IBM previews industry first blade computing system

Bangalore, June 14 (UNI) IBM today previewed the industry's first blade computing system, designed to help smaller firms simplify management of technology needed to operate a small business from servers to phone systems and anti-virus applications in a single system.

IBM's new BladeCenter 'S' could help reduce the 25 to 45 servers used by an average mid-size company up to 80 per cent, eliminating the need for these businesses to own and operate their own data centres, IBM said in a release here.

IBM BladeCenter S could sit on a desktop, plug into a standard 240 volt power outlet often found in home offices and manage storage up to six blade servers at a time, the release added.

Designed to integrate applications most commonly used for business functions, such as anti-virus/firewall, voice over IP, email, collaboration, back-up and recovery and file and print applications, the new system was intended to run in a typical office environment.

''Growing businesses with resource constraints have been grappling with ways to leverage technology advances to improve their competitive advantage without increasing costs,'' Mr Viswanath Ramaswamy, Country Manager, IBM BladeCenter and System x, IBM India, said.

UNI