HP makes a Moonshot

Before you think that Hewlett Packard is joining the Jeff Bezos-Elon Musk space race, I should clarify that the new HP Moonshot is actually a server that the company unveiled today. HP hopes that this new architecture will be a revelation to the current server market with a number of new features.

First, HP promises, not the moon, but that Moonshot will use 89 percent less energy, 80 percent less space and cost 77 percent less, compared to traditional servers.

HP's Gizmo Gladstone (I didn't make that name up) claims the hardware will improve the Internet by "hooking up companies on the backend to better handle all the challenges that come with processing cloud, social, mobile and big data". Meanwhile CEO Meg Whitman says "HP Moonshot marks the beginning of a new style of IT that will change the infrastructure economics and lay the foundation for the next 20 billion devices".

This second-generation Moonshot server is more energy efficient and smaller, according to the company, because it is built from chips more commonly found in smartphones and tablets and each chassis shares traditional components including the fabric, HP Integrated Lights-Out management, power supply and cooling fans. HP also claims it can support up to 1,800 servers per rack.

The first HP ProLiant Moonshot server is available with the Intel Atom S1200 processor and support for web-hosting workloads. The company claims it is already using Moonshot to power HP.com and handle three million visitors daily. Get out your checkbook because the price begins at $61,875.

Photo Credit: Michal Ninger/Shutterstock