Management Toolkit

ClearCube extends low-cost clustering

Colin Barker ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 01 Nov 2007 14:44 GMT

ClearCube, the maker of high-performance blade systems, has introduced what it claims is a new blade and chassis that offer a lower-cost system for small to medium-sized companies.

Launched on Wednesday, the A1410 PC Blade, and A3100 chassis with its expansion backplane, are intended for use as part of a centralised infrastructure. Groups of blades can be clustered to maximise power in a minimum footprint or space, the company said.

Blades are compact servers that can be slotted into a framework known as a chassis. Together with the backplane, which provides interconnections between the blades, the chassis handles issues such as cooling and power.

Read this

Review: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650

If you want to claim ownership of the fastest multi-core CPU available today, look no further...

The new ClearCube blade, which is based on Intel quad-core processors, also uses the ClearCube I9400 series I/Port. Introduced earlier this year, the I9400 is a quad-monitor that works over IP using the PC-over-IP technology from Teradici. When used with Sentral v5.5 virtualisation software it is intended to allow management of all computing resources, including any back-end hardware, virtualised desktop or user access device.

According to ClearCube's chief executive and president, Rick Hoffman, the A1410 PC Blade will cost around $1,500 (£720).

"What you get is all the manageability functions, which, coupled with the blade, offer a very powerful solution," Hoffman told ZDNet.co.uk. "You can manage your blade infrastructure from a single console with a single management solution."