HP Does Open Hardware with New Cloudline Servers

It was only summer of last year when HP began making a lot of noise about its commitment to cloud computing overall, and the OpenStack platform in particular. Now, the company is moving its cloud strategy into high gear. It announced the HP Helion brand in 2014, and pledged to commit $1 billion over the next two years on products and services surrounding OpenStack, under Helion's branded umbrella.

Now, the company is betting big on open hardware designs with new Cloudline servers that will sell for low prices and eschew the proprietary technology that the company uses in its Proliant servers.

The Cloudline servers are optimized for HP's Helion OpenStack, which the company says works well with the architecture and benefits of the new servers. The servers are based on standardized specifications set out by the Open Compute Project, founded by Facebook three years ago, and Open Networking Foundation, which was launched in 2011.

Not all of the servers have pricing set yet, but prices are to be low. There is a Cloudline CL1100 server, which is an inexpensive two-socket server for Web hosting. Then, CL2100 and CL2200 servers are two-socket systems that have more memory and storage. The servers will ship beginning March 30.

According to HP:

"HP Cloudline was built on the premise of Open Infrastructure – which means hardware and software products based on open source technologies and specifications. The new HP Cloudline portfolio is built with an open design philosophy open using open components to increase adaptability and facilitate IT integration.  And HP Cloudline will provide Open Infrastructure based on Open Compute Project specifications."

You can read more about the new servers here.