As part of its recently announced FSAM strategy for storage, Hewlett-Packard has outlined a roadmap for several products due for release in 2001.
FSAM, or Federated Storage Area Management, replaces - as HP`s Ivan Kraemer puts it - the idea of network-wide storage consolidation with simplified management of distributed pockets of consolidated storage on the network.
The aim is not only to cater for the rapid growth in storage requirements, but also to offer customers a way to manage unpredictable storage needs, according to Robert Abehassera, EMEA marketing manager, storage operation.
The aims of FSAM are achieved mainly by using existing technology in OpenView network management software to "virtually consolidate" all storage into a single, easy-to-manage storage cloud, doubling the amount of storage that can be managed by one administrator.
The first new product to see the light of day will be the HP SureStore Virtual Array 7100, expected to ship on 1 April, and aimed at the lower end of the mid-market for heterogeneous business-critical applications. In its fully extended form, VA7100 will offer 1.1TB of raw data storage on a Fibre Channel backbone, and 90MB/s throughput. OS support currently covers Windows NT and 2000, HP-UX and RedHat 6.2 Linux, with Solaris, NetWare, AIX and a few others scheduled for later this year.
This will be followed by the VA7400 in July and the VA7405 in August or September. Maximum capacity for both is 7.7TB, and throughput will be upped to 180MBps and 360MBps respectively. While 7400 users will be able to upgrade to VA7405, there is no simple upgrade path from the VA7100: migration will be required.
These products are designed, in the words of EMEA storage product manager Chris Sopp, to close the gaps between HP`s entry-level JBOD (just a bunch of disks) product and the FC60 in the mid-range, as well as between the FC60 and the high-end XP products. The VA products will bring high-end array functionality, support for heterogeneous environments and simplicity of data management to the entry-level and mid-range, Sopp says.
Software is to be a key component of the offerings, with a variety of management, load balancing, data recovery and security products available.
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