Dell Computer wants a cut of the blade-server market -- the company has announced a new blade-server line, dubbed PowerEdge 1655MC, along with management software to go with it.

Server blades are essentially small servers built on cards that can be plugged into a special rack, where they are stacked like dishes or library books. The rack offers a shared power supply and networking capabilities and allows customers to add servers on an as-needed basis. Typically, blade servers are used for jobs such as Web site hosting.
The new Dell blade server product line allows up to 84 servers, each equipped with up to two 1.26GHz Intel Pentium III processors, to fit into a single rack (six servers per enclosure, 14 enclosures in a rack). Dell plans to introduce blade servers based on Intel´s new 800MHz dual-processor-capable Pentium III chips.

Dell is coming into the blade-server market later than competitors such as Hewlett-Packard and Compaq. Both companies have launched single-processor server blades based on Intel´s 700MHz Pentium III uniprocessor chip for blade servers in the past few months.

Dell will also address, through software, one of the pressing issues with blade servers--managing them.
Dell updated its OpenManage server software with new features, including proactive problem notification and remote access. Dell also tapped Jareva Technologies for software to simplify the installation of standard and blade-style servers. Customers can use the software to install operating systems and applications, among other things.

Once tackled, blade management should open the door to other sales opportunities. Internet service providers will likely offer blade systems that can be automatically reconfigured to handle sudden bulges of traffic.

The PowerEdge 1655MC blade server will offer as many as two 1.26GHz Pentium III chips, dual hard drives and up to 2GB of RAM. It will ship during the third quarter, at which time pricing will be announced.

The new PowerEdge 6600 and PowerEdge 6650 are on sale now with prices starting around $12,000, the company said.

As for bricks, so far Dell has said that a single brick could be designed to provide processor power, handle input/output, or contain storage. Multiple bricks will therefore need to be linked together to build large servers. But that´s the idea. Customers will be able to fit the bricks together in various configurations to custom-build servers to meet their needs, Dell executives said.

Dell will manufacture these various kinds of bricks using off-the-shelf components such as Intel processors, which will keep prices relatively low.

Other markets key to Dell's success will include storage and IT services. The company has begun to beef up these areas with new products, alliances and hires. For example, Dell formed a far-reaching relationship with storage giant EMC. In the relationship, Dell is providing manufacturing and logistics expertise to EMC, while EMC is making Dell its primary sales channel for small and mid-sized businesses.