, three new blade servers, two tower servers and a new line of workstations. Blade servers include the BL 280c with 12 memory DIMM slots, the BL 460c with 12 DIMM slots and room for two hard drives, and the BL 490c half-height blade with 18 DIMM slots and a solid state drive for booting.

HP also introduced its ProLiant Solution Central program for customers and solution providers that includes a number of social networking tools to help them take advantage of the new servers around customized solution blocks, such as Exchange for SMBs, Gromala said.

Most of the new servers are available for shipping, with two rack-mount and one blade model expected to ship within a few weeks.

IBM on Monday unveiled four Xeon 5500-based servers as well as a simplified IBM System Director management suite that helps manage multiple virtualized server environments.

The company introduced a new 1U and a new 2U rack-mount server. The two, which differ mainly in the number of hard drives that can be configured, include a new thermal design, new voltage regulators, a 92 percent efficient power supply and improved component integration to offer up to a 60 percent reduction in power when idle and 25 percent reduction when fully utilized.

That adds up to significant power savings, said Bob Galush, vice president for IBM's System x. "One could save $100 per year per server in power costs," Galush said.

Also new is the IBM BladeCenter HS22, a two-socket blade server with memory capacity of up to 96 GB. It is backward-compatible with existing BladeCenter chassis.

The company also unveiled the IBM System x iDataPlex dx362 M2, a very dense 1U rack-mount server for customers requiring extra performance, Galush said.

IBM also upgraded its System Director suite of software tools such as energy monitors, a Web-based user interface and integrated wizards for managing both physical and virtual servers across the entire range of IBM and non-IBM servers, Galush said.

With the Nehalem-based server launch, IBM also introduced several new management tools that will eventually be expanded across all new System x servers going forward, he said.

The new servers are currently available.

The BladeCenter HS22 ranges in price from $2,175 to $4,275, depending on configuration. The starting price for the 1U x3550 M2 ranges from $2,125 to $3,625, while the 2U x3650 M2 ranges from $2,399 to $4,379.

Dell on Monday launched five new Xeon 5500-based servers, including a two-socket tower server, 1U and 2U rack-mount servers with two sockets, and half-height and full-height blade servers. They are ready to ship.

All the new servers are channel-ready, said Sally Stevens, Dell's director of platform marketing.

"We've done extensive training of the channel," Stevens said. "The channel has become mainstream at Dell as we launch new platforms. Eventually the new servers will be available through distribution, but we need to check the timing."

With the new servers, Dell also introduced a new Image Direct for Servers service. This online tool lets customers create, test and manage server images faster than in the past, and converts physical servers to virtual servers and vice versa, Stevens said.

"You can have a consistent, stable deployment of system images across your entire server infrastructure," she said.

Every new server also includes Dell's new LifeCycle Controller, a management tool that replaces the CDs that typically ship with servers by loading all the drivers and diagnostic tools needed at the factory.

Also new is the Dell Management Console for managing servers, storage, desktop clients and printers, both from Dell and from competitors. It was designed in partnership with Symantec, and will be jointly sold by the two vendors, Stevens said.

Lenovo on Monday unveiled two new rack-mount dual-socket servers based on the Nehalem Xeon 5500 processors, including the 1U RD210 and 2U RD220. The 1U dual processor RD210 rack server fits the needs of space-conscious businesses without sacrificing performance, while the larger 2U RD220 rack server provides greater options for expandability, according to Lenovo.

The new servers were designed to offer customers high performance and ease of use, especially in virtual server environments, Lenovo said. They include streamlined set-up, built-in RAID configuration and auto-install for Linux operating systems.

Lenovo's new Nehalem servers also include a software suite to ease deployment by small and midsize businesses. The suite includes Easy Startup for deployment and Easy Manage to ease maintenance, the company said. Customers also can use such tools as ThinkPlus Productivity and the company's online data backup services. Customers also receive a 90-day free trial of Lenovo's ThinkPlus Priority support.

Supermicro on Monday unveiled and started shipping more than 50 different Nehalem-based server motherboards and more than 60 server chassis, enabling hundreds of potential server and workstation configurations, said Charles Liang, CEO.

"This will be the largest launch for Supermicro ever," Liang said. "We saw a lot of growth from 2004 to 2006. But this time, the transition to Nehalem is bigger than ever before."

Supermicro introduced 1U, 2U, 3U and 4U rack-mount servers as well as new tower servers configured with the Nehalem. Also new is the company's 2U Twin-Square server with four hot-swappable, dual-socket motherboards, giving the server a total of eight Xeon 5500 sockets, Liang said. "It's optimized for the high-performance computing and data center user," he said.

Supermicro has optimized some of its 1U and 4U Nehalem server SKUs for graphics performance for customers in the imaging, simulations and entertainment markets, Liang said. It also has optimized the Twin-Square for graphics for one customer by removing two of the motherboards and replacing them with high-end graphics controllers, he said.

Also available are 40-Gb InfiniBand and 10-Gb Ethernet connectivity solutions for its new servers, either as add-on devices or built into the motherboard, Liang said. The company will announce a Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) solution in the near future, he said.

Amax Information Technology, Fremont, Calif., launched 13 Nehalem-based ServMax custom-built servers.

James Huang, product marketing manager for Amax, said his company also plans to soon build storage appliances based on its Nehalem line featuring a choice of Microsoft Storage Server or Open-E software.

The new servers include four 1U rack-mount servers based on Intel and Supermicro platforms, three 2U rack-mount servers with room for eight or 12 hard drives, a 3U rack-mount server, a 4U rack-mount server, 10-blade and 14-blade blade servers, and tower servers and workstations.

Also new is a Nehalem-based version of Amax's Tesla Personal Supercomputer for the high-performance computing market.

The new servers can be custom-configured and ready to ship within five business days, Huang said.

"We've been eagerly waiting for this for a long time," he said.

Equus Computer Systems, Minneapolis, unveiled three Nehalem custom-built servers based on Intel's "Tylersburg" server platform and one based on the Supermicro platform, said Joe Toste, vice president of marketing.

Equus had some of its Nehalem servers installed in customers' enterprise data centers for evaluation, and found the servers to offer significantly higher energy efficiency and a smaller footprint, Toste said.

"This is a game-changing server release," he said. "This is one of the biggest things from Intel since it took the processor leadership back from AMD with its Woodcrest processors."

Intel has done a good job of making its processors available to system builders except for some of its highest-end models, Toste said. The vendor also has a range of seven different chassis models, but they are staggered in terms of availability.

"Overall, Intel has had good availability of components through the channel," he said.