HP Unifies Server and Data Center Storage Management

HP (www.hp.com) today introduced a suite of storage resource management software that bridges the islands of server and storage management prevalent in data centers today.

The first storage offering in the company's roadmap for a unified server and storage management architecture, HP Storage Essentials enables customers to simplify IT infrastructure administration and drive collaboration without compromising control.

"No other vendor is providing consolidated storage and server management that is this tightly integrated," said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group.

HP Storage Essentials integrates seamlessly with HP Systems Insight Manager, the company's cross-server and storage management platform, which is provided at no cost with HP server and storage systems and enables basic storage management functions.

HP Storage Essentials is a suite of standards-based, value-added plug-ins that offers advanced storage functionality from HP and its partners, beyond HP Systems Insight Manager, including integrated heterogeneous functionality for storage area network (SAN) management, storage resource management, provisioning and application infrastructure monitoring.

"Simply put, HP is changing the economics of management in the data center by eliminating the management islands. Because we deliver basic infrastructure management with HP servers, BladeSystems and storage platforms, customers can start their journey to the Adaptive Enterprise without a large investment," said Bob Schultz, senior vice president and general manager, StorageWorks Division, HP. "And, by unifying server and storage management, HP enables customers to simplify their IT environments without sacrificing control."

HP Storage Essentials is the first result of a new original equipment manufacturer (OEM) relationship between HP's StorageWorks Division and AppIQ. As part of a long-term agreement, HP will OEM AppIQ's Storage Authority Enterprise Edition product line. In addition, HP and AppIQ will collaborate on engineering and future product development.