IBM to release low-end Linux server

IBM is expected to announce the release of a lower-end Linux-based server later this month.

OpenPower 710, which can be powered by up to two 64-bit 1.65GHz IBM POWER5 processors, was posted for sale on IBM's UK Web site late last week, but was later taken offline. A cached version of the document can still be seen, which states that the server is only available running Linux and is aimed at the entry-level server market. The server is expected to launch on 31 January.

IBM had not responded to a request to comment on OpenPower 710 at the time of writing.

IBM released OpenPower 720, which contains up to four processors, in September 2004 and said that it would release a two-way version of the OpenPower system in the first half of 2005.

OpenPower 710 will support SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 and Red Hat's Enterprise Linux AS 3 Update 3, according to another cached document that gives details on its specification.

The low-cost machine is likely to compete with Sun's lower-end Unix servers based on the UltraSparc processor and with servers from a number of manufacturers that use x86 chips such as Intel's Xeon and AMD's Opteron.