The StorageWorks SB40c blade, available Nov. 14 for a starting price of $1,599, plugs directly into HP's new BladeSystem C-class chassis. It houses up to six SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) or SATA (Serial ATA) drives in a half-height blade; a system with the maximum capacity of six 146GB drives costs $4,233.
Blade systems typically house several independent servers within a chassis that supplies shared power and networking infrastructure. Adding storage opens a new chapter in the blade server story of modular design.
But HP's approach isn't a complete replacement for the ways servers use storage today. Each storage blade can connect directly to one server blade, HP spokesman Jason Treu said. That means it doesn't connect over the server's communications backplane, which links all the servers.
It also can't be used as network-attached storage or connect with storage area network technology, though Treu didn't rule out such directions in the future.
