Stratus introduces powerful ftServer platforms for ensuring availability

Stratus Technologies, an SGH (Nasdaq: SGH) company and a global leader in simplified, protected and autonomous edge computing platforms, today announced the next generation of its Stratus ftServer fault tolerant computing platforms. Offering up to 25% greater performance, Stratus’ latest generation platforms deliver more CPU cores, increased processor power and expanded networking connectivity. Stratus ftServer platforms combine compute power, reliability and virtualisation, making them ideal for deploying advanced software and support edge-core-cloud data architectures.

“This new generation of Stratus ftServers is our most powerful ftServer platform yet. With this release, we are supporting the current and future compute needs of our customers,” said Jason Andersen, vice-president, strategy and business line management at Stratus. “Building on unmatched uptime, ftServer platforms now offer more versatility and performance for the increasing demands of a variety of applications and use cases from transaction and payment processing to industrial automation.”

Companies are increasingly deploying complex software solutions at the edge to improve efficiency, agility and productivity as they modernise IT and operational technology (OT). This includes the building of edge-core-cloud architectures to connect edge operations with cloud services as a part of digital transformation initiatives. Stratus ftServer platforms provide a reliable, simple and serviceable compute platform that ensures continuous availability of critical applications and services and helps companies realise the full benefit of these initiatives.

Backed by Stratus’ industry-leading fault tolerance, proactive health monitoring and support for simple, protected and autonomous operations, the reliability, virtualisation and performance of Stratus’ ftServer platforms provide organisations with the ability to build edge-in architectures to modernise infrastructure, improve productivity and increase operational efficiency and visibility.

The 12th generation Stratus ftServer platform continues to strike a balance of power, performance, and reliability, making it possible to serve a range of organisations’ use cases. Enhancements include:

• Updated Intel Xeon Processors – The latest ftServer platforms incorporate updated Intel Xeon Scalable Processors, supporting 2.3GHz and 2.4GHz speeds and 10 to 44 CPU cores increase performance across the platform for volume transaction processing as well as compute intensive workloads such as AI and IOT.
• Increased bandwidth for storage area networks (SANs) – This generation ftServer platform adds 32Gb Fibre Channel PCIe card, doubling the bandwidth available, to increase performance when connecting to SANs typical in most corporate data centres.
• Expanded networking options – The ftServer platform has increased flexibility and performance with the addition of optional 10Gb Ethernet in the Stratus ftServer 2920 platform via a new PCIe card that supports both copper and fibre/optical, allowing customers to use their preferred ethernet technology.
• Operating system support – ftServer platform supports VMware vSphere 7.0.3, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8, and both Microsoft Windows Server 2022 and Windows Server 2019, providing customers with security enhancements and patching.

The Stratus ftServer Platform is available in four configurations with several memory and disk storage options:

• Stratus ftServer 6920 Platform – Stratus’ highest performing ftServer platform raises the ceiling for serviceability, fault tolerance and virtualisation for the most rigorous data- and transaction-intensive use cases, including AI, ML and payments processing. The Stratus ftServer Platform 6920 is ideal for large data centres and other facilities requiring the highest levels of performance.
• Stratus ftServer 6910 Platform – This currently available high-performing ftServer platform is ideal for data-intensive or transaction-intensive applications in large remote plants or regional data centres.
• Stratus ftServer 4920 Platform – Intended for medium-sized facilities, plants and remote offices.
• Stratus ftServer 2920 Platform – Designed for running applications in smaller facilities, plants and shop floor locations.

On release, this new generation of Stratus ftServer platforms will support VMware vSphere 7.0. For additional OS support availability, please visit our ftServer Platform OS Support page or contact your local distributor.

For more detail about matching ftServer platforms to specific software workloads, see the Stratus sizing calculators under the “additional resources” section or contact us.

Enhancements to the Stratus ftServer platforms support both industrial use cases (eg, industrial automation, smart manufacturing) and non-industrial use cases (eg, payments processing, transportation management, building automation) where downtime results in direct business costs, environmental or safety risk, and/or loss of reputation. The ftServer platform is easy to install by end users or systems integrators, meets IT requirements for interoperability, supportability, cost, and security, and is easily managed by OT or IT.

Stratus’ platforms are backed by gold standard customer services that include 24x7x365 monitoring and management services via a secure, private network – the Stratus ActiveService Network (ASN). Additional services cover access to “availability experts” for support, including custom application development and infrastructure design consultation, via Stratus Managed Services; and comprehensive support for end-to-end, multi-vendor environments addressing compliance and security management, system upgrades and migrations, as well as turnkey backup via Stratus Professional Services.

“The Stratus ftServer platform offers a simplistic approach to complex systems. Part of our motto at Enginuity Global is, ‘We simplify a complex world’, and Stratus’ compute platforms definitely help reduce complexity,” said Eric Belgard, lead systems engineer, Enginuity Global. “We were also able to save a substantial amount of money using Stratus’ ftServer platforms.”

“The one thing we absolutely cannot tolerate is a failure in our servers,” said Karen Green, SCADA manager, DC Water. “Any sort of failure and we would be dealing with downtime – pumps and valves not working, water not reaching our customers. That’s unacceptable. Working with Stratus provides peace of mind as downtime is not something we need to worry about.”

“A large pharmaceutical customer was concerned about downtime and the Stratus ftServer was selected for its high availability and reliability,” said a spokesperson from RoviSys, a global systems integrator partner. “The Stratus platform helped to reduce downtime and consolidate software workloads into a combined IT footprint, making it an ideal solution for our customer’s needs.”

For more information, please contact:

Catherine Roberts
Stratus Technologies Systems
Waterman's House
Waterman's Court
Kingsbury Crescent
Staines
Middlesex
TW18 3BA
UK
Tel: (+44) 0 1784 415220
Email: catherine.roberts@stratus.com
Web: https://www.stratus.com