BladeSymphony with Virtage also includes blade symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) interconnect technology that is designed to improve scalability by enabling users to configure multiple blades, so that they work as a single system. BladeSymphony with Virtage will be generally available in North America in January and has been selected by several customers, including Stanford University's Cardiovascular Biomechanics Research Laboratory (CBRL).

"BladeSymphony with Virtage is a leap ahead in the virtualization game," said Vernon Turner, group vice president and general manager of Enterprise Computing at IDC. "This technology will further fuel the significant growth of the blade market, as IDC has projected. Embedded virtualization, coupled with BladeSymphony's mix-and-match capabilities that allow users to work with Intel Xeon processor- and Itanium processor-powered blades in the same chassis, will give end users an expanded variety of options as they design their enterprise-class environment."

"As CBRL's procedures require such intensive computing needs, we have not typically looked at blade servers," said Charles Taylor, associate professor of bioengineering and surgery at Stanford University. "Our work involves providing cardiologists and surgeons with the ability to simulate blood flow in patient-specific arterial models and predict outcomes of candidate interventions. However, Hitachi's BladeSymphony with Virtage provides us with all the enterprise-class capabilities we need -- performance, scalability, and built-in virtualization -- in a cost-effective, easier-to-use blade server. It was an easy decision that meets all of our high performance computing needs."

Introduced in Japan in August 2006 and first demonstrated in North America last September at the Intel Developer's Forum, BladeSymphony with Virtage is a 10U chassis, supporting hot-swappable blades capable of running both Windows and Linux. Built on standards-based multi-core Intel processors with Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT), the product allows users to combine, scale, and virtualize BladeSymphony blades based on Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 9000 Series processors.

BladeSymphony with Virtage is also designed with flexibility and integration in mind. BladeSymphony with Virtage can also support BladeSymphony blades based on Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors within the same chassis. Additionally, BladeSymphony with Virtage is available in eight-processor (16-way) SMP configurations. According to Hitachi, this mix of flexibility, integration and scalability makes BladeSymphony with Virtage effective for any enterprise, and particularly for customers running large custom applications and companies actively acquiring other organizations or running other high-growth applications.

"BladeSymphony with Virtage is the first blade server that is truly on the cutting edge," said Elizabeth King, vice president and general manager of Hitachi America, Server Systems Group. "Thanks to our unique backplane and scalable chassis, the new BladeSymphony is built to last with modular upgradeability and ease of manageability in mind. So it reduces risk in a way that previous servers simply cannot. Additionally, with the Virtage feature, we're offering a breakthrough technology -- virtualization baked right into a blade server's hardware for the first time."

Aside from its virtualization technology, BladeSymphony also addresses scalability issues. The product's backplane utilizes an SMP architecture to enable multiple blades to interconnect and act as a single system in one chassis. Offered in two-processor (four-way) Itanium processor blades, BladeSymphony can be scaled up and out to offer up to two eight-processor (16-way) servers in a single chassis, thus reducing footprint and power consumption while increasing utilization.

"Powered by dual-core Intel Itanium 2 processors, the Hitachi Blade Symphony with Virtage provides unprecedented IT freedom and excels in virtualization, flexibility and performance," said Kirk Skaugen, vice president, Intel's Digital Enterprise Group. "This innovative blade platform with virtualization support enables CIOs to move away from aging and expensive legacy systems and instead direct those funds toward standard-based computing and business innovation."