Computers Today, June 1-15, 2000; Front End; From the Alpha To the Mart

The new Compaq AlphaServer GS Series delivers significant advantages to E-commerce, the Internet and telecom companies. Call it the Digital integration.

The operation was codenamed "Wildfire". Last fortnight, Compaq Computer Corp. announced the worldwide launch of its new AlphaServer GS series systems, targeting the dotcom companies as well as customers in telecoms, technical computing, healthcare and financial services. As Michael Capellas, Compaq president and CEO, put it, "With more and more companies facing IT performance bottlenecks and shutdowns, the importance of the infrastructure has never been greater. Analysts estimate that 90 per cent of this infrastructure has yet to be purchased. And these demands are causing us to rethink the way systems are architected, designed, developed and deployed. The new AlphaServers offer a new foundation for the most demanding E-business environments."

From Revolution to Evolution

1992
In February, 64-bit RISC architecture Alpha processor is announced by DEC. In November, five new workstations and servers run on it.
1993
In March, native Tru64 Unix (then called DEC OSF/1 V1.2) ships. Also released: full 64-bit Unix Clustering capability.
1994
In March, Version 2.0 of Tru64 Unix is released. In April, the AlphaServer 2100 is launched supporting up to four processors, PCI bus and three operating systems.
1995
In March, Tru64 Unix version 3.0 is released with full Alpha SMP support. In April, AlphaServer 8400 is launched supporting up to twelve 21,164 microprocessors and 14 GB of memory.
1996
In March, AlphaServer systems 8200 and 8400 run at 350 MHz. Tru64 Unix version 4.0 is released. In July, 500 MHz and 433 MHz versions of the Alpha 21164 processor are announced.
1997
In July, Alpha powers NASA's Mars Landing Web site. In December, the EV6 microprocessor is launched with AlphaServer systems GS60 and GS140.
1998
In June, Compaq acquires Digital, renames the brand Compaq AlphaServer systems. In December, the EV6 chip is launched with AlphaServer systems GS60 and GS140.
1999
In August, Compaq AlphaServer GS60E and GS140 are launched. The 700 MHz EV7 processor and 8 MB of on-board cache combination gives 40% improvement in application results.

Compaq's new AlphaServers will give the company a much-needed "shot in the arm" in the midrange and high-end server space and may help it gain market share against its chief server competitors, Sun, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. The AlphaServer GS series servers will provide headroom for rapidly growing E-commerce applications, as well as for deployed OpenVMS and Tru64 Unix applications running on installed AlphaServers. Market research firm IDC believes these products will be well received by long-time AlphaServer sites, as well as by Internet service providers (ISPs) and application service providers (ASPs).

With over 200 systems already sold, Compaq anticipates $1 billion in revenue from sales of AlphaServer GS series during 2000 and expects to double its Unix share within target markets in the next three to four years. Early adopters of the new series include E-businesses such as E*Trade, Northern Light and Lycos. To expand Compaq's customer base, the company is executing a number of aggressive marketing and go-to-market programmes with Oracle as well as existing and new ISV partners.

AlphaServer systems have certainly come a long way since their introduction in 1992 (see box). William Heil, vice president, business critical server division, Compaq, told Computers Today, "From the first generation systems and workstations to the latest AlphaServer GS series systems, users have benefitted from Alpha's leading performance and scalability. With a record-breaking 200 MHz chip speed as far back as 1992, the early AlphaServer systems started a performance lead that has already lasted an incredible seven years."

Compaq's new high-end AlphaServer will be the most flexible, highest capacity Unix RISC server in the industry, Heil claims. Binary compatible with current AlphaServer systems, it will increase application performance 20-fold over the next five years. Dynamic partitions provide a highly flexible environment for server consolidation and flexible reuse of these systems as requirements change. Combined with either OpenVMS, Tru64 Unix and Compaq clustering capabilities, AlphaServer systems offer the simplest operational management and lowest cost of ownership, Heil assumes.

Pallab Talukdar, country head, enterprise solutions and services division, Compaq India, says, "The company has targeted seven vertical market segments for the AlphaServer GS systems: E-commerce, telecom, high-performance technical computing, business intelligence, finance, healthcare and government. The decision to target specific vertical market segments builds on the company's targeting of five verticals for its Unix/RISC AlphaServers." This allows Compaq to focus its marketing and advertising resources on the market segments in which AlphaServers already have a proven track record, leading to repeat business and also to new customers within the selected segments. In contrast, Sun, HP and IBM have developed broader marketing campaigns for their Unix/RISC systems.

With regard to the OpenVMS AlphaServers, this high degree of focus is expected to provide a good return on investment, since OpenVMS architecture acts as a powerful "back-end" data server for Web-enabled applications, the company claims. At present, more than 450,000 OpenVMS licences are running on OpenVMS-installed systems worldwide.

The 16-way GS 160, based on the EV67 731 MHz microprocessor, will begin shipping early this month. About a month later, the 32-way model will ship, while the eight-way GS80 is expected to ship in third quarter, this year. Pricing will start at $100,000 for an entry-level eight-way AlphaServer GS machine and will range up to $2,000,000 for a fully configured 32-way AlphaServer GS320.

Compaq has positioned these machines to compete in the Unix/RISC server market for mission-critical applications. The AlphaServer GS machines are set to take on Sun's E6500 midrange servers and Sun's E10000 high-end servers; HP's V2600 midrange and high-end servers; IBM's RS/6000 and S80 midrange and high-end servers; and RS/6000 SP midrange and high-end servers. Compaq believes that Sun's installed base is presently the most vulnerable, since Sun is about to launch a product afresh throughout its Enterprise server line based on new UltraSPARC III microprocessors. However, analysts say Compaq may face barriers to winning over long-time Sun accounts in an extensive Solaris installed base that has thousands of Solaris-based independent software vendor applications (ISV) worldwide.

Against this backdrop, the AlphaServer GS series' strong points include the ability to create multiple partitions and to re-allocate easily among the partitions. This capability is in step with IT manager's moves to consolidate server workloads on to higher, more powerful machines that can be managed by a relatively small group of IT staffers. Talukdar believes that Compaq has been and remains a leader in the area of dynamic re-configuration of RISC-based server systems.

Says Heil, "As firms become E-businesses in today's world, by being able to compete in a 24x7 global economy, a firm will either be an E-business or out of business. Compaq is guided by a single, focused vision: everything to the Net. And the opportunities for company with the technology, skills and innovative spirit of Compaq are enormous."