IBM, Microsoft, and Intel have teamed to produce what they say will be the first server cluster configured to hold more than 100 terabytes of data. According to IBM, the jointly marketed system will also be the world's fastest server cluster for commercial use -- triple the performance of a Sun Microsystems cluster running Oracle software.

The server cluster includes Netfinity servers with Intel Pentium III Xeon processors, IBM DB2 Universal Database, and Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server operating system. IBM says the Netfinity's memory, number of processors supported, and number of slots for add-on components make the cluster faster. The server cluster delivers 440,879 transactions per minute, according to IBM. The cluster is aimed at companies with data-intensive services, such as business-to-business E-commerce and enterprise resource planning processes.

The server cluster is expected to ship in December. A 32-node cluster will list at $13 million.