For Immediate Release
 
 Nehalem announcement.PDF

Hiawatha, IA ( July 1st, 2009) - Crystal Group Inc., a veteran-owned small business, designer and manufacturer of rugged, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) custom-developed computers, displays switches, and storage devices, is pleased to announce that effective July 1st, Intel Nehalem Xeon will be replacing the previously used Intel Core2 Duo processors in Crystal Group’s Rugged Series (RS) line.

According to Intel, Nehalem “is the latest-generation microarchitecture, first exemplified as the Intel® Core™ i7 processor. It represents the next step in faster, multi-core technology that intelligently maximizes performance to match your workload. Designed from the ground up to take advantage of 45nm Hi-k next generation Intel® Core™ microarchitecture, Intel® microarchitecture, codenamed Nehalem, unleashes parallel processing performance enabled by an integrated memory controller and Intel® Quick Path Technology providing high-speed interconnects per independent processing core”.

Jim Shaw, VP of engineering at Crystal Group comments, “We see the market demanding architectures optimized for virtualization and high performance computing. The addition of the Nehalem based architecture to the Rugged Series product line is Crystal Group’s response to our customers needs.”

The Nehalem platform consists of Intel Xeon 5500 Series (LGA 1366) processors, the 5500 IOH (Input/Output Hub), and the ICH10R ICH (I/O Controller Hub). Intel’s new QPI (Quick Path Interconnect) architecture uses direct point to point interconnection between the memory and each CPU which in essence replaces the front side bus. The direct path speeds memory access, bandwidth, and system performance. The 5500 IOH supports up to 24 PCI Express Gen 2.0 lanes, while the ICH10R provides six SATA ports and 6 USB 2.0 connections. Additionally the board has 8 available SAS ports, using the LSI Logic 1068E controller chip which supports RAID 0, 1, 10, motherboard with an option for onboard RAID 5.

Shaw further indicated, “We have been spending the last few months testing and analyzing the board and chipsets to make sure the architecture was ready for our customers. We are in the process of temperature testing the boards to verify acceptable solder joint reliability in a MIL-STD-810 environment. All indications are that this product will significantly enable our customers to do more with less.”

Jaden Ghylin, Crystal Group’s Technical Director agrees, “One of our customers was able to support 70 separate users using Vmware on a single Crystal RS112 Nehalem server”.

With the extensive in-house testing done to improve the Nehalem, Crystal Group believes this new processor will greatly enhance their RS line and help to keep customers on the leading edge of technology.

Crystal Group Inc. is uniquely postured as one company with three business competencies. As a rugged server/systems manufacturer, systems integrator and custom design team, Crystal Group is well positioned to quickly and cost-effectively address all aspects of their customers’ projects. This three-tier approach is unique in the industry and allows Crystal Group to excel at the delivery of turn-key systems tailored to their customers’ specific needs. For more information request that a Crystal Business Development Manager give you a call.

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About Crystal Group Inc. 

Crystal Group Inc., (www.crystalrugged.com), a veteran-owned small business located in Hiawatha, Iowa, USA, designs and manufactures deployment-ready, rugged servers, switches, storage devices, and displays that fit mission critical applications. For over 22 years Crystal Group has been developing rugged solutions for our customers' most challenging needs. As a server/systems manufacturer, systems integrator and custom design team, we are uniquely positioned to quickly and cost-effectively address all aspects of our customers' projects. Crystal excels at providing commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and custom designed computer systems tailored to your specifications. All products are designed and built to meet and exceed MIL STDs 810F, 167-1, 461E and MIL-S-901D. Crystal Group also offers integration services in addition to product life-cycle planning, 3+ year warranties and configuration management upon request. Contact a Crystal Business Development Manager for more information: 1.800.378.1636