IBM previews latest Netfinity and beyond
Size does matter for IBM's latest one rack unit-high, ultra-thin, rack-mountable Netfinity server, aimed at the ASP and ISP markets.
Size does matter for IBM's latest one rack unit-high, ultra-thin, rack-mountable Netfinity server, aimed at the ASP and ISP markets. But some resellers are asking where the "VAR VAR voom" has gone from their margins.
The Netfinity 4000R measures just 1.75in thick, making it the thinnest Intel-based server from a systems vendor, IBM claims. It is packed with systems software which has been copied and adapted for the Intel platform from IBM's mid-range AS/400 and RS/6000 platforms.
IBM already ships some of its Netfinity machines with systems software adapted from its mid-range machines. This year, IBM hopes to improve this offering by adding utilities such as software predictive failure technology to keep applications up and running, hot swap memory and CPU modules to improve scalability. SAN system management and logical partitioning is also planned for the range.
Tikiri Wanduragala, senior Netfinity consultant at IBM, said: "With the scalability connectors (CPU modules), it will change the way people view servers today.
"Hot swap memory allows you to add memory without having to switch off the power if you are running out of performance for an ERP platform, for example."
By introducing the 4000R, IBM hopes the ability to rack-mount its servers will free up floor space and appeal to ASPs that pay high premiums to rent offices near an Internet backbone.
The server is also primed to run Linux, which is in demand from IBM ASP customers, said Wanduragala. "In the City, the cubic volume space equivalent to the 4000R is about £3,000 per year, so the size does matter," he said.
But IBM has angered VARs by cutting the price of some Netfinity servers, sold direct from its Web site, by as much as 30 per cent. One unnamed reseller who contacted CRN claimed the vendor was undercutting small VARs.
Tony John, UK Netfinity brand manager at IBM, was confident that the channel was satisfied with the vendor's Netfinity pricing move, and asked to be put in touch with any that are not.
The price of the new Netfinity, which is due to ship in March, was unavailable at the time of going to press.