In an effort to extend its blade servers to handle more demanding database applications, Fujitsu Computer Systems Tuesday said its Primergy BX630 blade servers can now be linked together into an eight-socket system.

Fujitsu started shipping the Primergy BX630 servers, which are powered by dual-core Advanced Micro Devices Opteron processors, late last year. At that time the company said that through AMD’s HyperTransport technology in Opteron, users could link a pair of the two-socket BX630 blades to create a single four-socket system, providing up to eight processing cores in a single system.

Now Fujitsu is combining a pair of those four-socket blades into a single eight-socket system, providing up to 16 processing cores, said officials.

The BX630 blade works in Fujitsu’s existing Primergy BX600 chassis and can also be mixed with Fujitsu’s Intel Xeon-based Primergy blade servers.

The eight-socket Primergy BX630 blade server configuration will be available in the second quarter of 2006. Fujitsu will provide the system preconfigured for new users and will offer a connection kit for existing users looking to upgrade.

Pricing starts around US$2,250 for a two-socket configuration and scales up to $36,000 for an eight-socket blade system.

Fujitsu Computer Systems, headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Ltd.

Spending on blade servers is expected to reach $10 billion by 2009, according to market research firm IDC.

-Shelley Solheim, IDG News Service

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