Following hot on the heels of the recently announced MediaSmart Server EX490 series, HP today announced three new Windows Home Server models positioned for small business. Over the past year, Microsoft have been slowly extending the positioning of WHS into the small business domain – a move that has now been validated by the first dedicated WHS-powered small business offering from a major manufacturer.
The HP StorageWorks X510 Data Vault, available from today, utilises the now familiar HP home server chassis with three flavours of storage.
At $699, the baseline system is the HP StorageWorks X510 1TB Data Vault, which packs an Intel Dual Core Processor, 2GB of RAM and a single 1Tb drive, offering three free storage bays for future expansion. The 2TB Data Vault provides a similar specification plus a second 1 TB drive (enabling shared folder duplication for extra protection). At the top of the tree sits the 3 TB Data Vault (2x 1.5 TB), with the same processor and RAM specification.
The HP Data Vault offers the same data and OS back-up capabilities for Mac and PC as the new HP MediaSmart Server, and at first glance, a similar set of proprietary add-ins, with HP Media Collector, HP Photo Viewer and HP Photo Publisher all on board.
“Small businesses need storage technology that lowers risk by quickly bringing data back online if a disaster occurs. It can also increase productivity by sharing and remotely accessing files outside the office,” said Lee Johns, director of marketing, Unified Storage Division, HP. “The HP StorageWorks Data Vault is easy to install, offers data protection and file sharing at an affordable price for small businesses with limited technology resources and budgets.”
Strangely, the same $699 buys you a 1.5TB HP MediaSmart Server or a 1TB HP Data Vault, and I can’t see anything the Data Vault provides that is missing on the consumer product, so you may want to look at both in detail before selecting the right model for your needs.
Full pricing information is as follows:
HP StorageWorks X510 1TB Data Vault – $699
HP StorageWorks X510 2TB Data Vault – $859
HP StorageWorks X510 3TB Data Vault – $999
The HP Data Vault is available from today in the USA, and will be coming soon to Canada, Western Europe, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
More Info: HP Data Vault | Datasheet (US) | Datasheet (Europe)
29. September 2009 at 1:04 pm
Coming soon to Australia, what sweet, sweet words!
29. September 2009 at 8:00 pm
Great news – and also for New Zealand – now let's wait for local $ pricing and see how we get treated
29. September 2009 at 2:13 pm
Wonderful site! I'd love to hear/see more on the differences of the GUI to see if HP has made any business implementations or if this nothing more than an EX49x with a different label and onsite support. Please post any information you run across regarding this!
29. September 2009 at 7:42 pm
It's basically the same software build as the MediaSmart Server, which is a shame – think they've missed an opportunity here to create some specific small biz add-ins…
29. September 2009 at 3:31 pm
From what I read at homeservershow.com Dave points out that the Data Vault will serve 10 to 20 users. The default max on the EX series has always been 10 users. I thought this was up to Microsoft to decide. Wondering if Active Directory will be allowed.
29. September 2009 at 7:42 pm
Not sure where Dave got that from, but I think he's mistaken – Windows Home Server has a 10 user limit.
29. September 2009 at 11:08 pm
From what I understand, someone mispoke in a net meeting about this product late last week. Also, the software installed on the X510 is the same (or almost identical) to the SW installed on the MSS series. I have no doubts that there will be a divergence in this area as this product line develops.
29. September 2009 at 11:34 pm
Would be a shame if there was nothing to seperate this series from the MSS.
29. September 2009 at 8:00 pm
Enter text right here!
29. September 2009 at 11:22 pm
perhaps it's just the business support options which are different.
30. September 2009 at 1:31 am
I am sure that would be true for starters. Businesses expect and demand a high level of support for an essential product, and pay for that support. Lack of support may be an inconvenience for a consumer, but can cost big-time bucks to a business that relies on a piece of equipment.
And from an article (http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver/archive/2009/... on the MS-WHS blog and reported here, me thinks MS (and HP) want to tap into the SOHO market.
This may be the 1st step.
12. March 2010 at 10:23 pm
I spent the last hour going through HP docs and specs on this, and various reviews. Not one mentions anything about compatibility with ADS and domain environments.
This baffles me greatly. How can you mention WHS and small business in the same sentence without mentioning ADS compatibility?
12. March 2010 at 10:26 pm
Hi Alex – unfortunately there is no ADS compatibility with the Data Vault. It's definitely a missing for small business compared to other devices, but there are benefits too…
12. March 2010 at 10:42 pm
Thanks Terry. I knew WHS did not support ADS but then saw banners ads on ZDNet, "HP X510 Data Vault – A New Storage Solution for Small Businesses". In itself, it's misleading as the box is a no-go in ADS shops, but then it gets downright ridiculous as after an hour of pouring over the docs and specs, there is no mention of it there.
Yeah I am ranting
I lost an hour! 
That's said, I still think you can't call this a "small business solution" w/o domain/ADS support.
13. March 2010 at 8:18 am
I guess it depends on the size of business – for example, if you're not running a server (which many micro businesses (think 1-10 seat) are not doing) then as a backup and storage solution, WHS/Data Vault can do a great job.
If you are running a Server, then it can still act as a backup solution, but the lack of ADS means that it won't neatly integrate as you would like.
I know HP and Microsoft are both aware of the limitation….