I’ll nerd out for a second and talk about processors. Nehalem is a code name for an Intel release of processors. An article out today discusses server vendors cutting costs by releasing servers with the latest processors within them.
Honestly, most of our work doesn’t dictate that CIO’s know the details about every processor line. I would simply point out that it’s worth understanding the arc of progression as processors have been updated over the past several years. For dual-socket servers, these quad-core processors will be the 5500 series. The linked article touts double the performance with half of the power consumption. Keep in mind that this is compared to the previous generation of processor. Many of our districts have this previous generation on only the newest of servers.
It is hardly fair to compare servers of today to those of 5+ years ago. These types of advances in hardware, along with the increased stability of virtualization software, are exactly why virtualization is really taking off. From a hardware perspective, most small to mid-size districts could absolutely run their entire district on a VERY few servers.
Removing AD and Exchange, I’ve talked to some KY districts that are running everything else on 4-5 physical boxes. These are districts with 6000-9000 ADA. This is also with current generation processing power at best. Now that has doubled with this release?!?!