NEC rolls out fault-tolerant server

NEC last week introduced a fault-tolerant server for those who require maximum uptime.

The Express5800/340 Hb-R is a two- or four-processor server in which the processors run in lockstep and each CPU is redundant to the other. It gives 99.999% uptime according to NEC’s claims and can run Windows 2003 and Microsoft’s upcoming Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, which is being announced this week. The company says that 99.999% uptime would give users less than five minutes of downtime a year.

The Express 5800/340 Hb-R is rack-mounted and designed to run business-critical databases, CRM, ERP and SAP applications. It is also designed for server consolidation where, with Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, multiple applications could run on a single server. 

With the Express 5800/340 Hb-R, users can swap out CPUs for maintenance purposes without taking the server down. The server includes integrated management features that allow administrators to test, monitor and perform software upgrades remotely.

The server uses Xeon processors. The NEC server will compete with clusters of industry-standard servers and with Marathon Technologies’ FTvirtual Server 6.0, whose software adds fault tolerance to Intel servers.

NEC will add the 340 Hb-R to its line of Express 5800 servers, which run Linux and Windows and are highly available and fault-tolerant.

The server is shipping now and starts at $150,000 for a two-way system running at 2.8 GHz.