Hewlett-Packard (HP) has unveiled its ProLiant Gen8 servers, in a move it says will help eliminate manual processes and free up time in the data centre.
According to HP, these servers differ from other servers in that they are self-sufficient, featuring automation and repair functions. The company says that, on average, for every $1 spent on a server, $7 is spent every year on upkeep.
Andrew McNiven, HP ISS category manager, says the next generation of HP servers are the result of a $300 million, two-year programme, called Project Voyager, which seeks to redefine data centre economics by automating every aspect of the server life cycle. He adds that customer feedback was also taken into account.
Automated tasks
McNiven says HP's Gen8 servers use intelligent technologies to automate tasks. This includes built-in intelligence that allows simplified setup and maintenance. McNiven adds that the servers ship without media because automation eliminates the need for installation CDs and software downloads. According to HP, the Gen8 servers deploy three times faster than their predecessors.
The servers also triple the productivity of administrators because they eliminate manual tasks, such as updates, HP notes.
The company says the Gen8 servers come with integrated monitoring and self-diagnosis technologies, namely HP Active Health and HP Insight Online. McNiven explains that these technologies allow the servers to automatically analyse their health across 1 600 data points. The outcome is problem analysis that is five times faster, when compared with its previous generation servers.
Moreover, according to HP, because these servers are able to self-monitor and self-diagnose, they enable proactive support and clients can resolve unplanned downtime issues up to 66% faster than with their predecessors.
The company says its Gen8 servers also make use of HP 3D Sea of Sensors technology, which McNiven says identifies over-utilised servers on a 3D diagram. HP says this identification takes place based on real-time location, power, workload and temperature data.
Energy optimisation
McNiven says the Gen8 servers allow for automatic power configuration, adding that the real-time analytics allowed by the servers' intelligent technologies can be used to map power consumption on a 3D diagram.
According to HP, this eliminates the need to manually track consumption. McNiven adds that the Gen8 servers allow administrators to cap power at a rack level. The result is a 10% decrease in power consumption and 10% more usable power per circuit.
Availability
HP says the ProLiant Gen8 servers are available to early-adopter clients today. General availability of the servers through HP and worldwide channel partners begins in March and continues throughout 2012.
The range includes HP ProLiant ML tower servers for remote and branch offices, HP ProLiant DL rack-mount servers, HP ProLiant BL blade servers for cloud-ready converged infrastructure, and HP ProLiant SL scalable system servers built for Web, cloud and massively scaled environments.
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