So the VESO (pictured) is a two-sockets virtualisation optimised server, available in November. Dell believes that a 2 sockets server is the appropriate "envelope" for virtualisation because with quad-core processors "you don't really need more processors". Veso will also be the first server to embed VMware's new 32MB ESX 3i hypervisor in flash memory. And as a Dell product manager quipped "this is not your typical 2 sockets server".

128 GB memory, 4 PCI slots

"With this platform we addressed 2 very important bottlenecks in the virtualisation realm today: the system memory footprint (16 DIMM slots) and 4 PCI slots (2 on each riser). So a typical 2 sockets system is going to have either 2 or 3. And sometimes one of those slots is going to be taken by either a remote management card, which we implemented as a daughter card, or the hard drive controller, which we also implemented as a daughter card [...] We are going to support 8 Gig DIMMs, so 128 GB total memory running at 667GHz", said a Dell product manager".

Up to 20 network interfaces, 10 Gbits/s option coming

"A typical 2U system has 2 Ethernet interfaces (NICs) embedded in the motherboard. We've got 4 NICs (2 of which are implemented as what we call a mezzanine card). This gives us the flexibility in the future to add a 10 Gbits/s option without having to spin the motherboard. Ultimately, you can put up to 20 NICs on this system".

You don't need hard drive!

"The other story about this particular server is that it's very energy efficient. You don't need hard drive because it can boot off the network/SAN or direct-attach (and that's 25W), nor the controller (10-15W). Plus an Energy Star 90% efficient power-supply (but the system itself is not Energy Star compliant)".