When IBM introduced the first Enterprise X-Architecture to its line of Intel Corp.-based systems in 2001, it soon came to dominate the eight-way space of the market, according to company officials.
IBM aims to do the same in the four-way space with the introduction Tuesday of the next generation of the architecture, X3, and a new chip set designed for its xSeries line of Intel servers.
Fundamentally, the architecture and "Hurricane" chip set are designed to bring mainframe- and supercomputer-like technologies to the rapidly growing x86 server space. Those technologies include greater virtualization capabilities through IBM's Virtualization Engine, improved data management, faster I/O through PCI-X 2 support, memory control and embedded DRAM.
The new architecture will first appear in the x366 system within the next 90 days, and will roll out to other xSeries servers later, according to Jay Bretzmann, director of IBM eServer products. The 3U (5.25-inch) rack-optimized x366 also will support Intel's 64-bit-enabled Xeon MP processors when they are released later this quarter and future dual-core chips. Xeons are scheduled to get dual-core capabilities in early 2006.
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eweek
Feb 22, 2005, 03:25 PM
