Dell Introduces Next-Generation High-End Servers; PowerEdge 6400, 6450 Servers Optimized for Internet Data Center and Business-Critical Applications - Product Announcement

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, April 24, 2000

Dell Computer Corporation (Nasdaq:DELL), the world's leading direct computer systems company and the No. 2 PC server provider in the world(1), Monday announced immediate availability of Dell PowerEdge 6400 and Dell PowerEdge 6450 servers, which are designed to power the Internet infrastructure for e-commerce and other business-critical applications.

The new servers are optimized for today's Internet businesses, providing the reliability, performance and scalability demanded by the rapidly evolving e-commerce environment and with leading price/performance value.

Because of Dell's focus on the Internet infrastructure, the new PowerEdge servers are packaged in a thin form factor offering high rack-density, as well as the performance and expandability required to function as high-end Web servers, an e-commerce application servers, or database servers connected to corporate manufacturing and finance systems. They also are well suited for traditional business-critical applications including i2 Technologies Inc.'s industry-leading supply chain optimization software. Also, with certification of the Dell PowerEdge 6400 and 6450 servers with SAP, Dell will continue its leadership on mySAP.com implementations.

"Our new PowerEdge 6400 and 6450 servers extend our line of award-winning, rack-dense servers and are designed to help our customers tackle their largest data center workloads," said Michael Lambert, senior vice president, Dell Enterprise Systems Group. "Dell is focusing on the Internet infrastructure and the PowerEdge 6400 and 6450 servers play an important part in our strategy."

System Specifications The 7U PowerEdge 6400 server (12.25 inches high) is a high-performance, reliable, integrated system for use in a distributed environment or with the Internet infrastructure. The 4U PowerEdge 6450 server (seven inches high) is intended for applications where rack density and centralized data management are crucial.

Both servers support up to four Intel Pentium III Xeon processors and up to 8GB of RAM for better performance on memory-hungry applications such as business-to-business e-commerce services, customer relationship management (CRM), e-support and database applications. Products available today come with either the 550 MHz/512 KB, 550 MHz/1 MB or 550 MHz/2 MB processors that provide scalable performance for growing applications or fluctuating workloads, like those found in e-commerce environments. These servers will support 700 MHz/1 MB, 700 MHz/2 MB and 800 MHz/2 MB Pentium III Xeon processors when they are made available from Intel later this year. The Dell PowerEdge 6400 and 6450 servers offer "chipkill" technology, which enables a server to run even when memory modules go bad, allowing administrators to replace the faulty parts when convenient. Dell plans to offer PowerEdge servers based on Intel's 64-bit Itanium processor later this year.

The PowerEdge 6400 and 6450 servers include the ServerWorks' Enterprise ServerSet III HE chipset, which improves overall system availability and reliability. Each server also ships with an embedded dual-channel Ultra3 (Ultra160) SCSI controller for better performance and throughput on I/O bound applications, without taking up a PCI expansion slot. Both servers also offer hot-pluggable redundant fans and power supplies, and support Hot Plug PCI capabilities. Additional information about the PowerEdge 6400, PowerEdge6450 and other Dell PowerEdge server products is available at http://www.dell.com/us/en/biz/products/series_rkopt_servers.htm.> To take advantage of the growing market for Linux-based servers, the PowerEdge 6400 and PowerEdge 6450 servers will support the Red Hat Linux 6.2 operating system. Customers also can order the PowerEdge 6400 and PowerEdge 6450 servers with Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server and Novell's NetWare operating system factory installed.

Added Storage for Growing Needs The new PowerEdge servers also are optimized to support Dell's clustering and storage solutions. Both servers can be connected to a Dell PowerVault Storage Area Network (SAN) where up to 16 TeraBytes of Fibre-channel disk storage can be shared between multiple Windows NT and Novell Netware servers. For environments where availability can't be compromised, the PowerEdge 6400 and 6450 can be clustered together, in like pairs, and connected to the Dell PowerVault 650F Fibre-channel, external RAID storage system or a Dell PowerVault external SCSI storage subsystem. Dell continues to improve capacity and density for Enterprise customers as is demonstrated by being the first major systems manufacturer to ship one-inch hard drives with 36 GB capacities.

Also Monday, Dell announced it is shipping its first standards-compliant, copper-based Gigabit Ethernet Network Interface Card (NIC). This adapter, called the ACEnic 10/100/1000BASE-T Server Adapter, is a 1000BaseT Gigabit Copper Transceiver and is available on most of Dell's PowerEdge Servers, including the Dell PowerEdge 6400 and 6450 servers.