Compaq AlphaServer GS140 Getting Started page 11

With logical partitioning, you can divide computing resources into as many as
three distinct partitions. Partitioning can be used for a variety of reasons,
including:
•
Consolidation of several different computing requirements into one
hardware system, thereby reducing floor space requirements, power
consumption, and air conditioning costs. Figure 1–2 shows an example of
how an enterprise whose computing needs are met by three different
systems can accomplish the same work with one system using logical
partitions. Logical partitions can be used to run different applications that
require different configuration and tuning of the operating system.
•
Increasing the efficiency of an existing system. For example, a facility may
have one particularly I/O intensive (or compute intensive) application and a
variety of other applications without such demands. With partitioning, you
can allocate the resources needed to provide the two separate environments
required. More I/O (or CPU) modules can be allocated to the I/O (or
compute) intensive application and the other applications limited to a
smaller set of resources, and both environments run at the same time.
Introduction 1-3