The 10 New Coolest Enterprise Servers Of 2020 (So Far)

Servers continue to be incredible pieces of hardware able to meet the requirements of any data center load, and server development continues unabated. Here are 10 of the hottest servers unveiled so far this year.

Enterprise Servers: Still The Base On Which Data Centers Are Built

Software-defined storage and networking. Virtualization. Edge computing. Flash storage. These are some of the key technologies that make modern data centers ready to tackle workloads from the most traditional to the most leading edge. However, at the base of every one of those technologies is a server.

Servers continue to be incredible pieces of hardware able to meet the requirements of any data center load, and server development continues unabated.

CRN rounds up 10 hot new enterprise server offerings of the year so far.

Amax ServMax A-1114

The ServMax A-1114 from custom-system builder Amax is a 1U server targeting virtual desktop infrastructure, artificial intelligence, machine learning and embedded applications and can serve as an entry-level caching appliance. It features a single AMD EPYC 7002 series processor with up to 64 cores and 128 threads and can be configured with up to 2,048 GB of LRDIMM memory and up to 12 2.5-inch hot-swap SATA, SAS or NVMe storage devices. Expansion comes via two PCIe 4.0 slots and an OCP mezzanine slot.

Dell EMC PowerEdge XE2420

Dell Technologies in February introduced its Dell EMC PowerEdge XE2420, a highly configurable, dual-socket 2U rack server which, with its scalable rack option, is targeted at low-latency, large storage edge applications. It features two second-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, with further performance coming from up to four Nvidia acceleration cards. For use at the edge, the PowerEdge XE2420 can leverage iDCRAC9 (integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 9) with the optional data center capability to provide streaming telemetry with enhanced integrated security for emerging edge applications. For harsh environments, the server is rated at temperatures between 41 degrees and 104 degrees Farenheit, and is serviceable via a cold aisle, front-accessible I/O and power access. The bezel also has an optional filter to remove particulate matter.

Fujitsu Primergy RX4770 M6

Fujitsu‘s new Primergy RX4770 M6 servers pack four third-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor sockets in a new 3U form factor. The new servers feature up to 18 TB of memory in up to 48 DIMMs, of which half can be non-volatile memory. Users can also add in the new Intel Optane persistent memory 200 series to bring high-performance and high-capacity memory for memory-intensive workloads such as data analytics and in-memory databases. Storage scales to up to 24 2.5-inch devices, including NVMe drives. The servers also have 11 PCI3 3.0 slots.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Superdome Flex 280

HPE in June introduced the Superdome Flex 280, a server targeting digital transformation, including managing SAP HANA or Oracle databases or massive IoT and artificial intelligence data sets at the edge or in the core. The Superdome Flex 280, built on HPE‘s Superdome Flex architecture, is the new entry-level version of the server family. It can be configured with two to eight third-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, 64 GB to 24 TB of shared memory using DRAM only or in combination with Intel Optane persistent memory, up to 16 GPUs, up to 32 PCIe cards, and NVMe storage. The Superdome Flex 280, slated to ship late this year, will be available as a service through HPE GreenLake.

IBM Bare Metal Servers

IBM Cloud in April enhanced its IBM Bare Metal Server line with the addition of second-generation AMD EPYC processors. IBM Bare Metal Servers are available in IBM data centers to be configured for customer use on a monthly or hourly basis, and can be reserved in advanced for use with sustained workloads. The latest versions for IBM Cloud users include up to 96 CPU cores per platform, up to 4 TB of memory, up to 24 local storage drives, and the choice of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, Ubuntu or Microsoft Server. They are available with pay-as-you-use billing.

Inspur Servers For Artificial Intelligence

Inspur in June released two new servers, the NF5468M6 and NF5468A5, targeting artificial intelligence workloads with Nvidia A100 PCIe support. The two servers support up to eight double-width A100 PCIe cards in a 4U chassis, and can be configured with up to 40 GB of HBM2 (high bandwidth memory). They also support PCIe 4.0 expansion.

Lenovo ThinkSystem SR860/SR850 V2

Lenovo in June unveiled new servers, the SR860 V2 and SR850 V2, targeting analytics and artificial intelligence workloads. The servers feature third-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors with enhanced support for SAP HANA based on Intel Optane persistent memory 200 series, and can be configured with up to 48 2.5-inch storage drives. The ThinkSystem SR860 V2 server also supports four double-wide 300W or eight single-wide GPUs for handling artificial intelligence workloads, virtual desktop infrastructure or data analytics.

Nor-Tech Voyageur

Nor-Tech, a custom-system builder specializing in high-performance computing, this year introduced the Voyageur 8 GPU server. The server, available in 2U and 4.5U models, features up to eight Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti GPUs based on the Nvidia Turing architecture. The new eight-GPU server comes with two Intel Xeon Processor Scalable CPUs, two PCIe 3.0 half-length low-profile slots, and room for up to 24 DIMMs and eight hot-swappable 2.5-inch storage drives.

Supermicro and Nvidia

Supermicro’s new 4U A+ GPU system supports up to eight Nvidia A100 PCIe GPUs via direct-attach PCIe 4.0 in conjunction with dual AMD EPYC 7002 processors. It can be configured with up to 8 TB of ECC DDR4 3,200MHz SDRAM and up to 24 hot-swap 2.5-inch storage devices and up to four 2.5-inch NVMe drives. There are nine or 10 PCIe 4.0 slots, depending on whether NVMe devices are used. The server, expected to be released soon, is Nvidia GPU Cloud-ready, and is targeted at customers looking to deploy artificial intelligence workloads at scale.

Tyan Thunder HX FT83-B7119

Tyan in May introduced the Thunder HX FT83-B7119, a new 4U server featuring high-density local storage supporting up to 10 Nvidia V100S or 20 T4 GPUs. The server is based on dual-socket second-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, and comes with room for 12 hot-swap 3.5-inch drive bays and 11 PCIe slots. It also supports 100 Gigabit InfiniBand or Ethernet. The server‘s chassis includes tool-less drive trays to help ease assembly and service.