Calvin Zito Twitter: @HPStorageGuy) introduced us to this event.
What I liked about Calvin’s introduction was the way he wove HP’s previous forays, trials and tribulations included, into where HP Storage is today, and melded them with his personal experiences working with and in HP’s storage efforts over the three decades that he has worked there.
After the history lesson – thanks, Professor Z. – we got to it.
Before anyone else got the bug, HP has been developing, fine-tuning, and evangelizing the concept of a converged infrastructure for years. For years!
Seriously, they have.
I was first introduced to HP’s Converged Infrastructure back in 2009 at HP Tech Forum.
At that time, the concept seemed quite esoteric, especially for me.
Over the years, they have refined it, but still kept the basic precepts that make it attainable.
Going forward, HP informed us that they have identified the following major infrastructure trends:
These trends, without a doubt, should be quite obvious to any industry observer.
Converged infrastructure, is the key.
I believe that anyone or company that makes an error in their selection of a converged infrastructure will come to rue that decision.
While you can make in-line changes to your software-defined datacenter, and you can probably replace your cloud platform and/or provider without a burp in the delivery of services to your users, if the foundational part of your computing environment isn’t sound, you would have built yourself a house of cards.
Conclusions
During the frantic bidding that led up to the purchase of 3PAR by HP, I often wondered if HP wasn’t needlessly overpaying. This, despite having guest of 3PAR before the initial Dell deal was announced, and see the great technology 3PAR had.
It has made sense since.
It makes even more sense now.
Why?
When I talk to folks in storage within and outside HP, the general consensus is that Dell just missed out on the steal-of-the-century at the initial merger price, and that kudos were in order to HP for the swift integration of 3PAR.
More importantly, the 3PAR acquisition has allowed HP to be able to further fine-tune HP converged infrastructure, and make the creation of its software-defined datacenter offerings an easier task.
That has created a new dynamism around HP Storage that is palpable, infectious, as one sees long time HP staffers such as Calvin Zito and LaMills Garrett (Twitter: @BitsBytesMills) get pretty pumped about what they currently offer, and what they have in their pipeline.
Now on to the 3PAR deep dive in Part II of this blog series on HP Storage Tech Day 2013.
© 2002 – 2013, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited
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