Blade servers, initially thought of as stripped-down alternatives to traditional servers, are gaining more performance enhancements and management tools and, with these, the attention of enterprises.

Top-tier manufacturers Dell Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM over the next few months are each planning rollouts of hardware and software features for their blade families that offer enhanced flexibility.

Meanwhile, smaller developers such as Egenera Inc., of Marlboro, Mass., whose BladeFrame technology is targeted at high-end applications and data centers, are also expanding their product families. For example, early next year, Egenera, whose servers now run only Red Hat Inc.'s Red Hat Linux, will support Microsoft Corp.'s .Net, according to officials.

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