HP unveils server for SMBs

HP has priced the server in the sub Rs. 1 Lakh bracket and company targets sale of 100 HP ProLiant servers every month.

The server market, say analysts, stands at $400 mn and an estimated 100, 000 servers will be sold for the fiscal and 60% of them will be sold to SMBs in India.  Another 700,000 servers are expected to be sold in China.

In India, majority of SMBs to keep pace with their growing storage needs are now either migrating from tower based setup to a rack mount one. HP with an aim to tap this growing market launched HP ProLiant DL 180, a rack mounted server, powered by the Dual Core and Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors.

While a tower server is a free-standing unit, similar to a large desktop PC both in size and shape, rack server is specially designed to fit within a standardized 19" mounting rack.

HP ProLiant DL 180’s 2U chassis and the 2Gb DIMM memory option kit are specifically designed to support the computing needs of growing businesses.

In addition, the server, says HP, meets the needs of network service providers looking to manage the networking, gaming, mail and messaging, file and print and data storage applications of their customers.

While in USA, majority of SMBs has shifted to rack based architecture, Chinese and Indian SMBs have now started to turn their backs to tower servers. Pual H. Miller, Vice President, Marketing, HP Industry Standard Servers and Blade Systems, says this is due to fact tower servers consume more space and power which is not a cost-efficient proposition for SMBs in the long run.

Moreover, says Miller, rack servers have the benefits of portability and size, “You can stack rack mount servers on top of each other in a single rack, which maximizes your available space and you pay for convenience”, says Miller.

Explaining the need for designing, rack mount servers specifically for SMB segment, HP Rajesh Dhar, Country Manager, Industry Standard Servers, HP India, said though the demand for servers in SMB market is huge, there isn’t a server which is low cost and yet at the same time doesn’t compromise on performance.

"Either you have existing high end rack mounted server priced at 2.5 Lakh or a tower servers priced at Rs. 80, 000 in the market", said Dhar adding the new HP ProLiant DL 180 takes the middle path and tries to incorporate the best mix of economy and performance.

Tony Parkinson, vice president and general manager, Industry Standard Servers, HP Asia Pacific and Japan, said HP sees tremendous potential for server business among SMB’s in India and China.

“HP has invested in building -- from the ground up -- a server built on industry standards with the objective of meeting the needs of growing businesses in Asia,” said Parkinson.

”It is the ideal platform for customers that are looking to grow beyond the capabilities of a distributed, tower-server based environment, offering all the efficiencies of a rack server while maintaining the economics of a tower server”, he added

HP has maintained its leadership position in the x86 server shipments in Asia Pacific and Japan and in unit shipment terms for the 20th consecutive quarter since the second quarter of 2002, capturing 29.6 percent market share in the first quarter of 2007, according to industry analyst firm IDC.