IBM has announced the sixth generation of its enterprise X-Architecture for System x and PureSystems servers with flash memory advances.
IBM's X6 Architecture is designed to boost performance of x86 servers. Packed with flash memory of 12.8 TB inside the box, these servers will run Intel's latest Ivy Bridge processor in four- and eight-way configurations.
In the previous models, the flash memory (also known as solid-state drives) were used as adjuncts to spinning disks and RAID arrays by being outside the server case. However, in the latest generation company has migrated the flash inside the server case after redesigning the flash memory sticks and motherboards. A big advantage of such configuration is that the RAM and flash storage share the same memory channel by being inside, therefore resulting in low latencies.
Another advantage is that the data on the flash modules stays even when the server is shut down and is available instantly as soon as the server is started up.
Incorporating flash drive inside the case can also boost the performance by ten times compared to flash outside the case.
The X6 architecture is specifically design to handle workloads such as big data analytics and also provide new levels of performance and resiliency for enterprise applications.
"Our enterprise X-Architecture for x86-based servers and solutions delivers high performance and the highest customer satisfaction in the industry, making us number one in high-end x86 systems," said Adalio Sanchez, general manager for IBM x-86 and PureSystems Solutions, in a statement. "We continue to innovate and deliver leadership performance, reliability and investment protection for mission-critical workloads with X6."
IBM also said that the X6 is capable of delivering three times the scalable memory in comparison to current competitors' for memory-hungry applications.
At present, server models that are supported by this new architecture are System x3850 X6 four-socket system, System x3950 X6 eight-socket system, and the IBM Flex System x880 scalable compute nodes.
IBM is also launching a new two-socket rack server dubbed System x3650 M4 BD storage server supporting up to 14 drives and delivering up to 56 terabytes of high-density storage.
