Dell fleshes out AMD server lineup; Touts energy efficiency

Dell is rounding out its roster of AMD servers and looking to claim the high ground on energy efficiency over IBM and Hewlett-Packard courtesy of power supply and airflow innovation.

First, Dell is launching its R415 and R515 servers, which are designed around AMD's latest Opteron server chips, the 4100 series. The servers are targeted at small to mid-sized businesses and enterprises. The R415 (top right) is generally best used for loads like Web serving, according to Brian Payne, director of server platform marketing at Dell. The R515 (bottom right) is to be used for departments within an enterprise, remote offices and shops looking to consolidate the server and storage footprint. The R515 can support up to a dozen hard drive chassis.

Both rack servers emphasize energy efficiency, low-wattage and fans that spin in accordance to server workload demands.

That energy efficiency theme is something Dell is touting throughout its blade portfolio. In a whitepaper, Dell argues that its PowerEdge M610 servers with M1000e enclosures deliver better performance per watt than comparable systems from IBM and HP. Dell is also claiming a 20 percent lower power per blade performance.

The energy performance is delivered via an algorithm that runs fans faster or slower depending on workloads and more efficient power supplies. In addition, airflow consumption has been tweaked for performance, said Payne.

I'm not going to pretend to be smart enough to make an independent verification of Dell's claims. A third party, Enterprise Management Associates, has verified Dell's methodology, but read the paper for yourself.

The more notable point is that the server field is moving from chips, blades and performance to smaller design items---such as fan speed, airflow and power supplies---that can add up to energy savings.