RACKABLE SYSTEMS LAUNCHES DISTRIBUTED DC POWER SOLUTION TO REDUCE HEAT AND ENABLE FASTER PROCESSING SPEEDS IN COMPLEX DATA CENTER ENVIRONMENTS

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. deploys first systems;
cites increased reliability, flexibility and savings

SUPERCOMPUTING CONFERENCE, PHOENIX, Nov. 18, 2003 — Rackable Systems, a leading provider of large-scale data center server solutions, today introduced the industry's first Distributed DC Power technology for major data center deployments. Customers that utilize Distributed DC Power solutions will experience significantly increased reliability, flexibility and savings, and be able to take full advantage of today's faster microprocessing speeds. Rackable Systems also announced that its first customer for the technology, Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., (TAEC) successfully deployed Distributed DC Power-based clusters at facilities in San Jose, Calif., and Marlborough, Mass.

     Data center managers are currently facing formidable challenges in the areas of reliability and CPU density, impacting operational costs and performance. Most data centers currently deliver standard AC power to each server via a dedicated AC power supply — and experience frequent server failures due to AC power supply malfunctions. Loss of power to an AC circuit and frequent heat-related failures further reduce the availability of mission-critical applications and create an excess burden on IT staff. In addition, recent advances in microprocessor speeds are increasing the amount of heat generated in servers, which can considerably shorten the lifespan of systems and compound the challenge of cooling CPUs at the high density levels required by most data centers.

     "Our forecast indicates data centers will need to increasingly support advanced 32- and 64-bit applications as high performance technical computing and the commercial markets both converge on high density server clusters," said John Humphreys, research manager, global enterprise server solutions, IDC. "With the flexibility and efficiency it provides, Distributed DC power can help users capitalize on rapidly evolving improvements in 32- and 64-bit server processors — such as Intel's Itanium® and AMD's Opteron™ families — and more completely benefit from the higher performance, expanded memory limits and greater productivity capacity offered by these platforms."

TAEC Deploys Distributed DC Power
     "Distributed DC Power provided increased power efficiency that enabled us to populate our racks with highly customized systems — without heat concerns," said Richard Tobias, vice president of the ASIC and Foundry Business Unit of TAEC. "Since the DC power supply was substantially smaller than a traditional AC power supply, Rackable Systems provided exactly the right configuration and met our need to quickly deploy next generation EDA applications at a significantly lower acquisition cost. At the same time, we anticipate noticeable ongoing savings in two areas. As each system uses fewer watts, leading to cooler clusters, our IT staff will spend less time responding to failed systems, replacing heat-worn components and reacting to other downtime crises. We also expect much lower costs in terms our monthly electricity bill."

     "Distributed DC Power solutions are a logical extension of our patented half-depth server technology, commitment to open architecture and focus on highly configurable products," said Tom Barton, president and CEO, Rackable Systems. "Whether it's deploying a single cabinet or developing the most complex data center, it will allow us to continue helping our customers garner better total cost of ownership, quicker return-on-investment and easier system management."

     Rackable Systems' Distributed DC Power solutions, compatible with both AC- and DC-based data center environments, utilize a DC power supply that produces 20 to 40 percent less heat than cabinets with traditional AC power. This improvement in thermal dynamics will enable customers to utilize faster and, consequently, hotter processors at the highest density levels.

     Rackable Systems' DC power supply provides a mean time between failure rate of seven million hours, compared to 100,000 hours for traditional AC power supplies. This 70 times increase in reliability at the power supply level (vs. traditional AC power supplies) increases overall server reliability by up to 27 percent. Servers receive N+M redundant power via DC distribution bars, allowing cabinets to sustain availability through an AC circuit failure. The overall power savings can reach up to 30 percent versus competitors' AC-based solutions, translating into a three-year savings as much as $1.1 million for a 900 kilowatt data center with 3,000 servers. Furthermore, public data centers with a fixed amount of power available per square foot can accommodate up to 30 percent higher server density with Distributed DC Power.

     Distributed DC Power solutions are available built-to-order in all of the company's back-to-back rack mount compute servers — which provide doubled CPU density, improved serviceability and superior remote management capabilities — at a cabinet-level cost comparable to AC-based systems. The offering is designed for a wide range of large-scale server farms, including those in the high performance computing, Web serving and financial services sectors. Rackable Systems will demonstrate its Distributed DC Power solutions in booth number 1235 at this year's Supercomputing Conference, Nov. 18-22, in Phoenix.

ABOUT RACKABLE SYSTEMS
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Rackable Systems leads the industry in large-scale data center deployment solutions. Through innovative design, patented technology and commitment to customer service, the company offers a broad line of server products that can be rapidly deployed in data centers and other demanding IT environments. Serving leading-edge technology companies, universities and research & development organizations, Rackable Systems' customers include Cold Springs Harbor Laboratories, Deutsche Bank, Electronic Arts, Google, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, nVidia, Pfizer, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Sony America, Tellme Networks, Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., U.C.S.C. Human Genome Project, U.S. Department of Justice, Webex and Yahoo!.

To learn more about Rackable Systems, go to www.rackable.com, call 408-240-8300, or write to info@rackable.com.

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