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Verari Systems, which specializes in developing blade servers and storage products, is rolling outs its latest single-socket blade system, which will use Intels Xeon 3000 line of processors.
The VB1160D blade server, which is immediately available to customers, supports all of the dual- and quad-core processors in Intels 3000 line, including the high-end Xeon X3230, a quad-core chip that offers a clock speed of 2.66GHz, 8MB of L2 cache, a 1066MHz front side bus and has a TDP—an Intel term that refers to how much heat a chip has to dissipate—of 95 watts.
Although San Diego-based Verari has used these particular Xeon processors in other blade platforms, CTO Dave Driggers wrote in an e-mail that the company also plans to support Intels 45-nanometer processors, which are due to hit the market Nov. 12. While many of the details of Intels new family of Penryn processors have already been detailed, the announcement by Verari shows that Intel, of Santa Clara, Calif., has been working on getting these new processors in the hands of system builders in anticipation of the official launch.
Verari also offers systems with Advanced Micro Devices processors, including new MP servers built around the quad-core Opteron processor.
When the new Penryn chips come to market next month, Driggers said the VB1160D blade will support the 45-nm processor currently code-named “Yorkfield.”
“The system will support the single socket 45-nm next generation product from Intel without any changes,” Driggers wrote. “The desktop and server version of the CPU has the same code name for the core architecture (Yorkfield).”
In addition to the Intel processors, the VB1160D is built with Intels X38 Express chip set and the system offers a second generation PCI Express x16 slot. There is also a PCI Express x1 slot for remote workstation capabilities.
The new blade offers up to 16GB of DDR2 (double data rate 2) memory, and it can store up to 2TB of data. With a 44U (77-inch) cabinet, customers can pack up to 100 blade servers into one unit, which then offers 100TB of capacity.
The buyers for this type of single-socket blade, Driggers wrote, include “companies [that] have the need for ultra-dense Web server farms, large desktop consolidation initiatives, along with big grid or virtualization compute needs.” The system supports both Microsoft Windows and several varieties of Linux.
Since Veraris systems are custom-built, Driggers said the VB1160Ds starting price varies and depends on the specific configuration that customers order.
