From the announcements it seems that all of the big server vendors will be shipping servers with VMware ESX 3i embedded in a flash module. This includes Dell, IBM, HP and Fujitsu.
Dell should be the first vendor to ship one of these servers. The Dell solution is called the Dell Veso server. It will ship at the end of November 2007 with dual quad-core Intel Opteron processors, up to 128 GB of memory and four PCI slots. The Dell Veso is also diskless (which means less power consumption) because it ships with the embedded ESX 3i and could hold up to 20 NICs.
There's no date set yet, but when it ships, the IBM solution will include the new X4 chipset and a virtualization appliance option. Fujitsu will be shipping servers with ESX 3i (no specs yet) in the first quarter of 2008 through its channel partners.
Dell seems to be the only vendor so far that has purpose-built a server just for the ESX 3i platform. What's interesting is that Dell might be positioning itself as a one-stop shop for virtual infrastructure. The company just recently agreed to purchase EqualLogic, an iSCSI storage vendor that is on VMware's Technology Alliance Partners list. To gain the benefits of Vmotion, you need some type of shared storage. Dell's Fibre Channel offerings from EMC and some of its NAS devices are already on VMware's storage hardware compatibility list, and EqualLogic will round out Dell's iSCSI offerings. Clients might have the opportunity to buy a virtualization-focused server and the storage needed, all from Dell.
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