Big isn't always best
Think of servers and the odds are that your thoughts will turn to the big names – companies like IBM, HP and Dell. However, there are others, such as Gateway (now a part of the Acer Group) which, although far from a market leader, still has a lot to offer server buyers. Including a new 1U rack mount product – the GR360 F1 - optimised for departmental and branch office deployment.
Despite the less than memorable name, the new Gateway rack mount looks, on paper at least, to be a more than capable solution, well up to the mark set by recent releases from the bigger vendors. To this end it’s a dual socket server capable of accommodating the latest quad-core Intel Xeon 5500 and six-core Xeon 5600 processors with room, also, for up to 192GB of supporting DDR-3 memory.
RAID comes as standard and despite the limited 1U format, there’s room for eight hot-plug 2.5in SATA/SAS disks and a slimline optical drive. Four Gigabit Ethernet ports are also built-in and there are two PCI Express slots for further expansion.
Cooling is looked after by six hot-plug fans and you can specify dual redundant power supplies, capable of delivering Gold-level 80 Plus certified efficiency. Gateway also boasts a whole host of management features, which we’re hoping to check out soon. Indeed, we’ll be looking at how the GR360 F1 compares against the big boy’s toys just as soon as Gateway can get us one to look at.
Alan Stevens