Hewlett-Packard Company and Hitachi, Ltd., in conjunction with its global marketing arm, Hitachi Data Systems, have announced joint technology and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreements for enterprise storage subsystems directed at the burgeoning enterprise storage and storage area network (SAN) markets.
HP and Hitachi have had a successful nine-year relationship, starting with development cooperation in the areas of PA-RISC, UNIX systems and HP-UX. This joint technology agreement (JTA) expands these areas of collaboration to include enterprise storage solutions.
Under the terms of the JTA, HP and Hitachi research and development organisations have already started to cooperate on the design, development and enhancement of enterprise-storage projects. Initial results of this agreement are incorporated into the HP SureStore E Disk Array MC256. Future efforts will cover a broad range of storage, SAN and storage management products. These efforts will result in products that may be manufactured by HP or Hitachi.
Under the terms of the three-year OEM agreement, HP will OEM Hitachi`s high-end array technology products, cooperatively enhancing them with HP-contributed firmware and Fibre Channel technology for improved open system performance, support for system consolidations and SAN interoperability. HP will also OEM several storage-management applications to enable local and remote data mirroring, interoperating system data transfers and centralised array management. HP will integrate this software into its new HP SureStore E Storage Node Manager Software as well as HP OpenView OmniBack II software to deliver zero-downtime backup solutions for SAP and Oracle applications.
HP will also leverage Hitachi`s high-quality manufacturing facilities and efficient supply-chain management, allowing optimised availability and flexibility in delivering tailored MC256-based solutions to enterprise customers. The MC256 will be the premier multiplatform high-end solution in the HP SureStore E storage product family. This is the product line which promises enterprise customers `Stress-Free Storage....Guaranteed` and is tightly integrated with the HP Equation SAN-based, intelligent-storage architecture.
Furthermore, Hitachi Data Systems was named an authorised value-added reseller in a number of countries for the MC256 as well as other HP Equation-based storage solutions, allowing Hitachi Data Systems` customers access to the benefits of the MC256.
"With storage availability and storage networks so crucial to IT strategy, HP is providing its customers with the industry`s strongest line of storage solutions for the enterprise,: said Bill Russel, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Enterprise Computing Solutions. "Working with Hitachi will enable us to deliver an unmatched high-end disk array that meets our customers` high-availability expectations. The centralised manageability, high-performance design and open architecture of the MC256 makes it ideal for customers that are deploying enterprise storage solutions."
Masaaki Hayasi, Hitachi`s senior corporate officer and group president of the Computer Products Group, said: "This alliance leverages the complementary strengths of Hitachi and HP. Together we will deliver the best enterprise storage technology for the increasingly heterogeneous computing environment. Customers can now rest assured that their valuable information resources are continually available and protected."
"I believe that this agreement is absolutely the rights thing for HP and its enterprise customers," said David Hill, senior analyst with Aberdeen Group. "Hp has continually demonstrated that it is committed to doing whatever it believes is in the interest of its storage customers. Hitachi is a great choice as the core engine to help provide an open high-end disk array for customers` future high-availability need."
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