HP beefs up Unix server range

Hewlett Packard (HP) has rolled out a line of entry-level Unix servers aimed squarely at offerings from Sun Microsystems, Compaq and IBM.

The HP L3000 server is powered by up to four PA-8600 processors, and joins the 9000L line offering features that were previously only available on the company's high-end Unix systems, such as utility pricing and hardware partitioning.

The company claims that the latest Transaction Processing Technology Council benchmark figures show that the server delivers twice the benchmark of its closest competitive system, and outperforms its own low-end L-class servers by 50 per cent.

Available immediately worldwide, the server runs the HP-UX 11i operating system. HP said that customers could choose from a range of third-party software in areas such as broadband, ecommerce, media streaming, enterprise resource planning and product development and design.

Mark Hudson, worldwide market manager of HP business systems, said that five of the new servers working together would be capable of handling 171,000 transactions per minute. The system would also be compatible with all future PA-Risc processors as well as Intel's forthcoming IA-64 Itanium processor.

Sun, HP's chief competitor in the server market, recently launched a line of products based on its new UltraSparc III microchips, and is expected to introduce new products next spring or summer.