NetApp and Hewlett Packard launch rival storage solutions
The move towards hybrid clouds and all flash solutions in data centres are key battle-grounds
Both NetApp and Hewlett Packard Enterprise have this week expanded their data storage offerings. At the NetApp Insight conference in Berlin attended by 4,000 partners, customers and staff, NetApp pushed the capabilities of its storage technologies and how they supported a general move towards hybrid clouds and flash storage in data centres.
Joel Reich, executive vice president of NetApp product operations, told journalists at NetApp Insight: “It’s very easy to put your data into the cloud, but can be very hard to get it out. It’s almost like we’re going back to the days of the mainframe when if you wanted your data out you’d have to go through a major migration exercise.”
Reich said the company was dedicated to helping companies and managed service providers avoid cloud data lock-ins by offering its Data Fabric portfolio to support more flexible hybrid cloud deployments and manage object storage requirements.
In this vein, NetApp announced Storage GRID Webscale 10.2 with integrated object management using standard protocols. It also includes OpenStack Swift API support. NetApp is also offering updated SnapCenter software to manage data protection across hybrid clouds and simplified management of application specific data protection.
In addition, there is a new version of Clustered Data ONTAP with improved de-duplication technology, and a new version of CommVault IntelliSnap for NetApp.
On the other side of the fence, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has announced this week new solutions to “accelerate the move to all-flash data centres”.
“Faced with the need for agility, organisations want to take advantage of game-changers like flash without introducing risk,” said Manish Goel, senior vice president and general manager for storage, HPE.
HPE said it enables organisations to accelerate moves to all-flash data centres with solutions that accommodate new and mixed media types in the same array while “maintaining performance and enterprise-class resiliency”.
The new HPE StoreOnce 3100 with 8TB of raw backup capacity starts at around $6,000, and the StoreOnce 3520 with 12TB of capacity comes in at around $8,000. There is also the StoreOnce 3540 with 24TB at $11,000 and the 5100 with 48TB at $25,000.
As ChannelBiz reported earlier today (Tuesday), HPE is treading on NetApp’s toes by staging a Berlin party and keynote event in the middle of NetApp Insight, and taking Insight attendees directly to it by coach.
Thomas Ehrlich, NetApp VP for global accounts and the EMEA partner ecosystem, said he was not fazed by HP’s in your face move. He told ChannelBiz: “Everyone knows this is our event here and we have an extra one third of attendees this year, with a lot more customers too. Style is something you can only trade once [ouch].”
@AntonySavvas