Friday, 4 October 2013

What makes HP Proliant Products better than other related Products?

The HP range of Proliant servers can be referred to as intelligent servers due to their ability to meet the dynamic requirements of a data centre. HP Proliant has enhanced their capabilities by introducing Generation 8 servers, which have the capability to support the latest Intel ultra fast Xeon processors. The latest generation of Proliant servers also come with more than 150 innovative services that have been made available to meet the new customer’s requirements. 

HP offer a wide range of Proliant server systems including HP blade systems, HP Proliant Rack Servers, HP tower servers, Proliant Micro Servers and Proliant Scalable Systems. 

HP Blade Systems

HP Blade Systems have become the server of choice for enterprises looking to reduce their data centre costs. The blade systems provide unlimited scalability and virtualization capabilities that is unmatched in the data centre market place. 

Proliant Rack Servers

The HP range of Proliant rack servers comes with the inbuilt capability to meet the increasing demand of business growth and helps organizations to achieve their business objective. 

HP Proliant Tower Servers

This range of servers is extremely ideal for businesses that are in fast growth mode. It satisfies the requirements of both remote and local offices. 

HP Micro servers

For small businesses looking to set up their data centre, HP Micro Servers would be an excellent fit. These servers are also ideal for managing the data centre requirements of individual departments within an organization. 

What makes Proliant servers stand out?

There are actually a number of factors responsible for the popularity of the HP Proliant Servers. Among them, the most important factor is the performance benchmark set by the Proliant servers, which has not been  matched by any competing servers on the market place. 

Unmatchable Benchmarks

The various benchmarks that are available as industry standards include:

 - SPEC CPU 2006 benchmark stands for the ultra fast computing needs of the science and Math applications 

- SPEC Power 2008, which compares the energy efficiency of servers

- VMmark is used to measure the performance of virtualized servers

- SpecJJB2013 Java server standards


Proliant Benchmark Performance

Proliant has repeatedly achieved the industry standard benchmarks and even set new benchmarks. Recently HP achieved world records in server Virtualization performance when measured against the VMmark 2.5.1 benchmark. Proliant 2P blade and 2P rack mount servers. Both the servers achieved an unimaginable rating of 16.5 @14 tiles with the latest Intel Xeon processors, thereby setting a new record in the VMmark standard.


Similarly, the HP Proliant DL360P server surpassed several milestones in the SPEC CPU 2006 benchmark category. It emerged as the number one in the CPU 2006 benchmark 2P server category when tested using two Intel Xeon processors. It received a rating of 675 compared to the next best ratings of 531 and 503 obtained by the competing server manufacturers. 


The HP Proliant DL 560 also set a new benchmark in the Java performance standard SpecJJB2013. It achieved a rating of 66007 throughput-oriented performance thereby becoming the first server to cross the 60000 mark in the java server performance category

With such results being consistently obtained on a regular basis, Proliant servers are a go to brand for organizations of different sizes looking to stream line their data centres and improve the operational efficiency. 

http://check.co.uk/hp-proliant










Friday, 27 September 2013

HP G8 vs HP G7 - Which Servers Are Better?

HP G8 servers are designed in a manner that they compliment the previous G7 servers. This means that some of the features that were in the G7 servers have been maintained while others have been improved to increase efficiency. However, different servers’ users have different needs depending on the way they utilize the servers. This means that the features incorporated in the two categories of servers can be better for some specified uses consequently making it paramount to do a HP G8 vs HP G7 comparison to determine which ones are better for different uses.

Some of the things that both the HP G8 servers and the HP G7 servers have in common is that both are meant to help customer reduce energy consumption, extend the life of the data centre and reclaim capacity amongst other uses. Their efficiency is so high that if one uses the old servers which were being used around the year 2005, the energy consumed would be nineteen million kilowatts hour per year more compared to using the G7 or G8 servers. The associated carbon monoxide emission per year would also be more by about ten tonnes. But the HP G8 servers are slightly more efficient compared to the HP G7 serves when it comes to energy saving since they are endowed with the latest technology.

The G8 servers are also able to automate every aspect of how they are used consequently making the data centre they are used on self sufficient. This means that the servers allow all the operation to run smoothly and efficiently without necessarily having a manual way of controlling them. The HP G7 servers are also equipped with features that allow them to be automated. But the automation levels of the G8 automation are higher and more sophisticated consequently making them more superior.

Another point to note while doing HP G8 vs HP G7 servers comparison is that both of them have strong sensors which have the ability to detect any problem, increase computing capacity and also save energy. But the G8 uses the new HP 3-D sea of sensors which is the first such technology to be used in the industry. This technology has the ability identify overused servers, increasing computing capacity by seventy percent per watt of energy. This is all done through automated means without manual configuration and also eliminates configuration errors. The new technology has consequently given the G8 servers an upper hand while compared to the HP G7 servers.

Another of the features that is only available on the G8 servers and not on the G7 is that the servers can be configured to order. This means that the G8 servers can be made to make a direct order which is helpful and makes their use more effective.

Both the HP G8 and the HP G7 servers have the ability to identify the exact locations of each server and server rack hence able to know precisely where to adjust in case there is a problem. Some of the common adjustments usually done include the cooling levels and servers power consequently making it safe for them to be used even for long hours. However, this ability is higher in the HP G8 servers and thus they can be considered to be superior when doing a HP G7 vs HP G8 comparison.

Friday, 20 September 2013

HP Procurve Products - What is available?

HP ProCurve 8212-92G-PoE

Hewlett Packard, also popularly known as HP, is one of the biggest brands in the computer and information technology industry. However, there are many people who want to read reviews about different products before buying them. Hence, we have come up with this overview of different HP ProCurve products to let you know if buying them would be a good choice or not. This article will help you find out some vital information about these products before you visit the store to purchase them. 

Power Supplies 
Whether you are trying to set up a simple or complex computer network, you need to take a look at the specific network and determine your power requirements. Hewlett Packard manufactures stand-alone power supplies. They can be effortlessly connected to an appropriate ProCurve switch. 
Networking Tools
In addition to power supplies, HP ProCurve also offer a wide range of networking tools like routers, switches, wired connections, wireless connections and many more. These networking tools are perfect for modern companies who need online and ecommerce channels as the basic medium of communication and business. 
HP has all the right kind of tools to put an ideal computer network for a modern business organization. Whether you want to stay connected with clients onsite, clients off site or staff, you can rely on Hewlett Packard’s networking tools to perform the job. 
Transceivers 
As the name suggests, transceivers act as receivers and transmitters at the same time. Transceivers act as basic switchboards that interconnect multiple computer networks. Many business organizations regularly use transceivers with proper cabling. However, the use of a transceiver completely depends on the size of the particular network and the room where this network is located. 
HP ProCurve transceivers use high-end fiber-optic technology, combined with low metal content. This enables servers and computers on a network to receive and transmit information in huge quantities at any point in time. 
Hard Drives 
Although stand-alone computers come with basic hard drives with a lot of storage, it is important to understand that business organizations require a lot more storage than what is provided by a basic hard drive. For archiving private and confidential business data, external hard drives with a lot of storage space and capabilities are needed. 
Hewlett Packard manufactures a wide range of backup drives, tape drives and SATA solutions to keep your private and confidential files completely secure for extended periods of time. HP ProCurve hard drives have always had a reputation of smooth and fast storage. They are also very durable and last a long time. 
SAN Solutions 
SAN or Storage Area Network solutions are extremely useful for computer networks requiring multiple users to gain access to the same applications and files. SAN solutions combine efficient storage capability with smooth networking. HP ProCurve offers a wide range of SAN solutions for all kinds of businesses with different IT infrastructures. 
HP ProCurve is the best line of networking products from HP. The IT giant has always manufactured high-end products for its customers. ProCurve lays the foundation and proves that the company is definitely one of the very best in the industry. 


Monday, 16 September 2013

HP G7 SERVERS

HP G7 servers are versatile workhorses, which plays an enormous role in the evolution of data centres  A quality and effective HP ProLiant server does much in the transformation of the economic and expectations of the various data centres  The development of the newest generation of the Proliant servers provides the users, especially business enterprises, with the benefit of more than 150 customer-driven innovations. 

They also help in delivering built-in efficiency and relevant automation across the lifecycle of the data centre  There are different types of the G7 servers with each comprising of different features and performance ability. These variations create the difference in the numbers of clients a single server can support, hence, bringing the difference in their prices. For instance, the HP ProLiant DL585 G7 is one of the most effective servers in the current market. It has a flexible 4-socket multi-core rack mount server, and an expansion capability that is favourable for server consolidation, virtualization, multi-tiered enterprise application, and corporate infrastructure applications. These peculiar features make this server more competent and efficient for users.

The HP ProLiantG7 servers comprises of several amazing features, which enhances easy computing and data management in various business centres  These servers have up to four AMD Opteron Series Processors that are quite powerful, and are characterized with up to 16 cores per CPU. This makes them to offer new levels of performance as well as efficiency compared to their previous generations. They also has extremely large memory footprints of up to 1.5 TB DDR3 memory, and can support 4, 8, 16, and 32 GB computer models. They further have a 1600MHz DDR3 DIMMs. In addition, the new development of the HP G7 Servers are now capable of supporting even the LRDIMMs.

The HP ProLiant severs also have flexible technology, which provides the customers or users with a choice in networking that comprises of either a Qlogical or Broadcom solution. They also have more I/O and network bandwidth with expansion slots of up to 11 PCIe 2.0. This is ideal for larger virtualization and database solutions. These servers are reliable and efficient as they consist of 10GB NIC upgrade options, SSD options and TPM options. These collections of technologically advanced characteristics make the servers capable of performing a wide deal of services simultaneously.

The technical processors contained within the HP G7 servers do provide new levels of performance and efficiency more than the previous generation, with a high core density and scalability that facilitates the handling of the demanding multi-threaded workloads in database, HPC, cloud computing, and virtualization applications. The servers also have efficient power supply options, HP insight control, HP power adviser, and the latest Opteron 16 core processors, which enhance efficiency as they simultaneously maintain the power supply in the appropriate levels. Moreover, the servers do support the industry's most popular operating systems among them Microsoft, Windows, Server, Red Hat, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Enterprise Linux, and the VMware. They are also designed in such a manner that they fit in the existing enterprise data centres  and support the full line of HP smart array controllers, storage options, NICs, and the HP common slot power supplies.

www.check.co.uk

Tuesday, 10 September 2013

HP Servers

We are proud to provide a range of world class server solutions from HP.  We have a great stock available, however if you can't find the correct model of HP server you are looking for then give us a call on 0845 467 2341. http://check.co.uk/hp-servers

HP ProLiant 350p Gen8


Friday, 6 September 2013

Sata Hard Drive - Some Problems You May Experience

Serial ATA, popularly known as SATA (Advance Technology Attachment), is a computer bus interface linking host bus adapters to devices that are responsible for the storage of large amounts of data like optical drives and hard disk drives. It offers several advantages over the older version interface, for example:

- Reduced cost due to smaller cable sizes
- Using only 7 conductors instead of 40
- Faster transfer of data via higher signal rates
- Native hot swapping
- Increased efficiency in transfer via an I/O queuing protocol (optional)

 However, below are some of the problems you may experience with a SATA hard drive.

At times when you install Windows OS on your computer that has multiple SATA or RAID disks, the disk drive numbers may not correctly correspond to the SATA channel numbers as they should. Some ATA hard drives perform very regular head overloads in Linux which greatly reduces their lifespan. This is because the inactivity timer for head unload is specially configured in an overly aggressive way through ATA APM (Advanced Power Management), a feature that is unfavorable just like other non-standard ways. 

Such aggressive configurations are very sensitive to changes in IO pattern and several drives like these unload their heads and re-load them in a short while under Linux. In Windows, certain vaccine programs that are known to run in the background and can change the IO pattern may also trigger this relentless unloading and re-loading cycle. 

When libata is used with specific TSS Tcorp TS-L623D drives, some obvious hardware issues that may arise include the user experiencing some random system freezes periodically and lasting only a few minutes. After being continuously polled by hald-addon-storage, TS-L623D firmware stops responding. Acer and Asus laptop computers are the major victims.

However, Samsung SC02 seems to remain unaffected by this problem. Some of the suggested solutions to help tackle this problem include keeping a Compact Disk in the TS-L632D drive, killing the hald-addon-storage process, or cross-flashing the TS-L632D drive firmware to the SC03 version.

There are various ways to cross-flash, however, it is a risky process which could be harmful or damaging to the hard disk and as may also void the warranty. Therefore, the user is exclusively warned to use these methods at their own risk. 

First, you may consider downloading the Samsung firmware update utility or the Samsung firmware. Running �sfdnwin -nocheck� is also another option that may be used to cross-flash. (Take note that some Seagate hard drives sold during the late 2008 may time out the FLUSH CACHE when combined with NCQ commands, a problem commonly caused by firmware bug). 

The list of some of the devices affected includes ST31500341AS, ST3640623AS, ST3320813AS, ST31000333AS, ST3640323AS and ST3320613AS models. However, when any of the above mentioned devices are detected to emit a warning message, libata, in that case, will automatically disable NCQ. Some SATA hard drives e.g. hdparm t, may also display poor performance with sequential reads with measurements reaching only between 20-90% of the total expected speed. During software RAID checks and rebuilds, similar performance issues have been noticed.

These varieties of SATA hard disk problems may affect various device models differently depending on particular hard disk model and size. The various solutions available also depend on the type of hard disk problem experienced.

If you require more information visit - http://check.co.uk/hp-hard-drives 

Also, contact us for expert advice on 0845 467 2341.

Friday, 30 August 2013

HP Renew – Smart Value For Money

Over the last few years there has been an international shift in attitudes towards the environment, recycling and the value of the products we buy. Businesses are increasingly looking for product solutions that have reduced environmental impacts and other manufacturing costs. 

The pioneering HP Renew Program promises the following: 

▪ High quality HP products 
▪ Made using remanufactured HP materials 
▪ Full HP warranty and HP certified quality 
▪ Lower prices
▪ Eco-friendly 

These facts alone prove HP Renew to be a smart decision for customers seeking fantastic value for money. www.check.co.uk/hprenew offer an extensive and specialist range of remanufactured HP products including hard drives, memory modules, network switches and many more. 

The selling point on www.hp.com/united-states/renew is clear: “high-performance, low-cost solutions while offering the same reliability, functionality and warranty as new HP products”. 

The only difference is the low prices. Therefore, buying from the HP Renew range is an attractive prospect for small to medium sized businesses with limited IT budgets who want excellent return on investment. 

The HP Renew Program is a direct response to the money-saving needs of modern customers. Bill Moulin, Vice President of Reseller Sales at Mosaic Technology says: “In today’s IT environment, 80 percent of IT budgets are consumed by legacy and last generation Systems”. The program recognises this, and remanufactures older generation equipment and discontinued legacy HP technologies, as well as the latest models. 

The main purpose of HP Renew is SUSTAINABILITY, leading us on to the remanufacturing process: 

1) HP Renew products come from a variety of sources such as customer demos, factory loaners and trade-in programs. They are manufactured to good-as-new standard by a fully trained and qualified remanufacturing team. 

2) All products are disassembled, intensively cleaned and inspected before being reassembled containing the latest hardware versions. Only HP parts are used in the entire process. System software is then tested so that it matches the levels of the latest releases. 

3) Once assembled, they are meticulously inspected during quality checks. To prepare them for shipping, they come with all the latest documentation, so that you won’t distinguish renewed from new! 

4) The same-as-new HP warranty is placed as the products are delivered, and a Certificate of Quality comes in the box. Each product is also packaged with the original factory specifications. 

As a result, you will benefit from products purely HP parts, thoroughly tested and cleaned, fully certified for quality to make HP Renew products virtually identical to brand new products. The environmental responsibility involved will give you confidence that you’re doing your bit for sustainable manufacturing – a key production practice for the future. 
Visit www.check.co.uk/hprenew to browse and purchase from our wide range of money-saving HP Renew equipment. Save money without compromising on value and quality! 

Education Technology: The Future Of Learning 

In recent times the governments have been cutting budgets on education. The cuts have affecting schools and colleges across the UK and EU by decreasing resources and putting extra strain on teachers. 

The Brookings Institution of research commented: “During the Great Recession, the education service industry lost over one million jobs”; an indication of the great need for new processes to increase efficiency.

This is where education technology comes in. Advancements such as interactive games, simulations and instructional material are quickly becoming a saviour for teachers - from secondary school to university lecturers. The technologies enable them to spend more time teaching, while the software takes care of instructional learning.