Chapter 1. Introduction - IBM BladeCenter T 8720 Installation And User Manual

Chapter 1. Introduction

The IBM
high-density, high-performance blade server systems developed for NEBS
telecommunications network applications and other applications requiring physical
robustness.
The BladeCenter T unit uses blade servers, switches, and other components that
are common to the IBM BladeCenter product line. This common component
strategy makes it ideal for applications in telecommunications networks that need
high levels of computing power and access to common off-the-shelf middleware
packages that are used in IT data centers. The BladeCenter T unit supports up to
eight blade servers and four I/O modules, making it ideally suited for networking
environments that require a large number of high-performance servers in a small
amount of space. The BladeCenter T unit provides common resources that are
shared by the blade servers, such as power, cooling, system management, network
connections, backplane, and I/O (CD-ROM drive and connectors for USB,
keyboard, video, mouse, and network interfaces).
Performance, ease of use, reliability, robustness (NEBS/ETSI compliance), and
expansion capabilities were key considerations in the design of the BladeCenter T
unit. These design features make it possible for you to customize the system
hardware to meet your needs today, while providing flexible expansion capabilities
for the future.
This Installation and User's Guide provides information about:
v Setting up and cabling the BladeCenter T unit
v Starting and configuring the BladeCenter T unit
v Installing options in the BladeCenter T unit
v Performing basic troubleshooting of the BladeCenter T unit
This Installation and User's Guide and other documents that provide detailed
information about the BladeCenter T unit are provided in Portable Document Format
(PDF) on the IBM BladeCenter T Documentation CD.
The BladeCenter T unit comes with a three-year limited warranty. You can obtain
up-to-date information about the BladeCenter T Type 8720 or 8730 model and other
IBM xSeries
You can register the BladeCenter T unit and blade servers at
http://www.ibm.com/pc/register/.
© Copyright IBM Corp. 2004
ERserver BladeCenter
®
®
server products at http://www.ibm.com/eserver/xseries/.
™
T Types 8720 and 8730 units are rack-mounted,
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