HP Offers New Opteron-Based Servers, Workstation

Hewlett-Packard hopes to take a lead in providing servers and workstations based on Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s Opteron microprocessor with the release of new products on Monday.

"We are adding new platforms to address customer needs around more performance, more performance, and more performance," says Paul Miller, VP of marketing for industry standard servers and BladeSystem.

"What we're doing is pretty straightforward because performance matters to customers," Miller says. "We are chipnostic. We don't care which processor technology you're buying as long as it says HP on the outside. Customers are adopting Opteron as part of their business because it's showing proven performance increases."

On Monday, HP introduced two new versions of its existing Opteron DL585 and DL145 servers, a new DL385 server based on Opteron, its first blade servers based on Opteron, and an Opteron-based workstation.

In the BladeSystem product family, HP is adding the Reliant BL25p and the BL35p. The servers can be used in conjunction with HP's Xeon-based blade offerings, allowing customers to select the best technology to meet specific application requirements, Miller says. "These new products have the same management across the platform, whether it is Xeon or Opteron, so it's totally seamless to the customer," he says. "It's choice without compromise."The Opteron-based ProLiant DL385 is a 2U rack server. The Opteron-based DL585 and DL145 come with new heat-management features.

HP's first Opteron-based workstation, the xw9300, is designed for customers with high computing demands, such as oil and gas exploration, computed-aided engineering, software development, and 3D animation, says Jeff Wood, director of product marketing for the personal workstation business. "Many customers have been demanding Opteron in application segments we're targeting," he says.

The xw9300 will be offered with the new NVIDA nForce Professional chipset and dual NVIDA Quadro FX graphics solutions, he says. The NVIDA chipsets enable dual PCI Express x16 graphic slots, allowing customers to run large models and display complex graphics, Wood says.

Miller says the addition of the Opteron systems is providing incremental growth to its existing Xeon-based systems. "We wouldn't be bringing out products that just cannibalize existing products in our line," he says. "We're doing this to grow our overall coverage at targeted markets and areas where we see customers clearly are seeing advantages."