Unisys
- Enterprise Systems Vendor; Now 'New Era' Enterprise Server Technology
Leader
Unisys has decades of mission-critical, enterprise-class, transaction
processing expertise and experience. Unisys also has an extensive global
base of several thousand established, bricks-and-mortar enterprise customers
in its focus industries, which include banking and finance, transportation,
communications, government, and publishing, etc. In recent years, the
company has transformed itself from a traditional (vertically integrated)
enterprise systems vendor, to become a focused e-business solutions and
services provider to its customer base, and a global provider of network
and processing services. Most relevant in this context, Unisys is also
now a key New Era E-Infrastructure technology provider, and a leader in
enterprise servers, based on its innovative Cellular Multi Processing
(branded CMP) architecture. The advent of Unisys' CMP-based ES7000 enterprise
server, using Intel processors and Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
software (and released in the second half of 2000) has given the company
a commanding lead in the server segment of the New Era e-Infrastructure.
Unisys has employed its mainframe design genius to create, in the ES7000,
the first true mainframe-class system to be based on Intel processors
and Microsoft enterprise software. With up to 32 processors, 64 gigabytes
of memory, 96 PCI channels, and an aggregate bandwidth of 24 gigabytes/sec,
these systems compete well in performance, capability, reliability, etc.,
with the largest RISC UNIX systems, but at under half of their cost. With
over 320 ES7000 systems ordered since the mid-2000 release, and some 275
already installed, Unisys has attracted fast growing customer acceptance,
and seized a commanding lead in enterprise server technologies. The fact
that other industry majors, including ICL, Compaq, HP, Dell, and Hitachi,
have all licensed the ES7000 system on an OEM basis, shows that Unisys
is well on the path to achieving de-facto standard status in Intel-based,
top-end enterprise servers with these systems. To preserve its existing
mainframe customers' heritage software investment, Unisys is also employing
the CMP architecture, and much of the industry standard technology of
the ES7000, to provide new generations of enterprise servers running its
traditional operating systems.
Today, Unisys describes itself as an e-business solutions company whose 37,000 employees "help customers in 100 countries apply information technology to seize opportunities and overcome challenges of the Internet economy." It claims that its people integrate and deliver the solutions, services, platforms, and network infrastructure required by business and government to transform their organisations for success in this new era. The company offers a rich portfolio of Unisys 'e-@ction' Solutions for E-Business based on its expertise in vertical industry solutions, network services, outsourcing, systems integration, and multi-vendor support, coupled with enterprise-class server and related technologies. Speaking of the Roadshow, Iain Davidson, VP & GM Systems and Technology Unisys EMEA said: " Successful organisations, particularly in the new economy, tend to be early adopters of new technologies in order to develop infrastructures faster than their competitors. The Roadshow is an ideal opportunity for all decision makers to make sure they are up to date and able to stay ahead."
Headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, Unisys revenues were just under $7 billion last year, and its employee base has grown to 37,000, with a wealth of enterprise systems and applications experience developed from its decades of mainframe systems expertise.
The firm claims that CMP technology has challenged thinking on what is or is not possible in IT, delivering mainframe reliability, scalability, and manageability at half of the costs of proprietary UNIX alternatives. It advises users to consolidate servers, get costs down, be ready to cope with unpredictable growth and keep ahead of the competition!
Comment
Enterprise servers are the powering heart of an enterprise e-Infrastructure,
and now, for the first time, Intel and Microsoft Windows-based enterprise
servers can compete with the capabilities of the largest RISC systems
at under half the price, realising the dream of the 'Wintel mainframe'.
Unisys has made this genuine breakthrough by harnessing its mainframe
design skills with industry standard, off-the-shelf components, and using
its innovative CMP architecture, to produce the first and leading New
Era e-Infrastructure enterprise servers. Already able to support Intel's
new Itanium Architecture, and its first 64-bit processor - the Itanium
- the ES7000 and its successors have considerable headroom for further
capability growth, and an as-yet unbeaten price/performance level.