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Current issue –  1/2007

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Continuing a “chip agnostic” approach, HP has announced a refresh of the ProLiant portfolio. Four families – the ProLiant ML350, ML370, DL360, DL380 and BL20p – will feature the next generation Intel Xeon Dual-Core 5000 series processors. At the same time, the enterprise-class ProLiant ML570 and ML580 servers has been revamped with the Xeon 7000 Dual-Core processors creating ultra-performance 4-socket server platforms.

This new Xeon 5000 processor provides significant benefits over previous generations, including advanced performance and dual-core processing with enhanced gains for multi-threading applications. The new processors offer increased memory scalability with DDR2 Fully Buffered DIMMs and Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) disk drive and PCI-Express I/O technologies.

HP enhances these next generation processors with exclusive technology and software support to address critical data centre issues, including power and cooling consumption. In addition, HP Systems Insight Manager (SIM) and Integrated Lights-Out 2 (iLO 2) significantly extend the ease and depth of system administration, including remote monitoring.

One of the first vendors to offer dual-core processors to market, HP has shipped dual-core AMD Opteron processors since April 2005. Servers featuring the “Paxville” Xeon DP and Xeon MP processors from Intel were announced late last year.

The next-generation ProLiant ML and DL 300 series, as well as the BL30, are all based around the latest Intel “Dempsey/Woodcrest” Dual-Core Xeon processors. Intel announced last year that the names of the Xeon DP and Xeon MP processors would change to the 5000 and 7000 series.

In benchmark testing, Dempsey x64 processors recorded a performance almost double that of the single-core Intel “Nocona” processors. For example, in SPEC INT and SPEC FP testing, a DL360 G5 featuring a Xeon 3.46 GHz/4 GB RAM processor recorded rates of 73.3 and 56.5 respectively. A similarly configured DL360 G4p server with the Nocona processor generation recorded 40.0 and 30.6. In comparison, the Paxville provided only a 30% increase over the Nocona.

The result is that, with the new generation servers, companies can pack more performance into the same data centre footprint with no power usage increase. This improved performance means the new servers can now effectively exploit supporting technologies, such as DDR2 main memory, serial storage and PCI Express I/O. In addition, virtualisation software for Windows and Linux has matured to the point where it has become effective for widespread deployment.

“HP does not introduce technology for technology’s sake, no matter how impressive it may be,” explains Alain Maffet, the HP Industry Standard Server Product Manager for EMEA.

“We offer it because we see that it provides a real benefit. This is enhanced by what we call a chip-agnostic approach. It offers customers the opportunity to select the processor technology they want, as well as to benefit from the latest technical developments.”

The new servers offer the benefits of Intel’s processor and other industry standard technologies, including DDR2 Fully Buffered DIMMs (up to 16 in the ML370) and PCI Express expansion. This means increased power and performance for resource-intensive applications or virtual server environments with no increase in heat or power consumption.

Unlike other vendors, HP offers a one-stop process for customers to migrate to new small form factor (SFF) SAS drives. Providing greater performance in a 70% smaller package, these new 2.5-inch universal drives have half the power consumption.

Multifunction network interface cards (NICs) are also a unique feature on the HP servers. Embedded on the silicon, the high-performance multi-function Gigabit network adapters are ideal for TCP/IP an iSCSI networks and mean no slots have to be sacrificed. A TCP/IPP offload engine further reduces network latency by offloading the CPU from processing network traffic.

Embedded in every next-generation ProLiant server, iLO 2 enables administrators to remotely manage servers. A Java-free console provides rapid reaction for everyday functions and allows complete control of server power, as well as instantaneous interaction with the operating system or BIOS from across the hall or across the continent.

SIM and ProLiant Essentials software provide early warning so that potential problems don’t turn into real ones. SIM provides notification when hardware components fail or are about to fail. It also helps pinpoint performance issues and security vulnerabilities that can affect server availability.

HP power and thermal management technology complements the power efficiency of the Xeon processors. This includes an Onboard Power Meter that continually measures power consumption and heat generation, as well as dynamic power regulator technology that throttles CPU power with no performance loss under non-peak loads.

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