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	Issue TOC Print full article Print this page Download as PDF E-Mail this URL Flame the author     In this article Introduction Cutting Costs HP: A Big Unknown Executive Summary Epoll Results

In the evolution of PC to server, desktop computers stood upright and became towers. Stackable racks loaded with 2U and 3U servers came next, and now, the new blade architecture promises to set the server market on its side once again. A further riff on the "smaller is better" theme this market has played for years, blade servers pack six or more processing systems into a small space, and let them share common power, cooling and storage systems. Of the "Big Three" computer manufacturers, Hewlett-Packard is first off the block with its blade servers. IBM and Dell will follow--though their blade servers were still just a promise at press time.

Meanwhile, vendors have seized upon reducing total cost of ownership as a marketing point. If the vendors aren't designing servers to be cheaper to own and easier to manage, they're "helping" consumers figure out how to calculate TCO favorably. Use your own judgment before buying into a particular TCO equation.

In our talks with Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM, we asked them to describe where their servers are headed in the near future, and we tested their most powerful servers to date: 4U and 7U units that house four 1.6-GHz Intel Xeon MP processors each. While all three told slightly different versions of the same story, Dell took the lead in our tests. Combined with a significantly lower price than the competition, the Dell PowerEdge 6650 took our Editor's Choice award.