Fujitsu/Fujitsu Siemens Computers PRIMEPOWER Enterprise Servers
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
DPRO-97941
17 April 2003
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Corporate Headquarters
Fujitsu Limited
Tokyo, Japan
Internet: www.fujitsu.com
Fujitsu Siemens Computers
Rathausplatz 3 - 7
D-61348 Bad Homburg, Germany
Internet: www.fujitsu-siemens.com
Fujitsu Technology Solutions
1250 East Arques Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94088-3470, U.S.A.
Internet: www.ftsi.fujitsu.com
Overview
Fujitsu Technology Solutions, Inc. (FTSI), and Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) announced their
PRIMEPOWER Extended Architecture (XA) models in October 2002. Volume shipments of the new
servers didn’t start until March 2003, however.
The PRIMEPOWER servers use SPARC-compatible processors designed and manufactured by Fujitsu
Ltd. of Japan and run the Sun Solaris operating system. They are claimed to be fully binary compatible
with Sun’s UltraSPARC/Solaris servers. To date Gartner is not aware of any known areas of
incompatibility. As a SPARC/Solaris platform, the PRIMEPOWER servers can therefore run any of the
thousands of applications written for this popular version of Unix.
The PRIMEPOWER XA models feature an enhanced crossbar, new fifth-generation versions of Fujitsu’s
SPARC64 processors; improved reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) features; denser
packaging than their predecessors’ improved input/output (I/O) technology and enhanced partitioning.
Three XA models have been announced initially:
•
PRIMEPOWER 900—a relatively compact rack-mount server capable of supporting up to sixteen
1.35GHz SPARC64 V processors and 64GB of memory; replaces the PRIMEPOWER 800.
•
PRIMEPOWER 1500—a large cabinet-based server capable of supporting up to thirty-two 1.35GHz
SPARC64 V processors; replaces the PRIMEPOWER 1000.
•
PRIMEPOWER 2500—mainframe-style packaging; the 2500 is capable of supporting up to 64
processors in its standard form or up to 128 processors in an extended cabinet; replaces the
PRIMEPOWER 2000.
PRIMEPOWER 900
The PRIMEPOWER 900 is housed in a 17U-high rack-mount chassis. (A “U” is the abbreviation for rack
unit and is equal to 1.75 inches.) It supports up to two system boards; each incorporates CPUs, memory
