Blades of Glory

Blade servers are pretty much brand new to the small and midsize business market, with offerings targeted specifically for these customers appearing just within the past year from some of the industry’s major players. These slim server devices boast the same processing and memory capabilities of more traditional servers, but generally lack their own power, cooling, and network ports. Those essentials instead reside in the enclosures that the blades, or thin clients, plug into.

Because of their size, blade servers don’t just save space—they also save money by way of lower energy consumption. And thanks to the way they slide into the enclosure, they enable easy scalability—if a client’s infrastructure needs more processing power or storage, you can simply insert another blade server into a spare slot in the enclosure. Big businesses with dozens or hundreds of servers have been using blades for years, but until the new models were introduced, blade technology was too expensive and impractical for SMBs. These blades are smaller and less expensive than earlier blade systems, and they can be plugged into a standard wall outlet rather than the industrial-grade sockets that bigger blade racks require.

While prices have come down, features and ease of use are on the rise. Blade server products can now provide more than adequate storage and processing capabilities without slicing into the typical SMB budget.

RACHEL CERICOLA is a gadget geek who covers technology, entertainment, and Web trends. Check her out at http://www.rachelcericola.com

1. IBM BLADECENTER S CHASSIS (AT LEFT) A company can entrust all of its data to 25 or more servers, or you can recommend the BladeCenter S, which helps simplify the technology needed for a small or midsize business—offering integration of servers, storage, networking, and I/O. This 7U rack chassis supports up to six dual-processor or three quad-processor blade servers that support a range of operating systems. The chassis is sized to sit on a desktop and plugs into a standard 110- or 220-volt power outlet. According to IBM, the BladeCenter S also uses 25 percent less energy than rack or tower servers of comparable size and capacity. Its $2,599 starting price includes power supplies, fans, rack rails, and a DVD/CD combo drive. http://www.ibm.com/bladecenter