It's going to revolutionize the world of servers: HP has announced their Moonshot server will be available for purchase later this year. It was unveiled last summer, and it has the whole tech world abuzz. But, not for just one reason. For many, many reasons. What makes it so revolutionary, anyway?

HP says the Moonshot, intended for use with "social, cloud, mobile, and big data," will use 89% less energy than today's servers, take up 80% less space, and cost 77% less, according to HP's Moonshot website. Those are all really important details -- details that no other company has been able to touch. In a nutshell, it is HP's attempt to design a server for today's computing needs.

What Makes It Revolutionary?

HP declares it is "a new style of IT that will change the infrastructure economics and lay the foundation for the next 20 billion devices." That's exactly what it appears to be, as it is highly customizable depending on the workload.

A key element that sets this server apart from others and makes it as customizable as it is: multiple chip suppliers. HP has partnered with Intel, AppliedMicro, AMD, Calxeda, and Texas Instruments, among many others. All of these options allow the server to be tailored to your site's specific needs.

Great For The Environment And Your Bottomline

Key to the server's low power consumption is the low power chips it relies on, like the Intel Atom Processor S1260. It uses a mere 6 watts of power, allowing businesses to lower their operational costs and lower their carbon footprint, adding up to increased revenue.

Even Better For Users

So it's obvious that the servers are super customizable, which leads to better performance. But, think about another reason sites will perform faster: if servers are using less energy (saving money it takes to run them) and a single server takes up 80% less space, web hosts or businesses have the room and financial resources to purchase MORE of the servers, making the performance of their sites even better.

This is good news for web and cloud hosting companies. Why? It's estimated (conservatively) that 8-10 million servers will be installed by cloud and web hosting companies over the next 3 years. If you go with today's servers, to support that volume, you'd have to build data centers on over 200 football fields just to house the servers.

If you make a chain of servers, end-to-end, they would be longer than the island of Manhattan. To power said servers, it would require the same amount of power as you'd need to power 2 million homes, requiring 10 additional power plants!

The HP Moonshot will bring a new level of sustainability to the tech world, just when we need it most. In today's age of mobile computing and cloud architectures, it's essential to introduce a server solution that makes sense for the future. The HP Moonshot will provide that, and then some. Needless to say, HP is thinking ahead of the game, and that will only benefit users in the end.