'HP Storage was a well-kept secret'

V&D: Isn't HP Storage facing a tough fight from storage vendors like EMC and NetApp?

Manoj Suvarna: We are doing quite good in the external storage market and are on par with the top three vendors. With our compreh ensive portfolio of products and our reach, we are slowly becoming the first choice for many organizations. I do agree, that pure play storage vendors like EMC might have a stronger brand recall, but the story will change in the days to come. HP Storage was a well-kept secret till now, but that will change. We are getting aggressive, increasing our headcount, and going all out for independent deals.

V&D: What is the go-to-market strategy? Which are the verticals that you are targeting?

MS: Traditionally, for storage solutions, telecom and financial institutions are the mainstay. But, we are very much encouraged by the successes in new verticals like media and entertainment. For instance, we have a major installation at Crest Media, Red Chillies, and others. The need for storage in these companies is pretty high; at Crest, a 30 min animation length can take up as much 30 Tb of data. We are also seeing lot of traction from the government sectors, and have worked with Northern Railways, managing the passenger reservation system. New verticals like jewelry are also emerging.

Some of our other major deployments were UTV, National Thermal Power Corporation, and Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

You said HP Storage was a 'well-kept secret'. How is that changing now and what will be the priority markets that you will be targeting?

V&D: What is the go-to-market strategy? Which are the verticals that you are targeting?

MS: Traditionally, for storage solutions, telecom and financial institutions are the mainstay. But, we are very much encouraged by the successes in new verticals like media and entertainment. For instance, we have a major installation at Crest Media, Red Chillies, and others. The need for storage in these companies is pretty high; at Crest, a 30 min animation length can take up as much 30 Tb of data. We are also seeing lot of traction from the government sectors, and have worked with Northern Railways, managing the passenger reservation system. New verticals like jewelry are also emerging.

Some of our other major deployments were UTV, National Thermal Power Corporation, and Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

V&D: You said HP Storage was a 'well-kept secret'. How is that changing now and what will be the priority markets that you will be targeting?

MS: Worldwide, HP has been known for its consumer products like printers or laptops, not many were aware about the existence of HP Storage. You could say that it was a part of the strategy earlier, but now that is changing. HP Storage will be more aggressive and independent, while continuing to be a part of the mega business unit. For instance, we have recently brought in a senior VP to look after the Storage Division worldwide from Hitachi. Talking about the priorities, we are targeting the SAN, as well as the software and services space; we already have considerable clout in these segments. We will also accelerate our growth in the NAS segment.

V&D: There has been a lot of speculation on how direct-attached storage or DAS is on its way out. What's your take on this?

MS: DAS will go away. It has a lot to do with customer environment and comfortability. A lot many companies are not that comfortable with storing mission-critical data on SAN and would like to have a DAS in place. Going forward, I see a point where there will be hybrid solutions in place. Depending on the role and requirement, you could see a SAN, NAS or a DAS. It's all about choices.

V&D: How important are the roles played by services and software in the overall game plan?

MS: Pretty significant. Services play a significant part. We have, for instance, over ten different product lines. It is the services that promote and service these product lines. Storage software is also a big opportunity, and we are fairly bullish about it. There are a lot of storage management solutions that are available from HP in the market right now, and they are not necessarily bundled with the hardware.

V&D: How big is the storage component in the big deals won over by HP?

MS: Storage plays a fairly big component in these big deals; it can go up to 40%. However, the percentage is lower in managed services kind of a deal.

Worldwide, HP has been known for its consumer products like printers or laptops, not many were aware about the existence of HP Storage. You could say that it was a part of the strategy earlier, but now that is changing. HP Storage will be more aggressive and independent, while continuing to be a part of the mega business unit. For instance, we have recently brought in a senior VP to look after the Storage Division worldwide from Hitachi. Talking about the priorities, we are targeting the SAN, as well as the software and services space; we already have considerable clout in these segments. We will also accelerate  the NAS segment.d Kolkata Municipal Corporation.