IBM Launches World's Most Powerful Server; 'Regatta' Transforms the Economics of UNIX Servers at Half the Price of Competition

Business Wire, Oct 4, 2001

Business & High-Tech Editors

ARMONK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 4, 2001

IBM today introduced the world's most powerful UNIX server(1), crowning a five-year effort to deliver a new class of UNIX(2) system that incorporates microprocessor breakthroughs and mainframe technologies. At half the price of the just-released Sun Fire 15K(3), the IBM eServer(4) p690 -- code-named "Regatta" -- fundamentally transforms the economics of UNIX servers.

The IBM eServer p690 offers enterprises the most efficient platform for both server consolidation and large, single-system applications. When tackling the most complex problems, multiple p690 servers can be linked together to create supercomputers powered by more than 1,000 processors.

Initial p690 customers include Raytheon, Ahold Corporation, Telia Net, Tokyo Metro University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences.

"Five years ago, IBM set out to reinvent the UNIX server, and today we are delivering groundbreaking technologies never before seen in UNIX systems," said Rod Adkins, general manager, IBM eServer pSeries. "There is nothing in today's UNIX marketplace -- and on the horizon -- that begins to match its performance, reliability and flexibility to consolidate diverse workloads.

"IBM's server innovation doesn't stop here," Adkins added. "Our next step will be to leverage IBM's mainframe technology to reinvent the Intel-based high-end server market."

With fewer, more powerful processors, the eServer p690 achieves leadership business, scientific and Java performance benchmarks while delivering greater reliability and lower electricity, maintenance, operating and system administrator costs. Fewer processors also translates into lower cost of ownership, since many key software applications priced according to total number of processors are significantly less expensive to run on the eServer p690.

Key features include:

-- Server on a Chip -- IBM's POWER4 microprocessor, widely acknowledged to be
at least one generation ahead of competing chips, is the first "server on a
chip," containing two one-gigahertz-plus processors, a high-bandwidth system
switch, a large memory cache and I/O. This unique design enables the server to
conserve energy and dramatically outperform servers that have more than twice
as many processors.

-- Ultra-Dense Building Blocks -- The eServer p690 building block is a
palm-sized, eight-processor, multi-chip module with the equivalent processing
power of much larger system boards in competing high-end servers. As a result,
the IBM server packs more computing power in less floor space and consumes less
power than these other systems.

-- Virtualization -- The eServer p690 can either be operated as a single large
server or divided into as many as 16 "virtual" servers, running any combination
of the AIX 5L and Linux operating systems. The p690 offers the UNIX market's
most flexible and efficient use of processors, memory and I/O resources,
enabling customers to create virtual servers with a single processor or
multiple processors. By contrast, the "hard" partitions in competing systems
require at least four chips, which typically wastes valuable system resources
and degrades performance. The p690 will be able to dynamically reconfigure
partitions -- while still operating -- to meet changing workload demands(5).

-- Self-Healing Architecture -- Built with technology from IBM's Project eLiza
initiative, the eServer p690 is the industry's only UNIX server that offers
multiple layers of self-healing technologies that allow the server to continue
operating -- even through major failures and system errors. By contrast, other
high-end servers only offer manual hot-swapping of already-failed components or
simple failure isolation within a partition that may not prevent failures from
crashing applications.

The IBM eServer p690 runs AIX 5L, the industry's fastest-growing UNIX operating system, and is ready for 64-bit Linux, the popular open source operating system.

Pricing for the eServer p690 starts at $450,000 for an 8-way 1.1 GHz system with 8 GB memory and 36.4 GB of storage. The system will begin shipping in volume in December 2001.

IBM eServer p690 "Regatta" Facts

POWER4 Processor:

IBM's newest multi-chip module technology breakthrough was first

deployed in the IBM eServer z900 mainframe.

Information flows between the memory cache and the processor at

nearly 125 gigabytes per second -- the equivalent of moving 25

full-length DVD movies in a single second.

The POWER4 processor and ultra-dense multi-chip module are

scheduled to be introduced in the IBM eServer iSeries integrated

mainframe server for the mid-market in 2002.

Performance:

The eServer p690 achieves leading scores in key industry

benchmarks:

                                   IBM POWER4       Sun UltraSPARCIII

Commercial Perf.  (SPECint2000)    808              467

Technical Perf. (SPECfp2000)       1169             482

Java Processing (SPECJBB2000)      169,000 (16-way) 109,146 (24-way)

Self-Healing Architecture: