Unisys Corporation has announced new models of its ES7000/one Enterprise Server line employing the Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor 7100 Series -- codenamed "Tulsa." According to the company, the new ES7000/one platform delivers a 48 percent improvement in total cost of ownership (TCO) while improving service quality in a virtualized computing environment, where multiple operating environments and applications run simultaneously in multiple partitions on a single server system.

Priced up to 35 percent lower than previous comparable ES7000/one models, the new systems capitalize on their virtualization capabilities to optimize application performance, resource utilization and power consumption, demonstrating advantages over complex, multi-system "scale-out-only" server deployments.

Unisys reports its ES7000/one models are ideal for deployment in a real-time infrastructure driven by enterprise business policies that directly and dynamically enable strategic business processes. Real-time infrastructure helps enterprises visualize, use and optimize IT assets while balancing the need for better quality, security, and predictability. This allows Unisys customers to allocate computing resources in real-time to meet continually evolving strategic business requirements.

Unisys says its tests proved that the ES7000/one enterprise server using 16 Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor 7100 Series processors running VMware Infrastructure 3.0.1 can handle 2.7 times more virtual machines per processor than a four-socket commodity system. That translates into a 48 percent TCO improvement, with savings in hardware and software acquisition costs; data center operations including power, cooling, floor space and management; and connectivity to network and storage infrastructures.

The Unisys testing further shows that the ES7000/one is an efficient VMware Infrastructure host. Configured with the maximum processors and memory allowed by VMware Infrastructure, the Unisys system can handle peaks from variable workloads more efficiently than an aggregate of multiple, smaller 4-processor configurations typically used in VMware Infrastructure deployments.

"Before organizations adopt virtualization for their core applications and mission-critical workloads, their underlying server platform must be up to the challenge," said Colin Lacey, vice president and general manager, Enterprise Server Group, Unisys. "The new ES7000/one models meet that challenge and more, drawing on Unisys expertise in enterprise-class computing to deliver power and scalability for their most stringent workloads with quantifiable and dramatic economic advantages."

The new ES7000/one models represent entry-level, mid-range and high-end systems based on the Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processors 7110M, 7120M and 7140M, respectively. The systems are available immediately.

The new models represent another step in Unisys development of its next-generation server architecture, announced in June 2006 and designed to take advantage of scale up virtualization. Intended as a common platform for all Unisys enterprise servers, including the ES7000/one and the ClearPath mainframe family, Unisys next-generation server architecture will be capable of running Microsoft Windows, Linux and Unisys OS 2200 and MCP simultaneously with application workload sharing.