HP talks up NAS disk arrays
Vendor claims offerings can help businesses comply with data legislation cheaply
Hewlett-Packard's (HP's) latest NAS disk arrays should allow resellers to help customers comply with new storage-intensive corporate governance legislation.
The StorageWorks EVA 3000 and EVA 5000 arrays can accommodate Fibre Attached Technology Adapted (FATA) hard drives, developed jointly with Seagate, which HP has said provide a lower-cost alternative to Fibre Channel (FC) disks for data storage and recovery.
Bob Schultz, senior vice-president of network storage solutions at HP, said: "The ability to offer tiered storage in a single storage system and enable simplified integration through support of industry standards lowers the price of SAN implementation. This makes it attractive to a broader range of customers."
Firms are currently tackling data-storage laws such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Basel II and the Freedom of Information Act. Donal Madden, business manager for HP enterprise products at distributor Ideal, claimed FATA drives will help companies move mission-critical data onto cheaper storage media.
"FATA is a hybrid between FC and ATA, giving the scalability benefits of FC with lower costs. It is a happy medium between disk and tape," he said.
Claus Egge, senior storage analyst at research firm IDC, said a lot of vendors are currently addressing information lifecycle management (ILM). But he added that many are too focused on building packages based on their own product portfolios, rather than assessing customers' needs.
"When companies understand what to do with electronic files, how to store them and move them from one location to another, they will start off being stored on expensive devices and be gradually migrated onto cheaper devices, such as tape," Egge said.
Ross Logan, UK and Ireland storage business manager at HP, agreed the ILM market is currently vendor- rather than customer-led. But he pointed out that a growing number of customers are showing interest in buying ILM solutions early.
"I see customers within the public sector and financial services industry that are worried, but others are putting their heads in the sand," he said.