HP AiO storage targets SMBs

Hewlett-Packard unveiled a new line of storage systems that it said is designed for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that have no prior knowledge in storage.

Dubbed HP StorageWorks 1200 All-in-One Storage System (HP AiO1200), it is the latest addition to the company's StorageWorks AiO storage products targeted specifically at SMBs.

Ashwini Bhatnagar, marketing manager at HP StorageWorks in Asia-Pacific and Japan, told ZDNet Asia in an e-mail interview: "[The] HP AiO is an entry-level storage system that offers midsize customers with unified NAS (network-attached storage)/ SAN (storage area network) functionality."

"[It] integrates storage with comprehensive data protection software and management interface, to reduce complexity by handling all of the underlying storage tasks," Bhatnagar said. "Storage capacity is presented in application-centric terms so administrators can easily control capacity allocation."

Immediately available in the market, the HP AiO1200 can be purchased in five storage configurations--3.0TB SATA, 6.0TB SATA, 9.0TB SATA, 1.7TB SAS and 3.6TB SAS--through the company's network of more than 145,000 channel resellers worldwide. Prices start from US$8,759.

Bhatnagar said: "Compared to previous models in the HP StorageWorks AiO Storage Systems [product line], the AiO1200 has an increased SAS or SATA storage capacity, especially useful for companies that do not require a high number of external expansion slots.

"When needed, the AiO1200 can be expanded externally by replacing the P400 RAID controller with a P800 controller and through connecting to external MSA60 storage," he said.

"Performance characteristics of the AiO1200 also allow it to service a higher number of users, for both file-serving and iSCSI (Internet small computer system interface) storage implementations.

In addition, the AiO Storage Manager interface has been updated to include setup and migration wizard support for Microsoft Exchange 2007.