HP Discover 2013: HP Shows Off SMB Servers And First “No Compromise” Flash Storage System

HP has revealed a number of new storage systems and servers at HP Discover in Las Vegas, including the HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen 8, a compact server designed for small businesses that costs the same as a tablet.

The company also revealed two cost-optimised servers for small or medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and what it describes as the “first no compromise flash solution in the market today”, the 3PAR StoreServ 7450 flash storage system.

David Scott, senior vice president and general manager of storage at HP, said that the new products reflected HP’s “polymorphic simplicity” of converged storage that aims to make business environments less complex.

Servers for graduation

The MicroServer is billed as an ideal first server for micro and small businesess with fewer than ten employees and is small enough to sit on a desk. It offers the reliability, performance and security of a business server but is simple to manage and not as expensive, costing $449.

David Donatelli, executive vice president and general manager of HP Enterprise Group, joked that this would even be an ideal graduation present, but added more seriously that it was part of HP’s aim to get most small businesses running ProLiant servers.

For SMBs, HP also announced the ProLiant ML310e, a server designed for smaller businesses such as branch offices and remote locations who still want the benefits of a Gen8 server.

The entry level HP ProLiant DL320e Gen8 is a new compact single-processor server that can be deployed anywhere – even on the back of a jeep if you believe HP. Small businesses and chain stores are being targeted due its mobility and low cost.

Flash-based storage

HP said that it plans to extend its lead in software-defined storage, with the new HP StoreOnce Virtual Storage Appliance (VSA), which could reduce the cost of small site backup by up to 65 percent.

It runs on any platform, is consolidated with central controls and can be run alongside other applications on the same server.

HP also detailed the flash-based 3PAR StoreServ 7450 storage system, which can deliver more than 550,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS). The company claims that its hardware-accelerate data compaction reduces capacity needs without degrading performance and that until now, there hadn’t been a “good” flash-based solution.

Flash, saviour of the universe

Donatelli said that because legacy products were created before flash, it was unable to handle the faster speeds and therefore most businesses didn’t see the benefits. This, he said, resulted in the deployment of different technologies and making environments more complex.

“It’s impossible for organisations to deal with unpredictable workloads cost effectively if they’re managing disparate storage silos,” added Scott. “With the new 3PAR StoreServ and StoreOnce innovations, customers get best-in-class, purpose-built solutions to address critical new requirements while retaining the simplicity that comes from an approach that can manage and serve a variety of needs without creating new storage silos.”

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