HP claims price breakthrough with new storage products

HP claims its new HP MSA 1040 Storage system delivers up to 50 percent higher performance than its predecessor at a 25 percent lower starting price.

This new generation of MSA makes it possible for more SMBs to access the resilient shared storage required for initiatives such as server virtualisation. HP claims that it's the most affordable dual-controller storage system available worldwide from a major vendor.

HP has also unveiled the next- generation HP StoreEasy Storage family and enhancements to HP StoreOnce Backup systems. These updates give SMBs affordable and scalable ways to store, manage and protect increasing amounts of data without the need for special IT skills.

All of these solutions are available under the HP Simply StoreIT program, which is part of the HP Just Right IT comprehensive portfolio of products and solutions. These offerings are designed to accelerate the ability of HP channel partners to address customer challenges and pursue new revenue opportunities.

The HP MSA1040 is expected to be available in 1GbE iSCSI, 8Gb Fibre Channel and 10 GbE iSCSI beginning 31 March, with dual-controller configurations starting at $8,786, $10,192 and $11,598, respectively.

The HP StoreEasy Storage is expected to be available on 7 April for a starting price of $3,569.

The HP StoreOnce 4500 48TB expansion shelf is expected to be available on 31 March for a starting price of $77,689. Existing HP StoreOnce 4500 customers can take advantage of the new scalability with a free firmware and software update.