Eching, Germany — Thanks to the new PCI Express Butterfly backplane, the Kontron industrial silent server (KISS) 2U may be flexibly and cost-efficiently equipped with up to four PCI Express x4 cards and one PCI Express x16 (PEG) card. Based on a PICMG 1.3 CPU board, the processor performance is also flexibly scalable at any time.

The highly integrated and thus space-saving 2U industrial server is especially suited for complex visualisation and image-processing tasks that require the independent operation of up to eight high-definition monitors or the integration of four PCI Express x4 frame grabber cards for machine vision or video surveillance.

The high-performance industry server is designed particularly for applications in control rooms and operation centers of energy suppliers, rail companies, or airports. Additional applications are found in infotainment and digital signage on trains and airplanes as well as in the gaming industry as a central computer for multiple gaming machines. The high bandwidth of up to 8GB/s also enables graphic-intensive simulations for weather forecasting, digital mock-ups, or virtual reality for operator training.

By integrating compute unified device architecture (CUDA)-compliant graphics cards, the Kontron KISS 2U PCIe can act as a compact supercomputer (with around 500 gigaflops), greatly accelerating complex image processing operations through parallel processing. Customers benefit through high-performance graphics and image processing on a single consolidated industrial server in space-saving 2U format.

The Kontron KISS-2U industrial server with compact PICMG 1.3 system host boards (SHB) packs scalable processor performance up to an Intel Core 2 Quad processor and up to 8GB of DDR2 dual-channel RAM. Equipped with the Kontron PCI-760, the long-term available 2U industrial servers offer up to 3GB Ethernet, eight USB 2.0, two RS232C, and HD audio. The integrated Intel GMA 3100 graphics media accelerator provides resolutions up to QXGA (2048px x 1536px) at 75Hz via VGA.

For highest data throughput, an integrated RAID (RAID 0/1/5/10) controller for SATA drives can improve speed and/or data safety. Application-specific extensions are adaptable via a Type IIA miniPCI connector. Specific Kontron extensions are available for LAN, WLAN and SCSI.

With an MTBF of 50,000hr (approx. 5.7 years of continuous operation), the extremely robust and shock-resistant systems ensure the highest availability and lowest maintenance costs. This is also achieved thanks to the integrated Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT) 3.0, which allows for the remote management of the server. Designed for continuous operation, the KISS systems are CE-certified and UL-suitable.

The highly integrated Kontron KISS 2U PCIe supports Linux and the complete Windows desktop and server range including the new Windows 7. It is available direct from the warehouse as a standard configurable system, or it can be further customised as needed and delivered as a tested and independently certified solution. The new Kontron KISS 2U PCIe is available in EMEA now and will be available in North America and APAC at the end of Q1.