KISS-Short: Kontron's Quiet 19-inch / 4U Industrial Server Family with an Installation Depth of Only 300 mm

Robust lead-free servers make room in 19-inch racks

Eching, Germany, December 8, 2005: Kontron Embedded Computers’ ultra-quiet 19-inch 4U industrial server family, KISS (Kontron Industrial Silent Server), is now also available in a Short version, with an installation depth of only 12 inches (300mm). Producing less than 35 dBA, the KISS family is suitable for the most noise-sensitive environments and the KISS-Short leaves roughly one third of the space in a 19” switching cabinet free for cable ducts and dock-ons behind the server.
Despite the reduced installation depth, the layout of KISS servers is particularly flexible: the servers offer from three to eleven PCI expansion slots for I/O assemblies and up to six hard drive connections, three of them RAID with SATA. KISS servers are designed to be lead-free in the future, in accordance with RoHS.
The MTBF of these extremely robust and shock-proof systems is specified at 50,000 hours (≈ 5.7 years of continuous operation) and two hot-swap fans make maintenance simpler. The systems, which will be available for at least five years, are currently available with Intel® Pentium® M processors from 1.3 GHz (Celeron) to 1.8 GHz. Target applications include server applications in the harsh environmental conditions of the processing industry, off-shore, mining, or rail traffic, as well as test & measurement, image processing, and medical technology.

The KISS-Short offers eight USB 2.0 slots (2 accessible from the front), one Gigabit Ethernet port, PS/2 for keyboard and mouse, as well as one serial and one parallel port and audio as standard. There are three 5.25" and two 3.5“ bays, plus one Slimbay slot, all of which are shock-resistant and front-accessible. A further 3.5“ bay is available inside. The housing for the KISS system comes in tower, desktop and 19 inch rackmount versions. There is always a lockable front flap, which offers IP20 protection. The KISS systems will be available for repeat order for at least five years; they are designed for constant operation and are CE certified, and UL suitable.

From January, KISS-Short servers will be available as a standard system directly from the warehouse, or as customized solutions configured as needed, thoroughly tested and independently certified.

How quiet is 35 dBA?
In the standard configuration, KISS systems generate less than 35 dBA and are thus quieter than the recommended values for concentrated work, which should lie between 35 and 45 dBA. In order to understand what a relief this would be for the human ear, one must consider the physical conditions. Below 40 dBA, an increase of 5 dBA is perceived as a doubling of volume (above 40 dBA, an increase of 10 dBA is perceived as twice as loud). In comparison to a device which, for example, maintains the recommended value of 40 dBA throughout, a standard KISS system is thus half as loud.

There are applications for these low-noise and long-term availability industry computers in many areas: in industrial manufacturing control rooms, energy supply or traffic technology, workstations and in switching cabinets in production, at CAD workstations, in testing labs and test stands, but also in hospital ORs and even audio/video editing stations for TV production.