The primary solution proposed by HP included provisions for link-level security, but not encryption of the storage itself. Well-defined procedures were mapped out for testing failover--and actually failing over--between the arrays. Moreover, HP provided a detailed list of supported storage infrastructure (arrays and operating systems), which was omitted from the Quantum bid.
A useful chart was provided to identify throughput and I/O-per-second characteristics of various WAN, LAN and SAN interconnects.
HP also provided an overview of its OpenView Storage Operations Manager. To emphasize the need, industry-buzz terms such as SMI-S (Storage Management Initiative Specification) were much in evidence, but these contributed little differentiation from the management solutions HP expected to be proposed in other bids.
Understanding that this was a high-dollar proposal, HP dwelled at some length on IT and business benefits--a nice touch, and one not emulated in any of the other proposals. The vendor claimed that the total projected value of the system would be approximately $23 million over five years. It claimed a whopping 354 percent ROI and payback within 14 months. Despite the considerable effort HP put into this analysis, we couldn't help but feel that, predicated as it was on the largely unsubstantiated cost of a disaster at Darwin's, the numbers were unlikely to sway the grocery chain's management. That's because missing from the equation was any analysis of the likelihood of a disaster actually occurring, which is a mitigator of any analysis of exposure or value. Neither HP's proposal nor those of its competitors offered anything approaching an exposure analysis that might underscore what Darwin's stood to lose in an outage.
Price for the HP proposal was a bit difficult to ferret out from the morass of archived attachments included in the bid. Based on document titles, it appeared that the sticker price of $466,944 for CASA and $5,609,108 for the two EVA arrays applied, for a total of $6,076,052. The bid also stated that SAN Valley FCIP gateway switches were required, and pointed to a spreadsheet that listed several models and numerous configuration and pricing options. We couldn't discern which products and options were needed in our case. The overall price tag also didn't include the SAN-ification of existing infrastructure or the additional cost for OpenView management software, no small potatoes.
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By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
