Hitachi Data Systems has boosted its family of CMOS mainframes with the new P9 Pilot Series.
The system is based on the same processor technology as IBM's recently announced Generation 6 mainframes and can perform at a peak 1,700 MIPS when configured with the maximum 13 processors.
Also introduced with the systems: a new suite of professional services aimed at helping users implement the systems in e-commerce and server consolidation applications. The services include diagnostics, design implementation and mentoring services.
The P9 Pilot series will also incorporate a Virtual Server Facility. That will allow users to configure the system as multiple small servers within the same footprint.
The P9 will be the last Hitachi mainframe to be based on IBM's CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) technology. Earlier this year, IBM and Hitachi quietly, for undisclosed reasons, discontinued a technology agreement dating back to 1994 under which IBM sold CMOS chips for Hitachi's Pilot mainframes. Starting next January, Hitachi will seek to manufacture its own CMOS technology or get someone to manufacture it for them.
The first systems based on the new technology will start becoming available in the middle of next year, according to Chris Worrall, a vice president at Hitachi.
Further down the road, Hitachi will merge its CMOS-based Pilot line with its Trinium line of hybrid mainframes that are based on older water-cooled Emitter-Coupled Logic technology and CMOS.