* HP launches HP Integrity NonStop server, furthers march to Itanium
HP’s switch from its PA-RISC processors to Intel Itanium continues unabated with the introduction of the HP Integrity NonStop server that can scale up to 4,080 processors.
HP’s highly fault-tolerant NonStop computer was formerly based on the MIPS processor, which Compaq acquired from Tandem on 1997. MIPS is a RISC-based processor architecture developed by MIPS Technologies.
The new NonStop, which starts at $400,000, is HP’s most expensive and scalable computer. HP has a lot riding on the Itanium processor, which it helped develop with Intel. The company claims it nearly doubled its revenues from Itanium-based servers in the first quarter of this year.
The new server offers seven nines of availability (99.99999%) or .05 min (3 seconds) downtime a year, making it an excellent candidate for organizations such as 911 dispatches or the telecommunications industry that need continuous uptime.
Last week, HP also announced enhancements to another server that will gradually be migrated to the Itanium platform. The HP 9000 includes new PA-8900 processors and the ability to upgrade to Itanium 2 processors. The PA-8900 boasts a 15% performance boost than its predecessor, the PA-8800. In addition, HP Superdome users will now be able to mix and match PA-8900 and Itanium 2 processors in the same box.
The PA-8900 is the last iteration of HP’s PA-RISC platform. From now on out, HP’s servers will be based on the Itanium.
HP will also add virtualization capability to the HP 9000 line of servers for customers who want to consolidate applications on a single platform. The capability will come through a patch to the HP-UX 11i v2 operating system. Called Virtual Partitions, or vPars, users will be able to install more than one copy of HP-UX on an Itanium-based HP Integrity server.
