IBM System p5 550 Express

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The IBM System p5 550 Express server has been withdrawn from the market, effective December 12, 2008. The learn more links provide information on the p5 550 Express.

Highlights

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Up to 8-core scalability using Quad-Core Module technology
Point, click and consolidate for even greater levels of individual system utilization with optional low-cost virtualization features
Proven 5th generation IBM POWER5? technology ideal for branch office application and database serving

Save time, money and space when you consolidate on System p5 550 and 550Q Express servers. Get up to 8-core scalability, outstanding price/performance, exceptional RAS (reliability, availability, serviceability) features, and a 3-year warranty—all standard—at an affordable price. Powered by IBM’s most advanced 64-bit processor core, POWER5+, these systems have simultaneous multithreading1 for increased system utilization and improved application performance. Like all System p5 Express servers, the System p5 550 and 550Q Express can run the AIX 5L? and Linux? operating systems simultaneously. The new browser-based Integrated Virtualization Manager makes it easier than ever before to achieve increased utilization when adding low-cost Advanced POWER? Virtualization features to your system.

The System p5 550 Express platform is a 2- or 4-core database server with 2.1 GHz POWER5+ dual-core processor modules. It can function as a scalable database or versatile departmental or regional server for businesses of all sizes. The performance, reliability and affordability features of the p5-550 Express can make it a strategic platform for scalable database servers, e-commerce application servers, Web servers, operations systems, and for BI and high performance computing (HPC) workloads.

Specifically, the System p5 550 Express server provides:

Common features

19-inch rack-mount or deskside packaging
2-core SMP design
64-bit POWER5+ technology
Mainframe-inspired RAS features
Dynamic LPAR support
IBM Advanced POWER Virtualization¹ (option)
- IBM Micro-Partitioning? (up to 40 micro-partitions)
- Shared processor pool
- Virtual I/O Server with Integrated Virtualization Manager
- Partition Load Manager (AIX 5L only)
Up to eight optional I/O drawers
IBM HACMP? software support for near continuous operation*
Operating system support via AIX 5L (V5.2 or later) and Linux distributions from Red Hat (RHEL AS 4 or later) and SUSE Linux (SLES 9 or later)

Hardware configurations

Deskside or 4U 19-inch rack-mount packaging
Two or four 64-bit 2.1 GHz POWER5+ processor cores
1.9MB L2 and 36MB L3 cache per processor pair
1GB to 64GB of DDR2 SDRAM
Five PCI-X adapter slots (4 – 133 MHz; 1 – 266 MHz (DDR))
Four standard and four optional hot-swappable SCSI disk bays for up to 2.4TB of internal storage
Maximum I/O drawers add an additional 54 PCI-X slots and 96 disk bays (28.8TB)
Dual channel Ultra320 SCSI controller (internal; RAID optional)
Dual ported Ethernet 10/100/1000 Mbps controller
Optional 4 Gigabit Fibre Channel, 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 4x GX adapters
Two USB, two HMC, two system ports
Two slimline and one half-high media bays