Unisys upgrades Libra mainframes with Xeon E5s

Intel has just upgraded its server processors with a slew of Xeon E5s this spring, and that means it is time for mainframe maker Unisys to start gussying up the Xeon-based variants in its ClearPath family.

Unisys has two different families of mainframes in the ClearPath line. From its Burroughs heritage comes the Libra family with their Master Control Program (MCP) operating system, and from the Sperry-Univac side comes the Dorado family with their OS 2200 operating system.

At the high-end and upper midrange of the Unisys product line are custom CMOS processors designed by Unisys and manufactured by IBM Microelectronics that have the high single-threaded performance on batch jobs that mainframe customers need.

In the midrange, there are smaller CMOS-based mainframes that bear the Dorado or Libra labels as well as a mix of machines that have ports of the MCP and OS 2200 operating systems and special virtualization and emulation sauce that lets CMOS binaries run atop x86 processors. The entry Libra and Dorado products are all based on Xeon machinery. Read more...