Hewlett-Packard has launched what it is calling Project Moonshot, it’s HP software-defined server.
In it’s press release, the company calls the new Moonshot servers “a huge leap forward in infrastructure design,” and is positioning the system as the next innovation in server technology.
Businesses using the new servers will be able to host far more data than current products, while the servers themselves are smaller, less expensive and more energy-efficient.
According to the press release, HP president Meg Whitman said the new servers are designed for large cloud and web services, and are necessary as growth of the current server infrastructure is limited by cost and physical space. She said big data will require at least 8 to 10 million new servers in the coming years and there is not enough space to add that many servers of the current size.
“All of this is putting enormous strain on the web as we know it,” she said in a video about the product. “And if nothing is done to address core issues, infrastructure — the very thing that enables the Internet — will restrict it.”
Project Moonshot servers, however, require 80 percent less space and 89 percent less energy, according to HP. Additionally, they cost 77 percent less than traditional servers.
The first HP Project Moonshot server available is the HP Moonshot 1500, an enclosure that holds 45 Intel Atom S1200 server cartridges. HP has run hp.com on Project Moonshot servers, supporting around 3 million visitors per day. According to tests, the energy required to run the servers supporting the website is equivalent to a dozen 60-watt light bulbs. The company also said it plans to use the servers for additional applications in the future.
Forbes calls the new servers “game-changing,” and the new technology will have a far wider reach than just the server industry.
Data centers are expected to grow much more quickly in the next 5 to 10 years than they did over the last decade, primarily because a wide variety of products, from cars to home appliances to jewelry, will soon be connected to the Internet, according to Forbes. Devices will be connected for a variety of different tasks, from a refrigerator that lets you know when your food is about to go bad to Apple’s long-rumored iWatch. The more efficient data centers will directly and indirectly support more technology jobs by allowing connectivity to continue to grow at a rapid pace.
Focusing on the future of the Project Moonshot system, HP has already announced that the next product in the line will be the HP ProLiant Moonshot. These HP software designed servers are expected to be released in the second half of this year, and will include a wider variety of processor options from HP partners, including AMD, AppliedMicro, Calxeda, Intel and Texas Instruments.
HP says these processors are designed to further the large capacity server options to support “big data, high-performance computing, gaming, financial services, genomics, facial recognition, video analysis and other applications.”
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