Debunking the Blade Server Myth

" The Six Dangers of Blade Servers

"The first danger of blades is cost. Blade enclosures are generally very expensive, even though blades themselves are often less expensive than their rackmount counterparts. In a quick price comparison of a large blade vendor's offerings, the enclosure was approximately $5,000 and could hold a maximum of eight blade servers.

"Each blade was roughly $500 less expensive than the matching vendor's rackmount server of the same or similar specs. This means that a fully populated blade enclosure, at list price, from this vendor would cost $1,000 more than the equivalent computational power in traditional form factors. And every blade slot not populated would be an additional $500 deficit.

"The cost of blades is not just a total cost factor. Blade enclosures, often holding eight to sixteen blade servers, need to be purchased up front. If you need enough servers to match the capacity of an enclosure this is not a factor, but if you are looking to buy only a single server now, you may be making a significant investment in proposed future server farm growth. This means increased risk as well as an investment against the time-value of your dollar."

Complete Story

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