HP Overhauling Integrity Servers Next Week

Sounds like many HP Integrity servers will get a new chassis after living in the same box for seven years.

Computerworld reports that HP is getting ready to kick in a major refresh of its Integrity server line, however the site was unable to get specific details in advance of Dell's press conference scheduled for next week. The only tidbit of information that was actually provided gave some indication that the Intel Itanium 9300 (Tukwila) processor will allow the company to incorporate a more modular, modern design, perfect for reducing ownership costs and increasing scalability.

The report added that--outside the faster processors--the refresh is somewhat significant, as Integrity customers haven't seen any major changes to the brand since its initial launch back in 2003. As an example, the high-end Superdome model has used the same chassis since the launch of the Integrity line. Serving as the main competitor to IBM's System p servers, it's surprising that HP has waited all this time to consider the upgrades.

With HP as the biggest seller of Itanium-based servers, Intel has a lot riding on the Integrity refresh. As Computerworld points out, both Microsoft and Red Hat have ceased development of operating systems for the Itanium CPU, thus leaving HP-UX and OpenVMS the only two platforms keeping the "Tukwila" processor line afloat.

"The high-end market does move slowly, but IBM has been updating its platforms on a two- to three-year cycle, and HP has had the same platforms but with newer, faster chips," said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight64. "This will be the first really major overhaul of the platforms that they have done, and they are taking advantage of all the things the new Tukwila chip enables."

More details are expected to be released next week. HP is inviting customers to sign up for a launch event that will be streamed live from its Technology@Work 2010 conference in Frankfurt, Germany on April 27. HP promises to reveal the "reinvention of mission critical computing."