BANGALORE, INDIA: HP launched its latest virtualisation blade, HP ProLiant BL495c, recently.

The HP ProLiant BL495c virtualization blade claims to be the the world's first server blade designed specifically to host virtual machines. The BL465c is an ideal platform for virtualized environments that require significant memory, data storage and network connections to optimise server performance.

The BL495c eliminates performance bottlenecks by accelerating virtual server speed with twice the memory capacity, solid state drives that use significantly less power, and up to two more Ethernet network connections than competitive offerings. Based on the typical configuration of four gigabytes (GB) per virtual machine (VM), the BL495c can support a minimum of 32 VMs. Customers filling an HP BladeSystem c7000 enclosure with 16 BL495c server blades can utilise up to 512 VMs versus 256 and 112 from the closest competitors.

Rajesh Dhar, Country Manager, Industry Standard Servers, Technology Solutions Group, HP India, said: "Customers looking to maximise the performance of virtualised infrastructure have the answer with the BL495c. It was architected and optimised specifically for virtual machines. With its memory, storage and I/O capabilities, the BL495c is unmatched in the industry and redefines server blades for virtualisation."

Save data centre space
The BL495c helps customers to increase data center rack space by eliminating the need for two-processor servers earmarked to host virtual machines. In addition, by combining the 495c with HP's Virtual Connect networking technology, customers can quickly expand network connections along with storage capacity, reducing storage area network connection costs up to 65 percent.

Features and specifications
The BL495c accelerates the implementation and maximises the performance of virtualised servers. Key components include:

·  Sixteen memory slots for up to 128 GB capacity – two times more than the Dell M605 and IBM's LS21.

· Supports ultra-fast and reliable solid state drives that use less than two watts of power – the first HP blade to do so.

· Expands to terabytes of disk capacity per server quickly with more storage options than typical blade servers.

· Built-in iVirtualisation for VMware, Hyper-V and Citrix simplifies tedious set-up tasks for easier creation of virtual servers.

· Faster memory and network access via Dual AMD Hypertransport links – the only blade on the market with this feature.