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Stratus Technologies this week is rolling out the first of its fault-tolerant servers to run on dual-core Xeon chips from Intel.
The two-socket ftServer W Series 5700 system will offer users up to eight processing cores and will support Microsofts Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition operating system. It will be powered by dual-core 2.8GHz Xeon chips. The system will be available at the end of the month.
Stratus expects some high-end customers to migrate to the new system from the current 6600 family of enterprise servers, though the company will continue selling those through at least the end of the year, said Denny Lane, director of product management at the Maynard, Mass., company.
“Were starting to see a sea change in the industry with dual core, and soon mulitcores,” Lane said. “Youre getting so much power with these, people are going to start replacing a lot of their four-way and eight-way [single-core] systems.”
The benefits of dual-core processing touch not only on performance, but also on other areas such as software licensing and cooling.
The 6600 family of servers, aimed at such basic workloads as databases, is “still in the mix,” Lane said. Customers with large basic workloads may want to stay with those systems for now. However, the 4U (7-inch) 5700 systems offer about 25 percent higher performance than the 6600 systems.
Fault-tolerant systems offer redundant components that run in lock-step, providing seamless backup in case one component fails. The 5700 also offers remote management capabilities, both through the companys Virtual Technician Module—a remote access controller—and the upcoming Stratus Active Upgrade technology, which enables online patching and upgrades. That technology will be available later this quarter.
Since last year, Stratus has been working to not only expand its server line but also grow its services business around the fault-tolerant technology. The company is looking to push its portfolio of systems and services into several industry sectors, including manufacturing, telecommunications, financial services and public safety.