IBM is expanding its blade server offerings to the telecommunications industry. At Supercomm last week, the company said its JS20 blade, running on its PowerPC 970 chip and supporting Linux and AIX, is now available in the BladeCenter T chassis.
The chassis is NEBS (Network Equipment Building Standard) Level 3-compliant, a key standard for telecom systems that operate in physically harsh conditions. Eventually, IBM will bring its LS20 blade—which runs on Advanced Micro Devices Opteron chip—to the BladeCenter T platform.
In addition, IBM is teaming with such vendors as Motorola and Fujitsu Siemens Computers to incorporate high-availability middleware in its Integrated Platform for Telecommunications, which integrates carrier-grade Linux software onto the systems and chassis. Motorola is also developing a VOIP (voice over IP) blade for the platform.
SBS Technologies and IBM are developing an AMC (advanced mezzanine card) carrier blade for the BladeCenter T platform that will support industry-standard, network-intensive applications.