HP, IBM Unveil Xeon Systems With New Power Management Features

Hewlett-Packard and IBM Tuesday unveiled new servers with advanced power management capabilities based on Intel's new server platform, code-named Bensley.

The two manufacturers said systems will begin shipping in the June timeframe and will support Intel's two new Xeon processors, code-named Dempsey and Woodcrest.
HP said it is shipping with all of its new Bensley systems Integrated Lights-Out 2 (iLO2) management processor with high-speed, virtual KVM and improved power management capabilities.

iLO2 lets system managers monitor a server's power consumption as well as regulate its daily power draw, said John Gromala, director of platforms for Industry Standard Servers at HP, Palo Alto, Calif. Gromala said HP's system works with Intel's SpeedStep technology built into the processors that, like Intel's mobile processors, throttles down the power when server loads are light.

By using the tool, managers can set an overall wattage budget for the day and the software will ensure that system -- or a group of systems -- works within that threshold, said Gromala. "The CPU utilization will max out at that power budget," he said.

IBM, in the meantime, is offering power management extensions to its System Management Director software that ships with its servers. The first version of the software will let managers see how much power a server will draw. An additional version, which IBM said will be available later this year, will also let users cap power consumption.