New PRIMEQUEST 500 series server delivers more than double performance and advanced virtualisation in mission-critical Linux and Windows environments

Fujitsu Limited today announced the release of a new high-end series in its PRIMEQUEST™ server line, the PRIMEQUEST™ 500 series (3 models) servers with Dual-core Intel® Itanium® 2 processors, providing performance improvements up to 2.5 times that of previous models. Fujitsu PRIMEQUEST servers are built to meet the highest demands for reliability and availability in data centre operations. The PRIMEQUEST 500 series servers deliver the most advanced virtualisation capabilities available along with extended system scalability for Linux and Windows environments. Combining the Dual-Core Intel processor with Fujitsu cutting-edge architecture and design, the PRIMEQUEST 500 series servers are the ideal choice for enterprises that require the economic benefits and flexibility of industry-standard solutions without compromising business continuity.

The PRIMEQUEST server series uses high-performance 64-bit Intel® Itanium® 2 processors with a Fujitsu-developed chipset (2) that maximises reliability and scalability of the processor. With Fujitsu’s unique dual synchronous system architecture (3), the PRIMEQUEST servers combine the economy of open-standard systems with the reliability of a mainframe.

“The Fujitsu PRIMEQUEST 500 series meets the demands of the most sophisticated data centres by offering superior scalability and performance in a compact, energy-efficient design,” said Rod Vawdrey, Chief Executive Officer, Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand. “These new servers are a cornerstone of our TRIOLE strategy, where servers, storage, networks and middleware are united to provide a dynamic and flexible IT environment.”

Since their worldwide launch in April 2005, the PRIMEQUEST servers have been deployed in customer sites around the world, for use on mission-critical systems as legacy modernisation, and as large-scale database systems, providing customers with high reliability, high scalability and enabling them to reduce total cost of ownership reductions.

The new PRIMEQUEST 500 series servers are ideal for mission-critical applications that demand superior performance, reliability, scalability, flexibility and optimum resource usage. Typical application deployments for PRIMEQUEST servers include large-scale database and online transaction processing environments, legacy modernisation, ERP platform, and database/server consolidation. Offering up to 64 processor cores accessing 2TB of uniform main memory in a maximum of 16 partitions, Fujitsu PRIMEQUEST is at the forefront of high-end systems capable of hosting business-critical operations.

The PRIMEQUEST 500 servers integrate the Dual-Core Intel® Itanium® 2 processors with a number of architectural design features from Fujitsu to offer a unique combination of power and flexibility. Coupling the advanced eXtended PARtitioning (XPAR) capabilities of the PRIMEQUEST servers with the Itanium® 2 virtualisation technology offers customers the most advanced virtualisation capabilities on the market. Not only can system resources such as CPU and memory be partitioned, but I/O Units can also be individually partitioned to optimise resource allocations on a per-partition basis.

Augmenting the PRIMEQUEST physical partitioning capabilities, future enhancements built upon the Intel virtualisation technology will host virtual partitions, offering a rich multitude of partitioning options. Furthermore, partitions can be defined with system mirror mode, offering industry-leading fault immunity in the memory and cross-bar implementation.

“Together Fujitsu and Intel are providing state-of-the-art design and system architecture to give enterprises the flexibility and freedom they desire for their mission-critical applications,” commented Thomas Kilroy, Vice President General Manager, Digital Enterprise Group, Intel Corporation. “With more than double the performance of previous generation Intel Itanium 2 processor-based servers, mainframe-class RAS features, and improved energy efficiency, the new dual-core Intel Itanium 2 processor-based PRIMEQUEST servers are ideal for application consolidation in mission-critical data centres.”

The PRIMEQUEST 500 servers will be available globally in September 2006.

Fujitsu continues its collaboration with leading enterprise vendors of Linux systems Red Hat and Novell, and with the Open Source Development Lab (OSDL), contributing to the hardening of the open operating system for business-critical deployments. Under the global alliance partnership, Fujitsu is also working closely with Microsoft to deliver business-critical environments for Windows applications standards. Furthermore, Fujitsu is working with its partners and the Itanium Solutions Alliance (ISA) to expand the eco-system for the Linux/Windows enterprise.

The PRIMEQUEST servers significantly extend the Fujitsu server portfolio from Fujitsu that includes PRIMERGY® servers. Together they provide a comprehensive server portfolio that satisfies different service level requirements for maximum availability and scalability. The new PRIMEQUEST servers are ideal for customers extending their existing mission-critical infrastructures with open-source Linux, Windows and Itanium technologies.

The PRIMEQUEST server line is offered as part of the Fujitsu TRIOLE strategy for optimised IT, which unites servers, storage, networks and middleware to provide a dynamic and flexible customer IT environment, aimed to increase business continuity, agility and efficiency. Fujitsu will continue to provide and expand TRIOLE templates that include the PRIMEQUEST servers, enabling customers to introduce 64-bit mission-critical Linux and Windows technology into the datacentre.

If you require a photograph or technical specifications for the PRIMEQUEST 500 series server, please contact Elizabeth Greene below.

(1) PRIMEQUEST 480 was the recipient of the 6th annual eWeek Excellence Awards (2006), in the category of Server Hardware

(2) The Fujitsu developed chipset utilised in the PRIMEQUEST 500 series, as in the PRIMEQUEST 400 series, incorporates the results of the Semiconductor Application Chip Project funded by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO).

(3) Proprietary hardware architecture from Fujitsu that, through thorough built-in redundancies of the server’s hardware and advanced controls for the hardware’s synchronous operation, enables a dramatic improvement in the server’s uptime and processing continuity.