Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2004/03/11/ibm_woos_smbs_with_new/

IBM woos SMBs with new servers

Serial ATA made easy

By Ashlee Vance

Posted in On-Prem, 11th March 2004 20:47 GMT

IBM continues to go after the small business market with a pair of new low-cost servers.

IBM is shipping the x206 and x306 servers equipped with Intel's Pentium 4 processor. Customers will likely use the single processor x206 tower system for file and print and email functions. The thinner single processor x306 rack system is intended for Web serving, firewall and VPN (virtual private network) tasks. The new servers fit into IBM's Express line of hardware and software that offers lower-end technology to SMB customers at a cut rate price.

While the new systems don't have all the bells and whistles of higher-end IBM gear, they do come with some features that should appeal to customers with small IT budgets. Both boxes ship with "simple-swap" Serial ATA drives. This lets a user rip out an existing drive without using a screwdriver to take the equipment apart.

The x206 starts at $499, while the x306 starts at $1,339. Both systems support up to 8GB of memory. ®