April 19, 2005 - (HOSTSEARCH.COM) - For web hosting providers looking to beef up their data centers with machines they can really brag about, Azul Systems yesterday introduced the Azul Compute Appliance. Besides the 96 coherent processor cores and 32 GB of memory for a low-end machine (with 192, and 384 cores available for the truly twisted), the server type aims to change the way hosts look at serving up data with the way they use this machine based on the idea of Network Attached Processing.
Network attached processing is a fundamentally new approach that provides massive amounts of compute capacity as a shared network service, similar to the manner in which network attached storage provides shared storage capacity to data centers.
Of course the $89,000 starting price may scare of some potential customers of the new machine.
The appliances have been in field trials since last fall. Azul Systems has also announced an alliance with IBM Global Services which will provide North American service and support for Azul Compute Appliances.
At the heart of the Azul Compute Appliance is the industry’s first 24-core, 64-bit SMP-capable microprocessor that is optimized for virtual machine-based applications. The Azul Vega TM chip supports object-oriented operations, pauseless garbage collection, 96 GB of heap, and optimistic thread concurrency.
"It’s clear that multi-core processors and network attached processing will make IT planners rethink the value equation of today's infrastructure services,” said Vernon Turner, Group Vice President, Global Enterprise Server Solutions at IDC.
“Never before have we seen this level of Java processing for transactions,” said JJ Everett, CEO of Everett Consulting, an IT management consulting firm that specializes in large scale implementation of applications based on the popular J2EE™ platform. “Side-by-side test cycles of real-world application profiles have proven to us that the Azul technology has no competition.”
“Extensively tested, incredible ROI, excellent service, and a no-cost evaluation program: that’s an unbeatable combination.” said Stephen DeWitt, president and CEO, Azul Systems. “Network attached processing is here. It is simple to use, simple to deploy, and it will change the way we think about compute capacity.”
Separating the “compute” from the “computer” enables the creation of compute pools that can be accessed from any server on the network without requiring any changes to applications or existing infrastructure. It also reduces the complexity of managing a multi-tenant shared environment. Azul Systems’ policy-based Compute Pool Manager provides flexible, central control of application resources, adapting to changing application workloads in real-time.
With 384 coherent processor cores and 256 GB of memory, the Azul Compute Appliance 3840 is rack-mountable occupying no more than 11u of rack space and drawing only 2.7 KW of power. Azul Compute Appliance 1920 provides 192 processor cores and is also offered in an 11u enclosure. The Azul Compute Appliance 960 is available for development and test with 96 processor cores and 32 GB of memory. It is housed in a 5u standard rack-mountable enclosure and draws 850 Watts of power.
