IBM to Offer Blades to SMBs?

May 29, 2007: IBM is planning to tailor a line of its Blade servers to suit SMBs, cutting chassis size while retaining all the benefits enterprises enjoy.

While the company has not divulged any concreted details of the new offering, Techworld reports that BladeCenter product manager Scott Tease hinted that the servers will come in sever-slot chassis configurations as opposed to the usual fourteen-slot deals offered to enterprises.

Currently IBM only sells its BladeCenters to large enterprises looking for significant installations. By targeting a line of Blades at SMBs, the company says that smaller companies can gain the same benefits as enterprises at lower prices and while retaining single-person management of IT infrastructure.

It also says that SMBs would need fewer blade slots and that a half-sized box would be more appropriate. In other words, he hinted that a seven-slot chassis could be what a new product offers. The new Blades will make use of the same servers and modules as enterprise Blades, enabling SMBs to also take advantage of the same management and connectivity options available to enterprises.

The use of standardised infrastructure also ensures that IBM’s upgrade path will relatively simple and cost effective for SMBs, extremely important when it comes to battling established sector competitors such as HP.

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