IBM BladeCenter S Competitive Summary

Transcription

1 IBM BladeCenter S Competitive Summary IBM BladeCenter S Beats the Competition Customers who have chosen IBM BladeCenter S Solutions over competing blade and rack-mount server solutions have done so for a variety of reasons. According to these customers, the most important reasons for choosing IBM over the competition included: Built-in shared storage. Built-in redundancies, not only in the network connections but in many vital components of the solution, exemplify IBM s reputation for reliability. Predictive Failure Analysis. Start Now Advisor, the system configuration software included with BladeCenter S. The compact design of IBM BladeCenter solutions is ideal for both easy delivery and deployment at scattered locations and easy transportability for organizations. A more detailed discussion of IBM BladeCenter S competitive advantages, including a high-level features comparison and some sample competitive pricing begins on the following page. Edison: IBM BladeCenter S Book of Success Competitive Summary Page 1 Copyright 2011 Edison Group, Inc. New York. Edison Group is a technology research and business consulting firm that provides

2 Competitive Advantages IBM BladeCenter S offers several features appealing to the small- to medium-size businesses, offices, and distributed enterprises comprising the target market for this product. This competitive matrix compares these features of IBM BladeCenter S with related features offered by the HP c3000 and the Dell M1000e products. NOTE: The physical size, weight, and capacity of Dell s offering along with its need for separate external storage and system configuration solutions actually place it out of reasonable range for this particular target market. However, despite this fact, its popularity led us to include it in the feature comparison. The ideal scenario for BladeCenter S implementation is one in which a full in-house data center and staff is not available and where most of the staff is primarily devoted to core business activities having little or nothing to do with IT. Particularly in the case of either updates or new installation rollouts to distributed installations, the ideal comes as close to turnkey and all-in-one self-containment as possible. Pre-installation, interproduct compatibility testing, customization, and multiproduct shipping as is required with a solution like the Dell M1000e are not something such sites are equipped to take on. Due to its scale and closer adherence to the concept of an all-in-one solution, the HP c3000 is a more head-to-head competitor to the IBM BladeCenter S. Companies in the cases Edison studied chose IBM for a variety of reasons, including: Shared storage and network redundancy. For many companies, this was a primary reason behind the choice. BladeCenter S solutions allow for configuring a SAN-in-a-box, sharing the disks between the servers, and having redundant network connections. This approach improves reliability and simplifies installation and maintenance. It also further helps reduce power and cooling costs with no sacrifice to performance. BladeCenter S also includes advanced internal solid-state and flash storage technology for extremely high performance use cases. Edison: IBM BladeCenter S Book of Success Competitive Summary Page 2 Copyright 2011 Edison Group, Inc. New York. Edison Group is a technology research and business consulting firm that provides

3 Built-in redundancies, not only in the network connections but in many vital components of the solution, exemplify IBM s reputation for reliability, which along with IBM s reputation for support was cited as a foremost factor in many customers choice of BladeCenter S. The Predictive Failure Analysis feature of the BladeCenter S solution also saves customers time and money by decreasing unplanned downtime. Customers increase business continuity by receiving proactive alerts that allow them to take corrective action and avert crises, sometimes as much as hours in advance of actual problems in operation occurring. The HP c3000, by comparison, offers quite limited predictive failure analysis functionality. Many customers were swayed to go with IBM because of IBM s ability to deliver a complete self-contained IT solution such as the Retail Total Store Foundation, complete with OS49 retail OS and to provide specialized solutions, such as the Smart Surveillance Solution with plugin deployment, drastically reducing time to productivity and providing rapid return on investment. Start Now Advisor, the system configuration software included with BladeCenter S, allows an administrator to set up an infrastructure of servers, SAN storage, and networking in less than 30 minutes, from a single console. By comparison, the HP c3000 requires the use of a separate application (Insight Control) as well as other tools, adding both to the initial expense and the time to productivity for any given site. Scalability was critical to many customers, as was workload flexibility. BladeCenter S solutions provide for scalability not only through virtualization but also across platforms with the BladeCenter system or with large centralized office systems. In addition, BladeCenter S provides scalable performance options from the broad range of Intel Xeon processors supported, enabling the choice of server to meet almost any budget or workload requirement. Several customers considered it a requirement that the BladeCenter S solution be able to grow in capacity along with the business, as well as to accommodate changes and/or additions to workloads. The BladeCenter S solution s support for multiple processor and OS platforms within a single physical platform fit the bill for this requirement. Edison: IBM BladeCenter S Book of Success Competitive Summary Page 3 Copyright 2011 Edison Group, Inc. New York. Edison Group is a technology research and business consulting firm that provides

4 The compact design of IBM BladeCenter solutions is ideal for both easy delivery and deployment at scattered locations and easy transportability for organizations such as professional sports teams and traveling entertainment groups that require mobile IT departments. The two main reasons for retailers to select the IBM BladeCenter solution are the Total Cost of Ownership especially in regard to power consumption and the ability to improve operations by consolidating multiple servers on a single blade. In addition, its small footprint, quiet operation, and ability to run on standard voltage make it ideal for small- to mid-size office deployment. Edison: IBM BladeCenter S Book of Success Competitive Summary Page 4 Copyright 2011 Edison Group, Inc. New York. Edison Group is a technology research and business consulting firm that provides

5 Features Comparison Table Feature Server Bays Form Factor (Rack Units) Cooling and Power Supplies Dimensions (inches) (H x W x D) Approximate Weight (with I/O modules and Server Blades) IBM BladeCenter S HP c3000 Dell M1000e 6 Full-height 4 Full-height 8 Half-height 8 Full-height 16 Half-height 7U 6U 10U 4 hot-swap and redundant 950 W/1450 W 12 x 17.5 x 28.9 Up to 6 hotswap and redundant PSU 1200 W Up to 6 Active Cool Fans x 19 x 33 Up to 6 hot plug and redundant PSU 2700 W 9 hot swappable and redundant fans 17.3 x 17.6 x Lbs. 300 Lbs. 395 Lbs. Optical Drive DVD DVD DVD Interconnect Bays (All support multiple fabric and network architectures) Edison: IBM BladeCenter S Book of Success Competitive Summary Page 5 Copyright 2011 Edison Group, Inc. New York. Edison Group is a technology research and business consulting firm that provides

6 Feature On-board Management Management (Limited licenses provided varies with complete configuration details) System Configuration Software Enclosure-Based System Diagnostics Predictive Failure Analysis IBM BladeCenter S HP c3000 Dell M1000e ILO and IMM Pass through IBM Systems Director Start Now Advisor makes it simple to set up BladeCenter S from a single console Light path diagnostics uses LEDs to show component states IBM monitors all vital system components for maximum availability Single Onboard Administrator with Serial and LAN access HP Insight Control Requires use of Insight Control and other tools LCD display of enclosure status. Supports initial configuration and troubleshooting of enclosure. Minimal server blade diagnostics Limited PFA 1 or 2 (optional) redundant Chassis Management Controllers Dell OpenManage Requires use of OpenManage Front control panel with graphical LCD. Supports initial configuration and troubleshooting of enclosure and server blades Limited PFA Edison: IBM BladeCenter S Book of Success Competitive Summary Page 6 Copyright 2011 Edison Group, Inc. New York. Edison Group is a technology research and business consulting firm that provides

7 Feature I/O Management Software Server Blades (x86 blades are available to support a wide gamut of x86 processor types. Single to four socket models are available from all three vendors. RISC based server blades are available from IBM and HP. Dell does not offer RISC based models.) IBM BladeCenter S HP c3000 Dell M1000e BladeCenter Open Fabric Manager simplifies blade and SAN/LAN administration using standard switches and single login across 256 chassis and up to 3,584 blades Wide assortment of x86 and POWER7 processor based server blades HP Virtual Connect offers similar functionality but requires proprietary switches in enclosure Wide assortment of x86 and Itanium (HP Integrity) server blades FlexAddress delivers relatively limited functionality Assortment of x86 server blades Edison: IBM BladeCenter S Book of Success Competitive Summary Page 7 Copyright 2011 Edison Group, Inc. New York. Edison Group is a technology research and business consulting firm that provides

8 Feature Internal Storage Options (System storage, exclusive of storage installed on server blades) IBM BladeCenter S HP c3000 Dell M1000e Internal Solid- State, flash, SAS and SATA both Direct Attached and shared SAN storage, utilizing up to two storage bays. Storage blades (requiring use of server bays) provide internal SAS and SATA Direct Attached and shared, SAN (through use of separately licensed HP P4000 Virtual SAN Appliance (VSA) software) No internal storage options available Edison: IBM BladeCenter S Book of Success Competitive Summary Page 8 Copyright 2011 Edison Group, Inc. New York. Edison Group is a technology research and business consulting firm that provides

9 BladeCenter S vs. HP BladeSystem c3000 with Internal Storage This comparison is for similarly configured blade server solutions from HP and IBM. The focus is on use of IBM s enclosure-based SAN storage in comparison to HP s storage blades using HP V4000 VSA software. It is important to note that the HP shared storage is only available for VMware and Hyper-V use. The acquisition cost difference, a nearly 13 percent advantage for IBM, is significant. But more significant is the relative ease of configuration and deployment. Configuring the servers and storage on this BladeCenter S system can be done with a single console. Performing the same configuration on the HP BladeSystem c3000 system requires a minimum of two consoles, and is much more complex and time consuming. IBM Quantity Price Extended Price HP Quantity Price Blade Chassis Extended Price IBM BladeCenter S , , HP c , , Dual Redundant Power Supply HP c3000 Enclosure Power Supplies - Included Fan Packs - Included 6 Fans - Included Rack Rails for BladeCenter S - Included Rack rails for HP BLc AMM for Management - Included KVM option Power Cords - Included IBM Server Connectivity Module , , m IEC 320 c13-c14 power cords HP GBE2c Ethernet layer , , Edison: IBM BladeCenter S Book of Success Page 9 Copyright 2011 Edison Group, Inc. New York. Edison Group is a technology research and business consulting firm that provides competitive analysis, product testing, product and solution analysis, business value and TCO studies, customer and partner

10 IBM Quantity Price Extended Price HP Quantity Price Blade Server Extended Price IBM BladeCenter HS , , HP BL460c G , , /2 Intel E5649 (6C, 2.53 GHz, 12MB L3, 80W), 8GB RAM (2x4GB) IBM SAS Connectivity card Disk Storage module , SAS Raid Controller Modules BladeCenter Office Enablement Kit , , Storage Rack and Power 1/2 Intel E5649 (6C, 2.53 GHz, 12MB L3, 80W), 8GB RAM (2x4GB) HP BL NC325m NIC adapter HP StorageWorks SB40c Storage Blade HP V4000 VSA software included , , , Included c3000 Tower Kit Included PDU - Included PDU Included Grand Total 32, Grand Total 37, IBM Cost Advantage $4, Edison: IBM BladeCenter S Book of Success Page 10 Copyright 2011 Edison Group, Inc. New York. Edison Group is a technology research and business consulting firm that provides competitive analysis, product testing, product and solution analysis, business value and TCO studies, customer and partner

11 IBM BladeSystem S with Six Server Blades vs. Six Rack-Mount Servers For this comparison, a BladeSystem S chassis is configured with six HS22 server blades and sharable SAS storage. The blade solution is compared to six rack-mount servers from HP: ProLiant DL360 servers. The HP price is from the HP Smart Buy pricing on the HP web site. Beyond IBM's 16% cost advantage, the key differences between the two systems include the smaller footprint required by the BladeSystem S chassis versus that required for six rack-mount servers plus external storage and network hardware. In addition, configuration and deployment of the BladeSystem S system can be performed from a single GUI console versus the several consoles required for the rack servers and networking and any external storage. (As configured, each HP server supports up to SAS or SATA drives as local storage. For shared storage, an entry-level HP iscsi array is included. This is for comparison to the sharable 12- drive capacity of the BCS chassis. The cost of drives is not included in this comparison as both vendors charge the same price for the same type of drives.) The price comparison table is on the following page. Edison: IBM BladeCenter S Book of Success Page 11 Copyright 2011 Edison Group, Inc. New York. Edison Group is a technology research and business consulting firm that provides competitive analysis, product testing, product and solution analysis, business value and TCO studies, customer and partner

12 IBM Description Quantity Price HP Extended Price Description Quantity Price Blade Chassis Extended Price IBM BladeCenter S , No chassis needed - - Included IBM Server Connectivity Module , , IBM BladeCenter HS , , /2 Intel Xeon E5649(6 core, 2.53 GHz, 12MB L3, 95W), 24GB RAM Network Connectivity Server Generic 24 Port 1GB Ethernet switch , HP ProLiant Smart-Buy DL360 G7 E MB (2P) , , /2 Intel Xeon E5649 (6 core, 2.53 GHz, 12MB L3, 95W), 24GB RAM IBM SAS Connectivity card , HP SAS Expander Card , Disk Storage module , SAS Raid Controller Modules , , Storage Power HP Storage MSA2312i Dual Controller Smart Array Drives, accessories, additional , , HP Slim 12/7mm SATA DVD-RW Optical Drive PDU - Included PDU Grand Total 35, Grand Total 41, IBM Advantage $6, Edison: IBM BladeCenter S Book of Success Page 12 Copyright 2011 Edison Group, Inc. New York. Edison Group is a technology research and business consulting firm that provides competitive analysis, product testing, product and solution analysis, business value and TCO studies, customer and partner