Henry & Intel Investors - The Deschutes Roll Out "Previews" are Starting to Surface
Here are some Server Systems that will use the new Deschutes 350 and 400 MHz Processors.
Paul
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zdnet.com
Pentium II Servers on Deck
By Karen J. Bannan, PC Week
April 10, 1998 2:29 PM PDT
IBM and Micron Electronics Inc. will join a handful
of server makers this week in a massive rollout of
new systems based on Intel Corp.'s
next-generation Pentium II processors.
Hewlett-Packard Co., Acer America Corp. and
NEC Corp. will also launch new server lines
based on the 350MHz and 400MHz Pentium II
chips, formerly code-named Deschutes. The
processors are due to be released this week and
will feature, among other things, a 100MHz
system bus.
"We've been waiting to hear about these
processors for a while," said Janet Moore, an IT
manager with Kent School District, in Kent,
Washington. "It will be interesting to see who
leverages the new processors best. I've already
got 53 servers. How will they integrate with them?
Will I be able to pasture out some of my low-end
servers, or will it pay to wait for the [Merced]
systems?"
Merced is Intel's first 64-bit processor, due in
1999.
IBM will use the Pentium II rollout to announce the
Netfinity 3000 and a new branding strategy. The
Armonk, N.Y., company will re-brand its entire
line of business hardware and software under the
etools moniker. Specific product brands,
however, will remain the same, said sources
close to the company.
The Netfinity 3000 will ship with a single 266MHz,
300MHz or 350MHz Pentium II, and each model
will be sold with or without a hard drive. Targeted
at the low end and not upgradable to a two-CPU
configuration, the 3000 features up to 36.4GB of
storage, 384MB of ECC SDRAM
(error-correcting code synchronous dynamic
RAM) and a Lotus Domino Starter Pack. Pricing
starts at $1,700.
For its part, Micron will begin shipping this week
its NetFrame 3100, which features single or dual
350MHz or 400MHz Pentium II chips. The server
will ship with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT 4.0.
Prices will start at $4,299, said officials in
Nampa, Idaho.
Other vendors planning Pentium II server rollouts
include the following:
HP will announce a server that will ship in
both rack- and tower-based models with
high-availability features and management
tools, including the Palo Alto, Calif.,
company's ManageX one-to-many
management tool, sources said. The
as-yet-unnamed system is due in May.
Acer will announce the AcerAltos 9100B,
which will be available in both single and
dual 350MHz and 400MHz configurations,
with pricing starting between $4,000 and
$5,000, sources said. The 9100B is
scheduled to ship in the second quarter,
said sources close to the San Jose, Calif.,
company.
Acer will also announce the AcerPower 8000
desktop and an unnamed sub-$1,000 PC based
on Intel's low-cost Celeron processor, also due to
be announced this week.
NEC will roll out three new servers in its
Express5800 line, said sources close to
the Boxboro, Mass., company.
The LS2400 series is due by the end of April and
will come with one or two 350MHz or 400MHz
Pentium II chips, 512KB of Level 2 cache, five
expansion slots, up to 1GB of ECC SDRAM,
ExpressBuilder Installation software, and an
Emergency Management Port for fault tolerance.
The LS2400 line will ship for less than $4,000,
sources said. Later this summer, the company
will roll out two more Express5800 servers, the
ES1400 and MC2400.
The ES1400, which will cost less than $2,000,
will feature one 266MHz or 333MHz processor.
The MC2400, designed for larger installations,
will be available in either a tower or a rack-mount
configuration. The MC2400 will have seven
hot-swappable drive bays, up to 1GB of ECC
SDRAM, an integrated SCSI and 10/100
Ethernet connection, and either one or two
333MHz, 350MHz or 400MHz processors.
Although the new Intel processors will be faster,
one analyst cautions IT managers to consider the
entire package.
"Speed isn't the only consideration; they will all
be faster. [Users] should look for overall systems
balance," said Susan Frankle, an analyst with
International Data Corp., in Framingham, Mass.
Pentium II server rollout
VENDOR
MODEL
STARTING
PRICE
DUE
IBM
Netfinity
3000
$1,700
April
15
Micron
NetFrame
3100
$4,299
April
15
NEC
Express5800
LS
|
