Lenovo NeXtScale System

2013: IBM announces NeXtScale

On September 11, 2013 the IBM corporation provided NeXtScale System – the universal computing platform which provides three times more computing power in comparison with the modern monoblock servers intended for rack-mounting. The solution is suitable for use in the high-loaded systems, such as social media and cloud services, analytics and also mathematical calculations.

Fast adaptation to these services and models of their providing leads to increase in demand for creation of data processing centers, and customers are in search of new technologies which meets these requirements, for the purpose of increase in efficiency and cost reduction. At the same time the main selection terms – the high performance and the lowest indicators of energy consumption. The NeXtScale platform is the addition to a portfolio of the server solutions of IBM of x86 created especially for ensuring operation of applications, requiring supercomputer power. The new platform is built based on a flexible, open and easy-to-work architecture which supports transactions of calculation, storage of large volumes of data and installation of graphic accelerators.

NeXtScale System allows to place up to 84 x86 servers and 2016 main cores in a standard 19-inch rack of a format of EIA. The platform assumes use of conventional components, including I/O cards and top-of-rack switches that provides flexibility of a configuration and speed of adaptation of a system. IBM also offers a powerful program stack for NeXtScale which includes IBM General Parallel File System, GPFS Storage Server, xCAT and IBM Platform Computing, thus providing to customers key means for planning, management and optimization of a system.

The platform allows to create the uniform architecture based on open standards which has high rates of performance and efficiency. Such system is capable to be integrated quickly with DPC of customers, the existing practicians and others solutions x86. NeXtScale will help customers to manage more effectively transactions and budgets of capital investments, providing at the same time the maximum computing power and significant economy of space. Thanks to a standard form factor and use of conventional components, partners of IBM can offer the platform for high-performance computing of wider audience of users.

NeXtScale is the solution:

• For large data processing centers which need efficiency, the high density of calculations and scalability;
• For public, private and hybrid cloud infrastructures;
• For applications of a business intelligence, for example, interaction managements with clients, optimization of operating activities, financial risk management and business simulation;
• For applications of social network resources, for example, online games and streaming video;
• For visualization with high resolution in such spheres as medicine or oil and gas production;
• For "industry" use – in cases when the compact solution helps to accelerate forecasting of results, engineering calculations and also to optimize design processes and modeling.

Also IBM provided the x3650 M4 HD server – an improved version of x3650 system which uses the hardware RAID controller with support of capacity to 12 GB and also provides more high density of data storage for 60% thanks to what the server is ideal for work with large volumes of data and crucial workloads. IBM NeXtScale and System x3650 M4 HD represent the latest additions to a portfolio of the two-socket System x servers which includes solutions for rack-mounting and also the Flex System, iDataPlex and BladeCenter servers. All these server solutions will be used by the new Intel Xeon processors E5-2600 v2 which will provide performance improvement up to 45%*.

NeXtScale supports the fastest in x86 processors industries and also high-speed modules of memory with a frequency of 1866 MHz. The platform can be integrated into DPC or is used in server premises, and is compatible to the supply systems working with low tension of 100-127 V. of NeXtScale it is also possible to use in DPC with the increased working temperature (up to 40C °) – thus, lower requirements to cooling of a system allow to cut down operating expenses. The concept of Native Expansion gives to users an opportunity to add to the NeXtScale platform additional functions, such as data storage, graphic accelerators or coprocessors, as at an order placement stage, and in use platforms. Also basic sets which help to configure many standard industry solutions for high-performance computing and cloud solutions, such as Ansys, MPI-BLAST and OpenStack are available to users of NeXtScale.

2014: The line of NeXtScale passes from IBM to Lenovo

In the fall of 2014 Lenovo got a line of NeXtScale from IBM within sale of a part of server business of the last. From "the blue giant" the Asian vendor also inherited partnership with Hartree Centre – division of STFC. It is interested in search of ways of decrease in energy consumption and performance improvement in scalable environments at limited budgets.

2015: Lenovo will construct ARM servers based on NeXtScale

In February, 2015 it became known that Lenovo develops the server which cornerstone the processor with architecture of ARM is. Thus, the Chinese computer maker joined the colleagues on the industry of HP and Dell who are also interested in the computer ARM systems.

According to the eWeek edition, together with the British state scientific and technical organization STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council) Lenovo company works on the energy efficient servers optimized for scalable loadings in such environments as high-performance and cloud computing and also a web hosting.^[1]

Within the project the prototype of the NeXtScale server constructed on the single-crystal ThunderX systems of production of Cavium company is created. Each processor includes 48 computing cores of ARM with clock rate to 2.5 GHz, in one server two chips are used. Considering that the body of a standard size 6U in which NeXtScale are mounted, contains up to 12 nodes, the total quantity of main cores of ARM in a system can reach 1152.

Lenovo enters the market of ARM servers

On the basis of ARM processors many IT giant, including Google, Facebook, Dell and HP are interested in development of servers. However only the last by February, 2015 offers the similar systems with a standard configuration, available to order to any client. Lenovo did not specify whether it is going to release ARM servers on the commercial market.

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