APPLICATIONS

Offering advanced partitioning features and supporting simultaneously Windows, Linux and GCOS, these new large servers combine the power of standards and the robustness of mainframes -- Bull announced today the NovaScale 6000 series and new models in the NovaScale 9000 series. Launched in March 2003, the NovaScale range is at the heart of Bull’s strategy to provide its customers with open and modular mainframe-class servers, supporting Windows, Linux and GCOS. Completing the existing NovaScale 4000 and 5000 ranges, the new NovaScale 6000 64-bit large open servers support up to 32 Intel® Itanium® 2 processors with advanced physical partitioning features. They run Linux® and Windows®. The new NovaScale 9000 servers, which join the first NovaScale 9080 models announced in September 2003, offer higher power bandwidth for GCOS 8 users. In addition, their physical partitioning features enable running Linux® and Windows® in coexistence with GCOS 8, on a single system. “These new servers are announced just one year after the launch of the NovaScale range, bearing witness to the vitality and renewal of Bull. They embody Bull’s capacity to innovate and meet its strategic commitments,” commented Gervais Pellissier, Managing Director of Bull. The NovaScale servers meet the requirements of companies and organizations wishing to take full advantage of open environments, in complete security, by using reliable servers that can sustain growth at the lowest cost. The features of the new Bull NovaScale® 6000 servers make them particularly appropriate for application consolidation, very large databases, and for demanding security and multimedia applications. Offering very high bandwidth and computing power, they also meet the needs of scientific and technical applications, which require high-performance nodes within cluster or grid architectures. Based on Intel® Itanium 2 processors and standard components, they benefit from Bull's expertise in mainframe, open systems and transactional servers. Since their launch, Bull NovaScale servers have already resulted in numerous successes, both in the commercial application market and that of High-Performance Computing. Features of the new NovaScale 6000 series and new NovaScale 9000 servers Both the NovaScale 6000 range running Windows and Linux and the new NovaScale 9000 models running GCOS 8 include partitioning functionalities and support up to 32 Intel® Itanium 2 processors. The architecture of the NovaScale 6000 and 9000 servers relies on the inter-connection of standard processor-memory blocks operated by the FSS (Fame Scalability Switch) component, designed and developed by Bull for outstanding performance. * The new NovaScale 6000 range includes 3 models: NovaScale 6080, 6160 and 6320, supporting respectively 8, 16 and 32 Intel® Itanium 2 processors running Windows® and Linux®. The existing NovaScale 5000 range (4, 8 and 16 processor servers) can evolve towards the NovaScale 6000 servers. * The NovaScale 9000 range is further expanded with two models: the NovaScale 9160 and 9320 servers, respectively supporting 16 and 32 Intel® Itanium 2 processors. These large SMP servers have been designed to support GCOS 8 applications that can be run on either Bull NovaScale® 9000 or on Bull DPS 9000 systems, thus avoiding modifications or recompilation. On demand, they can support either Windows or Linux partitions. Bull NovaScale servers: a reference platform for Windows® and Linux® application infrastructure With regards to commercial applications, Bull has developed an ambitious program to qualify and optimize ISV applications on NovaScale servers. The NovaScale range of servers specifically targets: - Database servers for transactional or business intelligence applications, - ERPs (Enterprise Resource Planning), - Internet application servers. In the scientific and technical area, Bull provides an infrastructure consisting of compilers, complete scientific libraries, clustering solutions (based on Bull’s partner, Quadrics) as well as storage solutions. This offering primarily addresses large research, education, space, and computing centers focused on industry research. To simplify and automate infrastructure management, Bull has developed NovaScale® Master, an integrated administration platform to accommodate existing supervision tools. Through its collect and event correlation engine, NovaScale® Master provides systems and associated software management, control and monitoring. • “NovaScale Attitude”: Partners Program Bull launched the “NovaScale Attitude” program to port and optimise ISV infrastructure solutions on NovaScale servers. This program includes consulting, architecture, sizing, optimization and technical support services, as well as loan systems, access to dedicated knowledge databases aimed at partnering ISVs, and value-added solutions resellers. Availability The NovaScale 6000 and 9000 servers are available now. Bull designs and develops servers and software for open environments, integrating the most advanced technologies. It brings to its customers its expertise and know-how to help them in the transformation of their information systems and to optimise their IT infrastructure and their applications. Bull’s new range of NovaScale servers combines the openness of standards with the robustness of mainframes. Bull has unique strengths and expertise in the public sector, banking, finance, telecommunication and industry sectors. Capitalizing on its wide experience, the Group has a through understanding of the business and specific processes of these sectors, thus enabling it to efficiently advise and meet the IT needs of customers in these sectors. Its distribution network spreads to over 100 countries worldwide.