IBM Unveils New Low-End Unix Servers

IBM Tuesday unveiled two new Unix servers priced at less than $4,000, a move aimed at taking market share from Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems in the low-end Unix space.

The new servers are the first one-way and two-way Unix servers based on IBM's Power5 processors, the next-generation chip technology the vendor rolled out in July, said Jeff Howard, program director for IBM's pSeries offering.

IBM, Armonk, N.Y., has not offered one- and two-way Unix servers in several years, but the company has identified an opportunity to grab market share from HP and Sun in the high-volume, low-end Unix market, Howard said. This is why the new two-way Power5 servers are so competitively priced, he said.

"There is a lot of room left to take share on the low end," Howard said. IBM already offers four-way Unix servers based on the Power5 chips, he added.

The new eServer p5 510 server is rack-mountable and has a 1.65GHz Power5 processor, Howard said. The server runs either the Linux or AIX operating systems, and pricing starts at $3,967.The eServer p5 510 also is available in an Express version, which is IBM's product line aimed at the SMB market. The p5 510 Express is built on a 1.5GHz Power5 processor and also can run Linux or AIX. Both servers will be available Feb. 18.

Dan Olds, principal at Gabriel Consulting Group, Beaverton, Ore., said the Unix server market is "more competitive than it has been for years," and IBM is leading the charge to drive price points down, especially at the low end of the space.

"IBM is making a strong push for every part of the Unix market, not just the high end," Olds said. "They are continually bringing pricing pressure onto their competitors."