HP designs new server for 'extreme' scale-out computing

Hewlett-Packard has introduced a new line of x86 servers for companies that operate massive computing facilities, where shaving a few dollars off the energy or shipping costs for each system can add up to significant savings.

HP's ProLiant SL servers are aimed at Web companies like Yahoo and Facebook, and also at enterprises that use giant server farms for tasks like modelling financial data or designing aircraft, HP said on Tuesday. The first three SL models, based on Intel's Xeon 5500 Nehalem processors, are due to ship next month.

They are part of a wider effort by HP to get more business from companies that operate large data centers. On Tuesday HP also grouped its products and services for that area under a new brand, the Extreme Scale-Out portfolio, and said it will resell wireless sensor equipment from SynapSense for data center monitoring.

The new ProLiant servers have what HP calls a "skinless" design that does away with much of the exterior metal casing, making them look a bit like blade servers. The server boards have a new layout to optimize cooling, allowing HP to use four large fans at the back of each 2u chassis, and to run the fans at lower speeds.

The servers also omit features that HP says often aren't required by large Internet companies, such as redundant power supplies and advanced management software. "In many cases these companies own the software stack themselves and have the high-availability and management features they need, so they don't need it in the underlying hardware," said Christine Martino, general manager of HP's Scalable Computing and Infrastructure group.

The result, according to HP, is a server that consumes 28 percent less power and weighs almost a third less than a "standard" rackmount server. That could mean significant savings in shipping and energy costs for companies that purchase servers by the thousands, Martino said.

HP called the SL systems "the most significant form factor innovation since blade servers," although it is not the first vendor to design new servers for scale-out computing. IBM, Rackable Systems (now SGI) and Verari Systems all sell specialized systems for Web-scale data centers.

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