Features - Storage Innovations:

AMI SHOWCASES BIOS, IPMI, KVM OVER IP BLADE TECHNOLOGIES

American Megatrends Inc (AMI), a leading provider of storage and computing innovations worldwide, announced it will demonstrate BIOS, IPMI and KVM over IP technologies that help to enable and provide value-add to server blades at the Server Blade Summit held this week at the Wyndham San Jose (Calif.).

"The Server Blade Summit is a great opportunity for AMI and all vendors who produce or utilize key components for servers and server blade products," said S. Shankar, AMI president. "This event allows AMI to exhibit server blade value-add technologies and increase market awareness of our AMIBIOS8, IPMI and KVM over IP products that are ideal for server blades."

AMI provides server blade manufacturers and integrators with a one-stop-shop for their technology needs, minimizing the compatibility issues that may arise when combining firmware building blocks from separate vendors. From BIOS to IPMI to KVM over IP, AMI offers the core firmware, software and IP support needed to power and enhance today's server blade computing solutions.

AMIBIOS8 and AMI's IPMI management firmware supplies server blade designers and manufacturers -- especially those relying on a Modular Communications Platform approach based on the ATCA (Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture) standard--with a winning software solution, added Shankar. AMI's experience in server BIOS, coupled with its value-add management solution based on the IPMI 2.0 standard, helps designers and manufacturers reduce time to market and enhance system's reliability, serviceability and availability (RAS).

Because the AMIBIOS8 modular structure enables platform designers to combine server and mobile building blocks and different Northbridge and Southbridge models, AMI is able to provide flexibility and scalability to blade system builders. Key AMIBIOS8 features include:

• VeB (Visual eBIOS) graphical user environment for ease of development.
• Complete server silicon support (AMD, Intel, ServerWorks and VIA).
• Increased performance and faster time-to-market.

AMI's complete solution for Platform Management based on the IPMI 2.0 specification, includes several building blocks:

• MegaRAC PM Baseboard Management Controller (BMC).
• IPMI v2.0 Firmware Stack.
• Unified Management Server (UMS) Software.
• AMIBIOS8 IPMI eModule.

AMI's firmware solutions for IPMI provide system health monitoring, policy-based failure recovery capabilities, logging and alerting, identification of failed hardware units, text console redirection, RMCP+ support, firmware firewall capability and enhanced IPMI functionality. While each of the building blocks can be utilized separately, the complete AMI solution enables advanced features like BIOS/firmware flashing.

AMI offers server blades a value-add with its KVM over IP technology found in its MegaRAC K1 zero-U, digital KVM over IP solution and its MegaRAC G3 remote management controller.

"KVM over IP technology is something almost every blade vendor is looking for right now," said Michael Patellis, AMI national sales manager. "Our new MegaRAC technologies on display at the Server Blade Summit allow server blade manufactures to easily implement KVM over IP into their blade server solution for optimal user benefits."