14 DAY TRIAL // AVADirect just announced that the company has started selling the 8-node Supermicro MicroCloud server system based on Intel's E3 Xeon processors that can be fully customized by its clients for being used in cloud computing, data center, web hosting, and virtualization environments.
The eight nodes come factory pre-installed with quad-core Sandy Bridge Xeon E3-1225 processors working at 3.1GHz, but users can also choose other eight CPUs from the same product family, ranging all the way up to the 3.5GHz E3-1280.
The fast Intel processors can be fitted with a maximum of 16GB for each node, configured to work in dual-channel mode.
AVADirect's standard configuration comes with 4GB of memory per node, and also includes a Seagate Barracuda hard drive with a capacity of 1TB, but users can opt to install up to 16 storage drives inside their system.
In addition to the impressive storage expansion options, Supermicro's server is also equipped with one PCI Express x8 slot per node, allowing customers to install a wide assortment of PCIe add-on cards as long as they use a low-profile PCB. Graphics is handled by a Matrox G200eW GPU.
The rest of the configuration includes a pair of Gigabit Ethernet ports, driven by a pair of Intel 82580DB controllers, one dedicated LAN port for IPMI remote management, and redundant 1620W 80Plus Platinum power supplies.
All of these are housed inside a rack mountable 1U chassis and are cooled by four 80mm heavy-duty fans. Supermicro's MicroCloud solution si APM 1.2 and ACPI 1.0 / 2.0 compliant.
This configuration is currently for sale at the base price of $6,714.91 (about 4,889 Euros) and users can choose between a wide range of updates in order to build a server system that best suits their needs.