Hewlett-Packard Co. today will unveil the first new product introductions to its newly acquired line of NonStop Himalaya servers, high-end computing systems it acquired in its buyout of Compaq Computer Corp. last month.
The NonStop servers, which sell for an average of more than $1 million a piece, are highly valued for their ability to handle thousands of simultaneous transactions and their capability to continue operating even if hit with multiple hardware failures.
The robust computing systems are particularly favored by financial institutions and are used to run 15 of the worlds largest stock exchanges as well as automated teller machine networks for some of the nations largest banks.
At an HP news conference this morning, company executives are expected to announce two new S-series servers that feature faster processors, larger memory and software upgrades.
The most noteworthy design change includes the integration of faster processors, the RISC-based 64-bit R140000 produced by MIPS Technologies Inc., which combined with enhanced memory capacity, will result in performance improvements of 50 percent or greater, according to sources at HP.
The new servers, to be labeled the S76000 and S86000, are also designed to offer better networking capabilities than their predecessor, the S74000, which was introduced two years ago.
The NonStop server line was first developed by Tandem Computers Inc., which was acquired by Compaq in 1997. Despite the changes in ownership, many IT managers still refer to the high-end systems as Tandem servers. Perhaps the most significant change to the NonStop line will occur in 2004, when HP will introduce the first system to be powered by Itanium processors, which were co-developed by HP and Intel Corp. The move will mark the first time the servers have utilized anything other than MIPS-based processors. By 2006, HP plans to migrate its entire NonStop line to Itanium, a chip that was only introduced just last year.
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