HP expanded the middle of its server line with the introduction of two easy-to-upgrade NetServers.
The HP NetServer LH4 and LH4R are for large workgroups and data centers, and are available in pedestal or rack-mounted models. The rack-mountable LH4R fits an environment constrained by server room space and hungry for server consolidation.
"We use the HP NetServer as the standard for hosting for our customers," says Michael Mael, vice president of applications and services at PSINet, an ISP in Herndon, Va. "Rack-mount servers are critical to our business. The economics of our business are such that if we can put two, four or six servers in a rack, our ability to provide customer service increases exponentially."
These NetServers feature four Pentium II Xeon 400-MHz processors and support up to 12 hot-swappable Ultra2 SCSI drives and a dual-channel RAID controller.
The products also include a 10/100M bit/sec Ethernet adapter and hot-swappable fans and power supplies. The HP NetServer can be managed with HP Top Tools, a Web-based Enterprise Management (WBEM) browser interface. WBEM standardizes the management, monitoring and reporting on Intel-based servers. HP's Top Tools integrates with HP OpenView, Tivoli, CA-Unicenter TNG and Microsoft's Systems Management Server (SMS). The HP NetServer LH4 and LH4R start at $8,100 and will ship in December.
HP also introduced two external storage enclosures. The RS/12 is an Ultra2 SCSI enclosure; the RS/12FC is its Fibre Channel partner. Each enclosure allows the server to be attached to up to four drive bays for a maximum storage capacity of 108G bytes.
Finally, to encourage NetServer upgrades to the LH4 and LH4R from its previous two-way LH3 server, HP is offering a program that takes an hour and costs about $300.
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