Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Networking
    • PC Hardware

    IBM Rolls Out Blade Roadmap

    By
    Jeff Burt
    -
    February 8, 2006
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      NEW YORK—IBM is planning an aggressive expansion of its blade server offerings that will include additions to its line of Intel-based systems, an upgraded Power blade and a new server running on the new Cell chip.

      IBM officials outlined the product roadmap at an event here on Feb. 8 for about 250 reporters, analysts and customers.

      They also announced here that the Blade.org group, which was first talked about last summer, is now up and running with about 40 initial members.

      The push with the new products, which will roll out over the next few months, is part of IBMs efforts to keep its position in the increasingly competitive blade server space.

      It currently is a two-company race at the top between IBM and Hewlett-Packard, with Dell as a distant third.

      William Zeitler, senior vice president and group executive for IBMs Systems and Technology Group, said IBM holds the lead with about 40 percent market share.

      Analyst firm IDC expects the blade market to grow to $10 billion by 2009, when 20 percent of all servers sold will be blades.

      Key to IBMs new products is the BladeCenter H chassis, which offers up to 10 times as much I/O bandwidth as the current chassis.

      It offers up to four 4X InfiniBand fabrics as well as support for both 10GB Ethernet and 10GB Fibre Channel. There also are up to four high-speed bridge modules.

      A key to the new chassis is that customers can run any current or future blades in it, said Susan Whitney, general manager of IBMs xSeries unit.

      /zimages/4/28571.gifRead more here about IBM outfitting its line of System i5 servers with the new Power5+ processor.

      “Our blades are absolutely compatible from chassis to chassis to chassis,” Whitney said, countering a criticism from competitors leading up to the announcement.

      The new chassis will be available in March.

      IBM also announced new management tools with the chassis.

      The Advanced Management Module, which will be integrated into IBMs Director and Tivoli software, will automate blade management tasks that currently are done manually.

      In addition, Power Executive will enable users to monitor their data center power requirements and use power and cooling as needed.

      “Its about making real-time data center server decisions and putting the data in our hands,” Whitney said.

      In addition, an industry-standard iSCSI connection that will be available in the middle of this year will enable users to integrate their blade servers with System i5s virtual storage, networking and tape resources.

      Next Page: Rising costs.

      Rising Costs

      Bringing such management capabilities is important, as the cost of managing servers grows, Zeitler said.

      Over the past five years, management and operation costs have risen to account for almost 75 percent of the overall cost of a server, he said.

      “Its about simplifying the operational environment in the data center or telecommunications office or in the bank branch,” he said.

      The ease of management of blade servers and overall costs were key factors in convincing Jack Ondeck, senior vice president and CIO for Bristol West Insurance Group, to adopt the technology last year.

      When using traditional stand-alone servers, bringing in a server to run an application meant having to bring in another four or five servers for such functions as backup and disaster recovery.

      That need is less with blades, Ondeck said. A project that might have called for 36 to 48 traditional blades now only needs 12 to 13 blades, he said in an interview before the event.

      Theyre also easier to deploy, needing only to plug them into the chassis, Ondeck said.

      That ease has allowed him to also keep up with the demands of users. By speeding up server deployment by using blades, “we can stay two steps ahead of our customers instead of always running behind,” Ondeck said.

      In addition to the chassis, IBM unveiled a number of blades that will launch during the year.

      Also coming available next month will be the BladeCenter JS21, which will be powered by IBMs dual-core PowerPC 970MP chip.

      The system will offer up to three times the performance and twice the memory of the current JS20, with support for up to 16GB of DDR2 memory.

      It also supports IBMs Advanced Power Virtualization technology within the chip, enabling users to consolidate multiple applications onto a single blade.

      The server can support from one to 10 partitions running both AIX—IBMs Unix variant—and Linux, Whitney said.

      In April, IBM will roll out a new HS20 blade running Intels low-voltage dual-core Xeon chip—code-named “Sossaman”—which will have a power envelope of 31 watts.

      Server density and more powerful processors have increased the costs of power and cooling in data centers, making them factors in making technology decisions for many companies.

      “While the cost of computing has stayed relatively flat, the environmentals around computing have gone up,” said Douglas Balog, vice president of IBMs BladeCenter business.

      Only a few years ago, power and cooling accounted for about 1 percent of overall server ownership, Balog said. That has since risen into the 20 percent range, he said.

      In the third quarter, IBM will introduce a blade powered by two nine-core Cell processors, a chip built in cooperation with Sony and Toshiba.

      Initially viewed as a Power-based chip aimed at game consoles, the Cell blade will offer benefits for users that run compute-intensive graphic applications such as 3D rendering and encryption, Whitney said.

      IBM also announced that Cisco Systems has designed the InfiniBand Switch Module, a 4X switch for high-connectivity, specifically for the BladeCenter platform.

      The switch is four times faster than previous products, IBM officials said. That will be available in the second quarter.

      Blade.org will continue IBMs push to use partners to expand the blade ecosystem, Zeitler said.

      IBM and Intel three years ago created the BladeCenter Alliance to drive standards into the growing blade space.

      Through Blade.org, companies will be able to build applications on top of the servers to create solutions for everything from voice-over-IP to business intelligence.

      Check out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, views and analysis on servers, switches and networking protocols for the enterprise and small businesses.

      Jeff Burt
      Jeffrey Burt has been with eWEEK since 2000, covering an array of areas that includes servers, networking, PCs, processors, converged infrastructure, unified communications and the Internet of things.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×