Server hardware

Servers are the workhorse of every IT infrastructure, and new developments are constantly delivering greater processor power, higher performance, more storage capacity and better energy efficiency. From mainframes to blade servers, we analyse the trends and technologies that matter in server hardware.

News 01 Jun 2023
DE-CIX switches on Internet Exchange in Finland

Comms tech provider celebrates 10 years of partnership with Internet Exchange operator and home to leading carrier and datacentre neutral interconnection ecosystem Continue Reading
News 17 Mar 2022
How multiphysics simulation might accelerate the advent of quantum computing – and vice versa

Sophisticated tools that simulate more than one physical phenomenon at a time may help designers home in on optimal architectures for quantum computers at less cost – and much faster Continue Reading

Feature 01 Jun 2016

It makes sense to go hyperscale/hyper-converged

Hyperscale computing and storage are the norm for web giants. Hyper-converged scenarios make it possible for small and medium-sized enterprises to gain the advantages of combined server/storage nodes Continue Reading
Blog Post 27 May 2016

The incredible shrinking Hewlett Packard - where does it go next?

In 2011, Hewlett Packard’s annual revenue was $127bn, making it the largest technology company in the world by sales at that time – yet its market worth was a comparatively meagre $42bn. It had ... Continue Reading
Feature 23 May 2016

PCIe SSD: Cache vs storage tier

Adding PCIe flash is a popular way of speeding up application response times, with more rapid I/O guaranteed, but should PCIe SSD be added as cache or as a tier of storage? Continue Reading
Feature 13 May 2016

CW@50: How UK home brew gave computing to the masses

From batch processing to the graphical user interface, from desktop PCs to smartphones, from luggables to wearables, computing has come a long way since Computer Weekly was first published in 1966. We look at some of the personal computers that paved the way Continue Reading
Feature 08 Apr 2016

CW@50: Storage – From punched cards to flash and the cloud

Since the launch of Computer Weekly in 1966, we have moved from a world of punched cards and paper tape to one where flash and the cloud have revolutionised data storage Continue Reading
Feature 06 Apr 2016

CW@50: From ICL to ITIL

Standardisation helps industries to grow. Here in the UK, a number of highly influential standards emerged that have become building blocks for the modern computer industry Continue Reading
Feature 15 Mar 2016

CW@50: The heyday of British computing - how the Brits ruled IT

We examine how the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s became an age of great innovation for the British computer industry Continue Reading
News 09 Mar 2016

Hyperscale computing boosts server revenue

The likes of Google, Facebook and Microsoft have bolstered server sales as they build increasingly powerful scale-out datacentres Continue Reading
News 15 Jan 2016

Intel share price drops despite strong results

Despite growth in Intel's key datacentre and IoT businesses, investors remain concerned by falls in its core PC chip business amid market declines Continue Reading
News 11 Dec 2015

Case study: Airbus sets out challenges of changing IT supplier

Aircraft manufacturer sets out what it learned from switching IT provider after 12 years of working together Continue Reading
E-Zine 01 Dec 2015

Balancing speed and risk in IT projects

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as IT leaders face boardroom pressure to roll out IT projects ever more quickly, we examine how to do that without running unacceptable risks. Michael Dell talks about how he sees the future for his company when it buys EMC in the largest IT acquisition in history. And we hear from IT chiefs about the challenges of implementing DevOps. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 02 Nov 2015

Hewlett Packard Enterprise: think of us as a startup

As Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc finally part ways, UK managing director Andy Isherwood shares some insight on what the future holds for the newly minted enterprise business Continue Reading
News 29 Oct 2015

Met Office's new supercomputer to deliver £2bn of socio-economic benefits

The Met Office aims to realise a range of socio-economic benefits to UK industries thanks to improved forecasting with its new Cray supercomputer Continue Reading
E-Zine 19 Oct 2015

IT giants Dell and EMC unite

In this week's Computer Weekly, Dell's proposed $67bn acquisition of EMC would be the biggest in the history of IT – we assess the implications. £175bn of IT outsourcing contracts come up for renewal in the next three years- what are your options? And we hear from IT leaders about security and the internet of things. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 12 Oct 2015

Dell set to buy storage company EMC

Two years after his audacious bid to reinvent the company he founded by re-privatising it, Michael Dell has put in a bid for storage giant EMC Continue Reading
News 09 Sep 2015

High-performance computing and mainframe refresh limit server decline

IDC's market share data for server shipments shows mainframe users are running Linux on the z13, while high-performance computing (HPC) lifts x86 sales Continue Reading
News 13 Aug 2015

Lenovo to cut jobs as it faces 'severe' challenges

Lenovo says the last quarter saw “severe challenges” in its main PC, tablet and smartphone markets Continue Reading
News 11 Aug 2015

Hootsuite moves social media management toolkit to IBM Softlayer cloud

Social media management dashboard maker shifts App Directory to IBM cloud Continue Reading
Feature 11 Aug 2015

Case study: Open University uses Microsoft Azure to create course content clearance hub

The Open University recently scooped the award for Best Cloud Project at the CW European User Awards, and here's why Continue Reading
News 21 Jul 2015

Mainframe fails to save IBM from 13th declining quarter

IBM's second-quarter revenue was down 13% year-on-year to $20.8bn, but IBM said the decline is only 1%, adjusting for the sale of its x86 server business and the impact of the strong dollar Continue Reading
News 29 May 2015

Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015 shortlist

Find out who made the Computer Weekly European User Awards 2015 shortlist Continue Reading
News 12 May 2015

Former nurse’s career blighted after blowing whistle on IT problems

Southwark's continuing care database included names of patients who had been dead for several years, a tribunal is told Continue Reading
News 05 May 2015

VCE takes wraps off "hyper-converged" VxRacks to fast-track users to the cloud

EMC-owned converged infrastructure specialist expands portfolio of cloud-enabling platforms Continue Reading
E-Zine 20 Apr 2015

The future of Moore's Law at 50

In this week's Computer Weekly, Moore's Law – the seminal forecast by Intel founder Gordon Moore that oversees technology development – is 50 years old. We look at its modern relevance and future implications. IT chiefs discuss whether Windows is still core to their strategy. And we look back at five years of government IT. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 25 Mar 2015

Atomic Weapons Establishment to build supercomputer for Trident simulations

The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) builds HPC cluster based on SGI ICE XA system to support Trident programme Continue Reading
News 24 Mar 2015

HP Helion Rack looks to speed up enterprise private cloud adoption

HP wants to take the heavy lifting out of moving to the private cloud by offering enterprises pre-configured and tested infrastructure packages Continue Reading
News 23 Mar 2015

Microsoft's Nano Server: What to expect from this leaner, meaner Windows Server

With Microsoft reportedly set to announce a stripped-back version of Windows Server, what can IT leaders expect to see? Continue Reading
Photo Story 23 Mar 2015

IT priorities 2015: How will IT decision makers spend this year's budget?

The 2015 Computer Weekly/TechTarget IT priorities survey has examined the investment plans of IT managers in the UK and Europe in 2015 Continue Reading
E-Zine 09 Feb 2015

Tackling security with quantum physics

In this week's Computer Weekly, we examine research that promises to deliver new levels of encrypted communications using quantum teleportation. IBM has announced its latest mainframe – but will the company's problems hinder its future? And we find out how one company has used the low-cost Raspberry Pi in its enterprise IT. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 04 Feb 2015

National Grid uses IBM to add predictive maintenance capabilities

National Grid is using cloud-based analytics powered by IBM SoftLayer to provide preventative maintenance Continue Reading
News 03 Feb 2015

EMC launches VSPEX Blue EVO:Rail hyper-converged appliances

EMC announces VSPEX Blue EVO:Rail hyper-converged appliance in general purpose and performance variants Continue Reading
News 28 Jan 2015

Wellcome Trust builds 1,728-core grid for DNA analysis

The Wellcome Trust Centre has deployed a high-performance computing cluster based on Fujitsu servers Continue Reading
News 27 Jan 2015

Microsoft revenue drops due to “restructuring”

Microsoft’s year-on-year net income has dropped by around $695m due to “integration and restructuring” plans, according to the firm’s fiscal statement Continue Reading
News 21 Jan 2015

IBM revenue declines as company shifts to higher value deals

IBM has reported a 12% decline in profits for the fourth quarter of 2014 following the sale of its System x business to Lenovo Continue Reading
Photo Story 19 Jan 2015

UK's fastest supercomputer upgrades to 2Pflops and 5PB of tiered storage

The UK's fastest supercomputer upgrades to 4,920 nodes and 2 Petaflops performance with tiered storage including 5PB of direct-attached disk Continue Reading
News 19 Dec 2014

Price cuts and posturing in the public cloud war

The price battle among commodity cloud players is set to rage on, but how much impact is it really having for enterprise customers? Continue Reading
News 10 Dec 2014

Hero Group uses vMotion to replace SAN and servers with Nutanix

Baby food, fruit and cereal bar company Hero Group has migrated its Holland operations over to a single virtual platform Continue Reading
News 02 Dec 2014

HP is ‘coming back strong’, says CEO Meg Whitman

At the HP Discover event in Barcelona, CEO Meg Whitman addressed the future for customers following HP's split into two businesses Continue Reading
News 01 Dec 2014

ABN Amro re-signs IBM for 10-year, multibillion-euro IT contract

ABN Amro has extended its multibillion-euro outsourcing deal with IBM by another 10 years Continue Reading
News 18 Nov 2014

Intel merges PC and mobile divisions

Intel plans to merge its profitable PC group with the loss-making division that sells chips for smartphones and tablets Continue Reading
E-Zine 10 Nov 2014

Migrating away from Windows Server 2003

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as Microsoft prepares to end support for the popular Windows Server 2013 operating system, we assess the risk for organisations that fail to migrate in time. We hear from IT leaders delivering benefits from enterprise social media use to improve staff collaboration. And we look at criticisms from Oracle users about the supplier’s software licensing practices. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 05 Nov 2014

Interview: The IT powering animated movie-making

Video special effects require similar processing to oil and gas, but lack the budget, says head of technology at Illumination Mac Guff, Bruno Mahe Continue Reading
News 04 Nov 2014

Airbus interview: research, innovation and the future of aviation

IT plays a substantial role in creating the aircraft of the future, with research and innovation at the core of the Airbus business strategy Continue Reading
Photo Story 31 Oct 2014

The real story behind The Imitation Game film

The life of Alan Turing is being celebrated on the big screen this month. The Imitation Game from Studio Canal opens on November 14th 2014 and tells the story of the war hero who’s achievements until recently were largely unknown. Continue Reading
News 28 Oct 2014

British fashion retailer AllSaints picks Google tools for innovation

Fashion brand AllSaints has refreshed its technology strategy with Google technologies to improve collaboration Continue Reading
News 28 Oct 2014

Government replaces Becta education IT procurement framework

Government seeks up to 20 suppliers to form a £300m procurement framework for ICT services to public-sector education organisations Continue Reading
News 27 Oct 2014

Cloud providers rush to build European datacentres over data sovereignty

Cloud providers IBM and Google build datacentres in the EU as enterprises insist on keeping their data in Europe Continue Reading
News 23 Oct 2014

BBC takes iPlayer video production to AWS cloud to beat bottleneck and storage woes

Having run Video Factory on AWS for over a year, BBC's Robert Shield explains how he overcame iPlayer bottleneck and availability challenges Continue Reading
News 23 Oct 2014

European enterprises can halve colo expenses by moving north, says Gartner

Favourable environmental conditions in Northern Europe mean enterprises can save on their datacentre expenses Continue Reading
News 21 Oct 2014

Why Shell, BP and PwC teamed up to launch platform-neutral IT4IT Forum

Lack of IT integration and workload interoperability is pushing enterprises such as Royal Dutch Shell to collaborate with IT providers to develop standards Continue Reading
News 20 Oct 2014

IBM operating income falls by 18% as it offloads semiconductor unit

IBM reported lower-than-expected earnings for the third quarter of 2014, with revenue down by 4% year-on-year Continue Reading
Feature 15 Oct 2014

Cloud, frozen pizza model and the immutable infrastructure

The architecture pattern for immutable infrastructure is based on the made-to-order pizza model Continue Reading
News 10 Oct 2014

Starbucks uses cloud to manage innovation and disruptive technologies

Starbucks coffee chain innovates IT strategies to hone its competitive edge using cloud services, says IT director Robert Teagle Continue Reading
News 01 Oct 2014

Microsoft readies Windows 10 Technical Preview

Microsoft is today releasing a preview of Windows 10, the next version of the Windows desktop operating system Continue Reading
News 29 Sep 2014

ARM enters mainstream datacentre with HP’s ProLiant Moonshot servers

ARM chips have entered mainstream enterprise datacentre with HP's production-ready ARM-powered Moonshot servers Continue Reading
News 25 Sep 2014

Oracle releases OpenStack Support for Oracle Linux and Oracle VM

Oracle has made its Oracle OpenStack for Oracle Linux distribution generally available to support customers Continue Reading
News 24 Sep 2014

Accommodation booking site picks Dell cloud to fix downtime issues

Eviivo, a UK-based online accommodation booking website, has placed its business-critical systems on a Dell cloud platform Continue Reading
News 23 Sep 2014

Google to build giant '40-football pitch' datacentre in the Netherlands

Google will invest €600m to build a giant, 120-megawatt datacentre in the Netherlands Continue Reading
E-Zine 15 Sep 2014

The IT challenges facing an independent Scotland

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as Scotland goes to the polls to vote on independence, we assess the IT challenges the country would face. We look at the products available in the fast-growing market for object storage. And we ask if it will be worth migrating to future version of Windows given the rise in mobile usage. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
News 02 Sep 2014

Why bare metal cloud is in vogue

Bare metal services have been around since 2009 but cloud is witnessing renewed interest in it thanks to new offerings Continue Reading
News 29 Aug 2014

Windows Server 2003 EOL: HP seeks to cash in as IBM-Lenovo deal yet to close

As enterprises look to refresh their infrastructure, HP is playing the stability card to win deals as IBM and Dell are mired by uncertainties Continue Reading
News 21 Aug 2014

Load balancing supports Kent County Council's VDI project

Kent County Council picks Kemp Technologies load balancers to support a deployment of VMware Horizon View and Workspace across its estate Continue Reading
Feature 20 Aug 2014

The internet of things is coming: Is your datacentre ready?

Gartner estimates the IoT will see 26 billion units installed by 2020 – channelling huge volumes of data traffic into datacentres Continue Reading
News 15 Aug 2014

Nike builds datacentre cloud and network infrastructure

Nike is creating a scalable next-generation datacentre cloud and retail network infrastructure using Juniper's MetaFabric architecture Continue Reading
News 12 Aug 2014

Intel unveils first 14nm processor aimed at mobile computing devices

Chipmaker's first processor based on 14nm micro-architecture will be thinner, cooler and aimed at tablet PCs Continue Reading
News 11 Aug 2014

Intel watches ARM as low-powered computing thrives

As the PC market continues to decline, ARM is proving that non-x86 chips have a long and prosperous future Continue Reading
News 31 Jul 2014

Bitcoin mining firm CoinTerra signs multi-megawatt datacentre deal

CoinTerra, the firm that provides the hardware and software that power the bitcoin blockchain ecosystem, signs a multi-megawatt datacentre deal Continue Reading
News 30 Jul 2014

Lack of coding skills may lead to skills shortage in Europe

European Commission urges people to learn coding, warning that a lack of coding skills could see Europe facing skills shortage by 2020 Continue Reading
News 24 Jul 2014

Citrix SaaS revenue rises 12% while overall revenue grows 7% YoY

Citrix has reported a 7% revenue increase in its second quarter of fiscal year 2014 . But it reported double-digit revenue growth in SaaS Continue Reading
News 08 Jul 2014

Airbus deploys modular datacentre strategy to boost HPC capacity

The aircraft manufacturer has deployed HP's performance optimised datacentres (PODs) to increase its high performance compute capabilities for its engineers Continue Reading
News 03 Jul 2014

Microsoft and Google propose 25Gbps and 50Gbps Ethernet networks for cloud datacentres

Technology giants including Microsoft and Google form a consortium to fire up datacentre networks’ performance for cloud-scale infrastructure. Continue Reading
E-Zine 27 Jun 2014

CW Europe - July 2014 Edition

In this issue of CW Europe we investigate how changing your storage can make the world of difference to your company’s carbon emissions. Continue Reading
News 18 Jun 2014

Case study: How eBay uses its own OpenStack private cloud

eBay runs one of its most crucial workloads – its website – on an OpenStack private cloud platform developed by itself Continue Reading
Feature 13 Jun 2014

Micro-datacentre: What IT problems it solves and what workload systems suit it

A micro-datacentre is a smaller containerised datacentre system designed to solve different problems or to handle different workloads Continue Reading
News 11 Jun 2014

Datacentre spending shifts to Europe as buyers focus on low-cost servers

Server manufacturers made 20% less in sales in the first quarter of 2014, compared with the fourth quarter of 2013 Continue Reading
News 10 Jun 2014

Facebook shares lessons learnt from deploying Raid in HDFS clusters

Facebook deployed Raid in large HDFS clusters to increase capacity and reduce data replication, but it faced many challenges Continue Reading
Feature 09 Jun 2014

Will silicon photonics replace copper cabling in mainstream datacentres?

Silicon photonics can increase bandwidth in servers, improve data transfer speeds and reduce complexity. But are datacentres ready for it? Continue Reading
News 29 May 2014

BSkyB retunes IT to ready-for-anything datacentre quad

British broadcaster BSkyB has based its IT on four core datacentres that are resilient, interconnected, energy-efficient and cloud-ready Continue Reading
News 23 May 2014

HP job cuts head towards the 50,000 mark as company tackles cost

A further 16000 jobs are set to go as HP continues to slash its workforce through a restructuring initiative which began in 2012 Continue Reading
News 30 Apr 2014

Oracle updates Solaris, but is its server strategy sound?

Oracle has released a beta versdion of Solaris 11.2. But does Solaris and the Sparc server platform have a future? Continue Reading
Feature 28 Apr 2014

Erasure coding vs Raid as a data protection method

Erasure coding is mooted as a potential successor to Raid and backup software Continue Reading
News 23 Apr 2014

Six Degrees datacentre suffers outage for more than 12 hours

Customers using Six Degrees’s datacentre and hosting services faced downtime as the hosting and managed services provider suffered an outage for over 12 hours Continue Reading
News 23 Apr 2014

HP firmware bricks ProLiant server models

HP has released a server patch which it has admitted will kill 100 of its server models and 14 network adapters. Continue Reading
News 23 Apr 2014

Optimising the data warehouse

Analysts Clive Longbottom and Rob Bamforth discuss approaches to optimising data warehouses for big data. Continue Reading
News 17 Apr 2014

Datacentre lessons learnt from Heartbleed bug

The Heartbleed bug, an OpenSSL flaw affecting millions of websites, has some lessons for datacentre providers and operators Continue Reading
News 15 Apr 2014

Greenpeace singles out datacentre firms for lack of energy efficiency

Greenpeace's new report on datacentre energy efficiency lauds efforts of some tech giants while singles out others for their lack of commitment to green energy Continue Reading
News 10 Apr 2014

TCG releases TPM 2 specification for improved security

The Trusted Computing Group has published an updated specification for the Trusted Platform Module Continue Reading
E-Zine 07 Apr 2014

Cloud wars

In this week’s Computer Weekly, cloud users are set to benefit from cheaper services as Google and Amazon start a price war. The mainframe is still not dead yet – we look at 50 years of the IBM mainframe. And we assess the latest attempt to encourage overseas IT experts to fill the UK’s skills shortages. Read the issue now. Continue Reading
Feature 28 Mar 2014

Can the mainframe remain relevant in the cloud and mobile era?

IBM mainframes run more than 1.1m transactions per second, yet the mainframe has remained largely unfashionable. We investigate Continue Reading
News 19 Mar 2014

Oracle finally sees revenue growth from hardware business

Oracle has finally seen a boost from its server business, with hardware sales up 8% in its latest financial results Continue Reading
Feature 19 Mar 2014

Case study: How John Lewis conquered the web

An in-depth look at the inside story of John Lewis' £40m e-commerce strategy. Continue Reading
News 07 Mar 2014

CIOs hold fire over datacentre decisions

When it comes to devising datacentre strategies, are CIOs paralysed like rabbits in the headlights, or playing a calculated game of wait and see? Continue Reading
Feature 03 Mar 2014

No more email? Why companies are turning to collaboration technology

Collaboration technologies are helping companies improve their employees' work-life balance Continue Reading
News 25 Feb 2014

Interview: Prepare for the end of the silicon era

IT breakthroughs are governed by the insights of Intel's Gordon Moore in 1965. IBM fellow Bernie Meyerson believes Moore’s law no longer holds true Continue Reading
Photo Story 18 Feb 2014

UK IT spending to outpace rest of Europe in 2014

Computer Weekly research reveals the IT spending priorities for UK and European organisations in 2014. Continue Reading
News 18 Feb 2014

HP knew of Autonomy hardware sales tactics

New evidence suggests HP was aware of Autonomy’s accounting practices months before publicly condemning the company Continue Reading
Photo Story 17 Feb 2014

UK IT spending will outpace rest of Europe in 2014

Computer Weekly research reveals the IT spending priorities for UK and European organisations in 2014. Continue Reading
News 29 Jan 2014

Microsoft joins Open Compute Project

Redmond giant makes server specs public in bid to influence future datacentre design Continue Reading
News 21 Jan 2014

Allianz deploys Rumba to provide secure mainframe administration

Insurer Allianz UK has deployed Rumba terminal emulator software from MicroFocus to provide a mainframe-based policy admin system Continue Reading
News 20 Jan 2014

Special Report on Cisco

This special nine-page report from Computer Weekly, updated for 2014, analyses the challenges facing Cisco, its financial performance, the services it offers, its place in the IT market and its future strategy. Continue Reading