HP and Hitachi release virtualisation tools

By Simon Sharwood and Ashley Dean
Thursday, 14 May, 2009

HP’s LeftHand division has released new tools that enable the creation of virtual SANs consisting of the direct-attach storage found in servers.

The new HP LeftHand P4000 SAN Solutions include software that makes it possible, with a little help from VMware.

“If you have three servers, all running VMware ESX, you can turn them into a virtual SAN appliance and use their storage for any application server,” explained Bill Chambers, founder of LeftHand and now Vice President of the LeftHand Networks Division at HP StorageWorks.

HP has also introduced iSCSI new arrays, in blade form factor. The new devices are also virtualisation friendly, but HP has told channel press that the devices offer them high margins, meaning would-be purchasers will need to negotiate hard if the devices suit their needs!

HDS also easing virtualisation

Hitachi Data Systems is also addressing virtualisation issues with its new Hitachi Storage Cluster for Microsoft Hyper-V and Hitachi Storage Replication Adapter for VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager as part of an end-to-end, server-to-storage virtualisation initiative.

Hitachi Storage Cluster for Microsoft Hyper-V combines the key platform capabilities of Microsoft Windows Server 2008, including high availability through Microsoft Multipath I/O, server virtualisation and clustering, with Hitachi Data Systems' storage virtualisation and system-based replication.

The second generation of Hitachi Storage Replication Adapter for VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager adds support for the midrange Hitachi Adaptable Modular Storage (AMS) family. Replication Adapter provides continuous, real-time local and remote replication, as well as automatic failover capabilities.