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The IBM BladeCenter was 's
architecture, until was replaced by Flex System, and the x86 division was later sold to
BladeCenter E front side: 8 blade servers (HS20) followed by 6 empty slots
BladeCenter E back side, showing on the left two
and two . On the right side a management module with console cables.
supercomputer () has 86 Blade Centers (6 Blade Center E on each computing rack)
Introduced in 2002, based on engineering work started in 1999, the IBM BladeCenter was relatively late to the
market. It differed from prior offerings in that it offered a range of x86
server processors and input/output (I/O) options. In February 2006, IBM introduced the BladeCenter H with switch capabilities for
A web site called Blade.org was available for the blade computing community through about 2009.
In 2012 the replacement Flex System was introduced.
The original IBM BladeCenter was later marketed as BladeCenter E with 14 blade slots in 7U. Power supplies have been upgraded through the life of the chassis from the original 1200 to , 2000 and 2320 watt.
The BladeCenter (E) was co-developed by IBM and
and included:
14 blade slots in 7U
Shared media tray with ,
One (upgradable to two)
Two (upgradable to four) power supplies
Two redundant high-speed blowers
Two slots for Gigabit
switches (can also have optical or copper pass-through)
Two slots for optional switch or pass-through modules, can have additional Ethernet, ,
functions.
BladeCenter T is the
version of the original IBM BladeCenter, available with either AC or DC (48 V) power. Has 8 blade slots in 8U, but uses the same switches and blades as the regular BladeCenter E. To keep
/ ETSI compliant special Network Equipment-Building System (NEBS) compliant blades are available.
Upgraded BladeCenter design with high-speed fabric options. Fits 14 blades in 9U. Backwards compatible with older BladeCenter switches and blades.
14 blade slots in 9U
Shared Media tray with Optical Drive and
One (upgradable to two)
Two (upgradable to four) Power supplies
Two redundant High-speed blowers
Two slots for Gigabit Ethernet switches (can also have optical or copper pass-through)
Two slots for optional switch or pass-through modules, can have additional Ethernet, Fibre Channel, InfiniBand or Myrinet 2000 functions.
Four slots for optional high-speed switches or pass-through modules, can have 10 Gbit Ethernet or InfiniBand 4X.
Optional Hard-wired serial port capability
BladeCenter HT is the telecommunications company version of the IBM BladeCenter H, available with either AC or DC (48 V) power. Has 12 blade slots in 12U, but uses the same switches and blades as the regular BladeCenter H. But to keep
/ ETSI compliant special NEBS compliant blades are available.
Targets mid-sized customers by offering storage inside the BladeCenter chassis, so no separate external storage needs to be purchased. It can also use 110 V power in the North American market, so it can be used outside the datacenter. When running at 120V, the total chassis capacity is reduced.
6 blade slots in 7U
Shared Media tray with Optical Drive and 2x
Up to 12 hot-swap 3.5" (or 24 2.5")
drives with
0, 1 and 1E capability, RAID 5 and SAN capabilities optional with two SAS RAID controllers
Two optional Disk Storage Modules for HDDs, six 3.5-inch SAS/SATA drives each.
4 hot-swap I/O switch module bays
1 Advanced Management Module as standard (no option for secondary Management Module)
Two 950/1450-watt, hot-swap power modules and ability to have two optional 950/1450-watt power modules, offering redundancy and power for robust configurations.
Four hot-swap redundant blowers, plus one fan in each power supply.
Modules based on
processors from .
(2008) Features
Celeron Single core 445 to Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors up to 2.83 GHz
slots (up to 24 GB)
Hot-swap drives
(2002-6) Features
Inside of IBM HS20 blade. Two 2.5 inch disk drive bays are unoccupied.
One or two Intel
DP processors (single or dual-core)
Option for one or two 2.5" drives (,
(SAS) depending on generation)
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or InfiniBand)
(2007-8) This blade model can use the High-speed IO option of the BladeCenter H, but is backwards compatible with the regular BladeCenter.
One or two Intel Xeon DP processors (dual or quad-core)
Option for one or two
2.5" drives
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre-Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or InfiniBand)
One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or InfiniBand 4X)
(2007-8) This blade model can use the High-speed IO option of the BladeCenter H, but is backwards compatible with the regular BladeCenter.
One or two Intel Xeon DP processors (dual or quad-core)
Eight DIMM slots
Option for one
2.5" drive or one or two -based Solid State drives
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre-Channel storage, additional Ethernet,
One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or
4X as well as additional Fibre-Channel or Ethernet ports)
(2009–11) Features
One or two Intel Xeon 5500 or 5600 series processors (up to 3.6 GHz 4c or 3.46 GHz 6c)
slots (up to 192 GB of total memory capacity)
Option for two hot swap
2.5" drives or Solid State drives ( 0 and 1 are possible)
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports (Broadcom 5709S)
slot (standard -Express daughter card) and 1
slot (high-speed -Express daughter card) for a total of 8 ports of I/O to each blade, including 4 ports of high-speed I/O
Requires Advanced Management Module
(2010–11) Features are very similar to HS22 but:
18 DDR-3 VLP DIMM slots, up to 288 GB of total memory capacity
up to two 1.8" disks (SSD, not hot swapable)
Requires Advanced Management Module
(2012) Features
Single-wide
One or Two Intel Xeon E5-2600
16 Dimm slots, up to 1600mhz
2 hot-swappable HDDs (SATA/SAS) or SSDs
Dual 10G/1G Ethernet onboard expandable to 4x10
Virtual Fabric / vNic's onboard
Requires Advanced Management Module
(2012) Features:
Single-wide
One or Two Intel Xeon E5-2400
12 Dimm slots, up to 1600mhz
2 hot-swappable HDDs (SATA/SAS) or SSDs
Dual Gigabit Ethernet onboard ports with TOE
Requires Advanced Management Module
(2004) Features
Double-wide (needs 2 slots)
One to four Intel Xeon MP processors
Option for one or two ATA100 2.5" drives
Four Gigabit Ethernet ports
for up to four additional ports (Fibre Channel storage, additional Ethernet,
(2008) This blade model is targeted to the workstation market
Single Intel Core 2 Duo processor
slots (8 GB Max)
video adapter
One SATA 60 GB HDD
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
(2010–11) This blade model is targeted at the server virtualization market.
2 expandable to 4 Intel E7, 6500 or 7500 series Xeon (4-10 cores per CPU, up to 2.67 GHz)
slots (256 GB Max). Expandable to 40 slots with a 24 DIMM MAX 5 memory blade (640GB total).
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports per blade.
Modules based on
processors from .
(2005-6) Features
One or two
processors (single or dual-core)
slots for DDR1 VLP DIMM's
Option for one or two SCSI U320 2.5" drives
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre Channel storage, additional Ethernet,
Inside of IBM LS21 blade. Small circuit board visible on the bottom right is an optional Fibre Channel daughter card.
This blade model can use the high-speed I/O of the BladeCenter H, but is also backwards compatible with the regular BladeCenter.
One or two
processors (dual-core)
slots for up to 32 GB of RAM
Option for one
2.5" drive
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre-Channel storage, additional Ethernet,
One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or
(2008) Upgraded model of LS21.
One or two
processors (quad or hex-core)
slots for up to 64 GB of RAM
Option for two
2.5" drive
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre-Channel storage, additional Ethernet,
One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or
(2006-7) This blade model can use the High-speed IO option of the BladeCenter H, but is backwards compatible with the regular BladeCenter
Double-wide (needs 2 slots)
One to four
processors (dual-core)
slots for up to 64 GB of RAM
Option for one or two
2.5" drives
Four Gigabit Ethernet ports
Two expansion slots for up to four additional ports (Fibre-Channel storage, additional Ethernet,
One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or
Data Storage Capacity ?
(2008-9) Upgraded model of LS41.
Double-wide (needs 2 slots)
One to four
processors (quad or hex-core)
slots for up to 128 GB of RAM
Option for one or two
2.5" drives
Four Gigabit Ethernet ports
Two expansion slots for up to four additional ports (Fibre-Channel storage, additional Ethernet,
One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or
Modules based on
processors from .
(2006) Features
processors at 1.6 or 2.2 GHz
slots for PC2700 ECC memory (max 8 GB)
Option for one or two ATA100 2.5" drives
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre Channel storage, additional Ethernet,
(2006) This blade model can have the High-speed IO option of the BladeCenter H, but is backwards compatible with the regular BladeCenter
Can do , offering
capabilities.
single-core processors at 2.7 GHz or two
dual-core processors at 2.5 GHz
slots for PC2-3200 or PC2-4200 ECC memory (max 16 GB)
Option for one or two
2.5" drives
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or )
One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or
(2009) Features
Can do , offering
capabilities.
dual-core processors at 4.0 GHz
slots ECC Chipkill
memory (max 32 GB)
drive up to 146 GB
Integrated Virtualization Manager(IVM)
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports card
One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre Channel storage, additional Ethernet,
One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or
(2009) Features
Can do , offering
capabilities.
dual-core processors at 4.2 GHz
(32 per processor)
slots ECC Chipkill
memory (max 64 GB)
up to 300 GB or one 69 GB
Integrated Virtualization Manager(IVM)
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports card
One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre Channel storage, additional Ethernet,
One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or
One CIOv PCIe expansion slot
Can do , offering
capabilities.
dual-core processors at 4.2 GHz
(32 per processor)
slots ECC Chipkill
memory (max 128 GB)
Zero to two 2.5"
up to 300 GB or zero to two 69 GB
Integrated Virtualization Manager(IVM)
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports card
One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre Channel storage, additional Ethernet,
One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or
Two PCIe CIOv expansion slots
Double-wide form factor
Can do , offering
capabilities.
dual-core processor at 3.8 GHz
slots ECC Chipkill
memory (max 64 GB)
Zero to two 2.5"
drive up to 146 GB
Integrated Virtualization Manager(IVM)
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports, with optionan dual Gbit card
One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre-Channel storage, additional Ethernet,
One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (4 Gbit/s Fibre Channel, , or
Can do , offering
capabilities.
quad-core processor at 3 GHz
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports, with optionan dual Gbit card
Features are very similar to PS700, but
Eight-core processor
max 128 GB
Think two PS701 tied together back-to-back, forming a double-wide blade
Features are very similar to PS701, but
Two eight-core processors at 2.4 GHz
Think two PS703 tied together back-to-back, forming a double-wide blade
Modules based on
processors from .
Double-wide (needs 2 slots)
at 3.2 GHz
1 GB XDRAM Memory (512 MB per processor)
40 GB IDE100 2.5" drive
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
4X connectivity
Single-wide
at 3.2 GHz
2 GB Memory (1 GB per processor)
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre-Channel storage, additional Ethernet,
One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or
Single-wide
processors at 3.2 GHz
Up to 32 GB of
RAM memory
Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
Expansion slots for
daughter card,
4X DDR daughter card and 8 GB uFDM Flash Drive
Themis computer announced a blade around 2008. It ran the Sun
from . Each module had one
with 64 threads at 1.2  GHz and up to 32 GB of
processor memory.
Developed in conjunction with CloudShield, features
Single-wide
Based on Intel IXP2805 network processor
Full payload screening with
Full Layer 7 processing and control
User programmability using
and RAVE open development language
Quad 1 Gbit + quad 10 Gbit Ethernet controllers
Up to 20 Gbit/s DPI throughput per blade
Selective traffic capture, rewrite and redirect
Has LAN and WAN Interfaces
A schematic description of the TriBlade module
supercomputer used a custom module called the TriBlade from 2008 through 2013. An expansion blade connects two QS22 modules with 8 GB RAM each via four
x8 links to a LS21 module with 16 GB RAM, two links for each QS22. It also provides outside connectivity via an
4x DDR adapter. This makes a total width of four slots for a single TriBlade. Three TriBlades fit into one
The BladeCenter can have a total of four switch modules, but two of the switch module bays can take only an Ethernet switche or Ethernet pass-though. To use the other switch module bays, a daughtercard needs to be installed on each blade that needs it, to provide the required , Ethernet,
function. Mixing of different type daughtercards in the same BladeCenter chassis is not allowed.
switch modules were produced by IBM, , and .
produced some switches, and later was purchased by IBM. In all cases speed internal to the BladeCenter, between the blades, is non-blocking. External Gigabit Ethernet ports vary from four to six and can be either copper or .
A variety of SAN switch modules have been produced by , ,
(acquired by Brocade) and
ranging in speeds of 1, 2, 4 and 8 Gbit Fibre Channel. Speed from the
switch to the blade is determined by the lowest-common-denominator between the blade HBA daughtercard and the
switch. External port counts vary from two to six, depending on the switch module.
A InfiniBand switch module has been produced by . Speed from the blade InfiniBand daughtercard to the switch is limited to IB 1X (2.5 Gbit). Externally the switch has one IB 4X and one IB 12X port. The IB 12X port can be split to three IB 4X ports, giving a total of four IB 4X ports and a total theoretical external bandwidth of 40 Gbit.
Two kinds of pass-through module are available: copper pass-through and fibre pass-through. The copper pass-through can be used only with Ethernet, while the Fibre pass-through can be used for Ethernet,
Bridge modules are only compatible with BladeCenter H and BladeCenter HT. They function like Ethernet or
switches and bridge the traffic to . The advantage is that from the Operating System on the blade everything seems normal (regular Ethernet or
connectivity), but inside the BladeCenter everything gets routed over the .
High-speed switch modules are compatible only with the BladeCenter H and BladeCenter HT. A blade that needs the function must have a high-speed daughtercard installed. Different high-speed daughtercards cannot be mixed in the same BladeCenter chassis.
A 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch module was available from BLADE Network Technologies. This allowed 10 Gbit/s connection to each blade, and to outside the BladeCenter.
There are several InfiniBand options:
A high-speed InfiniBand 4X SDR switch module from . This allows IB 4X connectivity to each blade. Externally the switch has two IB 4X ports and two IB 12X ports. The 12X ports can be split to three 4X ports, providing a total of eight IB 4X ports or a theoretical bandwidth of 80 Gbit. Internally between the blades, the switch is non-blocking.
A High-speed
pass-through module to directly connect the blades to an external
switch. This pass-though module is compatible with both SDR and DDR
A high-speed InfiniBand 4X QDR switch module from Voltaire (later acquired by ). This allows full IB 4X QDR connectivity to each blade. Externally the switch has 16 QSFP ports, all 4X QDR capable.
was implemented with IBM BladeCenter components, from 2008 through 2013
employ the IBM BladeCenter. This includes
(the two most powerful supercomputers of ) and 6 small supercomputers.
Supercomputing Center employs the IBM BladeCenter
uses IBM BladeCenter to render
and other films
Kunert, Paul (23 January 2014). . channelregister.co.uk. The Register 2014.
. Archived from
on August 16, .
. Themis Computer. Archived from
on June 5, .
Ken Koch (March 13, 2008).
Montoya, Susan (March 30, 2013). . The Associated Press 2013.
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