INDUSTRY

HP today became the first storage and server vendor to articulate a comprehensive Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) initiative for the active management of data -- from creation to deletion -- based on changing application and business needs. HP's ILM solutions, delivered by HP in concert with its partners, increase the ability of businesses to respond to change by actively controlling data, assisting end users in meeting stringent retention requirements and tapping into the value of reference information. HP's solutions provide customers with ILM technologies today and present a clear path toward automated ILM. "Although ILM may be a new term, it's not a new concept for HP. We bring years of successful, real-world implementation and integration experience in related areas, backed by the industry's broadest portfolio of solutions and a full complement of partnerships," said Bob Schultz, senior vice president and general manager, HP Network Storage Solutions. "ILM solutions from HP actively manage information according to changing business relevance and lay the foundation for policy-based, automated ILM on an enterprise-wide scale." The millions of files in an enterprise -- many of which are continuously changing as business data changes -- are subject to layers of business and legal requirements. HP's ILM solutions deliver the flexibility and adaptability to assist in applying these requirements to each piece of data. For an adaptive enterprise in which business and IT are perfectly synchronized, ILM solutions help ensure that rapid change does not interfere with corporate governance objectives. HP's ILM solutions incorporate a wide range of storage technologies -- including disk, tape, optical and software -- and servers, as well as HP Services. HP already offers backup and recovery, data replication, e-mail archiving, data archiving and data sanitization services for ILM today. HP's open ILM partnering model is delivered through HP's ILM partner program (http://www.hp.com/go/ilmdspp) to reduce the confusion and risk of working with numerous vendors by integrating targeted ILM solutions. In addition, HP's partnering strategy enables it to deliver a complete solution quickly. "New legislation and regulations related to information privacy and retention have brought about a wave of litigation," said John McArthur, group vice president for storage research, IDC. "Companies can reduce their risk, however, by implementing a comprehensive information life-cycle management (ILM) system. In selecting suppliers, customers should look towards companies that have not only experience and technology to address ILM needs, but also a partnering strategy that leverages existing customer investments. As a major systems vendor with significant system integration and systems management expertise, HP has developed a sound and comprehensive ILM vision." HP ILM Industries and Partners HP's initial industry focus is on financial services and healthcare, where there is an acute need for ILM solutions. HP also is targeting the burgeoning ILM market in life sciences, and future HP ILM solutions will be geared toward public sector customers. Through its ILM partner program, HP is working with IXOS, LEGATO and Persist to meet the needs of the financial services sector. HP is partnering with Avamar, CommVault, IXOS, KVS, LEGATO, Mirapoint and Persist on e-mail archiving solutions and services that help customers satisfy compliance requirements. HP partners with CommVault and QStar to deliver hierarchical storage management solutions. Serving healthcare customers, HP works with leading independent software vendors to integrate with Picture Archive and Communications Systems (PACS) and Healthcare Information Systems. "Gwinnett Health System is pleased with its history working with HP as a key vendor in our efforts to manage data growth issues," said Rick Allen, service line director, IS Operations, Gwinnett Health System. "With the implementation of an HP StorageWorks eva5000, HP enabled us to easily scale our storage capacity to dramatically expand our PACS system and implement several other applications to enhance patient safety. HP has given us the ability to manage the data more effectively and control our long-term storage growth." HP's ILM solutions address three key challenges: -- Retention management: Helping companies comply with myriad regulatory requirements regarding the preservation of electronic documentation. -- Data management: Enabling organizations to actively manage the increased volume of data while maintain service-level objectives such as performance, availability and recovery time, and reducing management costs. -- Reference information management: Extracting value from fixed content such as e-mail and Microsoft(R) Office documents by mining archives for market intelligence and customer relationship management information. The solutions offered by HP provide the framework for delivering additional ILM value and functionality in the future. HP is defining a common data management architecture that enables a common framework for control of both operational and reference data. Through a central console, HP expects to provide a unified way to specify data quality of service and data policies to automate many data movement operations, such as backup and replication. Adaptive Management through Storage Software Adaptive management is the dynamic link between the needs of a business and the technology that meets those needs. Adaptive management provides stability by focusing on control of IT resources, efficiency by optimizing the use of resources and agility by handling the dynamic reallocation of resources to meet business needs. HP's ILM solutions are part of an adaptive management foundation that now includes the company's integrated storage resource management software, HP OpenView Storage Area Manager. By providing application awareness via a new, centralized view of Oracle and Microsoft Exchange storage capacity, HP OpenView Storage Area Manager 3.1 strengthens HP's adaptive management capabilities for ILM and increases administrator efficiency. Detailed reports help companies recover wasted space and improve utilization levels to reduce the cost of managing application- related capacity. Historical trending and growth forecasts allow just-in-time purchase of capacity assets. In addition, graphical mapping of applications to capacity and thresholds to monitor health and utilization help manage application in a storage utility.