HP and Microsoft Unveil Business Messaging Appliances

Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard published a roadmap outlining their launch plans for the four new converged appliances on Jan. 19. These appliances combine applications, infrastructure, and productivity tools into a single system.

The four appliances, HP Business Decision Appliance, HP E5000 Messaging System for Microsoft Exchange Server, HP Database Consolidation Appliance, and HP Business Data Warehouse Appliance, are all based on HP servers and run Microsoft software.

These appliances would reduce IT complexity by making configuration, deployment and management easier, the two companies said. The jointly-engineered appliances would allow IT teams to deploy business critical applications in as little as one hour, as opposed to the months often required for customized deployments, they said.

Microsoft and HP announced the three-year $250 million partnership to deliver jointly developed "application solutions" and hardware-software appliances a year ago. The HP Enterprise Data Warehouse appliance, jointly launched in November, simplifies data warehouse deployments and integrates with the Microsoft Business Intelligence platform. The appliance delivers up to 200 times faster queries and 10 times the scalability of traditional SQL Server deployments, the companies said.

These turnkey appliances are amongst the first to emerge from the partnership.

For more, read the eWeek article: Microsoft, HP Launch Converged Business, Messaging Application Appliances.