[lionelraphael]

I am in process of putting a virtualization plan in place. Wondering, from pure virtualization perspective, which hardware vendor provides the best virtualization solution. Will like to know if any have had any experiences using virtualization on DELL hardware, SUN, HP or IBM. Also wondering, if any of you were able to get a decent discount from any of these hardware or vitualization software vendors. Appreciate your help

[allen2]

My experience with HP, DELL and IBM :
- HP blade center works fine and Vmware provide a special esxi for better hp support. No big problems but doesn't have the best hardware support.
- Dell stand alone servers work fine with vmware and i didn't managed to see their blade solutions in a virtual environment. They have the best hardware support.
- IBM stand alone server and blade center works so so. Many PSOD (Purple screen of death) implying a lot of firmwares upgrades. Worst hardware support. Even finding something on the IBM support website might be a challenge.
I saw a Sun blade center but i didn't managed it so i can't answer about the reliability or the hardware support. I can just say that you'll need an enormous power to power a SUN blade center about 10 times an HP one and it also weight ten times or more. I don't remember the exacte price but i do remember you could buy ten hp blade center for one Sun.