Reduce risk and cost per mailbox with Exchange on the new HPE Alletra Storage Server 4000

[StorageExperts]

Companies are looking for safe alternatives to hackable online corporate email. Learn why running Microsoft Exchange server email on the new HPE Alletra Storage Servers is a great approach. These next-gen data storage servers are ideal for important data-centric workloads like corporate email, providing high security and high capacity – more performance and throughput than previous gen platforms.

– By Mike Harding, HPE Storage

It used to be ITs biggest worry about running an email system was that an outage would elicit an angry call from the CEO. Though still a concern, more worries are triggered from national threat actors like Russia actively hacking Exchange online email and Microsoft 365 services.

Another area of concern is cost. Many companies get their email via a Microsoft 365 subscription. This is already a rate hike for enterprises who had in the past been able to cost-effectively purchase perpetual licenses for their office software. However, at the recent Ignite event, Microsoft promoted how valuable and indispensable their AI “copilots” will be. But this comes at a relatively huge cost of another $30 per month per user, on top of what may only be $12.50 per month for the standard M365 service subscription.

In contrast, leading large companies are keeping their Exchange email safely on premises on the latest high-performing and space-efficient infrastructure such as the HPE Alletra Storage Server 4140.

The new HPE Alletra Storage Servers

The HPE Alletra Storage Server 4000 line are the next-gen data storage servers built to power your most important data-centric workloads. The successor to the industry leading HPE Apollo 4000 servers, these new systems are even more secure, can handle more capacity, and deliver more performance and throughput. Highlights include:

• Enhanced zero trust security from silicon to software and factory to cloud with HPE Integrated Lights Out 6 (iLO6), including new support for the DMTF Security Protection Data Model
• More data processing with latest 4th and 5th generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors delivering more performance plus DDR5 memory with up to 50% higher data transfer rate
• More data throughput with up to 109% more bandwidth, double the now PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSDs for cache and metadata, and up to four new generation tri-mode storage controllers

The solution for modern enterprise email challenges

What HPE has assembled for an enterprise email solution is delivering cloud scale economics with more performance than ever.  The Microsoft Exchange on the HPE Alletra Storage Server 4000 solution has already been enabling enterprise customers to run their own email for less than Exchange Online, in some cases less than $4 per mail box per month, but with these technological advances in the platform, customers can now expect better email delivery, faster inbox searches and faster rebuilds in the case of disk failure.

The how-to guide for Exchange email on HPE Alletra Storage Servers is available now

HPE published a new best practices and configuration guide that updates the implementation best practices, from the earlier HPE Apollo 4200 Gen10 Plus era systems to the current HPE Alletra Storage Server 4000 data storage – and specifically for the HPE Alletra Storage Server 4120 and HPE Alletra Storage Server 4140.  It also addresses changes in the application software, for Exchange 2024 H1 Cumulative Update, running on Windows Server 2022.  The content provides details on Auto reseed configuration, hardware selection and configuration, and includes changes from previous versions of Exchange 2019 Cumulative Updates.

Why Exchange 2019 now – it’s all about the money

It sounds odd to be advocating the “upgrade” to a product called “Exchange 2019” when we’re in the year 2024. But this is still the newest version of Exchange, and surprisingly many companies are still running much older versions. We’re regularly getting requests from customers, especially large financial services firms, moving from Exchange 2016 or earlier, who now want to upgrade to a new email and collaboration stack – the latest software running on the latest hardware. 

What’s providing a sense of urgency is the expected jump in licensing cost. The forced migration of Microsoft customers to Azure has unlevered enterprise buying power – where large customers once had Enterprise License Agreements that provided relatively affordable, and fixed-price access to their office software, they, along with all other Microsoft customers large and small, have had to instead buy more and more of their software as a service (SaaS), often at the listed per user per month prices, without the kind of buying power they had in the past. And once on this SaaS model, like any renter, their prices can go up at the landlord’s whim. Recent data shows SaaS prices jumping 12% over the past year. And the next version of Exchange, expected in 2025, will also become subscription based.

Don’t risk your email another day – get started with Exchange on HPE storage now

Enterprises are feeling the pressure on their aging email systems every day – increasing threat of hacks and exploits on the one hand, and the unrelenting push of high-price hyperscaler SaaS on the other.  But there’s a better third option: Scale up your Microsoft Exchange environment on-premises on new HPE Alletra Storage. HPE Alletra Storage provides a range of high-density and high-performance storage for petabyte scale Exchange environments, trusted by Wall Street firms, government agencies, healthcare providers, and other leading organizations around the globe. HPE publishes deployment guidance and shares administrative expertise to help speed the implementation and maintain the availability of business‑critical email systems. 

Speaking of deployment guidance, the new guide we just published for Microsoft Exchange on HPE Alletra Storage Server 4000 Solution deployment includes critical information on the software, hardware, and what to expect when installing and running this solution in your environment.  

Get your free guide now: HPE Alletra Storage Server 4120/4140 with Microsoft Exchange 2019 best practices and configuration guide

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Meet Storage Experts blogger Mike Harding, HPE Storage

Mike focuses on launching and growing new enterprise technology offerings.

 

Storage Experts
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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