Dell rolls out PowerEdge servers with AMD Opteron inside

Advanced Micro Devices and Dell Inc’s partnership seemed binding firmly when in an announcement, at the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco, the Texas computer giant unveiled two new business computers that will feature the chipmaker's Opteron microprocessor.

Dell, the World’s leading computer system company, has announced two PowerEdge servers; PowerEdge 6950, and PowerEdge SC1435, both featuring Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron processors.

The PowerEdge 6950 is a four-socket server, which with the highest performing AMD processors available, provides maximum performance at a low power consumption rate. It consumes up to 20 percent less power than previous-generation four-socket PowerEdge servers. This server is perfect for database, server consolidation, virtualization and migration from costly RISC based systems.

The PowerEdge 6950 is embedded with an Integrated Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) 2.0 management controller (with SMASH Command Line Protocol), plus an optional DRAC 5 remote management card with continuous video and Active Directory integration for sturdy remote server management.

The other rolled out server, PowerEdge SC1435, is a two-socket, rack-dense server, with all new features like quad-core upgradeability, AMD Virtualization (AMD-V), and energy-efficient DDR-2 memory technologies introduced in these latest AMD Opteron processors.

The server is designed for high-performance compute clusters, distributed Web serving, and small to medium-sized businesses (SMB) that require leading price-performance ratio and energy conservation features. Powered with the next-generation AMD Opteron Processor, PowerEdge SC1435 prompts Dell’s position in performance cluster servers.

Talking about the recently launched servers, Brad Anderson, senior vice president - product group, Dell, said, "The PowerEdge 6950 and PowerEdge SC1435 continue Dell’s unwavering commitment to meet customer needs, and lead the industry in price-performance and performance per watt."

Echoing Dell’s statement, Marty Seyer, senior vice president - commercial segment, AMD, said, "AMD and Dell share a commitment to deliver system-wide innovation where it matters most to customers. By combining Dell's world-class product design, service, and support with the performance-per-watt benefits of AMD Opteron processors and open innovation platform enabled by the AMD Torrenza initiative, customers have the right tools for addressing specific workload needs and applications while reducing total cost of ownership."

Dell had used only Intel server processors, until now, but now it joins server contenders like Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sun Microsystems, and others in offering AMD Opteron processors as an alternative to Intel's Xeon processors.

Dell’s alliance with AMD is a big blow to latter's chief rival, Intel, which had long enjoyed an exclusive relationship with the world's second largest PC vendor.

The PowerEdge 6950 and PowerEdge SC1435 with dual-core, next-generation AMD Opteron processors and with a base price of $1300, $6500, respectively, are immediately available.