Only a masochist would want a machine like these in their house
Bring the pain, yo.
IBM Unveils eServer Computers Using Power 5 Chip
Tue Jul 13, 2004 03:44 AM ET
By Duncan Martell
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - IBM Corp. unveiled on Monday powerful business computers using the company's latest microprocessor, the Power 5, and technology that lets each chip run as many as 10 servers.
The eServer line would allow customers to use fewer servers to perform business automation functions, part of a trend among technology customers to demand more performance and capacity from a smaller number of computers, IBM said.
"You do want to get as much bang for the buck as possible," said Charles King, an analyst with industry research firm Segeza Group. He noted that a server with one microprocessor running the Linux operating system would typically function at about 15 percent of total computing capacity.
Properly configured mainframe computers, however, ran constantly at about 75 percent of capacity, King said, adding that IBM adapted its virtualization technology for the eServer line from its mainframe computers.
The servers incorporate what IBM calls its virtualization engine, software that allows customers to run as many as 10 "virtual" computer servers per microprocessor. It announced that technology in April.
The latest eServer line, which will be available globally on August 31, uses from two to 16 Power 5 processors per server computer and uses as few as one-fourth the number of chips as comparable machines from rival vendors, Armonk, New York-based IBM said in a statement.
