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HP offers enterprise fatness to small biz bods in bulked-up sales push

MSA 2040 'first entry array' with 12gig SAS, 16gig FC, says firm

HP's latest MSA 2040 array is one of those cases where midrange enterprise array features have trickled down to an SMB-class product, the MSA being HP's entry-level drive array range.

Meg Whitman's company is also boosting its channel programmes to get resellers selling faster to small and medium-sized businesses.

In detail the dual-controller MSA 2040 array features:

  • 16Gbit/s Fibre Channel, 12Gbit/s SAS and 10Gbit/s iSCSI host connectivity
  • Converged SAN controllers supporting 8Gbit/s and 16Gbit/s Fibre Channel and/or 1GbitE/10GbitE iSCSI
  • Data-in-place upgrade to the new controllers for existing MSA customers
  • Swappable SFP transceivers
  • 4-port direct-connect 6/12Gbit/s SAS controllers - no need for separate switch
  • 4GB cache per controller
  • RAID engine
  • Asynchronous local and remote snapshot services
  • Volume copy service
  • controller failover
  • Up to 288TB capacity
MSA2040

HP MSA2040

HP says the MSA2040 is the first entry-class array to feature 12gig SAS, 16gigFC and 10gig iSCSI support and its SAN bandwidth supports up to 92,000 IOPS from the disk subsystem - "disk" being either the spinning rust kind or solid state.

The MSA 2040 can be managed through the Server Manager interface in Microsoft Server 2012 environments, and has System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) and System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) integration.

For VMware users the array can be managed through HP's Insight Control Storage Module for VMware vCenter Server.

El Reg's storage desk believes this is an OEM'd Dot Hill array – Dot Hill has just announced its "Gallium" ninth generation SAN array and says a Tier 1 OEM is shipping it. The RAID engine is ASIC-based – it used FPGA hardware previously. The host connectivity flexibility comes from its use of QLogic’s FlexSuite dual-personality adapter technology – Fibre Channel and iSCSI from one adapter. The 12gig SAS capability uses LSI technology.

HP says the MSA product line is its most popular entry-level SAN array with more than 400,000 sold, and it wants to sell a whole lot more, hence channel programme changes.

Channel changes

HP has enhanced its Just Right IT scheme and the two main components to this are NetworkIT and Simply StoreIT.

NetworkIT provides solution guides and blueprints for "business-grade wireless networks, unified communications and collaboration, and secure, unified access and infrastructure."

Programme components include "co-branded lead-generation assets, training, guides and materials … resources and incentives." A first offering in the programme is a Wireless Network Solution which includes, according to HP themselves:

  • HP Intelligent Management Center (IMC), a standards-based single-pane-of-glass management system supporting more than 6,000 devices from more than 220 vendors
  • HP Lifetime Warranty 2.0, which provides 24/7 phone support for three years, eliminates hidden costs, lowers upfront and ongoing support expenses and reduces investment in additional add-on service enhancements
  • Up to 400 per cent improved stack failover time.

Simply StoreIT is geared to sell storage products like the latest MSA 2040 and includes:

  • "Templates that reduce configuration time by 89 percent through the elimination of errors and speeding the process of designing complete solutions."
  • Visual aid reference configuration and solution-block blueprints
  • Technical briefs detailing scenarios that map IT and business benefits to each customer’s specific needs within budget

HP says the programme enhancements increase reseller compensation and "shorten time-to-revenue."

Other pieces of the Just Right IT initiative are HP Small Business Solutions – networking, server and storage bundles – and HP Secure Access and Continuity Solutions.

MSA 2040 Converged SAN Controller configurations capable of supporting Fibre Channel and/or iSCSI traffic begin at $11,070, while 6/12Gb SAS configurations begin at $10.970. The product is available now and you can get a datasheet here (pdf). ®

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