Earlier this week IBM announced its range of next generation x86 based servers lovingly named eX5.  The eX5 features a new range of Intel Xeon processors, which I'll cover in more detail after the official announcement by Intel on 20/3/2010.  As we are all well aware, IBM do not have exclusive rights to Intel Xeon processors, so these same processors will be springing up in all of IBM's competitors servers over the next few months.  The question is, what are IBM planning to do different, if anything.

What I believe will make eX5 stand out from the competition is its approach to memory.  In general the x86 market has a relatively low memory slot to CPU ratio.  Workloads such as virtualisation and database serving often require masses of memory but do not always require a large socket count, especially with multi-core CPUs.  It looks like IBM are doing their best to tackle this head on with MAX5.  MAX5 is a memory expansion system that offers dramatically more memory than conventional x86 systems.

MAX5 is a 1U or 1 blade module that connects directly to the eX5 server.  All of the eX5 servers announced support MAX5 expansion.  

With MAX5 the eX5 servers offer far more memory than we normally see on 2 and 4 socket x86 servers.  My first reaction was 'Do customers really want all this extra memory?'  The best answer is, "Yes, but not all of them".

 IBM seem to be aiming eX5 at Database serving and Virtualisation workloads and are banking on the following.

• The new Intel Xeon processors will deliver vastly more performance per socket than the previous generation.

• To save on license costs customer will be able to do the same (or more) on less sockets.

• Customers will require the same or more memory as is available on solutions with a higher socket count.

If IBM have got this right then the eX5 architecture seems to offer a cost effective and feature rich solution.  That offers excellent performance at a lower socket count, which will ultimately save money or per socket licensing. 

As well as its huge memory capacity there are also many other new features to eX5.  For more information, visit the official IBM page.

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/info/x86servers/ex5/index.html

I'll be writing a full article on the new range as soon as more information include prices are made available.