HP unveils high-performance storage and new partner program for small and midsize businesses

HP today announced it is helping small and midsize businesses (SMBs) and government agencies to maximize storage investments with new offerings that include the next generation of its MSA entry disk array, enhancements tothe HP StoreEasy Storage portfolio and a new program for HP channel partners.

Limited IT resources and a lack of storage expertise can make it difficult for SMBs to deploy the storage systems needed to support applications that require high availability and performance.

The new HP MSA 2040 Storage systems implifies management and improves performance up to four times faster than similarly priced external disk storage solutions. The enhanced HP StoreEasy Storage portfolio enables SMBs to efficiently manage and protect increasing amounts of file data without the need for special skills.

These solutions are available under HP’s new Simply StoreIT program. This program offers training, marketing and incentives for HP channel partners to quickly address their small and midsized customers’ challenges and pursue new revenue opportunities.

“Virtualization and other emerging workloads threaten to drown SMBs in a sea of complexities that hinder, rather than support, growth,” said Walid Gomaa, Business Unit and Sales Manager, HP Storage Division, HP Middle East. “Simply Store IT allows our partners to serve their small and midsized customers who are stressed for time, budget and resources to support a growing business, with a stress-free storage solution.”

Maximized SMB investments with high-performance entry-level Fibre Channel Array:

Staff and budget limitations have often forced SMBs to compromise performance for affordability when deploying shared storage for new applications such as virtualization.

The new HP MSA 2040 Storage eliminates that compromise with the industry’s best price performance when compared to similarly priced Fibre Channel arrays. The first array in its class to offer 16 gigabit (Gb) Fibre Channel connectivity, the MSA 2040 is built to support increased demand. This bandwidth, along with a high-performance controller and solid-state disk (SSD) performance, supports increasing work loads and maximizes dollar per input/output operation. As a result, customers will:

Reduce data center footprint and energy costs with support for more virtual machines on less hardware.

Protect existing investments and speed deployment with a unique data-in-place upgrade feature that allows customers on the previous MSA generation to simply move existing disk drives into the new HP MSA 2040.

Maximize existing resources with asimple management interface that server administrators currently use with HP ProLiant and HP BladeSystem servers.

To help customers maximize their HP MSA Storage investment, HP Technology Services provides a proven path to efficient storage consolidation and offers a complete set of enhanced support services.

Improved SMB file and application efficiency, security and availability:

Integrating seamlessly with Microsoft Windows® infrastructure, the enhanced HP StoreEasy Storage portfolio enables customers to store, manage and protect unstructured data for thousands of concurrent users. It also provides persistent file and application availability. New enhancements to the portfolio enable customers to:

Reduce administrative time by simplifying creation of new volumes and optimizing capacity with a new provisioning tool.

Lower costs and improve capacity planning by examining existing file shares on local or remote systems,and predicting the capacity space savings delivered by HP StoreEasy’snative deduplication.

Ensure data availabilitywith integrated snapshot management for quick file recovery.

Enhance productivity with a new wizard that accelerates configuration of clustered HP StoreEasy 3830 Gateways.

Deliver turnkey data protection for HP StoreEasy 1000/5000 and manage cloud data protection needs with optional HP Data Protector and HP Autonomy LiveVault.

HP delivers an end-to-end program for channel partners selling to SMB customers:

New to HP's Just Right IT program, which spans servers, storage, networking and services,is the HP Simply StoreIT Program. This programprovides solution guides and reference architectures for HP channel partners and SMB customers to accelerate solution delivery.These solution assets targetspecific challenges in the critical areas of virtualization, backup and data protection, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server, andfile consolidation.

The newHP Simply StoreITProgram will be launched in coordination with HP’s distribution partners. Itincludes tools, resources and incentives to help  channel partners acceleratetime to revenue with HP storage solutions.Tools include quote and configuration templates, co-branded lead-generation assets, training and materials designed to increase sales opportunities.

Pricing and availability:

Dual-controller MSA 2040 configurations begin at $11,470, with worldwide availability through HP and its channel partners expected to beginin July.⁽⁴⁾HP StoreEasy Storage enhancements are available at no charge to existing and new customers starting in June. The HP Simply StoreIT Program is available worldwide.