IBM launches world's most powerful 8-way Unix Server and new power 4 processor in ME

Priced 65 percent less than a comparably-configured Sun 3800, the IBM eServer™ p650 brings the powerful performance and autonomic computing capabilities of the groundbreaking IBM eServer p690 to the midrange market in the region. The eServer p650 has already beat previous records for eight-way Web serving and Java™ application performance and beats a comparable Sun server on SAP performance in an Enterprise Resource Planning environment by nearly 50 percent.

The p650 is the first server in the region to include IBM's newest 64-bit microprocessor, POWER4+™, which takes advantage of the most advanced 0.13 micron fabrication process and contains over 180 million transistors. This innovative technology yields a new generation of POWER4 chips that consumes a third less power per processor than the latest version of the Sun UltraSPARC III chip at identical frequencies. The POWER4+ chip is available in the p650 with 1.2 and 1.45 gigahertz.

"Companies in this region need a cost effective and scalable system that can save them and their employees a tremendous amount of time, especially in a situation where an organisation is processing a great deal of information on their servers - everything from prices to inventory - on a continuing basis. The p650 will meet these needs and revolutionize midrange servers the same way the p690 revolutionized the high end," said Murad Zuhni, enterprise servers group manager, IBM Middle East. "With its powerful computing features and the newest POWER4+ microprocessor, the p650 is ideal for running applications such as enterprise resource planning and CRM, where it can offer our customers the same uncompromising reliability and high-availability capabilities of our award-winning eServer p690."

The eServer p650 offers unprecedented flexibility, with up to eight dynamic partitions. It is designed to run the AIX 5L™ operating system, including Version 5.2, and, when available, Linux® simultaneously in separate partitions.

The Advantage of Linux on POWER
The IBM eServer p650 will offer native Linux support. Linux on IBM pSeries servers leverages many of the competitive advantages of eServer pSeries hardware while allowing organizations to utilize open, standards-based applications in a cost-effective Linux environment.

IBM also plans to offer e-business infrastructure software that can run on the new Linux eServer pSeries systems, including WebSphere® Application Server, DB2 Universal Database™ and Tivoli® management software. Application development tools are planned to support the new platform, including a Web Services Development Kit which contains IBM's Java Virtual Machine (JVM) technology and 64-bit POWER enabled C/C++ and Fortran compilers.

Through its Linux Technology Centre, IBM contributes key operating system features to the Linux open source community that can help improve flexibility, performance, scalability, reliability and bring Linux further into the enterprise. These open source features for use in Linux exploit pSeries systems management, clustering, Internet services and security.

Performance Champion
In key measures, the eServer p650 with AIX 5L is capable of processing over 80 percent more floating point calculations than Sun's V880 based on the Specfp2000 benchmark. And on a key SAP application, the eServer p650 performs nearly 50 percent better than the V880.