Sun Microsystems this week plans to launch the second phase of its x86 server line, three higher-end models that show the company's commitment to and ambitions for the market.
When the company unveiled its "Galaxy" line of Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron-based x86 servers in September, it began with mainstream models with sockets for two processors. The new systems, though, venture much farther a field.
First is the much more powerful eight-socket X4600 system, code-named Galaxy4. Next is the hefty 33.25-inch-tall Sun Blade 8000 chassis, code-named Andromeda, that can accommodate 10 four-socket blades. Last is the unusual two-socket X4500 system, code-named Thumper, with a whopping 24 terabytes' storage capacity.
The X4600 with four 2.4GHz Opterons costs US$25,995, with the price rising to US$67,495 for eight 2.6GHz dual-core chips. The X4500 starts at US$32,995 but costs US$69,995 for a model with the top 24-terabyte capacity. The 8000, including a chassis and a low-end blade, starts at US$19,940; a single top-end blade with four dual-core 2.6GHz Opterons and 64GB of memory costs US$47,315.
It remains to be seen how successful Sun will be using the new products to reach its goal of No. 4 in the x86 server market by the end of 2006, and in the longer term, to restore overall revenue growth and profitability. But the three new products show Sun is working hard to make its x86 machines stand out, said Illuminata analyst Jonathan Eunice.
"Each one of them has flash," Eunice said. "In each one of the segments they targeted, they did something that is either unique or head-of-class to make it clear they're not just doing a me-too, yeah, yeah."
Sun entered the x86 server market late and initially struggled with lukewarm products and halfhearted marketing. But the company got x86 religion, fueled in part by its decision to bring a full-fledged version of its Solaris operating system to the machines.
To hasten its x86 catch-up, Sun acquired start-up Kealia and its key employee, Sun co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim. The company also dropped Intel-based servers in favor of a tight partnership with fellow underdog AMD, which lags Intel in market share but whose Opteron chips today are generally seen as superior to Intel's Xeon.
The moves may have been faster than designing servers from scratch, but Sun didn't meet its early schedule. John Fowler, who led the x86 server group until his promotion last month to run Sparc servers as well, said in June 2004, "I expect to have a whole family of systems during my fiscal year" ended July 2005. Instead, the full family is being released more than a year after that.
And the family still won't be complete with the latest launch. The massive Sun Blade 8000 system will be followed by smaller models. "You're going to see different chassis sizes very optimized for two-way blades," Fowler said, referring to models with two processor sockets due to arrive in "early 2007."
Blades take two
It's the second try for blades at Sun. The initial
Sun Blade 1600 was at the opposite end of the brawniness spectrum, 5.25 inches
tall with 16 low-end blade servers. The product quietly faded from Sun's product
list after failing to dent the dominance of blade leaders IBM and
Hewlett-Packard.
Sun's blade servers will fit into any of its blade server chassis, and Sun plans to feature blades with UltraSparc processors with the release of the "Niagara II" processor in 2007 and the higher-end "Rock" processor scheduled for 2008.
The Sun Blade 8000 is huge compared with its main rivals, IBM's 15.75-inch tall BladeCenter H and HP's 17.5-inch-tall C-Class BladeSystem, both second-generation chassis designs introduced this year. IBM's systems can accommodate seven four-
Play video
There are currently no comments for this post.