HP Expands Smart Office Portfolio for SMBs

HP (www.hp.com) today announced new products and services designed to simplify the technology ownership experience for small and mid-size businesses (SMBs).

The offerings include an expansion of HP's business protection portfolio as well as financing and online resources, and new networking tools that extend its strategic alliance with Cisco Systems.

The products and services are part of HP's Smart Office portfolio to deliver smart technology, smart advice and smart services from HP and its more than 145,000 worldwide reseller and distributors to companies that want to spend less time on technology and more time focused on their businesses.

"Small and mid-size business customers know that when they choose HP, they get easy-to-use products and services designed for their specific needs, along with the local expertise and support they require," said Valerie Taglio, vice president, Small and Medium Business, Personal Systems Group, HP. "Through the HP Smart Office Portfolio, HP delivers value and simplicity so customers can use technology to drive their business growth."

To help protect valuable information and keep businesses up and running in the face of disaster, HP has expanded its business protection portfolio for SMBs with new solutions to address data protection issues such as backup, recovery and compliance.

These solutions are affordable, easy to use and minimize downtime.
HP StorageWorks Data Protector Express is the first backup and recovery software from HP specifically designed for the business protection needs of SMBs. HP understands that ease of use is a key requirement for businesses that do not have full-time disaster recovery staff, or even full-time IT staff.

Therefore, HP Data Protector Express features an easy-to-use interface with common functionality across Windows®, Netware and Linux environments, reducing the need for separate software tools for each platform. Tape, disk and CD/DVD are supported as backup media for additional flexibility.

This simplicity extends to the way Data Protector Express is priced, licensed and supported. Licensing is straightforward and avoids complexities like per processor or backup capacity licensing. Pricing is common across all operating systems and includes one year of support during business hours and software update rights.

Priced at $779, the flexible, three-tier architecture makes Data Protector Express software the highest performing product in its class, as multiple media servers that support multiple data streams can back up and, if necessary, recover data in parallel.

The new HP StorageWorks MSA 1510i provides mid-size businesses with an expandable solution that enables their data storage to keep pace with the rapid growth of business-critical information.

A storage area network (SAN) external array with iSCSI interface, the product delivers a simple, efficient solution that allows customers to easily implement and manage a SAN as easily as their existing Ethernet network.

In addition, customers can take their internal disks on HP Smart Array Controllers directly out of existing HP ProLiant servers and move them into the MSA 1510i enclosure, an industry-exclusive feature, which results in lower risk of data loss when a customer is moving from direct-attached storage (DAS) to external storage. U.S. list pricing starts at $7,995(1) for the MSA 1510i base configuration.

"HP understands the needs of smaller companies when it comes to protecting our businesses," said Vallerie Shelton, senior director of IT for Denver-based Kroenke Sports Enterprises LLC. The company deployed the recently announced HP ProLiant DL100 G2 Data Protection Storage Server, a rapid and reliable disk-based backup appliance with end-user file restore functionality.

Building on its longstanding strategic alliance with networking market leader Cisco Systems, HP announced a suite of tools that make it easier for U.S.-based customers to define their networking needs, and then put them in touch with joint HP and Cisco resellers to help deploy both HP computing and Cisco networking products.

The tools can simplify the process of network implementation and help customers increase productivity while protecting their most important data, whether adopting their first client-server network or adding new functionality to an existing IT environment.
• The Solutions Designer Tool (found at http://www.hp.com/go/network/cisco) is an online resource that assists customers in planning the configuration best suited for their networking needs.
• HP and Cisco will also provide a single point of contact for online, pre-sales support for U.S. customers and channel partners wanting to learn more about HP and Cisco products for the SMB market via HP's web-based Smart Chat feature.
• The HP Reseller Locator Tool (found at http://www.hp.com/go/network/cisco) has been enhanced to help customers locate joint certified HP and Cisco reseller partners who can provide expert advice in the development or expansion of their business networks.

"Tools such as those being announced by Cisco and HP are of great value to IT solution providers such as ourselves," said David Baucum, president of Computer Transition Services, Inc., which specializes in network integration, consulting and support services for businesses in the west Texas and eastern New Mexico area.