How to Choose a Non-x86 Blade Server?

When it comes to blades, there is a plethora of x86 options. In contrast, on the non-x86 side there are far fewer choices. Dell and Fujitsu don't offer any at all, for example. A range of possibilities remains, however.

HP's Non-x86 Blades

HP (NYSE:HPQ) has three servers to offer on its Integrity platform using the Intel Itanium 9100 series processor. The Integrity BL860c has up to 48 GB of memory. Pricing starts at $3,847. This two-socket, full-height blade server is designed to support mission-critical application demands for HP-UX and OpenVMS operating environments, in addition to Linux and Windows.

The Integrity BL870c is a four-socket blade that uses the high-performance HP zx2 chip set. It has up to 192 GB of memory and a starting price of $8,000.

"The HP Integrity BL860c and BL870c server blades can coexist with ProLiant server blades and StorageWorks storage blades within the HP BladeSystem c-Class enclosure," said Michael McNerney, server planning and marketing director, HP Business Critical Systems. "The BL870c is ideal for server or database consolidation, very large database applications, ERP, CRM, diverse workload application and business integration applications."

Integrity systems include features and capabilities, such as:

Virtual Server Environment (VSE) software creates virtual servers that can automatically grow and shrink based on service-level objectives set for each application they host to improve server utilization in real-time. This shrinks the time involved in data center management.

Serviceguard software delivers high availability and disaster recovery over long distances in physical and virtual environments.

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