HP unveils infra solution for mid-sized businesses

HP Philippines yesterday launched an infrastructure solution, HP BladeSystem c3000, specifically designed for the Global 500,000 sites or the mid-sized and growing companies.

In an intimate product presentation to the Cebu media held at the Parklane Hotel, Veronica Escalante, HP Philippines Industry Standard Servers Product Manager, said this new product, also dubbed as “Shorty,” is one of HP’s key breakthroughs aligned with its mission “to let companies embrace technology as a business edge, something that will enable their businesses to become more successful.”

“Shorty” is a complete suite of BladeSystem enclosure for smaller technology sites, branch offices and remote locations making it tailored fit for the Cebu business environment.

Escalante said the birth of this innovation is the marriage of technology and business as most businesses nowadays cannot survive without technology.

Based on an HP research, around two-thirds of mid-size businesses want technology to meet their specific needs, hence the creation of “Shorty” following the launch of the HP BladeSystem c7000 last year, which was designed for bigger corporations.

Intended for companies not equipped with a complete pool of IT people, the HP BladeSystem c3000 is simple at the same time useful. Its implementation requires no special power, cooling or staff, easing midsize customers’ ability to gain the benefits of a fully bladed environment.

“The c3000 is versatile enough to grow with business, truly a deploy anywhere, do anything infrastructure that is easy to manage,” Escalante said.

Moreover, the simple, all-in-one design of the HP BladeSystem c3000 reduces the time and cost it takes to deploy new business applications, therefore lessening the operating expenses of a company thereby enabling fast return of investments that can be used to reinvest in business.

“Shorty” saves up to 30% power and cooling, storage area networking connection costs is slashed up to 60%, cabling is reduced by up to 75% cutting on costs and complexity, and at breakeven costs at three to five server blades. It is pegged at a standard retail price of P550,000.

HP BladeSystem c3000 also comes equipped with HP StorageWorks All-In-One SB600c, which protects business from the start with easy-to-use backup, archiving and disaster recovery capabilities.

Also, customers can back up data within the c3000 using the HP StorageWorks Ultrium 448c Tape Blade, which provides data protection for all servers and associated storage.

On the other hand, clients with space and staff constraints can likewise take advantage of the benefits that this bladed infrastructure delivers.

The rack-based c3000 features a compact 10.5-inch-high design that fits up to eight blades, plugs into a standard 110- or 220-volt wall outlet and provides easy-to-connect networking.

The tower version of the c3000, expected to be available towards the end of the year, is outfitted with the same features and will require only two square feet of floor space.

The c3000 has full compatibility with the existing line of HP BladeSystem c-Class servers and network connectivity options. It also supports the HP ProLiant, Integrity and StorageWorks server and storage blades.