“Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina will next week
unveil the firm’s mainframe-class Unix server, codenamed Superdome.
HP’s support for multiple, partitioned operating systems will find
favour with firms wanting to consolidate multiple servers and
applications into a single high-availability unit.”
“HP’s Superdome will provide another alternative to Sun’s
UltraSparc II-based systems, especially the top-end E10000.
Sun’s Serengeti UltraSparc III systems will be released on 27
September. Sources said the first Superdome systems will have 32
processors, and a 64-way machine will follow later this year.
Clusters of up to 256 processors are expected in future.”
“Partitioning will allow single or multiple operating system
images, giving a high level of operational flexibility.
Superdome will run HP’s Unix operating system, HP-UX, and will
run IA-64 operating systems such as 64bit Windows and the
64bit port of Linux when Intel’s 64bit Itanium chips start
shipping. Superdome is expected to replace HP’s current top-end
V-Class systems.”