Some brief info about Sun's latest shade of green blades and servers

Sun is using 55-watt Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors to help amp down (not a typo) its latest Sun Fire and Sun Blade systems. The new models include the Sun Fire X4140 and Sun Fire X4240 (which are being positioned as storage solutions for things like database applications, high-performance computing or business intelligence and priced starting around $2,500 and $3,100, respectively) and Sun Fire X4440 (a 4-socket, x64 AMD Opteron server in a 2U form factor priced starting at just under $6,000 and positioned as an optimal technology for running server-side Java applications).

Here are the high-level green tech differentiators surrounding the servers being launched this month: - Lower wattage power supplies than many competitive product offerings. - A design that includes what the company is calling a "split power plane." As the company explains it, the motherboard is designed to use AMD's Dual Dynamic Power Management approach, which places cores and the memory controller on different power planes so that the cores can operate using less power. - The addition of something known as Independent Dynamic Core Technology, which more closely aligns the mission of the cores with the needs of the operating system in order to reduce processor heat and energy usage whenever possible. - The Sun Modular System Chassis, which has been optimized to create low airflow resistance and to make better use of the cooling air directed at the server.

Here's some promotional information (a trade-in opportunity) related to the new servers.

There are some other servers coming down the pike before the end of the quarter, as well. They include the Sun Fire X4600 M2 and Sun Blade X8440, which are positioned as virtualization platforms.