HP extends virtual systems management

HP Thursday introduced an expanded software suite designed to help data-center managers rapidly and accurately deploy new technologies and more quickly recover remote servers in the event of a failure.

HP's Insight Orchestration and Insight Recovery are add-on software applications for HP Insight Dynamics – VSE, the vendor's physical and virtual systems management product. Insight Orchestration uses visual design tools that let systems administrators create multi-node, multi-tier templates for data-center infrastructure. With the templates on hand, systems administrators can then use Insight Orchestration to more quickly deploy new infrastructure with the needed storage and network resources automatically associated with the physical or virtual servers.

"Systems administrators can create a catalog of best practice templates from which to choose and they won't need to spend the time redefining requirements when the business demands more data center resources," says Mark Linesch, vice president of HP Insight Software.

Insight Recovery is designed to reduce the "risk associated with downtime," he says. The software provides disaster-recovery capabilities for systems administrators running blade systems with a mix of physical and virtual servers. The product is designed for customers with multiple locations or branch offices that might need to restart applications remotely. The software works with VMware hypervisors and allows for site-to-site replication and connects to HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array-based products running Continuous Access data-replication software with HP ProLiant servers.

Both applications run on the same server systems that administrators have deployed Insight Dynamics on, Linesch explains, and can be purchased separately as optional software when customers need them.

"These are practical tools that increase productivity and ultimately save people money," Linesch says. "IT organizations today need to be looking to save every watt of energy, every hour of labor and every dollar they spend so they can become more flexible and respond to business needs."

HP Insight Dynamics – VSE suite for ProLiant is licensed on a per server basis. Server prices range from $1,195 to $1,495. There are 8- and 16-license packages offered with built-in discounts, prices range from $7,960 to $20,720 ($995 to $1,295 per server).

For Insight Recovery, the U.S. list price per server is $995, or the 8- and 16-license packages are at $945 per server (8 licenses for $7,560 and 16 licenses for $15,120). For Insight Orchestration, the U.S. list price per server is $795, or the 8- and 16-license packages are at $695 per server (8 licenses for $5,560 and 16 licenses for $11,120).

These offerings are available this month directly from HP or through qualified channel partners.