HP's LeftHand aims SAN at smaller firms

HP's LeftHand Networks division announced an entry-level storage area network on Wednesday, describing the new system as offering a simpler and easier way for smaller businesses to deploy virtualised storage.

LeftHand's SAS Starter SAN is intended for use by companies deploying "their first virtualised project", the company said in a statement. The 4.8TB SAS pack costs $35,000 (£24,500).

LeftHand was acquired by HP in October last year for £200m. At the time, the company was seen as a storage-virtualisation specialist that targeted medium-sized companies. Wednesday's announcement marked LeftHand's first move into the storage market for smaller businesses.

According to the company, the SAS Starter SAN includes management tools that offer "replication, thin provisioning and snapshot capabilities".

The SAS Starter SAN can scale to 80 network ports and 320 disk drives, the company said. LeftHand is also offering a $30,000 12TB Sata SAN that offers "a 25 percent reduction in the cost-per-gigabyte of disk-drive capacity" compared with the previous generation. The company estimates the reduction as being from $3.33 per gigabyte to $2.50 per gigabyte.