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Rackable Systems Inc. on Monday is rolling out its first SMP system, an eight-way server that in the first half of next year will scale even more when it starts shipping with dual-core processors.
The C5100-SMP system initially will ship with up to eight single-core 3.6GHz Xeon processors from Intel Corp. but will migrate to dual-core technology from both Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. next year, said Geoffrey Noer, senior director of product marketing for the Milpitas, Calif., company.
In addition, the company will follow this with a 16-socket system in the future, Noer said.
Rackable Systems will introduce both the C5100 and the C2002 High Efficiency Series system at the SuperComputing 2005 show in Seattle.
The C5100 comes in a 5U (8.75-inches) package and offers up to 32GB of memory. It also leverages the vSMP interconnect architecture from ScaleMP Inc. that allows for use of shared memory, eases system management and improves performance. “It gives you the ability to boot the boards inside [the system] and have them recognize each other and work in an SMP fashion,” Noer said.
Rackable is lining up the C5100 as an alternative to RISC-based SMP systems. Its available immediately starting at $69,000.
The two-socket C2002 is powered by dual-core processors from both Intel and AMD and is targeted at businesses concerned about energy consumption and heat generation in their data centers. Running at peak, a system with two dual-core chips, 4GB of memory and a terabyte of Serial ATA storage consumes less than 150 watts—and about 10 percent less if its also using DC power.
Features that help keep energy consumption low include the rack-level DC power distribution, passive heat sinks, and the dual-core chips, which offer more performance in the same power envelope as a single-core chip. The server also is housed in Rackable Systems half-depth form factor, which entails back-to-back rack mounting for higher density and more efficient cooling.