Every application, database and digital service relies on the right infrastructure to support it.
While cloud computing has changed where many organisations run their workloads, on-premises infrastructure continues to play an important role. Organisations may need greater control over their data, predictable performance, support for existing applications, local processing or infrastructure capable of handling workloads that aren’t suited to public cloud.
HPE ProLiant servers provide compute infrastructure designed to support these requirements, with options ranging from servers for smaller businesses and remote locations through to enterprise data centres, virtualised environments and AI workloads.
In this guide, we look at what HPE ProLiant servers are, the different options available and what organisations should consider when selecting server infrastructure.
What are HPE ProLiant servers?
HPE ProLiant is Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s portfolio of industry-standard servers.
The range is designed to support a broad variety of business applications and workloads, from everyday IT infrastructure and databases through to virtualisation, data analytics, hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence.
Rather than providing a single server for every environment, the ProLiant portfolio includes different form factors and configurations designed around the requirements of individual organisations and workloads.
Businesses can therefore select infrastructure according to factors such as performance, available space, scalability, storage requirements and the applications they need to support.
The latest generation is HPE ProLiant Compute Gen12, which introduces updated compute platforms alongside HPE’s current security and cloud-based management capabilities.
What are HPE ProLiant servers used for?
The applications running on a server ultimately determine what the organisation needs from its infrastructure. HPE ProLiant servers can support a wide range of business requirements, including:
- Business applications
- Databases and data management
- File and print services
- Virtual machines
- Virtual desktop infrastructure
- Private and hybrid cloud
- Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- Data analytics
- Backup and data protection
- Containers
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Edge computing
For some organisations, ProLiant may provide the underlying infrastructure for core applications within the data centre. For others, servers may be distributed across branch offices, manufacturing sites or other locations where applications and data need to be processed locally. The important consideration is not simply how powerful a server is, but whether the infrastructure is appropriate for the workloads the business needs to run.
The HPE ProLiant server range
| HPE ProLiant Compute DL380a Gen12 | HPE ProLiant Compute DL384 Gen12 | HPE ProLiant Compute DL394 Gen12 | HPE ProLiant Compute XD685 | |
| Workloads | Ultra-scalable GPU acceleration for Gen AI fine tuning and inferencing for large workloads with many GPUs | Next-level performance for Gen AI fine tuning and inferencing and other mixed workloads with the high-performance NVIDIA GH200 NVL2 architecture | High Frequency Trading, Monte Carlo, Agentic AI Sandbox | Large AI model training and fine-tuning |
| Rack units | 4U | 2U | 2U | 5U Direct-Liquid Cooled, 6U Air |
| Cooling | Air, Direct Liquid Cooling | Air | Air-Cooled | Air or direct-liquid cooling |
| Processor | 2P Intel® Xeon® 6 processor | NVIDIA Grace CPU and Hopper GPU in the GH200 | NVIDIA Vera CPU | 2P 5th Gen AMD EPYC™ Proceessors |
| Max memory | Up to 8TB DDR5 | Up to 60GB LPDDR5x for Grace and 288GB HBM3e for Hopper | Up to 3TB SOCAMM (Small Outline Compression Attached Memory Module) | Up to 6TB DDR5 |
| Storage | SFF, EDSFF drives | EDSFF drives | EDSFF drives | EDSFF drives |
| Management | HPE iLO 7, HPE Compute Ops Management | HPE iLO 7, monitor with HPE Compute Ops Management | HPE iLO 7, HPE Compute Ops Management | HPE iLO 6, HPE Performance Cluster Manager |
| GPU | 600W GPU and up to 8, 10 Double-Wide or 16 Single-Wide | N/A | N/A | 8x NVIDIA H200 SXM or 8x NVIDIA Blackwell (B200) |
Benefits of HPE ProLiant Servers
The ProLiant portfolio allows organisations to select infrastructure appropriate to different environments and workloads rather than attempting to use one server design everywhere.
A broad range of infrastructure
ProLiant servers can support everything from everyday business applications through to virtualisation, databases, analytics and AI.
Support for business-critical workloads
HPE iLO and Compute Ops Management can provide IT teams with remote and centralised infrastructure management capabilities.
Centralised management
ProLiant infrastructure can form part of a wider HPE hybrid cloud environment through technologies including GreenLake and HPE Morpheus.
Hybrid cloud integration
Organisations can select and configure infrastructure around current requirements while accounting for expected future growth.
Scalability
Different ProLiant platforms are available for general-purpose computing, virtualisation, data-intensive applications, AI and other specialised workloads.
Workload optimisation
When Should You Replace Your Servers?
There isn’t a universal age at which every server needs to be replaced.
A server refresh should instead be considered in the context of the infrastructure’s performance, reliability, supportability and ongoing role within the organisation.
Signs that an existing server estate may need reviewing include:
- Increasing hardware failures
- Applications experiencing performance constraints
- Infrastructure approaching the end of vendor support
- Limited capacity for additional workloads
- Increasing power and cooling requirements
- Difficulty supporting newer applications
- Security or firmware limitations
- Growing management overhead
- Changing virtualisation requirements
- Data centre consolidation plans
- New AI or analytics requirements
A server refresh also provides an opportunity to reassess whether every existing workload should simply be moved onto replacement hardware.
Some applications may be suitable for consolidation, private cloud or public cloud, while others may need to remain on dedicated infrastructure.
The starting point should therefore be a workload and infrastructure assessment rather than a like-for-like hardware replacement.
Why Partner with DTP Group?
Selecting server infrastructure shouldn’t begin with choosing a model number. It should begin with understanding the applications and workloads your organisation needs to support, how requirements are changing and where those workloads should run. As an experienced and trusted HPE partner, DTP Group can help organisations assess their existing infrastructure and determine the right compute strategy for their requirements.
Our team can support you across:
- Existing infrastructure assessments
- Server refresh and consolidation
- HPE ProLiant solution design
- Virtualisation
- Data centre infrastructure
- Hybrid cloud
- GreenLake
- HPE Morpheus
- AI infrastructure
- Migration
- Deployment
- Ongoing management and optimisation
Whether you are replacing ageing infrastructure, consolidating your server estate, reviewing virtualisation or planning for new workloads, DTP Group can help you identify the right approach for your organisation.
