This week, at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco, Asustek is showcasing a barebones cableless server that implements a new Intel server platform codenamed Bensley. The platform is scheduled for launch later this year. Expanding Asustek’s existing RS160 product line, the barebones server will be available immediately following official confirmation from Intel that its Bensley platform is ready for market launch (presumably in the middle of next quarter), Asustek said.
“Cableless,” here, means that all installed system components, including power supply units and hard drives, do not require cables for internal connections. Since Asustek started this project, a few years ago, cableless designs have been utilized by some award-winning products. In particular, a cableless barebones dual-Xeon server was received a Best Choice of Computex award in September 2003.
The Bensley platform targets dual-processor systems and includes a new 65-nanometer dual-core processor, codenamed Dempsey, which belongs to the Intel Xeon family. The processor features a 1066MHz front-side bus (FSB) and 4MB of level-two cache, split equally between the cores. The other component of the Bensley platform is a chipset, codenamed Blackford, which supports fully-buffered DIMMs (the maximum capacity is 64GB).
In addition to Dempsey, the new RS160 servers will also support another forthcoming 65-nanometer dual-core Intel processor known as Woodcrest, according to Asustek. This processor will become available in the third quarter of 2006, Intel said. Woodcrest’s level-two cache, again at 4MB, will be shared between the two cores. Pin-to-pin compatible with Dempsey, the Woodcrest processor will also feature a 1333MHz FSB and lower power consumption compared to its predecessor, Intel stated.
Asustek’s cableless Bensley-based prototype server system displayed this week at the IDF showcase.
Photo: Vyacheslav Sobolev, DigiTimes.com
Article edited by Chris Hall
