Editor's note: The last three posts have focused on the storage consolidation for SMB announcement we did last week. We have posts from Carol Kemp, Lee Johns, and Charles Vallhonrat. Here are links to those posts if you want to read today's post in context:
So with that context, here's today's wrap up on the announcement, focusing on the new HP Virtualization Bundles.
The Complexity of Choice
By Lee Johns
Last week before going on a business trip to the Middle East, I wanted to get a small digital camera. My wife said those immortal words "That should be easy - there is so much choice today". Two days of web research and 4 store visits later I had it narrowed down to 6 possibilities from 4 different manufacturers and none had all the features I now wanted having seen all of the different specifications.
Why am I writing about this here? Well I was thinking how tough the IT industry makes it for customers, with all of the choice we offer. It's not just that we have so many different makes and models from so many manufacturers but in addition to that you have to make them all work together in support of your business goals. With that said I do see a move toward converging different elements of the infrastructure to deliver IT infrastructure solutions that are easier to consume. Last week, HP took another step in this direction with the announcement of HP Virtualization Bundles for SMB customers starting out with virtualization. The solutions bring together networking, servers, storage and both server and storage virtualization software into pre-tested configurations that can scale with additional building blocks as their businesses grow.
SMB's don't always choose the elements of the solutions they deploy. A reseller partner or integrator will recommend configurations to them. Regardless, anything that makes it easier for a reseller to recommend or a customer to buy fully featured solutions with built in investment protection is a step in the right direction. There may be other features available if you want to spend the time doing work on integration and configuration but ,believe me, the HP solutions are well rounded, have unique features, you will be happy with the solution, and save some time and money.
By the way I ended up buying the first camera I was drawn to. I could have saved a lot of my own time If I had just purchased the product that met my top three criteria (size, price and battery life). I'm sure I will get great pictures and I doubt I will miss having blink recognition.
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Posted
06-03-2009 2:44 PM
by
CalvinZ