HP promises to cut customer costs with Nehalem servers

HP's new sixth-generation ProLiant servers start at £839

HP has overhauled much of its server line-up with systems based on Intel's new Nehalem Xeon chips. The new models are designed to address the problems customers currently face, including management headaches and IT budget constraints, HP said.

The sixth-generation update of HP's ProLiant systems covers 11 families, and adds up to more than 1,000 separate configurations, according to HP. These include the DL380, DL370, DL360, DL180 and DL160 rack-format models, the BL490c, BL460c and BL280c server blades, and the ML370 and ML150 tower systems.

As well as an increase in performance owing to Nehalem, the new ProLiant systems feature built-in management controllers, a new thermal control scheme and now come bundled with HP's Insight Control management suite.

"With this refresh, we focus around not just performance. We've done a fundamental redesign that introduces significant innovations," said Christine Reischl, senior vice president and general manager of HP's Server Business Unit.

Among the new features is what HP calls its "sea of sensors" thermal management that allows cooling to be optimised to the level required, cutting unnecessary noise from fans. Customers also have a choice of four power supply units ranging from 1200W to 460W. This allows a lightly loaded server to use a lower wattage unit for greater efficiency, according to HP.

The new ProLiant servers also have a feature called Dynamic Power Capping, allowing an administrator to set a power budget for each server or rack of servers. By setting limits on power consumption, firms can fill up their racks without worrying about overloading the server room power infrastructure, HP claimed.

"These three features together can save customers 50 per cent on power costs, on average," said Reischl.

Also new is the HP ProLiant Onboard Administrator, a built-in management controller offering lights-out remote management support and health-check monitoring of the entire server, including the thermal sensor inputs.

The new servers have up to 18 memory slots, up from eight in the previous generation, and can fit double the number of hard drives within the same chassis, according to HP. These changes are to meet growing demands on memory and storage from operating virtual infrastructure.

Beyond the servers themselves, HP is offering tools to help customers migrate from older kit to the new models, and new flexible finance options. The latter includes zero per cent financing for European customers purchasing upwards of $5,000 (£3,500) worth of equipment.

Another option is HP Proactive Select, which allows customers more flexibility in buying service and support, according to HP.

"Customers pre-pay for credits, and as they go along they can use them for the service they want instead of a pre-negotiated support contract," explained Reischl.

Pricing for HP's new ProLiant servers starts at £839.