HP NetServer

NetServer

NetServer E 800, dual Pentium III server
Developer	Hewlett-Packard
Type	Server Workstation
Release date	May 1993 (1993-05)
Discontinued	2002 (2002)
CPU	i486SX i486 Pentium Pentium II Pentium III

NetServer was a line of x86-based server and workstation computers sold by Hewlett-Packard (HP) from 1993 to 2002. The line comprised a wide range of models featuring differing form factors and processor configurations. The line was Hewlett-Packard's entry in the commodity local area networking (LAN) market. The NetServer was succeeded by the ProLiant in 2002, a line of servers previously owned by Compaq, whom HP acquired in 2002.

History

Hewlett-Packard introduced the x86-based NetServer line of servers and workstations in May 1993 with the LE series and LM series. The NetServer LE low-cost option, sporting a minitower case. The cheapest model in the LE range features a 33-MHz i486SX chip, 4 MB of memory, and no built-in hard disk drives (a Fast SCSI controller card was preinstalled, however, for aftermarket hard drive installation; up to four hard drives can be installed internally, with a RAID controller optional). More higher-end models in the LE range feature i486 and DX2 processors clocked at 33 MHz and 66 MHz, respectively. The NetServer LM series, meanwhile, sported cases twice as wide (the so-called deskside form factor) in order to accommodate up to eight hard drives in a RAID 0, RAID 1, or RAID 5 array. These LM-series NetServers featured either a 33-MHz i486, a 66-MHz DX2, or single or dual Pentium processors. The entire NetServer line initially competed with HP's own RISC-based 9000 line of workstations.

Later entries in the NetServer line featured single or dual Pentium II and Pentium III processors.

HP discontinued the NetServer line in 2002, succeeding it with the ProLiant, a line of servers that Compaq had introduced as a competitor to the NetServer back in 1993. HP acquired Compaq in 2002.