HP Brings Storage Essentials To Server Management

HP on Thursday unveiled its HP Storage Essentials, a new suite of storage management software aimed at seamless integration with the company's HP System Insight Manager, said Frank Harbist, vice president and general manager for HP StorageWorks software.

"HP is combining server and storage management to enable customers to dramatically simplify management and radically increase the cost-effectiveness of the management," Harbist said.

System Insight Manager, introduced in December of 2003, brought together the management of HP's Intel-based and non-Intel-based servers into a single console, said Harbist. Thursday's unveiling of HP Storage Essentials is the next step in the evolution of the company's common management platform, he said.

Starting on March 28, HP users will get basic storage management capabilities, including security authentication, topological views, mapping, and setting of thresholds for alerts and alarms, free of charge with System Insight Manager version 4.2.

"This changes the economics for the customer," Harbist said. "They get basic storage management for free. Such capabilities typically require a fee."

Optional modules for storage management, based on technology HP OEMs from Burlington, Mass.-based AppIQ, will include a detailed console for SAN management, charge-back capabilities for handling storage as a service, a global storage reporter, an active provisioning tool which monitors application performance and automatically provisions new storage as needed, and application-specific views of storage usage for Oracle, Exchange and Sybase.

Prices for the modules are expected to range from $2,000 to $60,000, depending on the module, Harbist said.