Intel on Friday launched a set of modular-server building blocks for original equipment manufacturers and resellers to incorporate into servers designed for small- and medium-size enterprises.

The worldwide offering provides the first set of building blocks based on blade-server design specifications released last July by the Server Systems Infrastructure Forum group, which is spearheaded by the chipmaker.

William Wu, Intel's Asia-Pacific marketing manager for server platforms, told ZDNet Asia that the set of modular-server building blocks is a "bare-bones system," with the finished server product branded by the channels, not Intel.

Referring to research from AMI-Partners, Intel said global SME server spending this year will grow at a double-digit rate over 2007 to reach $19.8 billion. The company added that the "white box," or non-branded server market, is a promising segment for system builders.

According to Intel, the server blocks can support up to six server nodes and 14 Serial Attached SCSI when integrated into a complete system. Such server systems will also offer integrated SAN, two Ethernet switch modules, and a management module. The server compute nodes are capable of supporting Intel's latest quad- and dual-core Xeon processors in a two-socket motherboard.