* Systems vendors put Intel's dual-core Xeon processors in their servers
HP, IBM, Rackable Systems and MPC last week announced upgrades of their respective servers using Intel’s newest Xeon processors.
The Intel Xeon 5100 – codenamed Woodcrest – delivers as much as 125% better performance than previous dual-core Xeon processors, and as much as 60% better performance than x86-based systems from AMD, according to Intel’s claims. The use of full-buffered dual in-line memory allows better throughput and reliability, characteristics necessary when using virtualization technologies.
Intel will ship the next processor – the 5000 series, codenamed Dempsey – in June of this year. Dempsey, Intel claims, will only consume a maximum of 65 watts.
HP announced that its ProLiant and BladeSystem servers will be powered by Intel’s latest dual-core processors. HP has enhanced its ProLiant and BladeSystem servers with the addition of Serial Attached SCSI drive technology, increased memory capacity and remote “lights-out” access. The company also provides the HP ProLiant Essentials Server Migration Pack: Physical to ProLiant edition, which lets customers migrate any x86-based Microsoft Windows server to the new 5000 and 5100 platforms.
IBM too stepped up to the plate with the introduction of the IBM System x3500, which features 3.0 GHz and 3.2 GHz performance and 4MB of L2 cache memory. The company also announced the x3650 servers that operate at 3.0 GHz or 3.2 GHz and the x3550 server, which is a dense server for data center environments.
Rackable Systems announced that servers using the Xeon 5000 series processor – codenamed Dempsey – are available. This processor has been integrated across Rackable’s family of servers. The 95-watt processor will allow twice the performance with less power than current single-core Intel Xeon processors.
Servers using the lower wattage and higher performing dual core Xeon 5100 series processor – codenamed Woodcrest – are expected to be available June 26. The 5100 delivers up to three times the performance per watt and two times the performance of a single-core Xeon processor, according to Rackable’s claims.
MPC announced that it will support the Intel dual-core Xeon processors in its NetFRAME server products.
