HP has introduced new ProLiant servers aimed at helping mid-sized firms reduce costs and improve security.

The new low-cost hardware is also available with server and storage configurations optimised for specific customer relationship management (CRM) applications.

The new servers are the HP ProLiant BL260c G5, a server blade designed to fit the vendor's C-class enclosures, while the HP ProLiant DL120 G5 ships in a standard rack-mounting chassis.

HP claimed the BL260c G5 as the most power-efficient and affordable server of its kind. With a starting price of £665, it costs 20 per cent less and is 64 per cent more power-efficient than other blades, according to the firm. The system is aimed at branch offices and remote sites with small or virtual machine environments.

The DL120 G5 is based on Intel quad-core Xeon processors at up to 2.66GHz with up to 8GB memory and pricing starts at £509. Both servers are available immediately.

To help mid-size firms deploy applications such as CRM, HP also said it has optimised CRM packages, including Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Oracle Siebel CRM Professional Edition, to run on the new servers.

HP has also introduced five Oracle database configurations for HP BladeSystem and ProLiant systems running on Linux. Aimed at reducing deployment time to and costs, these provide support for 75 to 400 users.