HP Aims To Take EMC Down With New Storage Lineup

HP unveiled the new StoreOnce and StoreAll systems including the HP StoreOnce 6500 -- aimed at backing up data 4.5 times faster and restoring it ten times faster than rival EMC's high end Data Domain 990 -- Monday ahead of the HP Discover conference, which runs Dec. 10-12 in Barcelona, Spain.

[Related: HP Launches 'New-Style' Financing Options To Help Partners Close More Deals ]

The StoreOnce 6500 can back up 100 Tbytes of data at a cost per terabyte that is 57 percent lower than the EMC Data Domain 990, said HP Vice President of Marketing Storage Craig Nunes.

"It's a really great compare for HP," said Nunes, referring to the backup, restore and price per terabyte comparison with EMC. "These are killer new products. For partners it's an awesome, awesome portfolio."

HP is also bringing to market what Nunes is calling a game changing StoreOnce Get Protected Guarantee that ensures HP will reduce storage capacity requirements by 95 percent with any HP StoreOnce Backup Solution after a free storage assessment by a partner. About 500 partners are trained and ready to roll out the new Get Protected Guarantee, said Nunes

The StoreOnce 95 percent storage reduction capacity guarantee follows a highly successful similar offering that helped drive huge sales for HP's 3Par Thin Storage software. That pledge guaranteed customers an ability to reduce their storage capacity by 50 percent with HP's 3Par Thin Storage after a free storage assessment.

HP is also offering partners the option of providing customers a free trial of HP StoreOnce VSA software which is aimed at slashing the costs of small site backups by as much as 65 percent.

Chris Case, president of Sequel Data Systems, an Austin, Texas-based solution provider and long-time HP channel partner, said HP has upped its game against rival EMC in the storage market in the last six months with incentives for partners. That is paying off for Sequel Data Systems, he said.

One big differentiator was a recent HP promotion that guaranteed a free StoreOnce appliance after partners hit a server/blade quota, he said. "HP's is putting a big focus on this for 2014," he said of the new StoreOnce offering.

StoreOnce's biggest challenge in the beginning was the fact that HP launched it a few years after EMC Data Domain, which really pioneered the deduplication business, Case said.

"Now StoreOnce is a mature product line, and competes well with Data Domain," he said, noting the improved performance capabilities bode well for HP against EMC.

PUBLISHED DEC. 9, 2013