Server virtualisation remains challenging

The next major challenge for growth-focused IT departments is to fully virtualise their servers, according to a report, states Ashdown.

Research consultancy Gartner says, despite more than 80% of businesses having a virtualisation programme in place, just 25% of servers will be virtualised by the end of 2010.

The company says many business leaders underestimate the scale of this task, believing they have already made significant strides towards capitalising on the potential of the technology.

HP has introduced a three-graphic processing unit (GPU) blade server that plugs into a modular chassis to provide up to one trillion floating-point operations per second (teraflop) of computing per rack unit, says ZDNet.

The ProLiant SL390s server is a "completely new architecture" with a form factor explicitly designed for the new SL6500 Scalable System chassis, says Mark Potter, HP's general manager for industry standard servers.

It is HP's first server to have been wholly designed around GPU functionality, according to the company.

The server of SMS Hospital central laboratory in India tripped for a consecutive day this week, reports Times of India.

Hundreds of patients had their test results delayed as the services were not resumed till late in the afternoon, due to a server failure. Many had arrived from distant places to get the reports.

"The server failure was caused due to frequent fluctuation in the power supply and difficulty in obtaining power backup. We have been trying to provide reports of biopsy and other crucial tests, while the results for routine tests of the outpatient ward are affected," says Dr LC Sharma, superintendent at SMS Hospital.