Unisys integrated virtualisation and management capabilities enable sharing of application workloads dynamically based on customer-defined business rules, says Bernard Donnelly, consulting services manager at Unisys Africa. This next-generation architecture gives Unisys a unique position in the growing market for midrange and high-end scale-up servers based on Intel processor technology.

Unisys expects to deliver systems based on this new architecture by late 2007.  Using Intel Xeon and Itanium processor technologies and capitalising on its partnership with NEC, Unisys claims that the new architecture will outpace the industry in server processing power through Unisys-developed virtualisation and management software.

It affords Unisys customers a quantum leap in enterprise computing power and economy to overcome their most critical IT challenges: increasing server asset utilisation, lowering management costs and dynamically allocating computing resources to meet business needs that change in real time, says Donnelly.

Research from market intelligence providers shows that, as workloads for Windows and Linux servers grow, they will drive customer requirements for improved server utilisation and more efficient management. To run these workloads, future data centres will demand scale-up servers based on x86, x64 and IPF technologies for key applications. They will be able to run multiple operating systems as workloads are consolidated, Donnelly adds.

IDC expects customers who operate midrange and high-end operations to buy more Windows and Linux servers. Windows midrange and high-end segments combined are expected to show a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15,3%, according to IDC's forecast, while Linux servers in those segments, when combined, are expected to have a CAGR of 18,5%.

Unisys expects that the next-generation architecture will serve as the basis for all Unisys enterprise servers, which includes the ClearPath family. The architecture is designed to eliminate the need for custom CMOS processors as new servers meet and exceed the processing power of CMOS-based systems, while providing full compatibility and investment protection for ClearPath customers existing applications.