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| Intel's Viiv platform packs in plenty of functionality, but these third-party products can add even greater value and help set your systems above the competition. |
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Cheetah 15K.5 300GB: $TBA www.seagate.com Business Storage Goes Perpendicular Competition in the 15,000 rpm enterprise drive world is nearly as fierce as the 7,200 RPM desktop space, but Seagate pulls ahead again with the 15K.5, the world's first 3.5" drive to use perpendicular recording. Available in 73GB (one platter), 146GB (two), and 300GB (four) capacities, the 15K.5 doubles the storage potential of its 15K.4 predecessor. Additionally, the newer model is the first drive to break the 100 MB/sec barrier. Whereas the 15K.4 sported sustained speeds from 58 to 96 MB/sec, the 15K.5 reaches roughly 73 to 125 MB/sec, making it a monster for both rapid data access and long, linear transfers. Additionally, the Cheetah 15K.5 includes advanced error correction safeguards to protect against damage that can occur during RAID rebuilds and other operations, thus minimizing reliability risks. Seagate estimates that the new improvements aid error protection and data reliability by a factor of 10 over the Cheetah 15K.4. The mean time between failure (MTBF) rate remains unchanged at 1.4 million hours, and interface options cover 3 Gb/s serial attached SCSI (SAS), Ultra320 SCSI, and 4 Gb/s fibre channel. Ample channel availability is expected by the time you read this.
FireMV 2400 PCI Express: $699 www.ati.com Set Multi-Monitor Installations on Fire Those wanting multiple displays tend to try multi-slot platforms supporting up to four outputs on two graphics cards. However, what most professionals need are “2D workstation" adapters. Unlike the 3D-oriented FireGL workstation series, the FireMV family uses intermediate-class GPUs able to run at full bore with passive cooling and that have been qualified for a longer period than the cutting edge chips. The FireMV 2400 features two DMS-59 connectors that feed two splitter cables, yielding support for up to four DVI (1600 x 1200 maximum resolution) or analog (2048 x 1536) displays. The card is a low-profile design—a real boon for creating slim workstations—and uses 256MB of DDR memory. In addition to three levels of ATI end-user support for the card and the ability to run multiple FireMV cards in parallel for support well beyond four screens, the real beauty of the FireMV is its software. Users can create multiple desktop profiles, hot-key toggle between them, and even drag and drop from one desktop to another. Profiles can also memorize icon layout, application opening attributes (full-screen, stick to screen edge, etc.), separate screen resolutions, and so on, making this a serious workplace efficiency booster.
S5000VSA Server Board: $TBA www.intel.com Solid Foundations for a Screamin' Server A solid bensley implementation calls for a solid motherboard, and the S5000VSA is one of the smartest and most flexible we've seen yet. The SSI (12" x 13") form factor makes this a great solution for either rackmount or pedestal server enclosures, which Intel sells as well. The 5000V chipset mates to both 1,333 MHz bus LGA 771 sockets and the Intel 6321 southbridge. Eight FB-DIMM slots assure plenty of RAM headroom while users get maximum expandability through five slots: one PCI-X 100 MHz, one PCI-X 133 MHz, two PCI Express x4, and one standard PCI slot. Other perks include two Intel Gigabit Ethernet ports, integrated 3 Gbps SATA RAID (levels 0, 1, and 5), and onboard video courtesy of ATI's ES1000 chip backed by 16MB of memory. ESB2E server management is embedded for solid baseline accessibility. Intel also offers options for IPMI 2.0 hardware module support, accessible through the System Management Software 1.0 and Remote Management utilities. And because the S5000VSA is validated to work on 1U, 2U, 3U, 4U, full tower, and mid tower pedestal chassis, it's small depth, pedestal conversion, and pedestal chassis, it's particularly easy for system builders to integrate.
335SAS: $369 www.adaptec.com Easy Access for Internal Storage Some server chassis come with hot swap hard drive bays built in, but many don't, and this is especially true in the whitebox space where you're more likely to have desktop PCs being adapted to server usage. When hot swap functionality needs to be added, we're partial to Adaptec's 335SAS, an internal disk enclosure with four hot-swappable 3.5" SATA/SAS drive bays and one slimline optical drive bay. There's a lot more here than just a drive cage with bay handles. Adaptec delivers its SES2 enclosure management software, which monitors drive, monitor, and fan status and will trigger an audible alarm and warning LED in the event of fan failure. You'll also find redundant power supply connectors in the back for better assurance against data downtime. Despite containing up to five drives, the 335SAS only occupies three half-height 5.25" external bays in the server case, and front faces are available in beige or black. Adaptec throws in one x4 to x4 internal SAS cable along with one x4 SAS to SATA fanout cable for connecting the enclosure to a SATA controller. While the 335SAS is universally compatible with any SATA/SAS controller, the enclosure is a great match for most systems integrating an Adaptec RAID card or host bus adapter.
PR2200: $599.95 www.cyberpowersystems.com Small Servers Need Stable Power Because the battery backup market has had years to mature, finding a vendor with something innovative to offer server/workstation resellers can be challenging. Fortunately, CyberPower answers the need with its PR2200, a 2,200VA/1,500W slimline unit suited to vertical mounting in an included stand or 2U mounting in a rack. CyberPower hits the must-haves for this market with pure sine wave output and automatic voltage regulation for less wear on protected electronics, a 4 ms transfer time, a self-test operation, and local monitoring software showing battery runtime, battery level percentage, UPS load, and unit temperature. From here, CyberPower branches out. The backplane features two 9-pin serial ports (USB adapters included) allowing for independent shutdown of two connected systems. The four 9AH, lead-free batteries are industry standard, not proprietary like several competitors, and are hot-swappable via a single-screw sliding tray. We also like that the front panel has LED indicators for battery and load levels. CyberPower protects buyers with a three-year warranty instead of the usual two-year, and the optional SNMP module for remote manageability retails for a mere $39.99 rather than the more common $150 to $180.
Celerity FC-44ES: $2,995 www.attotech.com Add Fibre to Your Storage Diet High-bandwidth applications, such as uncompressed HD video and rich content databases, can strain even the most robust SMB-class servers. The relatively recent update to a 4 Gbps full-duplex spec per channel gives Fibre Channel a new leg up in this space, and ATTO's quad-channel Celerity FC-44ES is a great example of what solution providers need as a foundation for their high-end server storage subsystems. Four Gbps is 800 MB/sec, and four aggregated channels yield a top throughput of 1.6 GB/sec—just enough to fit within the 2.0 GB/sec ceiling for x8 PCI Express. ATTO's move to PCIe offers the best of both worlds: You maintain backward software compatibility with older PCI and PCI-X products while supporting a broader array of modern server platforms. Fibre Channel can redirect data requests through alternate channels as bandwidth dictates, but ATTO adds plenty of its own value, most notably the company's Advanced Data Streaming features, which address lower latency and improved command queuing. The Celerity line is RoHS-compliant and comes outfitted with drivers for Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003, Red Hat and SUSE Linux, and Mac OS X. Naturally, the adapter is also backward compatible with 2 Gb and 1 Gb Fibre Channel drives.
600SM PCI Phone Adapter: $39 www.intel.com Hello? Better VoIP is Calling VOICE-OVER-IP is a white hot trend, but conventional softphone solutions for both home and small business still tie users to a PC by a headset. Intel cuts this cord with the 600SM, a PCI card featuring a DSP chip an external RJ11 port that connects to any standard analog corded or cordless telephone. Bundled software sets the card up for use with Skype, although engin, Packet8, yak, and other VoIP services are also supported, and several providers can be used together. The 600SM has two advantages over the usual VoIP implementation. First, the user retains the comfort and convenience of his usual analog phone. Second, the 600SM applies processing that boosts the quality of calls. Those familiar with Skype know that PC-to-landline calls generally have quality on par with a cellphone connection. Intel's card not only improves on this but takes over the signal processing from the CPU so calls are less prone to the hiccups heard due to other system tasks. The 600SM is a strong business play owing to its support for Hosted Private Branch Exchange (PBX) VoIP services, such as Packet8 Virtual Office. This allows small businesses to create a virtual phone network with unlimited extensions.
FSP600-60BR3: $349 www.fsp-group.com.tw Too Much Redundancy is Just Enough We all know that downtime is not acceptable in the server space, and having a bulletproof power configuration is essential to reliability. This is why many server configs rely on redundant power supplies. As the PSU is one of the most common failure points in computers, it only makes sense to have one standing by in an online fail-over capacity. Fortron takes this one step further with its FSP600-60BR3 by building three hot-swappable EPS12V power supplies into one enclosure. With this, you get the load balancing benefits of a dual-PSU design while still preserving redundancy. This 600W unit hits all of the high points server builders need: active power factor correction (PFC), remote on/off, low noise and ripple, and protection against overvoltage, short circuit, and overcurrent. Our only criticism is that the part's 65% efficiency seems short compared to the likes of an 85% or higher Antec Neo HE, so warn power-conscious clients that they're trading some dollars on their utility bill for the highest possible uptime assurance. Fortron rates the unit with an MTBF of 100,000 hours under maximum load at 25 degrees Celsius, and FSP is widely regarded as one of the highest-quality names in the power supply industry. |
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