CeBit: HP Updates Storage And Wireless

Peter Judge,

HP integrates 3Par’s storage into its cloud offering, and upgrades its wireless LAN products for CeBit

Hewlett-Packard has integrated storage products from its 3Par acquisition into its cloud computing offering, and announced a speed boost to its wireless LAN products, for the CeBit show in Hanover, Germany.

The 3Par virtualised storage products, which HP bought in September 2010, can now be used with HP’s BladeSystem Matrix converged infrastructure, and the CloudSystem hybrid cloud stack it launched in January 2011 – improving storage options for internal and hosted cloud users without the need to run a separate storage area network (SAN).

‘We are more integrated’

David Scott, formerly of 3Par, was installed as HP’s storage chief last October, and promised a swift integration of his products into the HP line, and “storage liposuction” to reduce users’ needs for hard disk and tape.

This process has begun, with the 3Par storage also integrated with HP’s X9300 Network Storage Gateway.  This makes storage  management simpler because it handles up to 16 Pbyte of file- and block-based storage on the same physical disks.

“You can now mix file and block storage without having to pre-judge which one will grow the fastest,” said Catherine Campbell (pictured), storage CTO of HP StorageWorks for the UK.

Sales of 3Par kit are already going well said Gerhard Keller, product marketing manager for StorageWorks: “3Par did 80 percent of its business in the US,” he said. “Now it has access to 10,000 trained salespeople worldwide.”

Faster wireless

Meanwhile, on the wireless LAN, HP announced two quiet milestones. It is the first company to have 802.11n Wi-Fi access points with three spatial streams – three separate MIMO channels – certified by the Wi-fi Alliance, giving up to 450Mbps speeds for its enterprise wireless products (or 900Mbps because each has two radios).

It also overtook Aruba in unit sales of connected access points, to take second place behind Cisco, according to Jeff Schwartz, product manager for mobility and wireless at HP (pictured).

Aruba still makes more revenue in wireless, Schwartz conceded, but that is partly because HP’s products are better value, and also because HP’s are better integrated into the wired network, and adding a wireless network controller simply means adding a blade to an existing  chassis.

“I’ve had discussions with [analysts] Dell’Oro and IDC, and revenue is not a fair guide,” said Schwartz.