The deal is a big coup for the 120-person RLX, a company at the forefront of what promises to be a significant evolution in the huge market for Web servers.
Web servers are small computers whose primary function is to serve up Web pages.
Web hosting companies or large corporations with popular Web sites typically have enormous data centers with hundreds or thousands of the small servers, which are stored in refrigerator-sized racks. Until now, these racks held a maximum of about 50 servers. The RLX design, called ServerBlade, can accommodate 366 servers per rack. It has the potential to significantly cut a company's operating expenses and, because of the server's high density, can serve up more Web pages per square foot per rack. The market for these products is just emerging, but larger computer companies are jumping into the fray.