Dell Shows Off a New Blade Server

Recently, Dell gave IDEAS a special preview of the upcoming new Dell blade server. We cannot reveal details until Dell announces the product, but we can say that we are impressed. When Dell opened the door to the room, we could see that they had converted it into a remote conference center, complete with a media center similar to what one would expect to see in a Dell corporate briefing center. And there it was, sitting on a blanket on a table. This new Dell blade server is not some marketing vaporware; it’s fully designed and ready for manufacturing. The unit we observed was fully functional but not running. Instead, Dell tapped into a running blade server back in Round Rock to do the demo.

When one thinks of Dell, the two words that often come to mind are "standardization" and "value." Everyone knows that Dell is the master of pulling together industry-standard components and selling the resultant device at a lower price than the competition. When we arrived at the demo, we thought we were going to be seeing a "parts bin" blade server being offered at a "Dell" price. We could not have been more wrong in this case. What lay in front of us was the product of two years of intensive R&D. Dell, which is not known for its R&D, spent more than 54,000 R&D hours on the technology, for which it has garnered 30 patents. This blade server far exceeded what one would expect from Dell.

We cannot tell you much about the blade server itself since it is still under a confidentiality agreement. What we can tell you is that Dell has pulled out all stops to make this one of the most energy -efficient, "green" blade servers ever launched – just about every component had a green message to it. Dell is so confident that its blade server is the most energy efficient blade server that it is challenging any other blade server to an independent evaluation of power and cooling. IDEAS cannot wait to see if any of the other blade vendors actually accept Dell’s challenge.

With this product, Dell is planning to become more aggressive in its marketing. After all, this blade is entering in direct competition with IBM’s BladeCenter and HP’s BladeSystem, and we all know that IBM and HP do not play "nice" when it comes to blades. When asked whether Dell would lash out at its competitors, the answer was "no." Dell plans to do positive marketing and focus on how the blade server can solve real customer problems and deliver "IT Simplification." Dell feels this blade has virtually every feature that an enterprise IT organization could want at a competitive price. (There is no need to bash your competition when you have the right product at the right price.) We will see how long Dell plays nicely when it re-enters the "shark-infested" waters of the blade server market with its new server.

Overall, we were impressed with what we saw. Dell talked to many blade customers and carefully investigated what they need both today and in the future. We were especially impressed with what we heard from Dell’s systems architect. He truly understands the blade market and has convinced Dell management to allow his group to design and build a blade server that is more typical of what we would expect from HP or IBM. Is this the new Dell R&D strategy? Dell would not say. But Dell does have a message for HP and IBM: Check your rearview mirror for a fast-moving competitor gaining on your market share. This blade race is about to turn into a three-way competition.

Comments

[Blade Servers]

Hi,

Dell had a lot better try to invade the blade market with their M1000e than their earlier offering, but if we take the price factor a side both HP & IBM are way a head of HP offering. Check out how do they compare below:

http://itcomparison.com/Blades/Bladesibmvsdell/Bladesibmvsdell.htm

http://itcomparison.com/Blades/Bladesdellvshp/Bladeshpvsdell.htm

Well maybe Dell still can beat SUN with their new chassis. Check out SUN vs Dell below:
http://itcomparison.com/Blades/Bladesdellvssun/Bladesdellvssun.htm

Check these out before you make your blade decision as they definitely can help.

[Jim Burton]

We are under a tight NDA with Dell at this time, and that did not allow us to do much comparing with IBM and HP. What we can say is Dell's new blade server is more impressive than we expected from Dell. Once the NDA is lifted, we will do a more detailed comparison of HP, IBM, and Dell using our Collaborative Product Evaluation (CPE).

[Paul Smith]

It's great that Dell has a new blade server and that you're impressed but you don't compare it to anything. How does it stack up against HP or IBM's blades? I know you can't reveal to much because of disclosure but you could at least say you're impressed that it's an improvement over HP's or that you're impressed that they've come a long way in closing the gap between them and HP/IBM but have a bit farther to go.