As you know dataplex are at HP Technology @ Work (#HPTAW) this week, and one of the key announcements is around integrity and super dome architectures. We have just sat through the keynote session on Mission Critical Solutions.
HP discussed how they are now working mission critical into the converged infrastructure. HP then covered the fact that all of their new hardware runs HP-UX 11i v3 - in other words, it doesn't require a new operating system version, with all the testing and certification that requires.
HP then gave an overview of their new offerings. We start with Superdome 2. HP then spoke about their new Integrity blades, including the first 8 socket blade in the industry, the BL890c i2. HP mentioned their new entry class rack mount server, the rx2800. Finally, BladeSystem Matrix has been available for HP BladeSystem for a while now. HP have now brought out BladeSystem Matrix for Integrity (a.k.a. Matrix operating environment).
HP covered a number of key topics around the servers - their Unified Blade Architecture, the Flex Fabric, the Power On Once capabilities, and the Matrix Operating Environment.
Finally, HP finished off with a demo of the Superdome 2 enclosure, which was sitting at the side of the stage. The top of the enclosure had a standard c7000 chassis, with 8 socket BL890c i2 server. In between, it had an rx2800 server. At the bottom, it had a Superdome 2 with 2 I/O expansion chassis.
HP demonstrated the common components of the servers by pulling a fan out of the c7000 chassis, and swapping it with a fan out of the Superdome 2 chassis. The then swapped a power supply from the rx2800 i2 and the Superdome 2 I/O expansion. HP also swapped power supplies from the c7000 and Superdome 2 chassis.
We have some pictures for you on the new superdome:
There were tear downs of a BL860c i2 and Superdome 2 blade. HP explained that the big difference between the two types of blade: more physical memory slots and the crossbar fabric are that are in the Superdome 2 blades physically take more space. Hence, a chassis that is 18U high for Superdome 2 versus the 10 U for the c7000 chassis.
The key element that struck us in this sessions was how simple it is to service these systems. Everything plugs in, pulls out, and is easy to change - CPUs, memory, fans, I/O cards, etc.
The session finished with a quick update on the Itanium business from Intel and reminder that we are moving from one-of-everything IT to one infrastructure that does everything.