Sun beefs up modular arrays Sun has upgraded its StorageTek modular array line with two new products using tried and tested ingredients to take capacity up to 448TB. After launching its Sun-branded 7000 unified storage line last November the company has now refreshed its comparatively bare modular arrays with the StorageTek 6580 and 6780. The 7000 line …
My EVA roadmap doesn't have anything labelled "6440" or "6840". It does have two other numbers though, but I think they're still NDA so we'll have to play "Guess The Moniker".
The previous models were the 4000, 6000 and 8000, the current EVA range is the 4100, 6100 and 8100, and the first new product in the new range is the 4400.....
Well, it is a large part of the sales that keep hp the number one disk storage vendor (according to IDC anyway). The fact that they do what the customer wants, are reliable and expandable, and have good management tools, integration and support, all at a very competitive price, seems to make them popular with the customers.
As to OEMing anything from HDS, other than the XP range which hp get directly from Hitachi, the traffic is flowing the other way with HDS OEMing the hp management software.
Getting back to the article, Sun will need the new arrays to turn a profit in extreme amounts to even come close to balancing the $4bn they handed over for StorageTek.
You are joking aren't you? Whilst Hitachi's high end USP kit is a strong system, when you look at their mid range offering its just sooo painful to manage. HDS USP and EMC DMX work at the high end, cos generally there's a team of folks in the IT dept just to manage that platform. In the mid range market, chances are managing storage is just part of your job, so its got to be simple and quick... which the AMS kit most definately isn't... someone in HP would have to have a screw loose to replace the EVA with AMS...
Sun may be relatively small in the Storage market, but they grew the fastest with two straight quarters of 25% growth, while IBM shrunk and HP has a meager 3.5% growth in the last quarter alone. Of course they are growing from a lower starting point, but as the following article points out they could be approaching NetAPP and HDS very quickly:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/08/idc_q308_disk_storage_numbers/
Lol, all I did was try and correct the innaccurate EVA numbering, put your bitterness on hold for a sec. It is probably in your interest to learn about some other vendor's kit seeing as StorageTek will only be around for long if Southern Asset Management sell it on to someone.
RE: Re: Sun Launches new storage
"Sun may be relatively small in the Storage market, but they grew the fastest with two straight quarters of 25% growth...." 25% of next to nothing is still next to nothing, which is why SUn is still bleeding red ink. A comparison of revenues and margin, especially on the associated services and software pull through, would be more interesting but probably not as kind to Sun.
RE: Poor Matt
"He hasn't been told about the new stuff from HP that everyone else knows about...." Having seen the lack of knowledge of anything non-Sun displayed by the Sunshiners here I can't say I'm worried by the idea. Kind of spooky though - I do have to go to Coventry later this week! But that's about another Superdome and XP project, nothing to do with EVA.
Seeing the ignorance you display about anything non-HP is nothing short of hilarious.
Let's see - "slowaris" - obviously you've not used Solaris in many many years (if at all)
You clearly have an inferiority complex when it comes to Sun because every time Sun is mentioned you go on the offensive - double entendre intended.
So scuttle back under that HP rock and pretend that HP is actually used in the real world and doesn't make most of it's revenue from ink sales.
"25% of next to nothing is still next to nothing"
Once again, you need to hone up on your reading skills Matt. Sun is less than 1% from HDS and NetAPP in storage. Seeing how Sun is growing at more than double the rate of HDS and NetAPP, I would say it will not take long for Sun to catch up to these storage "powers". You apparently use HDS and NetAPP gear, so you must see some value in them.
As the author implies, this is not a small feat. Admit it Matt, Sun may be achieving something here and even you will eventually have to take notice.
No experience on 3Par or Pillar, but I can say categorically that the EVA management and provisioning is way, way ahead of the the others mentioned above. I can't really see how provisioning or on going management could be made much easier without some form of telepathy.
But I do like the look of ZFS and fishworks, maybe someone with a decent marketing team should really OEM it.
HP OEM HItachi arrays as XP, as do Hitachi Data Systems as USP. IBM OEM Netapp as the N-Series.
"....Let's see - "slowaris" - obviously you've not used Solaris in many many years (if at all)...." OK, apart from the old Sol 8 and 9 kit we still have, let's see now - evaluated Slowaris on Niagara against hp-ux 11i v3 on Integrity, and the Sun was slower (especially on a key Java benchmark); evaluated Slowaris x86 on hp blades against Red Hat and Windows 2k3, and both were faster than Slowaris and didn't have even a fraction as many issues; and I have recently completed a benchmark session of one of our Integrity Superdomes running a mix of hp-ux and Windows 2k8 partitions (for MS SQL) against a stack of Sun blades running Windows 2k8 and an M8000 running Slowaris 10 and Oracle - the Sun blades fell over almost daily, the M8000 couldn't keep up, and the whole Sun solution was more expensive and needed more monitoring and management than the hp solution. So, in my experience, the Slowaris moniker Sun earned by previous disappointing and expensive performance is still very valid.
"....You clearly have an inferiority complex when it comes to Sun because every time Sun is mentioned you go on the offensive...." Well, after years of having to suffer the continual bleating of the Sun sheeple going on about how wonderful Sun is it's only fair you get a measure in return. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. If it's Sun's kitchen you're in then I suggest you get out sooner rather than later.
"....So scuttle back under that HP rock and pretend that HP is actually used in the real world and doesn't make most of it's revenue from ink sales." Thanks, but I like the view out here in the real world. But I have to point out your very limited view from under your Sun Rock (haha, that's a symbolic Rock, seeing as Sun can't get a real one out of the door) meant you forgot the profit hp also makes on servers, storage and software, amongst other product ranges. In fact, seeing as Sun hasn't made a profit for ages, it's pretty safe to claim any hp product range is more profitable than the whole of Sun put together. Especially the printer and ink bizz. :P
"....I would say it will not take long for Sun to catch up to these storage "powers"....." So you admit Sun is playing catch-up, then? Of course, those "powers" aren't standing still either, they are also developing and innovating, and they have profits to fund their activities whilst Sun is rapidly running through it's reserves.
".....As the author implies, this is not a small feat. Admit it Matt, Sun may be achieving something here and even you will eventually have to take notice." The problem (for you, that is) is that Sun have failed as a server bizz, and the StorageTek bizz doesn't have the ability to stand on it's own feet inside Sun without the rest of Sun dragging it down. It is very obvious Sun is trying to transition to just being a software bizz, and that means StorageTek will be hived off as the only bit of sellable bizz to fund Ponytail's cloud daydreams. Amusingly, the only credible name I hear for a buyer is NetApp!
"....then writes 3000 word rants in full-on FUD overdrive...." Ah, you must be the Sunshiner that calculates the SPARC performance figures seeing as your counting is obviously a little weak, or maybe gross exaggeration is just endemic in Sunshinerville. My previous post was only 191 words (well, plus six for the title). I also can't help noticing you don't seem to be doing a good job of disproving any of my "FUD", or could that be because you can't?
(PS: This is only 634 words).
"....One I don't think anyone really cares about reading." Well if you don't like reading them then I suggest you stick to reading Sun press releases, they'll probably be more to your liking. Well, for a while anyway, after that you'll have to find a new company to get all misty-eyed over.
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