iServer AR100 G2

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Iserver Software Configuration

Factory Software Configuration: Custom Installation and Customization Services

IRON Global continually evaluates and tests the latest software innovations. We are experienced in installing and customizing the operating system and software products in your system to meet your specific needs. Below you'll find links to and information about our operating systems partners, hypervisors partners, and high performance computing partners.

• Support for Industry Standard Virtualization Hypervisors
• Support for Industry Standard Operating Systems
• Support for Industry Standard HPC Management Software

Support for Industry Standard Virtualization Hypervisor Systems:

Iron offers a complete line of high performance Virtualization Hypervisor servers that fully utilize server hardware virtualization capabilities. These build-to-order virtualized servers are configured for maximized virtualization performance, higher server utilization, increased security, minimized system downtime, and better efficiency rates while managing systems in mission-critical environments.

Support for Industry Standard Operating Systems:

Iron's iServer and iClusters products can be preinstalled with an operating system of your choice to better support your unique business application, performance and environment needs. Operating systems other than those listed below can be installed, but require coordination with your sales engineer.

	CentOS CentOS is an Enterprise-class Linux Distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public by a prominent North American Enterprise Linux vendor. CentOS conforms fully with the upstream vendors redistribution policy and aims to be 100% binary compatible. http://www.centos.org
	Debian Debian GNU/Linux is popular for high-performance computing due to its multi-platform support and ease of package management and administration. It provides a wide range of services, with over 8,700 packages to select from with the current distribution. Debian GNU/Linux is full featured, dynamic and also free to use and redistribute. http://www.debian.org/
	Fedora Red Hat Enterprise Linux technology is derived from the Fedora Project. Fedora is a Red Hat- sponsored and community-supported open source project. It provides a public development platform and proving ground for new open source technologies. http://fedora.redhat.com/
	Gentoo Linux The Gentoo Linux distribution includes a rich set of popular software packages and is relatively easy to install and upgrade. Because it is a source distribution, it is useful for organizations that wish to customize a Linux distribution for their high-performance systems yet maintain an easy install and upgrade ability. http://www.gentoo.org/
	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 is the latest version of the Windows Server platform. It provides enhanced security, increased reliability, and simplified administration to help enterprise customers across all industries. The Microsoft Windows Server 2003 family helps organizations do more with less by providing an infrastructure for higher productivity and efficiency. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/
	Windows XP Professional The Windows XP Professional operating system is the best choice for businesses of all sizes. Windows XP Professional integrates the strengths of Windows 2000 Professional, such as standards-based security, manageability, and reliability, with the best business features of Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition, such as Plug and Play, simplified user interface, and innovative support services. This combination creates the best desktop operating system for business. Whether your business deploys Windows XP Professional on a single computer or throughout a worldwide network, this new operating system increases your computing power while lowering cost of ownership for desktop computers. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/
	Red Hat's enterprise-class Linux Red Hat's enterprise-class Linux operating system distribution is backed by the accountability of a major commercial software company and is stable, reliable and broadly supported. Easy to deploy and manage, Red Hat Enterprise Linux also provides various training & support options along with many industry and hardware certifications and certified applications. High- performance computing customers realize increased manageability with Red Hat Network and improved scalability with Red Hat Global File System. http://www.redhat.com/software/rhel/
	Novell The SUSE LINUX family is characterized by flexibility and versatility while delivering a scalable, high-performance foundation for secure enterprise computing. It delivers a degree of security, reliability, availability, scalability, and automated administration that only Linux-based systems can offer. SUSE supports its enterprise customers with a comprehensive range of qualified consulting, training and support services. http://www.novell.com/linux/suse/
	FreeBSD FreeBSD® is an advanced operating system for modern server, desktop, and embedded computer platforms. FreeBSD's code base has undergone over thirty years of continuous development, improvement, and optimization

Support for Industry Standard HPC Management Software:

Iron's HPC solution is designed to simplify HPC deployment and management. We start by building a comprehensive infrastructure stack built from leading industry-standard building blocks and best-in-class partner products. The result is a highly scalable HPC solution that can deliver exceptional performance and manageability at a fraction of the cost of proprietary systems.

	Beowulf Clusters Beowulf Clusters are scalable performance clusters based on commodity hardware, on a private system network, with open source software (Linux) infrastructure. The designer can improve performance proportionally with added machines. The commodity hardware can be any of a number of mass-market, stand-alone compute nodes as simple as two networked computers each running Linux and sharing a file system or as complex as 1024 nodes with a high-speed, low-latency network. http://www.beowulf.org
	Windows HPC Server 2008 Windows HPC Server 2008 provides a productive, cost-effective, and high-performance computing (HPC) solution that runs on x64-bit hardware. Windows HPC Server 2008 can be deployed, managed, and extended using familiar tools and technologies. http://www.microsoft.com/hpc/en/us/overview.aspx
	NVIDIA Tesla NVIDIA® Tesla™ computing solutions enable the necessary transition to energy efficient parallel computing power. With 240 cores per processor and based on the revolutionary NVIDIA® CUDA™ parallel computing architecture, Tesla scales to solve the world's most important computing challenges—more quickly and accurately. http://www.nvidia.com/object/tesla_computing_solutions.html
	ScaleMP Enables the creation of a single virtual system by aggregating multiple industry-standard x86 systems. vSMP Foundation software add-on creates virtual systems ranging from 4 to 32 processors (128 cores) and up to 4 TB of shared memory. http://www.scalemp.com/
	Intel Cluster Ready The Intel® Cluster Ready program makes it easier to experience the power of high-performance computing (HPC). Developed in conjunction with hardware and software vendors, the Intel Cluster Ready program is designed to simplify purchasing, deployment, and management of HPC clusters. http://www.intel.com/go/cluster/

Leasing Programs

Preserve Capital, Increase Financial Flexibilities and Maintain Your Competitive Edge through IRON Global Unique Hardware, Services and Software Technology Life Cycle Leasing Solution.

In today’s competitive business climate, companies are faced with investing in state-of-the-art equipment to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction while reducing operating costs and improving profitability. To address this challenge and assist you in maintaining a competitive advantage, Iron Equipment Leasing offers lease financing solutions tailored to your specific needs. As a result, you are able to acquire the leading edge equipment you need now and upgrade as your business requirements change. With Iron Equipment Leasing, you receive complete lifecycle support from acquisition through disposal including flexible mid-term upgrade solutions and lease-end asset.

When leasing from Iron, you can expect very competitive lease rates, a quick response and minimal lease paperwork, making the process simple and straightforward. In addition Iron offers following leasing advantages:

• Inclusion of hardware, software, training, support, maintenance, and other soft costs into one lease rate, resulting in one easy payment
• Competitive 12, 24, 36 and 48-month lease rate, lower upfront costs with 100% financing with Dollar buy-out option at the end of the lease.
• A disciplined approach to technology refresh. Add on or upgrade to match system capacity and functionality to changing requirements
• A match between financial lifecycles to your technology’s useful life. Avoid higher late-life maintenance costs and benefit from increased reliability and accuracy by upgrading to new systems earlier
• Preserve credit lines, conserve working capital and cash reserves.

Leasing vs Buying Tips

What you will learn from this tip

To help you decide between leasing and buying storage, this tip looks at the pros and cons of each approach along with some situational considerations.

The fundamental difference between purchasing and leasing server and storage is that with a purchase, you pay or finance the acquisition in exchange for ownership and equity of the asset. On the other hand, a lease or rental involves periodic payment by a lessee to a lessor in exchange for use of an asset, with the lessor retaining ownership and equity of the asset.

Leasing and financing situations share some common benefits including shifting or deferring costs over a period time for lower monthly payments to ease cash flow. At times, a lease may not be cheaper from a total cost of ownership (TCO) perspective, and you would need to do a financial lease vs. buy analysis. Traditionally, leases have been sold as a means to afford expensive items, maximize cash flow, insulate yourself from technology obsolesce and relieve yourself of the burden of technology disposal. Even though cost per gigahertz of computing and gigabyte of storage continues to fall, leasing has been touted as a way to cope with a flat budget to meet increasing IT server and storage demands. Leases are an alternative to using cash or bank credit lines to maintain or improve financial stability of your business. There can be different financial and tax benefits or caveats for leases, so you should seek professional advice (tax, accounting, insurance and/or legal) for your situation.

A lease vs. purchase (or finance) decision hinges in part on your financial situation and business requirements. Other factors include personal and organization preferences, current market opportunities and economic conditions. How long you will be able to (and plan on) effectively using an asset also plays into the decision. Generally speaking, the longer you plan on using an item, the more sense it may make to make a purchase (outright or via financing). With a purchase, you own the asset and the equity in it; however, you also have a larger cash outlay or finance fees. An outright purchase can also put a strain on your cash flow and balance sheet. Situations and conditions change from an economic and technology standpoint over time, so it makes sense to revisit lease vs. purchase decisions periodically.

Fair market value (FMV) leases can be a good option if you plan on replacing your technology in three years or less and may have tax benefits depending on your business' location. A FMV lease generally involves returning the asset to the lessor at the end of the lease term or purchasing the item at fair market value. Another option is a dollar purchase for technology that you wish to keep for a long period of time with ownership transferring to you -- the lessee -- at the end of the lease term. A FMV would have a lower monthly premium than a dollar purchase option scenario.

Iron's unique partnership with leasing firms provide unique hardware and software technology lifecycle solutions and leasing programs. Some general things to consider when making a lease vs. purchase decision include:

• What are the current market finance (interest) rates?
• Do you have cash reserve and cash flow to support a purchase?
• How long will you be using or have a need for the technology?
• Can the service life of the technology be extended in a cost-effective manor?
• How much software and or services can be included in a lease agreement?
• What are the federal and state regulations pertaining to asset disposal?

To summarize, you should look at a lease vs. buy decision from a technology and business (finance, tax, insurance, etc.) perspective and balance the pros and cons to meet your particular needs. Revisit your purchase vs. lease polices from time to time to see if current economic, business, technology and other influences warrant a shift in your purchase vs. lease decisions.