Hewlett-Packard is planning to add direct current (DC) power supply support to its BladeSystem c7000 enclosures, bringing the Intel-based blade chassis in line with the power management capabilities of HP’s older P-class enclosures.

Previously, HP has provided rack-level c7000 support for DC, but required customers to convert to AC in the enclosure. Supporting to DC in the enclosure, which an HP source said will be coming “very soon”, will significantly increase power efficiency – ensuring that more of data centre power consumption is actually used for processing.

The use of DC power supplies was once widespread in large mainframe installations, but declined as customers questioned the relative expense of technology that required specialised facility management skills. Now though, interest in DC is returning as organisations look for ways of reducing spiralling power bills.

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