New Sun/Fujitsu Server Points To Possible Future For SMB Server MarketNew Sun/Fujitsu Server Points To Possible Future For SMB Server Market

Jointly announced by Sun and Fujitsu, the new T5440 server may be a little much for the SMB market, but it does show what the SMB market can expect in a few years.Weighing 80 pounds and consuming 1,575 watts, and with pricing starting at $44,995, the new 4U rack-mounted T5440 is doubtless overkill for most offices looking for a server or two. But it has some interesting features that we hope to see more of, assuming they will trickle down to low end, as many do.

First, you can have as many as 32 cores running as many as 256 threads in 512 gigabytes of memory. (Anyone remember when 64 kilobytes was a lot?) Idle threads can be parked, reducing power consumption.

Second, it has intelligent fan control, so that the speed of a fan is adjusted according to the system's internal temperature, reducing power consumption (assuming full-speed ventilation is not always needed.) Individual fans are assigned to individual cooling zones. The system should reduce power consumption and prolong the lives of the fan motors.

Third, it has digital power regulators, which are supposed to be more efficient than analog units.

Fourth, it has built-in virtualization, although (of course) the virtualization involves Sun's Solaris operating system. The unit comes with Solaris 10, and it can run multiple Solaris 8 or Solaris 9 environments.

It can also have as many as 28 PCI-E expansion slots, although it's hard to imagine what anyone would do with that many -- although someone is doubtless going to figure that out.

Basically (expect for the slots) I want onebut it needs to cost less than $3,000. Assuming the continued operation of Moore's Law (with unit prices halfing every two years, for the same power) that should happen by 2016. (It also needs to consume only 150 watts. That, too, will probably happen.)

Visit the bMighty Server How-To Center for practical, hands-on information about how to choose, install, and maintain your company's servers.

Don't miss the exclusive, downloadable guides: Servers Simplified Your Server Questions, Answered 12 Ways to Secure Your Servers 8 Ways To Reduce Server Power Consumption