News
Unisys Sells 32-Processor CMP System
- By Scott Bekker
- January 10, 2000
Unisys Corp. logged its first U.S. order for a full-size
32-processor Unisys e-@ction ES7000 server based on its internally developed
Cellular Multiprocessing (CMP) architecture.
Unisys (www.unisys.com)
is drawing on its Windows NT systems integration and mainframe manufacturing
heritage with the new CMP servers, which Unisys markets as “Intel Mainframe.”
While the system can run any Intel-based operating system, Unisys is focused on
selling Windows 2000 systems.
The CMP is built in “cells” of four processors that can be
scaled up to a maximum of 32-processors per system. The cells can be combined into one, giant 32-way machine or mixed and matched into partitions of 4-way or
8-way systems within a single CMP box.
Unisys’ latest customer fits that latter server-consolidation
model.
Penn National Insurance of Harrisburg, Pa., is buying an
ES7000 as part of a larger package of Unisys systems, sales, and services.
“As soon as we were introduced to the Cellular
Multiprocessing concept, the potential advantages to our operation were quickly
apparent,” Tom Miele, director of infrastructure for Penn National, said in a
statement. “For the first time, we are able to provide the data-center-class
reliability and performance our business requires without the premium price tag
associated with such enterprise capability until now.”
The company plans to use Windows 2000 terminal services in a
cluster within the CMP server to allow its 1,200 independent agents to process
their Penn National insurance claims via secure access to the system via the
Web.
The production environment will run the firm’s policy entry,
rating, underwriting, renewals, change transactions, cancellations, and
reinstatements.
Within the ES7000, Penn National will create a Windows 2000
test environment in one partition and perform file and print services in
another partition.
Penn National won’t be funneling all those systems into one box immediately. The company will first host the partitions on physical machines
outside the CMP ES7000. Two clustered Unisys 8-way servers will support the
production insurance policy processing system, two clustered Unisys 4-way
servers will be used for testing, and another cluster of Unisys 4-ways will
handle file and print. – Scott Bekker
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.