HP unveils storage initiative for SMBs

HP has launched its Simply StorageWorks initiative-an array of new
investments, programs and solutions. These are aimed at targeting SMBs and
addressing their increasing data storage requirements in a streamlined manner.

"India's SMBs account for more than 60% of the country's IT spend.
Increasingly, they are finding that their data storage needs are becoming more
and more demanding," informed HP India StorageWorks Division, Country
Manager, Avijit Basu.

The SMB market is increasingly facing the same pressures as larger
enterprises when it comes to the exponential growth of data. He added that
budgets, IT resources and perceived complexity of storage technologies are key
challenges for SMBs. The initiative is based on ease of use and affordability.

Under the new investments of Simply StorageWorks, the company has launched a
channel and customer education and enablement campaign, which is to simplify
storage technologies. The channel component was the first to be launched and
sessions in five cities attracted more than 350 HP partners. The customer
component is to be rolled out in April.

As part of its new program, the company is rolling out three new programs,
namely, My first SAN, Easy-As-NAS and Ultimate Business Protection Program. My
first SAN aims to simplify consolidation. My First SAN kits have been introduced
based on the HP StorageWorks MSA 1000 array and start at Rs 4,65,000.

Under the Easy-As-NAS program, HP ProLiant Storage Server portfolio has been
expanded to include entry-level models. Additionally, the i-SCSI feature pack
has been introduced, thereby enabling SAN-like capabilities on NAS for a
fraction of the cost.

Ultimate Business Protection Program has an exchange and gain promotion,
where customers can get an exchange value for their old, used, working or
non-working tape-drives when they purchase a new HP tape drive. Additionally,
several new tape drive bundles are being introduced with ProLiant Storage
Servers.

The new solutions introduced include SAN solutions, NAS solutions: ProLiant
Storage Server DL 100, ML 110, iSCSI feature Pack, nearline solutions:
StorageWorks DAT72 and Ultrium215 tape drive, StorageWorks 1/8 Autoloaders and
StorageWorks MSL libraries.

CYBERMEDIA NEWS