IBM plans to release a new top-end Unix server in 2004, a 64-processor machine code-named Armada that will feature the company's coming Power5 processor, a senior Big Blue executive has confirmed. Armada, the successor to the 32-processor p690 "Regatta" system that IBM introduced more than a year ago, is a Unix server that will come closest so far to matching the capabilities of the company's vaunted mainframe systems. It will take over as the standard-bearer for the company's years-long plan to unseat Sun Microsystems' top ranking in the $21 billion Unix server market.
Nick Bowen, vice president of Unix and Intel server software development at IBM, confirmed details of the system in an interview. A new version of AIX, 5.3, will come in early 2004, he said. Armada itself is expected in the first half of 2004. Mammoth servers, while more powerful than what the majority of customers need, are still in demand, said Illuminata analyst Jonathan Eunice.
"Most do not need (72-processor Sun Microsystems) 15Ks or (64-processor Hewlett-Packard) Superdomes, but from a customer-comfort point of view, you have to have a bigger box than customers currently need," Eunice said. Customers often buy a system that has room to expand, and they want to know they can add more processors and memory as their computing needs grow.
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News source: ZDNet
