IBM White Paper Sample

IBM BladeCenter S vs. HP BladeSystem c3000

Clients setting up smaller offices want to invest in the same type of technology as their larger competitors. Larger clients setting up remote branches need compute power not only at their head office, but also at distributed locations where key decisions that impact the local operation are made. So IBM created BladeCenter S. While it utilizes the same base BladeCenter design for blades, switches, management modules and other modular devices, IBM BladeCenter S has features that small business and distributed enterprises need at an affordable price. These features can include up to 9TB of flexible storage, built-in keyboard-video-mouse (KVM) switch, low noise signature, a specialized rack that includes air filtration and additional noise suppression and available layer 2-7 secure switching.

The HP c3000 lacks features that are specific to small business and distributed enterprise clients. Looking at the HP c3000 chassis, it appears that HP simply took their c7000 enterprise chassis design, cut it in half, turned it on its side and called it their small business product. HP BladeSystem c3000 Product Manager Barry Sinclair confirmed this in a recent video broadcast, stating “...the only thing that's really different about this enclosure is one, it has fewer bays so it has fewer devices, two, it's easier to power on......and other than that it works exactly the same.