Sun Microsystems has unveiled its Blade 8000 modular system, which is designed for high-end x86 computing while delivering the performance, price and flexibility of rack-mounted servers together with the serviceability and efficiency of blade servers. Sun claims the system provides up to twice the system longevity and I/O throughput but uses 25% less space than comparable blade servers. Benefits can translate into a 49% reduction in ongoing environmental costs at an acquisition price that is up to 60% lower than comparably configured rack-mounted and blade servers, claims Sun.
The new system’s focus on high-end x86 computing makes it an ideal data centre compute engine for server consolidation and virtualisation, business applications, large-scale HPC deployments and high-requirement databases running on the Solaris 10 operating system. Sun’s new system also provides support for Linux or Windows environments. In addition, the system is designed to support future increases in I/O, power, cooling and blade space.
Customers, partners and ISVs such as Devon Energy, SAP, SAS and VMware, have already tested the system and expressed enthusiasm, says Sun.
The system supports industry-standard, hot-pluggable blade I/O adapters based on the PCI SIG ExpressModule standard. Vendors such as Emulex, LSI Logic, Mellanox and QLogic have released or are committed to releasing industry-standard PCI Express ExpressModule adapters.
The system does not require new or custom systems management tools or proprietary network switching. As a result, complexity and deployment risks are reduced, and the system provides significant cost savings in training, consulting and software licensing, says Sun.
A free license and trial DVD media Sun N1 System Manager will ship with every Sun Blade 8000 system.
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