ICC 4 IT Blog

HP today announced new disk-based backup systems with data deduplication technology that increases disk utilization by up to 50 times⁽¹⁾ to deliver scalable solutions that reduce storage costs and protect business critical data.

Data deduplication technology eliminates redundant data from a disk storage device to lower storage space requirements. The technology enables customers to reduce floor space and lower energy consumption by decreasing storage capacity requirements. It also helps them minimize administrative overhead by retaining data on disk for longer periods of time.

HP provides two distinct methods of data deduplication to address the demands of customers of different sizes. For small and midsize (SMB) customers, HP has integrated this functionality into the HP StorageWorks D2D Backup Systems (D2D). For enterprise customers, HP offers deduplication with the HP StorageWorks Virtual Library Systems (VLS).

Forty-five percent⁽²⁾ more affordable than similar systems, “dynamic” deduplication in the HP D2D 2500 and 4000 systems change the economics of data protection for SMBs. Easy to deploy and simple to manage, these solutions provide SMBs and businesses with branch sites the assurance that their data is protected and can be quickly recovered.

“Accelerated” deduplication in the HP VLS offers fast data backups. Enterprise customers can improve business productivity with market-leading⁽³⁾ scalability and performance by easily adding disks and nodes as needed. These capabilities, coupled with reliable data recovery features, allow customers to create a data center environment that delivers 24/7 availability.

“Disk-based backup systems can enhance data protection for a business of any size. Integrating deduplication technologies allows customers to leverage up to 50 times more capacity to ensure their business has faster and reliable access to stored data,” said Dave Russell, vice president, Gartner. “Deduplication technology is poised to transform the backup and recovery marketplace.”

HP data deduplication technology for the VLS and D2D enables customers to automate and remotely manage the systems with low-bandwidth replication. This provides data center managers the ability to back up data remotely without manual intervention, thereby reducing staffing costs. Utilizing disk-based backup for remote locations reduces overhead by consolidating tape hardware into a single site.

“The ability to scale capacity and performance, coupled with affordability, provides customers of all sizes a capacity-efficient, disk-based backup system to meet their needs,” said Bob Wilson, vice president and general manager, Storage Platforms Division, HP StorageWorks. “HP continues to set new industry standards by investing in technology that delivers an ideal balance of price and performance for each customer segment.”

To provide data protection for micro and small businesses, HP also introduced the new HP StorageWorks RDX Removable Disk Backup Systems (RDX160 and RDX320). These disk backup solutions are easy to use and affordable, and they allow small businesses to store data off-site as part of their disaster recovery plan.

Store more for less

HP D2D Backup Systems emulate up to 16 LTO tape autoloaders or libraries and consolidate backup of up to 16 servers onto a single network-connected device.

Key benefits of D2D dynamic deduplication:

• Maximizes disk space via synchronous backup operations that deduplicate data as it is stored to the disk.
• Reduces the amount of disk and memory required to deduplicate data by leveraging proprietary technology created by HP Labs, the company’s central research and development arm.
• Improves productivity and eliminates the need for training with a fully functional graphical user interface that does not require complex command lines for configuration.
• Optimizes investment of primary backup system through compatibility with new versions of software and applications.

High performance, scalable protection

HP VLS emulates multiple tape libraries or drives for data centers to reliably back up large amounts of data with quick data restores in the event of a disaster.

Key benefits of VLS accelerated deduplication:

• Improves performance by deduplicating data after the backup has completed writing to the disk.
• Ensures scalability of performance and capacity by easily adding nodes, while providing a single backup location for data contained on multiple servers.
• Accelerates data restores by maintaining only the most recent copy of backup data while eliminating duplicate data from previous backups.
• Simplifies management with a user interface that automatically monitors itself, configures storage, load balances performance and conducts diagnostics.

More information about deduplication for HP D2D and VLS is available at www.hp.com/go/deduplication; more information on HP RDX Removable Disk Backup Systems is available at www.hp.com/go/RDX.

Pricing and availability⁽⁴⁾

The HP StorageWorks D2D 2500 and 4000 systems are available now, please contact I.C.C. Sales.

Accelerated deduplication is available for license with the HP StorageWorks VLS6600 and VLS9000 series and will be available in July. Licensing for the VLS6200 and VLS12000 models will be available in September. Pricing is based on physical capacity.

ICC is pleased to announce that we have just secured a 24 hour contract for one of Europe’s largest Telecommunications companies, offering full support for their Alphaserver GS1280 platform, these machine’s are located oversea’s and has enabled us to expand our presence further into Europe outside of the British Isle’s. Original tenders for the contract took place in early 2006, and we were awarded the contract over another three major service provider’s. “obtaining this contract once more adds confidence to exisiting and future clients, who are looking for alternative young vibrant support organisations” commented MD Leon Wheeler.

Over the last 3 months ICC commissioned an independent market research company to carry out a survey to over 25,000 companies from large corporates to SME’s including existing clients to see what customers looked for in their IT supplier. This survey was carried out in order for us to review our products and services to ensure we were still meeting customers expectations. After obtaining all the information from our customers we are pleased to be able to release the results from this survey that shows that 92% of all customers new and old find that dealing with ICC meets and exceeds all there requirements over other Suppliers.

To see the full survey results please click here.

HP enhances key attributes of OpenVMS with version 8.3 supporting the latest line of HP Integrity servers and AlphaServer systems. Now, you can achieve higher levels of performance and price/performance.

OpenVMS version 8.3 delivers even greater flexibility and investment protection along with lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and additional virtualization capabilities for HP Integrity servers. New clustering and data-shadowing functions further increase performance levels in disaster-tolerant environments, and additional security capabilities enhance the OpenVMS reputation for secure, rapid application delivery.

With OpenVMS version 8.3, you can choose to deploy HP Integrity servers as your business needs require. The mixed architecture clusters of Integrity servers and AlphaServer systems are fully supported, promoting the integration of HP Integrity servers into an OpenVMS environment at the pace directed by your business needs.

Licensing and service plans for OpenVMS on HP Integrity servers offer reduced complexity, increased cost-effectiveness, and greater flexibility. OpenVMS version 8.3 also supports the full line of HP AlphaServer systems.

Today, more than 1,000 applications are, or will soon be, available on OpenVMS on HP Integrity servers. And the number of available applications is continually growing. The enthusiastic base of HP OpenVMS partners are ready to help you deploy the applications that keep your business running smoothly.

HP OpenVMS is the operating environment of choice for many of the world’s most demanding enterprises because it delivers these no-compromise attributes every day, year after year:

• Up to 100% application availability
• Unyielding security
• Robust disaster tolerance
• Scalability to millions of users
• Steadfast reliability
• Ease of management
• Exceptional price/performance

Hewlett-Packlard has introduced a new version of the HP-UX 11i operating system and a new range of HP Integrity servers to help make mission-critical virtualisation practical for businesses of all sizes.

The latest release of HP’s Unix operating environment, HP-UX 11i v3, makes virtualisation easier to deploy and delivers mission-critical virtualisation by combining virtualisation and mainframe-class availability, said HP. Also, with HP-UX 11i v3, important applications, including business intelligence and datawarehousing, are now simpler to secure and manage.

Additionally, HP has strengthened its HP Integrity server line-up with a model for BladeSystem c-Class environments and a new rack-optimised unit, the Integrity rx2660 entry-class server.
The HP Integrity BL860c Server Blade is the first Integrity model designed for the HP BladeSystem c-Class portfolio, HP’s new blade architecture. And the HP Integrity rx2660 is the lowest-priced Integrity rack-mount server and the most flexible and versatile unit in its Unix server class, said HP.

HP claimed the rx2660 beat similar entry-level offerings from Sun Microsystems on performance when it came to Java application and Java business workloads.
A base configuration of the HP Integrity BL860c Server Blade has a starting US list price of $3,827 (£2,015) and is expected to begin shipping in March. A base configuration of the HP Integrity rx2660 entry-class server has a starting US list price of $4,931 (£2,600) and is shipping now.

ICC are pleased to announce that we are now authorised resellers of SUMO thin client products.
Over the last few years we have seen many of our clients moving away from the traditional “dumb terminal” and moving towards windows based terminals. It was therefore necessary for us to choose a product that we believe was a suitable alternative to the terminal products we had sold in the past and after reviewing what manufacturers were offering we have chosen to use SUMO as our preferred and approved product.
Please see our thin client page for more details of SUMO products

ICC is pleased to announce that they have secured yet another service contract for one of the worlds largest pharmaceutical research companies namely Aptuit at their Edinburgh based site. The service support contract chosen by Aptuit covers their development Alphaserver Cluster.

ICC will be supporting Aptuit 24 hours a day 365 days a year with a 4 hour response level. “securing this contract once again adds another high profile client to our ever increasing support client list, our heavy investment into this area of our business with personnel and in-house facilities, ensures that any future customer, or current customer can be assured they are receiving market leading support without the the usual heavy costs associated with the manufacturers maintenance agreement that so many companies choose to adopt”

“At ICC we are trying to re-educate clients to realise that sticking with the manufacturers for support is not always the most reliable and cost effective way to run their I. T. platform, as companies have realised over the last few years that it is not always the best option to buy equipment direct from the manufacturer, we are confident that with the right attributed and procedures in place we can steer our clients in the direction of using our services, and increasing their cover but also reducing their annual costs”

The deadline for AlphaServer final orders is October 27, 2006 with HP Options and upgrades will be available for another year past that date, until November 2, 2007. HP wants every AlphaServer customer to have opportunity to make AlphaServer system final orders, if it’s appropriate.

HP recommends - for your AlphaServer environments
Generally, AlphaServer customers who plan to continue running their AlphaServer environments should refresh their plans to:
. Update to current operating environment versions where it’s practical, and cluster where 2 or more machines are running critical workloads, for optimal ROI.
. Consider AlphaServer GS1280 - a customer favourite for consolidation. Consolidation alone may dramatically improve the ROI for workloads distributed across multi-system AlphaServer environments.

Click here to view HP AlphaServer’s evolution/roadmap

HP OpenVMS v8.2 is a new release for both HP Integrity servers and AlphaServer systems. This new OpenVMS version enhances its key properties of security, scalability, availability, performance, and interoperability with UNIX.

The ability to deploy various generations of AlphaServer technology while incorporating Integrity servers offers bottom-line investment protection. The combination of HP Integrity servers and AlphaServer systems can enhance your computing environments by capitalizing on the economies of an industry-standard architecture while adding value through HP innovation.

You now have the choice of staying with the AlphaServer platform for years to come, or moving to Integrity servers. Your application investments are protected because the vast majority of Alpha-based OpenVMS applications need only be recompiled, relinked, and tested in order to run on Integrity servers. Moreover, mixed architecture clusters of HP Integrity servers and AlphaServer systems is fully supported, promoting the incorporation of Integrity servers into an OpenVMS environment when you determine it should be done.

OpenVMS v8.2 is now available for HP Integrity rx4640-8, rx2620-2, and rx1620-2 servers as well as for the entire family of AlphaServer systems. OpenVMS will be available on the full line of entry-level, mid-range, and high-end Integrity servers, including the HP Superdome Server, by the first half of 2006.

ICC has won the maintenance agreement with a large county police constabulary, covering their administration systems, which operate on Compaq AlphaServers running Tru64 Unix. The contract covers their systems 24 hours a day, 365 days per year on a 4 hour response.

“Obtaining this contract once again adds confidence and commitment from ICC on the service level agreement that has been chosen by our client, strengthening our out of hours support services. This will in turn allow us to tender for other 24 hour contracts because of having the facilities and personnel in place.”