Bull Unveils World's Fastest UNIX Server, Upgrades Mid-range UNIX Line; Adds New Solutions for e-Enterprise Computing - Product Announcement

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, Oct 11, 1999

Bull marked an industry milestone Monday with the introduction of the world's fastest UNIX server, the Escala EPC2400. The company also strengthened the mid-range of its Escala family of symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) 64-bit servers and added a host of new software solutions targeting e-commerce and other applications. All server and software solutions are available immediately.

The new high end of the Escala range is the EPC2400, which offers exceptional performance through the combination of the high-speed 450 MHz RS64 III PowerPC processor, 24-way SMP scalability and large memory. The new the E230 is a best-in-class 64-bit mid-range server with up to two 64-bit PowerPC RS64 II processors designed for e-commerce, ERP, data marts and demanding workgroup applications. Also announced is the Escala T430, a powerful deskside server that delivers outstanding business value and cost-effective performance to meet the needs of small/medium businesses and departments of larger enterprises.

The Escala EPC2400 runs AIX version 4.3.3 - developed in cooperation with IBM -- which contains important new features such as workload management and other performance enhancements. The new systems also include enhanced high availability (HA), UNIX/NT interoperability, enhanced COBOL for UNIX, and storage management. The E230 and T430 run AIX version 4.3.2, and are currently under qualification with AIX version 4.3.3.

"These announcements confirm Bull's unwavering commitment to provide customers with business-critical solutions based on the industry's most advanced and powerful UNIX systems," said Marilyn Guhr, director of marketing & sales support for Bull's North America Server Division. "Our goal at the high-end of the Escala line is to address rapidly evolving markets such as enterprise e-business, server consolidation and data center renewal. At the same time, we're meeting the needs of customers undertaking enterprise-wide deployment of large ERP, OLTP, database and Internet applications."

New Escala Systems Deliver Optimum Performance, Scalability, Flexibility With three and a half times the power of the Escala EPC1200A, the previous high-end model, the Escala EPC2400 e-Enterprise server is positioned as the ideal enterprise data center for businesses that have large data amounts to manage with access to an increasing number of users. It is ideally suited for the most demanding heavy-duty applications in the domains of e-commerce, decision support, ERP solutions, data warehouse, supply chain management, customer relationship management and for large-scale consolidation. It is field upgradeable from the Escala EPC1200A, and Bull offers special pricing allowances for doing so.

The EPC2400 is estimated at 120,000 tpm; 40,161 SPECweb; and 16,640 SAP SD users. It incorporates Escala's industry-leading Reliability, Availability and Serviceability (RAS) techniques, leveraging such components as:

--Very high speed PowerPC RS64III processor at 450 MHz

--Flexible expandability with up to 24 processors per node and up to 32 nodes per cluster

--Up to 64 GB internal memory in 1 GB, 2 GB, 4GB, 8GB or 16 GB increments; plus L2 Cache

--19GB/s system bandwidth

--Storage Area Network (SAN) connection through Fibre Channel

The new Escala E230 64-bit mid-range enterprise server is highly competitive in price/performance, and delivers a best-in-class performance of 9000 tpm with Oracle. It is the ideal server to run Web applications and business intelligence and data mart applications as well as small-to-medium scale database and OLTP use in departments and small businesses.

Escala E230 delivers security features such as Error Checking & Correcting (ECC), hot swappable disks, redundant fans, redundant power, built-in service processor & modem for auto-reboot, and RAID capabilities. Like all Escala E & T models, it has Bull's unique "Native HA" feature that provides disk mirroring and automatic takeover between two systems, without the need to purchase an external RAID system.

Disaster recovery solutions, HA software, Fibre Channel and EMC & Clariion industry-leading storage subsystems are available on Escala E230. Thanks to management features integrated in the AIX operating system and WatchWare -- the pre-installed system management tool that displays system status and its environment through colored indicators - the Escala E230 delivers optimum system and application operation.

The Escala E230 includes the following performance features:

--Up to two 64-bit RS64 II processors at 262MHz --Concurrent support of 32-bit & 64-bit applications --Up to 4 GB Memory ECC SDRAM; 4MB ECC L2 Cache --Up to 218 GB internal disk capacity --Up to 12 bays for hot swappable disks; up to 5 bays for media --Easy on-site upgrade kit from current Escala E --9 PCI slots --SAN connection through Full Fibre Channel.

The new Escala T430 is a compact deskside model, offering a sizeable jump in performance with regard to the current Escala T series machines. Performance features include: