HPE’s latest Apollo 4200 Gen10 servers soon will be available running pre-installed Qumulo hybrid cloud file storage software for business customers running HPE environments and requiring file-based storage.

Three configurations of the HPE Apollo 4200 Gen10 servers will be available, including the HPE-90T, the HPE-192T and the HPE-336T, according to the companies, with each one targeted to different prices and user requirements to provide the right amount of compute, HDD, SSDs and networking in a compact 2U form factor.  Entry-level configurations for the machines are available in four-node clusters.

The new offering will be particularly helpful for channel partners because HPE doesn’t have its own cloud-native distributed file system. It opens up a whole new market for the channel, Paula Dallabetta, the senior product marketing manager at Qumulo, told Channel Futures.

The new storage appliances, which will be available starting Dec. 7, will supersede HPE’s previous Gen9 servers and are the result of HPE and Qumulo storage engineers working together to develop the latest generation of systems for their customers on-premises and in the cloud, said Dallabetta.

The new appliances will give customers the ability to run the same modern cloud-native, file-based system on prem and in the cloud at the same time, across platforms and locations, all as one file system, she said.

“From a VAR perspective, they want the broadest and easiest path, so the fact that it runs on HPE hardware opens a number of doors” to customers, said Dallabetta. “It gives them flexibility because the Qumulo software will run on HPE or Qumulo hardware or Dell hardware as well.”

Qumulo only sells its file-based storage software through the channel. It can be used on hardware from HPE, Dell, and on Qumulo’s own industry-standard hardware configurations. The Qumulo software also runs on the Amazon Web Services cloud and on Google Cloud Platform.

Customers will get first-line hardware and software support from Qumulo for the new Gen10 devices and also will receive Qumulo real-time analytics so they can see exactly what is happening in their storage systems, said Dallabetta.

“It gives visibility and analytics into the hardware and the data to give a complete view of the status of the systems,” she said.

The devices give enterprises the ability to buy and deploy scalable, software-defined file storage systems that provide deep data visibility into unstructured data workloads while also scaling across on-prem, hybrid and cloud environments, according to Qumulo.

The HPE-90T configuration comes with flexible networking capabilities in 25GbE or 100GbE options and 90TB of storage supplied by nine 10TB HDDs and three 960GB SSDs, while the HPE-192T model comes with 100GbE networking and 192TB of storage provided by 24 8TB HDDs and six 960GB SSDs. The HPE-336T model uses a single CPU and requires only two 25GbE network ports, while delivering 336TB of storage using 24 14TB HDDs and four 1.92TB SSDs.

Ashby Lincoln, president and CEO of Qumulo channel partner, Veristor Systems, a VAR, reseller and MSP in Atlanta, told Channel Futures that the new appliances will be valuable for customers because they deliver state-of-the-art file storage along with hardware from …

… well-known hardware maker HPE.

Veristor’s Ashby Lincoln

“The way Qumulo manages data for customers from on-prem to cloud to hybrid brings next-generation technology to the market,” he said. “And the partnership with HPE gets valuable because while a lot of companies can be worried when they are considering dealing with a startup they haven’t heard of, when it is tied in with a company like HPE, it eases their concerns and makes it more credible.”

But at the same time, large companies like HPE can’t develop new technologies as rapidly as smaller and more nimble startups, which is where this partnership with Qumulo shines, said Lincoln.

“They can focus specifically on a new technology that the market needs” and make it happen more quickly, he said. “And the safety net of having HPE behind it makes it safer and easier for partners and customers. It’s really that simple. We’ve got a lot of customers who are lining up to get updates on this news. We want to go and make sure those customers are having their storage requirements met.”

Two IT analysts said the new offering will be a welcome pairing for channel partners to present to customers who are seeking file-based storage.

IDC’s Amita Potnis

“An integrated, optimized solution is always an easy sell for the channel and its customers as opposed to buying software and hardware independently,” said Amita Potnis of IDC. “With HPE’s global reach through its channel partners, VARs and SIs, many customers can now adopt Qumulo’s file system capabilities as an integrated appliance.”

The paired product allows customers looking for an alternative to a traditional file system an opportunity to evaluate and potentially deploy Qumulo on HPE hardware in an easier way with support services for an appliance, said Potnis.

Another analyst, Randy Kerns of Evaluator Group, agreed, saying that the new HPE devices will give customers known configurations to choose from that provide elements that have been tested and certified to work together.

“This will reduce time to deployment and make their first experience much more positive,” said Kerns.

And with multiple models and configurations available, “there is choice and it will give customers the ability to match their systems with their needs without having to put pieces together,” he said.