HP offers 'virtual' infrastructure management

Hewlett Packard (HP) has unveiled its latest Utility Data Centre (UDC) system management offering, which it says will enable customers to reduce costs by managing IT infrastructures in-house.

UDC comes as two racks of equipment: one for managing computer systems, such as databases; and the other to manage network switches and storage area network switches.

The package is aimed at large enterprises and service providers. It sports a hefty price tag, with an initial cost of $1m. HP says implementation times will vary between six weeks and several months, depending on the size of the installation. It also enables departments to bill internally.

"IT managers are not traditionally comfortable with handing over their IT infrastructure to outsource agents," said Nick Vanderzyeep, worldwide marketing manager for HP UDC.

"UDC provides the opportunity to maintain control internally through a 'virtual' data centre set-up, manageable from a simple interface," he added.

However analysts warned IT managers to look seriously at the wider issue of infrastructure management before choosing to do the job in-house using costly product such as UDC.

"IT managers will think of it as a wonderful idea, in theory," said Tony Lock, a senior analyst at Bloor Research. "All the big management tools are heading in the same direction, but IT departments have to ask themselves if the investment is worth it or if they'd prefer a host to manage the hassle under a secure service level agreement."

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