Unisys has made a strong commitment to Linux, offering Novell SuSE and Red Hat Linux on its ES7000 servers, as well as unveiling its next generation of open-source compatible ClearPath Plus Dorado servers
The new Dorado mainframes provide increased power and compatibility with a wide variety of open source software and standards-based environments. These improvements extend Unisys strategy of maximizing the economic value customers receive from their mainframes.
Equipped with new processors providing a 50 percent increase in computing power over previous models, the new Dorado mainframes support a pay-for-use business model that includes Unisys Utilization Sentinel – software that provides measurement, management, and reporting capabilities. Dorado customers can now instantly access extra system resources, precisely measure overall usage and pay for these extra resources in small increments, only as consumed.
The availability of Linux on the company's ES7000 servers, working with Novell and Red Hat, provides business, government and scientific sectors with services and support for Linux-based solutions.
The company has also unveiled its dynamic partitioning capability on Linux for Intel-based servers. This initiative links the power of Unisys ES7000 enterprise servers with the flexibility and openness of the Linux operating system, providing customers a strong, new alternative to expensive, proprietary RISC-based systems.
Dynamic partitioning, the ability to shift processing power to the applications that need it, as they need it, with no human intervention, is a critical function for organizations running complex and demanding workloads. This means that if an application suddenly has a spike in demand, the ES7000 with Linux will automatically allocate additional processing power to that application. When usage goes back to normal, so does the amount of processing power assigned to that application.
Unisys engineers, drawing on years of mainframe and enterprise computing experience, have brought this key functionality, previously only available to users of expensive proprietary systems, to standard Intel-based servers for the first time.
Unisys has 50 years of experience supporting multiple operating systems and migrating workloads across various platforms. With thousands of customer service representatives in over 100 countries, Unisys will implement and support the ES7000 Linux software and hardware solutions.
Building on the company's 3D Visible Enterprise initiative and its Blueprinting methodology, Unisys is enabling large enterprises with complex computing environments to move off Unix/RISC platforms, such as Sun Solaris.
"Standardization has been a huge trend in the server industry, especially since Standard High Volume (SHV) servers based on the Intel® Pentium® Pro processor entered the market nearly ten years ago," said Richard Dracott, general manager of Enterprise Marketing and Planning for Intel's Enterprise Platforms Group. "Unisys, long a price/performance leader in high-end Intel processor-based systems, is continuing this trend by bringing true enterprise class functionality to the Linux environment, to large scale multiprocessing systems based on both Intel Xeon™ processors MP and Itanium® 2 processors."
The entire line of Intel-based Unisys servers, ranging from servers running both 32-bit and 64-bit processors, from 4-way to 32-way, is available with Linux. For the increasing number of IT departments looking to migrate away from their large Unix/RISC systems, Unisys now offers the choice of enterprise class Linux in addition to its Microsoft Windows-based solutions. "Expect to see Unisys expand its ES7000 server offerings very soon – further enabling RISC-free environments for mission-critical solutions," McGrath said.
In addition, Unisys has optimized its Server Sentinel software, which provides IT managers the ability to manage both Windows and Linux environments from one screen – something industry analysts say no other company offers today. Continuing this cutting-edge work, Unisys engineers are developing several other unique enhancements to the Sentinel offering including Application Sentinel, Database Sentinel and Security Sentinel.
"The entrance of Unisys into the Linux market is a great endorsement of the Linux platform," said Hal Bennett, vice president of business development of Novell. "Combining the scalability and performance power of Novell's SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server with Unisys deep experience in mission critical computing gives customers a compelling new option for deploying Linux at the core of the enterprise."
Among the early adopters of Linux on the ES7000 are InteliTrac, a leading biometric security company; Pennsylvania State University; marketing services firm BeNOW; Florida Department of Children and Families; Medscheme, a South African healthcare provider; and Policia Investigaciones de Chile, the Chilean equivalent of the FBI.
Linux is available on the ES7000 immediately.
About Unisys
Unisys is a worldwide information technology services and solutions company. Our people combine expertise in consulting, systems integration, outsourcing, infrastructure and server technology with precision thinking and relentless execution to help clients, in more than 100 countries, quickly and efficiently achieve competitive advantage. For more information, visit www.unisys.com.
Forward Looking Statements
Any statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements rely on assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. In particular, statements in this release regarding the positive effect of Unisys introduction of a Linux offering, any positioning that may result in Unisys being a market leader, and any revenue that may be produced by such efforts, are subject to the competitive risks and uncertainties that normally accompany the introduction of new products. Additional discussion of factors that could affect Unisys future results is contained in its periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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