Hewlett-Packard is making storage a very major aspect of its outlook, especially as it shifts in manufacturing and services strategies to reflect today’s enterprise and consumer markets. The company is currently the largest storage vendor in terms of sales, and is constantly working on further growing its market share.

HP has recently reached an agreement with tape storage solutions provider Quantum to build its tape library based on the latter’s Scalar i6000 offering. In addition, Hewlett-Packard launched the P2000 G3 Modular Smart Array last week targeting the SMB market.

Another offering from CloudSystem also plays a role in HP’s cloud and storage strategy. The 3PAR tech-based suite is essentially a collection of several offerings that are not a part of a software/hardware bundle. Why? TechTarget.com’s Carl Brooks says it’s because the company is looking to please the broadest spectrum of customers possible by offering a tremendous amount of room for customization.

“If your infrastructure is really behind, you’re going to be looking at a hardware/software solution or hosted private cloud,” she said. “If you’re not quite as worried about the hardware, you might be looking at just the software this year,” said Forrester analyst Lauren Nelson.

Hewlett-Packard is also looking to please its resellers: yesterday, the company introduced a new quotation system developed exclusively for its distributors. iQuote is designed mainly for resellers operating in the SMB market.

The company is seeking ways to make its resellers better able to report on its offerings, and provides more than enough examples on how its services are being used. One of the latest ones is a case study from McKesson. The healthcare provider used HP ALM to realize data center and development process improvements.

Hewlett-Packard’s efforts extend beyond the enterprise space, too.  The tech giant extended storage capabilities to its consumers with the new HP Envy 14 Beats Edition laptop, featuring a 2.3 to 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5-2410M processor with AMD Radeon HD 6630 graphics.

HP is trying to make gains in several storage markets, but it’s competitors are doing the same. IBM appointed a distributor, Synnex, for its hardware products in Australia for the first time in 10 years, and Oracle just acquired storage vendor Pillar Data Systems for an undisclosed sum.