Unisys brings first true 'on demand' servers to Intel world

Enterprise Networks & Servers, Jul 2005

Unisys has taken the capacity on demand strength of its Unix competitors and brought it to the world of Intelbased servers

Unisys is shipping a "Real Time Capacity" (RTC) series of its ES7000 servers - an industry first for customers running Intel-based servers on Windows or Linux, giving customers the ability to scale their computing power as their business needs evolve.

Each Unisys ES7000 RTC series server is shipped with surplus capacity that can be activated - and paid for - when and if it is needed.

Building on its heritage in the mainframe business and leadership in bringing enterprise capabilities to industry standard environments, Unisys is using the new series of servers to capitalize on what Unisys Systems and Technology President Leo Daiuto, says is a growing trend that sees dwindling popularity of Unix/RISC as a result of increased adoption of Intel's microprocessors with both Microsoft's Windows platform and Linux operating systems in the data center.

"Our clients now have the option to manage and prepare for peak usage or unexpected growth while minimizing the need to purchase equipment that does not provide an immediate and significant return on investment," Daiuto said. "With ES7000 Real Time Capacity series servers, we are changing what people expect of Intel-based servers in the enterprise by providing clients the ability to manage their purchasing, and their processing, more efficiently than ever before possible in the open computing space. It is server capacity when you need it, not when you don't."

Daiuto said Unisys ES7000 RTC series servers are a key part of Unisys strategy to help its clients build real time infrastructures - infrastructures with the flexibility and responsiveness to adapt to changing business demands efficiently and cost-effectively.

The new series of servers adds to a growing portfolio of technologies and services at the heart of the company's 3D Visible Enterprise strategy, which Daiuto says is designed to give clients greater visibility into the cause-and-effect relationships between strategy, process, applications and infrastructure.

Helping to drive growth

Simon Witts, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Enterprise and Partner Group, said businesses have a critical need for IT infrastructure solutions that help drive growth while controlling costs, which becomes a more difficult challenge in the face of change.

"In bringing capabilities like 'capacity on demand' to Windows servers, Unisys will help customers operate highly efficient data centers under any circumstances and meet their business objectives."

Traditionally, IT managers have been required to place expensive up-front bets to meet unpredictable processing demands by building IT infrastructures that are large enough to handle occasional peak usage requirements and to accommodate anticipated, yet uncertain business growth.

Cost of missing the mark

Daiuto said underestimating capacity often requires a disruptive and expensive fix, easily causing a catastrophic interruption in the business.

"Overestimating computing demand requires a company to invest in expensive capital equipment that may never be needed. Unisys ES7000 RTC series servers overcome both of these problems by allowing customers to build an IT infrastructure that is optimized for their current needs, yet ready to scale in a matter of minutes if increased demand dictates.

"In addition to providing a better solution for managing computing capacity, Unisys ES7000 RTC series servers allow budget flexibility by reallocating incremental growth-related costs from capital investment to operating expenses - a major benefit for CIOs and CFOs constrained by arduous budgetary processes.

According to analyst group Gartner Inc., organizations with more than 200 servers will waste between $500,000 and $720,000 annually by 2007 supporting underutilized application/server combinations (0.8 probability).

One way to reduce this baseline cost is to eliminate poorly utilized hardware and software associated with older, seldomused applications. Gartner estimates that this practice can reduce the IT budget by as much as 20 percent."

Self-service capacity management

Some increased demands on a company's IT infrastructure - such as seasonal business peaks experienced in the retail, financial services, transportation and healthcare industries, as well as the public sector - can be easily anticipated. Other events, such as the effect of the launch of a new ERP or CRM application or even an acquisition or merger, are more difficult to plan for accurately.

Daiuto said the Unisys ES7000 RTC series servers are designed to help clients deal with any of these situations - by sharing the financial risk between Unisys and the customer.

Reusch on bandwagon

Radomir Zamurovic, chief technology officer of Ruesch International, a provider of international payment and global currency services, said his company is already on the bandwagon.

"Ruesch International is growing and expanding," Zamurovic explained. "The Real Time Capacity offering from Unisys provides a cost-effective way to scale up high-end servers and to rapidly respond to changes in the marketplace.