OK so dataplex are currently in Frankfurt at the HP European event; HP Technology @ work and already there are some fantastic announcements coming out, and more to come today. So far the information we have is as follows.
HP has unveiled some major updates to its Integrity line of Itanium-based servers, including a new edition of its top-end Superdome system based on HP's blade server architecture.
The new systems, which also include three Integrity blades and a rackmount server, are all based on Intel's quad-core Itanium 9300 series processors, known as Tukwila. They are being introduced Tuesday morning at the event.
Superdome 2 is the first big upgrade to the Superdome system since it was launched a decade ago. While the original has its own cabinet enclosure, Superdome 2 is moving to a new Blade Scale architecture that allows it be housed in a standard server rack using HP's 7000-series blade chassis. Customers will be able to manage the servers with the same tools they use for HP's other blade systems, including Onboard Administrator and Virtual Connect.
The move to a more standard blade design is a big theme for the Integrity launch, and something HP says will reduce ownership costs for customers. The three new Integrity blades are also based on HP's BladeSystem architecture, and customers will now be able to manage Integrity, ProLiant and StorageWorks blades side by side in the same enclosure, HP said.
"We're bringing the mission critical capabilities of the Integrity portfolio into our converged infrastructure environment," said Lorraine Bartlett, vice president of marketing for HP's mission-critical systems.
Moving to a common blade design should also help reduce HP's development costs, because it will be able to use technologies built for higher volume platforms. Intel has taken a similar route with some of its Itanium components.
Superdome 2 won't be available until the second half of the year, and HP isn't saying much about pricing or configurations yet. It says it will be sold in eight- and 16-socket building blocks, and that the blade design will allow it to offer a starting price 40 percent lower than that of the original Superdome.
The system has a new CrossBar Fabric that HP says improves resiliency by routing data intelligently between the servers and system I/O with redundancy. The fabric also lets customers scale CPUs and memory independent of I/O for applications that need it, according to HP.
Superdome 2 has a new "analysis engine" that looks out for errors and tries to act before they occur. "It looks for any soft failures that might be indicative of a larger system failure and provides alerts before you get to that point. It can also monitor the system and determine how it should be configured for the highest performance," Bartlett said.
HP also announced new software. It developed an HP-UX version of BladeSystem Matrix, its software for automatically provisioning servers, storage and networking, so that it can be used with the Integrity blades. It also announced an update to HP-UX that includes Insight Dynamics, a component required for BladeSystem Matrix, as well as better virtualisation and power management features.
HP hasn't released performance data yet to show how Superdome 2 stacks up against IBM's Power7 servers.
While Superdome 2 might not ship for six months or more, the three new Integrity blades are available now. HP's new Blade Link technology, based on Tukwila's high-speed QuickPath Interconnect, allows four blades to be snapped together in what HP considers a single, eight-socket system. That server, the BL890c i2, starts at US$30,935. There is also a four-socket system that starts at $13,970 and a two-socket system for $6,490, HP said.
We will let you know more today as and when we get it.