Meets rigorus challenges however requires fair amount invesment
I believe that blade servers have become popular building blocks for enabling converged data centers – and, they also have their own idiosyncrasies.
Blade solutions provide increased server density, better power and cooling efficiency and more flexible management functions when compared with standalone servers. They require a fair bit of investment, which is why they aren’t a good choice if you only need to deploy a couple of servers.
I have personally built and used numerous server types and brands. I’ve deployed them in land based facilities across the globe and on occasion even aboard ship – which is a huge challenge in itself.
In my line of work speed is critical to mission success and it’s extremely important that equipment be easy to install, compatible with the existing environment… simply put expeditionary.
The one brand that has consistently met the rigorous challenges of global deployment and mastered the most demanding workloads has been the IBM power blade solutions.
IBM blade solutions save you time and trouble. Here's how:
•Unlike other vendors, IBM deliver power blades and chassis preassembled. You don't spend hours installing processors, memory and drives.
•You can rack an entire integrated chassis in the time it takes to rack a traditional 1U rack server.
•When you need to add additional blade servers, they slide right in.
•IBM’s BladeCenter® family technology ties Media Access Control (MAC) and World Wide Name (WWN) addresses to blade slots — not to servers or switch ports — so reconfiguring your setup is as simple as sliding a blade out of a slot and replacing it with another.
And when needed, their flexible deployment services put IBM expertise and manpower at your fingertips.
Moving beyond conventional server technology to a fresh approach at solving customer problems IBM, recently announced a new family of solutions called PureSystems. IBM calls this an “expert integrated solution”; it fits within the converged infrastructure environment.
While IBM offers competitive blade server and chassis offerings, it’s almost certain that “PureSystems” will lead the charged toward the converged infrastructure market; that’s my opinion.
*Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.