HP expands VirtualSystem machines

The Register reports.

The VirtualSystems, which include servers, storage and networking, all pre-integrated at the HP factory, are backed off a notch from the CloudSystems.

PCWorld says the virtual workloads, hardware and other resources can be managed using HP's Insight Control and Microsoft System Centres.

The servers provide a path to help customers build private and public clouds, and link the two in a hybrid cloud. VirtualSystem for Microsoft uses the same architecture as the HP CloudSystem, says Jeff Carlat, director of industry standard servers and software marketing, enterprise storage, servers and networking.

As with other VirtualSystems, the Microsoft appliance is being targeted at mid-size and large businesses. However, it is also being pitched at small companies, putting it into competition with Dell's vStart appliances, ZDNet notes.

"It comes in a number of different varieties, and v1 [version one] offers similar scalability to the Dell appliance," Gurprit said. "The advantage is we can scale much higher, and we can support a number of different hypervisors, it's not just VMware. We can support Microsoft Hyper-V."