The delivery of software has dramatically changed since the introduction of network integration, interoperability, virtualization and hosted services. Today software vendors are providing appliances with plug and play features built for application performance delivering a more secure and easily maintained platform. Having a whole IT department maintaining general purpose servers is seeing its last days, as more organizations continue to opt for all-inclusive appliances. UNICOM (News - Alert) Engineering, a global provider of application platforms, deployment solutions and lifecycle support services for software technology developers and OEMs, is addressing this need by introducing two new high performance appliance platforms for price-sensitive applications.
Designed around the latest Intel (News - Alert) Silvermont low power system on chip (SoC) microarchitecture, the S-1200 R4 and S-650 R4 deliver excellent performance at an affordable price, which is why UNICOM is targeting customers who want to pass on the savings to their end users.
Appliances deliver predefined service(s) through an application-specific interface with no accessible operating software. This type of setup gets rid of the complexities of owning and operating servers by providing a secure, reliable and manageable solution. And even though cloud services are delivering most IT solutions, having an appliance on premises gives companies the peace of mind they are in full control of their hardware.
The S-1200 R4 is a rack-mount appliance platform delivering entry-level server-class performance in an appliance solution. This is the ideal platform for applications that need up to 2 internal enterprise-class SATA drive leveraging the low power system on chip (SoC) microarchitecture of the Intel Silvermont. Some of the feature and benefits of the S-1200 R4 are:
- A 1U rack mount server solutions at an affordable price;
- UNICOM Engineering branding options for strong product/corporate branding, including bezel branding, shipping container branding and documentation kits;
- Integrated bypass LAN ports ideal for security and network applications;
- Enterprise class SATA drive support to ensure quality and reliability;
- motherboards featuring a single 8-Core Intel C2758 or 2-Core Intel C2358 communications processor with Intel QuickAssist Technology and up to 32GB DDR3 SDRAM; and
- Supports targeting network and communication infrastructure.
The S-650 R4 on the other hand is a set-top box designed for advanced network computing and connectivity in a low-profile, low-cost and purpose-built box to host and manage branch office and remote applications. This platform also uses the Intel processors, but it only houses up to 16 GB of DDR3 SDRAM.
Traditional servers require a lot of investment with different components, possibly from different vendors, assembled together to provide a service. Appliances on the other hand are generally designed by one company and they can be deployed easily, giving organizations that don’t require server farms better IT spend. The two new UNICOM appliances are designed to address this segment without sacrificing high performance, but delivering the cost saving benefits.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson