Today, HP is announcing that HP 3PAR Online Import support now facilitates migrating data from EMC VNX and EMC CLARiiON CX4 arrays to HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage, enabling HP partners to better target EMC midmarket customers.

“The news here is about us taking substantial momentum with 3PAR, particularly through the channel, and putting the hammer down even faster with this,” said Brad Parks, Senior Manager, Go-to-market Strategy, HP Storage. “3PAR has taken share in the mid-range from EMC, and we are now the number one mid-range FC array in EMEA and Canada.”

3PAR Online Import capability was introduced over a year ago as part of the 3PAR 7000 array, and was originally designed to make it easier for HP EVA customers to migrate to 3PAR. A user-directed migration utility, it allows upgrades from legacy arrays to 3PAR without requiring the use of host resources, specialized host software or additional hardware appliances.

“One of the core capabilities of 3PAR is federation – to be able to talk from one array to the other and communicate with the host application server to move data non disruptively,” Parks said. “Online Import now builds on that federated storage capability to port old VNX and CX4 EMC arrays over to 3PAR. Because the movement is in the storage fabric, it has minimal impact on customer migrations.”

Online Import software’s technology leverages the HP 3PAR Gen4 ASIC to drive efficient, inline, fat-to-thin conversion that takes fully provisioned (or fat) volumes from a legacy storage system and uses zero-block deduplication technology to convert them into thin-provisioned volumes on 3PAR StoreServ.

Parks said that HP is expecting to capitalize on what he called a complex migration between generations of VNX. The new generation of EMC VNX arrays— VNX2—use an operating system that is not supported on earlier VNX models, so the upgrade path from a first-generation VNX array to VNX2 requires a full data migration.

“Code changes with VNX2 requires a new array, and creates a realization by customers and partners that a full rip and replace upgrade is needed,” Parks said. “The migration from VNX to VNX2 is more complex than a migration from VNX to 3PAR, based on EMC’s best practices and step by step guide.” Replacing EMC VNX and CLARiiON CX4 arrays with VNX2 requires 40% to 80% more commands than upgrading to HP 3PAR StoreServ with EMC.

“Wikibon says this kind of migration can last about five months, and cost over half the cost of the array in the migration, Parks added.”

For the channel, which typically does very well off migration business, Parks said this new capability of 3PAR Online Import will let them target EMC customers faced with an upgrade from VNX or CX4.

“This will give partners a significant opportunity to go after that business with a better platform and less painful migration,” he said.

HP 3PAR Online Import support for EMC VNX and EMC CLARiiON CX4 arrays will be available in June at no additional cost, and will be included as part of the 3PAR OS Suite version 3.1.3 MU1 and later. HP 3PAR Online Import software is included at no charge for 180 days with the HP 3PAR OS Suite, version 3.1.2 MU2 and later.

This article originally appeared on eChannelLine.com.