Multichip servers -- GCN

Multichip servers

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May 18, 2000

Intel arrives at the enterprise level with Xeon processors and eight-way architecture

By J.B. Miles

Special to GCN

If you're shopping for an enterprise-level multiprocessor server, you'll notice a new player with a familiar name: Intel Corp. The giant chipmaker, dominant in the PC and small server markets, is challenging RISC technology with multichip architectures built around Pentium III and Pentium III Xeon processors and Intel boards.

Symmetric multiprocessing servers with Intel chips, made by several dozen manufacturers, have a lock on the entry-level and midrange portions of the market. Single and dual Pentium II and III units loaded with Microsoft Windows NT or Windows 2000 account for almost 100 percent of the market for entry-level print, file and appliance servers.

Dual Pentium II, Pentium III and Pentium III Xeon servers have been edging out midrange systems based on IBM's Power PC, Hewlett-Packard's PA-RISC, Sun Microsystem's UltraSparc and Compaq's Alpha.

Quad, or four-way, Pentium III Xeon units with the capability to support NT and Win 2000, Linux, Solaris, UnixWare, NetWare and other proprietary Unix operating systems also are finding success as high-performance midrange servers.

And Intel has its sights set on the higher reaches of the enterprise market, with its new eight-way Profusion chip set and powerful 550-MHz Pentium III Xeon processors.

Tips for buyers

'Buy a unit that has as many processors as you can afford.

'Compare hard drive manufacturers' mean time between failure data as well as the rotational speeds and storage capacities of the drives.

'Use high-speed 40X or 48X CD-ROM drives.

'Buy a UPS.

'Choose redundancy options for maximum data security.

'Store backup tapes away from your servers in case of fire, flood or other catastrophe.

'Remember that Win 2000 and Linux are emerging as popular server operating systems and both offer multithreading for eight-way processing.

Before Intel released its Profusion chip set last year, even the best-designed four-way Pentium III Xeon systems couldn't compete with RISC systems in the high-end enterprise marketplace. But the new eight-way architecture is prompting server manufacturers such as Amdahl Corp., Compaq Computer Corp., Data General Corp., Dell Computer corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM Corp. to reshape their product lines. For users, it means that multichip servers will soon be the norm, said Warren Wilson, an analyst with market research company Summit Strategies Inc. of Boston.

'Single-processor servers will essentially evaporate this year, as two-way designs become the new entry-level standard. Four-way servers will quickly gain volume to vie with two-way boxes as the sweet spot of the market, while eight-way Profusion-based designs will become a popular high-end option in 2000,' Wilson said.

Other analysts say that four-way Pentium III Xeon platforms will continue to bridge the gap between midrange and small enterprise computing requirements, with the new Profusion systems being optimized for running very large database applications and decision support operations in large enterprises.

The accompanying chart reflects the fact that there aren't many Profusion servers out there yet, but Intel expects that to change by year's end.

The new Intel architecture incorporates an eight-way SMP CPU unit, a fast input/output subsystem and a large memory system. Three 100-MHz buses connect via a crossbar switch to the processor unit, I/O and memory. Two of the buses support a set of four CPUs each and the third connects to the I/O subsystem with cache coherency to reduce processor disruption.

Intergraph's Zx10 Server holds two processors and can use up to 8G of RAM. GSA pricing starts at $3,194.

The modular I/O system will support both legacy 32-bit PCI and new 64-bit PCI cards. Intel has said the Profusion chip set will support all current Pentium III Xeon processors and will also support future Cascades processors.

The Profusion chip set memory interface is a dual-port synchronous design that uses commercially available PC/100 synchronous dynamic RAM on registered dual in-line memory modules for up to 32G maximum memory, with Expanded Subscriber Module-100A supported, in the platform. The memory bandwidth is 800 Mbps per port for a total bandwidth of 1.6 Gbps.

Flexible flyer

Profusion is colorblind when it comes to compatibility with operating systems and applications. Most new operating systems, such as Windows 2000 and SCO Unix from the Santa Cruz Operation Inc. of Santa Cruz, Calif., are already optimized for eight-way SMP design, and many new applications have multithreading capabilities that will allow them to easily utilize the benefits of the new architecture.

The Profusion design also provides hardware support for RAID, disk hot-swap and failure detection, dual failover and hot-plug PCI, temperature sensing for system components, redundant power and fans, and error-correcting code.

Along with speed and fault-tolerance, scalability is a major requirement for server buyers. The upgrade path for Intel's Pentium processors is noteworthy, especially in the Pentium III series.

Pentium III comes in two flavors: basic and Xeon. Both the Pentium III and Pentium III Xeon designs incorporate Intel's Streaming Single-Instruction, Multiple-Data Extensions that boost overall performance by maximizing CPU utilization for streaming audio and video, voice recognition and other processor-intensive applications.

IBM's Netfinity 5500, with dual 500-MHz Pentium III processors and 10 hot-swap drive bays, starts at $4,865.

The Pentium III processors with 512K of Level 2 cache memory are well-suited for fast desktop and entry-level server processing requirements. Most of the dual-processor servers listed here can run at speeds between 600 MHz and 733 MHz and are fast and powerful enough for duty as appliance servers and for some midrange applications work.

The Pentium III Xeon processor is an enhanced version of the basic Pentium III, with more features and cache memory. It is designed mainly for use in midrange and high-end servers. Most current Pentium III Xeon processors operate at 500-MHz or 550-MHz speeds, with even faster versions on the horizon, including a prototype 1-GHz version.

These units come with 1M or 2M of Level 2 cache RAM, meaning they can store up to four times the data on-chip than can Pentium III processors with 512K of Level 2 cache. With greater Level 2 cache storage capacity comes greater speed, as cache memory gets data to the processor much more rapidly than data stored on a disk or in RAM.

Pentium III Xeon processors also feature the Extended Server Memory Architecture, which allows applications to store up to 32G of main memory'soon to be 64G'greatly surpassing the 4G memory limit of NT.

Users worried about upgrading their 32-bit Profusion Pentium III Xeon system to Intel's forthcoming 64-bit platforms such as Merced, which is due later this year, or later designs such as McKinley, Madison and Deerfield, might not have much cause for concern.

A white paper from the Aberdeen Group in Boston suggests that the release of the Profusion eight-way architecture is part of a larger, long-range road map for the Intel architecture; users wanting eight-way capability will not be hurt in the long run if they buy now rather than wait.

J.B. Miles of Pahoa, Hawaii, writes about communications and computers.

Vendor	Product	Pentium III processors	Board design	Memory (standard/ maximum)	Hot-swap drive bays	Expansion slots	Price
Acer America Corp. San Jose, Calif. 408-432-6200 www.acer.com	Altos 9100B	500-MHz	Dual	256M/1G	Eight	Five PCI, two ISA	$3,280 up
	Altos 12000 Model 9550	550-MHz Xeon	Dual	512M/2G	Eight	Five PCI, one PCI/ISA	$5,959 up
	Altos 21000 Model 9550	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	512M/4G	Eight	Six PCI, One PCI/ISA	$8,200 up
Amdahl Corp. Sunnyvale, Calif. 703-648-0301 www.amdahl.com	Teamserver M890ie	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/8G	Eight	10 PCI, one PCI/ISA	$38,288
	Teamserver L890ie	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/4G	Eight	Six PCI, One PCI/ISA	$31,471
	Teamserver G870ie	550-MHz	Dual	512M/2G	Eight	Six PCI	$9,061
	Teamserver C870ix	600-MHz	Dual	128M/1G	Three	Three PCI, two ISA	$3,089
	Teamserver HS900	550-MHz Xeon	Eight-way	256M/32G	Eight	Four PCI, six PCI/ISA (hot-plug)	$49,868
AST Research Inc. Irvine, Calif. 310-407-2600 www.ast.com	Premium 2000	500-MHz	Dual	128M/1G	Six	Three PCI, two ISA	$3,525 up
Boldata Technologies Inc. Fremont, Calif. 800-923-2653 www.boldata.com	CSS 5000	550-MHz Xeon	Dual	128M/1G	Six	Three PCI, two ISA	$2,989 to $4,089
	CSS 9000	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	128M/2G	Six	Three PCI, two ISA	$6,099 to $9,559
Compaq Computer Corp. Houston 281-370-0670 www.compaq.com	ProLiant DL380R	733-MHz	Dual	128M/4G	Six	Four PCI	$4,865 GSA
	ProLiant 5500R	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/4G	Four	Five PCI, one PCI/ISA (hot-plug)	$6,720 GSA
	ProLiant 6400R	500-MHz Xeon	Quad	128M/4G	Four	Five PCI, one PCI/ISA (hot-plug)	$7,636 GSA
	ProLiant 8500	550-MHz Xeon	Eight-way	256M/8G	Four	11 PCI	$13,887 GSA
CSS Laboratories Inc. Irvine, Calif. 949-852-8161 www.csslabs.com	MaxPro 1100 Xeon	550-MHz Xeon	Dual	128M/2G	Eight	Five PCI, two ISA, one AGP	$8,554 GSA
	MaxPro 1500 Xeon	550-MHz Xeon	Dual	128M/2G	11	Five PCI, two ISA, one AGP	$8,911 GSA
	PowerPro HS Xeon	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	128M/4G	Six	Six PCI, one PCI/ISA	$11,710 GSA
Cubix Corp. Carson City, Nev. 775-888-1000 www.cubix.com	Z Model Option 1	550-MHz	Dual	64M/2G	Three	Four PCI	$6,582 up
	Z Model Option 2	550-MHz	Quad	128M/2G	Three	Four PCI	$8,574 up
	RR Model Option 1	550-MHz	Dual	64M/2G	Three	Four PCI	$8,484 up
	RR Model Option 2	550-MHz	Quad	128M/2G	Three	Four PCI	$10,934 up
Data General Corp. Westboro, Mass. 508-898-5000 www.dg.com	AV 1400	700-MHz	Dual	256M/2G	Four	Four PCI	$5,117
	AV 2700R	600-MHz	Dual	64M/1G	Six	Seven PCI	$4,477 GSA
	AV 3700R	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	128M/4G	Six	Seven PCI	$7,165 GSA
	AV 3704R	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	128M/4G	Six	Seven PCI	$8,957 GSA
	AV 8900	550-MHz Xeon	Eight-way	256M/16G	Two	10 PCI	$21,117 GSA
Dell Computer Corp. Round Rock, Texas 512-338-4400 www.dell.com	PowerEdge 4300	500-MHz	Dual	512M/2G	Eight	Four PCI, two PCI/ISA	$13,080
	PowerEdge 4400	600-MHz	Dual	512M/2G	Eight	Four PCI, two PCI/ISA	$11,648
	PowerEdge 6300	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/4G	Eight	Four PCI, two PCI/ISA	$19,495
	PowerEdge 8450	550-MHz Xeon	Eight-way	512M/16G	Eight	Four PCI, two PCI/ISA	$53,465
DTK Computer Inc. Chantilly, Va. 703-222-9194 www.dtkcomputer.com	Cosmos NT Server	600-MHz	Dual	128M/2G	Five	Six PCI, one ISA	$1,281 up
Gateway Inc. San Diego 800-846-4208 www.gateway.com	ALR 7200	500-MHz	Dual	64M/1G	Three	Six PCI, one PCI/ISA	$2,439 up
	ALR 7300	500-MHz Xeon	Dual	64M/1G	Three	Six PCI, one PCI/ISA	$2,799 up
	ALR 8200r	500-MHz	Dual	64M/1G	Six	Six PCI, one ISA, one PCI/ISA	$2,699 to $3,744
	ALR 9200r	500-MHz Xeon	Quad	128M/4G	Six	Six PCI, one PCI/ISA	$6,099 to $7,144

Vendor	Product	Pentium III processors	Board design	Memory (standard/ maximum)	Hot-swap drive bays	Expansion slots	Price
Hewlett-Packard Co. Palo Alto, Calif. 650-857-1501 www.hp.com	NetServer LC 2000/2000r	733-MHz	Dual	128M/4G	Six	Six PCI	$3,789 up
	NetServer LH 3000/3000r	733-MHz	Dual	128M/4G	12	Eight PCI	$4,619 up
	NetServer LH 3 & 3r	600-MHz	Dual	128M/1G	12	Eight PCI, one PCI/ISA	$4,379 up
	NetServer LH 4 & 4r	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/4G	12	Eight PCI, one PCI/ISA	$8,559 up
	NetServer LXr 8000	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/8G	12	Nine PCI, one PCI/ISA	$15,070 up
	NetServer LXr 8500	550-MHz Xeon	Eight-way	256M/8G	12	Nine PCI, one PCI/ISA	$20,660 UP
IBM Corp. Armonk, N.Y. 914-765-1900 www.ibm.com	Netfinity 3500 M10 Part No.	600-MHz	Dual	128M/1G	Eight	Six PCI/ISA	$2,379 up
	Netfinity 4000R Part No. 865222Y	500-MHz	Dual	1G/2G	Four	Two PCI, one PCI/ISA	$7,345 up
	Netfinity 5000 Part No. 86598RY	700-MHz	Dual	128M/2G	Five	Five PCI	$3,589 up
	Netfinity 5500 Part No. 86607SU	550-MHz	Dual	256M /1G	10	Seven PCI	$4,865 up
	Netfinity 5500M10 Part No. 86615RY	550-MHz	Quad	256M/2G	10	Seven PCI	$7,095 up
	Netfinity 5500 M20 Part No. 86624RY	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256KM/4G	10	Six PCI	$9,889 up
	Netfinity 5600 Part No. 86643RY	667-MHz	Dual	256M/4G	10	Five PCI	$5,045 up
	Netfinity 7000 M10 Part No. 86803SY	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/8G	Six	12 PCI (hot-plug)	$14,745 up
	Netfinity 8500R Part No. 86816RY	550-MHz Xeon	Eight-way	256M/16G	Two	12 PCI (hot-plug)	$20,409 up
Intergraph Federal Systems Huntsville, Ala. 800-747-2232 www.intergraph.com	Zx1 Server	700-MHz	Dual	256M/1G	Three	Four PCI, one PCI/ISA, one ISA, one AGP	$4,712 up GSA
	Zx10 Server	750-MHz	Dual	256M/8G	Three	Six PCI, one AGP	$3,194 up GSA
Ion Computer Systems Inc. Hauppauge, N.Y. 631-630-0600 www.ioncomputers.com	CC440GX+ Server	550-MHz Xeon	Dual	64M/1G	Six	Six PCI	$3,475 up
	AC450NX Server	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	128M/8G	Two	10 PCI	$12,910
Micron PC Inc. Meridian, Idaho 888-208-1937 www.micronpc.com	NetFrame 5200	550-MHz Xeon	Dual	128M/2G	Six	Six PCI, one ISA	$5,199 up
	NetFrame 6200	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/4G	Six	Six PCI, one ISA	$9,449 up
	NetFrame 9200	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/8G	Six	Six PCI, one ISA	$13,999 up
NEC Computers Inc. Sacramento, Calif. 888-446-8632 www.nec-computers.com	Express5800 LS 2400	550-MHz	Dual	128M/1G	Four	Three PCI, one ISA	$1,700 up GSA
	Express5800 LS 120Ld	533-MHz	Dual	128M/2G	Four	Three PCI, one ISA	$2,629 up GSA
	Express5800 MC2400	600-MHz	Dual	256M/2G	Four	Three PCI, one ISA	$4,464 up GSA
	Express5800 120Mc2	733-MHz	Dual	256M/4G	Four	Six PCI, one PCI/ISA	$4,920 up GSA
	Express5800 HX 4600	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/4G	Eight	10 PCI (8 hot- plug), 1 PCI/ISA	$11,396 up GSA
	Express5800 MH4500	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/4G	Six	Seven PCI, one ISA	$6,828 up GSA
PC Club City of Industry, Calif. 626-913-2582 www.pcclub.com	Enpower EN992-PO5	500-MHz	Dual	128M/1G	Five	Five PCI, one ISA	$2,199 up
	Enpower EN992-X06	550-MHz Xeon	Dual	128M/2G	Six	Six PCI, one ISA	$4,299 up
	Enpower EN993-X04	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	128M/4G	Six	Six PCI, one ISA	$6,259 up
Perifitech Hinckley, Ohio 330-278-2070 www.perifitech.com	Aerial Dual Xeon Superserver	550-MHz Xeon	Dual	128M/2G	12	Six PCI, one ISA, one AGP, one PCI/ISA	$8,129
Perifitech Hinckley, Ohio 330-278-2070 www.perifitech.com	Aerial Quad Xeon Superserver	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	512M/4G	23	Seven PCI, one ISA, one PCI/ISA	$17,999
Polywell Computers Inc. S. San Francisco, Calif. 650-583-7222 www.polywell.com	PolyServer 450NX4	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	128M/4G	Nine	Seven PCI, one PCI/ISA	$9,995 up
	PolyServer 450NX9	500-MHz Xeon	Quad	128M/4G	Four	Seven PCI, one PCI/ISA	$9,995 up

Vendor	Product	Pentium III processors	Board design	Memory (standard/ maximum)	Hot-swap drive bays	Expansion slots	Price
Quantex Microsystems Inc. Somerset, N.J. 732-563-4166 www.quantex.com	QX5000	750-MHz	Dual	128M/1G	Five	Six PCI, one ISA	$2,599
	QX6200	550-MHz Xeon	Dual	128M/2G	Six	Six PCI, one ISA	$4,099 up
	QX6400	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	512M/8G	Six	Six PCI, one ISA	$6,999 up
SGI Mountain View, Calif. 650-960-1980 www.sgi.com	1200	700-MHz	Dual	128M/2G	Four	Two PCI	$3,881 up
SGI Mountain View, Calif. 650-960-1980 www.sgi.com	1400M	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	128M/4G	Six	Seven PCI	$8,584 up
Tangent Computer Inc. Burlingame, Calif. 888-826-4368 www.tangent.com	ProServ 1200	600-MHz	Dual	128M/1G	Five	Four PCI, two ISA	$2,370 up
	ProServ 1400	600-MHz	Dual	128M/2G	Five	Four PCI, two ISA	$2,841 up
	ProServ 1600	600-MHz	Dual	128M/2G	Five	Four PCI, two ISA	$2,823 up
	ProServ 2000	550-MHz Xeon	Dual	128M/2G	Six	Six PCI, one ISA	$6,714 up
	ProServ 3000	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/4G	Six	Six PCI, one ISA	$9,420 up
	ProServ 5000	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/8G	Nine	Six PCI	$16,864 up
Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. Irvine, Calif. 949-583-3000 www.csd.toshiba.com	Magnia 3010	600-MHz	Dual	128M/1G	Four	Three PCI, one PCI/ISA, one ISA	$2,375 up
	Magnia 5010	550-MHz	Dual	128M/1G	12	Three PCI, one PCI/ISA, one ISA	$4,503 up
	Magnia 5100	550-MHz Xeon	Dual	256M/2G	12	Six PCI, one ISA	$6,441 up
	Magnia 7010	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/4G	12	Six PCI, one ISA	$12,690 up
Unisys Corp. McLean, Va. 703-556-5029 www.unisys.com	Aquanta ES2043	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/4G	Six	Six PCI, one PCI/ISA	$4,800 up
	Aquanta ES2085R	550-MHz Xeon	Eight-way	512M/32G	Two	10 PCI	$19,000 up
	Aquanta ES5043/ ES5043R	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/4G	Six	Six PCI, one PCI/ISA	$5,550 up
	Aquanta ES5045/ ES5045R	550-MHz Xeon	Quad	256M/8G	12	10 PCI, one PCI/ISA	$8,200 to $9,700
	Aquanta ES5085R	550-MHz Xeon	Eight-way	1G/32G	Two	10 PCI	$19,700 up

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