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 NEWSDell, IBM kick off Battle of the Blades By John Dodge , Bio-IT World November 22, 2002 5:20 am PT IBM WILL OFFICIALLY begin shipping server blades next week, a technology that consolidates servers into a chassis integrating common functions such as management, networking, power supplies, cooling and, in some cases, storage.
Server blades are almost like add-in cards that slide into a chassis, providing basic common functions. In short, they promise more with less -- less power, space, and fewer parts. In IBM's case, the eServer BladeCenter chassis can hold up to 14 dual-processor blades. Six chassis can fit into a server rack, which could house up to 168 processors, or about double what a rack would house if stuffed with traditional "pizza box" servers. "I think we're going to see tremendous growth next year in blades. They're not going to take over [from tradition box-based servers], but they will grown significantly," says Jeff Benck, director of product management for IBM's eServer xSeries server line. About 200 IBM server blade configurations have been undergoing testing by customers, according to Lisa Lanspery, an IBM spokeswoman. Indeed, server blades are a bright spot in an otherwise moribund server market. Research company IDC has projected sales of $3.7 billion in server blades by 2006, which will represent 20 percent of the market. For its part, Dell was not talking about its pending announcement except under embargo, but sources close to the company say it will announcement delivery and more specifics about its first blades on Monday. On April 4, Dell announced the PowerEdge 1655MC, a 5.25-inch-high server blade chassis earmarked for Dell dual-processor server blades based on Pentium III CPUs and containing up to 2GB of memory. Scant details were announced at that time, but Dell said then the blades would be available in the third quarter. Slightly late to market, Dell is expected to fill in the blanks on Monday. A Dell spokeswoman declined to comment, but one source said Dell's pricing will be "very aggressive" but that it is addressing a lower end of the market than IBM. Server blade technology was popularized by Woodland, Texas-based RLX Technologies, which shipped its first blade in March 2001. Bio-IT World, an InfoWorld affiliate, can be reached at www.bio-itworld.com. SPONSORED WHITE PAPERS 
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