Hewlett-Packard on Monday unveiled new solutions within its Adaptive Infrastructure portfolio. Despite the convergence theme, some analysts said the direct comparison against Cisco’s Unified Communications Systems is overstated.
In any case, HP is making bold promises. The company is claiming its new approach fundamentally changes the way technology is used to deliver business services while also reducing infrastructure costs and data-center complexity.
Dubbed HP BladeSystem Matrix, the solution merges software, server, storage and networking on a single platform that automates service delivery for the data center.
Meanwhile, the HP Matrix Orchestration Environment offers a unified management interface to design, deploy and optimize the application infrastructure.
“Increasingly, customers are looking for data-center solutions with Adaptive Infrastructure properties such as superior economics, application-based cost tracking, and true dynamic capacity management,” said Mark Potter, a HP senior vice president. “Matrix is a game-changing, all-in-one technology that allows the infrastructure to run at the pace of the business.”
Exploring the Matrix
Matrix aims to simplify complex infrastructure tasks such as disaster recovery, capacity planning, consolidation and provisioning. HP estimated companies can save nearly 80 percent in operational costs and realize payback in as little as eight months, with a potential return on investment in three years of more than 300 percent.
One way is through a self-service portal that aims to streamline application infrastructure provisioning. The portal allows CIOs to dynamically assign resources to meet the needs of businesses. Resources are assigned to requests as needed and then returned to the pool.
HP introduced several new offerings as part of the converged Matrix world, including HP LeftHand P4000 SAN solutions, HP StorageWorks SB40c with P4000 Virtual SAN Appliance Software bundle, HP StorageWorks 600 Modular Disk System, and HP Insight Capacity Advisor Virtualization Services. HP figures a 45 percent reduction in server hardware and software costs.
Double-Digit Energy Savings
Based on the HP BladeSystem portfolio,…