HP has introduced a storage system for Web companies and other organizations that need multipetabytes of data storage.
HP claims the system is relatively affordable at about $2 per gigabyte, while comparable systems from competitors start at about $5 a gigabyte. Nevertheless, the total package isn't cheap. A fully loaded Extreme system that reaches almost a petabyte of storage costs $1.6 million. A baseline system with 246 TB is about $500,000.
HP says the 9100 Extreme is less expensive than other systems because it provides high storage in one appliance, which eliminates the need for expensive Fibre Channel switches, cables and host bus adapters that are needed with distributed systems. "The fact that it's all one appliance, one unit, drives down the cost," Patrick Eitenbichler, director of marketing for HP, said.