Archive | May 21, 2003

Company Also Announces Performance Enhancements to PRIMEPOWER 650 and 850 Servers to Maintain Industry Leadership with Powerful SPARC64 V Processors

Fujitsu Technology Solutions, Inc., a member of the worldwide group of Fujitsu companies, today aannounced its next generation of entry-level PRIMEPOWER(tm) servers featuring mainframe technologies and reliability previously unavailable on lower end computing platforms. Fujitsu’s new Solaris(tm) compatible, SPARC” compliant PRIMEPOWER 250 and 450 server models extend the reach of PRIMEPOWER servers to the edge of the network, to deliver performance to critical customer-facing systems and applications.

Fujitsu’s new entry-level PRIMEPOWER 250 and 450 servers deliver high performance, high reliability, and high availability to e-business and transaction processing applications, all with a smaller footprint than other machines in their class. The PRIMEPOWER 250 and 450 feature up to two and four 1.1 GHz processors, respectively, that perform up to six simultaneous instructions. They offer 1 MB of on-chip Second Level Cache, fast buses, and larger disk capacity to address a whole new set of network edge server needs.

“These servers bring the best technology from mainframe computing to aggressively meet the needs of customers who are currently experiencing limitations in power and performance at the entry point,” said Richard McCormack, vice president of product marketing at Fujitsu Technology Solutions, Inc. “The low end of the server market will be redefined with the introduction of the PRIMEPOWER 250 and 450, two server models that bring performance and reliability to the network edge and address needs that were previously unmet in this class.”

“Fujitsu’s new generation of servers bring high-end system performance to the low end that has not been seen to date,” said Vernon Turner, group vice president, Global Enterprise Server Solutions, IDC. “As customer performance demands continue to increase at the entry level, Fujitsu’s PRIMEPOWER 250 and 450 are addressing the most urgent computing needs by giving customers mainframe-like capabilities, reliability, and availability.”

Fujitsu has developed a new self-healing and self-monitoring architecture that is featured on the PRIMEPOWER 250 and 450 servers. Unlike some systems that require constant monitoring for signs of imminent failure, Fujitsu’s new low-end servers need no such oversight. They can also be connected via the Web, email or private connection to remote monitoring services for very fast turnaround on preventative maintenance, component replacement, and system problem support. This ensures that PRIMEPOWER servers meet all the needs of the world’s most demanding applications.

“We feel confident that the advanced capabilities of Fujitsu’s PRIMEPOWER 250 and 450 will provide the performance and reliability we need to better analyze customer data for the development of predictive models,” said Ronald Williams, manager of service operations technology, Earthlink. “This information is vital to Earthlink, and helps us maintain the outstanding customer satisfaction for which the company is known. Fujitsu’s machines offer capabilities we’d expect from a mainframe but are available at an attractive price and in a compact package.”

Initially developed and tested for large-scale mission-critical environments, these innovations have been embodied in all the processors and hardware components now used across the entire global PRIMEPOWER product range.

Like their high-end family members, the PRIMEPOWER 250 and 450 provide a unique feature called hardware instruction retry. PRIMEPOWER systems will retry a failed instruction at the hardware level, enabling the instruction to be retried immediately, eliminating time-consuming flushing and rebuilding of the software buffers. This corrects 98 percent of noise-generated errors. The new server models also offer additional parity checking functionality that ensures that processing errors are automatically self-corrected, including cache errors.

“The growing momentum behind the Solaris 9 Operating System is fueling growth in the Solaris market,” said Graham Lovell, marketing director, Sun Microsystems. “The Solaris OS is the best choice for deploying secure and robust business critical applications in today’s economy.”

Extended System Control Function (XSCF) technology is another feature included in the latest additions to the PRIMEPOWER family. This enhances the reliability level of all functions within the server to an autonomous self-healing capability. XSCF means reduced operational costs through more efficient systems management.

Partners Weigh In

“The introduction of the new PRIMEPOWER systems, with their improved performance and RAS features, is good news for customers” said Dave Dargo, vice president, System Platforms Division, Oracle. “Oracle9i(tm) Database with Real Application Clusters on these new servers provides real business and technology benefit by delivering a stable, highly available system that can scale as needed.”

“As a strategic partner providing leading storage software solutions and joint support for PRIMEPOWER servers, VERITAS Software welcomes Fujitsu’s extension of mission-critical computing ability to its entire range of PRIMEPOWER servers,” said Kevin Reinis, vice president of business development and strategic alliances, VERITAS Software. “Through tightly integrated, interoperable solutions with our partners, VERITAS enables utility computing in today’s multi-vendor data center environments. Our products running on the new Fujitsu® servers will continue to provide customers with superior high availability, data protection and storage management solutions for cost-effective computing and improved service levels throughout their IT organization.”

PRIMEPOWER 650 and 850 Upgrades

Fujitsu also today announced performance upgrades to the PRIMEPOWER 650 and 850 8-way and 16-way servers, respectively. Both systems will now feature 1.08 GHz SPARC64® V processors, enabling tremendous speed for business-critical UNIX® enterprise applications. The two servers will see performance upgrades up to 1.35 GHz in future product enhancements.

Availability

Fujitsu’s PRIMEPOWER 250 and 450 server models are now generally available. The PRIMEPOWER 650 and 850 with performance upgrades are also currently shipping.

Pricing starts from $7500 for the PRIMEPOWER 250.

About Fujitsu Technology Solutions

Fujitsu Technology Solutions, Inc., headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, offers worldwide IT infrastructure solutions that encompass a range of technology solutions and fully customized managed services. Fujitsu Technology Solutions, Inc., an expert in enterprise and open systems server and storage solutions, focuses on delivering high availability, mission-critical, scalable solutions in the large-systems marketplace. Drawing on the skills and experience of Fujitsu Limited, as well as our many partner companies, Fujitsu Technology Solutions Inc. enables customers to balance the needs of rapid change and stability while maximizing the return on investment in existing and new technologies.

Fujitsu and the Fujitsu logo are registered trademarks of Fujitsu Limited. PRIMEPOWER is a trademark or registered trademark of Fujitsu Limited in the United States and other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries. Oracle 9i is trademark or registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. SPARC and SPARC64 are registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. Products bearing the SPARC trademark are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. Solaris is a trademark or registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks and product names are the property of their respective owners. Specifications are subject to change without notice. For the latest detailed information, contact your local sales representative.

© 2003 Fujitsu Technology Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. FTSI-009-03