Why HPE Primera May Be the Answer for Your Mission Critical Applications

The release of HPE Primera, announced via HPE.com, signals a change in what defines reliable storage. As more companies look to leverage the benefits of solid-state technology, choosing a platform and vendor that focuses on embedded, advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), will be key to success. New technologies make grand promises, and HPE Primera seeks to solve the challenges and meet the storage demands of mission-critical workloads.

Current Issues With Enterprise Storage Solutions.

Existing storage options sound ideal to those in need and suffering from limited performance and capacity with today’s technology. Consider these challenges arising from the current state of storage options:

• In-use storage systems succumb to poor application service availability, even when storage systems are fully available, limited visibility into the storage stack results in delays identifying issues and extended time to resolution.
• Complex storage management requires expert installation, configuration and management, presenting key challenges for those moving away from dedicated storage administration toward IT as a generalized need.
• Changing or adding new applications within the system threaten to disrupt performance of storage systems, which may undermine the ability to fulfill service-level agreements (SLAs) for both the servicer and user of such systems.
• Extensive processes for completing current upgrades to existing systems threaten disruption, loss of system function and risk of data loss, especially among monolithic operating systems (OS) that require enter OS upgrades for any type of small upgrade.
• Current storage systems rely on outdated system architecture, namely hard disk drives (HDD), making it difficult to justify and optimize both performance and capacity as solid-state media grows in popularity.

As technology grows in complexity, the challenges of current storage options give rise to misconceptions about the use of new enterprise storage solutions. Administrators suspect resources will dwindle; changing administration responsibilities contribute to skepticism. However, the pool of new technology offers an opportunity to design new storage arrays that overcome these fears, successfully meeting all business storage requirements.

How HPE Primera Supports Mission-Critical Workloads.

Hybrid storage solutions looks to create cloud-like environments for improved storage. For instance, HPE Primera leverages the benefits of cloud storage with advanced technologies, including big data analytics, AI/ML and solid-state storage technologies. This gives rise to key advantages in how enterprise storage solutions support critical workloads. These advantages include:

• New Architecture Enables Rapid, Responsive Scalability. HPE has redesigned the application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), the power of HPE’s systems, to optimize internode concurrency. ASIC-controlled storage achieves zero detect, SHA-256, X/OR, cluster communications, and fluidic data movement to enable scalability. The architecture uses in-line data compression, AI/ML-driven self-optimization tools and other advanced controls to create an “all-active architecture.” Thus, the system relies on automated, modified protocols to proactively manage the cache, lower latency and boost throughput. Ongoing self-optimization further allows for real-time performance improvement, regardless of demand.
• Faster, Easier Upgrades Reduce Downtime and Disruption. HPE’s Primera design applies the latest technologies to allow for addition/modification of any feature without significant modifications to the OS. This pushes upgrades faster and with lower risk than traditional storage systems. Furthermore, Primera empowers users with the acclaimed HPE storage features of thin provisioning, quality of service, replication, snapshots, RAID and more.
• Self-Optimizing Systems Management Heightens Performance. Self-optimizing capabilities within HPE rely on granular and comprehensive monitoring, combined with HPE InfoSight Software, to enable automatic performance optimization. Moreover, real-time data administration empowers technology professionals with insight to manage systems easier, viewing systems through end-to-end capabilities, monitoring workloads and, if necessary, making manual adjustments.
• 100% Availability Ensures Highly Available Workloads. HPE introduced a novel concept with the release of Primera. HPE guarantees 100% available on all Primera systems without the need to stretch cluster configuration or enact a maintenance contract. This contributes to maximum performance of storage systems, ensuring highly available workloads and bridging the divide between enterprise storage solutions and the advancements of technology.

[Learn how enterprise storage solutions can add scalability, achieve 100% availability, and optimize costs.]

Primera Changes the Customer Experience of Enterprise Storage Solutions.

The announcement of HPE Primera offers users a higher customer experience and leverages the latest capabilities, such as intuitive systems and AI/ML-driven analytics, to derive real-world results of superior performance and maximum efficiency. Key features within the new storage platform and their customer experience effects include:

• Creation and guarantee of an “on-demand” experience. Applying technologies throughout design, HPE Primera delivers the storage infrastructure necessary to provision, expand, upgrade and pay for a system, bringing installation times down to 20 minutes in some cases. Within 10 minutes, systems can expand without disruption, supporting data in-place upgrades and next-generation controllers. Using prebuilt automation, users require fewer clicks and apply pre-validated data to minimize deployment risk. This effectively brings risk down to its lowest levels.
• Infrastructure that applies application-aware resiliency. The Recovery Manager Central (RMC) software within HPE serves as a backup and disaster recovery force in data storage, enabling faster, more efficient recovery. Predictive analytics, applying AI/ML-driven concepts, deploy HPE InfoSight to maintain reliability and performance. Since 90% of downtime results from external problems, not the storage stack, resiliency is crucial to business continuity and data integrity. Top-performing virtual machines continuously identify systems at risk and work to troubleshoot problems, ensuring continued function.
• Predictive acceleration within HPE holds workloads accountable to SLA terms. Embedded AI/ML reviews, identifies and optimizes performance to suite workloads of any size. Change stimulates the activation of such protocols, identifying anomalies and enacting changes to ensure all SLA obligations are met. Such functions derive utilization and consistency in low-latency solid-state storage solutions, including both NVMe and NVMe over Fabric, as well as SCM.

These core features transform storage into a suitable function for users. Relying on intelligent systems and AI/ML, HPE Primera generates stark potential ROI for those used to low-latency, low-performance and high-risk solutions. As digital transformation continues across the globe, this same application of automation and deployed AI/ML will grow in value, enabling self-sufficiency of systems and creating a turn-key approach to storage management.

Summary: HPE Primera and Embedded HPE InfoSight Deliver Intelligent Enterprise Storage Solutions With Simplicity and Automation in Mind.

The introduction of HPE Primera heralds a change in how users approach storage solutions. Instead of sacrificing capability for performance, users can finally have it all, reaping the benefits of high-end storage, including availability, multi-tenant management capabilities, performance and scalability. In addition, integrated solid-state technologies, advanced features in AI/ML, services-oriented OS and a streamlined design ensures end-to-end benefits for all users, especially with respect to automation and self-sufficiency. One thing is clear: HPE stands apart as the first storage solutions’ provider to offer a platform with such ingrained technologies, and it is poised to catalyze change in other enterprise storage vendors in the coming years. For those in need of enterprise storage solutions, Primera will kick-start a revolution of more efficient and effective use of such systems through cloud-like environments that accommodate almost any need.

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