HP unifies server and storage management, bridging data center "islands".

HP has introduced a suite of storage resource management software that bridges the islands of server and storage management prevalent in data centers today.

The first storage offering in the company's roadmap for a unified server and storage management architecture, HP Storage Essentials enables customers to simplify IT infrastructure administration and drive collaboration without compromising control.

"No other vendor is providing consolidated storage and server management that is this tightly integrated," said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "This is a better way to manage infrastructure. It is a holistic heterogeneous management that will provide greater insight into IT issues that impact business practices."

HP Storage Essentials integrates seamlessly with HP Systems Insight Manager, the company's cross-server and storage management platform, which is provided at no cost with HP server and storage systems and enables basic storage management functions.

HP Storage Essentials is a suite of standards-based, value-added plug-ins that offers advanced storage functionality from HP and its partners, beyond HP Systems Insight Manager, including integrated heterogeneous functionality for storage area network (SAN) management, storage resource management, provisioning and application infrastructure monitoring.

"Simply put, HP is changing the economics of management in the data center by eliminating the management islands. Because we deliver basic infrastructure management with HP servers, BladeSystems and storage platforms, customers can start their journey to the Adaptive Enterprise without a large investment," said Bob Schultz, senior vice president and general manager, StorageWorks Division, HP. "And, by unifying server and storage management, HP enables customers to simplify their IT environments without sacrificing control."

HP Storage Essentials improves application infrastructure monitoring and provides the ability to quickly align storage tiers with user needs. By helping to virtualize and automate server and storage management, the software enables customers to swiftly shift resources and capacity, key elements of HP's Adaptive Enterprise strategy in which business and IT are synchronized to capitalize on change.

Each HP Storage Essentials plug-in is factory tested to easily integrate into the HP Systems Insight Manager platform. For even greater extensibility, both HP Systems Insight Manager and HP Storage Essentials are built using the latest in industry standards, such as J2EE, SMI-S, WBEM and WMI. This enables server and storage management infrastructure to support both HP-developed and third-party technology, allowing customers to use the technology most appropriate to their needs.

HP Storage Essentials is the first result of a new original equipment manufacturer (OEM) relationship between HP's StorageWorks Division and AppIQ. As part of a long-term agreement, HP will OEM AppIQ's Storage Authority Enterprise Edition product line. In addition, HP and AppIQ will collaborate on engineering and future product development.

"AppIQ has worked closely with HP to advance the creation, adoption and deployment of industry standards," said David Lemont, president and chief executive officer, AppIQ. "As a result of our work together, we believe that HP can provide a level of truly unified storage and server management that extends beyond what the market is delivering today, and offers IT organizations new ways to increase productivity, efficiency and service levels."