Peter - CPQ has also announced a 1U server - a dual 800MHz xeon - which offers built-in hardware RAID, redundant power supplies, and lights-out remote management including the ability to power cycle remotely and watch the whole boot process. The photon package also claims to have superior heat management, a problem with the network engines / IBM design, at least in the first versions. I did an evaluation of the IBM 1U product a few months ago and it was impossible to fill a rack and still get the heat out - we had to leave a blank slot every 4th server to improve airflow - but maybe they have gotten better. The CPQ product is not shipping yet but is on their web at compaq.com with anticipated shipment in April. Like the network engines / IBM products, the CPQ 1U is aimed at web farms and other ultra-dense sites where a lot of processing power in a small footprint is the main goal, and expansion of the base system storage is not a requirement. The CPQ design can cary as many as 4 network connections, all active-active failover, and up to 4 GB memory.
I'd like to see Dell come out with a 1U server soon. Maybe they already have? I don't know.
DELL's most dense product is the PowerEdge 2450 ( dell.com ) a 2U design which also includes hardware RAID and redundant power supplies and supports PIII up to 733 MHz. This product seems targeted at the 2U VA Linux product and the CPQ DL380 2U rackmount rather than the IBM / Network Engines server or the CPQ Photon. It is at a good price point (although higher than VA Linux, I guess DELL actually wants to make money <GG>). Because of its larger form factor, the PowerEdge 2450 can hold 4 drives, so one could do a pair of RAID 1 sets or possibly even a RAID 5. In features, options and price it is virtually identical to the CPQ DL380, so perhaps when CPQ actually starts shipping Photon, DELL will match with a 1U product. |
