HP bases three servers on AMD's Magny-Cours
HP has unveiled three new ProLiant G7 servers based on AMD's 'Magny-Cours' Opteron 6100-series processors.
Announced on Monday, the DL165 and DL385 are rack-optimised servers, while the SL165z is a 'skinless' server — meaning it replaces the standard chassis with a lightweight rail-and-tray design — for very large-scale datacentre deployments. AMD's Opteron 6100-series processors have from eight to 12 cores each.
According to HP, the DL385 offers a 23:1 consolidation ratio, based on a comparison with the six-year-old DL380 G4 server. Using the same comparison, the new ProLiants offer 27 times more performance-per-watt, the company said.
HP is keen to tout the energy-saving credentials of its new servers. The ProLiant units use HP's 'Sea of Sensors' technology, which involves placing 32 sensors in strategic places so as to automatically track thermal activity and automatically adjust components to reduce energy usage. The servers also use HP's Dynamic Power Capping technology to improve the monitoring and control of power use.
The new ProLiant servers will be available worldwide in April, at a starting price of €965 (£869), HP said.
Also on Monday, HP introduced its Linear Tape-Open (LTO) 5 tape drive for backup and data recovery. The specification for LTO-5, the latest version of the open standard for magnetic tape data storage, was announced in January and offers a capacity of 1.5TB. As a result, the LTO-5 Ultrium — available with HP's StorageWorks MSL tape libraries — promises nearly double the capacity of the LTO-4 tape drives, which held 800GB.
The LTO-5 Ultrium tape drive offers backup speeds of up to 1TB/hour. It has read and write compatibility with LTO-4 media, and read compatibility with LTO-3 media. Available in mid-2010, the drive will cost €2,470, and tape cartridges will cost €123 each.
