June 2006 saw the introduction of the next generation of HP BladeServers, the c-Class. Three years in development, the HP BladeSystem c-Class leapfrogs the competition with innovations in virtualization, power and cooling, and system management capabilities that can reduce both operational and capital expenditure costs.

The c-Class represents technology that is:

Cost saving - Validates true ROI by reducing upfront costs and lowering TCO

Change ready - Eliminates barriers to change via modularity and virtual capabilities (HP Virtual Connect Architecture). HP is also tied closely into VMware to offer simplified infrastructure virtualisation for ProLiant, StorageWorks and HP management software.

Energy Thrifty - HP Thermal Logic Technology maximises energy efficiency in the datacentre

Time Smart - HP Insight Control management tools save valuable administrator time via pre-integration and full automation

Rethinking approaches to today’s most pressing data center challenges, HP focused its HP BladeSystem innovations in three key areas: virtualization, power and cooling, and system management.

The HP Virtual Connect Architecture solves networking complexity challenges by enabling customers to wire just once. For the first time, server administrators can manage resources on the fly via virtualized Ethernet and Fibre Channel connections, saving hours or days of administrative “wait time.”

The virtualization is coupled with the industry’s fastest midplane and five terabits per second of aggregate throughput. This combination provides years of headroom for the most demanding environments and support connectivity options for leading network brands.

Leveraging HP’s company-wide focus on energy-efficient computing, HP Thermal Logic Technologies apply thermal controls to turn high density into a power and cooling advantage without compromising processing performance. For the first time, customers can minimize energy costs and environmental impact and ensure application availability with control efficiency at the component, enclosure and rack levels.

Related to this, the ultra-efficient HP Active Cool Fan cuts server airflow by 30 percent and energy consumption by 50 percent compared to traditional fans. In addition, the c-Class architecture can deliver power savings of up to 40 percent or more versus rack-mount servers.
(Based on internal HP testing of similarly configured rack and blade servers running identical tests).

Paving the way for improved system management is the new HP Onboard Administrator, which integrates consumer-designed technology from HP’s Imaging and Printing Group. This feature brings unprecedented simplicity to system management by using words and graphics so customers of all sizes can easily set up, control, monitor, troubleshoot and repair the c-Class infrastructure – all through built-in modules via a web browser and an industry-first three-inch, interactive LCD window.

HP BladeSystem Enclosures
HP offers two versatile enclosures to match the unique needs of large or small IT environments. Each enclosure consolidates power, cooling, connectivity, redundancy and security into a modular, self-tuning system with intelligence built in to provide simplified management, superior processor, network performance, and more efficient power and cooling capability.

c7000 Enclosure
The HP BladeSystem c7000 Enclosure was the first enclosure implemented using the BladeSystem c-Class architecture. It is optimized for enterprise datacenter applications. It fits into standard size HP and third-party racks and accommodates the c-Class form-factor server blades, storage blades, and interconnect modules. The c7000 enclosure is designed for flexibility, scalability and engineered to support the future technologies.

c3000 Enclosure
The HP BladeSystem c3000 Enclosure is the next generation in an evolution of the entire rack-mounted infrastructure. The c3000 Enclosure is designed for remote sites, small and medium-sized businesses, and datacenters with special power and cooling constraints.

Model	BL2x220c G5	BL260c G5	BL460c	BL465c	BL480c	BL685c G5	BL685c
Processors	Dual- or Quad-Core Intel Xeon	Single-, Dual- or Quad-Core Intel Xeon	Dual- or Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5000	Dual- or Quad-Core AMD Opteron 2000	Dual- or Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5000	Quad-Core Intel Xeon 7000	Dual- or Quad-Core AMD Opteron 8000
Processor Capacity	2x2	2	2	2	2	4	4
Memory	16GB / 4 DIMMS Reg DDR2 667MHz per board	24GB / 6 DIMMS Reg DDR2 667MHz	32GB / 8 DIMMS FB DDR2 667MHz	64GB / 8 DIMMS Reg DDR2 667MHz	48GB / 12 DIMMS FB DDR2 667MHz	128GB / 16 DIMMS FB DDR2 667MHz	128GB / 16 DIMMS Reg DDR2 667MHz
Management	iLO 2 Standard Blade Edition	iLO 2 Standard Blade Edition	iLO 2 Standard Blade Edition	iLO 2 Standard Blade Edition	iLO 2 Standard Blade Edition	iLO 2 Standard Blade Edition	iLO 2 Standard Blade Edition
Internal HP Storage	(1) SFF NHP SATA per board	(2) SFF NHP SATA bays	(2) SFF NHP SAS/SATA bays	(2) SFF HP SAS/SATA bays	(4) SFF NHP SAS/SATA bays	(2) SFF NHP SAS/SATA bays	(2) SFF HP SAS/SATA bays
RAID	None	Chipset SATA RAID	RAID 0/1 controller w/ BBWC option	RAID 0/1 controllerw/ BBWC option	RAID 0/1/5 controller w/ BBWC option	RAID 0/1/5 controller w/ BBWC option	RAID 0/1 controller w/ BBWC option
Network Adapters	(2) Standard 1GbE per board	(2) Standard 1GbE	(2) MFN 1GbE	(2) MFN 1GbE	(2) MFN 1GbE (2) Standard 1GbE	(2) MFN 1GbE (2) Standard 1GbE	(2) MFN 1GbE (2) Standard 1GbE
Mezzanine slots	1 per board	1	2	2	3	3	3

Management Software
Insight Control Data Center Edition delivers core management functionality for HP BladeSystem platforms that builds on HP Systems Insight Manager and ProLiant Essentials software. Delivered on the Insight Control Management DVD, Insight Control Data Center Edition uses an integrated installer to deploy and configure core HP management software rapidly and accurately, The following primary components are installed and licensed by default with the integrated installer:

• HP Systems Insight Manager (HP SIM)
• HP ProLiant Essentials Rapid Deployment Pack (RDP)
• HP ProLiant Essentials Performance Management Pack (PMP)
• HP ProLiant Essentials Vulnerability and Patch Management Pack (VPM)

NOTE: Additional components that can be deployed using the integrated installer include the ProLiant Essentials Virtualization Management Software - licensed separately

Insight Control Data Center Edition can be delivered with HP BladeSystem c-Class enclosures as evaluation software or with full purchased licenses. Software-only license options are also available for both HP BladeSystem c-Class and p-Class environments.

Version 1.1 of Insight Control Data Center Edition provides a single master key to license the HP Performance Management Pack and the Vulnerability and Patch Management Pack. Future releases of Insight Control Data Center Edition will expand upon this licensing model to cover a broader range of management functionality under a single license key.

Interconnects
To connect your BladeSystem to outside networks and storage, HP offers a variety of options to support your familiar standards such as Ethernet, Fibre Channel and Infiniband. HP offers pass-through and integrated switches alongside a new Virtual Connect architecture.

• Standards Based: Ease of installation, configuration, and interoperability with existing network infrastructures and management.
• Connectivity options: Choices to support 1 to 10Gb Ethernet, 4Gb Fibre Channel, 4X DDR InfiniBand, RDMA, TCP Offload, iSCSI, and future I/O technologies.
• Built-in redundancy: Hot-plug interconnects that can be removed and replaced without need to cable/re-cable network connections.
• Cable reduction: Cut cables up to 94%, providing up to 32-to-1 network cable reduction per enclosure.

Storage
Direct Attached;
The StorageWorks SB40c is a half-height c-Class storage blade featuring support for up to six hot-plug Small Form Factor (SFF) Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) or Serial ATA (SATA) hard disk drives. Using the onboard Smart Array P400, the SB40c provides industry-leading performance, availability, and storage density, to meet customers' demanding and growing storage needs.

All-in-One SB600c Storage Blade
The All-in-One Storage Blade is a radically simple, integrated, and affordable network storage solution that enables businesses to easily manage, grow, and protect their data without requiring them to become storage experts. Managed through a single interface, the AiO SB600c Storage Blade provides shared application storage (iSCSI SAN), file serving (NAS), and data protection below the cost of separate products and installs directly inside a HP BladeSystem c-Class enclosure