HP today introduced a pair of new 8-way Intel-based servers which it says make ideal platforms for server consolidation or for demanding applications that would otherwise require more high-end RISC-based servers.
The two servers, the brand-new HP ProLiant DL740 and the second generation HP ProLiant DL760, run Windows or Linux, and provide “a powerful platform to handle complex applications typically handled by more expensive, proprietary systems,” says HP’s vice president for industry standard servers, James Mouton.
Available immediately, the servers start at about $25,000.
The computers are based on the HP-designed F8 chipset, a follow-on to the Profusion chipset that HP jointly developed with Intel. The F8 chipset combines an Intel Xeon processor with PCI-X input/output technology, gigabit ethernet, and Ultra3 SCSI.
The two servers also incorporate HP’s hot-plug RAID memory capabilities, which HP says provides a level of memory fault protection suitable for running mission-critical applications.
Part of HP’s Advanced Memory Protection software suite, the hot-plug RAID memory, stripes data across multiple memory modules, much as data in RAID arrays is striped across more than one hard drive.
According to HP, this provides the same level of memory redundancy as fully mirroring memory, but at only one quarter the cost of buying the additional memory needed for mirroring.
The hot-plug RAID memory also allows users to replace failed memory modules on the fly, without taking the system down.
HP is packaging the servers with management software designed to allow users to run data center-type operations on the new systems. The servers come with HP’s Workload Management Pack, which is based on the Microsoft Job Objects functionality contained in Microsoft Windows 2000 server operating systems, and allows multiple applications to safely run on a single Windows 2000/2003 server. The software gives each application access to specific processor and memory resources, and allows administrators to dynamically adjust resources as application demands change.