Rackable Systems Inc. last week rolled out its first symmetric multiprocessing 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 Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. next year, said officials for the Milpitas, Calif., company.
In addition, the company will follow this with a 16-socket system in the future, officials said.
Rackable Systems introduced both the C5100-SMP and the C2002 High Efficiency Series system at the Supercomputing conference in Seattle.
The C5100-SMP comes in a 5U (8.75-inch) package and offers up to 32GB of memory. It also leverages the VSMP (vector shared memory processor) interconnect architecture from ScaleMP Inc. that allows for use of shared memory, eases system management and improves performance. Rackable Systems is lining up the C5100-SMP as an alternative to RISC-based SMP systems. Its available now starting at $69,000.
The two-socket C2002 is powered by dual-core processors from 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 SATA (Serial ATA) storage consumes less than 150 watts—and about 10 percent less if its also using DC power.