HP unveils 'self-sufficient' servers

Hewlett-Packard has launched a new line of servers which it touts to be "the industry's most self-sufficient". Called ProLiant Generation 8, the servers are the result of a US$300 million two-year project aimed at improving datacenter efficiencies by automating every aspect of the server lifecycle.

The revamp was done partly to cater to the scale needed in the cloud era, according to Stephen Bovis, vice president and general manager for industry standard servers and software at HP Asia-Pacific and Japan. He said automated management capabilities were built by embedding "built-in intelligence" to ensure ongoing operations and avoid unplanned downtime.

HP pointed out that manual operations and facilities management could cost companies more than US$24 million over three years, while unplanned downtime was estimated to cost businesses as much as US$10 million an hour.

"As a result, datacenter managers must rely on more intelligent, self-sufficient technologies that eliminate time-consuming, error-prone processes that consume valuable resources and can cause both failure and data loss," noted Bovis.

For example, the new line of servers include features such as the automation of manual tasks to speed up application deployment and reduce downtime. The machines will also be more energy efficient due to smart sensors that can help administrators optimize workload placement, HP said.

It added that the servers are also available with support services to allow the machines to automatically relay their health and other data to authorized channel partners for proactive problem prevention.

Project Voyager is the third phase of HP's multi-year transformation plan for the server market, which began in November 2011 with Project Moonshot.