Servers with mainframe pretensions

Fujitsu Siemens Computers has announced the global release of four new entries to the mid-range servers Solaris/SPARC-based Primepower server family, with gigahertz-class SPARC64TM V processors.

These servers are intended to meet demanding enterprise computing needs while providing return on investment in a smaller platform, the company says. It claims the same levels of reliability, availability and serviceability as Fujitsu Siemens Computers` mainframe-class 128-way Primepower 2500 server.

For years, users have asked for more management to be built into storage hardware. Now, vendors say the hardware should have intelligence built in from the beginning.

In fact, industry experts say technologies are under development to improve the way low-end RAID controllers communicate with drive clusters and to enable high-end array intelligence to reside as objects in central servers, reports eWeek.

On the low-end storage front, users in the future will be able to consolidate storage, move drives among controller units, replace failed parts and upgrade to new features - all among different vendors and without having to use backup data sets or re-map every drive and volume. Creating the standards could take two years.

In high-end storage, object-based storage is also on its way to becoming a context-aware, native technology. For evidence, users can look to hardware such as EMC`s Centera and software such as IBM`s StorageTank.