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Blade servers from Dell may have an appealing name, but there is much more to them than clever branding. Anyone who is thinking of updating their current in-house systems with Blade servers will certainly want to take a closer look at what Dell’s technology has to offer their business. As such, here is a brief look at what you can expect if Internet providers advise you to upgrade.
The first thing to note is the shape of the server units themselves, because they have been specifically designed to save space and operate with greater efficiency than previous generations. This means you will not need as much space within your data centre and you will also need to dedicate less of your budget on covering the energy costs associated with running a server.
On average, Dell estimates that for each watt of electricity used by a Blade server it is able to deliver up to 20 per cent more performance than the next-best alternative. Even on a small scale, this could have a significant impact, not only saving you money but also decreasing the carbon footprint of your business data centre, which is good news for eco-conscious IT departments.
Dell has created Blade servers so that they can be integrated into a completely modular setup. The idea is that you can add extra Blade units as they are required. Since IT experts are reluctant when it comes to dedicating too many functions or applications to a single server for fear that a hardware failure will cause costly downtime, it makes sense to take the modular approach, where scalability and convenience are combined without affecting the available resources.
Dell estimates that you will be able to use a single rack of Blade server units to do the work of about five traditional racks. And because air flow has been taken into consideration, with cooling currents able to flow between each server, the heat generated will not impact upon performance or cause failure, as can be the case with other server technologies.
On the networking side of things, Dell has made sure that the Blade servers are able to offer a simple, intuitive infrastructure which will ease the migration process and also enable greater levels of productivity once it is up and running. Those who are responsible for the management and the upkeep of the servers will also benefit, as the advanced features which allow them to interact with multiple units and applications across the system can be run from a single work station.
Of course, the temptation in the modern market might be to get rid of all your in-house IT systems and opt instead for a business model which relies entirely on cloud computing. Many companies are asking internet providers to make the cloud more accessible and viable, enabling remote working and project collaboration on a global scale. However, security concerns and a need to retain hard copies of data on local backup systems means that total cloud migration is not going to be an ideal solution for most.
Modernising your IT department with a mixture of new technology like Blade servers from Dell, as well as cloud-based platforms which can operate on any device with a web connection is definitely a sensible route to take. With faster web connections penetrating every area of life, improving the efficiency and scalability of data storage is vital.
