Eric, IBM, HP, Dell and Compaq all have development plans around Itanium. They're not just waiting for McKinley. We'll just have to wait and see how they sell. The article below says Intel will tell customers what they should be using for servers because a lot of them are clueless, using PCs, etc. Of course, the recommendation will always be to use Intel based!
Research shows that many small and medium-sized businesses rely on local value-added resellers and integrators to provide white-box systems for their server. Often, resellers are configuring desktop PCs to act as the server. A true Intel-based server should contain a Pentium(R) III or Pentium(R) III Xeon(TM) processor with an Intel server board, server chassis, network adapters, server RAID cards, and server monitoring capabilities. These server building blocks have been designed from inception with performance, scalability and availability features to support an e-Business solution
Even Ebay was using a non-hot (or even warm) backup system last year, if you remember those infamous outages. I've heard they have learned something about clusters since then. BTW, Intel servers cluster very nicely. Just one more level of support that will be a barrier to entry by any AMD based servers. Not insurmountable, but another barrier nevertheless.
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Intel Targets Integrators With e-Business Server Program; Intel to Educate System Integrators and Resellers in Server Offerings to Small and Mid-Sized e-Business Customers
MONDAY, AUGUST 07, 2000 10:14 AM
- BusinessWire
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug 7, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Intel Corporation today announced the Intel e-Business Server Program, an initiative to train and educate system integrators, value-added resellers, dealers, and Web consultants on how to recommend the proper e-Business server solutions to their small and medium-sized business customers.
"The channel is looking for direction as they help their customers prepare for e-Business," said Mark Beckford, marketing manager for Intel's Server Channel Marketing. "There's been a huge growth for servers because of the explosion of e-Commerce, yet many businesses are still using inadequate equipment to meet their e-Business needs."
Under the Intel e-Business Server Program, Intel will give resellers configuration tools (such as Web-based sizing guides, server integration tips, and recommendations to maximize server performance, scalability, and availability), e-Business server technical training (including both Web-based and face-to-face server integration and optimization training), and sales and marketing support (such as pass-through brochures and success stories) to build and sell high-performance e-Business servers.
"Servers are the foundation of the Internet economy," said Beckford. "Yet some businesses are still using desktop PCs as servers. E-Business, whether it's simple Web hosting or e-Commerce, requires a server that can stay up 24x7x365 and scale to meet the demands of unpredictable Web traffic. Moreover, the server cannot be the bottleneck -- a competitor's Web site is just a mouse click away. Servers based on Intel server building blocks fit the bill since they have the performance, scalability and reliability to meet the intense demands of e-Business."
Serious Servers for Serious e-Business
Research shows that many small and medium-sized businesses rely on local value-added resellers and integrators to provide white-box systems for their server. Often, resellers are configuring desktop PCs to act as the server. A true Intel-based server should contain a Pentium(R) III or Pentium(R) III Xeon(TM) processor with an Intel server board, server chassis, network adapters, server RAID cards, and server monitoring capabilities. These server building blocks have been designed from inception with performance, scalability and availability features to support an e-Business solution.
"This program will help resellers and systems integrators work with small companies seeking a presence in the new Internet economy," said Jeff Nguyen, president and CEO, ASL, Inc., a system integrator and distributor located in Milpitas, Calif. "If you compare the investment in a server against the cost of a PC system going down and loss of employee productivity and revenue, the investment is sound."
For more information about the Intel e-Business Server Program, visit www.intel.com/go/serverbuilder. |
