Fujitsu Computer Systems today unveiled an 8-socket blade server, a new
machine the company hopes will help it gain market share versus top rivals
IBM and HP in the modular computing space.
The Primergy BX630 blade server is fueled by dual-core AMD Opteron
processors, allowing customers to scale from two to eight processors in one
blade chassis. Blades are thin servers that slide in and out of a chassis.
Opteron contains a critical feature in helping the BX630 scale to eight
sockets: AMD’s HyperTransport interconnect.
This interconnect makes it possible to link two BX630 two-socket blades into a
single four-socket blade. IT administrators can then link two of these four-socket
blades into a single BX630 eight-socket blade. Because each socket has two
processors, the server essentially becomes a 16-core machine.
The Sunnyvale, Calif., company said in a statement the BX630 will be
powerful enough to handle everything from a business’ high-end applications,
such as customer relationship management (CRM) software, to its database
software.
Letting customers mix and match hardware and architectures without incurring
greater costs is a big boon these days. Choice is a very powerful thing in
enterprise computing, where costs can run high.
Accordingly, the Opteron-based BX630 blades can run in the current Primergy
BX600 chassis and be mixed with Intel Xeon-based Primergy BX620 S2 blade
servers and Primergy BX630 two-socket blade servers.
The BX630 supports all of the major server operating systems, including
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise, Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64
Edition, Red Hat Linux EL4 x86/AMD64, Novell SUSE Linux ES-9 x86/AMD64 and
VMware ESX Server 2.5.x.
The BX630 eight-socket server will be available in the second quarter, starting
below $2,250 for a two-socket configuration. An eight-socket BX630 will run
companies $36,000.
Despite the power and flexibility of the BX630, Fujitsu is facing an uphill
battle to sell blade servers in the U.S. and abroad. In the most recent IDC
server numbers, IBM posted a 42.7 percent market share, while HP maintained
the No. 2 position with 35.1 percent share.
Moreover, neither company is resting on their laurels.
IBM unveiled
its high-performance blade last month, while HP is expected to upgrade its
Opteron-based ProLiant blade portfolio tomorrow.
However, IBM and HP’s leadership and aggression in the market may not
matter.
IDC also said the blade market grew
49.3 percent year over year and climbed 56.9 percent from 2004 to 2005.
With blade server sales skyrocketing each passing year, an even better year
is likely to be on tap for 2006.
