NEC Debuts Partitioning Capability for Windows Server 2008
The NEC Express5800/1320Xf server provides Intel Itanium-based mainframe-class scalability for Windows Server 2008, running mission critical workloads and is designed to meet the needs of the high-end server market.
Designed as NEC's next-generation mainframe architecture, processing and I/O modules of the NEC Express5800/1000 Series servers can be partitioned at the hardware level to create multiple physically-isolated servers. Through this architecture, the NEC Express5800/1000 servers have the unique capability of providing hardware-assisted memory state copy of a failing cell. This assisted "memory copy" capability accelerates the hot replace function of dynamic partitioning within Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft's Windows Server 2008.
As an example, Santa Clara, Calif.-based NEC said that IT departments can consolidate multiple databases onto a single instance of SQL Server 2008 and scale up leveraging autonomic "hot add" capabilities as needed. In addition, the autonomic "hot replace" capability of dynamic hardware partitioning provides greater system availability for online hardware maintenance without loss of processing or memory resources.
"This solution allows enterprises of any size to achieve new levels of consolidation while delivering availability," said Mike Mitsch, general manager, Enterprise Server Division, in a statement. "We look forward to seeing NEC's and Microsoft's dynamic partitioning capability provide tremendous customer value for crucial applications -- such as SQL Server and virtualization -- in terms of continuous availability and highly serviceable solutions that can scale and are easy to manage."