New GS top-of-the-line machines from Compaq

 London 16 May 00 Compaq Computer Corporation launched of its new high-end AlphaServer GS series systems. The GS series consists of high-end 8-, 16- and 32-way servers running the Tru64 UNIX and OpenVMS operating systems. Targeting dot-coms as well as customers in telecommunications, high-performance technical computing, healthcare and financial services, the new AlphaServers are optimized to support the most demanding e-business applications and customer environments. With over 200 systems already sold, Compaq anticipates $1 billion in revenue from AlphaServer GS series sales during 2000 and expects to double its Unix market share within target markets in the next three to four years.

The new AlphaServers utilize a unique, modular design that supports 8-way (AlphaServer GS80), 16-way (AlphaServer GS160), and 32-way (AlphaServer GS320) configurations, based on the Alpha EV67 731 MHz processor. The central component of their architecture is based on up to four EV67 processors, used as "building blocks," and a Global Switch. Each Quad Building Block (QBB) consists of four CPUs, four memory arrays with up to 32 GB capacity (up to a total of 1/4 TB in AlphaServer GS320 systems), one 6.4 GB local switch bandwidth and 8 PCI buses with 28 PCI options with 1.6 GB/second of I/O bandwidth. Multiple QBBs are connected together easily to create larger systems. The larger the system configuration, the greater the bandwidth.

AlphaServer GS systems are enhanced by the latest versions of Tru64 UNIX V5.1 and TruCluster Server V5.1, OpenVMS and OpenVMS Galaxy software, as well as Linux. A unique partitioning architecture enables multiple operating systems to run concurrently, allowing customers to run multiple versions of the same or different operating systems on a single server.

The new AlphaServer GS series systems offer the most robust performance and highest availability of any RISC server on the market today, surpassing offerings from Sun, HP and IBM. Early adopters of the new AlphaServer GS series include e-businesses such as E*Trade, Northern Light and Lycos.

Designed for customers experiencing explosive growth in the following highly demanding markets, Compaq's AlphaServer GS series systems provide:

  • E-commerce/Internet scalability to accommodate business growth and varying traffic patterns, as well as availability and manageability to ensure systems are "always on"
  • Business/E-applications manageability of massive amounts of data, support of customer requirements for input, storage and inquiry, and ability of applications to run in record time with Very Large Memory
  • Telecommunications ultra high availability for business-critical applications, addressing wireless demands of telecommunications providers, plus flexibility as an ideal server consolidation platform
  • High-Performance Technical Computing performance to handle the most complex computing tasks in record time (e.g., Using Compaq AlphaServers, Celera Genomics recently completed the sequencing phase of the genome from one human being.)
  • Financial Services and Manufacturing dynamic response to meet unpredictable system demands and critical uptime requirements
  • Healthcare the required reliability and availability that hospitals need for absolute 24x7 uptime

The new AlphaServer systems have already shipped to a limited number of customers, with revenue shipments beginning in June for the AlphaServer GS160 and GS320, and 3rd quarter for the AlphaServer GS80. Pricing will vary based on configuration, starting at less than $100,000 for an AlphaServer GS80, up to over $1M for an AlphaServer GS320 system. As an example, an AlphaServer GS320 with 16 GB memory, 16 processors will be $831K (US List).

 

Ad Emmen

[News on Advanced IT]   [Calendar]   [Analysis]   [IT in Medicine]