Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. today expanded its ProLiant edge-computing portfolio with new systems aimed at running artificial intelligence, analytics and automation in rugged, space-constrained and distributed environments.

The rollout is anchored by the new ProLiant Compute EL2000 chassis, the foundation for two new Gen12 servers, the EL220 and EL240, alongside enhancements to the ProLiant DL145 Gen11 for offices, warehouses, factories, retail sites and field deployments.

HPE framed the announcement around “getting out of the data center” and processing data where it’s generated. With more data being produced outside centralized data centers and used by latency-sensitive applications at the edge, there’s an ever-increasing need for servers that can provide computing power closer to where those applications live.

This means putting the machines where the distributed AI workloads physically happen, whether that’s in retail stores, factories, warehouses, telco sites or defense environments.

“Every edge is different and edge is hard,” said Krista Satterthwaite, senior vice president and general manager of compute, noting that edge systems often have to operate with limited space, power, connectivity and on-site technical staff.

Built for edge environments, not retrofitted for them

The new EL2000 serves as the outer package for two types of smaller Gen12 server nodes: the lower-profile EL220, which is small enough that two can be stacked in a single chassis, and the larger EL240, which uses the extra space for more expansion, including additional storage or Nvidia RTX Pro 4500 and 6000 graphics processing units.

The ProLiant DL145 Gen11, a previous-generation edge server, is already designed for deployment across retail, manufacturing and telecom environments. It has a rugged 2U form factor, which means it fits into a standard rack slot at about the height of two units, and supports three GPUs.

The enhanced version released today is now powered by AMD’s EPYC 8005 series processor and is designed for quiet operation. It can also be ruggedized for extreme temperatures of up to 55 degrees Celsius. The DL145 Gen11 Premier Solution is also available for customers deploying Azure services at the edge, with support for Azure Local Disconnected Operations for isolated, air-gapped or private clouds.

Managing distributed servers as one global fleet

To bring all this hardware together, HPE leaned heavily into management software. The company said its Integrated Lights-Out software, or iLO, provides built-in security and remote visibility, while HPE Compute Ops Management extends that control into the cloud so customers can monitor and manage distributed servers as a single global fleet.

“The portfolio is great, but it’s only as good as the management that comes along with it,” Vice President of Mainstream Compute John Carter said.

Customers are already building on the company’s edge portfolio, HPE said. Convenience store operator RaceTrac Inc., global engineering company Robert Bosch GmbH, spatial intelligence company CieloVision and meat processor Bell Food Group AG all use ProLiant servers in production.

Image: Hewlett Packard Enterprise