PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug 2, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- HP (NYSE:HPQ) (Nasdaq:HPQ) today introduced its next generation of HP ProLiant servers, providing customers with enhanced management, availability and ease of use, as well as the technology needed to drive the adoption of 64-bit computing. The new lineup represents a complete line of dual-processor servers based on the Intel(R) Xeon(TM) processor with Intel Extended Memory 64-bit Technology (Intel EM64T), formerly code-named "Nocona."

HP also is providing customers more simplified and flexible storage management with the immediate availability of HP StorageWorks Modular Smart Array (MSA) 1500, the industry's first storage array to support either SCSI or Serial ATA (SATA) disk enclosures behind a single controller shelf, and the MSA20, a low-cost, high-capacity SATA disk drive storage enclosure.

With more than 9 million units sold to date, HP industry-standard servers are forming a standardized foundation for the Adaptive Enterprise, where business and information technology (IT) are synchronized to capitalize on change. By providing customers with innovative solutions based on standard, modular components, HP reduces product costs, lowers overall total cost of ownership, offers flexibility and simplifies migration.

Taking advantage of the benefits of this approach, Sandia National Laboratories is working with HP Services to build what is expected to be one of the world's most powerful supercomputers based on HP ProLiant servers with Intel Xeon processors supporting Intel EM64T.

"After experiencing firsthand how we could successfully cluster Linux-based ProLiant servers, our focus evolved to exploiting the new 64-bit extensions in the Intel Xeon processor to innovate new technical applications," said John Zepper, manager of infrastructure computing systems, Sandia Labs. "We look forward to continuing our partnership with HP and leveraging their professional services expertise."

Sandia Labs is focused on high-end research and development projects for the U.S. government. An existing HP customer running clustered Linux applications, Sandia recently increased its investment by purchasing 1,280 Intel Xeon processor-based HP ProLiant DL360 servers for high-performance technical computing (HPTC) applications. The system is anticipated to exceed 16 teraflops, placing it at No. 5 on the HPTC Top 500 list.

"Our hallmark of providing leading innovation based on industry standards enables HP to deliver superior manageability and ease-of-use to both enterprises and small and medium business customers," said Brad Anderson, senior vice president and general manager, Industry Standard Servers, HP. "HP has always been a pioneer in the x86 server market and with today's announcement, HP is providing industry-leading technology with a comprehensive line of servers targeting a wide breadth of customer needs."

"Intel has a long-standing relationship with HP, one in which the two companies have worked together to bring the newest server technologies to enterprise customers over the last decade," said Abhi Talwalkar, vice president and general manager, Enterprise Platforms Group, Intel. "We are now jointly bringing Intel's most sweeping advancements in dual-processor server technology since the Intel Pentium Pro processor to the marketplace. This new platform brings powerful technologies at lower cost, providing customers with greater performance, increased reliability, and improved memory capabilities for their business needs available through the HP ProLiant server family."

More choice with HP ProLiant servers

Being one of the first companies to market with the latest Intel Xeon processors allows HP to offer customers -- from small- and medium-size businesses to large enterprises -- more choice of the latest technology. Intel EM64T transparently extends x86 computing to 64 bits, allowing customers to mix 32- and 64-bit applications on the same platform. The latest Intel Xeon processors feature 1.5 times system bus speed, faster memory technology and PCI Express input/output (I/O) technology.

Building on the industry's broadest blade portfolio, the highly scalable HP ProLiant blade systems offer improved processing power and performance for enterprise customers to help build a comprehensive infrastructure. These servers complement the industry's most comprehensive portfolio of 64-bit offerings -- from HP ProLiant to Intel Itanium(R) 2-based HP Integrity systems -- providing unmatched reliability, scalability and performance.

The new Intel Xeon processors are available in the following dual-processor servers running Windows(R) and Linux:

-- ProLiant DL380 G4 -- The most popular HP ProLiant server continues its history of design excellence with pace-setting performance, uptime and system management.

-- ProLiant DL360 G4 -- Delivers concentrated 1U compute power with embedded management and essential fault tolerance.

-- ProLiant ML370 G4 -- Flagship expansion server provides enterprise-class performance, management and availability.

-- ProLiant ML350 G4 -- Offers solid performance with savvy management and adaptability.

-- ProLiant BL20p G3 - A high-performance server blade engineered for the enterprise.

Management for the Adaptive Enterprise

HP ProLiant servers also provide cost of ownership benefits through lifecycle management technology. HP Systems Insight Manager comes standard with ProLiant and other HP servers and provides a single management interface across Windows, Linux and HP-UX environments. This allows customers to organize their management processes around IT services, removing constraints placed upon IT organizations by more traditional management platforms.

Customers can also benefit from optional ProLiant Essentials software and remote management capabilities. Customers have purchased more than 1 million remote management licenses (Integrated Lights-Out and Remote Insight Lights-Out Edition) and 600,000 ProLiant Essentials software licenses to date.

More flexibility, investment protection with new HP StorageWorks arrays

New HP StorageWorks MSA offerings combine value, performance and reliability. The HP StorageWorks MSA1500 is the industry's first array to support either SCSI or SATA disk enclosures behind a single controller shelf. Soon, the MSA1500 is expected to offer the added benefit of mixing both SCSI and SATA disk enclosures behind the same controller shelf.

By integrating low-cost SATA hard drives and enclosures with existing SCSI drive enclosures and Smart Array controller technology, the MSA1500 offers customers the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of a low-cost tiered storage solution while protecting existing hardware investments.

Also introduced today, the HP StorageWorks MSA20 offers a SATA disk drive storage enclosure with Ultra320 SCSI host connectivity. The enclosure offers industry-leading availability, data protection, storage density and upgradeability to meet customer demand for growing storage needs. The MSA20 delivers an ideal mix of low cost and high capacity for minimum I/O workloads such as reference data, archival and disk-to-disk backup.

The HP StorageWorks family also is the only portfolio in the industry that allows customers to migrate SCSI disks and associated data directly out of an HP ProLiant environment to a StorageWorks MSA disk array. Combined with HP Universal Hard Drive strategy and common management tools, HP protects customers' investments in disks while driving down the cost and complexity of moving from direct-attach storage to storage area networks.

Service and support

HP Services works in partnership with customers to supplement in-house expertise of HP ProLiant server and storage solutions for Microsoft and Linux environments. With more than 63,000 services professionals and a services portfolio spanning software engineering, consulting, mission-critical services, hardware and software support and extensive training, HP Services helps customers choose the level of service and support needed to meet their unique business needs -- from project inception through deployment and maintenance.