Blade servers comprise a growing percentage of servers in enterprise data centers. Space and power savings, cabling reduction and dropping hardware costs are driving factors. With all of the major server vendors offering competitive blades, the IT staff faces a wide range of choices. This note discusses selection criteria that need to be considered. These include:
- Number of servers required.
- Server types and capabilities.
- Networking requirements.
- Costs.
Previous blade server research notes, like the ITA Premium Product Comparison, “Blade Servers,” rated the top vendors and their products. This note is aimed at determining data center requirements and mapping them into the constantly changing vendor landscape.
