Expanded automation and virtualisation capabilities

The new features include:
· Capability to integrate Unisys Choreographer cloud management system , which automates provisioning and management of workloads;
· Support for VMware application workloads within the Forward! fabric computing architecture;
· Forward! models based on the newest members of the Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 Family that capitalise on enhancements to the Forward! architecture.

“These latest enhancements demonstrate Unisys’ commitment to making Forward! a premier engine for the hybrid cloud environment,” said Rob Cashman, vice president, Mission-Critical Servers and Solutions, Unisys. “By boosting the power of the platform and enabling support for Choreographer’s automation capabilities, we are giving CIOs extraordinary flexibility to tap exactly the cloud and data-centre resources they need to respond in real time to suddenly emerging business challenges and opportunities.”

Forward! combines industry-standard Intel Xeon processors with Unisys’ secure partitioning (s?Par) software and high-speed interconnect technology in an advanced, software-based fabric architecture linking all computing resources and components. The s-Par software creates a partition with dedicated processing, memory and input/output resources for each application workload, eliminating resource contention and enabling fast, predictable application performance with exceptional security.

New Capabilities Expand CIOs’ Cloud and Data Centre Options
The capability to integrate Unisys Choreographer will enable Forward! users to reduce resource provisioning time by automating management of virtual workloads in data centers and private clouds that use VMware, as well as on the public Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure cloud platforms. Choreographer provides a self-service portal giving users access to a service catalogue tailored to their specific job requirements.

By accommodating VMware workloads, the enhanced Forward! platform gives CIOs great flexibility in deploying applications in a high-speed fabric environment. The applications running in Forward! partitions and those running in VMware virtual machines can interoperate over the high-speed interconnect within the same Forward! fabric, avoiding the data-transfer bottlenecks that can slow down performance in a conventional networked system. Support for VMware on Forward! increases options for data centre consolidation and resource usage while enabling a more secure, predictable application environment.

The new entry-level Forward! Model 1100 uses the “Ivy Bridge” Intel Xeon processor, while the mid-range Models 2120 and 2160 use the new “Haswell” generation. The three new models increase the number of processor cores available by up to 100 per cent over comparable prior Forward! models, and support up to 8, 20 and 30 secure partitions per node, respectively. A single Forward! fabric can accommodate up to 192 partitions, delivering the power and scalability required for the most challenging mission-critical applications.