As we travel around the world we constantly run into a class of information technology (IT) buyer that believes that all x86-based servers are essentially the same. These buyers base their acquisition decisions almost exclusively on low-cost and simplicity (which are indeed valid buying criteria). But, we believe that they are doing themselves a disservice by failing to look more closely at the system design of the x86 servers that they purchase.

Failure to closely examine the systems design of x86 servers can result in the purchase of servers that underperform, that have expandability limitations, and that limit future growth.

This whitepaper gives a detailed illustration of this point; looking at Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS) blade environment in comparison to IBM's BladeCenter environment.