IBM has announced a new Power5 server aimed at midsize businesses with around 1,000 employees. The eServer i5 550 was created to fill the gap between IBM's other servers, such as the Power5 eServer i5 520 and the Power5 eServer i5 570. At $74,000 this midsize business server isn't going to be cheap, despite what IBM says.
The i5 550 server ships with two of its four processors "turned on". It may seem odd that not all of the i5 550 server’s processors are turned on, but in fact it's a pretty clever idea. By only turning on two of its four processors businesses can pay for what they need up-front, and in the future they have the option to have the other two processors "turned on" (at a fee of course). IBM will charge a $3,700 fee to turn on each processor, but considering the power these processors pack you probably won't be turning them for a while (depending on your business). In order to make sure you get the most bang for your buck IBM also includes software that allows its server to rum multiple IBM operating systems, such as IBM's UNIX OS AIX.
I don't think anyone can complain about the overall performance of IBM’s Power5 eServer’s. Yet alone the processor that's powering these bad boys, but with a price tag of $74,000 some companies may want to look else where, depending on their type of business.
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The i5 550 server ships with two of its four processors "turned on". It may seem odd that not all of the i5 550 server’s processors are turned on, but in fact it's a pretty clever idea. By only turning on two of its four processors businesses can pay for what they need up-front, and in the future they have the option to have the other two processors "turned on" (at a fee of course). IBM will charge a $3,700 fee to turn on each processor, but considering the power these processors pack you probably won't be turning them for a while (depending on your business). In order to make sure you get the most bang for your buck IBM also includes software that allows its server to rum multiple IBM operating systems, such as IBM's UNIX OS AIX.
I don't think anyone can complain about the overall performance of IBM’s Power5 eServer’s. Yet alone the processor that's powering these bad boys, but with a price tag of $74,000 some companies may want to look else where, depending on their type of business.
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What's New
- Fixed Windows XP Service Pack 2 Automatic Update issues.
- Made some cosmetic changes.
POWER5 Performance Brief (aceshardware.com)
Though to be fair, it should be noted that the Opteron was never intended to compete with the likes of the Power series. But rather, to destroy the Xeon line and to with the side effect of offering a vastly superior alternative to Itanium for 64-bit migration (as the Opteron still trounces Itanium in 32-bit performance). It was also designed to be (relatively) cheap.
It would be nice to see AMD get into the super-ridiculous-godlike server processor market... but considering their goals and their "friendliness" with IBM, I don't think that's likely to happen anytime soon.
Also, the Itanium architecture fairs quite well when you're testing its speciality (64-bit FP and TPC). Personally I think there *may* be a future for Itanium, just not this generation.
Remember Server OS, Database (oracle, ibm's db2) etc. are priced based on how many processors you run them on. So more processors active = higher Software prices. this way companies save now, and then if they succeed and grow, they can simply turn more on and pay licence fees later, without buying new hardware.
Freeing up IT staff members means they can be laid off
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