The Windows 2000-based Express5800/ft servers provide continuous availability at unprecedented costs and recently received the “Best Server” award at Comdex 2001.
Wijchen (Holland) – Tuesday, 11th December, 2001 – NEC Computers International (NEC CI), Europe’s sixth largest manufacturer of personal computers and a leading provider of server and storage computing solutions for the professional market, today announced a new line of fault tolerant servers for the European market place. The NEC EXPRESS5800/ft series is based on Intel Corporation’s Pentium III processors and runs on Microsoft’s Windows 2000 Advanced Server operating system.
NEC’s EXPRESS5800/ft series provides users with continuous availability, which means the servers are designed to prevent interruption of service, data loss and data corruption in the event of a hardware problem or maintenance servicing. The systems are also uniquely designed for easy implementation, as they require only typical hardware or software configuration and support standard Windows applications. These features help minimise IT staff training requirements and enable the use of commercially available software, which helps reduce total cost of ownership.
All of NEC’s new fault tolerant servers are based on fault tolerant technology licensed from Stratus Technologies. NEC’s first available fault tolerant server is the EXPRESS5800/320La and additional fault tolerant servers will be announced through 2002.
“Using Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server in continuously available systems is a very strong cost-of-ownership proposition,” said Denis Bellicam, Executive Director – Server, Storage & Networking Division – NEC CI. “Businesses can use widely available applications rather than costly proprietary software. The savings go straight to the bottom line. Adding continuous availability with application flexibility and cost savings can translate directly into a significant competitive advantage for our customers.”
NEC Express5800/320La AT A GLANCE
SIMPLIFIED AVAILABILITY
The EXPRESS5800/320La employs 24×7 technology licensed from Stratus Technologies within a unique NEC design that allows all processing and input/output (I/O) commands to run on redundant components in lockstep. The servers include multiple CPU processing modules, multiple I/O-PCI modules, power supplies and hard disk drive (HDDs) running in what is called an “Active/Active” mode. The redundant components in each module process identical data at the same time. In the event of a hardware failure or hardware error, the defective module is instantly isolated without losing memory state or processing instructions. The end result is a far higher level of system integrity and stability when compared to non-fault-tolerant systems.
MODULAR SERVICEABILITY
A modular design, advanced monitoring ability and on-line testing capabilities allow NEC CI to provide a new service paradigm with the EXPRESS5800/320La. These features help provide ease-of-use, installation and maintenance time-savings, reduced repair and maintenance costs, remote monitoring and repair capabilities, and problem identification and resolution, all without a system shutdown.
SOFTWARE RELIABILITY
Continuously available systems rely on software to predict, manage and recover from potential software problems. To ensure dependable operation, the NEC EXPRESS5800/320La offers a suite of software designed to provide the utmost stability and availability while transparently managing problem prediction, isolation and recovery.
DYNAMIC MANAGEABILITY
ESMPRO
The EXPRESS5800/320La server is shipped with an enhanced version of NEC’s ESMPRO Management Suite, which is designed to exploit the new features of the FT series. Based on industry standard SNMP, ESMPRO for FT provides a tool to monitor, control and manage the EXPRESS5800/320La server across a network from a management console. Additionally, ESMPRO for FT can be integrated into leading enterprise monitoring environments, such as Tivoli Enterprise, HP OpenView and CA UniCenter TNG.
MANAGEMENT WORKSTATION APPLICATION (MWA) & BMC
In addition to standards-based network management support, the EXPRESS5800/320La server features hardware-integrated remote-management capabilities. This built-in solution provides remote emergency access and control of server resources (via LAN or standard modem connection), allowing remote power control, event log access, console redirection and floppy redirection, regardless of the state of the operating system or the network. This capability eliminates the need for expensive remote-management add-in cards typically found in the industry.
Fault tolerant software features available with the EXPRESS5800/320La include the following software packages and attributes:
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server with hardened FT subsystem
- Hardened Windows drivers for isolation, failover protection and testing
- Veritas Volume Manager software for storage availability and dynamic volume management
NEC Express5800/320La Key FeaturesDual Module Redundancy system architecture:
- processing
- I/O subsystems
- storage
- power
- Active redundant lockstep operation
- Customer-replaceable modular design
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
- NEC ESMPRO Management Suite
- 3-years limited warranty on parts and labour
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