RLX Technologies

RLX Technologies
Industry Computer hardware, Computer software, Computer systems
Fate acquired by HP in 2005
Founded 1999
Founders Christopher Hipp,
Headquarters The Woodlands, Unincorporated Montgomery County, Texas, United States
Area served
 United States
Key people
 Christopher Hipp,
Founder, former President and CEO
Doug Erwin,
Last Chief Executive Officer
Products Blade Servers, Server Management Software

RLX Technologies (bought by HP in 2005) was a company based in The Woodlands, TX and was the first company in the world to create and market what is now known as a blade server. Founded in 1999 by Christopher Hipp, one of the inventors of the blade server, and numerous former Compaq Computers employees, the company pioneered the use of blade servers, a compact, stripped-down computer server that includes all of the necessary components to operate as a computer while taking up minimal space on a standard rack mount and minimizing power consumption.

History

RLX was first founded in 1999 as RocketLogix, Inc. thanks to Hipp's connection to a Dallas-based investment firm, Cracken Harkey, Co. After convincing the firm that there was a need for a new efficient web server concept, they agreed to build an investment profile for RocketLogix.[1]
After extensive development of their blade architecture, with Hipp at the helm, the company changed its name in 2001 to RLX Technologies.[2] This change coincided with the company's move to the Woodlands, TX.
In 2004 RLX decided to shift their focus away from hardware development and focus their efforts solely on their blade server management system, Control Tower. This shift was necessitated by a decline in the server market, largely due to the dotcom gloom.[3]

Patent

The original designers of the blade server concept, Christopher Hipp and David Kirkeby, applied for a patent on their design on July 20, 2000, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office awarded patent number (US 6411506 ) for a "High density web server chassis system and method" on June 25, 2002, the first commercialized blade server architecture.[4]

Acquisition by HP

After 5 years of operation, RLX was bought by Hewlett-Packard in October 2005 so that HP could bolster their blade server hardware and software offerings.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hipp, Christopher. "History of Blades", The Hippster. Accessed April 5, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Company Overview of RLX Technologies, Inc.", Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Accessed April 5, 2012.
  3. ↑ [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/23/rlx_exits_hardware/ "RLX quits blade server biz, whacks most of staff", The Register, December 2004. Accessed April 5, 2012.
  4. ↑ "High density web server chassis system and method", United States Patent and Trademark Office. Accessed July 16, 2009.
  5. ↑ Zarley, Craig. "HP Will Acquire RLX To Bolster Blades", InformationWeek, October 3, 2005. Accessed July 17, 2009.
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