HP details three-year blueprint for storage

HP has unveiled ENSAextended, the next step in the evolution of its widely accepted Enterprise Network Storage Architecture (ENSA). This extension of HP`s storage framework is designed to put customers in control of their data centres by allowing them to adapt their storage infrastructure to their business environment, via automation and through active intelligent management.

ENSAextended will give customers a way to manage their storage infrastructure through end-to-end application integration that is based on business rules. This will provide an adaptive storage infrastructure that is controllable, resilient and extensible.

Says Kim Howlett, Storage Manager at HP South Africa: "ENSAextended is HP`s blueprint for the future of storage, but it builds upon years of successful innovation and consistent delivery of network storage solutions to the market. ENSAextended is the evolution of the storage utility vision we outlined nearly five years ago.

"Our vision has always been consistent: to deliver solutions that are open and based on industry standards; to help customers manage the realities of heterogeneous environments; and to ease management and increase uptime through automation and better management tools. Our ultimate goal is drive storage as an utility that can be expanded on demand and provides access to information to the people who need it, when they need it."

ENSAextended enables customers to adapt and optimise storage and services delivery capabilities through:

* Universal networked storage: expansive solution of all storage elements;
* Virtualisation: adding greater simplicity and utilisation of heterogeneous storage assets;
* Data services: including performance optimisation, data archiving replication and migration augmented by offerings from HP network storage services; and
* Application integration: delivering an application-aware storage approach that allows greater responsiveness to changing requirements.

Active intelligent management is a key element of ENSAextended. It empowers customers to control their environments by simplifying the way data and storage resources are managed through automated, policy-based management. This ensures that storage administrators are able to meet demanding quality of service levels.

Says Howlett: "Active intelligent management introduces two customer 'views` or perspectives of the storage infrastructure: the system administrator view and the business application view.

"ENSAextended will continue to enhance HP`s systems administration tools such as HP OpenView Storage Area Manager, but will also focus on delivering an adaptive storage infrastructure that is application-aware for true end-to-end storage to business application solutions."

Active intelligent management capabilities will be delivered through three main initiatives:

* Integrated Storage Resource Management: Providing centralised, enterprise-wide management of heterogeneous storage resources and infrastructure;
* Life Cycle Data Management: Providing for the holistic management of data including provisioning, protection, distribution, and obsolescence; and
* Adaptive Data Access: Delivering uninterrupted access to information through core technologies such as virtualisation, replication and data migration services.

Capabilities built on the ENSAextended framework will be delivered in phases over the next three years. The first products to be released include new versions of HP OpenView Storage Area Manager (v3.0), which was recently announced, and HP OpenView Storage Provisioner.