Svelte system: IBM T210 flat-panel display and IntelliStation R Pro workstation

With the introduction of two new products, IBM hopes to clear up some room on the financial trading floor, where a lot of high-end computing hardware often is crammed into very little space. The new 1-GHz IntelliStation R Pro workstation slides into a server rack, which lets you place multiple machines in a small storage area. The new IBM T210 flat-panel display offers a 2,048-by-1,536 resolution screen without taking up much desk space.

Location, location, location
"Financial institutions are located on very expensive real estate," says Tom Martin, director of marketing for IBM monitors. "In the heart of New York, London, and Tokyo, they're always trying to fit more traders into their trading environments." But the typical trader needs much more than a small PC and a 15-inch monitor. He or she needs a high-end workstation capable of heavy calculation and multiple monitors capable of displaying multiple windows of data. "The typical setup includes at least four, if not six or even eight monitors and a big computing box," says Larry Tabb, vice president of securities and investments practice at Tower Group, a research and advisory firm. "They really need a tremendous amount of information at their fingertips." With the IntelliStation R Pro, IBM hopes to move workstations completely off the trading floor. The device can hold up to two 1-GHz Pentium III processors, and up to 4GB of SDRAM, yet it fits into a small rack space, measuring 1.75-inches high by 19-inches wide. cont'd from previous page

"With a standard 42U rack," says John Olin, worldwide product manager for the IntelliStation R Pro, "you could actually store 33 of these units, all the power distribution equipment, and other ancillary devices you'd need." This type of rack would ideally sit in a remote storage area, and IT managers would use KVM (keyboard video mouse) extenders and Category 5 cable to connect computers to keyboards, monitors, and mice on the trading-room floor.

Coming soon
The Matrox G200 card in the IntelliStation R Pro includes four output heads, which can attach to four different monitors. There is also an integrated TV tuner, allowing television feeds to the monitors. IBM envisions the system being used in tandem with the T210, which has a resolution nearly four times that of the average flat-panel display, but takes up far less space than a 21-inch CRT monitor.

IBM hasn't finalized pricing for the two new products, but the IntelliStation R Pro will sell for an estimated US$4,500 to US$5,000, and the T210 will go for about US$6,000. The IntelliStation R Pro is expected to ship in April, and the T210 is expected to ship a month later in the US.

Both items are currently not available in the Asia-Pacific.