HPE Storage

Start with three questions: how many servers need shared storage, how critical are those workloads, and how much time does the IT team have to manage storage day to day.

• HPE MSA: straightforward shared storage for smaller organisations with stable, predictable needs. Quick to set up, no specialist skills required.
• HPE Alletra 5000 & 6000: the right step up when workloads are growing or downtime would have a direct business impact. Automated monitoring flags problems before they cause an outage.
• HPE Alletra MP B10000: for large enterprises managing multiple petabytes across sites, where storage and performance need to scale independently and 100% availability is a firm requirement.
• HPE Alletra MP X10000: suited to organisations handling large volumes of unstructured data such as files, AI datasets, or analytics workloads.
• HPE StoreOnce: a dedicated backup target kept separate from live storage, so a single incident can’t take both out.
• HPE MSL Tape Libraries: for long-term archiving at low cost, kept completely offline and unreachable from the network.

MSA is designed for teams that need reliable shared storage without the complexity of an enterprise platform. It is quick to set up, needs no specialist storage skills, and requires no cloud connection or additional software licences to run. For organisations with stable, predictable workloads and a small IT team, MSA covers everything that is needed at a lower cost. The Alletra range adds intelligent monitoring, automated management, and cloud-based oversight — genuinely useful when workloads are growing or unpredictable, but unnecessary complexity for environments where they are not.

The key difference is HPE InfoSight — an AI-based monitoring system that watches the storage continuously and warns the team about likely hardware or performance problems before anything fails. On MSA, alerts happen after a problem has occurred. On Alletra, most issues are identified and often resolved automatically before anyone notices. Day-to-day management is also more automated, reducing the time the team spends on routine storage tasks. Both systems can be managed remotely through a single online console, so administrators are not tied to being on-site.

The Alletra 5000 and 6000 are built around a fixed pair of controllers — at a certain point, that pair reaches its limit and the whole system needs replacing to go further. The Alletra MP B10000 is built differently: storage capacity and processing power grow independently, so an organisation can add more capacity without replacing the whole system, or upgrade the processing without touching the data. It is the right step when an organisation is managing multiple petabytes, running very large databases or virtual machine estates, or when guaranteed 100% availability with no planned downtime for upgrades is a firm requirement.

Backing up to the same storage system used for live work means that one event — a ransomware attack or hardware failure — can wipe out both the production data and the backup at the same time. HPE StoreOnce is a physically separate backup target, so the two are never at risk together. It reduces the amount of storage needed to hold backups by up to 95% through deduplication, and backup data can be locked so it cannot be overwritten or deleted remotely, even by an attacker with admin credentials. It works alongside existing backup software such as Veeam, Commvault, and Veritas — it does not replace them.

Yes, for one specific reason: a tape cartridge taken out of a library and stored in a separate location cannot be reached over a network at all. Disk and cloud backups are still connected systems — they can be targeted by ransomware or accidentally overwritten. A physical tape sitting in a vault simply cannot be. For organisations that need to keep data for years — legal records, healthcare data, financial archives — tape is also significantly cheaper per terabyte than disk or cloud for data that is almost never accessed. HPE MSL tape libraries handle the physical loading and unloading of cartridges automatically, so day-to-day management requires very little manual effort.

HPE GreenLake lets organisations use on-premises storage on a pay-as-you-go basis rather than buying it outright. The hardware is installed on-site as normal, but billed monthly based on what is actually used — similar to a cloud subscription, without moving data off-site. It suits organisations that want to avoid large upfront hardware costs, or whose storage demands are hard to predict in advance. To find out whether GreenLake is the right fit for your organisation, speak to one of our HPE GreenLake experts.

HPE Alletra storage is managed through an online console that works from any device, anywhere, without needing to be on-site or connected to a VPN — it feels more like managing a cloud service than traditional on-premises storage. Data can be copied between on-premises Alletra systems and HPE Cloud Volumes (storage hosted close to major cloud regions), so teams can use the cloud for development and testing using real production data, then restore it back on-premises without paying data transfer fees. For organisations running modern containerised applications, HPE storage integrates directly with Kubernetes so applications can request the storage they need automatically.

HPE InfoSight is an AI-based monitoring system that identifies and resolves storage problems before they cause downtime, rather than alerting the team after something has already gone wrong. It learns continuously from data collected across more than 150,000 HPE systems worldwide, and HPE reports that it automatically predicts and resolves 86% of issues without a support call being needed. To learn more about what InfoSight can do for your environment, speak to one of our HPE storage experts.

Expansion makes sense when the storage system is still performing well but is simply running out of space. Most HPE Alletra systems allow capacity to be added while they are still running, with no need to take everything offline. If performance has become the problem rather than just space — the system is struggling to keep up with the volume of work being asked of it — expansion alone will not fix that, and moving to a more capable platform is the better answer. The Alletra MP B10000 largely sidesteps this decision: because storage capacity and processing power scale independently, organisations can grow either without replacing the whole system. Qualifying customers also receive free controller upgrades under HPE’s Timeless Storage programme, keeping the platform current without a full hardware refresh.

The first step is understanding how current storage is actually being used — whether it is near capacity, underperforming, or simply older than its supported life. HPE InfoSight provides this visibility automatically for connected systems. Where the current platform still has life in it, adding capacity non-disruptively is usually the most cost-effective path. Where it has reached its limits, HPE’s professional services team can manage a migration to a newer system while keeping production workloads running throughout. On qualifying Alletra MP B10000 systems, controller upgrades are included at no extra cost under HPE’s Timeless Storage programme, protecting the investment over time.

There are two main options. The first is a straightforward upfront purchase — the organisation buys the hardware and licences, covers ongoing support through an HPE support contract, and owns the asset. This suits teams with predictable needs and a preference for capital investment. The second is HPE GreenLake, where there is no upfront hardware cost: HPE installs the system on-site and charges monthly based on actual usage. Both options are available through HPE directly or through HPE’s network of authorised resellers. Organisations that want HPE to take on full day-to-day management of their storage can also explore managed service arrangements through HPE Pointnext Services.