Sun Introduces New AMD-based Level 3 Rack Server

In the world of servers, flexibility is a good thing. So are speed and durability, especially if you’re building a network that will be pushed to the limit. Sun Microsystems, Inc. has unveiled the Netra X4200 M2 server, Sun’s first Network Equipment Building Standard (NEBS) Level 3 Certified Rack Server powered by the AMD Opteron processor and offering broad operating system support, including the Solaris 10 OS, Red Hat and SUSE Linux, and Windows. Based on the Sun Fire X4200 M2 server announced in October 2006, the Netra X4200 M2 server is Sun’s first Netra rackmount server developed with x64 (x86, 64-bit) architecture. The Netra X4200 M2 server offers high storage and memory capacity in a 2U, 20" package with up to four 146GB SAS drives and up to 32GB of memory and ships ready to support the new Sun Multithreaded Networking Card to enable higher network throughput. Sun will be adding support for the Sun Multithreaded 10 GbE Networking Technology to the Netra family of servers, delivering application performance improvements of up to four times Sun’s current network interfaces when paired with x64 or SPARC multi-core servers. The Sun Multithreaded 10 GbE Networking Technology is designed to take advantage of the Solaris OS’s threaded design for optimized throughput, regardless of the processor. Sun says the Netra X4200 M2 server can be used as a media server, voice over IP (VoIP) signaling gateway controller, element management system, network traffic analysis system, operation management system and data management system. Siemens Networks is deploying Netra X4200 M2 servers to run its VoIP applications. The 2-socket version of the Netra X4200 M2 server is available now, with entry-level pricing starting at $9,845. The 1-socket version is scheduled to be available in May with entry-level pricing starting at $6,145.