SYSTEMS

IBM today announced new UNIX systems for small and medium-sized businesses that use an enhanced version of the POWER5 chip to shatter fifteen world records in key benchmarks for entry level UNIX and Linux servers. The new IBM System p5 Express servers are equipped with POWER5+ microprocessor technology and are specifically designed for the processing requirements of small to mid-sized companies or branch locations running business-critical database applications in retail, wholesale, distribution and financial services. The introduction of the new IBM System p5 servers with POWER5+ technology provide small and medium businesses with new choices for deploying high-performance computing capabilities in their IT infrastructure. Additionally, new easy-to-use software tools make management of the new servers as simple as point-and-click with the new Integrated Virtualization Manager and IBM Director 5.1. The new IBM System p5 servers range from a new 8-way server for scale up environments and server consolidation, to dense rack form factors for e-mail, web, file and print serving and dense clustering in scale out environments, to new "scale within" capabilities with fast, easy-to-use virtualization. New p5 systems from IBM are available with a combination of AIX 5L UNIX, Red Hat or Novell SuSE Linux operating systems. They include: The IBM System p5 550Q -- uses the industry's first Quad Core Module for database applications and delivers the fastest 8-way SPECjbb2005 results ever recorded. The new 1.5 GHz quad-core POWER5+ processor package can run up to twice as many workloads as previous 4-way IBM eServer p5 550 servers. For example, using Simultaneous Multi-Threading, the new eight-way p5-550Q with POWER5+ processor - through two quad-core modules with up to sixteen simultaneous threads - allows customers to consolidate multiple servers into one, easy-to-manage system. The IBM System p5 520 -- the fastest 2-way Java business server in the industry, the p5 520 is built with IBM's most advanced microprocessor technology, IBM POWER5+. It is designed for use as a small database server, a branch applications server, and for highly secure e-business and business intelligence (BI) and high-performance computing (HPC) applications for enterprises of all sizes. The IBM System p5 550 -- is a 4-way database server with 1.9 GHz POWER5+ dual-core modules. It can function as a scalable database or versatile departmental or regional server for businesses of all sizes and is a strategic platform for scalable database servers, e-commerce application servers, Web servers, operations systems, and for BI and HPC workloads. In addition, the p5 550 is the fastest 4-way Java business and Web application server, the fastest 4-processor SAP SD 2-tier application server on the Linux OS, and scored world-record performance on the Notesbench benchmark. The IBM System p5 505 -- is an all new dense rack server in a 1U form factor utilizing 1.5Ghz and 1.65Ghz POWER5 processors in 1 and 2-way configurations. Perfect for scale-out implementations, the new p5-505 can help small and medium-sized companies reach new levels of performance, flexibility and functionality in their IT infrastructures or dense high performance computing clusters. The p5 505 delivers twice the storage and memory capacity, and faster SPECfp performance than the Sun Fire X4100. "IBM is the leader in delivering breakthrough technologies to UNIX customers that enable extraordinary on demand business performance," said Adalio Sanchez, general manager, IBM System pSeries. "The new POWER5+ systems continue this tradition, bringing a faster, more energy efficient processor that boosts speed, performance and value for today's most intensive mission critical applications." The new server systems are part of the IBM Express Portfolio, developed to meet the needs of start-up, small and mid-sized companies. Express Offerings provide robust capabilities while taking into account the limited resources many SMBs face. IBM Express Offerings enable SMBs to better serve customers, increase revenue and reduce acquisition and maintenance costs with open easy-to-purchase solutions. The new IBM System p5 Express offerings come in two new editions: the AIX 5L Edition for customers preferring a robust, innovative UNIX operating system, and the OpenPower Edition for customers who prefer the open source Linux operating system. Customers can add additional AIX 5L or Linux partitions to either edition and run both operating systems simultaneously. All System p5 Express models come with a standard 3 year warranty providing small and medium business customers the peace of mind of extended IBM service and support.