INDUSTRY

HP today announced new additions to its x86 server lineup that are powered by the latest Dual-Core Intel Xeon 7100 series processors. The HP ProLiant 500 series servers can increase return on investment for customers by delivering improved performance, management, options, design and connectivity. When combined with the latest in virtualization technologies, the four-processor HP ProLiant ML570 and DL580 can also help customers consolidate business-critical application environments to reduce complexity and cost while increasing business agility. In addition, the 500 series servers can improve certain enterprise application performance by nearly 62 percent. For the second calendar quarter of this year, HP was ranked as the No. 1 vendor worldwide of industry-standard x86 servers and four-socket platforms and a leading provider of dual-core-based server systems. “With these servers, HP is further strengthening its four-processor leadership in the x86 server market,” said Paul Miller, vice president, Industry Standard Servers and BladeSystem Division, HP. “The combined technologies from HP and Intel will help customers address their business needs more effectively and maintain a competitive edge.” Inventive approach drives customer value Designed for performance and virtualization, HP’s balanced system approach maximizes dual-core processor performance. To help increase total system performance for critical applications and virtual server environments, recent architecture enhancements include new HP Smart Array RAID controllers, multifunction networking and increased memory capacity. The servers will use small form factor Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) disk drives, eliminating the need for customers to make multiple drive transitions while simplifying system management needs. The drives consume half the power of larger models, while improving storage performance and reliability. In addition, HP continues to simplify infrastructure management with high-speed “lights out” remote access with the Integrated Lights-Out 2 management processor and the new HP ProLiant Essentials Server Migration Pack: Physical to ProLiant edition. The migration pack offers existing x86 customers a straightforward, point-and-click process to simplify the transition to new platforms. Both offerings are easily managed through the HP Systems Insight Manager platform. Benchmark shows significant performance gain Dual-core-based HP ProLiant servers can substantially increase the performance of vital applications such as database, enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, mail and messaging, virtual machines and terminal services – without adding systems costs. For example, in a recent two-tier SAP Sales and Distribution (SD) Standard Application Benchmark, results released on Aug. 25 show that the dual-core HP ProLiant DL580 G4 server with four-processors (4 processor/8 cores /16 threads) delivered industry-leading results, supporting 2,127 SAP SD Benchmark users at 1.99 seconds average dialog response time while achieving 10,650 SAPS, 213,000 fully processed order line items per hour and 639,000 dialog steps per hour. CPU utilization was balanced across the processors at 98 percent on the central server, average database request time (dia/upd) was 0.041 sec/0.023 sec. The server supported 812 more SAP SD Benchmark users than the DL580 G4 did in a previous two-tier SAP SD Standard Application Benchmark, equaling a nearly 62 percent performance improvement. “Intel and HP have worked together to provide servers that offer unprecedented new levels of performance and reliability,” said Kirk Skaugen, vice president, Digital Enterprise Group, Intel. “HP’s innovation built upon the new Dual-Core Intel Xeon 7100 series processors will deliver customers reduced total cost of ownership through higher server utilization with Intel Virtualization Technology.” The HP ProLiant 500 series servers now offer support for dual-core 64-bit Intel Xeon 7100 series processors with an 800-MHz FSB and up to 16 MB of L3 cache, which provides performance gains for multi-threaded applications such as database, financial services and supply chain management. Providing a scalable foundation for customers of all sizes, the HP ProLiant 500 series dual-core-based servers include: The HP ProLiant 500 series servers now offer support for dual-core 64-bit Intel Xeon 7100 series processors with an 800-MHz FSB and up to 16 MB of L3 cache, which provides performance gains for multi-threaded applications such as database, financial services and supply chain management. Providing a scalable foundation for customers of all sizes, the HP ProLiant 500 series dual-core-based servers include: HP ProLiant ML570 G4 – Support for 24 DIMM sockets plus the largest number of drives and PCI slots of any ProLiant server. Extending its range of award-winning HP Care Pack Services, HP Services also provides support for the HP ProLiant servers powered by Intel dual-core technology. Services include off-site system builds through Factory Express offers, on-site installation and startup services for servers, software deployment and manageability enablement, integrated hardware and software support and proactive mission-critical support solutions. Pricing and availability The dual-core HP ProLiant DL580 G4 and ML570 G4 servers are currently available. Pricing for the DL580 starts at $6,649, while the ML570 server starts at $5,799. More information on HP ProLiant servers is available at its Web site. More information on services for HP ProLiant servers is available at its Web site.