Fujitsu Announces SMB Server Play

Fujitsu Computer Systems is known primarily for its high-end servers, but the company is making a play for the SMB  market with the release of its PRIMERGY TX120 tower server.

The TX120 measures just four inches wide by 13 inches tall and 16 inches deep, produces 28 decibels (dB) while idle and 31 dB in operation and consumes just 163 watts of power, which is far lower than most desktops, let alone servers.

A small server for big SMB needs. Source: Fujitsu

“This is a great server for any environmentally sensitive customer,” Jon Rodriguez, senior product manager for PRIMERGY servers, told internetnews.com. “We’ve been calling it the green server because of its environmental sensitivity and low noise, but it’s also good for a small retail space where people will be working near it.”

Despite having the profile of a dumb terminal, it’s got some power. It runs a 68-watt Xeon dual core processor, can hold up to 8GB of error-correcting memory, and has hot swappable hard drives and a remote management chip.

The quiet design is attributed to basic engineering, by using open and straight airflow and large diameter fans to get larger amounts of air into the system. Large diameter fans consume less energy because they spin slower, but still move lots of air. There are two fans, positioned on two sides of the CPU heat sink.

Rodriguez said Fujitsu went with the Xeon because it had “the best combination of performance and power consumption.” AMD  has 68-watt, low-power processors in the Opteron line, but they are much more expensive than the 3040 and 3070.

The TX120 is aimed at small retail environments where people are often working around their computers and need something unobtrusive. Fujitsu plans to offer vertical solutions for customers with specific requirements, such as point of sale systems, kiosks or embedded servers.

“A device that can fit into a small space with low-power consumption and remote management is good for them,” said Rodriguez.” Fujitsu plans to move into the retail channel more in the coming quarters.

The PRIMERGY TX120 server is available now at a starting price of $1,058.