RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C (April 13, 2000) – IBM today announced new Netfinity(R) thin servers designed to deliver the highest computing power per square foot on Intel based platforms. With the new product offerings known as the 4500R and 6000R, IBM now offers the industry’s most complete rack optimized product line for Linux, Windows and Novell servers.
“Floor space and the size of the server footprint are as important to our company as the scalability and reliability of our servers,” said James Kluttz, Chief Technology Officer for North Carolina healthcare provider Novant Healthcare. “According to the calculations that we have done, the Netfinity 4500R would allow us to reclaim 75 percent of our raised floor space now occupied by existing servers. That’s a tremendous savings.”
Also delivered with this announcement, IBM is introducing the most extensive predictive failure analysis (PFA) for hardware and software components. For the first time on rack-optimized servers, a dedicated service processor derived from IBM System 390 technology measures critical hardware components. Combined with the innovative Netfinity software rejuvenation, the new servers notify customers of impending failures, allowing for time to take preventative measures.
The Real Estate Champions
The 4500R, the high-availability node, maximizes the computing power per square foot. Starting as low as $3700, this 2-way SMP server offers scalability to space conscious customers. The 4500R is a compact 3U design that allows up to 14 systems per industry standard rack. By way of reference, 1U equals 1.75 inches. Because of the 4500R’s small footprint and rack-optimization, customers are able to use their existing data center more efficiently, maximizing computing power, redundancy and scalability. The 4500R offers unique availability features such as the only front-access hot-swap and redundant power and cooling and is the only rack unit with redundant front access power supplies.
The 6000R, the infrastructure-node, measuring 4U high offers X-Architecture innovations from IBM’s extensive line of Servers. It delivers more high-availability features than any other 4-way server in the market today, such as Chipkill memory protection developed for the Mars lunar lander and memory scalability up to 16GB. The 6000R is the only 4-way SMP rack server with the ability to add PCI adapters increasing scalability for networking and storage without bringing down the server. The innovative power fuel gauge measures the load on the power supplies and notifies users when the power exceeds redundancy. Customers can then hot-add an additional power supply, returning the system to fault-tolerance.
“The Netfinity 6000R delivers exactly what United Messaging, a leader in delivering high performance-messaging solutions, needs in a server–small size, high quality “tool-less” design and rack-mountability”, states Ronald Layne, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, for United Messaging(TM), Inc. “The IBM logo gives it a name our clients recognize for value, reliability and quality performance.”
The Netfinity 8500R, IBM’s 8U compute-node, receives the latest Intel Pentium Xeon processors with large cache and a speed of over 700 MHz. This server is at the top of Netfinity’s rack systems and is the only server with 6 hot-swap fans and Push Pull Cooling, a X-Architecture feature that conditions the thermal characteristics of the server, an important consideration in the multiprocessor environment.
The Netfinity rack optimized servers leverage IBM server technology, extending the benefits to mission critical environment with the introduction of the industry’s most complete Predictive Failure Analysis. The dedicated system processor monitors the components most likely to fail and can determine if and when they are in a condition to fail. These components include the main processor, voltage regulator modules (power supply’s for processors), memory, disk drives, system power supplies, and fan (speed and temperature).
The customer is then notified to swap out the compromised component that is about to fail. Netfinity offers online diagnostic software which monitors the programs and the operating system. The Netfinity servers can now anticipate software problems and correct them before a problem occurs.
Also Announced, Faster SCSI and 5100 Server
IBM is now delivering Ultra 160 SCSI technology for the Netfinity line. This doubles the existing data transfer rate at which users can access storage devices. IBM is the first PC server vendor delivering this I/O capability and now addresses this long standing issue, where I/O has been a significant bottleneck to server performance.
Announced today is a new 5100 Netfinity server in a standard size configuration. With the 5100, IBM delivers a 2-way SMP server based on the latest Intel Pentium III processor, improved performance, and greater memory, making this an ideal server for businesses of all sizes. The 5100 also provides increased internal scalability with up to 4GB of memory expansion, choice of wither 6 high-speed or 8 regular hard disk drives, and internal DLT support.
Backed by Complete Software Support
The Netfinity line has the industry’s largest software solution offering. At over three times the solutions of the nearest competitor, customers can be sure that the widest range of solutions covering every major operating system are rigorously tested as ServerProven on Netfinity.
The leader in customer relationship management solutions, Seibel is part of the Netfinity Server proven program. “Through the IBM Netfinity ServerProven program, we are able to deliver validated, reliable e-business solutions that can be deployed quickly on new hardware like the Netfinity 5100 and 6000R, helping our Middle Market customers realize quick return on investment” states George Ahn, General Manger of Seibel’s Middle Market Products. “By coupling Siebel Systems’ eBusiness, MidMarket edition software with the outstanding availability and manageability of IBM Netfinity 5100 and 6000R servers, we take the guesswork out of our customers’ purchase decision, providing the e-business solution they need to increase the profitability of each deal and deliver world-class customer service every time.”
“IBM Netfinity 4500R server gives us the confidence that our customers are building their business intelligence solutions on a proven, reliable platform. Our customers will benefit from having tested, tuned and optimized Cognos’ e-business solutions, enabling them to run their businesses now and into the future,” said Patrick O’Leary, Cognos Vice President of Strategic Alliances.
Netfinity servers are the leading Intel based server for software tested solutions. For more information about IBM Netfinity servers and products, please visit http://www.ibm.com/servers/netfinity.

Source: IBM