Paris, France - 11 sept. 2013: IBM annonce aujourd’hui NeXtScale System, une nouvelle plate-forme x86 évolutive qui peut accueillir trois fois plus de cœurs de processeurs dans le même espace, comparé aux déploiements de serveurs racks à l’unité. IBM NeXtScale System est le support idéal des applications en croissance telles que le social media, l’analyse des données, le calcul intensif et les services de cloud.

L’adoption rapide de nouveaux services et de leur mode de déploiement soumettent les datacenters à une forte pression. Les clients cherchent des nouvelles technologies plus performantes et moins gourmandes en énergie pour améliorer l’efficacité globale et réduire les coûts. NeXtScale System est le dernier né de la gamme des offres x86 d’IBM, spécialement conçu pour exécuter dans le datacenter des applications réclamant la puissance d’un superordinateur.

Ce nouveau système accueille jusqu’à 84 serveurs x86, soit 2016 cœurs de processeurs dans un rack 19 pouces standard, facilitant son intégration dans n’importe quel datacenter. Il s’appuie sur des composants standards, comme les adaptateurs d’entrées/sorties et des commutateurs réseau « top-of-rack » pour offrir plus de souplesse de choix et de mise en œuvre. IBM enrichit la plate-forme avec les logiciels IBM GPFS (General Parrallel File System), GPFS Storage Server, xCAT et Platform Computing, qui apportent des outils puissants d’optimisation et de provisionnement.

Le choix d’IBM de faire appel à des composants aux formats standards et répandus sur le marché, permet à tous les partenaires d’IBM de proposer maintenant une plate-forme technologique à haute performance à la majorité de leurs clients. Les partenaires peuvent passer leurs commandes module par module auprès de leur grossiste. Souple par design, NeXtScale peut être acheté au départ sous la forme d’un seul serveur ou d’un seul châssis à configurer et équiper progressivement. 
Sur demande du client, NeXtScale peut être aussi livré intégré dans un rack ou un container prêt à être branché et connecté.

NeXtScale est idéal pour:

-          les datacenters en quête d’efficacité, de densité accrue, d’extensions de capacité et d’évolutivité

-          les infrastructures de cloud public, privé ou hybride

-          les applications d’analyse intensive sur les données

-          les applications en ligne sur le web comme les jeux ou le streaming des vidéos

-          l’imagerie à haute résolution pour les applications médicales ou d’exploration pétrolière

-          les départements de recherche et développement

NeXtScale s’appuie sur les processeurs x86 les plus puissants du marché et sur de la mémoire RAM cadencée à 1866 Mhz. NeXtScale est certifié pour fonctionner à la température de 40°C, réduisant ainsi les besoins de refroidissement. Le châssis de NeXtScale pourra recevoir des composants supplémentaires de stockage et d’accélération. IBM annonce aussi la disponibilité de solutions prêtes à l’emploi  de type cloud, avec OpenStack, ou de calcul avec ANSYS ou MPI-BLAST.

 Pour en savoir plus :

http://www.ibm.com/systems/fr/x/announce.html

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IBM introduces NeXtScale System: High Performance Computing Experience and Technology Move from the Lab to the Data Center

3x the cores in single one-unit rack; Ideal for cloud, analytics; Available through IBM Business Partners

Armonk, N.Y. - 10 Sep 2013: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today introduced the NeXtScale SystemTM, a flexible computing platform providing three times as many cores as current one-unit rack servers, making it ideal for the fastest growing workloads such as social media, analytics, technical computing and cloud delivery.

The rapid adoption of these workloads and delivery models is putting increased demands on data centers, and clients are looking for new technologies that meet those demands with the highest performance and the lowest power consumption to drive high efficiency and lower costs. NeXtScale is the latest addition to IBM's x86 portfolio, designed specifically to run those applications with the power of a supercomputer in any data center, via a simple, flexible and open architecture that will support options for compute, storage, and graphics processing acceleration. 

This new system incorporates up to 84 x86-based systems and 2,016 processing cores in a standard EIA 19-inch rack, allowing easy integration into any data center. It uses industry-standard components including I/O cards and top-of-rack networking switches for flexibility of choice and ease of adoption. IBM also provides a powerful software stack to run on top of NeXtScale, including IBM General Parallel File System, GPFS Storage Server, xCAT, and Platform Computing, providing powerful scheduling, management and optimization tools. 

The result is a single architecture based on open standards that delivers high performance and high efficiency, and that is designed to blend seamlessly with clients' data centers, current practices and x86 tools. NeXtScale's design can help clients better manage their operations and capital expenditure budgets by allowing them to maximize the compute power in a minimum amount of space in their data centers. Because of its standard-rack form factor and broad use of industry-standard components, IBM Business Partners can now deliver IBM's high performance computing technology to a broad range of users.

"NeXtScale is designed to deliver raw throughput and performance, and is positioned well to handle HPC, cloud, grid, and managed hosted workloads," said Kevin Rozynek, NASA Client Executive at IBM Business Partner Direct Systems Support. "In addition, this new system provides clients a great deal of flexibility in configuration and components, making it one platform that can do it all."

NeXtScale is ideal for:

-- Large data centers requiring efficiency, density, scale, and scalability;
-- Public, private and hybrid cloud infrastructures;
-- Data analytics applications like customer relationship management, operational optimization, risk/financial management, and new business models;
-- Internet media applications such as online gaming and video streaming;
-- High-resolution imaging for applications ranging from medicine to oil and gas exploration; 
-- "Departmental" uses where a small solution can increase the speed of outcome prediction, engineering analysis, and design and modeling.

In addition, IBM today introduced the x3650 M4 HD, an enhancement of its 3650-class system featuring first-in-class 12-gigabyte RAID and a 60-percent higher spindle count for higher density storage and higher IO performance, making it ideal for applications such as big data and business-critical workloads. IBM NeXtScale and System x3650 M4 HD are two new entries headlining a broad refresh of the entire System x core server portfolio of two-socket systems including System x racks and towers, Flex System, iDataPlex, and BladeCenter offerings. All of these offerings will feature the new Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 v2 product family, providing performance increases of up to 45 percent*.

"By delivering high flexibility, ultra performance and great efficiency in an industry-standard format with a powerful software stack, NeXtScale provides our clients with a versatile new data center solution that is easy to qualify, acquire and deploy," said Adalio Sanchez, General Manager, IBM System x. "The introduction of NeXtScale and the other offerings and enhancements we're announcing today illustrate our continuing commitment to providing high-value, high-performance x86-based solutions to our clients."

NeXtScale supports the industry's fastest x86 processors and ultra-fast 1866 MHz memory, and can be integrated into data centers or departmental IT closets, including those running at 100-127V power inputs. NeXtScale is approved for operation in higher-temperature data centers (up to 40C/104F degrees), reducing cooling requirements and further lowering operational costs for users. NeXtScale’s Native Expansion concept allows users to add common functionality such as storage, graphics acceleration or co-processing, either at the time of shipment or in the future. Available with NeXtScale are new solution starter kits that make it easier for users to configure many common departmental HPC and small cloud solutions, such as Ansys, MPI-BLAST, and OpenStack. 

NeXtScale offers IBM Business Partners a highly flexible system that can be ordered as building blocks from distributors, allowing Business Partners to add high-value components, services and support for additional opportunities to drive revenue. This channel friendly, high performance computing offering enables IBM Business Partners to approach new clients and sell into the fastest growing infrastructure space in the x86 market.

Built for flexibility, NeXtScale can be purchased as a single node, an empty or configured chassis, or in full racks as a complete pre-tested IBM Intelligent Cluster solution, delivered fully configured and ready to power on. With Intelligent Cluster, NeXtScale arrives at the client location racked, cabled, and labeled with user-supplied naming, with pre-programmed IMMs and addresses, and with burn-in testing completed at virtually no additional cost. This can reduce time from arrival to production readiness by 75 percent**, while also substantially reducing packaging waste. 

For more information about NeXtScale and today's other announcements, go here. Photos of NeXtScale and the other product enhancements announced today are available at this link.

To view a video description of NeXtScale, please use this link, and for a video description of the x3650 M4 HD, use this link.