AlphaServer is a series of

server computer In computing, a server is a piece of computer hardware or software ( computer program) that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called " clients". This architecture is called the client–server model. Servers can provide var ...

s, produced from 1994 onwards by

Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president unt ...

, and later by

Compaq Compaq Computer Corporation (sometimes abbreviated to CQ prior to a 2007 rebranding) was an American information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced ...

and HP. AlphaServers were based on the

DEC Alpha Alpha (original name Alpha AXP) is a 64-bit reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Alpha was designed to replace 32-bit VAX complex instruction set computers ...

64-bit In computer architecture, 64-bit Integer (computer science), integers, memory addresses, or other Data (computing), data units are those that are 64 bits wide. Also, 64-bit central processing unit, CPUs and arithmetic logic unit, ALUs are those ...

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...

. Supported

operating systems An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also inc ...

for AlphaServers are

Tru64 UNIX Tru64 UNIX is a discontinued 64-bit UNIX operating system for the Alpha instruction set architecture (ISA), currently owned by Hewlett-Packard (HP). Previously, Tru64 UNIX was a product of Compaq, and before that, Digital Equipment Corporation ( ...

(formerly Digital UNIX),

OpenVMS OpenVMS, often referred to as just VMS, is a multi-user, multiprocessing and virtual memory-based operating system. It is designed to support time-sharing, batch processing, transaction processing and workstation applications. Customers using Ope ...

, MEDITECH MAGIC and

Windows NT Windows NT is a proprietary graphical operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems sc ...

(on earlier systems, with AlphaBIOS

ARC ARC may refer to: Business * Aircraft Radio Corporation, a major avionics manufacturer from the 1920s to the '50s * Airlines Reporting Corporation, an airline-owned company that provides ticket distribution, reporting, and settlement services * ...

firmware), while enthusiasts have provided alternative operating systems such as

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

NetBSD NetBSD is a free and open-source Unix operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). It was the first open-source BSD descendant officially released after 386BSD was forked. It continues to be actively developed and is a ...

OpenBSD OpenBSD is a security-focused, free and open-source, Unix-like operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). Theo de Raadt created OpenBSD in 1995 by forking NetBSD 1.0. According to the website, the OpenBSD project em ...

and

FreeBSD FreeBSD is a free and open-source Unix-like operating system descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), which was based on Research Unix. The first version of FreeBSD was released in 1993. In 2005, FreeBSD was the most popular ...

. The Alpha processor was also used in a line of

workstations A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...

AlphaStation AlphaStation is the name given to a series of computer workstations, produced from 1994 onwards by Digital Equipment Corporation, and later by Compaq and HP. As the name suggests, the AlphaStations were based on the DEC Alpha 64-bit microproce ...

. Some AlphaServer models were rebadged in white enclosures as Digital Servers for the Windows NT server market. These so-called "white box" models comprised the following: * Digital Server 3300/3305: rebadged AlphaServer 800 * Digital Server 5300/5305: rebadged AlphaServer 1200 * Digital Server 7300/7305/7310: rebadged AlphaServer 4100 As part of the roadmap to phase out Alpha-, MIPS- and

PA-RISC PA-RISC is an instruction set architecture (ISA) developed by Hewlett-Packard. As the name implies, it is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) architecture, where the PA stands for Precision Architecture. The design is also referred to as ...

-based systems in favor of Itanium-based systems at HP, the most recent AlphaServer systems reached their end of general availability on 27 April 2007. The availability of upgrades and options was discontinued on 25 April 2008, approximately one year after the systems were discontinued. Support for the most recent AlphaServer systems, the DS15A, DS25, ES45, ES47, ES80 and GS1280 is being provided by HP Services as of 2008. These systems are scheduled to reach end of support sometime during 2012, although HP has stated that this event may be delayed.

Models

In approximate chronological order, the following AlphaServer models were produced:

Avanti Family

Sable Family

The AlphaServer 2100 was briefly sold as the Digital 2100 before the AlphaServer brand was introduced.

Mikasa Family

Noritake Family

Rawhide Family

Turbolaser Family

Lynx Family

Tsunami Family

Titan Family

Wildfire Family

AlphaServer SC

The AlphaServer SC was a

supercomputer A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...

constructed from a set of individual DS20L, ES40 or ES45 servers (called "nodes") mounted in racks. Every node was connected to every other node using a

Quadrics In mathematics, a quadric or quadric surface (quadric hypersurface in higher dimensions), is a generalization of conic sections (ellipses, parabolas, and hyperbolas). It is a hypersurface (of dimension ''D'') in a -dimensional space, and it is de ...

elan3 interconnect and the systems were designed and used primarily for high-performance technical computing. An AlphaServer SC45 supercomputer was still ranked #6 in the world as late as November 2004.

Marvel Family

The AlphaServer GS1280 originally supported a maximum of 16 microprocessors. In October 2003, the number of microprocessors supported was increased to 64 and the supported memory capacity was doubled to 8 GB per microprocessor.

References

External links

HP AlphaServer range
* ''DIGITAL Product Catalogue Winter 1997'', Digital Equipment International, 1997.

ttps://web.archive.org/web/20200304104749/https://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-news/press-release.html?id=172340 At archive.orgHP Press Release (2003-01-20).
HP AlphaServer ES47/ES80/GS1280 User Information Version 3.0 (at archive.org)

About NetBSD/alpha

Debian Alpha system types
{{Compaq DEC computers Advanced RISC Computing Computer-related introductions in 1994 64-bit computers Compaq Alpha-based computers