A couple of weeks ago, lots of server admins started deploying the new HP BL460c G6 server blade.  Coincidentally, this year is the 20th anniversary of the Compaq SystemPro 386/33 -- the first "PC server" (to use the 1989 throw-back term for "x86 server").    There's a rad (another 1989 word) connection between the two

The same Compaq engineering team that built the SystemPro evolved into the HP ProLiant team that developed the BL460c.  Not only are some of the SystemPro inventors still here, but we've still got lots of the original SystemPro specs -- and it's the similarities between the first SystemPro and the BL460c G6 that will surprise you.

I liked VH1's "I Love the 80's" series, but I can't say the same for the fonts on the spare parts list for the SystemPro (ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/supportinformation/techpubs/qrg/systempro.pdf).   The impact of Moore's Law dominates any comparison to the newest half-height server blade, but some similarities are amazing:

• Both are dual-processor servers using the latest Intel CPUs. 
• Both offer up to 12 slots for memory. 
• Both support RAID arrays of internal hard drives -- and on both, you can directly attach 8 drives. 
• Both use Insight Manager and SmartStart software for management and deployment. 
• Both use the term "Flex" to describe a key technology. "Flex/MP" was the designation for the SystemPro's processor and memory architecture, while  "Flex-10" names some of the networking capabilities of the BL460c G6.

Of course, the performance differences are mind-boggling.  The original SystemPro's 386 processor ran at 33Mhz, or about 1% of the BL460c G6 top CPU frequency. And back then, the 8 IDE hard drives could combine for about 2 gigabytes of storage...about a hundreth of the capacity of a single modern SAS drive.    The BL460c can also hold about 400 times as much RAM...not to mention that the blade is about a tenth the size of the SystemPro.

IT folks have lost lost some capabilities in these 20 years, of course.  If you opt for a BL460c G6 over the SystemPro, you're giving up the 2400 baud modem.  You'll also have to toss out your stacks of 360K floppy disks -- no floppy drive in the BL460c.  And without that floppy drive, how are you going to load the Token Ring network drivers?

I would post some screenshots from one of the SystemPros that's still in our lab...but I can't seem to get my CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT settings right.  Reply back if you can help me with that, or if you have similar fond memories of the industry's first PC Server.