HP to Jointly Develop and OEM With Hitachi on High-End, Multiplatform SAN Technology
Building on what has been a successful nine-year relationship, HP and Hitachi, Ltd., in conjunction with its global marketing arm,
Hitachi Data Systems, have announced joint technology and OEM agreements for enterprise-storage subsystems aimed at expanding each companies presence in the rapidly-growing storage area network (SAN) market.
Under the terms of the joint technology agreement, the R&D arms of each firm are cooperating on the design, development and enhancement of enterprise-storage projects. Initial results of this cooperative effort are incorporated into HP's SureStore E Disk Array MC256. Under the OEM agreement, HP will OEM Hitachi’s high-end array technology products, cooperatively enhancing them with HP-contributed firmware and Fibre Channel technology to improve open-system performance.
David Hill, an analyst with The Abeerdeen Group, says it’s a “win-win development for … IS buyers,” but foresees trouble ahead for HP’s relationship with EMC. Read more in Aberdeen’s
”HP ESBU: Bravely Betting Its Future on Open Storage Area Networks” abstract.