HP Discover 2013 kicks off next week, running June 11th-13th. One of the stories we’re looking for at HP Discover is going to be Hewlett-Packard’s current position with 3PAR, a key acquisition from a couple years back, and 3PAR’s role in HP’s goals to update its Flash-based storage technology.

On its earnings call last week, HP explained how demand for its converged storage solutions increased by 48 percent from last year to $349 million. Within that, sales of 3PAR equipment soared by 82 percent.  But even with all that growth, Flash storage isn’t getting big enough, fast enough, to replace its old storage services.  This is still a story of the new (3PAR) not being big enough to offset the old (EVA, tape, etc.), “and the result is no growth,” commented Wikibon co-founder and chief analyst Dave Vellante.

Building the case for HP Flash, SDS

HP needs to articulate its flash and software-defined strategies to the world, and HP Discover 2013 gives it the perfect platform to do so. HP has to shrink to grow, to steal the phrase from Vellante. Flash memory has evolved, having become a very interesting opportunity for HP.  We’re hoping the company will pull back the curtain at HP Discover to reveal its plan for updating its storage business.  A battle is brewing that is going to pit matured stacks against new stacks in the data center.

We’re adaptable, says HP

Wikibon and its chief analyst Vellante expect HP to leverage its existing architecture, it’s modern enough they can adapt for flash without penalty. HP’s existing architecture is a mature product that took a decade to build out. A disadvantage to everyone else spinning up new stacks is the lack of maturity there. HP has a full storage stack, and while 3PAR is expensive, it’s still one of the best.

3PAR produces a range of enterprise storage products, including hardware disk arrays and storage management software. 3PAR is a traditional scale up model. While a drawback is cost, 3PAR is robust, reliable and available.  The good outweighs the bad.

Flash memory carries at least three markets:

1. Flash storage on servers
2. flash-only storage arrays
3. traditional storage arrays

Flash most affects software-defined storage in tier management and IOPS, with an emphasis on the fact that applications must also be able to scale.

The battle lines have been drawn, and HP is ready to go to war in proving that its existing architecture not only can adapt for flash without any significant roadblocks, but that its stack is better for the enterprise than modern architecture.  If HP has any horse in its stable to bet on, its recent earnings call suggest 3PAR and flash are it. If HP can get converged storage right, they can offset some the losses its feeling in the PC market.