Clues about HP's Gen8 servers leaked on its website

IDG News Service - Hewlett-Packard has let slip some details on its website about its upcoming Proliant Gen8 servers ahead of their official launch.

The pages list basic details of single- and dual-socket BL, ML and DL Gen8 servers, which will be based on Intel's upcoming Xeon E5 processors.

One system, the single-socket ProLiant BL460c, is a small-form-factor server based on Intel's E5-2650L processor.

Some servers will have HP's latest networking, I/O, storage and management capabilities, according to results that show up during a search of HP's website. The pages the results are supposed to lead to have been removed from the site.

HP declined to comment about the servers or their potential launch date. The company is holding a big event in Las Vegas Feb. 13 to share news about "ground-breaking, new enterprise technology and services that redefine customer data center experiences and economics," according to an invite. Dave Donatelli, executive vice president and general manager of HP Enterprise Servers, Storage, Networking and Technology Services, is expected to speak at the event.

The Gen8 servers will eventually replace the Proliant G7 family, which was introduced in March 2010 and is based on x86 processors from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.

HP is trying to more tightly integrate components and software in its servers to make deployment and management easier, said Jean Bozman, research vice president of enterprise servers at IDC. The new servers could feature higher levels of integration, and there is excitement building around the systems, she said.

Like some other vendors, HP has been releasing servers in recent years geared toward specific tasks, in addition to its general-purpose products. For example, HP sells G7 servers configured with Microsoft or VMware software to help companies deploy virtualized workloads quickly. HP also offers servers geared toward cloud and database deployments.

In November, HP also announced server designs based on low-power microprocessors from ARM. The servers are due for release for testing purposes in the first half of this year.