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Appro Unveils AMD Opteron-Powered XtremeBlade Solution

Appro, a provider of high-performance enterprise computing systems, unveiled its new XtremeBlade solution for the first time at SC04. Appro is now accepting pre-orders and will make first shipments in Q1/2005.

The Appro XtremeBlade is the next generation blade solution offering Infiniband interfaces to all external data and storage networks. This solution provides added efficiency to large-scale deployments while adding a tremendous amount of processor flexibility and scalability. It is also designed for high-availability by offering hot-swappable blades, redundant power supplies and cooling fans as well as tight integration of key components such as network switches and centralized management. The Appro XtremeBlade solution is ideal for demanding applications that require enterprise high-availability and high-performance computing.

The Appro XtremeBlade solution features six sub-racks housing up to 12 blade servers in each sub-rack providing a reliable clustering building block for small and large scale high-performance, Grid or compute-on-demand deployments. An XtremeBlade Cluster can support up to 72 Blade servers in a single rack cabinet solution. This solution offers great flexibility by mixing blade configurations from 2-way-, 4-way, and/or 8-way in the same sub-rack clustering infrastructure. This integrated modular design results in an effective managed infrastructure that centralizes power, storage and network connections, reducing cable count and simplifying deployment and maintenance. Appro XtremeBlade solution also offers a variety of configuration options including Appro DAS/NAS/SAN based storage solutions and a choice of Windows and Linux Operating Systems.

"Currently, server clusters depended on proprietary interconnects to effectively manage the complex nature of clustering traffic. Now, Appro XtremeBlade Solution offers an integrated Infiniband and Ethernet Gigabit switch for blade servers providing a more efficient way for customers to connect high-density blade clusters together. This marks a major milestone for Appro and raises the bar for HPC and Grid computing," said Daniel Kim, CEO of Appro.

"Appro's new XtremeBlade server is well suited for the demanding applications of the HPC and enterprise markets," said Ben Williams, vice president for enterprise and server/workstation business for AMD's Microprocessor Business Unit. "The XtremeBlade is powerful, highly scalable and takes full advantage of the reduced memory latency and increased data throughput enabled by the AMD Opteron processor's Direct Connect Architecture."