Dell to embed Xen hypervisor in PowerEdge servers
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HP has moment of Xen as well Citrix Systems has wrangled Dell as the first Tier 1 server vendor to embed the Xen hypervisor in its x86 servers.â¦
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Host Depot announced today that they are launching a new next generation dedicated server offering. The new products will be powered by Dells' new PowerEdge(TM) server line.
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IBM is looking to get a leg up on the competition with the October 15 launch of eServer 326, a rack-mounted server that supports AMD&#39;s upcoming dual-core 64-bit processor.
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Lenovo announced its intent to jump into the server business by licensing x86 server technology from IBM, helping extend its product offerings to SMBs.Under the agreement, Lenovo will manufacture one- and two-way x86 servers based on IBM&#39;s System x technology, which Lenovo will distribute under its own brand name.The servers will add to Lenovo&#39;s corporate product lineup that includes ThinkPad laptops and Think workstations. The company also distributes IdeaPad notebooks for the consumer market.This will be a new business for Lenovo as the company does not sell servers outside China, said Ray Gorman, executive director of external communications at Lenovo. Lenovo will start distributing the servers worldwide within the next year.IBM will continue to distribute System x servers under its own brand name, said Tim Breuer, an IBM spokesman. IBM is not worried about competition from Lenovo, Breuer said, adding that the deal would in fact boost IBM&#39;s licensing and financing business.Lenovo also has an excellent reach to companies with less than 500 employees, so the deal will be a natural extension of IBM&#39;s server distribution channel, Breuer said. It will give IBM a better reach to SMB customers globally, Breuer said.The companies have been partners since Lenovo bought IBM&#39;s PC business in 2004 for $1.25 billion.Lenovo will compete with HP and Dell in the global x86 server market, which grew at a clip of 9.5 percent in the third quarter of 2007, according to numbers from analyst firm Gartner. HP was the top vendor with a 30 percent market share, followed by Dell and IBM.
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Pursuing enterprise departments and smaller businesses, Oracle and Dell Computer are offering a package featuring a Dell PowerEdge server bundled with the Oracle Database10g Standard Edition One database and the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system.
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Dell is back in the blade server ring with the introduction of its PowerEdge 1855 blade servers. The company is hoping to prove to customers that its new blades have significant cost savings and performance
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Virtual Virtage IDF Hitachi will continue carving out its own place in the virtualization market with a Xeon-based blade server that includes a built-in hypervisor.â¦
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A virtualization option will be available for the systems, which are based on 1.5- or 1.6-GHz Power5 processors. By Darrell Dunn. IBM on Monday introduced a new line of Linux servers intended to compete with
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Dell has belatedly joined its competitors in offering own-design blade servers with the launch in Paris on Monday afternoon of the PowerEdge 1855.
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Dell Inc. is asking users what kind of Linux OS and hardware configuration they'd want on laptops and desktops if the company opts to offer hardware running Linux.
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(InfoWorld) - Like other adopters of server virtualization, Purdue University was concerned that its datacenter would hit the wall, exceeding physical space, power, and cooling limits. The use of EMC VMware let it combine 140 physical servers into three Hewlett-Packard DL-585 servers, a 40:1 compression ratio, says Mike Rubesch, director of IT infrastructure systems. "It helps postpone the inevitable," he adds. But the first servers chosen had very low utilization -- around 5 percent -- so the 40:1 rate is not sustainable. Over time, Rubesch expects the ratio to be 6:1, taking into account such servers as e-mail, database, and telephony that cannot be virtualized. That utilization rate will still reduce overall power usage to 16 percent of what it had been and physical space needs to a tenth, as the use of blade servers plus virtualization greatly reduces the physical footprint. Facilities costs should fall by $75,000 per year and hardware costs by $250,000 per year, he says. But organizations considering the use of virtualization need to be careful calculating costs, Rubesch cautions. If you have fewer than 10 virtual server instances running on a physical VMware server, virtualization becomes "extraordinarily expensive," he says. IT managers must also be careful not to factor in too much savings for the operating systems and applications running in virtual machines, Rubesch says. Many IT managers count on being able to run multiple instances of an OS or an app on one CPU, paying for just one license, because most enterprise apps are licensed on a per-CPU basis. But vendors are starting to charge per instance, not per CPU. For example, BEA now charges per instance rather than per CPU for its WebLogic server, and Microsoft Windows Server Enterprise Edition's license allows use on one physical server and as many as four VMs on that server. As virtualization grows more popular, you can expect the licensing savings to evaporate, so the investment should be based on savings elsewhere, such as in hardware and facilities efficiencies, Rubesch says. The use of VMs also increases your risk, because "you can put a lot of eggs in one basket," Rubesch says. But because you've reduced the number of points of failure, IT staff has more capability to focus on those critical areas, he notes. Rubesch is building sufficient capacity so that no single server is fully utilized, providing space for EMC's VMotion software to move VMs if a physical server fails. He's also keeping a spare physical server ready to go if needed. Using virtualization also incurs a high up-front cost. "The benefits aren't immediate," Rubesch says. A big reason is that to use the EMC VMotion utility to move server instances to other physical servers for better load-balancing or failover requires that all the hardware use the same CPU family, requiring a big hardware cost at each refresh cycle. "You need to sell that concept a little bit," he says dryly. Beyond the hardware costs, the use of virtualization makes the server environment more complicated, as "servers" can reside anywhere and change where they reside over time. As a result, "you need more skills," Rubesch says. For example, although a good Windows administrator will easily adapt to running virtualized Windows servers, you still need a dedicated person to handle such items as dynamic allocation and failover, he says. Of course, you can also use virtualization to simplify your environment, Rubesch notes, such as having standard server images that ensure consistency -- ending the nightmare of navigating the peculiarities specific to each hand-deployed physical server. "It's a lot simpler with VMs to have them nearly identical." Despite the caveats on understanding actual savings and the increased up-front costs, Rubesch is a big fan of server virtualization: "You get real benefit from it -- as long as you plan ahead." Virtualization special report Case study: Credit Suisse Case study: Nationwide Insurance Case study: Stonebridge Bank Case study: Transplace
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(InfoWorld) - Dell Inc. is reaching out to small businesses worldwide with five new servers that it says perform better, consume less power and are easier to set up and manage than their predecessors. The new servers -- Dell PowerEdge 1900, 860, 840, SC1430 and SC440 -- feature dual-core Intel Corp. Xeon processors, which allow them to run multiple applications like file serving, e-mail and databases. They also come pre-installed with software like Microsoft Corp.'s Small Business Server R2 and with management tools to simplify their operation and administration, Dell officials said during a conference call on Wednesday. Small businesses typically lack the in-house IT resources of larger companies, so they prefer hardware that requires minimal tuning and maintenance. "Small business owners want affordable technology products that are easy to deploy, manage and support," said Frank Muehleman, vice president of Dell's U.S. Small Business division. There are about 6.2 million small businesses in the U.S. and they are expected to spend about US$98 billion in IT products and services this year, said Laurie McCabe, an analyst with AMI Research who participated in the call. "They are increasingly relying on IT and the Internet to help them run and manage their businesses," she said. Megan Duckett, owner of theatrical drapery manufacturer Sew What Inc. in Los Angeles, beta tested the PowerEdge 860 and found it to be "impressive in performance" and "very reliable" in supporting the company's 11-PC network, she said during the call. She plans to use it to host her company's Web site in house. The new servers, which are available worldwide, are also aimed at remote offices of large companies. The PowerEdge 1900 is a dual-socket tower server featuring dual-core Intel Xeon 5100 series processors, and is optimized for database, messaging, file and print sharing and remote location deployments, said Jay Parker, director of Dell's PowerEdge servers. It starts at US$1,399. He described the PowerEdge 840 as a "general-purpose tower server" with Intel Xeon 3000 series processors. It is designed for remote offices, retail stores and small businesses, and starts at $749. The PowerEdge 860 is a 1U rack-mountable server with dual-core Intel Xeon 3000 series processors. Starting at $949, it is intended for edge-of-the-network, infrastructure or Web applications. The PowerEdge SC440 is an entry-level tower server with dual-core Intel Xeon 3000 series processors, and can be used for file and print sharing in a small business setting or in a small workgroup, as well as for e-mail, Web or standard applications. It starts at $599. Finally, the PowerEdge SC1430, starting at $1,049, features dual-core Intel Xeon 5100 series processors and is ideal for file and print sharing, e-mail messaging and small Web server applications. Every server ships with the Dell Server Assistant, a CD-ROM for setting up and configuring the PowerEdge system components and software. Dell has been in a slump for months. Its financial results for the first six months of the year have been disappointing. It had to recall millions of defective laptop batteries because they can overheat and catch fire. Moreover, it is being investigated by both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York for possible accounting and financial reporting irregularities. Â
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Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD:NYSE - news - research) took a joyride Friday as news circulated that server giant Dell (DELL:Nasdaq - news - research) may adopt AMD&#39;s server chip.
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Dell on Monday&#160;added a new series of blade products to its PowerEdge server line, expanding its presence in a market dominated by rivals IBM and Hewlett-Packard.The PowerEdge M-Series of blades includes the fastest-performing and most power-efficient blade servers the company has, said Mike Roberts, senior product planning manager for Dell.The PowerEdge M1000E, a 10U enclosure, will support the new Intel-based PowerEdge M600 and Advanced Micro Devices-based PowerEdge M605 blade servers, also announced Monday.The M1000E enclosure supports a range of network connectivity options, including modules for Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and InfiniBand connectivity. The enclosure allows customers to upgrade or stack up on network hardware to boost networking speed.The PowerEdge M600 blade server is a dual-socket server that supports up to two quad-core Intel Xeon processors, including processors in the Xeon 5400 series running at up to 3.16GHz. The dual-socket PowerEdge M605 servers support dual-core Opteron 2000 series processors running at up to 3GHz. Both blades support Windows Server 2003 and Linux OSes.Targeted at data centers, the PowerEdge M1000E enclosure is priced at $5,999, and the blades start at $1,849. The products will be available worldwide starting Monday.Dell&#39;s OpenManage systems management technology, which will be bundled with the blades, includes energy management tools. Capabilities include real-time power reporting and the ability to set power usage by blade.Power efficiency in blade servers is an important consideration for those looking to upgrade data centers, said Richard Doherty, cofounder and director of Envisioneering Group. Energy costs have become a big factor in considering hardware for data centers, and companies are taking a closer look at reducing their carbon footprints, Doherty said.&quot;Going greener can be a reason for an upgrade,&quot; Doherty said.The new blade server gives Dell an opportunity to catch up with HP and IBM blade products, especially in small data centers, Doherty said. Dell&#39;s PowerEdge M-Series will compete with IBM&#39;s BladeCenter H and HP&#39;s BladeSystem c-Class blades.In addition, the new blade servers will need strong management tools in order to succeed, Doherty said. Dell in the past has announced service and support initiatives that haven&#39;t panned out, and the company&#39;s OpenManage system management tools are not as strong as autonomic computing offerings from HP and IBM, Doherty said.System management is a big concern for data centers, and customers are looking for the ability to manage systems without the need for additional IT engineers, Doherty said.
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PowerEdge gets its Energy Smarts Dell today entered the green data center wars with a pair of PowerEdge servers tweaked for improved performance per watt.â¦
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At SC2004 show, Dell and HP plan to unveil servers that can be networked into a single high-performance technical computer.
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Dell will roll out a line of servers preconfigured with Microsoft's SQL Server database.