Latchford
HP has seen one generation of its blades come and go (BL 10e) and is now on its second attempt (BL p-Series) for bladed infrastructure. With growing focus on the SMB market, what are HP’s plans for future compatibility to compete with IBM BladeCenter H? Will HP be able to deliver compatibility with today’s chassis, blades, and switches or will customers be abandoned on a dead-end architecture when the new products come out?
Bovis
HP has led the BladeSystem infrastructure movement in the market and in fact launched two blade product classes prior to the introduction of HP ProLiant e-Class and p-Class blade servers. It is important to note that a BladeSystem infrastructure is best suited to medium, commercial and enterprise-sized businesses as opposed to being a compelling choice for small business. These blade solutions were designed to provision for future innovation and to address improvements in the reduction of cabling, centralised management, remote administration, easy system expandability and built-in redundancy.
Today the HP Proliant p-Class blades are dual-core capable. They are not only providing a very compelling performance and value proposition, they will continue to provide outstanding return on investment for customers moving to dual core for at least the next 12 months. Our p-Class BladeSystems will also support future processor releases from both Intel and AMD proving we have a strong roadmap to support our existing p-class customers and customers moving to a bladed infrastructure from traditional rack-mount servers.
Bovis
If you could relive any one moment from your life to date, what would it be?
Latchford
Like many people, this includes when I met then married my wife and when my three kids
were were born.
But I would also love to relive the moment when I went hunting on horseback in far western Mongolia a few years back. It was below freezing temperatures, we slept in the huts of nomadic communities and the moment was full of adventure and excitement. Technology was a million miles away and it was fascinating to see these nomadic hunters, who used eagles as their hunting weapons, being innovative in securing new ways to live and to progress and provide.
Latchford
What three things would you like with you if you were stranded on a desert island?
Bovis
It’s a simple—a five-star resort with room service offering excellent quality Australian wines and fresh seafood, and my family. Sounds like all I really need for a desert island, and to be honest, what more could one want?
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