IBM unveiled an Intel-based server with game-changing memory technology designed to double memory and increase performance by as much as 49 percent in memory intensive environments.

by Amy Newman Managing Editor, serverwatch.internet.com [February 12, 2002]

The newly introduced eServer xSeries 330 marks the debut of Big Blue's Memory eXpansion Technology (MXT), an IBM Research innovation developed to help enterprises deploy fewer servers and save as much as 25 percent in total solution costs.

In a nutshell, MXT is a hardware-based serial-processing algorithm built directly into the chipset. MXT's cache is designed to efficiently handle data and instructions on a memory controller chip. Data is encoded so it takes up half the space, and frequently accessed data and instructions are automatically stored close to a computer's microprocessors for immediate access.

MXT serves as an intermediary between the processors and main memory to reduce the interaction time usually required. Less frequently accessed data is compressed and stored in memory instead of on a disk. IBM claims this increases memory capacity by a factor of two or more.

IBM is billing the eServer x330 with MXT as ideal for Web serving, caching, firewalls, and load balancing. With MXT, enterprises can reduce costs by purchasing half the memory to achieve the same performance, or they can increase performance by installing the same amount of memory to achieve twice the capacity.

IBM has licensed MXT to Broadcom's ServerWorks subsidiary. ServerWorks, which makes high-performance System I/O integrated circuits for servers, will incorporate MXT technology into IBM's products.

IBM Research is currently working on the next generation of MXT for the Intel Xeon processor DP.

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