IBM

Q3 2011 IDC Worldwide – Steady as She Goes

Posted by on December 1, 2011 at 12:01 pm

Hot off the presses is the latest IDC worldwide server market revenue report for Q3 2011. The gist of the report is that while some of the numbers are slightly adjusted, really not much has changed in the blade server market. Revenue growth for the entire server market (all servers, not just blade servers) slowed considerably [...]

What´s the Break-even point to choose Blade Servers?

Posted by on September 5, 2011 at 8:18 am

People are always asking me: “how many blades I have to put in a chassis to make it worth?” My answer is always: “It depends!” . There is no magical number.

HP Enclosure Promotion Follow-Up

Posted by on August 18, 2011 at 10:18 am

Not long ago it was reported that IBM was having a promotion to receive a free blade enclosure if you are a first time customer and the chassis in question is eligible. Details can be found in the following links:

Will the New VMware vSphere 5 Licensing Affect Blade Vendors? (PART 2)

Posted by on August 8, 2011 at 4:00 am

Since my last post, I heard lots of rumors that VMware would make some changes in their new licensing model. Well, this week VMware made an official announcement of changes and posted here. VMware made very clear that all the changes were motivated by the feedbacks they have received:

A Look at Intel’s Cloud Builders Initiative

Posted by on August 3, 2011 at 9:47 am

In case you haven’t heard, “cloud” discussions are here to stay and everyone has their own recommendations for you to start building your cloud environment, but which is best for you?  Intel has created the “Intel® Cloud Builders” program aimed at making it easier for you to build, enhance and operate cloud infrastructure.

Another Free Chassis Offering – Is Cisco Driving These Offers?

Posted by on August 1, 2011 at 8:29 am

I was recently on one of those calls from HP “checking in”. If you are an HP customer you may know these calls start off with something like “We know you spent money on HP last quarter so how many people from this company will have to pester you until you buy more stuff from us?” One of the [...]

Will the New VMware vSphere 5 Licensing Affect Blade Vendors?

Posted by on July 20, 2011 at 9:43 am

As you no doubt heard by now, VMware has announced a new version of vSphere along with some new or improved features however, this post will not highlight these features.  In this post, I want to talk about what did not improve – the licensing. 

Blade Chassis I/O Diagrams

Posted by on July 15, 2011 at 3:38 pm

Many people get confused as to why so many I/O modules are needed within a given blade chassis.  The basic concept is simple (in most cases) – for each port you need on a given blade server, you need to have a corresponding I/O module.  For example, if you need 4 NICs, you’re going to need [...]

IBM Offers FREE Blade Chassis Through December (No Purchase Required)

Posted by on July 13, 2011 at 9:40 am

IBM once again is promoting is striving to increase market share by offering customers the chance to get a “free” IBM BladeCenter chassis.   The last time they promoted a free chassis was in November, so this year they kicked in the promo effective July 5, 2011.  The promotion is for a free chassis – without any purchase, however [...]

Comprehensive List of Blade Server Web Site Links

Posted by on June 20, 2011 at 8:56 am

If you are like me, you are constantly referring to manufacture web sites for product specs, available options, etc.  Today, I’ve put together a list of web sites that will help streamline your search.  Since links change and new ones get added, I’ve put out a “helpful links” tab at the top of my blog [...]