IBM refreshes server range

IBM has been touting the power efficiency and performance improvements of the new hardware

IBM has been showing off new System x servers which it said would increase memory allowances and improve efficiencies.

The new and updated servers would help firms get more out of virtualisation and increasingly sophisticated workloads, said IBM.

The firm added that the revamped two socket x86 servers had fifty per cent more cores, and could provide for between forty and sixty per cent better performance.

IBM suggested that in some instances firms might be able to consolidate 20 servers down to just one and could recuperate their investment in as little as three months of usage.

The new offerings also include two rack servers, the x3650 M3 and the x3550 M3, which IBM said had fifty per cent more memory capacity, almost sixty per cent more internal storage, and are fifty per cent more power efficient than previous versions.

Two new enterprise tower services were also announced, the x3500 M3 and the x3400 M3, which again doubled the storage capacity of previous versions, and lower power usage.

Also announced were the BladeCenter HS22 and the virtualisation-optimised BladeCenter HS22V, each of which consume roughly fifteen per cent less power, said IBM.

A new iDataPlex server, the dx360 M3, was also announced with a flourish by the firm. IBM said that the M3 was the first two-socket server to achieve 3,000 operations per watt, a thirty-odd per cent improvement against previous versions.

All of the new systems run on Intel Xeon 5600 series processors.