Unisys optimizes servers for Microsoft Exchange 2000

Unisys Corporation has announced servers especially configured to optimize the performance of Microsoft Exchange 2000 messaging and collaboration software. Capable of supporting as many as 40,000 heavy mail users, the servers are configured to provide fast response and maintain the uninterrupted availability of electronic mail, an increasingly critical need in the day-to-day operations of large enterprises.

A comprehensive portfolio of infrastructure services, including readiness, planning, design, implementation and training services, ensures that clients get the full benefit of the features and functionality of Exchange 2000. Drawing on Unisys expertise in Windows 2000, these new infrastructure services are designed to provide clients with a smooth migration to Exchange 2000.

Based on Unisys e-@ction Enterprise Server ES5000 and ES7000 servers, the systems deliver a response time of less than one second as measured by the Microsoft Application Program Interface (MAPI) Message Benchmark (MMB), the most widely accepted measure of Exchange 2000 performance. Standard configurations are available to support 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 or 40,000 users.

To maintain application availability, the optimized servers feature Microsoft Windows 2000 Clustering Services, enabling processing to be transferred immediately to another server in the event that a server node fails. The combination of Exchange 2000 and the Windows 2000 Server operating system provides the Active/Active cluster capability, allowing the backup server also to be used to run production applications. The optimized server configurations for Exchange 2000 can be backed by the Unisys high-availability guarantee that users will experience no more than one unplanned hardware stop per year.

"As a leader in delivering solutions for the corporate data center, Unisys has the expertise, experience and best practices to successfully plan, design, implement and deploy high-performance, high-availability servers optimized for Exchange 2000," said Russell Stockdale, vice president, Server Applications at Microsoft Corp. "As enterprise messaging increasingly takes on business-critical significance, businesses are demanding a new dimension in response and reliability from information technology suppliers. Its background as a provider of data center-class solutions positions Unisys to address that requirement."

Configurations for very large numbers of Exchange 2000 users are based on the Unisys ES7000 mainframe-class server. Designed for the power of future Intel IA-64 Itanium processors, the ES7000 uses Unisys revolutionary Cellular MultiProcessing (CMP) architecture. The ES7000 accommodates up to 32 Intel Pentium III Xeon processors, which can be field-upgraded to Intel IA-64 Itanium processors when that technology becomes available or combined with Itanium processors in the same server. The ES7000 provides an array of computing capabilities required for enterprise-class e-business computing and well known to users of large-scale computers, but unprecedented in computing environments based on Microsoft and Intel technology.

"These optimized servers are designed, tested and certified to reduce the effort and risk for customers deploying very large Exchange 2000 solutions," said Peter Samson, vice president and general manager, Unisys Enterprise Server Business. "They exemplify Unisys skills not only in configuring and tuning the enterprise server environment, but also in delivering all the elements customers need to ensure the high performance, uptime and manageability so critical for enterprise-wide e-mail."

Pricing and availability

Unisys e-@ction Enterprise Server ES5000 and ES7000 series systems optimized for Exchange 2000 are available immediately. Prices start at just over $100,000 and include storage, backup and restore subsystems.