Tag: HPE

Accelerating Business to Meet the New Hybrid Workspace

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Accelerating Business to Meet the New Hybrid Workspace
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Digital transformation was the buzzword that was used in many talks by IT solutions providers. In 2022 however, it is now a must if customers want to stay competitive in their respective industries. The new normal has forced many companies to retire in the past years if they were too slow or unable to adapt to the new technologies. Even with many companies slowly returning to the office this year, it is still estimated that adoption of digital transformation will not slow down. Below is a few statistics from Forbes showing the future that companies are looking to implement to better their digital transformation:

  • 66% planning to augment a new workforce model with automation and increased use of AI.
  • 70% planning to create completely new digital business models and revenue streams.
  • 73% planning to build seamless data driven digital customer experiences.
  • 74% planning to modernize and digitize operations to support next-gen operational models.

Gartner has also predicted that by 2025, 50% of enterprise data will be created outside of both the traditional datacenter and the public cloud. To better respond and gain insight from these new points of creation, companies will need their compute to be more broadly distributed to prepare for these requirements. Therefore, it will be more instrumental now to choose an infrastructure partner who knows and has the same vision as your company. This is where HPE can help.

Workload Optimization

accelerating hybrid workpace optimization

HPE Compute speeds up your server configuration by offering a wide selection of templates that can help speed up your process. HPE engineers have put countless of hours into workload profiles so that your team does not have to. When your servers are running, HPE Compute (through Workload Performance Advisor) monitors and gives you recommendations on how to best use your resources by adjusting your BIOS settings. Hybrid environments also benefit from HPE Compute as you will be given recommendations on which workloads in your system are best used on the cloud or on-prem. Advise on how to migrate these systems are also given to ease the planning stage to give your team more time to handle other tasks.

Intelligent Automation

accelerating hybrid workpace AI

With IT now spread more outside the office, your infrastructure should be prepared to anticipate demand and be flexible to meet business needs at any time. HPE allows your IT team to manage and monitor your servers anywhere or anytime. This includes also includes AI based features that allow your servers to take more comprehensive approaches in data collection and analysis. It continuously learns from telemetry and develops a baseline on the best working environment for each of your systems, workloads, and applications. It gives recommendations as well on how to better improve performance and preventive measures to ensure your system does not fall into issues later on.

To learn more about the HPE Solution, please contact us at marketing@www.ctlink.com.ph so we can set a meeting with you today!

Increase Business Efficiency and Lower Operation Costs with HPE Synergy!

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Increase Business Efficiency and Lower Operation Costs with HPE Synergy!

HPE Synergy, the most modern blade infrastructure, lets you to automate operations, instantly deploy and redeploy infrastructure, develop apps and services faster, and run any workload within a hybrid cloud environment.

Start your HPE Synergy transition by discovering eye-opening business value metrics from IDC. Below is a short video showing how you can make your transition as easy as possible:

Defer over 90% of IT costs until 2021

Our 2020 Payment Relief Program lets you navigate temporary cash flow challenges when acquiring IT.

223% ROI ​–​ 35% lower cost of operations

This IDC infographic presents a series of quantified IT and operational outcomes reported during interviews with HPE Synergy customers.

To learn more about HPE Synergy, please fill out the form below and we will get back to you as soon as we can!

About HPE Synergy

HPE Synergy is a composable infrastructure solution that allows organizations to rapidly create and deploy IT resources in a flexible and efficient manner. The solution is designed to eliminate the silos of traditional data center infrastructure by allowing for the sharing and pooling of resources across multiple workloads and applications.

At the heart of HPE Synergy is the Composer software-defined intelligence engine. Composer enables IT administrators to quickly create and provision logical resources from physical infrastructure components such as compute, storage, and fabric resources. These resources can be rapidly composed and recomposed based on the needs of specific workloads or applications, allowing for the creation of dynamic and highly adaptable infrastructure.

The hardware components of HPE Synergy are based on a modular design that allows for easy expansion and scaling of resources. The compute modules are based on the latest Intel Xeon processors, while the storage modules can support a range of technologies such as SAS, SATA, and NVMe. The fabric modules provide high-speed connectivity between compute and storage resources, and support a variety of networking protocols such as Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and InfiniBand.

One of the key benefits of HPE Synergy is its ability to support a wide range of workloads and applications, including virtualized workloads, containerized workloads, and bare-metal applications. This flexibility is enabled by the integration of a variety of software technologies such as VMware vSphere, Red Hat OpenShift, and Docker.

HPE Synergy also provides a range of management tools that allow IT administrators to monitor and control infrastructure resources, automate routine tasks, and optimize resource utilization. These tools include HPE OneView, which provides a unified management interface for all HPE Synergy components, and HPE Intelligent System Tuning, which optimizes server performance based on workload characteristics.

Building an Autonomous Data Center for your Business

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Building an Autonomous Data Center for your Business

Using Artificial Intelligence to Simplify operations – Unlock your Data’s Potential

Your business can’t afford any disruptions or delays. And you want nothing more than to spend less time on infrastructure. However, the complexity inevitably leads to unexpected problems and your days, nights, and weekends consumed taking care of infrastructure.  This is where HPE InfoSight can help your business.

HPE InfoSight is an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) platform that provides businesses with predictive analytics and proactive support for their IT infrastructure. It uses machine learning algorithms to analyze and interpret data from different sources, such as sensors, telemetry, and event logs, to identify potential issues and provide recommendations to prevent or resolve them.

One of the main benefits of HPE InfoSight is that it helps businesses optimize their IT operations and improve their overall efficiency. By analyzing data from different systems and applications, it can identify potential bottlenecks or performance issues and provide recommendations to improve the performance of critical business processes.

Another key benefit of HPE InfoSight is that it helps businesses reduce the risk of downtime and data loss. By monitoring critical infrastructure components, such as servers, storage devices, and networks, it can detect potential failures before they occur and provide recommendations to prevent or minimize their impact.

HPE InfoSight also provides businesses with a comprehensive view of their IT infrastructure, including detailed analytics and insights into key performance metrics, such as capacity utilization, performance trends, and resource usage. This information can help businesses make more informed decisions about their IT investments and improve their overall IT strategy.

Join us for our upcoming event, Building Autonomous Data Center, this coming July 11 at Holiday Inn Glorietta where you can learn first hand from our HPE Experts on how HPE InfoSight can help optimize and automate your business infrastructure!

If you would like to join the upcoming event, contact us at 893-9515 to learn how you and your company can register for this event!

HPE Announces SimpliVity Support for Microsoft Hyper-V and SimpliVity Workspaces for Citrix

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May 8, 2018 – Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) announced that HPE SimpliVity 380 would now be able to run with Microsoft Hyper-V and they have partnered with Citrix to be a Citrix Workspace Appliance Partner.  With these new offerings, HPE hopes to enhance its ability to provide high-performance virtual applications and desktops ensuring a faster and easier way to deliver secure digital workspaces in today’s hybrid cloud environment while also increasing its customer’s hypervisor options.

HPE SimpliVity 380 with Microsoft Hyper-V offers businesses with an easier IT infrastructure solution which simplifies the data center by converging servers, storage and storage networking into one simple to manage, software-defined platform so that businesses will not be limited by the legacy IT infrastructure which cannot make use of the current IT environment.

This has resulted in an increased business agility and economics in the cloud in an on-premise solution.  With the pre-integrated, all-flash, hyperconverged building block simplifies IT by combining all infrastructure and advanced data services for virtualized workloads – this includes VM-centric management and mobility, data protection and guaranteed data efficiency.

The latest HPE SimpliVity 380 with Microsoft Hyper-V solution offers HPE SimpliVity customers the following core benefits:

Enables VM centric management and mobility

HPE SimpliVity hyperconvergence enables policy-based, VM-centric management abstracted from the underlying hardware to simplify day-to-day operations. VMware customers benefit from this core value with 95% seeing value and IT simplification. Now Microsoft Hyper-V customers can achieve the same benefit.

Data protection

Customers now have access to a hyperconverged solution with full-featured, built-in backup and recovery at no additional cost. These data protection features include the resilience, built-in backup, and bandwidth-efficient replication needed to ensure the highest levels of data integrity and availability, eliminating the need for legacy data protection.

Data efficiency

Efficiency is delivered by powerful built-in data services including in-line deduplication and compression and novel data architecture to speed business continuity and enable workload mobility. Guaranteed data efficiency saves 90 percent capacity across storage and backup combined and the benefits include slashing recovery point objectives (RPOs) and recovery time objectives (RTOs) from days or hours to seconds, with a guaranteed 60-second restore for a 1 TB VM.

Besides the Hyper-V partnership with Microsoft, HPE has also partnered with Citrix with a collaboration between the two on a solution portfolio integration, which includes the new HPE SimpliVity 380 with Microsoft Hyper-V, in the Citrix HCI Workspace Appliance Program.  So that the customers don’t have to create their own solutions to deliver their virtualized application and desktops, the HPE and Citrix solution is already pre-integrated and pre-tested in the SimpliVity appliance.  Customers will also find that the appliance program will make it easier to deliver new workspace solutions while being managed seamlessly with Citrix during the course of its lifecycle.  Thus creating a new standard for customers to easily deploy their digital workspaces with multi hypervisor, multi-cloud flexibility resulting in truly a top-class digital collaboration and borderless, productive workplace.

To learn more about these partnerships, you may find the original article here or you may contact us directly at 893-9515 and we will be happy to answer your inquiries!

HPE Awards CT Link with the “Simplivity Deal of the Year” award!

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HPE Awards CT Link with the “Simplivity Deal of the Year” award!

On March 21, 2018, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Philippines (HPE) awarded CT Link with the “SimpliVity Deal of the Year” award during its Partner Kick-Off and Appreciation Night held at the EDSA Shangri-La, Manila.  This award was given to CT Link as recognition of its efforts in the first SimpliVity deal that was partnered with HPE Proliant series after HPE’s acquisition of SimpliVity in 2017.

HPE SimpliVity is a powerful, simple, and efficient hyperconverged platform that provides best-in-class data services partnered with one of the best server technologies to provide a complete hyperconverged solution.  HPE SimpliVity has garnered a wide range of accolade throughout the years with its innovative line and best-in-class features.

About HPE SimpliVity

HPE SimpliVity is a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solution that offers a range of features designed to simplify the management and deployment of virtualized workloads. It is a product of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a global leader in technology solutions, and is designed to help businesses of all sizes optimize their IT operations.

The HPE SimpliVity platform combines compute, storage, and networking resources into a single, compact appliance. This approach reduces the need for complex hardware and software configurations, making it easier to deploy and manage virtualized workloads. The platform also includes advanced data services, such as data deduplication, compression, and encryption, which can improve data protection and storage efficiency.

HPE SimpliVity is built on a powerful hardware platform that includes high-performance CPUs, memory, and storage. It uses VMware virtualization technology to create a flexible, scalable, and secure environment for running mission-critical applications. The platform also includes support for hybrid cloud deployments, allowing businesses to extend their data center resources to public cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.

One of the key benefits of HPE SimpliVity is its ease of use. The platform is designed to be intuitive and easy to manage, even for users with limited IT expertise. This is achieved through a simple web-based management console, which provides a single view of all virtualized resources and allows users to perform common tasks like creating virtual machines, setting up network configurations, and monitoring system performance.

HPE SimpliVity also includes a range of advanced data protection features, such as backup and recovery, disaster recovery, and replication. These features help businesses ensure the availability of their critical data and applications in the event of a system failure or natural disaster. The platform also includes support for VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM), which simplifies the process of configuring and testing disaster recovery plans.

HPE GEN10 Servers: Helping you secure your IT Environment

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HPE GEN10 Servers: Helping you secure your IT Environment

HPE Proliant Gen 10 servers have been getting the attention of the US government sector.  A review by FedTech recently came out which talked about how HPE ProLiant DL380 servers were able to secure almost all federal IT environments.  With a range of flexible configurations, which include the function to be part of a private cloud, facilitate deployment of containers, anchor the core of virtual machines, store database applications, and even process Big Data transactions.

Here’s a sampling of the computing firepower generated by HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 servers:

  • Intel® Xeon® processors with up to a 71% performance gain and a 27% increase in cores.
  • HPE 2666 MT/s DDR4 SmartMemory—supporting 3.0 TB and up to 11% faster than 2400 MT/s.
  • Support for 12 Gb/s SAS and up to 20 NVMe drive.
  • HPE Scalable Persistent Memory—offering unprecedented levels of performance for databases and analytic workloads.

Remove the gaps hackers exploit

A main feature that FedTech has emphasized on the HPE ProLiant DL380 would be the IT security measures it provides.  A Silicon Root of Trust leverages an HPE silicon-validated boot process to ensure the servers can only be started using code from an immutable source.  An anchor for the boot process that’s rooted into the HPE silicon cannot be updated or modified in any way. By combining this foundation with a cryptographically secured signature, the ProLiant DL380 servers remove the gaps hackers exploit.

Even against firmware threats like rootkits, malware, and denial of service attacks, HPE ProLiant DL380 servers stays secure and virtually hack proof.  This is even more so when combined with intrusion detection devices that can provide an audit log alert if someone tries to get into the server chassis and implant compromised codes.  This is made possible due to the Silicon Root of Trust hardwired into the HPE iLO5.

With a series of validation checks between the various system components and the firmware upon the system power up, this ensures the HPE ProLiant DL380 servers are free of any modifications to its server’s essential firmware.  The ProLiant DL380 servers run millions of lines of firmware (like all servers) even before the operating system (OS) even starts.  Checking if the lines of code for the firmware are free of any malicious attacks or malware is the main value the silicon root of trust provides.

Contact us at 893-9515 to learn more about the the HPE Gen10 servers!

Security Advisory: Meltdown & Spectre Vulnerabilities

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Security Advisory: Meltdown & Spectre Vulnerabilities

Over the past few days, you may have heard of the new vulnerabilities that has been uncovered, Meltdown and Spectre.  These vulnerabilities affect all modern processors, meaning your business machines and even personal gadgets that use processors are affected which puts you in risk of potential attacks.  Below is a brief explanation of what exactly Meltdown and Spectre are:

Meltdown

Meltdown is a hardware vulnerability in processors (Intel x86 microprocessors and some ARM based microprocessors) which allows attackers to use programs to access your computer’s memory.  With this access, they are able to gain sensitive data from your other applications within your system.

Spectre

Spectre is a hardware vulnerability in modern processors, which attackers can use to trick error-free programs, which follow best practices, into leaking their secrets.  Safety checks of said best practices actually increase the attack surface and may make applications more susceptible to Spectre.

However, since the vulnerability has been announced it means that so have the solutions.  Below are the steps in which you need to take fix these vulnerabilities:

1. Update your Processor Firmware

Processor manufacturers have already released firmware updates to fix these vulnerabilities, however they said that they would only be releasing updates for processors within the last 5 years.  Below are the current firmware updates you will need per vendor (note that we will be placing more updates as they come):

HPE

For ProLiant Gen10 products (except for the ProLiant DL385 Gen10), update to System ROM Version 1.28.

For the ProLiant DL385 Gen10 server, update to System ROM Version 1.04.

For ProLiant Gen9 series servers, update to System ROM Version 2.54 (except for the ProLiant DL20 Gen9 or ML30 Gen9)

For the ProLiant DL20 Gen9 or ProLiant ML30 Gen9 server, update to System ROM Version 2.52.

For ProLiant Gen8 series servers, update to a System ROM version dated 12/12/2017.

For the ProLiant m710x server cartridge, update to System ROM Version 1.60

For the ProLiant m710p server cartridges update to the System ROM version dated 12/12/2017.

Click here and place your HPE product to find the firmware patch you need.

Cisco

Below is a table of known Cisco products affected by the vulnerabilities, to download the update, you will need to click on the Cisco Bug ID and log in to your Cisco account to access it.  We will be updating this table when updates are available.

Product Cisco Bug ID Fixed Release Availability
Routing and Switching – Enterprise and Service Provider
Cisco ASR 9000 XR 64-bit Series Routers CSCvh32429
Cisco 800 Industrial Integrated Services Routers CSCvh31418
Cisco NCS 1000 Series Routers CSCvh32429
Cisco NCS 5000 Series Routers CSCvh32429
Cisco NCS 5500 Series Routers CSCvh32429
Cisco XRv 9000 Series Routers CSCvh32429
Unified Computing
Cisco UCS B-Series M2 Blade Servers CSCvh31576 Fix pending
Cisco UCS B-Series M3 Blade Servers CSCvg97965 (18-Feb-2018)
Cisco UCS B-Series M4 Blade Servers (except B260 and B460) CSCvg97979 (18-Feb-2018)
Cisco UCS B-Series M5 Blade Servers CSCvh31577 (18-Feb-2018)
Cisco UCS B260 M4 Blade Server CSCvg98015 (18-Feb-2018)
Cisco UCS B460 M4 Blade Server CSCvg98015 (18-Feb-2018)
Cisco UCS C-Series M2 Rack Servers CSCvh31576 Fix pending
Cisco UCS C-Series M3 Rack Servers CSCvg97965 (18-Feb-2018)
Cisco UCS C-Series M4 Rack Servers (except C460) CSCvg97979 (18-Feb-2018)
Cisco UCS C-Series M5 Rack Servers CSCvh31577 (18-Feb-2018)
Cisco UCS C460 M4 Rack Server CSCvg98015 (18-Feb-2018)

Dell

BIOS updates for PowerEdge Server Products

Generation Models BIOS version
14G R740, R740XD, R640 1.2.71
R540, R440, T440 1.2.71
T640 1.2.71
C6420 1.2.71
FC640, M640, M640P 1.2.71
C4140 1.0.2
R940 1.2.81
T30 1.0.12
Generation Models BIOS version
13G R830 1.7.0
T130, R230, T330, R330 2.4.1
R930 2.5.0
R730, R730XD, R630 2.7.0
C4130 2.7.0
M630, M630P, FC630 2.7.0
FC430 2.7.0
M830, M830P, FC830 2.7.0
T630 2.7.0
R530, R430, T430 2.7.0
C6320 2.7.0

BIOS update for Dell Datacenter Scalable Solutions (DSS)

Models BIOS Version
DSS9600, DSS9620, DSS9630 1.2.71
DSS1500, DSS1510, DSS2500 2.7.0
DSS7500 2.7.0

2. Checking if your registry is compatible with your OS updates (Windows)

There are some third party anti-virus software that are currently incompatible with the latest patch updates from Windows.  If you are unable to update your OS due to this reason, it is recommended that you modify your registry to fix this.  However we highly recommend that you also backup your registry before you manually edit it as using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system.  Below is the registry key to be set:

Key=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE”

Subkey=”SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\QualityCompat” Value=”cadca5fe-87d3-4b96-b7fb-a231484277cc”

Type=”REG_DWORD”

Data=”0x00000000”

For Trend Micro users, there has been a patch release for their products in which enables the ALLOW REGKEY (the above code) automatically.  This however is not the fix to the vulnerabilities and you have to update your OS as this patch will not update your OS but allow you to update.

Additionally, note that per Microsoft, even clients that do not have active anti-malware or security software installed may still be required to apply the specific registry key before the security patches can be obtained from Windows Update.

Product Updated version Notes Platform
OfficeScan XG (all versions including SP1) – CP 1825-4430 Readme Windows
11.0 SP1 – CP 6496 Readme Windows
Deep Security Deep Security Agent 10.0.0-2649 for Windows (U6) Readme Windows
Deep Security Agent 9.6.2-8288 for Windows Readme Windows
Worry-Free Business Security 9.5 CP 1447 Readme Windows

3. Updating your OS (Operating System)

Below are the updates that are currently out for Windows OS for both Servers and Desktop (this will be updated as more updates are released):

Product

Article

Download
Windows Server, version 1709 (Server Core Installation) 4056892 Security Update
Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation) 4056890 Security Update
Windows Server 2016 4056890 Security Update
Windows Server 2012 R2 (Server Core installation) 4056898 Security Only
Windows Server 2012 R2 4056898 Security Only
Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 (Server Core installation) 4056894 Monthly Rollup
4056897 Security Only
Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 4056894 Monthly Rollup
4056897 Security Only
Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium-Based Systems Service Pack 1 4056894 Monthly Rollup
4056897 Security Only
Windows 8.1 for x64-based systems 4056898 Security Only
Windows 8.1 for 32-bit systems 4056898 Security Only
Windows 7 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 4056894 Monthly Rollup
4056897 Security Only
Windows 7 for 32-bit Systems Service Pack 1 4056894 Monthly Rollup
4056897 Security Only
Windows 10 Version 1709 for 64-based Systems 4056892 Security Update
Windows 10 Version 1709 for 32-bit Systems 4056892 Security Update
Windows 10 Version 1703 for x64-based Systems 4056891 Security Update
Windows 10 Version 1703 for 32-bit Systems 4056891 Security Update
Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based Systems 4056890 Security Update
Windows 10 Version 1607 for 32-bit Systems 4056890 Security Update
Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems 4056888 Security Update
Windows 10 Version 1511 for 32-bit Systems 4056888 Security Update
Windows 10 for x64-based Systems 4056893 Security Update
Windows 10 for 32-bit Systems 4056893 Security Update
Microsoft SQL Server 2017 for x64-based Systems (CU) 4058562 Security Update
Microsoft SQL Server 2017 for x64-based Systems 4057122 Security Update
Microsoft SQL Server 2016 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 (CU) 4058561 Security Update
Microsoft SQL Server 2016 for x64-based Systems Service Pack 1 4057118 Security Update

4. Updating your browsers

The last step would be to make sure that your internet browser is patched to the latest version.  Below are a few of the most used browsers and the versions they need to be updated to:

Mozilla – Firefox 57.0.4

Internet Explorer/Microsoft Edge – Included in the latest security update of Windows KB4056890 (OS Build 14393.2007)

Again more updates will be posted as soon as the fixes are released by the respective vendors.  If you need more details or help in implementing the said solutions from vendors, please do contact us at 893-9515 and we will do our utmost to help!

 

HPE Acquires Both SimpliVity and Nimble Storage

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HPE Acquires Both SimpliVity and Nimble Storage

This year has been quite the start for HP Enterprise (HPE) as it acquired SimpliVity in February and Nimble Storage in March.  SimpliVity is a leading provider of software-defined hyperconverged infrastructure, while Nimble Storage is a provider of predictive all-flash and hybrid-flash storage solutions.  HPE is bolstering its presence in both sections, predicting overall estimated markets for SimpliVity to grow from $2.4 billion in 2016 to $6 billion by 2020, and $15 billion in 2016 to $20 billion by 2020 for Nimble Storage.  How do these HPE acquisitions benefit customers?  What will customers gain with the upgraded HPE portfolio?

SimpliVity

With HPE acquiring SimpliVity, customers can expect the following benefits:

  • Built-in enterprise data protection and resiliency that simplifies backup and enables customers to more quickly restore operations
  • Enterprise storage utilization and virtual machine (VM) efficiency that helps customers control cost and performance
  • Always-on compression and de-duplication that guarantees 90 percent capacity savings across storage and backup
  • Policy-based VM-centric management that simplifies operations and enables data mobility, making development teams and end-users more productive

 

Nimble Storage

HPE with Nimble Storage will mean the following advantages to customers:

  • The ability to seamlessly move data and replicate across hybrid flash and all-flash storage to meet unpredictable IT demands
  • Integrated data protection with application-aware snapshots, encryption, replication and integration with leading independent software vendors
  • Effortless management of storage volumes along with data compaction to reduce capacity costs
  • Predictive support automation to anticipate and prevent most problems and solve remaining issues in a matter of minutes
  • Quality of service controls and full stack analytics to ensure predictable performance in hybrid IT deployments
  • A future-proofed technology platform with a rich roadmap to support next-generation storage