Supermicro Launches New 6U SuperBlade Disaggregated Server Systems supporting Rack Scale Design and Free Air Cooling

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI), a global leader in enterprise computing, storage, and networking solutions and green computing technology, today announced the availability of its new 6U SuperBlade® solutions designed to support the latest generation processors as well as future generation processors.

New Supermicro 6U SuperBlade Enclosure with 14 Blade Servers
New Supermicro 6U SuperBlade Enclosure with 14 Blade Servers

The new SuperBlade® system combines compute, networking, and storage into a 6U enclosure with either 10 or 14 blade servers, up to 28 U.2 NVMe or 42 SAS SSDs, and up to four 25G/10G Ethernet switches with support for 50G and 100G networking solutions coming. The blade servers support Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors (up to 205 watts) with 24 DIMM slots (2-socket blade) and 12 DIMM slots (1-socket blade), maximizing performance and efficiency. In addition, the servers support M.2 NVMe, Intel Optane™ and Apache Pass. The enclosures use the same Ethernet switches, chassis management modules, and software as 8U/4U SuperBlade and 6U/3U MicroBlade systems for improved reliability, serviceability, and affordability.

“Our new 6U SuperBlade design builds upon the success of our 8U/4U SuperBlade®, which was launched earlier this year,” said Charles Liang, President and CEO of Supermicro. “With up to 14 Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processor-based blade servers with maximum memory, NVMe, BBP, and 25G Ethernet switch support, our enterprise, cloud and data center customers can benefit from this high-performance and high-density solution. The disaggregated architecture unlocks the interdependence between the major server subsystems enabling the independent upgrade of the CPU and Memory, I/O, Storage as well as Power and Cooling. Now each component can be refreshed on-time to maximize Moore’s Law improvements in performance and efficiency instead of waiting for a single monolithic server refresh cycle.”

“A disaggregated server architecture enables the independent upgrades of the compute modules without replacing the rest of the enclosure including networking, storage, fans and power supplies, which refresh at a slower rate,” said Shesha Krishnapura, Intel Fellow and Intel IT CTO. “By disaggregating CPU and memory, each resource can be refreshed independently allowing data centers to reduce refresh cycle costs. When viewed over a three to five year refresh cycle, a SuperBlade® with Intel’s Rack Scale Design disaggregated server architecture will deliver, on-average, higher-performing and more-efficient servers at lower costs than traditional rip-and-replace models by allowing data centers to independently optimize adoption of new and improved technologies.”

Supermicro SuperBlade systems provide the perfect building blocks for a Rack Scale Design (RSD) data center solution. With up to 90% cabling reduction compared to 1U server solutions, the total cost of ownership (TCO) is lowered and airflow is significantly improved, which in turn reduces the load on the cooling fans, resulting in even lower OPEX. Up to 54% percent cooling fan power efficiency improvement is achieved by sharing eight cooling fans and integrated power modules across all 14 SuperBlade servers. Free from vendor lock-in, these solutions ship with open industry standard IPMI 2.0 and Redfish APIs designed to lower management overhead in large scale data centers. With up to 98 dual or single-socket blade servers with 25G or 10G Ethernet switches per 42U rack, the new 6U SuperBlade systems are perfect for wide range of enterprise, cloud, and data center applications including:

  • Virtualization
  • Simulation, CAE, EDA
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Big Data / Business Intelligence
  • ERP / CRM
  • HPC

A unique optional Battery Backup Power (BBP) Module provides adequate power to the enclosure in case of power trip or failure. This adds to the reliability of the system as it prevents data corruption or loss during transit due to power failure. The use of an expensive UPS solution also becomes optional with the available BBP Module.

6U SuperBlade Servers P/N
Single-Socket Blade SBI-6419P-C3N
Dual-Socket Blade SBI-6429P-C3N
6U SuperBlade Enclosures P/N
Standard Enclosures SBE-614E-822/622/422
Battery Backup Enabled SBE-614EB-422

For comprehensive information on Supermicro SuperBlade product lines, please go to https://www.supermicro.com/products/SuperBlade/.