HP Provides Partners With New OneView, ConvergedSystem 700 Services

Hewlett-Packard expanded its data center management capabilities with new partner training and services for its HP OneView software, enabling management of server, storage and networking via a single console.

HP also is providing new services for channel partners working with its ConvergedSystem 700 converged infrastructure offering.

The changes, unveiled Monday at the HP Global Partner Conference, meets customer requirements for a way to manage a data center's complete infrastructure, said Brad Kirby, director of converged management at HP, Palo Alto, Calif.

[Related: HP's Whitman: Channel Key As HP Splits To Speed Customer Transformation]

"Management of a complete infrastructure with storage, networking and compute is difficult," Kirby told CRN. "At the end of the day, customers want faster delivery of IT resources. But the silos get in the way. OneView enables collaboration of these resources."

With HP OneView, customers can do things such as create server profiles and images, define storage volumes in 3Par arrays for virtual machines, deduplicate such profiles, and get information on power use and data center ambient temperatures, all via a single console, Kirby said.

Most importantly, HP OneView provides a ReST API to allow plugging into other management consoles such as VMware vCenter and vRealize, Microsoft Systems Center Operation Manager, or HP Operations Manager, he said.

HP OneView is the same software used to manage HP's ConvergedSystem family of converged infrastructure solutions.

Starting April 15, HP partners will have access to training to get a qualified professional technical certification on HP OneView. "This is a three-day training on how to install, configure and integrate HP OneView in a customer's environment," Kirby said. "Once certified, a partner can deliver OneView services and get new margins beyond just selling the hardware and OneView."

Customers purchasing an HP c7000 blade server chassis also will have the option of purchasing a new starter pack of 16 HP OneView licenses. That starter pack is priced at $13,783, which represents a savings of about $1,000 vs. purchasing the licenses separately, Kirby said.

HP OneView is turning out to be an important solution for customers, said Rick Chernick, CEO of Camera Corner Connecting Point, a Green Bay, Wis.-based solution provider and HP enterprise partner.

"I don't think anyone else has something like this that works so well to manage the enterprise," Chernick told CRN.

The new discounted 16-pack of HP OneView licenses is good news for enterprises, he said, adding, however, that he is not sure a $1,000 discount is enough incentive to increase HP OneView sales.

"HP has to do something more relevant to get customers to try HP OneView," Chernick said. "Because once OneView gets in an enterprise, people will buy more of it. We need to get to the point where people think, 'This is pretty good, I need to look at it.'"

HP also wants its solution provider partners to take over the services related to integrating the ConvergedSystem 700 converged infrastructure offering, Kirby said.

Until now, HP has packaged the storage, server, networking and other components of a ConvergedSystem solution in its own facilities before shipping them directly to customers' sites, where HP-trained people at the customer site do the actual deployment, Kirby said.

"Now we're enabling ServiceOne partners to do on-site delivery of ConvergedSystem 700," he said. "Instead of HP going on-premises, the partner can order the solution direct from Avnet and then do the deployment services."

PUBLISHED MARCH 17, 2015