The industry throws around a lot of buzz words - one of which is "utility computing", and it is becoming a more commonly talked about computing solution. Egenera's Bladeframe System seems to fit in this space quite nicely. It combines its stateless servers with a software that virtualizes processing, storage, and networking resources into a "computing fabric" allowing IT shops to rapidly provision systems.

To help maintain their positioning in the industry, Egenera continues to innovate, and the engineering team has recently been granted three new patents to help their leadership position.

Quoting from their press release:

Egenera's unique BIOS technology virtualizes the operations provided by standard server BIOS, allowing those I/O operations to be performed to devices that are not physically attached to the server. Specifically, the virtual BIOS accesses virtual console and virtual storage resources necessary to transform diskless, stateless Egenera® Processing BladeTM modules into virtual servers. This technology is a key enabler for virtualizing server configuration while providing the standard BIOS interfaces required by enterprise server operating systems.

The newly patented interconnect technology, referred to as the BladeMateTM system, integrates high-speed fabric connections, blade management and power distribution in a hot-plug connection scheme. Multi-level alignment between mating connector components ensures highly reliable operation. This embedded connection technology allows Egenera to deliver blades based on virtually any processor architecture.

Working in concert with BladeMate is the newly patented BladeLatchTM system, a handle mechanism for easily installing, securing and removing blades from the Egenera BladeFrame® chassis. Together, these technologies enable Egenera customers to leverage advances in processor technology by upgrading blades without disrupting overall datacenter operations.

To find out more about the company and their products, visit their Web site, here.

Posted by David Marshall on April 26, 2006 04:43 AM