Not Extreme Storage, but Beyond Storage

HP just announced a new solution offering, the HP StorageWorks 9100 Extreme Data Storage System (ExDS9100), positioned as an ideal platform to deploy streaming media applications. But don’t let the name fool you – the new HP system is much more than another storage array.

The HP ExDS9100 offers rack-mounted, factory-integrated hardware, including an HP ProLiant c7000 BladeSystem with up to 16 blades, as well as HP StorageWorks disk controllers and drive enclosures supporting up to 820 disks (820 TB of raw storage capacity with 1 TB disks). These hardware components utilize the latest industry-standard technologies to provide high-density computing power and storage resources in an environmentally friendly fashion. Although the HP hardware is impressive, it doesn’t make the new HP offering uniquely distinctive. And a near-petabyte storage platform is quite scalable, but not so extreme today.

The secret-sauce of the HP Extreme Data Storage System is the PolyServe Matrix Server technology, which HP now owns through its 2007 acquisition of PolyServe. A key component of this technology is the HP Clustered File System (previously known as the PolyServe File System). The Matrix Server architecture uses the clustered file system to provide high-speed data I/O to clustered applications up to 16 nodes. One well-known implementation of this cluster technology is scalable NAS file serving, using the cluster as a NAS server to transmit data via network file protocols (such as NFS and CIFS) to other application servers or network clients. This implementation – a NFS file serving solution – is available from HP as the StorageWorks Enterprise File Services Clustered Gateway. However, the performance advantage of this architecture is fully unleashed when the applications, such as databases or streaming media, are running on the clustered servers and transmit data via direct I/O to the file system (without the overhead of network file protocols) – as implemented in the Extreme Data Storage System.

The product concept of Extreme Data Storage capitalizes on HP’s extensive experiences in providing scalable storage solutions for a variety of customers using HP PolyServe coupled with HP storage arrays. The new HP ExDS solution is designed to offer customers optimal scalability, density, ease-of-use, and affordability for their digital media and Web 2.0 deployments. ExDS in fact offers more than just a high-density storage platform; it provides a clustered application platform that is optimized for high-speed data I/O. The HP ExDS is a great example of the value that system vendors can bring to the storage market beyond innovations to the storage systems alone. It provides customers with a complete, integrated, and fully supported system solution that reduces the total cost of storing and accessing business data.