Server
Hardware
core Intel Xeon processor 5100 complement of four closely
series—an improvement that packed processors.
caught our judges’ eyes.
What remains to be seen is
how well developers adapt to HEWLETT-PACKARD
making full use of four-headed BladeSystem c-Class
INTEL beasts such as Intel’s Core 2 With its next-generation
Core
2 Quad Quad chips. That may well be BladeSystem c-Class, HP invites fodder for a future Excellence companies to rethink how IT
No matter how speedy computer processors become, a single Awards win. infrastructures are built and
core can take on only one task at a time. For chip vendors to keep maintained. HP’s BladeSystem
operating system and application developers stocked with all the c-Class was designed for
horsepower they can handle, multicore is the way forward. a future where blades can
Leading the way toward this multicore future is this year’s APPRO be servers, storage, PCs or
Server Hardware winner, Intel’s Core 2 Quad processor family. Intel got 1U Quad XtremeServer workstations and support
the jump on rival Advanced Micro Devices by shipping server and desk- The Appro 1U Quad fully virtualized environments.
top chips that boast four independent cores in a single package with XtremeServer is built around Essentially, the BladeSystem is
8MB of L2 cache and a 1,066MHz f ront- AMD Opteron processors and an IT infrastructure in a 17-inch
side bus—giving servers the headroom DDR2 (double data rate 2) box that consolidates the basic
to lend four minds to a given task. memory and was designed to elements of the modern data
According to Intel, the new proc- deliver a high power-to-density center computer into a modular
essors deliver up to 50 percent ratio. Appro’s thermal manage- design with integrated manage-
faster performance within the ment scheme centers on an ment to address the areas of
same thermal envelope and innovative mechanical and cost, administrator productiv-
at the same cost as the air duct design that efficiently ity, change management and
previous-generation dual- delivers cooling to the server’s energy efficiency.
WINNER
Networking &
Management Tools
based automation of change and system management software
and inventory management. platform automates continual dis-
Organizations can use ITSM to covery, identification and monitoring
proactively detect service prob- of key services on servers, routers,
lems so the service desk can applications, POS (point of sale) ter-be alerted before users notice a minals or any other devices as they
BMC SOFTWARE performance problem. are introduced to the network.
ITSM Express Integrated identity manage- ment tools can reduce risk and
WINNER
BMC’s ITSM Express is a solution that meets the needs the cost of regulatory compli- JUNIPER NETWORKS
of small and midsize businesses, going beyond the tradi- ance. Identity management WX Central Management
tional service desk by integrating five key components of improves organizational man- System
IT support. ITSM Express delivers out-of-the box integration agement of security by control- Juniper Networks’ WX Central
between BMC’s Service Desk Express, Performance Manager ling who has access to impor- Management System software
Portal, Configuration Manager Express, Identity Management for tant data and systems and how provides centralized configura-.Net and Knowledge Management Express. they are used and managed. tion management and monitor-
ITSM is a fully ing of WX and WXC application
integrated, ITIL FINALIS TS acceleration platforms. The
(IT Infrastructure monitoring software also helps IT
Library)-based solu- CITTIO administrators learn how users
tion that automates Watch Tower and applications are interacting
manual processes Traditional system and network over the WAN—by reporting on
so that companies monitoring tools that depend on bandwidth consumption and top
can lower the cost manual configuration fall short in talkers and on how QOS (quality
of IT support by networks that are constantly chang- of service) policies are affecting
implementing policy- ing. Cittio’s Watch Tower network overall application throughput.
