Editor's Pick of the Week, 3 in a Series

By Anthony J. Lockwood

Dear Desktop Engineering Reader:

Here’s some interesting news from Sun — as in Sun Microsystems not the ancient Egyptian deity. A couple of weeks ago, Sun introduced its first quad-core Intel Xeon processor-based systems, the Sun Fire X4450 and Sun Fire X4150. Well, actually they’re servers. This is interesting for a couple of reasons. One is that this is another major expansion of the Sun-Intel alliance, which is not even a year old yet. Another reason is that Sun says that its Fire X4450 “is the first and only four-socket quad-core system in a 2U form factor on the market from a tier-one vendor.”

I can’t find anything to dispute that claim but even if I could, a four-socket, quad-core 64-bit server in such a compact package gets you thinking about how you could expand your data center big time without requiring any more room. Both of these servers are built around a new chassis design, and it's this chassis that's the key that enables the servers’ high-compute density in such a small form factor. Sun also says that the chassis is optimized for cooling and power efficiency, claiming that it consumes as much as 50 percent less energy consumption than the other unnamed guy’s servers.

The primary difference between these offerings is the number of sockets available for CPU expansion and the processor used. The four-socket Sun Fire X4450 server uses Intel’s Quad-Core Xeon processor 7300 series. The Sun Fire X4150 server leverages the Intel’s quad-core Xeon processor 5300 series. Also, it is a two-socket 1U system that can handle more than a terabyte of high-performance internal disk storage. Both units are offered with your choice of Solaris, Windows, Linux, or VMware operating systems.

That Sun is really embracing its alliance with Intel is big news in and of itself. That Sun and Intel are combining their engineering prowess to bring out such big computing power in such small form factors is even bigger news. You can learn all about the Sun Fire X4450 and Sun Fire X4150 servers, including entry-level pricing details, from today’s Pick of the Week write-up.

Thanks, Pal. – Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood
Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering magazine