The market for computer systems that run the highly-available and robust Unix operating system is expanding in several African countries and, as part of its drive across the continent, HP has announced a number of solutions today that cement its Unix leadership.
The company is set to offer two new ranges of servers through its network of authorised added value resellers in Africa - the rp2400 entry-level series and the rp7400 mid-range offerings. HP has also made several significant performance enhancements to its high-end server solution, the HP Superdome.
With price and performance on the minds of most technology buyers in the entry-level market, HP has designed its rp2400 servers to offer serious one- and two-way processing power at an affordable price. The new servers replace HP`s previous A-class offerings.
The rp2430 and rp2470 models are both based on the HP PA-RISC 8700 processor and are well-suited to business and Internet applications for distributed sites and branch offices of large enterprises. Telecommunications companies, service providers and mid-market companies will also find the solutions attractive.
"We`ve priced our rp2430 and rp2470 servers aggressively ... they compare well to our competitors` offerings and they offer superior system performance in a small [2U] footprint," says Hans Mol, the marketing manager for Africa at HP.
News in the mid-range market continues with the launch of the HP Server rp7410, an 8-way server that features some of the functionality usually found in 16-, 32- or 64-way servers.
"Designed for enterprises, service providers and high-performance technical computing environments in Africa, the new 8-way server provides the dependability, adaptability and operational efficiency businesses need to keep up with changing workloads," says Mol.
The news bolsters HP`s position in the mid-range Unix market. International research firm IDC issued a third quarter 2001 server industry report in which it said that HP has increased its number one mid-range Unix revenue position to 38.2% in Western Europe, doubling the revenue of its nearest competitor.
Worldwide, HP`s 33.7% mid-range Unix server revenue represents a 7.3% market share increase from the previous quarter.
HP has achieved impressive success in the high-end Unix server market despite the difficult business climate of today. "In distinct contrast to our high-end competitors, we have experienced four consecutive quarters of year-on-year revenue growth in the high-end Unix server space," points out Mol.
As far as the solutions themselves are concerned, HP has continued to improve the performance of its Superdome servers, which are on track to double transaction performance by next year.
"We`ve also introduced a 2Gb per second fibre channel host bus adaptor (HBA) that doubles the performance of the previous HBA without raising the price," says Mol. The adapter provides customers with connectivity to storage area networks (SANs), which are experiencing tremendous growth in enterprise storage networking environments.
"HP can now offer end-to-end 2Gb SAN solutions that include servers, storage, switches and consulting services. These solutions are available today for HP Superdome and other PCI-based HP Unix servers."
For more information on HP`s solutions and activities in Africa, surf to www.hp.com/africa.
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