Hewlett Packard's Virtualization Push

HP expanded its products and services in the virtualization arena to optimize its product lines for virtualization and the bandwidth it requires so that customers and resellers can have a seamless, always-available computing experience using HP technologies.

"This isn't just us trying to help people think about how to look at virtualization in order to maximize their outcomes. It's also about us making sure that the products and services we sell make this real for the customers," said John Bennett, worldwide director for the data center transformation solutions for the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company.

Hewlett Packard's virtualization product launch includes four new thin clients.

The HP t5145 Thin Client, with HP's ThinConnect OS, manages and supports efficient Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) and Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) network connections to virtual environments.

The HP t5540 Thin Client, based on Windows CE and designed to allow users more secure access to back-end operations, offers connectivity to Microsoft Windows, mainframes and basic web applications, as well as terminal emulation, dual-monitor and widescreen support.

Designed for mainstream business use with HP's ThinPro OS, Firefox and dual monitor support, HP's t5545 Thin Client works with Windows, Citrix, mainframes, midrange servers, UNIX and Linux hosts and web applications.

HP t5630 Thin Client -- features Microsoft Windows XP Embedded operating system combined with a full-featured browser, Add/Remove Programs utility, Enhanced Write Filter, Symantec Endpoint Protection, and terminal emulation, native dual-monitor and widescreen support. It is the optimum choice for business environments requiring a cost-effective thin client with flexibility and power.

HP's Proliant BL495c blade server is the company's first blade server designed with virtualization in mind. It's optimized to eliminate virtualization performance bottlenecks that would affect memory, data storage and network connections.

The HP StorageWorks 4400 Scalable NAS file services brings together HP's StorageWorks 4400 Enterprise Virtual Array, file servers and management software to virtualize the connections between servers and storage. It decreases the risk of data loss and lowers maintenance costs with its advanced replication software.

HP's Business Service Management and IT Service Management solutions have new virtualization monitoring and support capabilities to help IT staff and resells manage virtual resources, lowering costs and helping staff resolve problems more efficiently.

HP Site Scope (pictured here), HP Operations Agent and HP Performance Agent have added hypervisor management capabilities, allowing the applications to collect management data and automate events.



HP's new Asset Manager can identify and manage virtual machine inventory and licenses.

In addition to the new and enhanced software offerings, like HP's Network Node Manager i-series, upgraded to monitor performance and availability in virtualized environments (pictured here), HP expanded its virtualization services to help customers deploy the technology in their environments.



HP's services offerings include: Virtualization Accelerator Services, HP Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Services supporting Citrix XenDesktop and HP Virtualization Support Services.