Roundup: NVIDIA, Dell, Oracle, Micron

Here’s our review of some of today’s noteworthy links for the data center industry:

NVIDIA GPU's added to Dell PowerEdge Servers.  NVIDIA (NVDA) announced that its Tesla GPUs will be featured for the first time on two Dell PowerEdge 12th generation rack and tower servers. The new Dell R720 and T620 PowerEdge servers accelerate a wide range of computationally intensive, industry standard applications, including Mathworks MATLAB (for computational research) and SIMULIA Abaqus (for computer-aided engineering). In addition, the new servers combine the 512-core NVIDIA Tesla M2090 GPUs with the latest Intel Xeon E5/R CPUs based on the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture to accelerate a range of scientific applications in fields such as life sciences, engineering, weather and climate, and others. "GPU computing is growing in demand and adoption based on its ability to provide a unique combination of ultra-high performance and energy efficiency," said Virginia Swink, executive director of Dell Server Solutions. "Integrating accelerator technologies in Dell's PowerEdge portfolio opens up new usage models, and extends our ability to deliver more cycles to a broader base of scientific and commercial users."

Micron announces 2.5 inch PCIe Enterprise SSD.  Micron Technology (MU) announced that it has developed a 2.5-inch enterprise solid-state drive (SSD) based on a PCIe interface. The solution combines a high-performance PCIe interface with a hot-swappable 2.5-inch form factor that creates new options for enterprise server performance scalability and serviceability. The new solution has been selected as a key storage device in Dell's PowerEdge 12th generation servers. The SSDs can be integrated into the front end of the server similar to traditional data storage drives, allowing for easy service access without powering down the server. The new platform leverages Micron's P320h PCIe SSD design and is based on a custom-developed Micron controller, creating a vertically-integrated solution with leading-edge PCIe SSD performance. "The 2.5-inch PCIe SSD is a great example of how the Micron team has leveraged our NAND expertise and IP — the fundamental building blocks of SSDs — to develop high-performance, high-reliability enterprise storage solutions," said Glen Hawk, Micron Vice President of NAND Solutions. "Being selected as a key partner to Dell illustrates an important success in our ongoing strategy to transform leading-edge NAND technology into value-add enterprise solutions."

Oracle Communications Service Availability Machine.  Oracle (ORCL) announced the availability of Oracle Communications Service Availability Machine, an optimized hardware and software solution that enables network equipment providers (NEPs) to quickly deliver “zero downtime” applications,  such as IPTV, Policy Control, and Charging to communications service providers (CSPs). The new solution from Oracle gives "seven nines" (99.99999%) availability and session integrity in a solution that previously NEPs would have custom built the capabilities into each application. With increased adoption of real-time and near-real time applications – especially on smartphones and tablets, service availability is a critical ‘must-have’ requirement and business need in the communications industry. Oracle Communications Service Availability Machine combines Oracle’s hardware and software leadership, and proven service availability software to help NEPs bring service available applications to market quickly, with minimal project risk, while helping ensure zero interruption of the customer experience,” said Nigel Ball, vice president, NEP solutions, Oracle Communications.