NEWS: Data General To Expand AViiON NUMA Servers To 64 Processors
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WESTBORO, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 9, 1998--Continuing its tradition of technology and innovation leadership, Data General Corporation today announced the expansion of the AViiON(R) line of NUMA servers to 64 processors using future Intel Deschutes processors. This new high-end server, code named Audubon 2, will be available before the end of the year. Customers using the current AV 20000 NUMA server can easily upgrade to Audubon 2, preserving their investments in hardware and software.
Data General pioneered the use of the NUMA architecture in commercial computer systems with the introduction of the AViiON AV 10000 server in August of 1995. The second- generation AV 20000 NUMA server was announced on June 10,1997. Audubon 2 begins the third generation.
''Data General is delivering on the promise of NUMA, providing cost-effective, highly scalable, and modular systems. The result has been the great success we have had with the AV 20000. We now have a solid foundation of over 300 first- and second-generation NUMA servers installed in 7x24 production environments all over the world,'' said Linda Mentzer, vice president of Data General's UNIX Business Unit. ''Our extensive experience with NUMA gives us the confidence to announce our third-generation systems at this time.''
Audubon 2: Third Generation NUMALiiNE Technology
Data General's Audubon 2 servers, based on third-generation NUMALiiNE(TM) technology, are built from quad-processor Scalable Building Blocks (SBBs) using Intel's forthcoming Deschutes CPUs. SBBs are linked via the SCI (Scalable Coherent Interface) interconnect from Dolphin Technologies. Single systems can support up to 64 GB of memory and up to 400 Terabytes of CLARiiON(R) fibre channel storage through as many as 144 PCI I/O slots. Audubon 2 continues Data General's high-availability tradition with redundant, hot-swappable power and cooling and hot-pluggable PCI slots.
In clusters of four Audubon 2 servers, up to 256 processors can be deployed. Future NUMALiiNE technology-based systems will continue to aggressively implement Intel processor technology, including future IA32 and IA64 processors. The NUMALiiNE architecture can logically address up to 1,024 processors.
Customers using current-generation AV 20000 NUMA servers will be able to expand their systems simply by adding Audubon 2 SBBs, with the ability to mix and match second- and third-generation SBBs in the same system.
''We continue to leverage industry-standard components, Intel SHV (Standard High- Volume) server motherboards, SCI, and PCI I/O to maintain our leadership in price/performance with Audubon 2 as we have with the AV 20000,'' said Linda Mentzer. ''We are also making significant investments in the DG/UX(R) operating system to support the higher capabilities of Audubon 2 and in expanding our data warehousing software alliances. We see tremendous potential for these systems in this market.''
DG/UX Enhancements
The company also announced a number of enhancements to DG/UX, Data General's UNIX operating system, to support increased scalability, high availability with QuickClusters, as well as enhancing workload optimization, application development, systems management, and security in third-generation NUMALiiNE technology-based AViiON servers (see accompanying press releases).
Clustering
Leveraging its long experience in clustering technology, Data General extends four-node clusters to Audubon 2's 64-processor systems, bringing the power of 256 processors to bear on applications, such as Oracle Parallel Server. Clusters allow users continuous access to applications and data, while easing system administration and software upgrades.
QuickClusters(TM), first introduced last June, are now available in two-node by 16-processor configurations, as well as the previously available two-node by four-processor and two-node by eight-processor configurations.
Like Data General's AViiON NT Cluster-in-a-Box(TM), QuickClusters are pre-configured and tested to ease installation and implementation. QuickClusters include planning and implementation services to ensure that the installation meets the customer's application and availability requirements.
DG/INSiiGHT(SM) Data Warehousing Program; Record Benchmarks
Based on the Oracle8 database, Data General's DG/INSiiGHT data warehousing program offers customers an end-to-end solution, including planning services, tool integration, deployment, and performance and uptime guarantees.
In a recently completed industry standard benchmark test, a 32-processor AV 20000 server running Oracle8 database software and using CLARiiON fibre-channel storage established an industry best price/performance and the highest Oracle performance to date for the TPC-D 300GB decision support benchmark.
AV 20000: Second-Generation NUMA Systems a Worldwide Success
The AV 20000 is enjoying worldwide customer acceptance for use in a wide range of OLTP and data warehousing applications (See accompanying press release), including the industry's first shipment of a 32-processor NUMA system based on Intel technology. AV 20000 customers include Bloomberg Financial Markets, HBO and Co., F. W. Webb, Metal Building Components Inc., Party City, Vanguard Cellular, and the City of Temple in Texas, in the US; the Directorate of Information Systems in Northern Ireland; Booker Food Group, Booker Belmont Wholesale, FSS Travel & Leisure Ltd., J. Sainbury PLC, and Travis Perkins Trading Co. in the UK; Texaco - Pembroke Refinery in Wales; Universidade do Minho in Portugal; the Egyptian Capital Market Authority and the Misr Clearance, Settlement, and Deposit in Egypt; Gribbles Pathology in Australia; and Gil General Hospital in South Korea. |
