News Briefs - Hardware:

Fujitsu Rolls Out PRIMERGY RXI300 Two-Way Rack Server

Fujitsu Computer Systems rolled out a new 64-bit dual-processor Intel Itanium 2 rack server, extending its Itanium-based product portfolio. Ideal for space- constrained data centers, the new PRIMERGY RXI300 server is two height units (2U) and accommodates one or two Itanium 2 processors operating at 1.40 GHz, 1.50 GHz or 1.60 GHz. The cost-effective 1.40 GHz and 1.60 GHz processors are optimized for dual-processor servers and incorporate a 3 MB third-level cache. The high-performance 1.50 GHz processor, code-named Madison, features a 6 MB third-level cache to greatly improve processor utilization.

"Fujitsu is a worldwide leader in the Intel, Linux, and UNIX architecture servers with industry leading reliability and extensive availability features," said Richard McCormack, vice president of product and solutions marketing for Fujitsu Computer Systems. "The new Itanium-based PRIMERGY RXI300 server further demonstrates our commitment to offer a broad range of solutions so our customers can tackle their most demanding business- critical applications."

The PRIMERGY RXI300 server was developed specially for scientific and technical applications, enabling users to simultaneously process huge quantities of transactions, while producing better analyses and higher quality image processing. The server's outstanding performance also means commercial applications run faster and more efficiently. Integrated RAID-1 functionality allows the mirroring of important data for improved security and availability, while the three PCI-X slots and 2 GB Ethernet ports add to the machine's capabilities. Its compact form factor makes the server ideal for data center environments: at only 2U, up to 23 systems can be integrated into a 46U rack.

With the addition of the PRIMERGY RXI300 two-way rack server, Fujitsu now has two Itanium-based servers in its lineup. Early this year the company began shipping the PRIMERGY RXI600 server, a high-performance, four-way rack server ideal for large databases, business intelligence and data warehousing.

"Fujitsu is poised to capture a large piece of the expanding Itanium 2 market with its two-way and four-way rack servers," said Vernon Turner, group vice president and general manager, Enterprise Computing, IDC. "These rack servers are powerful, flexible and scalable IT solutions that can help businesses looking to migrate their entire infrastructure to a 64-bit environment, including operating system, database and most critical applications."

There is increasing support for Itanium 2 architecture and 64-bit computing in both Linux and Windows operating environments. The introduction of the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 64-bit edition and the availability of 64-bit versions from SUSE and RedHat Linux provide a good basis to increase the high- end server market penetration of the Itanium 2 processor architecture. Major software providers are backing this architecture and can now offer complete 64-bit solution stacks for business critical computing environments. The Itanium 2 processor is also well suited for large ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions, which benefit from the processor's high performance and 64-bit memory addressing. In fact, the PRIMERGY RXI300 rack server is already officially certified for SAP R/3 under Windows and Linux(1).

The PRIMERGY RXI300 is also fully compatible with existing computing environments. The full binary compatibility of the Intel Itanium 2 processor family with 32-bit hardware means existing software can run on the Itanium 2- based PRIMERGY RXI300 server. Its performance running these applications is enhanced by the Microsoft IA32 Execution Layer, which optimizes the processing speed of 32-bit applications for Itanium-based systems.

Technical highlights

• New value-optimized Intel Itanium 2 processors (with 1.4 GHz/3 MB L3 cache or 1.6 GHz/3 MB L3 cache)
• High-performance Intel Itanium 2 processor (with 1.5 GHz/6 MB 3rd level cache)
• Up to 16 GB two-way interleaved DDR SDRAM with memory scrubbing and Chipkill functionality
• Integrated dual-channel LSI Ultra320 SCSI controller with RAID-1 functionality for connecting up to two hot-plug hard drives
• Externally accessible Ultra320 SCSI channel for connecting external tape drives
• Three I/O slots (one PCI-X 64-bit/133 MHz and two PCI-X 64-bit/100 MHz)
• Two onboard Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports
• Base model equipped with CD/DVD-ROM combo drive
• Standard redundant hot-plug fans (5+1)
• Two standard 350 Watt hot-plug power supply modules (redundancy available with optional third hot-plug power supply module)
• Rack housing of only 2U

PRIMERGY servers are a key product line in the Fujitsu TRIOLE strategy for optimized IT. Aiming to meet the needs for open-standard IT infrastructure systems and improved business continuity and efficiency, the TRIOLE strategy is designed to help corporations and public institutions expand the scope of their activities, quickly set up new operations, achieve system stability and reduce total cost of ownership.