Today Dell announced a new server architecture that combines characteristics of both rack servers and blade servers into a new architecture, known as PowerEdge FX. Today I’ll give you a first look into the platform. First off – according to Dell’s Product Development team, this platform was not designed to replace Dell’s blade server portfolio. Instead it was created to help bridge the gap between blade servers and rack servers. As you look at this new infrastructure, you may ask is it really a “blade server?” I’ve always claimed if it shared power, cooling and networking, it’s a “blade server” however I’ll let you form your own opinion. Continue reading
Tag Archives: blade server
Choosing the Right Memory for Your Blade Server
With the advancement of CPU architecture, identifying the best options for memory within your server has become more challenging. Should you use a single DIMM or does multiple DIMMs make a difference? What about memory speed – does it really matter? Should you buy single rank (SR), dual rank (DR) or quad rank (QR) DIMMs. I’m not going to pretend to be a memory expert, but hopefully I will help answer these questions in today’s post. Continue reading
Introducing the Cisco UCS B200 M4 Blade Server
With today’s announcement of the Intel E5-2600 v3, Cisco announced the UCS B200 M4 Blade Server. Here’s a quick overview of it.
HP Announces the BladeSystem BL460c Gen 9
Today HP announced their next 2 socket blade server based on the Intel Xeon E5-2600 v3 CPU, the BL460c Gen 9. Here’s a quick summary of it.
Intel Announces the Xeon E5-2600 v3 CPU
Today Intel announced the next generation of their x86 CPU, the Xeon E5-2600 v3. The specific CPU models being offered vary by server vendor, so here’s a summary of what the new CPU will provide.
A First Look at the Dell PowerEdge M630
The PowerEdge M630, Dell’s newest blade server based on the Intel Xeon E5-2600 v3 was announced today. Although specifics haven’t been officially posted on Dell’s website, a video releasing some highlights of the newest member to the PowerEdge family was found on YouTube by Gartner Analyst, @Daniel_Bowers, so here is a quick look at it.
IDC Worldwide Server Tracker – Q2 2014 Released
The Q2 2014 IDC Worldwide Server Tracker was released on August 26, 2014 and it reported that the demand for x86 servers improved in 2Q14 with revenues increasing 7.8% year over year in the quarter to $9.8 billion worldwide as unit shipments increased 1.5% to 2.2 million servers. HP led the market with 29.6% revenue share based on 7.4% revenue growth over 2Q13. Dell retained second place, securing 21.2% revenue share.
The Secret to How Cisco Took the #1 Blade Server Spot
IDC and Cisco confirmed this week that Cisco has taken the #1 x86 blade server spot in North America for Q1 in 2014 with 40% revenue market share according to a recent CRN report. This is quite an accomplishment especially since Cisco has only been reporting their numbers for 3 years. So you might wonder – what is the secret to Cisco’s success? I have a few ideas (right or wrong) that might shed some light on why Cisco is having success in their blade server business.
IDC Reports Worldwide Blade Server Market Revenues Increase in Q4 2013
IDC came out with their Q4 2013 worldwide server market revenue report on February 27, 2014. Unfortunately I missed the announcement due to email issues, so I’ve decided to streamline things and summarize the report.
Intel E5-4600 v2 CPU Announced
Intel announced the refresh of their 4 socket E5 line taking the CPU up to 12 cores, and 30MB of shared cache and supporting memory speeds up to 1866 MTS DDR3 DIMMs.
I’ve updated the current blade server comparison list to include the E5-4600 v2 offering:
Direct link to PDF (117kb): BladesMadeSimple_Blade_Server_Comparison_3.12.14
If you see anything missing or incorrect, let me know.
Kevin Houston is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of BladesMadeSimple.com. He has over 17 years of experience in the x86 server marketplace. Since 1997 Kevin has worked at several resellers in the Atlanta area, and has a vast array of competitive x86 server knowledge and certifications as well as an in-depth understanding of VMware and Citrix virtualization. Kevin works for Dell as a Server Sales Engineer covering the Global Enterprise market.
Disclaimer: The views presented in this blog are personal views and may or may not reflect any of the contributors’ employer’s positions. Furthermore, the content is not reviewed, approved or published by any employer.