Up and Coming Server Mfg?
 

There seem to be a number of other geeks here so I'll bounce this question off of you. I have been a Dell bigot for the last 7-8 years and put up with a number of issues. However, they had a pretty significant price increase a couple of months ago and I can't justify their price any longer to my smaller clients. We deal in small to medium size businesses and avoid SBS like the plague. That made the Dell Poweredge 4xx SC through the 2650 our bread and butter.

So, is there an up and coming server manufacturer out there that I should look at? The Dell Outlet is OK but I see it as a stop gap measure. We need a new long term solution. Any and all ideas are welcome.

I've always used, and continue to use Compaq Proliants.

The only problem now is that they are all HP branded, and you have to know what the models look like to differentiate between the Compaq engineered ones and HP engineered ones.

I have no trouble at all, and there are a few outlets where you can get refurbs with full warranty, saving a lot of money and getting the same support at the same time.

I have about 30 of them, and I very very rarely have any hardware issues, maybe a couple a year between all of them at most.

Rob, I have heard great things about the Compaq boxes and actually have a couple of clients with them. The issue is pricing and my experience is that they are equal to or more expensive than Dell. That said, suggestions on resellers of refurb equipment?

My personal favorite is Chestnut Micro. The selection isn't always awesome, but they have excellent pricing, overnight replacement from them if anything isn't as it should be in the first month or so (so you don't have to deal with Compaq), and quick shipping.

I've been buying stuff from them for 4-5 years now.

Used to be phone only and an e-mail every so often with specials, but they have an ebay store for more common stuff now.

Chestnut Micro

I'd look at the HP DL series of servers...the whole line from the DL140 to DL380 are solid. I would not risk my business to an unknown vendor or manufacturer.

I could not agree more about the risk factor.

But Alienware, for example, is getting some great reviews on their laptops and I am wondering if there is someone out their like them for servers.

What OS are you running on them? Whitebox build 'em yourself in-house using SuperMicro if you need x86 (or MSI - my dual amd 1.2ghz setup from them has been great), or if you are fairly processor agnostic (you're using linux or a bsd) maybe Mac xserves. Of course, nobody ever got fired for buying IBM and they do make some since higher end stuff, but they still have a price premium.

I looooove our Xserve G5 machines.

A fellow Pelican sells system from Austin TX. Some NOS, some refurbs and new stuff also. Let me see if I can find his details and I'll post back here.

Cool. Look forward to hearing back.

Thanks guys for the thoughts. I appreciate it.

I've really been having some good results with very basic IBM 1U servers. X335s and the new X336s but I bet they are pricey. Working for the govt I can't say I have a good grasp on real world prices.

I've also used the Dells and compared to the IBMs they suck.

We're also doing exclusively Linux on them.

Here goes, his name is Steve Marshall (user name: Steve Marshall) ount Computers (www.pmount.com). He's in Austin TX (412) 263-7010.

Tell him I sent you. He raced at La Carrera Panamericana driving "El Conejo Rojo" which sported pistons and other stuff I sold to him.

Cheers, Juan

Thanks Juan. I'll give him a call next week.

I'd stick with Dell. I still buy the 400SC servers and load up the RAM and several 250GB IDE drives and I'm ready to run whatever OS I want. They are cheap, fast and easy to setup. Replace the servers every three years and you're OK!

Art, I love the 4xx SC series but when they went to the 430, prices went up over 40%.

I used Dell for many years and they were rather good. My expirience with HP was bad, Compaq were good.

Right now, I'm using two racks full of Fujitsu-Siemens gear and so farr, they have been great!

Very reliable albeit somewhat pricey.

Been out of touch for a while but what is IBM doing these days?