HP launches shared storage solutions

BANGALORE, INDIA: HP today announced the launch of new shared storage solutions - HP LeftHand P400 SAN and HP StorageWorks SB40c.

HP LeftHand P4000 SAN solutions offer a scale-out architecture that provides data replication and automatically balances data volumes across all storage resources. Moreover, to ensure that application requirements are met, administrators can cost-effectively deploy shared storage within virtual server environments while using existing physical and virtual technology infrastructure.

While announcing the launch of the new storage solutions, Bill Chambers, vice president, LeftHand Networks Division, HP Asia Pacific and Japan, said it is time to think beyond the server and start thinking on the lines of network and storage.

“Today customers need agile, integrated storage solutions to realize the full potential of virtualization. However, those who are deploying virtual environments often overlook the storage requirements needed to match their redesigned infrastructure,” he said.

According to him, “this can lead to lower levels of data availability and poor utilization of storage assets. In addition customers frequently do not have the storage space needed to scale as business demands increase, which can impact applications performance.”

With these new solutions HP looks into scaling performance along with capacity, Bill Chambers added.

HP also announced the industry's first highly available shared solution within a virtualized blade server infrastructure, HP StorageWorks SB40c. The new HP StorageWorks SB40c with P4000 Virtual SAN appliance bundle delivers a scalable storage area network (SAN). This SAN can be deployed within the HP BladeSystem infrastructure and expanded across multiple blade enclosures to meet high storage.

The HP StorageWorks SB40c with P4000 Virtual SAN appliance software bundle allows customers to build an iSCSI SAN within a blade infrastructure to meet their shared storage needs.

Amit Malhotra, manager for volume storage, StorageWorks Division, technology solutions group, HP Asia Pacific and Japan, says: “The iSCSI SAN market is expected to increase at a 25 per cent compounded annual growth through 2013, with India and China representing more than half of the this market. Server virtualization is a key driver of this growth.”

He said that to address this, the HP LeftHand P400 SAN solutions allow customers to ensure business-critical data is available while reducing the costs of managing and expanding their storage infrastructure.