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Hardware Trends: Faster. Smaller. Cooler.

By: Joanne Cummings

5/20/2008


Whereas a typical 42U data center server rack can fit just 42 1U servers, the same rack can hold as many as 84 blade servers. Add virtualization to that scenario, where you run multiple virtual servers on each blade, and space constraints ease considerably. As space requirements go down, so do those for power and cooling. Because blades forgo certain elements of traditional servers, including monitors and keyboards, and share others, such as power supplies and fans, they tend to be cheaper. And because they're smaller, they tend to consume less power than traditional servers.

"As the complexity and operational expenses of IT infrastructure continue to increase, a greater number of customers are turning to blade servers as a solution," Jed Scaramella, a senior research analyst at IDC, said in a report on the server market. "The integrated nature of the blade platform enables customers to solve energy and space challenges, as well as improve the flexibility of their infrastructure."

Still another option, especially for small and midsize enterprises, is something along the lines of the new modular server from Intel. Much like a network in a box, the Intel Modular Server allows customers to pick and choose the pieces they need to support their organizations. The Intel box can accommodate up to six server modules and 14 SAS hard drives for a total of 2TB of storage. It also comes with Ethernet switches, an integrated storage-area network (SAN) and integrated management. With pricing starting at just $7,000, it's a bit cheaper than going the blade route (see "Intel Aims Modular Server at SMB Space"). So in addition to ease of use and management, it's small, requiring less power and cooling, and it provides integrated storage and virtualization capabilities.

3. Storage Is Getting Smarter
Ideally, by now your customers have migrated away from direct-attached storage systems and onto more efficient network-attached storage (NAS)- and SAN-based systems. The next step is to move to more online, real-time storage versus static tape storage for many applications. Although tape still has a place for long-term storage needs, online disk-based storage eases implementation of lifecycle management while enabling new efficient storage models such as continuous data protection (CDP). Such capabilities help better support mobilization because users aren't tied to one place for their storage. And virtualization also has a play here, as enterprises look to virtualize their storage to go along with all their virtualized servers, enabling more of an on-demand data center environment.


In the near term, storage will continue to eat up a large portion of enterprise budgets, as companies look to comply with stringent regulations such as those set by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), even as disk prices fall to less than a penny per megabyte, experts say.

For example, IDC says the total disk-storage systems market grew to $7.