Viglen Two-processor Compute Server Platforms — based on the Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series — integrate intelligent performance, increase I/O bandwidth and allow greater memory capacity. These processors also feature Intel QuickPath Technology. QuickPath is a new, scalable, shared memory architecture that integrates a memory controller into each microprocessor. It also connects processors and other components with a new high-speed interconnect, providing the data bandwidth to keep each core running at capacity.
 
The Intel Nehalem Microarchitecture boosts performance even further for critical workloads. Intel Turbo Boost Technology increases core frequency to improve execution speed as needed while Intelligent Power Technology conserves power on cores when there is less demand. For applications that lend themselves to parallel, multithreaded execution, Intel Hyper-Threading Technology reduces computational latency, making optimal use of every cycle.
 
Viglen Compute Platforms, based on the Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series, support up to 16 simultaneous threads, with 32- and 64-bit processing capabilities, up to 96GB of memory and a new, inclusive shared L3 cache that boosts performance while reducing traffic to the processor cores. These multi-core servers help maximise productivity, enhance visualisation and improve flexibility to help researchers, engineers and developers achieve more in less time.

Viglen Nehalem Platforms

• HX420Hi — 2U Head Node, 8 drive bays RAID6 with redundant PSU
• HX420Ci — 1U Standard Dual Socket Compute Node
• HX420Ti — 1U Twin Dual Socket Compute Node (2 nodes in 1U)
• HX420T2i — 2U Quad Dual Socket Compute Node with redundant power and removable node blades from rear of the chassis (4 nodes in 2U)
• HS424i — 4U 24 Bay Storage Node

The new generation of servers from Viglen provides the foundation for a fully adaptable IT environment. The architecture of these servers is designed with innovative features that adapt performance to software and business needs, help energy consumption for optimum performance and efficiency, and enable virtualisation strategies that help your IT infrastructure adapt more quickly to your business needs. Intel Turbo Boost Technology: Intel Turbo Boost technology delivers performance when and where it’s needed (see Figure 1). This technology allows processors to deliver higher speed execution on demand by using available power to run at a higher frequency.
 

Figure 1: Intel® Turbo Boost Technology increases performance by increasing processor frequency and enabling faster speeds when conditions allow.

Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology

Many server and workstation applications lend themselves to parallel, multi-threaded execution. Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology enables simultaneous multi-threading within each processor core, up to two threads per core or eight threads per quad-core processor. Hyperthreading reduces computational latency, making optimal use of every clock cycle. For example, while one thread is waiting for a result or event, another thread is executing in that core, to maximise the work from each clock cycle.
 

Intel® QuickPath Technology

To deliver top performance for bandwidth-intensive applications, the Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series features Intel QuickPath Technology (see Figure 2). This new scalable, shared memory architecture delivers memory bandwidth leadership, and up to 3.5x the bandwidth of previous-generation processors. Intel QuickPath Technology is a platform architecture that provides high-speed (up to 25.6 GB/s), point-to-point connections between processors and between processors and the I/O hub. Each processor has its own dedicated memory that it accesses directly through an Integrated Memory Controller. In cases where a processor needs to access the dedicated memory of another processor, it can do so through a high-speed Intel QuickPath Interconnect (Intel QPI) that links all the processors. Intel Microarchitecture Nehalem complements the benefits of Intel QPI by enhancing Intel® Smart Cache with an inclusive shared L3 cache that boosts performance while reducing traffic to the processor cores.
 

Figure 2: Intel® QuickPath Technology with dedicated per-processor memory and point-to-point connectivity.

Intel® Intelligent Power Technology

Within a single server, Intel Intelligent Power Technology minimises power consumption when server components are not fully utilised. Integrated Power Gates (see Figure 3) allow individual idling cores to be reduced to near-zero power independent of other operating cores, reducing idle power consumption to 10 watts, versus 16 or 50 watts in prior-generations of Intel® quad-core processors. This feature reduces server idle power consumption by up to 50% versus the previous generation of two-socket server processors. Automated Low-Power States automatically put processor and memory into the lowest available power states that will meet the requirements of the current workload (see Figure 3). Processors are enhanced with more and lower CPU power states, and the memory and I/O controllers have new power management features.
 

Figure 3: Integrated Power Gates enable idle cores to go to near-zero power independently.