IBM unveils servers based on Intel's Foster chip

IBM on Monday unveiled the first of a series of servers running Intel's "Foster" Xeon MP (multi-processor) chip, its x360 xSeries server.

The x360 is Big Blue's first application of its Enterprise X chip-set technology, known as Summit, which supports the high-performance, 32-bit Xeon MP chips, formerly code-named Foster.

The x360 also represents the first step in a refresh of IBM's entire Intel-based line of servers, as Big Blue prepares for the arrival of Intel's 64-bit Itanium line of processors, said Brad Day, a senior analyst at Giga Information Group. Core elements of Enterprise X technology are targeted at making it easier for users to move tasks from 32-bit servers, like the x360, to 64-bit Itanium-based servers, Day said.

Available in December, the x360 is a four-way server that can run either 1.5GHz or 1.6GHz Xeon MP chips. Only three rack units high (approx. 5.25-inches), IBM is targeting the rack-optimized server at companies wishing to consolidate large numbers of Intel-based servers into single SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) system, like the x360.

"The 3U form factor allows for much better density, allowing for 40%more processors per rack because of the lean form factor, which will appeal to customers running out of floor space," said Deepak Advani, vice president of IBM's eServer group, in Armonk, N.Y. "What has happened is a lot of customers have small Intel servers and lots of them have proliferated throughout their infrastructure. The x360 allows them to consolidate those workloads on just a few systems," Advani said. Applications including file and print, e-mail, enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and certain database tasks can all be handled by the x360, he said.

To cool the Xeon chips within such a small form factor, IBM is using six fans and water-cooled heat synchs that rise from each Xeon chip. The water sits in a vacuum container that is aerated by the heat synch fins, cooling the chips.

Intel's 32-bit Xeon processors create a significant amount of heat during normal operation. Intel's upcoming 64-bit McKinley chips will create even more heat, and a vendorwide engineering effort is under way to figure out the best way to house McKinley chips while keeping them cool. IBM's approach to cooling McKinley chips will likely be water-based as well.

"A lot of the innovation we are doing with the x360 will carry over to the 64-bit [Itanium] processor space," Advani said. "Eighty percent of the [Enterprise X] chip set will move over the 64-bit processor space.

Advani said IBM will also have enhanced versions of the chip set and other parts of Enterprise X architecture in scalable systems by the first half of next year.

Giga's Day thinks the x360 will find its "sweet spot" in VPN deployments, terminal serving environments, and "light-weight" telco applications. Beyond its initial uses, the x360 represents the future of IBM's Intel-based computing architecture, Day said.

"This is really the first missile," Day said. "Really what [IBM is] trying to do with Summit -- Enterprise X architecture -- is to bring some of the other technologies that have been developed from other server groups and wrap them around a commodity-based Intel environment," Day said.

IBM's target with Enterprise X technology is to be able to drag and drop workloads across different Intel-based SMP modules, essentially unifying both 32-bit and 64-bit Intel platforms when running on IBM hardware, Day said. He added that IBM would also roll out an XA-64 chip set for McKinley when it arrives sometime next year.

The x360's optional RXE-100 Remote Expansion Enclosure offers expandable I/O. The Expansion Enclosure can quickly double the amount of I/O available to the x360 server and is connected by a cord based on Infiniband technology.

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