HPE: Keep cool, cloud peeps. Store hot data in on-premises flash

Sets out 3PAR lures to stop hot data going to AWS, Azure

HPE is pushing its 3PAR Flash Now initiative to customers to buy 3PAR StoreServ all-flash storage array technology starting at $0.03 per usable Gigabyte per month. It claims this is a fraction of the cost of public cloud alternatives.

In full market-speak glory, a canned quote from HPE's Bill Philbin, VP and GM for Storage, says: "Helping customers benefit from both technology and consumption flexibility is at the heart of HPE's innovation agenda."

This programme represents, HPE declares, "a comprehensive initiative that brings together the best of on-premises performance, application availability, and control with the convenience and agility of public cloud consumption models."

It is, HPE says, more than just a financing programme, because it includes "technology innovations, programs and services such as HPE Flexible Capacity and Pre-Provisioning" with "multiple complementary technology and support elements". OK, it's a financing programme with bells and whistles:

• Defer payments until new all-flash array is up and running or injecting cash via asset trade-in
• Automated data migration tools at no cost or opt for tailored migration services
• 99.9999 per cent availability guarantee
• Built-in non-disruptive upgrade to next-gen technologies such as storage class memory and NVMe

This last point reminds us of Pure Storage's NVMe-Ready Guarantee.

HPE has also announced its Smart SAN technology can be used directly from StoreServ flash arrays with the latest StoreFabric 32Gbit/s (Gen 6) Fibre Channel portfolio. It can be used to automate orchestration activities like provisioning and HPE claims to be able to reduce provisioning time by up to 90 per cent.

The HPE 3PAR Flash Now program is available worldwide now, as is the StoreFabric 32Gbit/s (Gen 6) Fibre Channel portfolio. ®