News release

HP Announces StorageWorks NAS 2000s for Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003

New network-attached storage offering simplifies storage consolidation and management

CHICAGO, Storage Decisions 2003 Conference, Sept. 10, 2003 – HP (NYSE:HPQ) today unveiled HP StorageWorks NAS 2000s, the company's first network-attached storage (NAS) device built on Microsoft Windows® Storage Server 2003.

With the introduction of HP StorageWorks NAS 2000s, HP and Microsoft are offering customers storage systems and network storage services that provide seamless storage consolidation, simplified management and cost-effective business continuity.

HP also announced support across a range of StorageWorks devices for Microsoft Virtual Shadow Copy Services and Virtual Disk Service, enabling customers to more tightly integrate and manage HP storage arrays from the Windows management environment.

The HP StorageWorks NAS 2000s is the newest member of HP's broad offering of Windows-based NAS systems. Designed for customers with storage and server consolidation needs at the departmental or remote office level, the easy-to-deploy HP StorageWorks NAS 2000s is built on Windows Storage Server 2003 to deliver multi-protocol file and print server functionality. The system's rack mountable, 2U modular architecture is built with HP ProLiant and StorageWorks technologies allowing it to scale to 24 terabytes of storage in a stand-alone configuration.

"HP has been instrumental in helping customers replace proprietary approaches with industry-standard storage technologies, like those from HP and Microsoft," said Harry Baeverstad, director, HP Network Attached Storage Business Segment. "Last year, HP saw a 91 percent revenue increase in our NAS business, underscoring market demand for NAS solutions that integrate seamlessly with customers' existing infrastructures, while offering the flexibility to rapidly adapt to changing business requirements."

"Today's announcement is an extension of our long-standing alliance with HP to bring improved storage network solutions to our customers," said Charles Stevens, corporate vice president of the enterprise storage division, Microsoft Corp. "With the introduction of Windows Storage Server 2003, HP's StorageWorks NAS 2000s customers can benefit from advanced features like Volume Shadow Copy Services, improved interoperability with SANs, eight-node clustering and Multipath Input/Output, which helps to increase performance while driving down total cost of ownership."

Microsoft VSS and VDS support

The HP StorageWorks XP, Enterprise Virtual Array and Virtual Array families now support Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) and Virtual Disk Service (VDS), providing customers with integrated storage solutions across a spectrum of storage devices.

VDS enables discovery, support and monitoring of HP storage arrays from Windows Storage Server 2003 or Windows Server 2003. VSS allows shadow copies, or point-in-time copies of storage, to be initiated from Windows Storage Server 2003 or Windows Server 2003 for quick backup and recovery of data to and from disk.

"The HP StorageWorks NAS 2000s has enabled our company to consolidate data storage and servers into one, manageable device," said Julian Morris, senior vice president and director of information technology, DRAFT. "In addition to being quick and simple to install, the NAS 2000s offers multiple management options that allow us to choose the best management tool for the task at hand."

Estimated pricing for the HP StorageWorks NAS 2000s begins at U.S.$8,295.⁽¹⁾

More information about HP's family of Windows Powered NAS solutions is available at http://www.hp.com/go/storage.

About HP

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing for consumers, enterprises and small and medium businesses. For the last four quarters, HP revenue totaled $71.8 billion. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com.

⁽¹⁾ Actual prices may vary.

Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp.