Penguin Computing Announces Second Generation 8-Way Xeon Server.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 11, 1999--

San Francisco-based Penguin Computing announced the second generation of its eight-processor Pentium III Xeon enterprise server, the Penguin 8500. Directed at the most demanding applications from e-commerce to scientific computing, the 8500 offers virtually unlimited expansion and numerous high-availability features combined with the stability and cost-effectiveness of the Linux operating system.

"On April 8th, Penguin released its first-generation eight-way SMP server," says Sam Ockman, President and CEO of Penguin. "We've now had six months of experience running Linux on eight-way machines, which is more than any other company. We will continue to deliver the most powerful and reliable systems on the market."

In addition to eight of the most powerful Intel processors currently available, the most recent addition to Penguin's line of rackmount servers has ten 64-bit PCI slots (four of them running at 66 MHz) and hot-swappable power supplies, fans, and hard drives. It fits into a 7U rackmount chassis with a modular design that allows easy access to all parts of the system.

The Penguin 8500 is an investment that will increase in value as the Linux kernel develops further. It has room for 32 gigabytes of RAM as well as hot-pluggable PCI slots, two features that will be supported by the operating system in the near future.

With the Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) Profusion chipset, the 8500 combats memory and I/O bus bottlenecks using a crossbar bus, an architecture usually found in massively parallel (and even more expensive) number-crunchers like the SGI (NYSE: SGI) Origin and Sun (Nasdaq: SUNW) Enterprise systems.

Starting at $80,000 for a base system with eight 550 MHz Pentium III Xeon processors (1 MB cache each) and 1 GB of ECC RAM, the Penguin 8500 delivers performance comparable to high-end RISC-based systems at a far lower price and with an open and reliable operating system.

Penguin Computing was started by Open Source advocate Sam Ockman to provide reliable and state-of-the-art machines to the Linux community. It is one of the largest and fastest-growing providers of systems exclusively for Linux users.

The company offers free unlimited tech support from 6 AM to 6 PM PST, with upgrades to 24x7 support. The 8500 is also available with a next-day on-site support contract.