Engaged in a head-to-head battle with IBM for dominance in the fast-growing server blade market, Hewlett-Packard is overhauling its blade architecture to enable higher densities, reduced acquisition and operational costs, and enhanced management capabilities.

The company today introduced the c-Class portfolio, which will replace its existing p-Class server blade offerings with new chassis, blades, fans, power supplies, and management control.

"This design is a significant leap forward for the industry," says Mark Potter, VP of BladeSystem for HP. "Previous introductions by our competitors have really been tweaks to existing systems, and not a real extension of a bladed architecture to meet demands of the customers."

Sun Microsystems recently announced plans to add new blades based around its Galaxy architecture.

IBM recently made several announcements in support of its BladeCenter platform, including a third-party, $100 million venture capital fund for ecosystem partners; continued expansion of its Blade.org consortium to 75 members; and the introduction of a 10-Gigabit Ethernet switch.

According to market researchers IDC, the revenue in the server blade market grew by 43% in the first quarter of 2006 compared with the first quarter of 2005, to more than $591 million. IBM and HP currently control more than three-fourths of the market, with IBM holding a 40% market share in the first quarter, and HP weighing in at 36%. Dell ranks third, at 11%.

Today's HP announcements represent a major departure from its current BladeSystem platform. For example, the new c-Class platform will require the use of new chassis and blades that are noncompliant with HP's existing platform, but which will provide significant new advantages, according to Potter.

These include reducing acquisition costs by up to 41%, data center facilities costs by up to 60%, and initial system set-up time savings by 96%, Potter claims. In total, the new platform will allow data centers to achieve a 200-1 device-to-administrator ratio.

Also, the HP Insight Control manager will provide a tenfold improvement in human resource deployment for many IT tasks, Potter says. Insight Control integrates tools to unify and automate management of physical and virtual servers, storage, networking, power, and cooling through a single console.

In addition, using algorithms and processes originally developed by HP's Imaging and Printing Group, the c-Class platform also will include an Onboard Administrator. This feature allows users to control, monitor, troubleshoot, and repair BladeSystem products through the use of a 2-inch interactive LCD panel on the front of the blade chassis that is similar to control panels found on HP printers.

Another new feature is the Active Cool Fan, a high-efficiency fan that is mounted on the back of the blade chassis, enabling a 30% cut in air conditioning requirements and a 50% reduction in energy consumption, Potter says. The new fan is based on electric inductive motor fans similar to those found on radio-controlled airplanes. The fans provide high-power air flow, but had to be re-engineered by HP to make it feasible for use in high-volume, high-reliability server installations.

The Virtual Connect Architecture will allow users to create up to four redundant interconnect fabrics.