HP bolsters Adaptive Infrastructure portfolio

The announcement includes enhancements to HP Insight Dynamics for the Virtual Server Environment (VSE), a platform that manages physical and virtual resources in the same way, and options to integrate Insight Orchestration and Insight Recovery.

HP promised that it will build on this with a number of other product announcements later in the year.

HP's Adaptive Infrastructure is designed to help users move from standalone technology segments to an agile infrastructure in which server environments are simpler to deploy, manage and maintain.

"Cost management and agility are top of mind for chief information officers, yet significant portions of technology budgets are invested in maintenance instead of innovation," said Duncan Campbell, vice president of Adaptive Infrastructure at HP.

"HP is building on our initiative by delivering offerings to meet the challenges customers face today as they scrutinise their technology choices, and to help them emerge strong when the economy improves."

HP Insight Dynamics - VSE now includes enhanced capacity planning features, allowing it to automatically collect and analyse detailed utilisation data not just from HP systems but those of Dell, IBM and other Windows-based x86 serv ers.

In keeping with the growing trend towards virtualisation, Insight Dynamics also now supports HP Integrity Virtual Machines, Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and VMware ESX and ESXi.

The new Insight Orchestration option reduces the time needed to design, configure and deploy new technology by giving administrators the ability to design templates that specify the resources required to run different applications on servers.

When the templates are activated the physical and virtual infrastructure is automatically assigned and configured to those specifications.

The system also includes a web-based portal and an integrated workflow engine to help cut down on user errors. The Insight Orchestration platform is available now on HP ProLiant servers and should be available on HP Integrity servers later this year.

The addition of the new Insight Recovery option is designed to let customers minimise downtime by easily restarting applications running on physical and virtual servers at a remote recovery site. The system is designed to work in environments running on either HP BladeSystem servers or VMware virtual machines.

It is integrated with HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array-based products running Continuous Access data-replication software with HP ProLiant servers.

There are also new flexibility options for the HP Virtual Server Environment for HP Integrity servers, including online migration for HP Integrity Virtual Machines and the ability to move workloads on physical HP Integrity blade servers with drag-and-drop ease.

"The current economic situation is very much about managing costs, driving out unnecessary spend and maintaining business effectiveness," said Martin Riley, marketing manager for Enterprise Storage and Server Software at HP in EMEA.

"For three years HP has been driving the Adaptive Infrastructure initiative, which is very much about how to reduce customers' cost of operation and make them more adaptable and agile for changes in the business environment.

"This year is a very stark reality in terms of the change in the business environment but, with an adaptive infrastructure in place, a customer should be able to scale down in an environment like today, and flex up as they come out of the downturn."

HP has also added four new HP Adaptive Infrastructure Discovery Centres in France, Germany, Malaysia and the US, bringing the total to nine around the world. One of the existing centres is in Australia.

The centres allow customers to explore next-generation datacentre technologies first hand before deciding whether to implement them in their own organisations.

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