Author Archives: Kevin Houston

About Kevin Houston

Founder of BladesMadeSimple.com. Blade server evangelist.

Blade Server Comparison – September 2018

With the recent release of the Dell EMC PowerEdge MX blade servers, I realized it’s been a year since I’ve updated my blade server comparison chart.  Below is an updated chart to help guide you to the best blade server for your project.  (REVISED December 2018 – fixed drive count on Dell EMC PowerEdge MX servers.  Thanks to Mike Browning for catching it after this many months!)

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New Study Compares Networking Capabilities of Blade Server Solutions

An independent testing company, Principled Technologies, recently released a study that compared the networking capabilities of Dell EMC PowerEdge MX, HPE Synergy and Cisco UCS using VMware vMotion.  Their findings:

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A Look Under the Covers of the PowerEdge MX7000 Chassis

VMworld 2018 opened with Dell EMC revealing the PowerEdge MX architecture to the public.  The show floor included the full chassis along with a plexiglass version providing a behind the scenes view into the guts of the MX7000 chassis.  I was able to grab a few pictures, but they don’t do it justice.  I encourage you to stop by the Dell EMC booth (next to AMD and in front of the basketball court) and see it if you are attending VMworld. Continue reading

A First Look at the Dell EMC PowerEdge MX

After teasing the public at Dell Technologies World, Dell EMC has finally released details of its next generation modular architecture – the PowerEdge MX.  This generation of modular has something that gives you investment protection for years to come.  In this post, you’ll get a good overview of Dell EMC’s new blade server architecture, so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy this first look. Continue reading

Don’t Move to the Cloud Before You Read This

If you are looking at moving workloads to the cloud – you should stop and read this first.  Deploying an on-premises private cloud built on blade servers could save some major time and offer cost savings.  Of course, there are use cases where public cloud makes sense, and others where having an on-premise solution makes sense.  Here is one of those cases.

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This Server Technology Is a Game Changer so You Better Be Ready

As I’m talking with customers about rack or blade servers, I always start with industry trends.  I make sure they understand the things to be aware of with Intel Xeon SP processors, what’s new with AMD EPYC processors, NVMe drives and I wrap it up discussing Storage Class Memory  If you aren’t familiar with Storage Class Memory, you better start learning about it, because it is a game changer. Continue reading

Looking for Topics

I need your help. I try to post something each month to keep the site fresh, but I’m struggling for useable content in this period where no new blade server products are being announced. If you have content or ideas that you’d like to see, please let me know via email, Twitter or comments below.

Thanks for your continued support.

Dell EMC Introduces the PowerEdge MX

This week Dell EMC launched a teaser video of the PowerEdge MX.  The video’s intent is to act as a “teaser” for more information that will be rolling out over the next few weeks when it will be announced at Dell EMC World Dell Technologies World  in late April.  Unfortunately I can’t reveal more than the video shows, however if you want to learn more, please reach out to your Dell EMC rep and schedule a meeting. Continue reading