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Build Your Own Blade Server
fw3 writes "Information week is reporting
that IBM and Intel are opening up the standards for the eServer BladeCenter. 'The companies will make available the design specifications for IBM's eServer BladeCenter product... hardware vendors can build "BladeCenter compatible" networking switches, blade adapter cards, and appliance and communications blades for enterprise networks.' Not really a new strategy for IBM, ISA of course was open from the start, IBM's technical references for the original PCs contained nearly all of the engineering data needed to build a PC. Looking further back I've been told by a reputable source that RCA was able to fully duplicate the System 360 System/360, mainframe working just a month behind IBM's own schedule by using IBM's published tech reports. (Of course IBM *didn't* share the details of OS/360, leaving RCA with a box but no OS.) See also stories from EETimes, CNN."
Just hope that HP and Sun follow lead and will make things a little easier.
Thus far you could somehow mix'n'match components for standard servers (rack mountable or not), but blades were like hacking a SOHO router...
Wonder how fast will the component manufacturers respond to this and start making parts available (i.e. - we will stop paying exuberant prices for replacement parts from the big guys...)
get a free ipod! This really works... 4 more GMail invites still available for signing up...
Looks like mainframes could be getting cheaper if more companies get their hands on manufacturing them. Looks like Microsoft will have to find a different way to inflate the TCO of running Linux than the current strategy: running Windows 2003 Server on an e-Machine versus Linux on Giant Fucking Mainframe 7000 on the single processor kernel.
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
IBM's technical references for the original PCs contained nearly all of the engineering data needed to build a PC.
Except for one of the key components to make a PC: the "Build your own BIOS" reference.
The ways of gods are mysteriously indistinguishable from chance.
Sun spent far too long trying to be the anti-Microsoft, and failed to recognize the gains its actual competitors were making on its territory.
Rather than McNealy trying to keep Microsoft from pushing big into the server market, maybe he should have been trying to keep up with the guys that were already entrenched in that market along with him, like IBM. Sure, you get more press from bashing Microsoft, but press doesn't pay the bills.
It's sad to see how badly Sun has been damaged over the past few years. It used to be the unquestioned leader in quality server hardware and software, now it's in danger of becoming an also-ran in a market it used to own.
Yeah, I guess thats why they are still making Opteron and SPARC servers, and about to release Solaris 10 too. Trust me, if Sun went the SCO route, about 90% of their employees would leave.
But if the specs are open, there will be cool modules. Where I work we don't need a full blade of CPUs, and our 2TB storage could probably fit in the empty half of the bladecenter, so we could consolidate our entire server rack to one bladecenter, and save thousands monthly on cooling, electricity, and administration costs.
IBM isn't going to make cool blade add-ons, other companies will. It'd be nice if Cisco had a 'direct to blade backplane' switch to the outside, Apple could make an XBlade, Sun could make one. You could pack all the stuff that used to need real estate into one big box.
IBM already lets you mix-and-match PowerPC and x86 blades, the other vendors are going to (hopefully) add other cool functionality.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
*It's sad to see how badly Sun has been damaged over the past few years. It used to be the unquestioned leader in quality server hardware and software, now it's in danger of becoming an also-ran in a market it used to own.*
what's sad about competition? it would be sad if they were just the only player in their segment - making ok hardware/software but billing much more than what they're worth.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
The truth is Sun just does whatever the hell it feels like. Their engineers have two bosses, themselves, and whatever the current customer base asks for -- the market and analysts be damned. It's like here's everybody doing their thing, chasing after each other, and over here, is Sun. It's in its own little world. Oracle is a lot like that too.
And that can be both good, and bad.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
Definitely. We were all ready to start a blade pilot program (with the IBM stuff, no less) when the CIO got a hold of a ComputerWeek/InfoWeek/whatever article/report that said the proprietary nature of blade servers "made them a bad choice over 1Us" and that "better stuff is on the horizon"...
It'll be nice to be able to go to the meeting and say "Yep, boss, you were right, better stuff IS coming, but guess what, we were right too: Its the blade server standard from IBM."