Dell Debuts Denser Blade Server

The PowerEdge 1855 can pack as many as 10 blade servers in a 7U-sized chassis, said Dell, that in turn fits in a standard rack.

Dell's pitching the PowerEdge 1855, which can pack dual-Xeon blades and as much as 16GB of memory, as 25 percent less expensive than a comparable number of Dell's 1U servers. The PowerEdge is also considerably cooler and consumes 13 percent less power than the Round Rock, Texas-based manufacturer's 1U systems.

The PowerEdge 1855 can be equipped with up to a pair of hot-plug SCSI hard drives for internal storage, and supports Fibre Channel to link the server with a larger storage area network. The system is managed with Dell's OpenManage 4 software.

The chassis costs $2,999 and up, and individual blades begin at $1,699. A typical price for a fully-populated 1855 is $19,989, said Dell. The new blade server is available now.