(n.) An inclusive computer with processors, memory, network connections, and associated electronics on a single board. The blade, or server blade, is also known as a single board computer and is associated with an enclosure system and with sharing resources, such as power supplies and cooling fans. Blade architectures are designed primarily for computing density that share a memory and I/O interconnect.
Although there is a tendency to consider only those volume based systems in which the blades are in essence 1-way to 4-way systems using fairly commoditized components, many current and future systems could be considered to be blade-based server systems.
The Sun Blade 1600 is a blade-based rack in which the blades are simple single processor units that share power, cooling, and network switches. The blades can be combined within the context of a standard IP network.
The Sun Enterprise 10000, Sun Fire 12K, and Sun Fire 15K servers are racks in which the blades share power, cooling, and a memory switch. The blades can be combined either into groups, dynamic system domains, which act as a single SMP, or within the context of a standard IP network.
See also [dynamic system domain (DSD)]