Technology giant Hewlett-Packard is reaching out to small and midsize businesses (SMBs) with a slew of offerings that include the next generation of its MSA entry disk array, enhancements to the HP StoreEasy Storage portfolio and a new program for HP channel partners.
The HP MSA 2040 Storage appliance offers 16-gigabit Fibre Channel connectivity and is built to support increased demand. This bandwidth, along with a high-performance controller and solid-state disk (SSD) performance, is designed to help organizations reduce data center footprint and energy costs and protect existing investments and speed deployment with a data-in-place upgrade feature that allows customers on the previous MSA generation to move existing disk drives into the MSA 2040.
The enhanced HP StoreEasy Storage portfolio aims to help SMBs more efficiently manage and protect increasing amounts of file data and also provides persistent file and application availability. Other enhancements to the portfolio help reduce administrative time by simplifying creation of new volumes and optimizing capacity with a new provisioning tool, and can provide examination of existing file shares on local or remote systems, and predict the capacity space savings delivered by HP StoreEasy’s native deduplication.
In addition, the portfolio can now ensure data availability with integrated snapshot management for quick file recovery, enhance productivity with a new wizard that accelerates configuration of clustered HP StoreEasy 3830 Gateways, and deliver data protection for HP StoreEasy 1000/5000 and manage cloud data protection needs with optional HP Data Protector and HP Autonomy LiveVault.
These solutions are available under HP’s Simply StoreIT program, which offers training, marketing and incentives for HP channel partners to address their small and midsize customers’ challenges and pursue new revenue opportunities. The program will be launched in coordination with HP’s distribution partners and include tools including quote and configuration templates, cobranded lead-generation assets, training and materials designed to increase sales opportunities.
“Virtualization and other emerging workloads threaten to drown SMBs in a sea of complexities that hinder, rather than support, growth,” David Scott, senior vice president and general manager of HP’s storage division, said in a statement. “Simply StoreIT allows our partners to serve their small and midsize customers who are stressed for time, budget and resources to support a growing business, with a stress-free storage solution.”
Dual-controller MSA 2040 configurations begin at $11,470, with worldwide availability through HP and its channel partners expected to begin in July, the company said. HP StoreEasy Storage enhancements are available at no charge to existing and new customers starting in June, and the Simply StoreIT Program is available worldwide.
In addition, HP offers an end-to-end program for channel partners selling to SMB customers New to the HP Just Right IT program, which spans servers, storage, networking and services, is the HP Simply StoreIT Program. This program provides solution guides and reference architectures for HP channel partners and SMB customers to accelerate delivery of solutions. These assets target specific challenges in the areas of virtualization, backup and data protection, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server, and file consolidation.