The launch next week will include a rework to its key midrange EVA disk array, alongside a move firmly up-market with clustered NAS, and the launch of new tape emulation, tape library and WAN acceleration products, based on OEM deals with PolyServe, Sepaton, Storage Technology and Riverbed.

Over the last two years HP’s storage business has been distracted by the merger with Compaq in 2003, and its share of the market has dwindled. They have to show that they’re committed to storage and that they’ll invest in it and not just push to it one side. This launch looks really good, said ESG analyst Nancy Hurley.

They’ve sent a clear message to the market about their commitment to storage. Hopefully this will recapture the confidence of what was a loyal customer base, said Randy Kerns, analyst at the Evaluator Group.

Among the most neglected of HP’s products has been its mid-range to high-end EVA disk array, which has not been updated since 2003. Although the EVA is outgunned by HP’s larger XP disk array, the XP is OEM’ed from Hitachi Ltd and unlike the EVA was not developed in-house.

They needed to update the EVA, and this brings its performance into competition with products like EMC’s Clariion, Hurley said. HP said that the new versions of the EVA will double its random OLTP-style throughput, via new controllers and a doubling of the number of ports per controller. HP has also created a new mid-field version of the EVA, expanding the number of EVA models to three, and lessening the jump between the previous two models. New software includes a replication manager.

Further down-market, HP said its MSA array will be refreshed over the next couple of months. Kerns and Marrone both said that the MSA does not need a makeover as badly as the EVA did, and Kerns said the device can absolutely hold its own against competitors such as EMC Corp’s Clariion AX-100, or IBM Corp’s DS400 — especially given that at this end of the market array sales are closely tied to server sales.

HP’s NAS launch adds to a frenzy of developments that last month saw IBM step firmly into NAS via an OEM deal with Network Appliance, and Hitachi launched its first home-grown NAS boxes. HP has long been selling low-end Windows-powered NAS boxes, but is now moving up-market clustered filers based on technology OEM’ed from startup PolyServe.

This will make HP the first tier-one vendor to offer NAS boxes powered by up to sixteen clustered controllers sharing a common file system, so overcoming the capacity limits of conventional NAS. Network Appliance bought Spinnaker Networks Inc for precisely this purpose, but is vague about when it will incorporate Spinnaker’s clustering software into its devices. EMC says it is moving in this direction, but for now its filers can only be powered by multiple controllers that each address a separately managed file system.

This will significantly outscale EMC and NetApp, even on this first implementation. Longer term, HP should be able to scale even further, said Hurley. HP still has to execute well and sell this, but any customer who’s moving into larger NAS will be interested in something that doesn’t have a limit on its size, she said.

It also fits HP’s long-term grand view of grid computing and software running across multiple commodity hardware smart cells. Every move HP is making is towards this grid, so the PolyServe move is not just filling out their portfolio, but also has an eye on the future, she said.

The virtual tape library that HP will launch involves software OEM’d from startup Sepaton Inc, running on a Proliant server attached to ATA-powered MSA arrays.

It will make HP only the second large disk vendor after EMC to offer such a product for the open systems market. We’re still looking for IBM and StorageTek to launch something — they’ll probably do that within the next year, said Bob Wilson, vice president of near-line storage at HP.

Tape emulator and VTL are interchangeable terms according to some analysts. We’re calling our system a VTL because unlike some other products it can emulate multiple tape libraries, and not just drives, Wilson said.

The WAN acceleration technology that HP will launch will also be OEM’ed, as software from Riverbed Technology Inc running on a Proliant server, and according to HP will reduce data traffic between branch offices and data centers by a factor of 100, or 200 for many especially in file transfer. Riverbed’s software optimizes TCP/IP processing, detects and eliminates duplicate or redundant data, as well as caching data and reducing data traffic chatter for some applications.

HP will also fill out its tape library lineup by OEMing a mid-range to high-end device from Storage Technology, to be called the Enterprise Modular Library, and which will fit in the same racks as the EVA.