ProLiant

ProLiant. ProLiant is a brand of server hardware developed by Hewlett-Packard and later manufactured and sold by Hewlett-Packard Enterprise following the company's split. The line encompasses a wide range of systems, from tower servers to dense blade servers and scalable rackmount solutions, designed for enterprise data centers, cloud computing, and hyperscale environments. Since its introduction, it has been one of the best-selling server families globally, competing directly with offerings from Dell Technologies and IBM.

History

The ProLiant brand originated in the early 1990s from Hewlett-Packard's acquisition of server technology from NetFrame Systems. The first official ProLiant server, the ProLiant 1000, was launched in 1993, running the Novell NetWare operating system. A significant evolution occurred with the integration of Intel's Pentium Pro processor and the development of the Integrated Lights-Out management technology. Throughout the late 1990s and 2000s, the line expanded dramatically, with milestones including the introduction of the industry-standard ProLiant BL blade server series, which competed fiercely with the IBM BladeCenter. The brand transitioned to Hewlett-Packard Enterprise after the corporate separation from HP Inc. in 2015, continuing its development through generations like the Gen10 and Gen11 series.

Product lines

ProLiant servers are categorized into distinct families targeting different workloads and form factors. The ProLiant DL series consists of dense, scalable rack-optimized servers, which are staples in enterprise data centers. The ProLiant ML series offers flexible tower configurations often used for small business or branch office deployments. The ProLiant BL series pioneered the blade server market, with enclosures like the HPE BladeSystem c-Class housing multiple server blades. For compute-intensive tasks, the ProLiant XL series provides hyperscale-optimized designs. These systems support major operating systems including Microsoft Windows Server, various distributions of Linux like Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and VMware vSphere for virtualization.

Hardware features

ProLiant servers are built around industry-standard components, primarily x86 microprocessors from Intel (Xeon Scalable processors) and AMD (EPYC processors). A hallmark is the HPE Smart Array controller family, which provides hardware RAID for data protection. The architecture incorporates advanced memory technologies like DDR4 SDRAM and DDR5 SDRAM, alongside multiple PCI Express expansion slots for network interface controllers, GPU accelerators from NVIDIA, and NVMe storage. For reliability, features include hot-pluggable hard disk drives and solid-state drives, redundant power supplies, and advanced cooling systems. Security is enhanced via the HPE Silicon Root of Trust and iLO Security Dashboard.

Management software

A core differentiator for the platform is its integrated management ecosystem, centered on the Integrated Lights-Out technology, which allows remote administration regardless of the host operating system state. This is complemented by the HPE OneView infrastructure management platform, which provides a unified interface for provisioning and monitoring server, storage, and networking resources. For firmware and driver lifecycle management, the HPE iLO Amplifier Pack and HPE Service Pack for ProLiant are key tools. These software solutions integrate with broader IT management frameworks from Microsoft (System Center) and VMware (vCenter Server).

Market position and impact

The ProLiant series has consistently held a leading market share in the global server market, as tracked by analyst firms like IDC and Gartner. Its success was instrumental in establishing the x86 architecture as the dominant platform for enterprise servers, challenging traditional RISC-based systems from Sun Microsystems and IBM. The proliferation of these standardized, cost-effective servers fueled the growth of Internet infrastructure, web hosting, and the cloud computing revolution, providing the physical backbone for services from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. Its design philosophy has influenced Open Compute Project standards and continues to evolve within Hewlett-Packard Enterprise's broader HPE GreenLake portfolio.

Category:Server hardware Category:Hewlett-Packard Category:Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Category:Computer-related introductions in 1993