When you're making big decisions, you need to be on safe ground. As the UK's premier reseller of the world's most popular server range, HP ProLiant, Computacenter is a pretty safe bet. So, who would care that your new server is not HP ProLiant or BladeSystem?

Whether you're looking at consolidation of your datacenter, automation of everyday network management processes or need to reduce your Carbon Footprint, at Computacenter, we have the answer.

We offer a 360° perspective around your next server investment, combining the world's most popular server range from HP with best of breed service delivery from Computacenter – planning, deployment and support.

• Q. How do I improve my datacenter carbon footprint?

• 	A.	To learn how, download the PDF

• Q. What are the price considerations when buying servers?

• 	A.	It’s very easy to fall for the headline-grabbing price, but with some vendors you need to be aware of the hidden extras. Furthermore, with Computacenter you can relax in the knowledge that the server you order will be working to your exact specifications. You’ll know when you can have it, when it will be working and how much the entire solution will cost, from initial purchase through to deployment and management. The initial price of the box is one thing but there are other hidden costs to think about – additional components to ensure the server meets the performance standards of the business, server management software to ensure it can be managed effectively. With the HP ProLiant range, effective management comes straight out of the box for free with HP Systems Insight Manager (SIM). This is not the case with other vendors’ servers.

• Q. Can I reduce my IT management costs?

• 	A.	If your business depends on a large IT data centre, then a 1% saving in your management overhead can go a long way. So how does 30% sound? At Computacenter, we offer experienced consultants to help you get more from your IT. Our first recommendation would be the deployment of HP ProLiant Blade Servers and HP Systems Insight Manager (SIM). HP SIM is a “single pane of glass” insight into your IT infrastructure, and proven to deliver up to a 30% saving* in IT management costs within businesses similar to your own. *source HP.com white paper

• Q. How quickly can I receive a new server from the day I order?

• 	A.	The chances are, by the time you get the sign off to order your server, you need it yesterday! On average it takes leading direct vendors 19 days to deliver a built-to-order server. Computacenter, on the other hand, can deliver the best selling HP ProLiant servers through the HP TopValue programme NEXT DAY. We also offers a bill and hold service. This means that if your server need is more specific, you can order in larger batches, configure the servers to your business’s exact requirements and ship them when required, with the confidence that they will match your configuration. You also have the option of taking delivery within one, two or three days for fully configured and tested servers, thus eliminating Dead on Arrivals (DOAs) or individual boxes being delivered that need to be worked on to get them ready. At our Hatfield Operations Centre, the number of Bill and Hold or customer-owned items stored, has increased year on year for the past 5 years. The number of items processed in 2005 exceeded 350,000 with a total value in excess of £200 million. Customer-owned equipment stored within the Hatfield Operations Centre often requires an audit to satisfy the customers' own auditors. Computacenter’s inventory team assist in all aspects of this and accompany the customer while they are within the Operation Centre to ensure that all of their objectives are achieved.

• Q. How can I speed up my server deployment time?

• 	A.	Time is money, so when you save time, you get better value for your investment. With many vendors the time taken to install a server ranges from 4 hours to an entire day. A typical HP ProLiant Blade Server takes only 30 minutes to install using the HP Blade System and Rapid Deployment Pack*. Additionally, multiple servers can be installed at the same time. At Computacenter, we minimise your risk. Our expert consultants help you deploy your servers the right way. Our 2,100 engineers also provide ongoing support to help you realise the full benefit of your HP ProLiant server infrastructure. *source Trader Media Group Case Study, 2006, hp.com

• Q. How can I manage more servers with limited resource?

• 	A.	The number of servers that can be managed by one person using the HP Blade System is 250*. We’ve even heard of one customer who is managing 4,000 single-handedly. At Computacenter, we do whatever we can to assist you. We help you deploy, manage and support your IT investment throughout its entire lifecycle with expert teams of consultants and engineers. Our end-to-end service capability provides the resources and experience to help you design, build, test and manage your enterprise IT infrastructures, integrating your new HP Blade platform into your existing environment with speed, efficiency and accuracy. Combine this with HP’s management tools in Proliant Essentials and you have a very strong partnership. Packages include : HP ProLiant servers Integrated Lights Out (iLO) which gives full front-of-server remote management and control. For quick consistent remote deployment and provisioning of multiple ProLiant servers there is the Rapid Deployment Pack – which contains a single centralised console for point-and-click, drag-and-drop simplicity and fully automated deployment. *source Computacenter Case Study, 2006

• Q.How do I reduce my power consumption?

• 	A.	With utility rates increasing, the cost of running your data centre is getting higher and higher. Many enterprises struggle with deploying servers in an environment with not enough available power or cooling. In fact, we know of 3 customers who have been threatened with fines for overuse of power by their utility suppliers. Demand Based Switching (DBS), supported in the latest Intel Xeon processor-based servers, can help reduce datacenter power and cooling costs. In a typical data centre environment, DBS can reduce average system power consumption by up to 25 percent*. Traditionally, a microprocessor operates only at a single frequency and voltage. A DBS-enabled operating system monitors processor utilisation multiple times per second and downshifts to a lower frequency and voltage as appropriate. Power usage is automatically tailored to match server workloads. A large majority of HP’s servers, including HP Blade ProLiant Servers, utilise these processors. Intel also offers low-power versions of its enterprise server processors, including a 55W Intel Xeon processor and a 62W Intel Itanium 2 processor (both designed for 2 processor platforms). Support for DBS should therefore be considered as one of many factors in addressing performance, cost, and power requirements. HP ProLiant Blade Servers equipped with AMD Opteron 64 dual core processors also deliver class-leading performance. With PowerNow technology, AMD Opteron processors reduce power consumption by as much as 75%**, putting less strain on data centre cooling and ventilation systems. This power consumption saving is still 43% even under an approximate 60% server load. The escalating speed at which high performance servers processing power is evolving is having a profound effect upon existing data center facilities management. The resulting heat generation and power consumption by these advances in technology is causing electrical power consumption and cooling costs to increase significantly. Data center managers do not have the option of re-building their infrastructure each time rack density or power consumption increases. Instead more efficient usage of the existing infrastructure is required or new technology enabled systems that can adjust their power consumptions based on the performance demands of the workload. Computacenter can offer a solution to both of these problems. The IT Cabling & Facilities Management teams can conduct an audit of your existing Data Center environment to examine the configuration of current electrical power and cooling solutions. The audit can identify simple processes that can be implemented to provide improved efficiencies and hence reduction in operating costs The elimination of mixing of the supply air and exhaust air can radically improve the cooling performance of a data center. The implementation of direct water cooling or heat exchangers to high performance/ density racks reducing the effect of hotspots to the general cooling distribution scheme. The usage of Computerised Fluid Dynamics (CFD) air flow models ensuring that your cooling units are located at the most effective position providing suitable air flow velocity/pressure. Data Center managers are under pressure to make more efficient use of their existing infrastructures. The requirement for additional power and cooling capacities does not necessarily mean installation of additional equipment but a review of the current operation and design practices. * Source, Intel Solutions White Paper, Addressing Power and Thermal Challenges in the Datacenter **Source, AMD Power and Cooling in the Datacenter, AMD.com

• Q. How do I ensure my servers work seamlessly as soon as they go live?

• 	A.	There’s no substitute for going through a rigorous planning process before implementing a new server environment. Clearly you want it to work, and to avoid the risk of it not working when it goes live. Buying cheap servers will compromise the redundancy built into a server, which in turn creates a higher risk of the server up-time being compromised. This will impact on the perceived quality of service provided by the IT team, affecting business productivity and reducing user satisfaction. There are some simple steps you can follow to ensure seamless integration. For instance, if you buy HP ProLiant servers you will get servers that have been through 30 different rigorous tests before they reach you. Hence, you largely eradicate the risk of pre-delivery failure. Computacenter enhances this with our unique Solutions Centre. Here, we create your proposed environment for load testing and proof of concept testing an application or hardware solution stack to ensure seamless, live deployment. You see it working in exactly the same way it would within your proposed infrastructure, thereby identifying and eradicating any issues without impacting your live environment. It takes the risk out of implementing business systems. For more information on the Computacenter Solutions Centre, please visit http://www.computacenter.co.uk/services/solutions-centre/Default.asp

• Q. How can I get more out of my existing servers?

• 	A.	Whenever more server space is required within the data centre, the typical solution is to buy a new server. The problem with this, of course, is that having dedicated servers for various applications and processes can be very wasteful because most of these existing servers are under-used. In fact, some estimates put current IT infrastructure utilisation rates as low as 15%, meaning 85% of your IT resources are not being put to work. In a virtualised IT environment, however, you make the very most of what you have. You could even say that IT supply automatically meets demand. Virtualisation helps you fully optimise your existing IT resources and deploy services and applications that adapt dynamically to meet changing business needs.The result is reduced cost, improved asset utilisation, increased responsiveness and simplified management. Computacenter has a successful track record in helping other enterprises like yours to deliver a more effective and efficient IT infrastructure around consolidation and virtualisation. We recommend a virtualised environment based on HP ProLiant Blade servers. We’ll advise you on the most appropriate configuration to accommodate both existing and future application resource requirements, by creating your proposed Blade environment within our unique Solutions Centre. Here, we test an application or hardware solution stack to ensure seamless, live deployment. You see it working in exactly the same way it would within your proposed infrastructure, thereby identifying and eradicating any issues without impacting your live environment. It takes the risk out of implementing business systems.

• Q. How can I get better server performance for less cost?

• 	A.	You could try AMD Opteron 64 dual core processors. The AMD Dual Core Opteron processor offers approximately 4 times the price performance advantage of Intel Dual Core Xeon ($2.02 tpmC versus $8.27 tpmC). AMD Opteron 64 dual core processors with HP ProLiant servers give you the world’s best value price for performance processors with enhanced cooling technology and reduced power consumption. All this packed into the world’s number one server. To prove it, in a recent benchmark test, the HP ProLiant DL585 equipped with AMD Opteron dual core processors delivered 15% more performance than the Dell PowerEdge 6800 at almost half the cost*. At Computacenter, we deploy more HP ProLiant servers than any other UK partner, working through the implementation phase to deliver on time, in budget. Our Benchmarking Service provides monthly pricing data on a selection of pre-defined products and categories by getting component pricing for similar quantities and specifications. This ensures products assessed are a like-for-like comparison. We enter the exact specification of the product, quantity purchased and standard buy price. This is then checked against 25,000 market sources to offer a comparison of the most competitive price within EMEA. *source: HP.com benchmarking; TPC-H record result in the 100GB scale compared with Dell PowerEdge 6800/64GB RAM

• Q. How can I save energy without reducing my business efficiency?

• 	A.	Computacenter's consultants will be more than happy to discuss your exact computing requirements, taking into account existing IT infrastructure as well as future needs. Our power audits will advise you of how you can avoid the risk of hefty fines from your utility company by rationalising your power usage.