November 29, 2011, 2:30 PM — Hewlett-Packard today announced its first enterprise-class deduplication appliance that's capable of storing up to 768 TB in a single chassis.
Additionally, HP announced a new network-attached storage (NAS) box based on the Windows Storage Server 2008 platform that can store up to 32TB in a 3U (4.75-in. high) rack mountable array.
HP's new deduplication appliance, the B6200 StoreOnce Backup System, can back up or restore data at speeds of as much as 28TB per hour, or seven times faster than HP's single-node deduplication appliance. The products are part of HP's Information Optimization portfolio announced today.
The B6200 represents the first time HP has integrated software from Autonomy, which HP acquired for $10.3 billion earlier this year, into an appliance, according to Tom Joyce, a vice president of marketing in HP's Storage Division.
Joyce said the B6200 uses Autonomy's Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL) Server software, which collects indexed data from connected nodes around an enterprise and stores it in a proprietary structure optimized for fast processing and retrieval of data.
The HP B6200 StoreOnce scales from 48 TB (raw), for one node with no expansion unit, and up to 768 TB (raw) for a fully loaded four-node configuration. It offers a deduplication ratio of about 20:1.
"Deduplication varies depending on application data. We've seen north of 40:1 in real world scenarios. Typically though, we quote an average of 20:1, but sometimes you see 8:1 or 5:1," Joyce said.
The B6200 StoreOnce appliance enables deduplication across the enterprise -- from remote sites to the core data center -- all manageable under a single console view, Joyce said.
"With the Autonomy software ... what you'll will see from us over a period of time is a new open set of solutions, so that you'll be able to use our products with Symantec, Commvault and other backup products," Joyce said.
The B6200 appliance also uses HP's Peer Motion software, which the company attained through its acquisition of 3Par last year. Peer Motion allows applications and data to be moved between any HP-branded storage systems as well as systems from its subsidiaries: 3Par and LeftHand.
The appliance can also automate the data backup of up to 384 remote sites and replicate data to a centralized data store managed from a single interface.
The HP X5000 G2 Network Storage System
HP's new X5000 G2 Network Storage System is its first Windows Server-powered NAS box, allowing the company to offer lower prices than previous proprietary arrays.
The X5000, which runs NFS and CIFS file protocols, is aimed at the same midrange market as NetApp's FAS 3020 filer.
HP's new NAS offering is built on the same blade server architecture as its E5000 Exchange Messaging System announced earlier this year.
The X5000 G2 Network Storage System uses active-active controllers, meaning if one fails the other continues to operate and no data is lost.
A 3U-high array can use both 2.5-in. and 3.5-in. hard drives. A single unit can support up to 10,000 users, according to Joyce. The NAS array comes native with data replication, snap shots, deduplication and encryption capabilities.
Lucas Mearian covers storage, disaster recovery and business continuity, financial services infrastructure and health care IT for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at @lucasmearian or subscribe to Lucas's RSS feed. His e-mail address is lmearian@computerworld.com.
