Dell Touts Energy Efficiency In M-Series Blade ServersDell Touts Energy Efficiency In M-Series Blade Servers

Dell has introduced a blade server series that the computer maker said is designed from the ground up for energy efficiency.

The PowerEdge M-Series reflects Dell's, as well as other computer makers', continuing response to customer demand for products that reduce energy consumption while maintaining high levels of performance. The improved power-to-performance ratio is due in part to more energy-efficient processors from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, as well as computer makers' proprietary technologies.

The PowerEdge M1000e is a 10U enclosure that supports up to 16 blade servers. The hardware has been optimized for Dell PowerEdge M600 and M605 blades, which support up to two quad-core Intel Xeon processors and two dual-core AMD Opteron processors, respectively. The new blades are 60% more dense than standard 1U servers, making them a strong candidate for use in space-strapped data centers, Dell said in introducing the new products Monday.

The M600 supports Intel's quad-core Xeon 5400 series processor, which is built with the chipmaker's latest 45 nanometer manufacturing process. The process adds significantly more transistors on a chip by reducing their size from 65nm to 45nm, which translates into better performance with less power consumption. The AMD processors for the M605 are not 45nm. The chipmaker plans to start shipping its first 45nm chips this year.

The M1000e enclosure has a number of connectivity options. Customers can choose an upgradeable Ethernet blade switch and the Layer 3 Dell PowerConnect M6220, with 1 and 10 Gbps ports.

There are also three Cisco Ethernet switch options, which include a switch with a variety of 1Gbps ports, 10 Gbps ports, and stackable ports. A Cisco Infiniband switch also is available. Other connectivity options include two Brocade 4 Gbps Fibre Channels, as well as Fibre Channel and Ethernet Pass Through options for customers with an existing switch infrastructure.

The M-Series incorporates Dell's FlexIO switch technology, which provides snap-in scalability down to the switch interconnects, Dell said. This feature makes it possible to boost performance as needed, while avoiding a 'rip-and-replace' upgrade.

Dell's OpenManage systems management suite is available with the new products. Features with the M-Series include a controller for managing each enclosure and blades from a single software console. In addition, Dell offers power management for setting high/low thresholds to help ensure blades operate within a defined power envelope.

In general, Dell's latest blade servers are following the industry trend toward more power-efficient data center equipment. "These are the right things Dell and other manufacturers need to be doing to continue the assault on issues related to the data center -- power and cooling," Mark Margevicius, an analyst for Gartner, told information Tuesday. While the trend toward power efficiency is not new, "Dell is very cognizant of the issues that its customers continue to face."

In releasing its latest products, Dell is chasing a hot market. Global blade-server shipments are expected to nearly quadruple by 2011, driven by the young technology's advantages in flexibility, power savings and simplified manageability, according to iSuppli.

Worldwide shipments are expected to rise to 2.4 million units in 2011 from 620,000 in 2006, the market researcher said. Those numbers translate into a compound annual growth rate of 31.5%. By 2011, blades are expected to account for nearly 21.6% of all server shipments.

The M1000e blade enclosure and the M-Series blades are available now. Pricing starts at $5,999 and $1,849, respectively.