IBM puts its new processor to use

IBM Corp. this week unveiled the first servers to use its new 64-bit Power5 microprocessor. The new IBM eServer i5 family, which the company said offers significant price/performance benefits over comparable solutions, is aimed at small and medium-sized organizations.

The IBM eServer i5 can integrate and run multiple operating systems simultaneously including IBM's new i5/OS, Windows, Linux and AIX 5L, the company said. IBM's i5/OS is an embedded operating system, the next generation of the OS/400. It integrates some of IBM's most popular applications, including versions of the DB2 database and WebSphere application server.

Using IBM's new Virtualization Engine technology, which includes support for logical partitioning, the servers can run more than one operating system on a single server to better consolidate and manage diverse environments. Agencies can reduce infrastructure server costs by better managing their servers together with integrated storage, security and backup.

The eServer 520 comes with up to two Power5 processors; the eServer 570 can include four processors. Because each Power5 processor contains two processor cores and each core supports simultaneous multithreading, a dual-processor server could theoretically handle eight application threads at one time, provided the software is designed for multithreaded environments.

According to IBM officials, the IBM eServer i5 will be available in June.

With 2003 revenues of $89.1 billion, IBM ranked No. 18 on Washington Technology's 2003 Top 100 list, which measures federal contracting revenue. Washington Technology's 2004 rankings are due out May 10.