The Mars researchers are so impressed with their blade server that they want to extend the technology to other ASU technical projects. "We’re hoping to pool research money from several computer-intensive projects to produce a center for scientific computing," says Gorelick. "That could involve as many as 1,000 more nodes."

On a Wing and a Blade

Closer to Earth, Continental Airlines is relying on blade server technology to power its Web presence. Today, the company uses 24 Hewlett-Packard ProLiant BL40p four-processor blades, running Windows 2000, as Web servers. The Intel Xeon-processor blades are linked to conventional ProLiant servers that function as database clusters, giving customers the ability to view, price and book flights, as well as offering the airline easily scalable performance, space savings and streamlined management. The configuration is set to double in size when a backup Web presence goes online later this year.

The blade servers replaced several older Pentium-based ProLiant 580 servers, says Bob Edwards, vice president of systems technology for Continental Airlines. "We needed more power to handle Continental.com’s sales, and when we did the upgrade we just transitioned over to blade technology."

Like most other blade server adopters, Continental acquired the technology to boost performance and save space, which should reduce costs in the long run. The system also helps the airline quickly scale its website to suit business surges and lulls. With the old technology, getting a new server online could take the better part of a day. "It was too late; the sale was over," says Edwards. Blade servers allow Continental to respond to rising demand much faster. "We can now deploy an image onto a Web server?application and OS?in probably one-tenth the time," says Edwards.

The blade servers haven’t given Edwards any major headaches so far. He does, however, worry about the system’s physical environment. "Because of the density, there’s a lot of heat generated," he says. Like many other blade adopters, Edwards faces the prospect of adding enhanced cooling, such as improving the airflow between enclosures or even adding a water cooling system. "I did not anticipate the heat distribution problem," says Edwards. "You need to pay careful attention to where the servers are placed and how heat is managed in and around [them]."

On the other hand, Edwards appreciates the technology’s space-saving attributes. "We had five racks originally; we’re down to three racks now. That’s a pretty substantial reduction in floor space," he notes. And deployment took only one month.