HP today previewed the industry’s first software to analyze and optimize physical and virtual resources in the same way, bringing the benefits of virtualization to physical servers.

HP estimates that the software, called HP Insight Dynamics - VSE, will reduce the cost of common data center tasks by as much as 40 percent.

The software combines the best of HP’s infrastructure portfolio into a single offering with advanced planning and management for both physical and virtual servers. With breakthrough “logical server” technology, the software brings the key benefits of virtual machines to physical HP platforms so a customer’s technology infrastructure can better adapt to business demands.

By detaching the logical identity from the physical server, logical servers are easily provisioned and freely moved across the infrastructure, independent of whether they are physical or virtual.

HP Insight Dynamics - VSE also will offer the industry’s most advanced real-time capacity planning tool, using “Smart Solver” technology from HP Labs. It analyzes server capacity and power usage based on thousands of historical data points. The software eliminates months of capacity planning and guesswork, enabling administrators to confidently predict infrastructure requirements.

HP Insight Dynamics - VSE provides a single screen view to manage all available virtual and physical resources, including hypervisors from multiple vendors. Data center administrators can view the big picture or obtain a detailed view of a single resource within the same screen without switching tools. By consolidating management tools and standardizing organizational processes, the software dramatically improves administrator productivity.

HP Insight Dynamics - VSE is based on proven technologies such as HP Virtual Server Environment, HP Insight Control and HP Virtual Connect. The new software seamlessly plugs into HP Systems Insight Manager, the industry’s most popular platform management tool.

“Virtualization introduces many benefits, but also the challenge of coordinating virtualized machines across the infrastructure,” said Jonathan Eunice, principal IT advisor, Illuminata. “HP Insight Dynamics - VSE is at the forefront of a new class of management software built to manage a thoroughly virtualized world.”

Software to tackle the toughest technology projects

By making change more predictive and easier to manage, HP Insight Dynamics - VSE advances HP’s Adaptive Infrastructure strategy for helping businesses build next-generation data centers.

With HP Insight Dynamics – VSE, customers can continuously optimize resources by rapidly repurposing and rebalancing their infrastructure using a five-star rating system to identify best-fit candidates.

The software provides a more dynamic test and development infrastructure, accelerating time to production by quickly repurposing test and development hardware without complicated re-installation.

In addition, the software enables high availability previously unavailable to many applications due to the cost involved in duplicating the technology assets. By easily redeploying logical servers in the event of hardware failure, customers can enjoy fast and affordable protection.

With HP Insight Dynamics - VSE, customers can extend the life of their data center by quickly identifying and consolidating inefficient servers onto fewer, more power-efficient ones. This energy-aware capacity planning helps them to substantially reduce energy consumption and dramatically improve utilization rates.

“Virtualization adoption has grown exponentially, and HP is uniquely positioned to help customers harness untapped resources for use where they are needed most,” said Bob Schultz, senior vice president, Infrastructure Software, HP. “HP Insight Dynamics - VSE blurs the distinction between physical and virtual platforms so customers can accelerate complex IT projects and streamline their daily operations.”

HP Services will work with customers to ensure that their virtualization strategy meets their business goals. HP Services also will provide installation, integration and ongoing support of HP Insight Dynamics - VSE.

HP Insight Dynamics - VSE is scheduled to be available for HP BladeSystem, ProLiant and Integrity servers in the second calendar quarter of 2008. For HP ProLiant servers, the software will be delivered through the new HP Insight Dynamics - VSE package, building on the Insight Control Environment. For HP Integrity servers, the software will be delivered as an update to the Virtual Server Environment Suite.