Data General introduces superserver
Data General unveils a high-capacity server that can use up to 32 Pentium Pro processors, rivaling some of the most powerful large-scale computers on the market.
The Data General Aviion AV 20000 uses Non-Uniform Memory Access technology that allows a single machine to support up to 32 200-MHz Pentium Pro processors. It can also be packed with up to 32GB of memory and 100 terabytes of storage. By "clustering" servers, as many as 128 processors can be used together.
The AV 20000 is targeted at high-demand, large-scale computing in applications such as online transaction processing and data warehousing.
Users can upgrade and expand the AV 20000 using Data General's Scalable Building Blocks, Intel Type II motherboards with four Pentium Pro processors, cache memory, main memory, and extra PCI I/O channels. The boards are interconnected by a "Scalable Coherent Interface."
According to the company, the 32-processor configuration provided six times the performance of traditional 16-processor multiprocessor systems in tests when running online transaction processing. In data warehousing applications, the AV 2000's performance increased proportionally to the number of processors added.
The server offers fully redundant, hot-swappable power and cooling systems and automated recovery from some hardware failures.
Using Data General's DG/UX operating system, the AV 2000 can support up to 32GB of memory with 32 processors, taking advantage of the Pentium Pro's 36-bit capabilities.
A four-processor AV 20000 with 512MB RAM will start at $70,000, while a high-end 32-processor with 4GB of memory will run $690,000. Data General has started shipping the system, with volume shipments coming later this summer.