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Press Release
RACKABLE
SYSTEMS LAUNCHES DISTRIBUTED DC POWER SOLUTION TO REDUCE HEAT AND
ENABLE FASTER PROCESSING SPEEDS IN COMPLEX DATA CENTER ENVIRONMENTS
- Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. deploys first
systems;
cites increased reliability, flexibility and savings -
SUPERCOMPUTING CONFERENCE, PHOENIX, Nov.
18, 2003 - Rackable
Systems, a leading provider of large-scale data center server solutions,
today introduced the industry's first Distributed DC Power technology
for major data center deployments. Customers that utilize Distributed
DC Power solutions will experience significantly increased reliability,
flexibility and savings, and be able to take full advantage of today's
faster microprocessing speeds. Rackable Systems also announced that
its first customer for the technology, Toshiba America Electronic
Components, Inc., (TAEC) successfully deployed Distributed DC Power-based
clusters at facilities in San Jose, Calif., and Marlborough, Mass.
Data center managers are currently
facing formidable challenges in the areas of reliability and CPU
density, impacting operational costs and performance. Most data centers
currently deliver standard AC power to each server via a dedicated
AC power supply — and experience frequent server failures due
to AC power supply malfunctions. Loss of power to an AC circuit and
frequent heat-related failures further reduce the availability of
mission-critical applications and create an excess burden on IT staff.
In addition, recent advances in microprocessor speeds are increasing
the amount of heat generated in servers, which can considerably shorten
the lifespan of systems and compound the challenge of cooling CPUs
at the high density levels required by most data centers.
"Our forecast indicates data centers
will need to increasingly support advanced 32- and 64-bit applications
as high performance technical computing and the commercial markets
both converge on high density server clusters," said John Humphreys,
research manager, global enterprise server solutions, IDC. "With
the flexibility and efficiency it provides, Distributed DC power
can help users capitalize on rapidly evolving improvements in 32-
and 64-bit server processors — such as Intel's Itanium® and
AMD's Opteron™ families — and more completely benefit from
the higher performance, expanded memory limits and greater productivity
capacity offered by these platforms."
TAEC Deploys Distributed DC Power
"Distributed DC Power provided increased
power efficiency that enabled us to populate our racks with highly
customized systems — without heat concerns," said Richard
Tobias, vice president of the ASIC and Foundry Business Unit of TAEC. "Since
the DC power supply was substantially smaller than a traditional AC
power supply, Rackable Systems provided exactly the right configuration
and met our need to quickly deploy next generation EDA applications
at a significantly lower acquisition cost. At the same time, we anticipate
noticeable ongoing savings in two areas. As each system uses fewer
watts, leading to cooler clusters, our IT staff will spend less time
responding to failed systems, replacing heat-worn components and reacting
to other downtime crises. We also expect much lower costs in terms
our monthly electricity bill."
"Distributed DC Power solutions
are a logical extension of our patented half-depth server technology,
commitment to open architecture and focus on highly configurable products,"
said Tom Barton, president and CEO, Rackable Systems. "Whether
it's deploying a single cabinet or developing the most complex data
center, it will allow us to continue helping our customers garner better
total cost of ownership, quicker return-on-investment and easier system
management."
Rackable Systems' Distributed DC Power
solutions, compatible with both AC- and DC-based data center environments,
utilize a DC power supply that produces 20 to 40 percent less heat
than cabinets with traditional AC power. This improvement in thermal
dynamics will enable customers to utilize faster and, consequently,
hotter processors at the highest density levels.
Rackable Systems' DC power supply provides
a mean time between failure rate of seven million hours, compared to
100,000 hours for traditional AC power supplies. This 70 times increase
in reliability at the power supply level (vs. traditional AC power
supplies) increases overall server reliability by up to 27 percent.
Servers receive N+M redundant power via DC distribution bars, allowing
cabinets to sustain availability through an AC circuit failure. The
overall power savings can reach up to 30 percent versus competitors'
AC-based solutions, translating into a three-year savings as much as
$1.1 million for a 900 kilowatt data center with 3,000 servers. Furthermore,
public data centers with a fixed amount of power available per square
foot can accommodate up to 30 percent higher server density with Distributed
DC Power.
Distributed DC Power solutions are available
built-to-order in all of the company's back-to-back rack mount compute
servers — which provide doubled CPU density, improved serviceability
and superior remote management capabilities — at a cabinet-level
cost comparable to AC-based systems. The offering is designed for a
wide range of large-scale server farms, including those in the high
performance computing, Web serving and financial services sectors.
Rackable Systems will demonstrate its Distributed DC Power solutions
in booth number 1235 at this year's Supercomputing Conference, Nov.
18-22, in Phoenix.
ABOUT RACKABLE SYSTEMS
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Rackable Systems
leads the industry in large-scale data center deployment solutions.
Through innovative design, patented technology and commitment to
customer service, the company offers a broad line of server products
that can be rapidly deployed in data centers and other demanding
IT environments. Serving leading-edge technology companies, universities
and research & development organizations, Rackable Systems' customers
include Cold Springs Harbor Laboratories, Deutsche Bank, Electronic
Arts, Google, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, nVidia, Pfizer,
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Sony America, Tellme Networks,
Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., U.C.S.C. Human Genome
Project, U.S. Department of Justice, Webex and Yahoo!.
To learn more about Rackable Systems, go to www.rackable.com,
call 408-240-8300, or write to info@rackable.com.
Rackable Systems is a registered trademark of Rackable
Systems®, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective
holders.
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