News

IBM Rolls Out X3-based eServer and X3 Chipset

• By Stuart J. Johnston
• February 23, 2005

IBM will ship the first of its X3 32/64-bit, dual-core capable servers within 30 days, the company said this week. The eServer xSeries 366 (x366) is the first in a planned IBM family of dual-core-capable Intel-based server offerings.

At the same time, IBM unveiled its X3 chipset, meant to extend high-performance computing technology down into more commodity-oriented server markets using Intel CPUs, particularly Intel’s EM64T-enabled, dual-core, Hyper-Threading Xeon processors. (See “Dual-Core Pentiums Coming In Q2”.)

“The x366 is optimized for server consolidation and enterprise applications, including business software such as IBM DB2 Universal Database, SAP, Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle,” according to an IBM.

X3 is the latest version of IBM’s Enterprise X-Architecture, which the company estimates it has invested $100 million in over the past three years. Codenamed “Hurricane,” the chipset’s official name is the prosaic-sounding XA-64e.

Among the capabilities that IBM touts for X3 are the abilities to simultaneously run 32-bit and 64-bit applications as well as to more rapidly process massive amounts of data.

IBM’s new x366 supports four 64-bit Xeon MP processors and includes the X3 chipset. Other x366 features include DDR2-based Active Memory and Active PCI-X 2.0. The company claims that the new server, which costs $6,999, performs nearly 40 percent faster than the previous generation eServer -- the x365.