Fujitsu Siemens Computers PRIMERGY servers incorporating Intel`s Woodcrest Dual-Core Processors

Fujitsu Siemens Computers, the leading European IT provider, has announced the completion of the range of PRIMERGY dual-socket generation servers. After having introduced a series of new PRIMERGY S3 models deploying the latest Intel Bensley platform in May (and having been the first vendor to launch servers based on this platform), the company has announced the availability of the PRIMERGY TX300 S3 tower server and PRIMERGY BladeFrame running the new Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5160 sequence processors introduced by Intel.

These stand for improved performance and workload in combination with significantly lower power consumption. One key feature of the new servers is the built-in virtualisation capability of the processor which is supposed to significantly maximise server utilisation rates and to allow more applications to run on one machine.

Customers will not only benefit from the heightened performance and utilization rate, but will also gain the advantage of an easier management of the server that comes with the latest PRIMERGY generation`s integrated Remote Management Controller. The new PRIMERGY generation servers offer IT administrators new options for consolidating their infrastructures to address power, cooling, and real estate cost challenges. The TX300 S3 model is available now throughout the EMEA region; the new PRIMERGY BladeFrame powered by Egenera will be available in Q3 2006.

Intel`s Virtualization Technology (VT) will expand the virtualisation capabilities of the BladeFrame system`s diskless Processing Blade modules. With the new pBlade modules, PRIMERGY BladeFrame customers will be able to more efficiently run "VT-enabled" virtualisation software from leading vendors on Intel Xeon-based pBlades.

The new Intel Xeon processors require only 80W of power, delivering both energy efficiency and high performance, with as much as twice the performance of Single-Core Xeon processors and up to three times the power efficiency.

Specifically, the new PRIMERGY BladeFrame pBlades will be populated with two Intel EM64T Xeon processors at speeds of either 2.33GHz or 3.0GHz. Memory amounts will vary from 4GB to 16GB to allow customers flexibility in their configurations. Operating systems certified to run on these 1U pBlades include Microsoft Windows 2003, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and 4, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9, and Sun Solaris 10.

The new PRIMERGY S3 generation supports:

* Dual-core Intel Xeon processors with VT technology (codenamed: Vanderpool), offering the necessary hardware-based performance for a new generation of virtualisation solutions like Xen or VMware.
* A separate, independent second bus included in the chipset (up to 1.333GHz) for each processor. This improves system efficiency and throughput with enhanced bus speed that effectively doubles bus bandwidth, eliminating I/O bottlenecks.
* New fully buffered DIMMs (FBDIMMs) providing a high-bandwidth, large-capacity channel solution by using an advanced memory buffer with point-to-point serial communications. As a result, they are three times as fast as with the current generation of parallel memory interfaces.
* The additional memory reliability of enhanced ECC (retry double bit errors) and CRC, meaning that address & command transmissions are automatically retried if a transient error occurs.
* New SAS (serial attached SCSI) serial hard disk technologies to ensure high system performance, even with heavy I/O traffic.

With almost double the performance of Intel`s latest single-core platforms and the ability to support more applications and larger workloads, the PRIMERGY dual S3 generation offers far more headroom for growth.

Technical details of the new PRIMERGY generation:

* Intel Dual-Core Xeon 5000 Sequence processors with two 2MB second level cache per core for outstanding performance and a balanced architecture that incorporates next-generation memory and I/O technologies. Processors are available with up to 3.73GHz, 1066MHz FSB and Intel 5000P/V chipsets supporting EM64 technology.
* Intel Dual-Core Xeon 5100 Sequence processors with 4MB shared second level cache. New architecture (NGMA = Next Generation Micro Architecture), Processors are available with up to 3.0GHz, 1333MHz FSB.
* High availability for memory protection mechanisms with up to 32GB, 4-way interleaved fully buffered DDR2 RAM (PC2-4200F or PC2-5300F) as well as SDDC and memory mirroring or hot-spare option (depending on the system).
* Onboard 8-port SAS controller with embedded IME RAID 0, 1 functionality.
* RAID 0, 5, 10, 50 RAID on Motherboard (RoMB) extension option with iButton enable key and 256MB RAID cache, or 256MB RAID cache and BBU option for onboard SAS/RAID controller.
* Up to six 146GB SAS hard disk capacity with 15 000 rpm.
* PCI-Express being introduced in all new Dual S3 servers.
* Onboard Gigabit Ethernet controller.
* Integrated remote management controller (iRMC) and IPMI 2.0 with eg local monitor disable function. Optional iRMC advanced pack enables a graphical console redirection and the connection of local storage to the remote server.
* Additional options: redundant fans and power supply, LocalView display, and more.
* Front and rear LEDs for easy identification in the racks.
* Front side USB 2.0 connectors.

Also the new models continue the succession of world record benchmarks that PRIMERGY servers are known for:

* The PRIMERGY BX620 S3 blade server has managed two brand-new world records and boasts the top two MMB3 benchmark performances. The BX620 S3 with Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5160 3.0GHz processor ranks first at 13 500 MMB3 users, while the BX620 S3 with Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5080 3.73GHz processor holds second place at 12 900 MMB3. A two-socket/dual-core PRIMERGY platform managed to outpace a competitor`s four-socket/dual-core system. Compared to a competitor system also equipped with two with Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5160 3.0GHz processors the PRIMERGY BX620 S3 Server Blade can handle 16% more MMB users. [1]
* New SPEC Java Business benchmark best in class results for 2-way servers. First place BX620 S3 100407 SPECjbb2005 bops, 100407 SPECjbb2005 bops/JVM Second place RX200 S3 100279 SPECjbb2005 bops, 100279 SPECjbb2005 bops/JVM SPECjbb2005 is SPEC`s Java Business Benchmark for evaluating the performance of server side Java emulating a three-tier client/server system which is typical for modern business processing applications. [2]