5) Need for quick (and fewer) fixes. Since blade servers have fewer working parts, they are more reliable. When repairs are needed, a new card can be slipped into the slot without powering down or redoing cabling. Replacing a traditional rack-mounted server takes about 10 minutes compared with just a minute or two for a blade server, according to Sun Microsystems.
6) Overpowering power costs. A SPARC blade uses 18 watts of power for average operation, while traditional servers eat up to 60 or 70 watts, Sun Microsystems finds. By lowering power usage enterprises can save substantially in terms of electricity usage.
But find a different prescription if:
1) Processing power is paramount. Today, blade servers are not ideally suited for 64-bit environments, or when you need 8, 16 or more processors.
2) Huge amounts of storage are needed. Blade servers allow for only up to two disks (168 GB) of local storage.
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