IBM unveils dual-core Opteron

IBM last week unveiled its second AMD Opteron-based server, which it claims is the first to use AMD’s dual-core technology.

The eServer 326 will join IBM’s eServer 325, a one- to two-processor server that runs Linux and is customarily used in clustered environments. The 326 is the first two-way server to make use of AMD’s 32/64-bit extension technology, which lets users casually migrate their 32-bit applications to 64-bit as necessary.

IBM says the two-way market is the sweet spot, representing over 65% of the x86 market. In the second quarter of 2004 the two-way market grew 19% year-over-year, IBM says.

The eServer 326 uses IBM’s Xtended Design Architecture to give it better reliability and performance. It incorporates mainframe-inspired features such as Calibrated Vectored Cooling, which optimizes airflow for more powerful chips.

The eServer 326 also is rack-mountable and designed for compute-intensive applications such as life sciences analysis and database management. It offers a choice of hot-swappable SCSI or Serial ATA drives.

The IBM eServer 326 will ship this month, starting at $2,200. It will support Red Hat Linux, Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Server and Windows 2003 Server.

IBM is also planning to ship in November a version of its eServer 1350 cluster that would use eServer 326 servers.