Dell Technology Brief Sample

To maintain or improve performance, and save money, many companies have moved key applications to standards-based hardware platforms running Linux. However, some companies have kept their critical applications on RISC architecture-based servers, often powered by SPARC or POWER processors. But as demands grow to support more applications and users, and as older systems reach the end of their useful lifetimes, choices must be made. Do you keep these applications running on RISC, or do you migrate to standards-based solutions?

Fortunately, there is a compelling case to move many more of these applications off of RISC and onto standard platforms. In particular, systems based on Intel Xeon processors offer a cost-effective alternative to RISC solutions while delivering the performance and reliability needed to run mission critical applications.

When many organizations first selected RISC systems there were limited choices for enterprises. Mini-computers were fading fast, and the x86-based servers of the day lacked the processing power and memory needed to run large database, ERP, CRM, Web server, and other critical applications. The x86-based operating systems at the time were also less reliable than the UNIX-based RISC alternatives. The situation has changed radically over the years. Intel Xeon processors have evolved in performance, features, and capabilities and now power some of the industry’s most powerful servers. Their 64-bit support substantially increases the amount of data that can be moved into memory – thus satisfying a key requirement of many enterprise database applications. Dual-, quad-, and now 6-core processors in 2- and 4-socket servers provide leading performance. Thanks to these features, companies are choosing x86-based servers when adding new systems to meet increased demand and when replacing legacy RISC-based systems altogether.

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