HP's Flashing Blades Gain Switch Support

June 16th, 2006: Hewlett Packard's latest c-Class BladeSystem chassis has already garnered support from Cisco and Nortel Network's spin-off Blade Network Technologies (BNT).

BNT's Layer 2 switch, the HP GbE2c Ethernet Blade Switch, has 16 internal Gigabit Ethernet connections, with five external Gigabit Ethernet ports. It is web and terminal port manageable, and can be upgraded via software to provide Layer 3 routing capabilities. The module also provides RADIUS authentication.

Cisco's Catalyst Blade Switch 3020, is has connectivity for 16 blades in an HP BladeSystem c-Class via the backplane. It comes with eight, 10/100/1000Base-T, Layer 2 external Gigabit Ethernet connections; four fiber-based optical SFP (Small Form-factor Pluggable) module slots are also included. Management is via Cisco's command-line IOS interface.

This, is all good news for the industry veteran, as Hewlett Packard ends what it claims to be a three-year development cycle with the launch of the BladeSystem c-Class.

HPs is being bullish stating that the c-Class is, "breakthrough blade architecture that can save customers millions of dollars as they build out their data centres". The point is pushed home in three areas:
Virtualization
Power and cooling
System management.

The 'V' word stands at the top of the list, but does not refer to server virtualisation. Instead, HP is aiming at the technicians who spend their time tracing cables much as their predecessors were doing 40 years ago. According the HP, its Virtual Connect Architecture, "Solves networking complexity challenges by enabling customers to wire just once… server administrators can manage resources on the fly via virtualized Ethernet and Fibre Channel connections. "

The claims don't stop there, with HP eager to stress benefits other than simplifying the 'cable monkey's' life. "The virtualization is coupled with the industry's fastest midplane and five terabits per second of aggregate throughput. This combination provides years of headroom for the most demanding environments and support connectivity options for leading network brands," the product release states, albeit leaving the number of years to the imagination.

In addition, HP BladeSystem c-Class and StorageWorks Storage Area Networks (SANs) simplify IT consolidation by integrating the server-to-storage interface. The new HP BladeSystem 4Gb/s Fibre Channel SAN (Storage Area Network) switches and the industry's first redundant, embedded 4Gb/s Fibre Channel HBA (Host Bus Adaptor) reduce the cost of SAN connectivity to HP BladeSystem by more than 40 percent while providing highly available, redundant connection to existing SANs. The switches also reduce the number of Fibre Channel cables required by up to 60 percent, says HP.

The power and cooling element, however, does strike at the kind of territory that virtualising and consolidating existing servers can't. With power costs rising, and with server virtualisation ready to cut vast swathes through the profitability of server hardware, HP's claims that its 'Active Cool Fans', will cut airflow by 30% and energy consumption by 50% compared to traditional fans, could ensure that its battle with IBM in the Blade market is a closely fought one.

Will virtualisation kill the hardware market? Comment here.

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