IBM (News - Alert) is introducing a new category of server uniquely designed to address the technology needs of companies that use Web 2.0-style computing to operate massive data centers with tens of thousands of servers.

 

Companies that operate massive scale-out data centers spend 10 to 30 times more on energy costs per square foot than a typical office building. The energy powers thousands of servers and the air conditioning needed to cool them.

 

The exponential growth of such data centers will continue as streaming video, online gaming and social networks spike Internet traffic, requiring companies to build larger pools of computers that devour energy resources.

 

The IBM “iDataPlex” system leverages the company’s blade server heritage to build a completely new design that more than doubles the number of systems that can run in a single IBM rack, uses 40 percent less power while increasing the amount of computing that can be done, can be outfitted with a liquid cooled wall on the back of the system that enables it to run at room temperature with no air conditioning required, and uses all industry standard components as well as open source software to help lower costs.

 

The new rack system features design innovations in cooling and efficiency that can help replace the inefficient “white-box” servers commonly used by Internet companies.

 

As consumers demand richer content and more immediate access to Web-based applications, iDataPlex allows online gaming, social network, search and Internet companies to scale rapidly to meet this need. The system will further IBM’s ability to meet the requirements of a $10 billion market.

 

“Enterprise Web 2.0 and the emerging Cloud Computing sectors are among the top high growth investment areas for Hummer Winblad,” said Ann Winblad, co-founder and managing director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, an investor in the product. “iDataPlex will help to fuel this growth by erasing some of the inhibitors holding Web 2.0 back – namely the amount of space and energy required to serve content to more and more end users.”

 

iDataPlex is built for stateless computing that effectively turns many separate computers into a pool of shared resources or “cloud.”

 

“With iDataPlex, IBM is making Web 2.0-style computing more efficient and commercializing it for Internet companies and other high performance segments like financial services and research,” said Bill Zeitler, senior vice president of IBM Systems and Technology Group. “iDataPlex can provide a foundation that companies can build on to provide improved services to Web users around the world.”

 

iDataPlex will help clients develop a new enterprise data center, which offers dramatic improvements in IT efficiency and provides for rapid deployment of new IT services to support future business growth. It will also help clients move to new enterprise data centers by focusing on best practices around virtualization, green IT, service management and cloud computing.

 

Each iDataPlex system can be made to order and arrive to the client integrated and ready to run from the factory. IBM will deliver the system to clients globally. Among companies using or considering the system is Yahoo! Inc.

 

“Yahoo! relies on ingenuity and technology to reduce our dependence upon energy. Many of our data centers utilize ‘green energy’ such as passive cooling to reduce our impact,” said Laurie Mann, senior vice president of engineering and operations at Yahoo! “We continue to look for ways to maximize our resources. Yahoo! appreciates the direction IBM is moving in with iDataPlex and its commitment to drive greater power efficiency and density in the data center.”

 

As part of IBM’s “Blue Cloud” initiative, iDataPLex helps companies respond quickly to changes in workload demand, thus using energy more efficiently and improving the use of resources like power.

 

iDataPlex is the latest element in IBM’s portfolio of offerings for the Web 2.0 data center market, including Blue Cloud, XIV storage technology, IBM Global Financing and IBM services for data center design.

 

“Web 2.0 companies will drive computing demand to a whole new level as we move from the Web as we knew it to the Web of the future. That’s why Intel (News - Alert) has been excited to be a part of the iDataPlex project from the beginning,” said Jason Waxman, general manager of high density computing at Intel. “Collaborating with Intel, IBM took a different approach to design iDataPlex from the ground up to meet the needs of this unique market. iDataPlex is a tremendous step forward in delivering efficient, dense technology to Web 2.0 companies.”

 

Eve Sullivan is a TCMnet contributing editor.