IBM may be out of the personal computer business it helped start, but it’s still making computers, mostly business servers. It plans this summer to launch a new data center server line called iDataPlex, which is aimed to compete with traditional rack servers.
It’s aimed at Web 2.0 companies that need lots of processing power but don’t have a lot of space. They’re meant to fit into standard racks, but are smaller. Up to twice as many can fit in a single rack.
In addition, the machines can be water-cooled within the rack, meaning complex air conditioning systems many data centers have aren’t necessary. The servers will run versions of Linux to keep costs down. They go on sale next month.