HP introduces world’s first two-in-one server blade

HP has announced the world’s first two-in-one server blade, offering its customers with scale-out environments improved data center performance, reduced floor space and lower power usage.

The company says businesses with cloud computing, web 2.0 and high-performance computing (HPC) deployments have data centers with hundreds to thousands of servers, multi-petabyte levels of storage capacity and massive performance needs. These “scale-out” environments require increased performance, lower energy consumption, improved cooling techniques and a need to maximize existing data center floor space.

To address these needs, the HP ProLiant BL2x220c G5 combines two independent servers in a single blade, enabling customers to double compute power and reduce data center space requirements. It delivers 60 percent better performance per watt than similar configurations and minimizes cooling and power costs.

HP has created a dedicated set of resources, expertise and development efforts called the “Scalable Computing and Infrastructure” business unit to build solutions designed for scale-out customers. The BL2x220c joins the recently announced HP StorageWorks 9100 Extreme Data Storage System (ExDS9100) in addressing the scale-out market. The ExDS91000 is a highly scalable storage system designed to simplify the management of multiple petabytes of data at an affordable cost, making it ideal for online and digital media businesses.

The BL2x220c is the industry’s first server blade to offer more than three times the density of traditional 1U rack-mount servers. Additionally, the new server blade uses HP’s management and configuration tools, which help drive down costs and mitigate risk.