• SMBs are becoming increasingly sophisticated users of IT
  Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are responsible for a large proportion of the economic activity across Europe and the US, and often are as reliant on IT as large enterprises. IT enables them to compete in a global, 24x7 market where they are expected to provide the same level of service as larger enterprises. However, they typically lack IT expertise, and the IT resources they do have tend to be generalists, lacking in specialist knowledge.
• SMBs have particular challenges that differ from those faced by large enterprises
  Although increasingly interested in advanced technology solutions, SMBs have particular challenges. IT budgets are tight, space may be limited and only standard office power and cooling may be available, marking it impossible to provide an optimal environment for a computing infrastructure. Keeping down utility costs is also an issue.
• Vendors have been quick to spot the value of blade computing for this sector
  Blade computing combines blade servers-very compact, high-density servers each with CPUs and memory-with enclosures that house these servers and provide the power, cooling, cables, networking, storage, and consoles required. Originally designed as an efficient modular solution to save space and reduce cabling in enterprise data centres, the potential benefits for the smaller organisations have not been lost on the vendors.
• Ideally sized for the smaller organisation
  The typical SMB may only deploy a dozen or so servers. With a blade computing solution, all the computing resources the business may require-servers, storage and networking-can be deployed in the compact form factor of a single chassis. This "server room in a box" solution suits the environments found in SMBs and branch offices, where space, power and IT expertise may all be at a premium, and eliminates the need for SMBs to own and operate their own server room.
• Blade solutions specifically designed to address the needs of the SMB sector
  These SMB offerings have a smaller chassis with fewer bays and therefore a lower capital cost. Their office-friendly design means they can be plugged into a standard wall outlet and operate without the need for any special cooling. With office acoustic kits available, they run quieter than comparable rack or tower servers, have integrated storage, and are easy to deploy, configure and manage.
• The integrated and compact nature of blades offer other benefits
  Blade systems can help businesses achieve significant cost savings and return on investment (ROI). For example, complex IT infrastructures can be configured and tested centrally by an IT expert, and then shipped by courier to a remote location where they can just be plugged in. Some SMB blade systems offer a cloning capability to help replicate complex configurations through an automated process-great for a multi-branch environment.

Conclusions
Widely perceived as an enterprise play, with their appeal to big companies trying to maximise expensive data centre real estate, blade servers had a reputation for being too costly and complex for most SMBs. Vendors have now addressed this by lowering price points, simplifying technical requirements and shrinking chassis size, designing systems from the ground up with the SMB in mind. Geared toward the business owner who may already be working 80 to 90 hours a week, SMB blade systems take away concerns about power, budget, and a lack of technical staff, and allow them to go back to the main issue of making money. Easy to deploy, use and manage, these are systems for companies who do not have highly specialised staff on-site.