HP Attacks Remote Backup Problems With New Storage Offerings

Hewlett-Packard today unveiled multiple networked storage products the company says will help customers better protect data.

The new products are designed to help solve the problem of the lack of backups to hard drives and PCs, which makes data vulnerable. HP is attacking the problem with new offerings that include a combination of network-attached storage devices, Fibre Channel devices for storage area networks, and a data backup appliance.

The products include the HP SureStore NetStorage 6000 NAS appliance, the HP SureStore AutoBackup appliance, and an 8-port Fibre Channel switch. The NetStorage 6000 will store as much as 36 Gbytes of data and plug into existing Ethernet networks. Priced at $25,000 to $52,000, depending on the configuration, the appliance will also support both Unix and Windows 2000.

The AutoBackup PC25/PC100 are backup appliances for mobile and desktop PCs that automate backup in a way that requires no user interaction and release recovered data quickly through a built-in CD writer. HP says the machines can be installed and running in 15 minutes. The PC25 is priced at $4,500, and the PC100 is $10,000.

HP will resell the Fibre Channel switch, which can provide a storage area network with unlimited capacity, through an original equipment manufacturer relationship with Brocade Communications Systems Inc.

HP will ship the 6000 NAS appliance and the PC25/PC100 backup appliances May 1. The switch will be available in June.