BOSTON, Feb 14, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- HP (NYSE:HPQ)(Nasdaq:HPQ) today announced industry firsts from a major vendor for customers in computing manageability, performance and choice with the introduction of new products and solutions that harness the power of the industry's latest processor technology.

Introduced at LinuxWorld, the new HP BladeSystem server blades, an HP workstation that supports new dual- PCI Express graphics solutions, and a new high-performance, enterprise-class HP ProLiant server are all based on the latest AMD Opteron(TM) processors that deliver more compute power for customers' demanding x86 applications.

HP also began shipping new HP ProLiant Essentials management tools, new entry-level servers for business customers and high-performance technical computing environments, and performance upgrades to select HP ProLiant servers based on 64-bit Intel(R) Xeon(TM) and Intel Celeron(R) microprocessors.

"Customers want products that improve productivity, help make decisions faster, reduce time-to-market delivery schedules, and are designed to support virtual machine environments," said Brad Anderson, senior vice president and general manager, Industry Standard Servers, HP. "HP's strategy to innovate on top of standards allows us to offer 'chip-nostic' designs to our customers allowing them to take advantage of the latest performance features and technologies. These solutions offer a quick return on investment, especially in fast growing areas like blades and Linux."

HP is the market leader in AMD Opteron processor-based servers and the No. 1 provider of industry-standard x86 servers worldwide.(1)

"Through HP's cutting-edge server and workstation technology, we're giving our artists the ability to bring movies to life in ways that were simply impossible only a few short years ago," said Ed Leonard, chief technology officer, DreamWorks Animation SKG.

HP's AMD Opteron processor-based products are engineered for reliability, ease of ownership and optimized system performance, providing a scalable foundation for customers of all sizes. They include:

-- The HP xw9300 Workstation is the company's first AMD Opteron processor-based, dual PCI-Express graphics workstation with support for NVIDIA Quadro SLI(TM) (Scalable Link Interface), designed to improve graphics scalability and performance. Customers with intensive computing demands - such as oil and gas exploration, computer-aided engineering (CAE) and 3D animation - can greatly improve productivity with the added processing performance and enhanced visualization capability of the HP xw9300 Workstation.

-- For the HP BladeSystem, the new HP ProLiant BL25p and BL35p are the first suite of server blades to feature high-performance together with optimum blade management density - a combination that can meet the requirements of large data center environments and clustered solutions. In addition, BL25p and BL35p can be mixed with HP's Intel-based server blade offerings, allowing customers to select the best technology to meet their unique applications.

-- The HP ProLiant DL385 is the industry's first 2U rack-optimized, two socket AMD Opteron processor-based server designed for enterprise-class applications. Powered by one or two Opteron 2.6-gigahertz processors and with an increased memory footprint, the HP ProLiant DL385 offers customers choice for their server needs and meets maximum performance demands for high-volume environments. The HP ProLiant DL385 also combines management features and high-availability requirements in a system ideal for data center deployments.

-- HP is also delivering new models of the HP ProLiant DL585 and the HP ProLiant DL145, both running the latest AMD Opteron processors. Delivering unmatched performance, the HP ProLiant DL585 is the industry's fastest 4P x86 server, with a record-breaking TPC-C benchmark of 130,623 tpmC @ $2.80/tpmC. This is 54 percent faster and 27 percent less expensive than Dell's best result and bests any IBM 4P x86 server result by more than 27 percent.(2)

"HP, one of the world's leading vendors for servers, continues to recognize the enterprise customer demand for the AMD Opteron processor with Direct Connect Architecture as they expand their product offerings," said Marty Seyer, vice president and general manager, Microprocessor Business Unit, AMD. "Their decision to further incorporate the AMD Opteron processor in the ProLiant, blade and workstation families represents a significant event for enterprise customers and strengthens AMD's momentum in the enterprise market, while confirming HP's commitment to providing customers more choice on industry-standard platforms."

Additional information about HP's new AMD Opteron-based products announced at LinuxWorld is available in an online press kit at http://www.hp.com/go/opteronlinuxworld .

New management tools, entry-level HP ProLiant servers and performance upgrades

To help customers accelerate server deployments and achieve the benefits of virtualization, the HP Server Migration Pack eases migration to virtual servers based on VMware or Microsoft(R) Virtual Server and extends the integrated management of virtual and physical servers to a single console.

The HP ProLiant Essentials Intelligent Networking Pack allows ProLiant servers to adapt to and change their network path to achieve maximum reliability and performance. The Intelligent Networking Pack also reduces virus threats before they spread to the network via new HP Virus Throttle software. Read the news release announcing HP Virus Throttle software at http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2005/050211a.html .

The HP Power Regulator enables customers to save on server power and cooling costs by operating the CPU at lower frequency and voltage during periods of reduced application activity and dynamically utilizing full CPU capacity when needed.

HP also unveiled new entry-level servers and updates to select industry-standard HP servers, offering greater performance for business-critical applications.

-- The HP ProLiant ML110 G2 server, designed for entry-level businesses with an eye on growth, has been enhanced with a 2.8-GHz Celeron or Pentium(R) 4 3.2-GHz processor, PCI-Express support and remote management available via 100 LightsOut Management Option Card.

-- The new HP ProLiant ML310 G2 server, designed for remote smaller implementations such as remote site offices, offers customers new 2.8-GHz Celeron or a Pentium 4 3.2-GHz processor, PCI-Express or PCI-X options, a full ProLiant management suite and new hot-plug RAID performance models.

-- The HP ProLiant DL320 G3 server, the space-saving 1U model ideal for single function deployments, now includes either a Celeron 2.93-GHz or up to a Pentium 4 3.6-GHz processor with 1 megabyte of L2 cache, improved availability features with two PCI-X slots and numerous storage options, including SATA, SCSI and SAS.

-- New features on the HP ProLiant ML370 G4, the 2P performance server designed for flexibility, includes up to two 3.6-GHz Intel Xeon processors with 2M L2 cache, an 800-megahertz front side bus, Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T), and PCI-Express technology.

-- The enhanced HP ProLiant BL20p G3 is a high-performance, dual-processor blade server engineered for the enterprise, featuring new Intel 3.6-GHz/800-MHz Xeon processors available with 2M L2 cache, storage area network connectivity, up to eight gigabytes of PC 3200 DDR2 memory and four-gigabit network interface card, standard.

-- The HP ProLiant DL360 G4p and HP ProLiant DL380 G4 servers each now include up to 3.6-GHz Intel Xeon processors with 2M L2 cache plus up to 12 GB of memory and 2 MB of L2 cache and Intel EM64T, respectively.

More information on the new management tools, servers and upgrades is available in an online press kit at http://www.hp.com/go/opteronlinuxworld .