New Unisys Server Line Brings Unix Power to Wintel

As Sun and IBM try to win over the Wintel fray to the low-end Unix space, pricing to the Unix space, Unisys is going down a different path: delivering high-end-Unix-comparable functionality to the Wintel space.

On Tuesday, Unisys introduced two new Itanium-2-based server lines. The ES7000 Aries series is poised to compete against low-end Unix and high-end Wintel offerings, while the ES7000 Orion Series is targeted toward enterprises with stringent server requirements such as high availability for mission-critical data.

On Tuesday, Unisys introduced two new Itanium-2-based server lines. The ES7000 Aries series is poised to compete against low-end Unix and high-end Wintel offerings, while the ES7000 Orion Series is targeted toward enterprises with “the most stringent server requirements,” such as high availability for mission-critical data, Mark Feverston vice president of Enterprise Server Marketing for Unisys told ServerWatch.

Another way to look at the psotioning of the new lines is that the Aries series is positioned as a mainframe-style enterprise computing option based on industry-standard technology, and the Orion line is represents a price/performance alternative to high-end Unix/RISC-based systems.

The main difference between the two server families is that the Aries line supports up to 16 Xeon or Itanium, or a combination of, processors and the Orion line supports up to 32. Enterprises can easily upgrade from Aries to Orion, according to Feverston by simply upgrading the electronics of the platform.

“With the new Unisys ES7000 family of servers, customers not only get an alternative to expensive proprietary Unix/RISC systems, but also to competitively priced but functionally disadvantaged commodity servers,” noted Kevin McHugh, vice president of Unisys Platform Marketing. “Both make it easier to move to the Windows-based technology platform and with
it superior computing economics and the simplicity of standardized technology.”

Both series will offer a three models: the 130, 200, and the 230.

Both the Orion servers and the Aries servers offer self-management capabilities with Unisys Server Sentinel, functionality that anticipates and automatically fixes conditions that could lead to sub-optimal performance to maintain absolute solutions availability by continuously monitoring system health, detecting errors or exceeded thresholds, and taking corrective actions.

The 130 models are scheduled to hit the shelves in September or October, following the release of .Net. The 230 models will be available in August. The 200s are already shipping.

All six servers can be ordered now however.