(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Driven by industry demands of infrastructure performance and efficiency, Hewlett-Packard’s (www.hp.com) latest line of servers, storage, software and networking products has been built to work together to form scalable computing spaces. In November 2009, HP unveiled the ProLiant BL2x220c G6 blade, the HP Cluster Platform 3000SL, and the ProLiant SL165z G6 server, which integrate with each other and with existing IT infrastructure to dramatically increase server density, and give customers more value from their physical data center space.
“The goal here was strengthening our portfolio for highly dense compute environments,” said Chris Christianopoulos, ProLiant and BladeSystem business development manager at HP. True to this goal, the latest addition to the HP ProLiant G6 server portfolio, the BL2x220c includes two blade severs in the physical space of one. It has 33 percent higher memory capacity than the previous generation and delivers excellent energy efficiency and industry-leading blade server performance per watt.
“We launched the BL2x220c G6 blade, [which] is really an evolution from the previous generation,” says Christianopolis. “It’s the only server product in the marketplace that’s really a collection of two server blades that are integrated into one. so if we look at a C7000 blade chassis, it typically supports 16 half-height blades with the 2×220, we’ve taken two blades and combined them into a single half-height blade, so in essence, doubling the density or the server footprint within that infrastructure, within that enclosure.”
Likewise, the HP Cluster Platform 3000SL offers double the density of traditional rack servers, as well as improved energy efficiency with shared power and fans. HP’s Cluster Platform solutions are available in high-performance-computing-optimized configurations, and with the SL series, up to 78 nodes can be integrated into a single cabinet solution.
The first AMD processor based HP ProLiant SL server, the HP ProLiant SL165z G6 lowers power consumption by 18 percent and costs by 10 percent, according to tests, and is optimized for applications needing large amounts of memory. Two independent HP ProLiant SL165z Servers, which sport two AMD sockets and 16 DDR2 DIMM sockets, can go into a 2U HP ProLiant z6000 G6 chassis, offering a low-profile, highly dense configuration.
HP introduced its Extreme Scale-Out (or ExSO) portfolio in June, designed to reduce customers’ total cost of ownership and increase data center capacity. The new offerings build on this vision, offering optimization for Web 2.0, cloud and high-performance computing environments, and adding “skinless” server technology, which lets customers implement products like the HP ProLiant SL165z on a system architecture “built on a lightweight rail and tray design,” reducing capital, facilities and shipping costs, according to Christianopolis.
“The ExSO portfolio was created to meet the demanding needs of scale-out as well as high-performance computing customers that require highly efficient and powerful computing infrastructures,” HP scalable computing and infrastructure marketing director Steve Cumings said. “We will continue to add to this portfolio, delivering innovative solutions based on our deep understanding of scale-out data centers and enabling our customers to gain more value from their infrastructure.”
