| |
New HP products to reduce operational costs
HP last month announced a series of new products and services to help customers reduce operational costs and protect existing investments as they automate the capture, management, retention and delivery of information.
Part of it’s information lifecycle management (ILM) strategy, the solutions include a new HP StorageWorks Reference Information Storage System (RISS) open Application Programming Interface (API) that integrates storage, archiving, filing, search, databases and servers. Customers can now work with just one vendor as opposed to as many as six and dramatically reduce costs and services issues.
The company also expanded its independent software vendor (ISV) support and partner program; introduced complementary solutions, services and upgrades for its RISS offering; and rounded out the ILM lineup with a new product that simplifies the long-term storage of file-system-based data.
“As all content and processes move from physical to mobile, digital and virtual, the need to retrieve information quickly and efficiently is paramount to success,” said Ashraf Helmy, StorageWorks Product Marketing Manager, HP Middle East. “Today’s announcements are yet another milestone in our strategy to automate the information lifecycle from end-to-end and allow our customers to adapt to constantly changing business environments.”
HP technology to help customers throughout the entire information lifecycle process
Based on open standards, the ITS StorageWorks RISS API drives the rapid deployment of multiple ILM applications developed by its ISV community without significant customer investment by bringing together all of the components of the information lifecycle under one vendor. Over the next 12 months, functionality of RISS API will expand to include web services, common internet and network file systems (CIFS and NFS), and additional connectors for key vertical markets such as healthcare.
The company is also offering a new version of its StorageWorks RISS that delivers increased capacity and an enhanced archiving feature. RISS v1.1 increases the capacity of smart cells from 400 GB to 850 GB while reducing the base price by nearly 50 percent from the previous version. RISS v1.1 accelerates data retrieval by evenly distributing full-text indexes and original content across many storage “smart cells,” which form the basis of StorageWorks Grid Architecture.
Complementing its RISS offering, the company introduced HP StorageWorks Reference Information Manager for Messaging (RIM) v1.1, which supports Lotus Domino in addition to Microsoft Exchange. RIM is a front-end, active-archiving solution that dramatically reduces the cost of email storage mailboxes by utilising a lower cost archive pool while providing the retention capabilities necessary for compliance.
Information technology staff use RIM to set policies for moving messages out of users’ mailboxes and into HP RISS. These policies can be based on message, age, size, sender, recipient or keyword and remove the requirement for IT staff to limit mailbox size. Over the next 12 months, it plans to introduce new RIM functionality in other application areas that connect to RISS, including databases, CRM applications and medical imaging for healthcare.
“The ability to cost-effectively manage the volume of email we retain in order to meet new regulatory requirements is a top priority for us,” said Karl Gasser, Chief Executive Officer and President, iSource, an outsourcing provider. “By automating the process of storing and retrieving email, HP StorageWorks Reference Information Manager for Messaging and the ITS StorageWorks Reference Information Storage System go beyond the promise of reduced costs. The HP solutions’ scalability and rapid search also allow us to quickly and easily respond to change.”
Simplifying long-term storage and new RISS and RIM services StorageWorks File System Extender (FSE) v3.1 is a new product in HP’s ILM portfolio that simplifies and reduces the cost of the long-term storage of file-system-based data. FSE v3.1 enhances the quality of service for customers by automating data movement so that the right information is in the right place at the right time.
Automated file movement allows tiered storage to become a simple but intelligent archiving infrastructure that aligns with business needs, reducing costs and allowing IT staff to work on other activities. FSE supports Windows and Linux operating systems, with planned future support for the HP-UX platform and additional search and retrieval capabilities that will be integrated with RISS.
To help customers manage information, meet compliance challenges and develop new strategies to move data in an efficient, cost-effective way, the company is now offering RISS and RIM services. The services are a set of pre-configured installation services to help customers convert volumes of company data into an organised, prioritised, easily-accessed body of information that can give their business a competitive edge
|
|
