For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: Blade Server Systems, Q2 2009

HP And IBM Lead, With Dell And Sun Close Behind

by James Staten, May 28, 2009

In Forrester's 44-criteria evaluation of blade server system vendors, we found that HP and IBM lead the pack because of the maturity and breadth of their offerings. Dell is a Leader as well that debuted a greatly improved new chassis in 2008 and is building . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Cisco's Big Blade Server Bet

Cisco Moves To Become A Complete IT Infrastructure Supplier

by Galen Schreck, James Staten, March 16, 2009

After months of rumors, Cisco officially entered the server business with a modular system it calls the "Unified Computing System." This blade server system goes one step beyond its predecessors by starting from a unified network foundation on 10 gigabit . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

IBM's New BladeCenter Kicks Off Industry Upgrade

New BladeCenter H Offers Higher Performance And Legacy Compatibility

by Richard Fichera, June 1, 2006

In September 2005, Forrester predicted a wave of new blade server product introductions in 2006 as existing designs from Hewlett-Packard and IBM approach the five-year mark. IBM's BladeCenter H kicks off the 2006 wave with huge input/output (I/O) performance . . .

Egenera Strengthens With Fujitsu Siemens Deal

OEM Partnership For EMEA Will Ease Customer Concerns — For A While

by Richard Fichera, Frank E. Gillett, October 20, 2005

Egenera, an emerging blade server systems vendor, has struggled for recognition in a server market dominated by global systems vendors like Dell, HP, and IBM. Now, with the announcement of a $300 million OEM contract with Fujitsu Siemens Computers to . . .

Blade Servers — 2005 Update

Broadened Portfolio And Improved Modularity Offer More Options

by Richard Fichera, September 29, 2005

In 2003 and 2004, blade servers — which offer higher density and lower management and systems integration costs than conventional servers — went mainstream. Vendors initially pushed dense, low-power network edge blades but have since shifted focus to . . .

RLX Exits Hardware To Pursue Software

A Risky But Rational Accommodation To Dell's Blade Market Entry

by Richard Fichera, January 18, 2005

Despite its early entry and smart moves in catering to selective niches, the rapid maturation of the blade hardware business has forced pioneer RLX Technologies to radically change its business model. Last month, RLX announced that it would exit the hardware . . .

Dell Tries To Carve Off A Piece Of The Blade Market

New Blades Are Fully Competitive With HP's and IBM's

by Richard Fichera, November 23, 2004

Dell has been essentially a nonplayer in the blade server segment, with its first-generation product, uncharacteristically for Dell, sadly mismatched with market requirements. For the past six months, Dell's competitors have been waiting for Dell to drop . . .

Blade Servers Evolving To A Mainstream Technology

by Richard Fichera, September 22, 2004

Blade servers, highly modular servers offering three to 10 times the density of conventional servers, along with substantial improvements in management cost and systems integration cost, represent an important new infrastructure element for the enterprise . . .

IBM Sharpens Blades

Switch Enhancements Answer User Integration Concerns

by Richard Fichera, August 19, 2004

IBM's recent enhancements to its BladeCenter Ethernet and Fibre Channel capabilities go far beyond any incremental tracking of Intel's road map in enhancing the usability and acceptance of BladeCenter. These enhancements, consisting of optional internal . . .

Blade PCs: HP Dives In; Competitors Watch

A Forrester VC Vista

by Imogen Harris, June 25, 2004

Blade PCs are seeing increased interest since HP entered the market with its CCI product offering. Other tier one PC vendors are observing from the sidelines, content to watch the market potential grow before considering a move through acquisition. Although . . .

Blade PCs Have Dramatic Implications for Desktop Management

by David Friedlander, February 2, 2004

IBM Announces Four-Way SMP Blades

by Richard Fichera, January 13, 2004

We strongly recommend that IBM customers engaged in major infrastructure re-engineering projects consider adding the HS40 to their architectures for their four-way system requirements.

HP's Blade PC: Heating Up The Thin-Client Market

by Simon Yates, David Friedlander, Galen Schreck, Angela Tseng, December 22, 2003

Blade PC technology will change the economics of desktop computing. HP and Citrix - strong partners in server-based computing today - risk becoming competitors. Meanwhile, IBM and Dell are waiting in the wings to bring economies of scale to the thin-client . . .

Executive Q&A: Blade Servers

by Galen Schreck, Charles Rutstein, Natalie Lambert, September 24, 2003

The server industry is in a blade frenzy, and vendors have been quick to connect blades with the utility computing hype. But will blades really pay off for customers who don't need high-density racks of servers? Yes - eventually.

A Day on Wall Street — Infrastructure Modernization and the Perils of Blades

by Richard Fichera, August 25, 2003

A recent day spent meeting with senior IT management and technology teams in six major investment banks gave us some interesting insights into the top-of-mind issues in some of the top-tier institutions on Wall Street.

Pioneers Revisited — Catching Up With Egenera and RLX

by Richard Fichera, June 5, 2003

RLX and Egenera, the surviving pioneers of the blade server market, have evolved into two radically different companies and technologies, both with an apparent niche among the much larger players, and both on a positive trajectory.

Blade Servers Update: Part 2 — Vendor Offerings

February 20, 2003

The industry has matured, with vendor offerings converging on several clearly identifiable streams of products, and vendors beginning to differentiate themselves along lines of embedded connectivity.

Blade Servers Update: Part 1 — Technology Choices and Segmentation

February 20, 2003

All IT architects and planners should immediately consider bladed servers for specific new applications where they are a technical fit and as a standard element for future designs.

Sun Introduces Blades: Strong Offering for Sun Customers

February 15, 2003

The combination of blades and ancillary hardware, plus N1, is a strong positive message for Sun´s customer base. There are major benefits for large edge Solaris installations with just the blades, and more to be had for the incremental investment in N1.

Sun N1: Virtual Provisioning of Blades Delivers Real Value

February 15, 2003

Sun users with large numbers of small SPARC servers should immediately evaluate both Sun´s blades and its N1 product in combination. For large complex environments savings could be enough to provide a one-year payback.

Sun's N1 Blade Platform: A Good Organic IT Start

by Frank E. Gillett, Charles Rutstein, Frank Pandolfe, February 11, 2003

Sun yesterday launched a blade platform that consists of SPARC and x86 blades, plus storage, provisioning software, and services. Together these new offerings enable Organic IT efficiency in a blade-centric solution. It's a good answer for those buying . . .

Sun Goes Organic With N1

by Frank E. Gillett, Galen Schreck, Charles Rutstein, September 19, 2002

Sun today publicly launched its N1 architecture and two N1 products: a virtualization server and new features for blade servers. It's a smart move that shows that the vendor is making a massive bet on the next big thing in infrastructure - Organic IT.

Criteria for Selection: Bladed and Modular Servers

by Richard Fichera, July 31, 2002

Eventually, we expect the categories to begin to blend, but today they are still distinct, largely distinguished by the greater degree of flexibility and accompanying higher cost of the modular servers compared to bladed servers.

HP Taking Steps Toward Larger-Scale Server Blades

by Adria Ferguson, July 31, 2002

The ability to use larger-scale applications in a server blade infrastructure will help improve the demand for blades and will allow companies to extend the benefits of centralized management and improved cabling to the IT infrastructure.

IBM Blade Center — High-End Enterprise Blades

by Richard Fichera, June 17, 2002

IBM's server blades are the highest-performance dual-CPU blades announced to date by a major vendor. They are targeted at the mid-tier of the enterprise application stack, as opposed to the low-power edge services.