Gateway Rolls Out New Low-Cost Servers

Hoping to chip away at Dell and HP for server and storage server market share, Gateway today announced three servers designed to help small- and mid-sized enterprises more efficiently run databases and other applications.

The Gateway 9715 is a 6U rack-mount server that, at $3,999, hits a price point typically associated with 4U servers, according to Gateway.
Looking to chip away at Dell and HP, Gateway today announced three servers designed to help small and midsize enterprises more efficiently run applications and databases.

In addition to running database applications and allowing for server and storage consolidations, 9715 a practical alternative to blade servers, according to Tim Diefenthaler, senior director of server product marketing at Gateway. Diefenthaler said that today’s blade servers still cause concerns stemming from issues of heat dissipation and proprietary software for scalability.

Running Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, the 9715 can support multiple instances of Windows server operating systems. (However Diefenthaler said Gateway will not sell the 9715 in a configuration that includes Virtual Server 2005, adding that it will available through the channel for $499.)

At the heart of the 9715 are four Intel Xeon MP processors. The server supports up to 32GB of ECC, DDR2 system memory and up to 3TB of internal storage. It also includes hot-swap power and fans, hot-plug PCI slots and memory, and options for a slotless Fibre Channel connector and Raid on the Motherboard.

The 9715 supports Microsoft Windows Server software, Novell’s Netware 6.5, Red Hat Linux Enterprise 3.0 and 3.0 EM64T, and SuSe Linux Enterprise 9.0 and 9.0 EM64T. Diefenthaler said that Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions is not supported in this box. “We’re waiting for applications such as Exchange and databases [to be available in 64-bit editions]. Gateway plans to launch a Windows Server x64 Edition in the third quarter if applications and drivers are ready.

You can put the 4-way Gateway 9715 server to work as either a 6U rack-mount server or, with an optional conversion kit, a tower system.

For enterprises that prefer a tower configuration rather than a rack-mount system, Diefenthaler said Gateway will offer a conversion kit that transforms the 9715 (see photo). The kit includes a pedestal side skin, a face plate and pedestal feet and casters.

For storage, Gateway’s two new servers are based on the existing hardware architecture of the 9315 and 9415. The Gateway 9315 Storage Server runs both network-attached storage (NAS) and storage area networks (SAN) without two separate architectures. Priced at $2,197, the 9315 is designed to function like NAS, but has an external fibre channel connection, allowing it to connect to a SAN.

The 1U server supports up to two Intel Xeon processors and allows up to 1.2TB of internal data storage. Diefenthaler said that the 9315 supports higher-capacity hard drives than competitive products from Dell and HP, allowing the Gateway storage server to reach that 1.2TB mark with only three SATA hard drives. The machine runs Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 software.

The 9415 is designed for deployments requiring serious computing power, high availability and storage capability. The device was created with database or Web server applications in mind and can scale to heavy duty ERP and CRM applications.

Like the 9135, the 9415 acts as a NAS head, connecting fibre channels to SAN technology. This 1U rack server supports 64-bit Intel Xeon processors. It also bundles three hot-swap SCSI drive bays with RAID 5 and redundant power supplies.

The 9415 costs $2,098 and will store 900GB of storage. it also runs Windows Storage Server 2003 software.

Internetnews senior editor Clint Boulton contributed to this report.

Dan Muse is executive editor of ServerWatch internet.com’s Small Business Channel and EarthWeb’s Networking & Communications Channel and ServerWatch.