September 4, 2008 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Hewlett-Packard (hp.com) has announced a new series of products and services designed for virtualization deployment and management including the "world's first server blade designed specifically to host virtual machines," according to the company.
HP announced the new virtualization suite earlier this week, unveiling products running the gambit from desktop to data center, but all focused on lowering operational cost, mitigating the risk of a heterogeneous environment and freeing resources to deliver new business services. There were certain products thathave clear applications
Designed to host virtual machines, HP's ProLiant BL495c virtualization blade server eliminates memory, data storage and network connection bottlenecks, according to the company. It can support two quad-core AMD Opteron 2300 series processors, 128GB of 667MHz DDR2 memory, and 8 network interface cards per blade. It also has a built-in, 10GB ethernet network. It will become available September 15, starting at $2,449.
To virtualize the connection between servers and storage, HP offers its StorageWorks 4400 Scalable NAS File Services, which can integrate the HP StorageWorks 4400 Enterprise Virtual Array, file servers, management software and operating systems, lowering maintenance costs and the risk of data loss. Available in the fourth quarter, the Windows File Services version will retail for $94,270 and the Linux version for $97,630.
The company has also updated operating environment HP-UX 11i V3 and Virtual Server Environment for mission-critical virtualization with automated optimization, improved protection and simplified management.
HP is also offering its expertise through its Virtualization Accelerator Services, its new consulting services for planning, designing and implementing virtualization.
A recent global research study conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates on behalf of HP found 86 percent of technology decision makers polled have deployed virtualization projects but expect to have virtualized only a quarter of their technology environments by 2010.
"Virtualization is a powerful step in transforming IT," HP technology solutions group executive vice president Ann Livermore said in a statement. "To do it right means successfully managing and automating mixed physical and virtual environments. HP delivers the industry's broadest portfolio for virtualized environments, covering applications and operations management, infrastructure and client architectures."
