IBM aims to slash costs with BladeCenter

Big Blue unveils its first blade server

IBM has taken the wraps off its first blade server, claiming it will help large businesses to reduce total cost of ownership.

The eServer BladeCenter, which is based on Intel's Xeon processor, can help companies save money by enabling them to add individual servers on demand as their capacity needs increase, the company said. This will also allow resellers to have an ongoing revenue stream with the customer, it added.

The server is the first product to be launched since IBM and Intel announced their collaboration on the development of blade servers earlier this month. IBM said the architecture enables the system to offer superior performance at twice the density of most of today's 1U (1.75in) Intel Xeon-based servers.

"Today, customers need to do more with less money," said Mark Shearer, vice-president for blade servers at IBM.

"IBM's new enterprise approach for blades is designed to help customers reduce their total cost of ownership. Our BladeCenter systems can integrate storage, applications and networking, and IBM service and finance options are available, bringing together the strengths of our company."

But Steve Harris, vice-president of Millennium Computer Group, said the market had been "soft", a trend he ties to the slow economy and customers who bought excess capacity when they upgraded before 2000.