All eyes have been on IBM in recent weeks as they announced their highlytouted BladeCenter deal with Intel to jointly design and develop blade servers, the latest trend in space and cost saving servers that fit into cards and stand together on a thin shelf.

You know you’re late when even Dell beats you to the party for a blade server market that IDC expects to reach $3.7 billion by 2006 from $133 million today. With HP leading the market, and other competitors already on their second generation products, IBM was clearly trying to drum up a more attractive companion to take to the soiree in order to dispel any lingering memories of its failed relationship with start-up RLX Technologies (whose name was definitely not on the VIP list).

Despite trumpeting the partnership with Intel, this deal won’t even impact the first generation of IBM blade servers. According to analyst Rich Fichera of Giga: "No tactical impact will be realized with the current BladeCenter product since it was developed completely without Intel’s aid or input." Fichera went on to suggest that IBM faces significant stumbling blocks in communicating the value proposition, segmenting the market, and integrating support and management for the new servers in the enterprise market.

HP currently dominates the blade market, with a post-merger market share of nearly 55% according to IDC. However, competitors like Sun and Dell are getting their acts together to make a push for market share. Dell is taking orders for its PowerEdge blade servers later this year, and with a low-end blade server expected to sell for about $3,500, the Round Rock folks have done little to relinquish their title as commodity kings.

Speaking of bricks, the jury is still out as to whether Dell’s entire server foundation is on solid ground. Art Whitman of Network Computing recently warned readers: "Dell’s products have the shortest lifecycles, which means that the server you bought yesterday may not be available today."

Bringing up the rear, Sun has been the least clear on its blade plans. Word is that Sun will launch a new range of blade servers, some based on X86 architecture running Linux, and others using the UltraSparc chip and Solaris. Only time will tell whether the setting Sun will be able to rise again to the blade challenge.