If you are wondering what is new about BladesMadeSimple.com besides my recent announcement – the answer is the site’s look.  Hopefully you will find the new look easier to navigate than the previous theme, but if you find any issues, please let me know at bladesmadesimple AT gmail.com.

Change is coming to BladesMadeSimple.com.  I created this site out of my passion for the blade server technology in late 2009.  Over the years, I have worked toward creating a site that can be a repository for blade server news and information.  The site has been my hobby and I have put hours of effort into creating content without receiving a single penny from outside advertising (although I have been on several invitation-only blogger events.) One of the things I worked hard for was to be a neutral voice, not leaning toward any one hardware vendor, but that’s where the change is coming. I have been in the “technology reseller” role industry since 1997 where I have had to be knowledgeable on everything from PCs to printers to software to enterprise servers for all the Tier 1 vendors.  As you can imagine, having to be expert on all of those areas takes its toll over the years, so I decided to make a change in my career and get out of the reseller world.  On Monday, August 15, I will be moving to Dell as a server specialist (aka Next Generation Data Center Specialist) supporting Global 500 customer accounts on the East coast of the U.S.  This role exposes me to some of the biggest data center environments in the world and it lets me narrow my focus to allow me to promote Dell.  This is a huge opportunity for me, but it obviously also impacts this site.  

Over the past couple of years, I’ve seen my site traffic increase to over 140,000 views this year with an average of 900 views a day – the highest being over 2600 views.  I tell you all that, not to brag, but to show there is a need for this site.  Now that I’ve taken a job with Dell, it is a conflict of interest for me to promote HP, IBM or Cisco technologies – but I’ve planned for this.  One of the first changes that I’ve made is to incorporate new blood.  If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve seen my requests for help with the writing of the blog.  I’m happy to say that I have had four people ask to help out; two of which have already started writing: 

Thales Osterne  -  has over six years in the IT field with four years of experience in IBM BladeCenter and System X.  When he is not blogging, Thales works as a product manager for IBM System X & Bladecenter at Lanlink Informatica, a major business partner in Brazil.  He is fluent in Portuguese and English.  http://bladesmadesimple.com/author/thales-osterne/

Chris Fricke -  in his day job is a Systems Architect for Clackamas County in Oregon and an HP customer.  The opinions expressed in his writings do not ncessarily reflect those of BladesMadeSimple or Chris’ employer.  Follow Chris on Twitter @sysgeekguy. http://bladesmadesimple.com/author/chris-fricke/

The goal is for the new writers to provide content for the site, without any prejudice toward one vendor.  I will maintain ownership of the site and will moderate and oversee the writings to ensure they write about content relative to the site and insure the site doesn’t turn into a bashing ground toward any one vendor.  I will also continue blogging, but my posts will be specific to new Dell products or will be vendor neutral articles. 

This site will live on.  I appreciate each and every person who has read this blog or provided comments and feedback.  The site was created for you, so I hope you will continue reading and supporting BladesMadeSimple.com.

-Kevin Houston

Are you passionate about technology?  Do you stay up to date on what’s new in the x86 marketplace, especially blade servers?  Do you like to work for free?  If so, BladesMadeSimple.com could use you!

In the first half of this year, Blades Made Simple™ has published 40 blog posts that received over 120,000 views across 45,000 unique visitors (THANK YOU!) – all with a single writer, me.  While I love staying on top of what’s going on in the blade server market place, I think it’s time to open the doors and get some help in moving Blades Made Simple™ to the next level.  I’m looking for blog contributors who are passionate about technology and write well (literary expertise not required.)  The only catch is I can’t pay you.  This blog was designed to be a source of education, not profit, so I’m strictly seeking volunteers.

If you are interested in growing BladesMadeSimple.com, please contact me to find out more at bladesmadesimple AT gmail DOT com.

This week HP has its annual event, called HP Discover, in Las Vegas.  Previously this event was focused on hardware only and was called HP Tech Forum, but this year HP combined hardware and software into one uber event, called HP Discover.  If you are familiar with VMware’s VMworld – this event is very similar, only it focuses on HP products.  This is a great marketing event for HP but more importantly, it gives HP customers, partners and press insight into what’s happening with HP.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend HP Discover due to a well-timed, long overdue vacation – and I won’t be updating this blog.  However, I wanted to provide my readers with a source of how you can stay up-to-date with the announcements that HP will be providing during HP Discover.  I figured the best bet would be to provide you with a list of bloggers who will be blogging during the event:

If you are interested in following the HP Discover conference, but aren’t headed to Las Vegas, check out their virtual conference at https://h30406.www3.hp.com/campaigns/2010/events/discover/vegas/index.php

You can also follow the HP Discover conference by following the Twitter hashtag #HPDiscover (http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23hpdiscover).

As a last bit of interest, here are the links to my posts from last year’s HP Tech Forum:

• FIRST LOOK: HP’s New Blade Servers and Converged Switch

• Mark Potter Reveals New HP BladeSystem Products – 6/21/2010 (#hptf)

• New BL465c G7 and BL685c G7 (New Features)

• LEFT BEHIND in The Venetian Casino Data Center (Really!)

• My Interview with HP Vice President of Converged Infrastructure, Doug Oathout

• What Does it Take to Design an HP Blade Server?

I wanted to take time with today’s post to step outside the world of blade servers and say a few words about Memorial Day.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with Memorial Day, it is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May created to commemorate U.S. Service Members who died while in the military service.  Over the past few years, Americans have used Memorial Day to not only remember those servicemen who have lost their lives, but also to remember those who are still serving in the U.S. Military. 

Only a few people know, but I went to college at North Georgia College, a senior military school in the mountains of North Georgia.  Before entering school, I signed up to serve in the Army National Guard‘s 48th Brigade 1/108th Armor Unit for six years.  Little did I know that my National Guard unit was going to be one of the first units activated during my Sophomore year of college for the first conflict, Desert Shield (which later became Desert Storm.)  While we were fortune enough not to be deployed overseas, I spent 3 months of my life as a Army soldier, preparing to support our battle overseas.  I became close friends with dozens of guys who went on to commission as officers in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Today, many of my friends from college are serving as high rank officers in the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force.  They leave their families to spend years fighting for my freedom as an American, knowing that each day could be their last.  So, today I want to take time to thank those United States soldiers who are currently serving in the U.S. Military as well as those thousands of Americans who have given their lives over the years.  Thank you!  You are our heroes.

It’s no surprise, but one of the chip manufacturers will be releasing their next generation of multi-socket CPUs Tuesday.  As expected, at least one vendor will be announcing on the same day some blade announcements.  SO – check back here on Tuesday (mid-day) to find out what’s new.

(no this isn’t an April Fool’s joke)

  Over the past several years, I’ve run across some things that the blade manufacturer’s won’t easily tell you.  Today, I reveal some of those secrets.

#1 Anything that Goes Inside the Chassis Assumes the Chassis Warranty – if you buy a new Ethernet switch 2 years into a 3 year hardware warranty, it only has 1 year of warranty once you place it inside the chassis.  On the flip side, if you install a previously owned switch it will gain 1 year of warranty.  There are some exceptions to this rule.  For example, HP requires a separate hardware warranty for their BladeSystem fibre switches.

#2 Using Non-OEM Memory (RAM) Will NOT Void the Warranty – in the event that you have a server issue that needs work, the manufacturer will still work on the server, but they may require that you remove the non-OEM memory or replace it with OEM memory prior to work. 

#3 Power Calculators Often Have a 10-20% Uplift Factored In - most of the blade manufacturers offer power calculators, so if you find yourself coming close to the maximum recommended power, you’re probably okay (however use this information at your own risk – don’t come back to me if you fry your system.)

#4 Some Blade Servers Can Be Upgraded to New Processor Technology – prior to the Intel Xeon 5500, the CPU blade server motherboards were very similar.  It is possible, in some cases, to take a first generation blade server and put a fifth generation CPU inside.  I won’t say it will work with any manufacture blades, but it works with some…

#5 Service Requests Can Be Escalated Easily At Any Time – if you aren’t happy with the support you are getting, simply ask to escalate the ticket to the Support Manager on Duty.  Nine times out of ten you will happily get escalated. 

What do you think – am I right, am I wrong?  Are there others to add to the list?  If so, let me know in the comments below.

I’m deviating from the norm today to ask you a question: what’s your problem?  I ask not in a sarcastic way, but in a serious way.  Writing about blade servers is fun, but I’m looking to write up some posts on what problems blade servers, or x86 servers in general, help solve – and I’m looking for your feedback.  Of course, I could rely on the marketing that vendors provide on how they can “increase your ROI” or “reduce your TCO”, but I want REAL issues from you, the reader, and not a bunch of corporate buzz words.

What I’m looking for is to find out what business issues YOU are trying to solve in your day-to-day business.   Whether your issues involve servers, storage  or even virtualization I would like to know.  There are no wrong answers – I’m just looking for REAL answers from REAL people experiencing REAL problems.  Please leave a comment below and let me know, what’s your problem?

I continuously find myself re-visiting the same links to find additional information regarding blade servers, so I finally came up with a revolution: why not consolidate the links and put them on my site?    Introducing a new addition to my blog – the “Helpful Links” page.  Located at the top of every page, the Helpful Links page is designed to be a single stop shop for the best links related to blade servers.  My goal is to continue to update this page, so if you have links you want to see, or if something is broken, please let me know.  This is YOUR site.  I built this site for you, so in the words of Jerry Maguire, “Help me, help you.”    Thanks for your continued support.

Go to Helpful Links Section »

The Washington Post has a nice article today from Logan G. Harbaugh of PC World about blade servers. In the article, Logan takes the discussion of blade servers back to the basics. The piece covers the pro’s and con’s of blade servers as well as some good comparisons between blade and rack servers.

While I don’t agree with all of his statements, it is a good read so I encourage you to take 5 minutes and check it out.

Here is the link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/02/AR2010090200060.html