HP Shows Upcoming 'EVA Lite' To Solution Providers

Solution providers who saw the array, nicknamed the "EVA Lite," said it is expected to be released in mid-April.

One solution provider, who requested anonymity, said HP appears to be positioning the EVA 3000 against EMC's CX400. The CX400 sits between the entry-level CX200 and the high-end CX600 in EMC's Clariion family.

Another solution provider said he expects the EVA 3000 to take the place of arrays built around the HP StorageWorks HSG80 Fibre Channel controller.

HP officials were reluctant to offer details of the EVA 3000.

However, Dan Vertrees, vice president of enterprise partners Americas region for HP, pointed to a storage array behind him on the stage during his keynote presentation at the conference on Wednesday and said to expect a new "mid-market array" to be released in mid-Summer with a capacity of up to 55 hard drives.

Vertrees did not refer to that array by name. Yet HP officials later confirmed that it was the EVA 3000. They also confirmed that it would be unveiled this April.

As part of HP's storage roadmap, which was unveiled in mid-2002 as a follow-up to the HP-Compaq merger, HP officials said that the company plans to eventually consolidate its entry-level, midrange and enterprise storage offerings to the EVA platform. The midrange version of the EVA was originally unveiled in late 2001.

HP has yet to release end-of-life plans for its entry-level arrays, including the MA and the VA families. Several solution providers said they continue to support both families as a way to target a number of different price and performance levels for their customers.