Advantages of choosing an IBM enterprise server over a non-resilient machine

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Smartbunker’s IBM Blade Servers – the right tools for the job

Would you use a child’s tricycle to get to work? Would you attempt to cross the Atlantic in a dinghy?

Of course not…

So why trust a glorified PC to run your critical applications? Because it amounts to the same thing. Many hosting providers cut corners by installing inferior low-grade servers (especially at entry level). This places their customers at a significant disadvantage, because speed, resilience and availability are all likely to suffer as a result.

Using the right tool for the job is critical to effective hosting. Smartbunker uses purpose built IBM BladeCenter* servers as standard – no exceptions.

The table below provides an at-a-glance comparison:

Manufacturer	IBM	Typically OEM or assembled in-house
Typical use	Enterprise environments	Cost conscious, non resilient use
Form factor	Blade server	1U (rack unit)
Processor	Intel Xeon Quad core L5320 1.86Ghz – Energy efficient. Expandable to 2 x Quad Core within blade	Single core Intel or AMD
Memory	ECC (error checking and correcting) DIMMS – designed for server resilience. Maximum 64GB	Non ECC DIMMS – designed for PC workstations
Hard drives	IBM 73GB 10k SAS drives 4.7ms average seek time - designed for enterprise servers	160GB SATA drive 7.2k 9-13ms typical seek time - designed for PC workstations
RAID	Hardware RAID 0,1 and 5	Software RAID 1
Power supplies	Full resilient with redundant power supply paths, with 2 independent feeds to each blade. Designed for energy efficiency.	Single power supply / single feed, not designed for energy efficiency.
Cooling	Calibrated Vectored Cooling, which manages air intake, fan placement and zone cooling technologies to maximise the airflow inside the blade server for optimal cooling efficiency.Fully resilient with redundant fans to ensure continuous operation.	Inefficient fans due to constrained or self-build 1U server design. Cooling single server – inefficient use of power.
Monitoring	Fully integrated monitoring of server health using IBM Director including predictive failure analysis of all components including memory, hard drives, processors and network interfaces. Centrally managed system with proactive reporting and alerting to ensure that issues are dealt with effectively.	Limited or no monitoring.
Remote management	Fully duplicated remote management cards ensure non-stop access to servers for support.	Usually no hardware management integrated.

* IBM HS21 Quad Processor / Dual disk capable with Intel Xeon Quad core L5320 1.86Ghz low power processor.

† Compared to currently available equivalent individual 1U servers.

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