Hewlett-Packard announced the launch of a new blade server system that according to claims from the manufacturing company, will allow small and medium sized companies to easily setup and configure a data center inside a box. As the medium companies are becoming more and more interested in high performance server systems, without having the possibilities to purchase one of the behemoth sized servers that are running complex applications for large enterprises, a number of hardware manufacturers like Dell, IBM and Hitachi are already flooding the server market with downsized and simplified versions of their server and storage lines. Now HP comes to join the party, thanks to ''Shorty'', or using its commercial name the HP BladeSystem c3000 system.

The new HP server comes packed in a compact form factor, hence its amusing nickname, and it is aimed at a market not known for its generous spending in the server side of the business. Shorty will be available in two basic versions. The rack based one is now readily available and it comes in a tight 6U form factor that is able to accommodate 8 dual-socket half-height blades or 4 full height blades, HP keeping closely to the server design that made it so popular.

As the blade server system comes with some integrated storage options, it can also be delivered with a number or pre-installed business applications made by Oracle, SAP and Microsoft. Thanks to its compact size, it can be deployed and configured in a matter of hours without any special requirements as the system's simplicity is what will make it a successful product in the eyes of the small and medium sized businesses.

According to the news site informationweek, HP executive said that the new blade server system is rugged enough to withstand operating condition that would normally destroy a traditional server and because of its small size it can be easily fitted just about anywhere. "You name it, we expect to see Shorty there," Mark Potter, VP of HP BladeSystems, said. "We expect to see it in planes, trains, and automobiles. Shorty will be in cruise ships. It's going to be everywhere."

On the hardware side, the HP BladeSystem c3000 system is the scaled down and simplified version of the much more powerful and expensive enterprise-class BladeSystem c7000 as the smaller system comes with one TB of on-board storage space. As a positive side, Shorty does support a number of external storage systems like the HP StorageWorks All-in-One SB600c Storage Blade and thanks to its integrated Virtual Connect architecture any number of blades can be added or taken out without powering down the whole server.

As Shorty is aimed at the SMB market and companies which may lack the know how of server configuration, it also comes with a small 3 inch LCD screen on the front part of its case that can display configuration instructions while also acting as a front end for the management software. Because server consolidation and application virtualization are hot topics for the entire server industry, the HP BladeSystem c3000 comes with a motherboard dedicated USB port for installing an optional XenSource or VMware hardware hypervisor. Shorty will be available soon through HP's retail channels and it will come with a starting price of $4,299.