30 Minute Interview

‘Storage consolidation can help any enterprise transform its IT environment’

At the HP StorageWorks 2007 event in Vietnam, Bob Schultz, senior vice president and general manager, StorageWorks Division, HP talked to Faiz Askari about HP’s storage business, the challenges faced by CIOs and adaptive infrastructure.

Bob Schultz

Was 2006 a good year for HP storage? Can you tell us about your plans for 2007?

We continue to maintain our number one position in SAN Shipments which is a potential growth segment. The same is true of our experience vis-a-vis total disk storage revenue. The profitability level has gone up in the tape segment, from the last couple of years. With all this growth, we have strengthened our presence amongst SMEs. The success of HP’s All-in-One product portfolio is a good example of HP’s penetration and acceptance among the SMBs and SMEs.

For 2007, we will continue to strengthen our presence is all verticals where we have already made an impact. We will also going to expand our coverage and reach by further enhancing our market network.

What are the challenges faced by CIOs with regard to storage infrastructure and is storage consolidation the answer to these?

Businesses are growing exponentially, data is growing exponentially and in such a scenario the role of a CIO becomes more demanding. Their biggest challenges are increased complexity, lack of flexibility of solutions and high TCO.

HP is focusing on consolidation because storage consolidation can help any enterprise transform its IT environment and dramatically increase its productivity by adding value to its business. Regardless of the approach taken, HP offers integrated consolidation solutions that can help an organisation standardise and simplify the storage environment in a flexible and systematic way.

In what way does HP help CIOs tackle these challenges?

We always cater to the demands of CIOs. Here, we answer these queries of CIOs through consolidation and virtualisation. Through this approach three aspects will attract IT managers. These are agility, simplicity and enhanced efficiency.

We have heard a lot about Adaptive Infrastructure. Is this concept catching on in the market?

Adaptive Infrastructure is the best example of HP’s focus towards consolidation. Through Adaptive infrastructure we offer an automated infrastructure and 24/7 support for the same. I am sure the way business is moving and organisations are continuously upgrading their services, they expects a value added service for their IT infrastructure as it has become their business backbone.

Companies need a consolidated and comprehensive solution for their business needs. HP adaptive infrastructure provides a set of key enablers. This solution also going to present integrated offerings that drive gains across broad areas of any organisation’s data centre—including IT systems, power and cooling, management, security, virtualisation, and automation. However, these enablers are designed to move an organisation’s IT requirements from high-cost IT islands to low-cost pools of IT assets—breaking down the rigid silos in your data centre so you can do more with less.

What are the strategic benefits of this implementation for any enterprise?

Through these initiatives, HP is changing the economics of management in the data centre by eliminating 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. By unifying server and storage management, HP enables customers to simplify their IT environments without sacrificing control.