Product guide

A highly-affordable, ultradense, uniprocessor server for edge-of-network and Web-based
computing in space-constrained environments
Please see the Legal Information section for important notices and information.
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Product Guide
September 2011
IBM System x3250 M4
Product Overview
CONTENTS
Product Overview
1
Selling Features
1
Key Features
3
Key Options
8
x3250 M4 Images
9
x3250 M4 Specifications 1
0
The Bottom Line 1
3
Server Comparison Chart
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For More Information 1
5
Legal Information 1
5
Value-priced performance, capacity and availability
Suggested uses: Retail/kiosks, and SMBs, looking for file and printer servers, Web serving,
small business infrastructure, and virtual desktops for small workgroups.
Budgets are tight and you need to reduce IT infrastructure expenses and save space without
sacrificing performance or quality. The single-socket IBM
®
System x3250 M4, incorporating
IBM X-Architecture
®
features, is a cost-efficient, edge-of-network solution to that dilemma. It
supports, at the high end, the latest quad-core Intel
®
Xeon
®
E3 series processors, designed
with speedy 1333MHz memory access, 8MB of L3 cache, and multithreading, to help provide
the computing power you need to match your business needs and growth. For lower
processing speed requirements, there are also models featuring dual-core Core
®
i3 and
Pentium
®
processors with 3MB of L3 cache. All models are designed with an integrated
memory controller for greatly improved memory performance (up to 1333MHz access),. In
addition, the x3250 M4 uses industry-standard DDR3 ECC (Error Checking and Correcting)
memory—for high performance and reliability.
All models offer impressive scalability, including up to 32GB of memory and up to two 3.5-inch
simple-swap enterprise-class SATA II hard disk drives with a total capacity of up to 6TB
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, or
up to four 2.5-inch simple-swap enterprise-class SAS hard disk drives with a total capacity of
up to 2.4TB, available via the configure-to-order (CTO) process.
IBM ServeRAID
®
C100 for IBM system x provides RAID-0/1 support for internal SATA HDDs.
For data backup, the x3250 M4 supports external tape drives or an internal 3.5-inch DDS-6
tape drive or RDX Removable Disk Cartridge drive.
The x3250 M4 is compliant with 80 PLUS
®
standards, demonstrating exceptional energy
efficiency.
Standard in the x3250 M4 is the Integrated Management Module version 2 (IMM2) that
enables the user to manage and control the server easily. The IMM2 offers a high level of
manageability that is designed to keep costs down and the system up—even when network
usage increases. Industry-standard IPMI 2.0 support includes highly secure remote power
control and Serial over LAN, as well as text-console redirect over LAN.
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is an evolutionary leap over legacy BIOS. UEFI
provides a more intuitive user interface and understandable event logs and better
management. This high level of manageability is designed to keep costs down and the system
up—even when network usage increases.
With the inclusion of unique IBM service and support features such as IBM Systems Director,
and IBM ServerGuide
™
, the x3250 M4 is designed for superior uptime.
If you need single-socket, quad- or dual-core computing price/performance and vast internal
storage in a budget rack package, the x3250 M4 is the ideal system.
Selling Features
Price/Performance
The x3250 M4 offers numerous features to boost performance and reduce product and
operating costs:
• Models with a quad-core Xeon processor, high-end 1333MHz memory access, and 8MB of
L3 cache, offer peak performance, capable of tackling the toughest jobs.
• Models containing a high-performance dual-core Core i3 processor, with high-end
1333MHz memory access and 3MB of L3 cache, offer superior performance at an
aggressive price.
• Energy-efficient 20-65W processors draw less power and produce less waste heat than
high-wattage processors, thus helping to reduce your energy costs.
• Ultra-fast 1333MHz DDR3 ECC memory offers high speed and high availability.
• High-speed PCIe adapter slots offers investment protection by supporting high-
1
GB equals 1,000,000,000 bytes and TB equals 1,000,000,000,000 bytes when referring to hard disk drive capacity. Accessible
capacity may be less.
®