| By Maureen O'Gara |
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| October 9, 2008 07:56 AM EDT |
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Unisys, for all its service ambitions is still in the mainframe-class server business – well, at least for now – its shiny new CEO may have other ideas but not before it rolls out some new cloud-fit Unisys-created ClearPath machines that meter use.
On tap are the high-end Dorado 700 and mid-range Dorado 4000 and Libra 4000, all terribly real-time and transaction-oriented, as well as a new release of the company’s SOA-style Visual Studio-based Agile Business Suite and Business Information Server development environment software.
Unisys describes the 32-way Dorado 700 as the most powerful system ever to run its proprietary OS 2200. It’s based on the company’s long-standing CMOS processor technology and is said to deliver 200% I/O performance improvements and close to 20% processor improvements over the existing 300 Series.
A full-blown 32-processor Dorado 700 can be partitioned into eight independent hard partitions, each supporting its own OS, and four 700s – 128 processors – can be buckled together in a cluster. Basic configurations start at $4.5 million.
The Dorado 4000, which also runs the OS 2200, and the Libra 4000, which runs the MCP operating environment, are supposed to deliver twice the peak performance of Unisys entry-level systems. They are both quad-core Tigerton Xeon-based and both CMOS- and Intel-based applications like Windows, Unix and Linux run on the things.
Unisys has designed so-called specialty engines, single-purpose integrated processors that increase the 4000s’price/performance by offloading tasks from the central system. There’s a cryptographic co-processor for encrypting sensitive data and the Libra can take a JProcessor that accelerates Java performance.
The second-generation Dorado is supposed to represent a 4x improvement in I/Os per second and 2x high-end systems performance. Next year – if there is a next year – Unisys expects to make the thing fully redundant.
The Libra should be good for a maximum 800 MIPS with continuous operations expected.
Customers can buy capacity on-demand, just enough processing power. The Dorado 4000 starts at $498,000 and the Libra 4000 at $750,000.
Maureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025.
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