Bladewatch.com

http://www.btob.co.nz/cms/blogs/the_it_report/2010/11/benefits_of_blade_servers_for_smbs.php

Following the Origin IT Breakfast Seminar on the history/development/evolution of mobile devices this week, it was remarkable to see just how quickly what were enormous, cumbersome devices just a few decades ago are now sleek, tiny, pocket or clasp-sized marvels of future technology.

Huge brick phones have streamlined into wallet-sized miniature computers. The tablet device can now perform many if not all the tasks a bulky desktop performed a few years back.

The same thing has happened with countless other devices and inevitably the same thing has also happened to small business servers. Enter the Blade – the blade server. What is it? It is a variation of the rack server, just a significant amount smaller. Its key advantage is that it offers a lot more power squeezed into a much smaller space, therefore companies with large business servers are starting to spread into blade servers as part of their IT strategy.

It’s always interesting to see what people write about in the blade space, do check it out. I remain a fan of the blade format for a number of reasons, energy efficiency, speed of deployment and simple things like hardware support, do check it out.

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http://www.advertisertalk.com/fujitsu-adds-versatility-to-primergy-cloud-extension-server-portfolio-17436.zhtml

Fujitsu today introduces globally the PRIMERGY CX122 S1, the first new addition to its portfolio of dual-socket cloud server nodes for the PRIMERGY CX1000 Cloud eXtension Server, the platform for cloud computing, high performance computing (HPC) and large scale-out computing server farms. In addition, Fujitsu launches its new PRIMERGY CX1000 Efficiency Assessment Service, an optimization service exploiting simulation software to deliver valuable qualitative information . The new service is initially available in Central Europe, Middle East, Africa and India.

The PRIMERGY CX122 S1 is designed for optimum versatility, to meet the challenging customer requirements placed on cloud server nodes, while matching a broad range of server profiles and enabling more advanced workload scenarios. In doing so, the new server node offers cost savings, energy efficiency, compute density and saved space, all achieved by using the Cool-Central™ architecture from the PRIMERGY CX1000 as an innovative x86 server platform with horizontal scaling for large companies and their cloud, hosting or HPC strategies for data centers.

Several vendors have been adapting systems and releasing new systems or solutions with the cloud space in mind, crucial factors being scalability, ease of system management and energy efficiency, and it’s interesting to see Fujitsu bring their offering to market, I wonder if these systems might also meet existing requirements in the general server space, an extension of the midrange scalable platform? We’ll have to see, I’m off to read up more.

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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/scientific-and-academic-institutions-accelerate-research-initiatives-with-hp-supercomputers-2010-11-16?reflink=MW_news_stmp

NEW ORLEANS, Nov 16, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — HP today announced that HP ProLiant servers have accelerated critical research for three leading scientific institutions, enabling them to satisfy unprecedented computational demands at lower cost and with optimal power efficiency.

Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and MD Anderson Cancer Center looked to HP for high-performance servers to help speed their scientific and medical achievements while advancing to top spots on the TOP500 list of the world’s largest supercomputing installations.

An article talking about HP’s aiding research for these institutions acting as an enabler to the research whilst reducing operational costs and improving energy efficiency. It’s amazing the progress that has been made even in the last few years if we consider both the improvements in the component power performance and the range of tools and configurations that can be used to provide an energy efficient yet high performance platform (relative to previous generation systems). Do check out the article, it’s interesting to see the range of systems chosen to deliver the stated results, it mentions both their storage and SL390 G7 servers.

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http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/dell-joins-modular-data-centre-movement-14248

Dell has joined the list of vendors making modular data centres, as a way of giving customers quick solutions to a need for more efficient facilities for their servers.

Dell’s modular data uentre units, made in its Texas factory,  can be built with one or two rows of servers and storage. Various modules are also available for customised cooling system and UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) architecture.

According to Dell, the MDC shortens deployment time for data capacity by shifting the racking and testing of servers from the customer premises to the manufacturer. The units can be placed indoors or outdoors, and users can add extra units for further expansion.

An interesting article talking about Dell’s expansion into the modular data center space, do check out the youtube video for more information, anything the vendors can do to help IT meet the business needs has to be a good thing for the end user community and the marketplace alike, I’ll need to read up more about this announcement to see their value proposition.

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http://servers.cbronline.com/news/boston-limited-launches-superflex-blade-server-for-enterprise-computing_171110

Combines Intel Xenon 5600 with NVIDIA Tesla 2050 and 2070 GPU for computational performance

Boston Limited, a distribution partner for Silicon Valley-based Super Micro Computer, has launched its new blade server offering Boston SuperFlex Blade, a hybrid parallel compute processing power for technical and enterprise computing.

SuperFlex Blade platforms offer flexibility for Blade Servers by providing 2 x PCI-Express x 16 expansion slots per blade with support for dual full-length and double-height expansion cards.

The SuperFlex Blade is used for hybrid computing and also suitable for the applications requiring high-speed and high-density processing with maximised GPU and CPU compute performance, the company said.

This system is suitable for most resource computing as it has been optimised with two independent, high-bandwidth, low-latency onboard QDR InfiniBand controllers standard.

First of all it’s great to here about Boston Limited bringing their new blade to market, it’s always interesting to see what each new vendor or service provider can bring to the end user community and the market place alike. The more choice we have, the more innovation and chances that we can find the right product and solution for my business, it’s great to see the blades feature expansion cards for further expansion or connectivity. I’m off to read up more about them.

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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dell-technology-helps-cern-expand-high-performance-computing-access-to-new-research-studies-2010-11-16?reflink=MW_news_stmp

NEW ORLEANS, Nov 16, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — To help scientists and researchers explore and understand new discoveries, Dell announced today the high-performance computing (HPC) program for CERN’s ATLAS experiment is expanding to all Large Hadron Collider (LHC) research experiments.

The expanded LHC program will be powered by Dell PowerEdge HPC technologies and give scientists and researchers access to the tools and technologies needed to conduct their research. This expansion will provide computing resources to more than 400 universities and laboratories across the worldwide LHC community.

It’s always interesting to see the different vendors getting involved with the scientific communities, what they are bringing in terms of opportunities, experience and what platforms or solutions are being deployed. I’m off to read up more, I wonder if this covers everything from the client through to server/storage and cloud services? We’ll have to see.

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http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101123005362/en/ScaleMP-HP-DL580-G7-Deliver-Record-Breaking-SMP

CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ScaleMP, a leading provider of virtualization solutions for high-end computing, today announced that ScaleMP vSMP Foundation 3.5 is now available for HP ProLiant DL580 G7, part of HP’s GL7 server series. Together, vSMP Foundation 3.5 and HP ProLiant DL580 G7 enable customers to choose the right balance of processing power and memory capacity for their specific workloads, and the flexibility to scale up virtual systems as workload needs change. vSMP Foundation also delivers the ability to create the largest x86 shared-memory systems on the market.

“vSMP Foundation and HP support for up to 512 sockets – 4,096 cores – and 64TB RAM delivers record-breaking virtual SMP capabilities to users,” said Shai Fultheim, founder and CEO of ScaleMP. “This solution offers a modular SMP, starting with eight sockets, in a ‘pay-as-you-grow’ scheme with unparalleled RAS capabilities.”

I spoke with the guys over at ScaleMP sometime ago, they had a unique offering within the virtualization space, and this announcement is interesting in showing what can be achieved with the right combination of hardware and software to provide an impressive infrastructure to meet the business need both in terms of capacity and scalability. An interesting read, do check it out, and if you haven’t looked at ScaleMP in the virtualization space, do have a look, it’s always good to understand the options in the marketplace both and how they might work for you and your business.

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http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=22034

The 8000m² complex applies advanced energy efficiency technology and biometric security systems and delivers savings of approximately 20% on in-house operational data centre costs, says Fujitsu.

Andy Weir, chief information officer of Bankwest says the bank will consolidate and migrate all of its critical systems into the new facility over the next 12-18 months.

Data center consolidation combined with virtualization continue to be vehicles for cost reduction or also as a way of doing more with less. Regardless ensuring that your data center meets your operational (cooling/power distribution etc) and compliance requirements is an ongoing topic for discussion, lights out, remote hands options, facilities to increase capacity or load all come in to play.

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I was at the pub the other night talking with colleagues about work, when one of the guys started talking about the various hardware monitoring tools he was upgrading, at this point I took the opportunity to ask him what his key wants were from them. It was interesting because he works with four different vendors’ servers, he was in the process of re-installing their free hardware monitoring tools, something he does periodically to ensure that the hardware is monitored and stay at the latest version for all the functionality and to stay “in support”.

So what was he after?:

1. The ability to upload basically a list of host names in text format with no spaces, no commas, and no ip – “we use dns, if it can look up one server, why can’t it look up the 150 that I need to upload without specifying the ip address or being in a specific format”
2. Access the database directly with a degree of documentation (not to change settings) but to take the hardware status, for example all the red servers or the one showing failure on the team wiki – the idea being that when the engineers are looking at documentation or publishing our morning status results that can be on screen as a reminder and ensure that calls are logged against them.
3. Features to allow the customer view, through customizing and importing server lists/names into groups for example Front Office or Tier 1 systems without having to go through manually within the tool selecting servers one at a time.

I suspect though this creates a challenge, the free tool needs to be functional enough to perform its role, whilst at the same time not growing beyond it’s means and leading to end users asking more from it than was additionally intended. Nonetheless it’s often the little things that can mean the difference between it being used on a day to day basis, an integral part of the support function, a product differentiation tool, and a so and so version of….

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http://www.platform.com/press-releases/2010/platform-computing-makes-hpc-in-the-cloud-a-reality

• Through its cloud computing solutions, Platform Computing helps improve utilization and resource capacity while helping organizations avoid the costs and delays of large capital purchases.  The company offers three separate paths for HPC users to dynamically scale resources to handle peak workload necessary for HPC applications:

• Solution 1: Integrated Cluster with the Cloud (Platform LSF) – Uses Platform LSF’s dynamic host capabilities along with a cloud service, such as the Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), to provide cloud resources that appear to operate within the HPC datacenter (local IP addresses, host names, etc.).  Platform LSF recognizes outside cloud services as valid resources and integrates the resources into the HPC infrastructure.  Workloads can then be sent to the cloud portion of the HPC infrastructure to run applications as designated by policy or on a job-by-job basis.
• Solution 2: Multi-Cluster to the Cloud (Platform LSF with Platform MultiCluster) – Allows users to start up a new cluster in any cloud or hosting provider environment without a dedicated link such as Amazon VPC.  Used in conjunction with Platform LSF, Platform MultiCluster enables users to distribute workloads between internal HPC clusters and external cloud resources, according to policy.
• Solution 3: Dynamic Cluster Extension to the Cloud (Platform LSF with Platform ISF) –  Combined with Platform LSF, Platform ISF creates a powerful and flexible cloud management solution that dynamically scales clusters to include resources within the data center infrastructure or externally to a cloud provider based on the application workload.  Platform ISF includes resource kits to manage physical or virtual servers, multiple operating systems, virtual machines and cloud resources.

It will be interesting to see what applications can benefit from these concepts and services, anything Platform and other vendors can do to meet business requirements, whether through enhancing the ability to scale up or right size the infrastructure on-demand has to be a good thing. I’m off to check out more.

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