HP and Alcatel-Lucent Bring Together the Power of Data Center Technology and Communications Networks
Paris, France, December 1, 2011 – HP (NYSE: HPQ) and Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced a jointly developed solution to help organizations move, store and access vast amounts of information by integrating data center infrastructure technology and high-performance communications networks.
The new HP and Alcatel-Lucent Data Center Network Connect (DCNC) is an integrated architecture that brings together the strengths of data center technology with high-performance communications networks to offer enterprises the same levels of reliability, speed and capacity that are available on telecommunication service provider networks – now at substantially lower cost.
This offering builds upon HP and Alcatel-Lucent’s commitment to equip enterprises and service providers with the specific tools they need to deliver converged systems of IT and telecom infrastructures for greater flexibility. DCNC is the latest example of that promise, assisting enterprises in creating efficiencies within their data centers and networks for greater agility. In addition, HP is helping service providers deliver public cloud offerings to customers by also announcing HP CloudSystem integration with Alcatel-Lucent today.
“Clients are creating vast amounts of information that needs to be resourced, distributed and shared without compromising the quality of data or the speed at which it’s delivered,” said Arthur Filip, vice president and general manager, Technology Consulting, HP. “HP and Alcatel-Lucent provide clients a way to securely share extremely high volumes of data between data center sites when and where it’s needed in an instant.”
“Alcatel-Lucent and HP’s solution is based on technology engineered to satisfy telecommunications service providers that expect their networks to perform with exceptional reliability and meet their needs far into the future,” said Philippe Keryer, president, Networks Group, Alcatel-Lucent. “Large enterprises can confidently invest in these solutions knowing that they will receive the full benefit of their investment for years to come.”
Generating enterprise-wide flexibility with data center enhancements
DCNC combines HP’s breadth of technologies and services for data centers with Alcatel-Lucent’s optical transport solutions for service providers and its high-performance service routing and switching portfolio, which are key elements of the Alcatel-Lucent High Leverage Network (HLN)™ architecture.
DCNC will leverage the strength of Alcatel-Lucent’s recently announced CloudBand solution which accesses the power of the distributed network infrastructure to offer large enterprises and governments access to the cloud with the quality of service their activities require.
To address critical functions such as disaster recovery, data backup, virtual machine mobility and the creation of cloud backbones, large enterprises and service providers require an integrated solution that provides ultra-high bandwidth and low latency for connecting data centers. Emerging data center trends such as server virtualization, scale-out applications, network convergence and cloud computing have placed new demands on data center and service provider networks. As such, they require new designs and infrastructure technology that eliminate bandwidth, performance and availability limitations.
The HP and Alcatel-Lucent solution brings together key data center services and networking offerings from the portfolios of both companies. The DCNC supports immediate data center demands such as consolidation, business continuity and security, while laying the foundation for service-oriented, on-demand computing technologies.
DCNC takes advantage of high-performance service routing, switching and optical transport capabilities so clients can address the demanding requirements of the financial services, health care and media sectors, where speed and bandwidth capacity are crucial to delivering services.
HP Enterprise Services, which offers a range of data center services for HP’s outsourcing clients, used Alcatel-Lucent’s 1830 PSS (Photonic Service Switch) to create high-capacity optical links to interconnect HP’s commercial data centers. The first two projects in Germany and Switzerland were successful, and future deployments in other HP commercial data centers are planned.
Client benefits include:
· Increased network performance with faster, more reliable throughput. This results in a highly reliable networking system for e-business applications, business communications and network-based business services.
· Improved time to market through an integrated hardware, software and services solution that combines data center technologies with consulting capabilities to assist clients with implementation and support.
· Enhanced flexibility and agility within the network using an open standards-based design so clients can meet and exceed service-level agreements.
· Reduced total cost of ownership by making the network more efficient by consolidating and connecting multiple protocols and storage area networks and by enabling other resource-sharing capabilities among various locations.
· Superior reliability to support today’s 24/7 business needs.
Availability and pricing
HP and Alcatel-Lucent Data Center Network Connect consists of existing products and product-attached services from HP and Alcatel-Lucent that are available globally now. The services are currently available in select locations with expected global and consolidated availability by year end.
About the HP and Alcatel-Lucent Global Alliance
The HP and Alcatel-Lucent global alliance helps service providers and large enterprises evolve toward converged IT and telecom infrastructures that are more efficient, flexible and adapted to the needs of fast-changing markets. Together, HP and Alcatel-Lucent bring to market the world’s broadest set of capabilities to support customers’ business transformation.
The alliance is currently rolling out comprehensive customer offerings such as the DCNC solution that take full advantage of both companies’ product portfolios for the enterprise and telecom markets.
About HP
HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure at the convergence of the cloud and connectivity, creating seamless, secure, context-aware experiences for a connected world. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.
Q&A Document Supporting
Announcement of Joint Hewett Packard (HP) & Alcatel-Lucent
Data Center Network Connect (DCNC) Solution
(November 30, 2011)
What problem does the solution address?
Today’s large enterprises demand scalability, bandwidth and reliability from their infrastructure
solutions in order to scale and support mission critical apps and services.
§ They create a vast amount of data that needs to be processed, stored and distributed with
security, quality, speed and 24/7 reliability
§ Cost and complexity is pushing them to consolidate data within a reduced number of data centers
§ They need ultra-high bandwidth and low latency for critical functions such as compliance,
business continuity, disaster recovery, data backup, movement of virtual machines and the
establishment of cloud backbones
§ Reducing the number of data centers while setting higher expectations for data bandwidth,
uptime and apps performance places more stress on the Wide Area Network (WAN)
The solution provides data protection, ultra high bandwidth and low latency for connecting data
centers at a manageable cost. It offers levels of performance, reliability and speed that today are
only available on telecommunication service provider networks. By extending network capabilities to
key business locations, it also provides a first infrastructure milestone into the cloud.
What technology is part of the solution?
The solution combines HP’s breadth of technologies and services for data centers with ALU’s
expertise in high-performance IP service routing, switching and optical transport networking solutions
for service providers. The result is an end-to-end solution that integrates data centers, network and
services to provide the performance and flexibility needed to support today’s business apps.
Why partner with HP?
HP’s industry leading capabilities in building and operating data centers on a turnkey basis complement ALU’s capabilities to build, operate and maintain communications infrastructure. As worldwide leaders in our respective fields, we are coming together to provide large enterprises with a “one-stop shop” for end-to-end data center transformation.
Who needs optical networking?
Optical transport networks and IP service routing technologies are ideal for delivering data at high speeds, securely and cost effectively.
§ Take Healthcare, where speed is life. Hospitals rely on optical transport networks to provide the highest quality patient care possible
§ It’s critical for Financial Services firms to move data securely between locations as quickly as possible with low latency and high reliability in order to execute trades
§ Media Firms are also shifting to optical transport networks to move bandwidth-intensive video quickly and more efficiently
§ Governments also need to move, store and access vast amounts of data
Who is the target customer?
For large enterprises and governments, it offers a private, carrier-grade network option, which is critical in supporting compliance, business continuity and data protection.
For service providers, it offers the ability to transform their data centers and to offer carrier cloudbased services in support of their enterprise and government customers.
How will the solution be sold?
The solution is available through both ALU and HP. It can be sold by either HP or ALU as the prime integrator or in a co-prime model.
When is the solution available?
The solution consists of existing products from HP and ALU that are available now. Services are already available in several countries and are being rolled out on a worldwide basis.
What does the solution cost?
Pricing varies according to level of transformation, size and level of functionality/security.
What are the solution benefits to customer?
It allows large enterprises and service providers to improve the efficiency of internal operations as well as their externally facing activities with customers and partners, including e-business apps, business communications and network-based services. Integrating network and services enables large enterprises and service providers to improve time to market and reduce their total cost of ownership.
Other benefits include:
§ Maximizes throughput with industry’s fastest, high quality data transport technology
supporting speeds of up to 100Gbit/s
§ Provides complete global visibility of IT service deployment across the network and beyond
(e.g. if cloud providers are being used), while also significantly reducing cost and complexity
§ Reliable and secure to reduce risk: Virtually eliminates downtime by offering 99.999%
reliability to support today’s 24/7 business needs and also protects data at rest and in transit
§ A true service aware network that provides the ability to offer different levels of service to
end users, partners and customers, including dynamically optimizing bandwidth allocation and
low latency
§ Virtualized network resources makes high performance network a strategic asset for the
delivery of agile, cloud-like infrastructure services
What are the solution benefits to end users?
It translates into a better end user experience. Employees, customers and partners gain faster, more reliable and secure access to the apps and data they need. Improved levels of service can be provided for apps/services requiring high bandwidth, superior quality and low latency.
Why is this solution being released now?
Today’s “always-on”, 24/7 digital economy means that organizations demand scalability, speed and bandwidth from their infrastructure in order to scale and support mission critical applications and services. Furthermore, global industry regulation is uncompromising on businesses — calling for greater business continuity and data protection. Cost and complexity are driving enterprises to consolidate data within a reduced number of data centers. At the same time, there are higher expectations for data bandwidth, uptime for apps performance, which places more stress on the Wide Area Network (WAN) interlinking data centers.
Who are your solution customers?
We are engaged with a number of global customers on this solution — none we can yet name publicly. But because this end-to-end solution integrates offers already brought to market by ALU, there are many service provider and enterprise customers already using its components.
In addition, ALU and HP are also using the equipment – so we are “flying our own jets.” For instance, HP’s Enterprise Services Division is using ALU’s Dense Wave Division Multiplexing optical technology to create high capacity links interconnecting its “trade” data centers.
CAN ALSO ADD: In June 2010, Alcatel-Lucent and T-Systems announced an industry first – connecting high-performance data centers at leading technical universities in Germany with a 60 km link using commercial 100 Gigabit connectivity leveraging both IP and optical technologies. The data on the 100G link between the two universities was processed in real-time and transmitted as a single wavelength.
How long has ALU and HP been working together?
ALU & HP has been working closely for some time, but in 2009 the companies signed a strategic 10 year agreement and entered into a formal alliance.
Why would customers come to the ALU/HP Alliance for this solution rather than your
competitors?
§ Best in Class: ALU and HP are industry leaders across the entire data center spectrum including technology stack, servers, storage, networking and management tools.
§ Built-in investment protection: Industry standard interfaces allow for existing server and storage equipment to be reused. This protects the customer’s investment by incorporating legacy hardware and applications while easing migration complexity.
§ Unmatched Management and Service Visibility: Industry leading management and reporting applications allowing for end-to-end visibility of the multi-Data Center environment.
§ Increased Scalability: The DC to DC architecture scales from a micro-data center remote branch
office to the largest data center that host 10s of thousands of servers. This enables customer to future-proof bandwidth demands via leading Ethernet and DWDM technologies.
§ Improved Reliability: End-to-end carrier grade traffic protection in the network via sub-second convergence from server rack to server rack across data centers.
§ Reduced Cost and Risk: Pre-integrated and fully tested joint solution set. Customers get a unified network and IT service troubleshooting.
§ Reduced Complexity, Simpler Migration: Fully open, standard interfaces accommodate legacy infrastructure and applications. It requires fewer protocols to be deployed across fewer links, enabled via automated provisioning.
Is the solution a first step towards a large enterprise getting into cloud?
Yes, as enterprises transition to cloud-based service models, the demands on processing, storage and content distribution services grows exponentially. The solution is a first building block and enabler of cloud infrastructure.
Is DCNC part of the ALU cloud strategy?
No, but it can lay the foundation for entering the cloud. DCNC is a multi-data center solution that creates a networked fabric to drive greater efficiency across data centers. As customers deploy
multiple geographically dispersed data centers, they need a simplified network solution to extend virtualization beyond a single data center to enable greater workload mobility between data centers.
How does DCNC fit into the CloudBand solution announced in November 2011?
DCNC is a joint HP-Alcatel-Lucent solution which can stand on it’s own to provide better utilization of more than one data center. It can lay a foundation for moving to the cloud and the use of CloudBand.
However, it can also be sold to simply improve the efficiency of multiple data centers and the workload mobility between data centers.
When would DCNC be used by an enterprise?
In the enterprise market, the solution enables customers looking to adopt server virtualization and data center consolidation across multiple data centers.
When would it be used by a service provider?
There are two types of service provider opportunities for this solution: the traditional network service provider and the data center operator. Each target type shares similar requirements, although each has a different business model.
ALU’s traditional network service providers are looking at virtualizing their infrastructure to create a more efficient and profitable business. They are also looking to provide cloud services and to do this they need to leverage provider operated data centers to deliver virtualized compute, virtualized storage and application hosting. In this market, the data center network will be an extension of the provider’s service network and will require the same capabilities they have come to expect in their service network.
The data center operators such as Amazon, Google, Terramark, Savvis and Rackspace, require agile intra and inter data center fabrics to enable growth in their environment. They also require IP services that can meet the scaling requirements needed to aggregate customer traffic.
Is DCNC complimentary to CloudBand?
DCNC could be used as a first step in developing a cloud-ready environment and therefore could lay a foundation for the use CloudBand. CloudBand adds orchestration, automation, and management of the cloud environment.
How is DCNC complimentary to HP’s CloudSystem?
DCNC could be used as a first step in developing a cloud-ready environment and therefore could lay a foundation for the use of HP’s CloudSystem.
When is DCNC to be used by enterprises and service providers vs. CloudBand?
DCNC should be used when a provider simply wants to virtualize and interconnect their data centers.
CloudBand should be used when a customer is looking to deploy a fully automated and orchestrated cloud environment.
What is the difference between this solution and ALU’s Data Center Connect announced
in April 2011?
Data Center Network Connect is an ALU-HP branded solution addressing the need of end-to-end data center transformation at large enterprises and government. It combines HP’s strengths in technologies and services for data centers, with Alcatel-Lucent’s strengths in optical transport and high-performance service routing and switching.
Meanwhile, the ALU Data Center Connect solution is geared towards service providers. It does, however, use many of same technologies and is open to other vendor platforms.
Does this mean ALU is getting out of the enterprise business?
No, ALU has a strong enterprise business that has close natural ties to its carrier customers and provides industry-leading unified communications and data networking solutions.
While there are competing offering and overlap between ALU Enterprise Network and HP Networking offerings within the data center switching arena, this solution brings to ALU another channel to sell DC to DC connectivity solutions to large Enterprise.
The recent announcement of Permira’s interest in our Genesys business represents only a part of our overall enterprise business.
Where can I get more information on the solution?
You can find more information at: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/partners/hp/data-center-networkconnect/
connect.html
