Hardware Today: Fujitsu Server Snapshot

In recent years, Fujitsu Computer Systems has focused on selling its servers to Fortune 1000 customers running large applications. According to IDC figures, the company has been gaining ground mainly in the Unix market by delivering high performance Primepower servers that support SPARC/Solaris applications. Fujitsu continues to refresh its Primepower and Primergy lines, but the big news is its Powerquest servers. Built for Linux and Windows environments, the new products are designed to scale database and high-performance computing applications.

Now the company is adding a new quest to it mission, making a major play in the Windows/Linux space. It has already upgraded its existing Intel server line — Fujitsu Primergy servers — with 64-bit Intel Xeon Processors as well as 4-way blades. In the near future, though, the company will add a new high-end Itanium-based Primequest line. The goal of Primequest is to open up new opportunities in the Linux and Windows environment particularly in the capability to scale database and high-performance computing applications.

"Primequest high scale, advanced high availability features, processor upgradeability, and flexible I/O capability, make it an entirely credible Big Iron platform for Linux and Windows," said Gordon Haff, an analyst with Illuminata, a Nashua, N.H.-based research firm.

Three Lines Primed
As can be seen in the "FCS Servers at a Glance" table, Fujitsu offers three distinct server categories — the Primepower, the Primergy, and the Primequest.

For several years, the company has announced regular upgrades to the Primepower server family. Most recently, it added support for SPARC64 processors with over 2GHz clock speeds. "The new Primepower server performance improvements provide investment protection for customers with existing Primepower servers," said Richard McCormack, senior vice president, Product & Solutions Marketing, Fujitsu Computer Systems. "They also improve the throughput capacity of new systems and bring additional processing power to Solaris-based applications."

Primepower servers can run anywhere from 1 to 128 SPARC chips in the 1.3 to 2+ GHz speeds. Prices range from $6,400 for an entry level system up to over $1 million for the whole works.

On the Primergy side, Fujitsu now sells servers with a complete mix of processors — the low-voltage Pentium III, Celeron, Pentium M, Xeon MP, Itanium 2 and 64-bit Intel Xeon. In addition, Primergy servers were redesigned from the ground up with optimized airflow designs known as Cool-Safe. According to McCormack, cooling effectiveness has been raised by as much as 120 percent over earlier Primergy servers.

"The Primergy product line has been refreshed to include more powerful Intel CPUs for faster application processing," McCormack said. "Changes to server design for more efficient cooling helps customers to address the ever increasing problem of heat dissipation and power consumption in today's increasingly high density data centers."

Fujitsu is also growing its blade offerings. The Primergy BX600 4-way blade is the latest addition, up from a previous 2-way limit. The BX600 comes with integrated Digital KVM for advanced remote management, Ethernet Pass Thru modules for greater Ethernet configuration flexibility, and improved deployment software.

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