By Calvin Zito

I have a ton of things on my list to blog about in the next few days as there's still much to say about the HP Tech Day.  For this post, I'm going to take a slight diversion to share with you a podcast and guest blog from Microsoft's Mark Pendergast.  On Tuesday morning, we announced two new StorageWorks products: the HP StorageWorks X510 Data Vault and the HP StorageWorks X3000 High Availability bundles.  I have a podcast ready to go for the X3000 as well but this post will focus on the X510.  First, here's the podcast I did with Bill Johnson, the product manager for it.  (NOTE: X500 is the new family - and yes, we're planning more in the future - while the X510 is the product we announced).

(NOTE: Adding a link for those browsers that can't play the embedded podcast: click here to listen)

Here are a few links to help you go deeper:

• Article about the X500 Data Vault titled, "Think data storage has to be complicated? Think again"
• Here's a link to the U.S. product page

And here's a short video demo of it:

(NOTE: If this video doesn't work, go to the article "Think data storage has to be complicated? Think again" and there's a link to it on the right side)

And now here's the post from Mark who is part of the Windows Home Server team at Microsoft:

By Mark Pendergrast

We're thrilled to have been invited to share the Microsoft perspective on the Hewlett-Packard DataVault launch with readers of the HP Around the Storage Block Blog.  But we're even more excited to celebrate this important new milestone for the Windows Home Server ecosystem - a dedicated product entry into the Small Office Home Office (SoHo) and micro business space! 

As we've posted about before on the Windows Home Server team blog, there is significant value for having a Windows Home Server in a SoHo or micro business.  From backing up client PCs to offering remote access to their server (and the files on the Data Vault ) when they're away from the office, a Windows Home Server-based product offers a great solution for a business that doesn't have - or want - a sophisticated IT infrastructure.  We thought this was such a good match that we recently added a dedicated 'Windows Home Server SoHo' page on our product website (lots of good info up there, including some compelling case studies).  But Microsoft and HP aren't the only ones who recognize this value, as business pubs SMB PC Magazine and Inc have caught on to this fact as well.   

So we congratulate HP on making the first entry into this market with their dedicated line of Data Vault line of products.  Because HP has built in the right set of features, hardware specifications, branding, and of course channel/marketing support, we're confident that they're on to something big here!  We look forward to partnering with them on the launch and beyond. 

• Mark, Windows Home Server Team, Microsoft

So there you have it - a jammed pack post with a podcast, a video and a Microsoft guest blog.  Phew! 

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