Tony - More Information on Dell Xeon-Based Servers
Read the part below that says :
"We have standardized on [20 Dell] four-way Xeon servers,"
Looks like Intel's Xeon may have a big payoff in the not too distant future.
Looks like the NASDAQ LOVES INTEL and Dell !
Paul
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infoworld.com
October 19, 1998 (Vol. 20, Issue 42)
Servers ripe for the picking
By David Pendery
The server hardware market is rocking of late with seismic shifts in pricing, processing power, and new product lines.
Intel's June release of the Pentium II Xeon processor inaugurated a new era in server pricing, performance, and expectations.
"We have standardized on [20 Dell] four-way Xeon servers," says Steve Gardner, a systems architect at the National Association of Securities Dealers, in Rockville, Md., the group that oversees Nasdaq's Web site.
"We are seeing the CPU utilization on the site drop down to next to nothing -- it's a dramatic improvement," Gardner adds.
However, Intel did not stop with the release of its first-generation Xeons. Since June, the chip-giant bumped the speed of the Pentium II (BX) chip set to 450 MHz in August, and in October pushed the Xeon GX chip set to 450 MHz, with its cache increased to a maximum 2MB capacity.
The end result has been a plunge in prices of preceding-generation Intel servers. InfoWorld research indicates that prices of similarly-configured Pentium II servers from major vendors have dropped between 10 percent and 25 percent since July.
According to Rich Partridge, a server analyst at D.H. Brown Associates in Port Chester, N.Y,. the steady increase of the processor bar has been nothing but good news for buyers.
"Things keep getting better and better. There is a plummeting price for the [Intel] chip, which is a good part of what the system price is," Partridge says.
Partridge also says the current trend places pressure on server vendors to provide more function in order to differentiate themselves from one another.
"There are fixed price bands. You keep getting more features and function for that [particular] price. At the top end, [vendors] have to keep [increasing] performance characteristics," Partridge says.
To this end, Compaq, long a dependable Intel warrior, is venturing this week into unfamiliar territory where Intel-powered machines have yet to succeed: 64-bit processing power.
Digital's venerable Alpha Server line, now Compaq Alpha Servers, are the featured items. Compaq is turning loose its high-end GS series this week, powered by the latest Alpha EV6 processor.
Digital's Alpha powerhouses appear to have new life, Partridge says, but Compaq will still be pressured by expectations that have been created by Intel's season-long series of upgrades.
"There is not always a great demand for the fastest, shiniest, biggest, best chip on the block," Partridge says.
"Even though faster chips keep coming out, the demand for faster chips may not be strong."
David Pendery has covered server hardware at InfoWord for the past two years. He can be reached at david_pendery@infoworld.com.
Prices on a slippery slope
These servers are equipped with a 333-MHz Pentium II processor, CD-ROM, and 64MB of RAM, except for
the Compaq ProLiant, which comes with a 300-MHz Pentium II processor.
Product Average Average Percent
July 13 price Oct. 5 price of change
Compaq ProLiant 1600 $2,903 $2,599 -11%
HP NetServer E50 $2,579 $2,338 -9%
IBM Netfinity 3500 $2,833 $2,177 -23%
Micron NetFrame 3101 $2,899 $2,250 -22%
Gateway ALR 7000 $2,421 $2,253 -7% |
