HP debuts midrange Unix server

IDG News Service - Hewlett-Packard Co. Tuesday took the wraps off a new 16-way, midrange server built around the company's own flavor of Unix.

The HP Server rp8400 can use up to 16 of the company's PA-RISC processors, making it a significantly more powerful server than the company's current eight-way rp7400, formerly called the N-class server. HP will make its 650-MHz and 750-MHz PA-RISC 8700 chips available on the new server, which will run Version 11i of the company's HP-UX operating system.

HP will also make the higher-powered PA-RISC processors available on the rp7400 and its top-of-the-line Superdome server, according to a statement by the company.

HP's competition in the Unix server market includes IBM and Sun Microsystems Inc. All three vendors have pushed the cost of their lower-end servers down in recent months, as the slowdown in the U.S. economy has created a tight market for the machines.

For HP, midrange sales make up the bulk of the company's server revenue. IBM and Sun dominate the higher-end segment of the market.

"We have taken the capabilities in Superdome, which is our high end, and brought that architecture down to this class of machine," said Duane Zitzner, president of HP Computing Systems, during a news conference.

One such high-end feature of the rp8400 is the ability to create two hard partitions and up to 16 virtual partitions. This technology could allow a customer, for example, to run Linux and Windows NT on the same server. HP will also include a type of "chip-kill" technology that can help correct errors in a computer's memory.

In addition, HP made its CPU boards upgradable, allowing customers to switch from PA-RISC to Intel Corp.'s Itanium processor family at a later date. HP co-developed Itanium with Intel and plans to center its servers around the processor during the next few years.

HP targeted the rp8400 at service providers and users looking to work on technical computing tasks. The product will begin shipping worldwide immediately with a standard configuration costing $124,000.

The company will charge $1.1 million for an rp8400 with 16 processors and 64GB of memory.

Related stories:

• IBM adds servers to bolster midrange line, Sept. 17, 2001



• Multiple processors: maximum performance, Sept. 3, 2001



• Superdome Unix server sales on upswing, says HP, Aug. 27, 2001