JUST A REMINDER FOR MONDAY December 21, 1998 (Vol. 20, Issue 51)
PC servers move up in weight class
By Ed Scannell and David Pendery
Heavy hitters in the server arena will ring in the new year with a slew of servers and workstations powered by 450-MHz Pentium II Xeon processors from Intel as well as Alpha processors from Compaq.
With new systems from IBM, Compaq, Dell, and NEC lined up for January, the first quarter appears to be a good time to shop for next-generation PC servers. However, for those customers who can wait, Intel plans to release a 500-MHz processor, code-named Tanner, in July.
IBM will take the wraps off its 450-MHz Xeon-based Netfinity systems in mid-January, propelled by Intel's latest server-specific NX chip set, which Intel is expected to announce on Jan. 5.
The chip sets are the first NX chip sets paired with 450-MHz processors, featuring a 100-MHz front-side bus and as much as 2MB of Level 2 cache.
"With that level of cache you can do a lot more in memory. And with transaction processing, that's crucial," said James Gruener, a senior analyst at the Aberdeen Group, in Boston.
IBM has also made improvements to the system's motherboard design to make it significantly easier to snap in faster processors as they become available in 1999, sources close to the company said.
Meanwhile, Compaq on Jan. 4 will also announce not one but four different four-way Intel systems that are anchored by the new Xeon processor, including an upgraded ProLiant 5500 model.
"We will have models [using the 450-MHz Pentium II Xeon] from across our entire enterprise line. We hope to give corporate users a choice," a source close to the company said.
At the same time, Compaq is readying for a January announcement its Alpha DS20 server, as well as a long-awaited XP 1000 workstation.
The dual-processor DS20 servers will be powered by 500-MHz Alpha processors with access to as much as 4GB of memory. They will house 128GB of storage and sport six 64-bit PCI slots, according to Compaq representatives. Owners of Digital Alpha 1200 models can even now purchase a box upgrade to the DS20 architecture, said one source familiar with the development.
The near-simultaneous release of Intel and Alpha servers presents a conundrum for Compaq, an obstacle once faced by Digital Equipment, Gruener said.
"It will be a hurdle for Compaq to position the servers," Gruener said. "They need to figure out in which markets Intel and Alpha servers work, and where they don't."
Compaq's Alpha-powered XP 1000 workstation will also be released by the end of January -- first available in a 500-MHz model -- with three drive bays, allowing for 54GB of storage capacity, according to a Compaq representative. The uniprocessor computer will be priced from $8,000 to $12,000, according to the representative.
Dell will also join the parade announcing in early January its 450-MHz Pentium II Xeon NX server, which likewise can handle four processors. Like the IBM systems, users will have a choice between tower or rack-mount configurations.
Not to be outdone, NEC is releasing on Jan. 4 a new unit in its Express5800 server line, the HX4500, powered by as many as four of the latest Xeons.
The unit will support as much as 4GB of memory and will utilize a dual channel Ultra-Wide SCSI controller, with storage capacity to 216GB. The NEC Express5800 HX4500 will be available in January, with pricing starting at $11,594 for a uniprocessor machine.
Compaq Computer Corp., in Houston, is at (281) 370-0670 or www.compaq.com. Dell Computer Corp., in Round Rock, Texas, is at (800) 388-8542 or www.dell.com. NEC Computer Systems, a division of Packard Bell NEC Inc., is at (888) 306-4636 (toll-free) or www.nec-computers.com.
Intel will also be announcing its high-end 450- and 500-MHz Katmai processors for desktops in March.
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