News

posted on 26 February 2008 07:00

HP has launched a new entry-level EVA4400 array that is easier to manage and can store up to 96TB of data.

HP is enthusiastic about the much easier management needed, five times easier than an EMC array, it says.

The target customers are mid-sized enterprises with deep storage needs and a need to minimise storage admin complexity.

Rick Steffens, VP and GM for SAN StorageWorks in HP, said: “Other SAN environments typically create significant management overhead, but the powerfully simple EVA4400 is the better solution for midsize businesses since it is easier to configure and automates storage provisioning to improve capacity utilization. Plus, it is approximately 20 percent more affordable than higher end systems."

The EVA4400 has a refeshed EVA architecture and features a dual-redundant hardware architecture that supports local and remote replication software. This eliminates single points of failure and helps ensure maximum uptime.

Thin storage provisioning also is available with Dynamic Capacity Management (DCM) software to help efficiently manage resources and improve overall productivity.

The EVA4400 can use either Fibre Channel (FC) or 1TB FATA (Fibre Attached Technnology Adapted) drives. There can be 146, 300 or 450GB FC drives spinning at 10,000 or 15,000rpm. Twelve of the 3.5-inch drives fit in a 2U rack shelf and there can be eight shelves. The two controllers fit into a single 1U shelf and, generally, the array requires much less cabling than previous models. About 80 percent of the components are customer upgradable/installable.
A 4GBit/s FC capability is integrated into the array with a 8Gbit/s integrated switch coming in a couple of months or so, according to Kyle Fitze, director of marketing for the StorageWorks SAN division in HP. The product also supports iSCSI attachment.

EVA SmartStart software and user interface comes on a CD to enable either a customer or HP's channel partners to configure the array in a SAN fabric in under an hour. Up to four hours could have been needed with other EVA models.

Fitze says the EVA4400 is relevant to Exchange, Oracle, SAP and VMware environments. Lots of mid-market customers are moving to VMware and the virtualised EVA products are a very good match to VMware needs, with such features as the ability to resize volumes and so provide an end-to-end (servers to storage) virtualisation stategy.

Fitze said: "We have a portfolio Dell would envy."

The EVA4400 with its maximum 96 FC and FATA drives sits above the recently-launched MSA2000 with its 48-drive SAS and SATA maximum. The MSA2000 also only has 750GB SATA drives and doesn't have the 1TB capacity of the EVA4400's FATA drives.

HP asked the Edison Group to compare the management complexity of comparable EMC and NetApp arrays to the EVA4400. It found that the EVA4400 was up to five times easier to manage than a CLARiiON array.

HP found customers confirmed the direction of the Edison Group's finding. Buzz Kaaz, director of IT at Georgia-based Pattillo Construction, the largest private industrial developer in the southeastern United States, said: “After working with both the EVA4400 and EMC products, I would definitely choose the EVA. The interface was easy enough to use that I could do it myself and save the cost of hiring a consultant."

"With limited resources, Pattillo is forced to make every technology decision align with our business needs. The EVA aids this as a result of its unique virtualisation capabilities, which eliminate management complexities. It allows us to aggregate and automate array tasks so we can manage more storage capacity with fewer people.”

HP offers pre-tested EVA4400 “blueprints” that combine the server, storage and application components to reduce time and effort by both customers and channel partners. The solutions enable integration with many midsize business applications, including Microsoft Exchange, SQL, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, Oracle E-Business Suite, SAP, VMware and HP PolyServe Scalable NAS.

The EVA family is now in its 6th generation and over 40,000 units have been shipped, with about half of them in the EMEA region.

The HP StorageWorks EVA4400 is now available with a U.S. list price starting at $15,000.

More information about the HP EVA4400 is available here.

New Simple SAN Connection
HP also announced an 8Gbit/s Simple SAN Connection for customers planning for large SAN growth. It offers 8Gbit/s technology for the EVA4400 at the same price as 4Gbit/s FC.

The Simple SAN Connection portfolio includes software to simplify management, a 20-port capable 8Gbit/s switch and a PCI Express FC host bus adapter (HBA). The single-port 8Gbit/s HBA offers twice the throughput of 4Gbit/s HBAs and includes new features to support virtualisation and adaptive power management.