HP Storage Blog

This week we announced our new HP Get Virtual Guarantee Program, which will enable customers to improve server virtualization ROI by doubling physical server virtual machine performance when deploying HP 3PAR Storage in VMware environments.

One of the great things about technology is that when times get tough it sometimes results in innovations that people didn't think were possible. We're seeing this today in the automobile industry, where the best companies in the business are exceeding expectations on fuel efficiency. It used to be the case that if you wanted fuel efficiency you had to make huge compromises in performance and capability.

In enterprise storage we have similar challenges. Capacity requirements are growing at an unprecedented rate, and there are more new applications and use cases than ever before. The best companies in storage are innovating rapidly in the area of efficiency. At HP we have made a significant investment in finding ways to reduce the amount of data that is stored, and fit as much data as possible on storage media.

Solid-state storage technology is rapidly changing how many companies service critical applications.  We are in the early stages of a multi-year rollout of many new technologies and capabilities, including solid-state drives (SSDs) and high-performance data services software capabilities. HP has already delivered a number of solid-state storage solutions, including the introduction of SSDs support in our HP 3PAR arrays—and now our brand-new HP LeftHand P4900 storage system.

In my last update I commented on the status of solid state disk technology.   This is one of the most interesting areas of activity in the storage industry today, and we are in the very early stages of seeing how this will change the landscape.  HP currently supports solid state disk technology in or arrays, including HP 3PAR, and we are investing heavily in data services technology that can deliver unique capabilities with SSDs.  One of the most important areas we are focused on is tiering. 

With regard to Lightning, what you should ask yourself is, why should we have to band-aid poor performance on older storage arrays?

The storage market continues to be the most dynamic and interesting segment of the IT systems industry. The rate of change is higher in storage than just about any other segment, and every few months there is cool new stuff to talk about. But sometimes we have new widgets coming at us so fast that people forget the big picture.