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HP
Storage Virtualization
By Kevin Komiega, Assistant News Editor
01 Apr 2002, SearchStorage
Two heads are usually better than
one, but when it comes to the different ways of thinking between
Hewlett-Packard Co.'s, and Compaq Computer Corp.'s respective
storage businesses a dual personality can cause confusion.
HP has unveiled a new storage
virtualization appliance called the HP StorageApps SV3000, which,
according to the company, heralds the HP "global virtualization
strategy." While early last month, Compaq outlined its own
strategy for appliance-based storage management built around its
SANworks management software. The pair of product announcements begs
the question -- which strategy and products will a merged HP/Compaq
commit to?
"HP's strategy focuses on
increasing the role of virtualization in storage infrastructures in
the future," said Genevieve Sullivan, marketing manager for
HP's storage virtualization solutions.
Sullivan was unable to comment on
how HP and Compaq's storage virtualization technology would mesh if
the merger is successful, but maintained that there is a need for
software to understand application requirements for more efficient
storage mapping, as well as the need for virtualization technology
to reside in the storage fabric.
"I think this announcement
might cause a significant amount of confusion about where different
kinds of virtualization can be leveraged by customers," said
Jamie Gruener, senior analyst, enterprise computing and networking
for the Boston-based Yankee Group.
"They're misfiring a little
bit here in their approach. I think there are some territory wars
going on around how their virtualization strategy will be rolled
out," he said.
Gruener added that the timing of
new product announcements might prove confusing for customers in the
process of evaluating products from in comparison to HP's.
But, the flip side is that both
companies have to operate at full speed and remain competitive in
the marketplace until the day that the merger vote is officially
approved.
"The timing is odd, there is
no question about that," said Mike Karp, senior analyst for
Boulder, Colo.-headquartered Enterprise Management Associates.
"The various groups are trying not to get distracted by the
merger, but they've got some serious weeding to do in their software
offerings."
HP has beefed up its StorageApps
virtualization appliance with improved hardware redundancy,
replication capabilities, support for the Linux OS and support for
EMC Symmetrix and Compaq StorageWorks arrays. The SV3000 is also
iSCSI ready and allows for one to many mirroring for Fibre Channel
and IP.
The HP StorageApps SV3000 is
expected to be available in May for a street price of $125,500. |
