IBM announces lower-end Linux-Power server

IBM will begin shipping on Feb. 18 a lower-price model in its OpenPower line of servers, which combine Big Blue's Power5 processors and the Linux operating system. The new OpenPower 710, announced Monday, has one or two Power5 processors running at 1.65GHz; IBM is asking $3,449 for a model with one processor, 1GB of memory, a 74GB drive, but no operating system installed. The system is certified to work with Linux from Red Hat and Novell.

Previously, the lowest priced model was the OpenPower 720, which starts at $5,000 but can expand to include four processors. IBM is trying to build a Linux software ecosystem for its Power chips; today the open-source operating system is most widely used on servers using x86 processors such as Intel's Xeon and Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron.

[gggg sssss]

dell half the price

So a Dell Poweredge server 3.0 Xeon, 1 gb memory 73 gb SCSI is only $1698. Who in their right minds would buy this thing from IBM at twice teh price? And no, I a not affilaite with Dell, but a consultant who finds it hard to tell clients to pay twice as much for IBM. Parts all come from the same place in China anyway. It just hit me - If I recommended IBM then I could be a business partner and get a hefty commission. Darn it, I knew I was doing something wrong ;-(