Bull extends its NovaScale® range
with the announcement of large NovaScale® 6000 and NovaScale® 9000 servers
Offering advanced partitioning features and supporting simultaneously Microsoft® Windows®, Linux® and GCOS, these new large servers combine the power of standards and the robustness of mainframes
Paris,
June
15, 2004 -
Bull announced today the NovaScale 6000 and new models in the NovaScale 9000 series.
Launched in March 2003, the NovaScale range is at the heart of Bull's strategy to provide its customers with open and modular mainframe-class servers, supporting Microsoft® Windows®, Linux® and GCOS.
Completing the existing NovaScale 4000 and 5000 ranges, the new NovaScale 6000 64-bit large open servers support up to 32 Intel® Itanium® 2 processors, with advanced physical partitioning features. They run Linux® and Microsoft® Windows®.
The new NovaScale 9000 servers complete the first NovaScale 9080 models announced in September 2003, offer larger power bandwidth for GCOS 8 users. In addition, their physical partitioning features enable to run Linux® and Microsoft® Windows® in coexistence with GCOS 8, on a single system.
"These new servers are announced only one year after the launch of the NovaScale range, bearing witness of the vitality and the renewal of Bull as an IT maker. They are a new embodiment of Bull's innovation power, of its technological strengths and of its capacity to hold its strategic commitments" underlined Gervais Pellissier, Managing Director of Bull.
The NovaScale servers meet the requirements of most demanding companies and organisations wishing to take full advantage of open environments, in full security, by using reliable servers that can sustain their growth at the lowest cost.
The features of the new Bull NovaScale 6000 servers make them particularly appropriate for application consolidation, very large databases, and for demanding security and multimedia applications.
Offering very large computing power and bandwidth, they also answer the needs of scientific and technical applications, that require performing nodes within cluster or grid architectures.
Based on Intel® Itanium® 2 processors and standard components, they benefit from Bull's expertise in mainframe, open systems and transactional servers.
Since their launch, Bull NovaScale servers have already won numerous successes, both in the commercial application market and that of HPC. In Russia, the OEM agreement signed with KraftWay, N°1 local IT maker for Intel® -based servers, has contributed to NovaScale's expansion in this country.
Features of the new NovaScale 6000 series and new NovaScale 9000 servers
Both the NovaScale 6000 range running Windows and Linux and the new NovaScale 9000 models running GCOS 8 include partitioning functionalities and support up to 32 Intel® Itanium 2 processors.
The architecture of the NovaScale 6000 and 9000 servers relies on the inter-connection of standard processor-memory blocks operated by the FSS (Fame Scalability Switch) component, designed and developed by Bull for outstanding performance.
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The new NovaScale 6000 range includes 3 models: NovaScale 6080, 6160 and 6320, supporting respectively 8, 16 and 32 Intel® Itanium 2 processors running Windows® and Linux®. The existing NovaScale 5000 range (4, 8 and 16 processor servers) can evolve towards the NovaScale 6000 servers.
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The NovaScale 9000 range is further expanded with two models: the NovaScale 9160 and 9320 servers, respectively supporting 16 and 32 Intel® Itanium 2 processors. These large SMP servers have been designed to support GCOS 8 applications that can be run on either Bull NovaScale® 9000 or on Bull DPS 9000 systems, thus avoiding modifications or recompilation. On demand, they can support either Windows or Linux partitions.
Bull NovaScale servers: a reference platform for Windows® and Linux® application infrastructure
With regards to commercial applications, Bull has developed an ambitious program to qualify and optimise ISV applications on NovaScale servers.
The NovaScale range of servers more specifically targets:
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Database servers for transactional or business intelligence applications,
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ERPs (Enterprise Resource Planning),
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Internet applications servers.
In the scientific and technical area, Bull provides an infrastructure made of compilers, complete scientific libraries, clustering solutions (based on Bull's partner, Quadrics) as well as storage solutions.
This offering primarily addresses large research, education, space and industry scientific computing centres.
To simplify and automate infrastructure management, Bull has developed NovaScale® Master, an integrated administration platform which perfectly fits existing supervision tools.
Through its collect and event correlation engine, NovaScale® Master provides systems and associated software management, control and monitoring.
"NovaScale Attitude": Partners Program
Bull launched the "NovaScale Attitude" program to port and optimise ISV infrastructure solutions on NovaScale servers. This program includes consulting, architecture, sizing, optimisation and technical support services, as well as loan systems, access to dedicated knowledge databases aimed at partnering ISVs, and value-added solutions resellers.
Pricing and Availability
The NovaScale 6000 and 9000 servers are available now.
The entry-level price of a NovaScale 6000 4-way configuration, 4 Gb memory and 6x36Gb disks is
€ 100 K.
The price of an entry-level configuration of a NovaScale 9160, designed for a mono processor GCOS 8 system is € 100 K.
About Bull
Bull designs and develops servers and software for an open environment, integrating the most advanced technologies. It brings to its customers its expertise and know-how to help them in the transformation of their information systems and to optimise their IT infrastructure and their applications.
Bull's new range of NovaScale servers combines the openness of standards with the robustness of mainframes.
Bull is particularly present in the public sector, banking, finance, telecommunication and industry sectors. Capitalizing on its wide experience, the Group has a through understanding of the business and specific processes of these sectors, thus enabling it to efficiently advise and to accompany its customers. Its distribution network spreads to over 100 countries worldwide.
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