September 12, 2007—IBM has previewed the industry’s first blade computing system specifically designed to help smaller firms simplify the management of technology needed to operate a small business–from servers, to phone systems and antivirus applications–in a single system. IBM says its new BladeCenter S can help reduce the 25 to 45 servers used by an average mid-sized company by up to 80 percent.
IBM explains that blade computers, which integrate servers, storage, networking, and applications into one system, were initially designed to help large enterprises break from conventional methods of business computing that resulted in the proliferation of server “farms,” large IT staffs to manage them, and wasted energy resources.
IBM BladeCenter S is sized to sit on a desktop, plug into a standard 110-volt power outlet, and manage storage and up to six blade servers at a time. Designed to integrate applications most commonly used for business functions–such as antivirus/firewall, voice over IP, e-mail, collaboration, back-up and recovery, and file and print applications—the new system is intended to run in a typical office environment.
IBM BladeCenter S has also been designed to minimize IT administration. Following a “wizard-based” installation interface a user can literally plug the blade servers into the system, plug the system into a power outlet, and launch a management tool that enables easy select-and-click configuration via an “express” install, says IBM.
For businesses such as retailers or financial institutions that operate branch offices, IBM says that IT administrators at headquarters can pre-configure hundreds of blade systems to operate in the same manner and ship them out, knowing an office employee will be able to simply plug a system in and power it up.
For more information about IBM BladeCenter S, expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2007, visit the IBM Web site.
