HP has begun shipment of its most powerful AlphaServer system yet - the 64-processor HP AlphaServer GS1280, marking another milestone on its roadmap for AlphaServer customers. The company also introduced a new entry-level system - the single-processor HP AlphaServer DS15.
The new products, part of the company`s AlphaServer RetainTrust program, are designed to meet the computing needs of AlphaServer customers while ensuring a smooth transition to Itanium architecture-based HP Integrity servers on their own timetable.
The 64-processor AlphaServer GS1280 system completes the roll-out, started in January, of the new family of AlphaServer systems based on the EV7 Alpha processor. The EV7-based AlphaServer family delivers outstanding performance, scalability, reliability, manageability and high-availability for HP OpenVMS and Tru64 Unix customers. The new single-processor AlphaServer DS15 system offers an up-to-date replacement for the entry-level AlphaServer DS10 system, providing more performance and reliability for the same low price in the same physical dimensions.
"The 64-processor GS1280, the most powerful AlphaServer system we`ve ever delivered, gives customers the performance they need today while they plan for the transition to Itanium processor-based HP Integrity servers over time," said Yergen Govender, manager HP Enterprise Storage and Servers.
Along with the availability of the new GS1280 and DS15 systems, HP has enhanced the entire EV7-based AlphaServer family with:
* Double the memory capacity - now up to 8GB per central processing unit (up to 512GB on the GS1280 M64).
* A new, optional, high-performance input/output drawer that quadruples the I/O capacity in the same rack space as the current, standard I/O drawer.
* A new memory channel interconnect adapter that dramatically lowers the cost to connect systems in clusters.
OpenVMS, Tru64 Unix enhancements
HP also enhanced OpenVMS functionality for the AlphaServer EV7 family with Version 7.3-2. This version includes higher levels of system availability, increased I/O and symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) performance, improved security, Unix portability and systems management features, along with enhanced storage area network offerings. In addition, HP is offering AlphaServer EV7 system support for OpenVMS Galaxy soft partitions with dynamic system resource reallocation capabilities for OpenVMS.
In addition, the company now offers greater functionality with Tru64 Unix V5.1B-1, which provides AlphaServer customers with improved scalability and performance enhancements, including refined and virtual memory management with application-tunable big pages and expanded storage capabilities. Applications running on Version 5 of Tru64 Unix will run on Version 5.1B-1 without modification.
"Our customers` businesses are growing more complex, requiring greater system and application performance. The long-standing relationship between Oracle and HP has an excellent history or providing solutions that excel in these areas," said Deon Els, Country Channel Manager, Oracle Corporation South Africa. "Oracle customers who choose HP EV7-based AlphaServer systems running Tru64 Unix V5.1B and its updates will continue to get the benefits of Oracle Database and Oracle Applications on HP."
Enhanced Alpha RetainTrust programme
The HP Alpha RetainTrust programme is designed to provide long-term business continuity for AlphaServer customers. The programme eases the evolution of moving from the Alpha platform to Itanium architecture-based HP systems by providing comprehensive customer initiatives, strong independent software vendor support, leading products, extensive service offerings and compelling business practices.
The business practices component of the programme has been enhanced with a new hardware and software storage upgrade program. Additionally, as an enhancement to the services component of the programme, HP plans to release an update to its application transition tools to assist with the transition of Tru64 Unix custom code to HP-UX 11i Version 2 at the end of the year.
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HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company`s offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing for consumers, enterprises and small and medium businesses. For the last four quarters, HP revenue totalled $71.3 billion. More information about HP is available at www.hp.co.za.
Oracle Corporation
Oracle is the world`s largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, visit http://www.oracle.com.
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