Armonk, N.Y., IBM today announced an ultra dense UNIX server targeted at the High Performance Computing market. Capable of reaching half a trillion operations per second in peak processing power, the new eServer packs up to 128 POWER4 processors in a single rack and is available in four or eight processor building blocks. The eServer p655 is designed to meet the stringent demands of scientific and technical computing and Business Intelligence, as well as those applications that require very large databases or massively parallel processing including digital media and life sciences. The eServer p655 is the next generation of the IBM supercomputer made famous by Deep Blue, the system that defeated chess champion Garry Kasparov. Since Deep Blue, IBM has been a leader in supercomputing, dominating the popular Top500List of Supercomputers. IBM supercomputers are used in life sciences to explore the genomic research, in automobile design to make cars safer, and in financial markets to optimize investment strategies. The eServer p655 continues to leverage IBM breakthrough microprocessor technology to deliver density and price/performance that make it a superior alternative for customers thinking of deploying Itanium2 server clusters. A single eServer p655 rack with 128 POWER4 processors occupies as little as one-sixth the floor space of an HP rx5670 Itanium2 system with the same number of processors (1). Additionally, a 4-way eServer p655 with 1.3 GHz POWER4 processors has a SPECfp_rate2000 of 51.7, offering 15 percent better throughput than a HP rx5670 with four processors.(1) Overall, the price of a p655 is $73,485 compared to $73,486 for a similarly configured Itanium2-based HP rx5670.(2) In measurement of sustained memory bandwidth, the eServer p655 is almost 2.5 times the peak theoretical memory bandwidth of the HP Itanium 2 systems (6.4 GB/sec2) in a tuned version of the STREAM benchmark (http://www.cs.virginia.edu/stream/). (3) "Tomorrow's innovations are rooted in the bedrock of supercomputing technologies, where IBM brings decades of experience to the table, said Adalio Sanchez, General manager of IBM eServer pSeries. The eServer p655 is a significant breakthrough for customers who need massive performance power and scalability without massive computing space and costs. The flexibility and compact design of the POWER4-based p655 make it an easy winner over competing systems, and sets a new standard by which all newcomers will be measured." The eServer p655 system can be clustered using eServer cluster 1600, combined using a high-performance switch. For greater flexibility, systems can be defined using logical portioning. Cluster systems administration from a single control workstation is provided by IBM's proven cluster management software offering. Customers who operate large server clusters demand uncompromising availability -- and the p655 delivers. From the integrated service processor to the Chipkill and bit-steering memory technologies, the eServer p655 offers enterprise-class autonomic computing capability. From a performance, packaging, flexibility or availability point of view, the p655 is ideal for customers whose workloads are best managed with a clustered server solution. The starting price for the eServer p655 is $73,485(4) and is expected to ship in volume later this year. The p655 will run the AIX 5L(tm) operating system, including Version 5.1, and Linux.(5) Footnotes: 1 Based on SPECfp_rate2000 result of 51.7 for the IBM p655 4-WAY 1.3 GHz with POWER4 processor and 43.7 for the HP rx5670 4-WAY 1.0 GHz with Itanium® 2 processor. HP result posted on www.spec.org/cpu2000 as of November 14, 2002. IBM result submitted to SPEC on 11/11/02. 2 List price from www.hp.com, 4-way HP rx5670 with 4GB memory is $73,486 3 STREAM Benchmark Data for p655 and Leading Competitive Systems (Source: http://www.cs.virginia.edu/stream/ results filed November 12, 2002) Itanium2 data from "HP server and workstation performance for technical applications: hp servers and workstations with Intel Itanium processors", An Executive White Paper From HP, July 2002, p7 4 Based on U.S. list price for the minimum p655 4-way with 1.3 GHz POWER4 processors, 4GB memory and 2 18.2GB disk. Prices subject to change without notice. Reseller prices may vary. 5 IBM anticipates that one or more Linux distributors will support 64-bit Linux in the first half of 2003.