Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Dedicated Server : Do you use IBM hardware for web hosting?

[rcbandit]

Hi,
I'm interested do you use IBM servers and hardware for running web hosting business? How do you find IBM prices of support?

Regards
Peter

[rasputin]

Are you asking about using IBM hardware, as in IBM servers for our own hosting business, or using IBM's actual application hosting services that they offer?

[rcbandit]

I'm asking do you use IBM servers for your own hosting business

[rasputin]

NO. If I did I'd have to charge a lot more. We can build our own servers (and do) cheaper and easier. Doing so also gives us a huge amount of flexibility when it comes to upgrades and repairs, or just provisioning something quickly. We've got things down to a science and can create, fast, reliable and inexpensive machines we support ourselves without having to pay for three letters; IBM.

[david_ebizpc]

Supermicro is cheaper and has great specs

[bqinternet]

IBM makes good servers, but they're on the expensive side. Most WHT hosts choose less expensive options, such as Supermicro.

[swiftnoc]

We use IBM hardware (specific: x3250, x3550, x3650 series and EXP3000 storage) in our customized clusters and private clouds. They build really high quality servers.
For single server or small server deployments i feel that IBM is on the expensive side, but if you need a large amount of servers they can be very competitive.
Be aware that for the Virtual Media option you need to purchase a license Key.

[rcbandit]

Originally Posted by swiftnoc

but if you need a large amount of servers they can be very competitive.

You mean that if I buy large amount of IBM I can get very good price discount?
what discount do you get for your servers?

[swiftnoc]

Originally Posted by rcbandit

You mean that if I buy large amount of IBM I can get very good price discount?
what discount do you get for your servers?

That is something we cannot disclose.

[leviathan400]

Used to use a IBM x345 for hosting now we have moved to HP Proliant servers

Allways best to buy good hardware if you are co-lo'ing.

Yes you can build cheap machines but there is a big difference from server grade hardware from IBM/HP/Dell and desktop hardware. Supermicro are good, my experence with their hardware is all good

[ubservers]

I've heard a lot of good about supermicro. As for us, we rely on Dell servers, which we are never disappointed with!

[quad3datwork]

I have assisted (still do from time to time) client that have a good skew of IBM servers in a private DC. They are not in hosting market though.

Though majority of their servers are IBMs, they also have good numbers of Suns and Dells in the mix. Though I am not too fond of the Dells, they are great if you can get good quantity discount. In some of my previous threads I complained about R710 drops drive and marks foreign... Dell never figured out why and it's just a mystery.

I've worked with x306(m), x335/336, x345/346, x3550s (M2/M3). IBM do make some serious good equipments. What's the old saying? "You never get fired for hiring IBM"? That statement, IMHO, holds true value. The latest project I've worked on is deploying several x3620 M3s as ESXi servers. One came with back USB broken, but field engineer came out and fixed that. Discovered that the mobo have 3 USBs but the back only exposed 2, made in China... go figure...


If you have the money to spend and want quality, you won't go wrong with IBM. My .02.

[barry[CoffeeSprout]]

Having worked with iSeries before I know that IBM server quality is pretty close to legendary. A friend of mine has a few second hand (Intel, not the POWER based iSeries) machines too that seem to keep chugging on forever.

[fraghost]

All our shared/reseller and voip servers use IBM. They're well made, no regrets.

[kpmedia]

From my own hosts, I've heard that setting up IBM servers are more difficult, compared to HP or Dell servers. And more costly. But very stable and worthwhile.