IBM Receives Patent for Failover of Blade Servers in Data Center

Strategic Insights -

IBM has been assigned a patent (7,945,773) developed by five co-inventors for a "failover of blade servers in a data center." The patent describes a system that automatically switches to a secondary server in the event of a primary server failure, ensuring minimal downtime and optimal performance. This innovation is particularly relevant in today's data-driven economy, where even brief outages can have significant financial consequences.

Key Takeaways:

  • The patented failover system involves powering off the failing blade server, mapping it to remote computer boot storage, and identifying a replacement server from a pool of standby servers.
  • The system management server uses the Storage Management Initiative-Specification (SMI-S) provider to remap the remote computer boot storage of the failing server to the replacement server.
  • The replacement server is then powered on by the system management server, ensuring seamless continuity of operations.
  • The patent application was filed on September 18, 2007, and has been assigned the patent number 7,945,773.
  • The co-inventors of the patent are Katherine Barabash, James F. Boland IV, Eric R. Kern, Irit Loy, and William J. Vanca.
  • The patent is significant for its potential to reduce downtime and improve the overall efficiency of data centers.

Statistics:

  • Patent number: 7,945,773
  • Date of application: September 18, 2007
  • Number of co-inventors: 5
  • Industry: Data storage and management

Sources:

  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ([http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=7,945,773.PN.&OS=PN/7,945,773&RS=PN/7,945,773])