Server buyers shift toward muscle machines

(continued from previous page)

Miller put virtualization at the top of the list of explanations for the change. "As people start to put five, 12 and sometimes up to 20 (virtual machines) on a single server," he said, "they require more memory"--2GB per processor core, which means 16GB for a system with two of Intel's quad-core Xeon 5300 "Clovertown" chips. "Then with that," he said, "you need extended I/O"--input-output capacity through Ethernet, InfiniBand and Fibre Channel network connections, making for even richer server configurations.

Another change: customers are buying more blade servers, larger chassis that supply shared network, and power to thin servers that can be plugged in. Customers today typically buy a chassis with only half the server slots full, Miller said, but they're maxing out network and power options on the assumption that they'll need it over the blade chassis lifespan.

With blades, customers are buying equipment designed to last five to seven years instead of the regular three, Miller said. "We're seeing customers put in a larger investment that they're going to amortize over a longer period of time," he said.

Electrical power constraints factor into the equation, Miller added, driving people toward multicore and virtual servers that make more efficient use of power. "Every time you save a watt within a server, that saves data center power and cooling people 2 watts," Miller said.

Of the big three x86 server companies, IBM has placed the biggest bet on powerful systems that inherit the philosophy and sometimes the technology of its Unix servers and mainframes. It's got a whole division dedicated to symmetrical multiprocessing (SMP) systems with 4 to 32 x86 processors, and it's eagerly embracing the move toward plump servers.

"I think you're seeing a resurgence for a large SMP marketplace driven by 64-bit processors. And bigger is better for virtualization," said Jay Bretzmann, marketing manager for that high-end group.

All new x86 chips that ship today are 64-bit models, which lets them easily use more than 4GB of memory when equipped with a 64-bit operating system. "Memory is the precious resource in a multicore world," Bretzmann said.

While new technology enables new ways of tackling computing chores, part of the reason for the changes is moving away from earlier sore spots. In Eastwood's view,

"For many years, end users were being penny wise and pound foolish," with the server population expanding at rabbit-like rates, Eastwood said. "But users were not thinking through the ramifications--what it costs to power and cool those machines, to manage and maintain them."

But now, he said, "There's definitely been a shift in the mind of the end user...A more consolidated infrastructure, while it may cost more up front, will definitely pay for itself on the back end with lower operational costs."