IBM rejiggers x64 servers, blades

IBM this week has tweaked System x and BladeCenter server lines to give customers more options in terms of processors, disk drives, and solid state disks. The new gadgets are aimed more at getting the machinery current than in radically altering or re-engineering the System x and BladeCenter products in the wake of six months of …

[Anonymous Coward]

BC-S might be worthwhile for the geek at home

Just on side note:

I have spent the last 1.5years working on all those systems at IBM in Germany and really like it!!!

BC-E is a bit of a waste of time, the BC-H a really neat piece of kit for the pro, and the BC-HT great for the telco environment, but the BC-S might actually be really worthwhile for the geek at home, but definitely better than a bunch of pizza-boxes!!!

granted, it is a bit pricey, (well, the blades are, but there are frequently good offers (yes big blue actually at times has really cools sales offers!!!)

Of course itś not something the gamer makes use of, but in terms of storage and being able to build your own infrastructure (vmware works really nice on those blades). and with the current ability to a gross of 18TB of disk-space (12x 1.5GB SATA), which can very nicely be shared amongst the blades!

And if you really want to do some serious calculations, just ad a QS-22 (Cell processor). the I/O sucks, but the number crunching is second to non!!!

not really surprising, that it being used for the fasts HPC in the world (Roadrunner).

Or some robotics. controlling four 3D robots and doing some motion recognition on a single CPU at the same time: I don know how an X86 system would cope (no matter if it was single dual or quad core).

Any company that needs a basic blade environment, should think about this.

The blades are hot, the kit really nice and is extremely flexible!

One just has to love it!!!

P.S.

I don work for IBM any longer, but that stuff just rocks!!!!

[Wabberjocky]

Rejiggered?

I always thought 'jiggered' was a euphemism for 'b*gg*red'. Why IBM would wish to repeat this particular activity with their servers is beyond me. Perhaps you meant 'rejigs'?

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's see IBM post some numbers

CPU hypertransport gadget that allows 3 Opertons to do work of 4?

When IBM has both top vmwark scores posted - AND - can demonstrate price-performance leadership against street price from Dell and HP, then I'll believe that they have something.

Until then, it's just like adding more chrome on the Buick.

[Anonymous Coward]

Great value

> ...I'll believe that they have something

IBM's 3950 M2 blows the socks off any other system on the market and is great value. Sure you can buy a cheap Dell with crappy support, it's up to you.

[Anonymous Coward]

@AC - Great Value

"... IBM's 3950 M2 blows the socks off any other system on the market and is great value. Sure you can buy a cheap Dell with crappy support, it's up to you. ..."

I've seen great support from both Dell and IBM. I've seen awful support from both Dell and IBM. So let's assume these are a wash.

Your opinion that the 3950 M2 performance and value are opinions only. I want to see objective vmark and price-performance (at street price) comparisons. Then I'll believe that IBM has something. Right now, the market disagrees with you and IBM that they have something special from a price-performance perspective, hence IBM's further drop in market share versus HP and Dell.