I first spoke with Open Source Systems last year when the company was called Open Source Storage. It has since changed its name to better reflect its focus on servers, as well as storage hardware. But its basic philosophy remains the same: to let buyers custom design industry standard-based systems optimized for open source deployments.

Last year, Open Source Systems introduced its Gemini line of servers, all based on AMD’s Opteron processor and promising better energy efficiency. Now, OSS is expanding its Gemini Line with the Green Series of Gemini Servers. The Green Series servers are designed to be more energy efficient. They use a high efficiency power supply that runs at 93% energy efficiency, enabling the servers to use up to half the power and emit up to half the heat of traditional servers, OSS executives say.

In addition, the servers are modular, so buyers can swap parts, including mother boards, in and out, as needed. And speaking of motherboards, the new server packs two motherboards into the 2U, 25” long chassis. That means buyers can run both Intel and AMD processors in the same box, enabling a single server to run two distinct operating systems and two completely different tasks, such as Web serving and database serving, without needing virtualization technology.

“The Gemini is built around open standards. The motherboard trays fit any standard ATX or E-ATX board. This makes future upgrades a snap,” an OSS spokesman says. “In two years when motherboards offer more features, all the customer needs to do is upgrade the motherboard. You can't do that with a machine from HP, Dell, Sun, or IBM. They use their own motherboard reference design, made exclusively for a particular chassis.”

First of the Green Series servers, the Gemini 2U, supports up to 16 CPU cores, OSS executives say. The servers are available now and pricing ranges from $4,000 to $104,000, depending on memory (1GB to 12GB). Get more detail on the Green Series Gemini 2U here.