3PAR

3PAR was an American enterprise data-storage company and technology brand founded in the late 1990s and headquartered in Fremont, California. Originally established as 3PARdata, the company developed hardware storage arrays and storage-management software for enterprises, service providers, and other organizations operating large or consolidated data centers. Its name is associated with the company’s early founders and its three-part corporate identity, while its technology strategy focused on treating storage as a shared, virtualized resource rather than as fixed capacity assigned permanently to individual applications. The company’s principal contribution was its emphasis on pooled storage, thin provisioning, multi-tenant administration, and automated management. Thin provisioning allowed organizations to present more logical capacity to applications than had initially been physically installed, allocating disk resources as demand developed and helping reduce unused capacity. 3PAR also promoted the idea of “utility storage,” in which a common infrastructure could support multiple customers, business units, applications, or service offerings with flexible allocation and administrative separation. This approach aligned the brand with the expansion of server virtualization, software as a service, infrastructure as a service, and cloud-computing models. 3PAR shipped its first InServ storage server in 2002. Its product range subsequently expanded from enterprise arrays to systems designed for different performance, scale, and deployment requirements. Features associated with the platform included storage virtualization, thin provisioning, virtual domains for workload or tenant isolation, autonomic storage tiering, data reduction, compression, deduplication, and hardware-assisted processing through purpose-built ASICs. These capabilities were intended to improve utilization, simplify management, and support the consolidation of heterogeneous workloads. The company attracted institutional investment and became publicly traded in 2007 under the symbol PAR. It later moved its listing to the New York Stock Exchange. In 2010, 3PAR became the subject of a competitive acquisition contest between Dell and Hewlett-Packard. HP ultimately completed its acquisition on September 27, 2010, bringing 3PAR into HP’s storage business. The transaction ended 3PAR’s existence as an independent public company but preserved its technology and product identity within HP’s enterprise-storage portfolio. When HP separated its enterprise hardware, software, and services operations in 2015, the relevant business became Hewlett Packard Enterprise. 3PAR products and technology therefore continued under HPE, including successive storage families such as the 8000, 9000, and 20000 series. The brand is now best understood as an HPE enterprise-storage platform rather than as a standalone manufacturer. HPE’s current storage strategy has broadened beyond the historical 3PAR identity, but HPE continues to maintain official 3PAR product and support information for installed systems and related offerings.

3PAR was formed in the United States in the late 1990s as 3PARdata. The company was associated with founders Jeffrey Price, Ashok Singhal, and Robert Rogers; Rogers left the business in 2001. David Scott became president and chief executive officer in January 2001. From the outset, the company concentrated on enterprise storage hardware and software rather than general-purpose computing equipment. The company’s early architecture was designed around the idea that storage could be virtualized and shared across many applications or customers. Instead of provisioning all physical capacity in advance for each workload, customers could use logical allocations backed by a common pool. 3PAR announced thin-provisioning capabilities in 2002 and began shipping them to customers in 2003. The technology became a central part of the company’s identity because it could improve storage utilization and reduce the administrative burden of planning fixed capacity. 3PAR shipped the first InServ storage server in September 2002. By the middle of the decade, InServ systems were marketed for business data centers in several performance and scale categories. The T400 and T800 addressed high-end array requirements, while the F200 and F400 were positioned against modular storage systems. The broader product philosophy was described as “utility storage,” a model intended to support shared, multi-tenant infrastructure for service providers and enterprises consolidating their information technology operations. As virtualization and internet-delivered computing grew, 3PAR aligned its products with service-provider and cloud requirements. Virtual Domains, introduced in 2007, provided separation of application or tenant data on a consolidated platform. In 2010, the company introduced Adaptive Optimization, an automated storage-tiering capability intended to place data on different classes of media according to performance and cost requirements. These developments extended the company’s original emphasis on pooling and automation. 3PAR raised a substantial private investment round in 2004 and opened a second research-and-development office in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 2007. It completed an initial public offering in November 2007 under the symbol PAR and moved from NYSE Arca to the New York Stock Exchange in December 2008. In 2009, it established an Indian subsidiary in Bangalore to support global services and support operations. The decisive event in 3PAR’s corporate history was the 2010 takeover contest. Dell announced an agreement to acquire the company in August, after which HP presented a higher offer. Dell and HP repeatedly increased their proposals over the following weeks. HP ultimately completed the acquisition on September 27, 2010. The transaction brought 3PAR into HP’s storage organization and ended its operation as an independent public company. After HP separated its enterprise operations in 2015, 3PAR became part of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. HPE continued to develop and market storage systems using the 3PAR architecture and operating environment. Product families associated with the later portfolio included the 8000, 9000, and 20000 series. These platforms shared an architecture using specialized ASICs and 3PAR OS, with later software supporting capabilities such as compression and improved deduplication. In the HPE era, 3PAR increasingly functioned as a technology and product brand within a larger storage portfolio, while HPE became the source for current product, support, and lifecycle information. 3PAR was founded in California in the late 1990s as 3PARdata by Jeffrey Price, Ashok Singhal, and Robert Rogers. Rogers departed in 2001, and David Scott became president and chief executive officer in January of that year. The company focused on enterprise storage hardware and software at a time when organizations were moving from dedicated application silos toward virtualized and shared data-center infrastructure. Its first major product was the InServ storage server, shipped in September 2002. 3PAR promoted a concept it called utility storage, in which a common storage platform could serve multiple customers, applications, or organizational units while allowing capacity and performance to be managed dynamically. This model addressed the requirements of hosting providers, cloud services, and enterprises building internal shared-service environments. Thin provisioning became one of the company’s most distinctive technologies. Announced in 2002 and shipped commercially in 2003, it enabled logical capacity to be presented without immediately consuming equivalent physical capacity, improving utilization and simplifying expansion. During the 2000s, 3PAR broadened its portfolio across high-end and modular storage. The InServ T400 and T800 were aimed at large enterprise installations, while the F200 and F400 addressed modular-array deployments. The product architecture combined storage controllers, proprietary ASIC technology, and management software. Additional capabilities included virtualization, secure isolation of application data, replication, automated provisioning, and support for multi-tenant environments. 3PAR disclosed an investment round of nearly $33 million in February 2004. Its international engineering and support footprint expanded with a Belfast research and development office in September 2007 and an Indian subsidiary in Bangalore in 2009. The company completed an initial public offering in November 2007 under the symbol PAR and moved its listing to the New York Stock Exchange’s main board in December 2008. In November 2007 it also introduced Virtual Domains, designed to isolate data and administration within a consolidated storage platform. In March 2010, 3PAR announced Adaptive Optimization, an automated storage-tiering system intended to balance application performance and storage cost. The company attracted acquisition interest as demand grew for storage supporting virtualization and cloud computing. Dell announced a proposed acquisition on August 16, 2010. HP entered the contest with a larger offer on August 23. After several rounds of bids, HP offered approximately $2.4 billion, or $33 per share, while Dell’s offer reached $32 per share. The original Dell agreement was terminated, with Dell receiving a break-up fee reported at $72 million. HP completed the acquisition on September 27, 2010, for approximately $2.35 billion. 3PAR continued as a storage technology and product identity within HP. In 2015, HP separated its enterprise assets into Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and 3PAR became part of HPE. The later portfolio included the 8000, 9000, and 20000 series. These systems covered midrange, intermediate, and high-end requirements, with flash and hybrid configurations. The platforms shared the 3PAR operating-system foundation and ASIC-based design, supporting thin provisioning, compression, deduplication, and parity processing. HPE subsequently developed a wider storage portfolio, but 3PAR remains associated with the company’s enterprise-array heritage and its early emphasis on efficient, automated, multi-tenant storage. 3PAR was formed in the United States in the late 1990s as 3PARdata, founded by Jeffrey Price, Ashok Singhal, and Robert Rogers. Rogers left the business in 2001, and David Scott became president and chief executive officer in January 2001. The company concentrated on enterprise storage hardware and software rather than general-purpose computing equipment, at a time when organizations were moving from dedicated application silos toward virtualized and shared data-center infrastructure. 3PAR disclosed an investment round of nearly $33 million in February 2004, involving investors such as Mayfield Fund, Menlo Ventures, and Worldview Technology Partners. It opened a second research-and-development office in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in September 2007 and an Indian subsidiary in Bangalore in 2009 to support global services and support operations. It completed an initial public offering in November 2007 under the symbol PAR and moved from NYSE Arca to the New York Stock Exchange in December 2008. The decisive event in 3PAR's corporate history was the 2010 takeover contest. Dell announced a proposed acquisition on August 16, 2010. HP entered the contest with a larger offer on August 23. After several rounds of bids, HP offered approximately $2.4 billion, or $33 per share, while Dell's offer reached $32 per share. The original Dell agreement was terminated, with Dell receiving a break-up fee reported at $72 million. HP completed the acquisition on September 27, 2010, for approximately $2.35 billion. The transaction brought 3PAR into HP's storage organization and ended its operation as an independent public company.

• 2017

  3PAR 9000 series introduced

  [1]3PARen.wikipedia.org

  HPE introduces the 3PAR 9000 series as an offering positioned between the 8000 and 20000 families.

• 2015

  3PAR enters the HPE portfolio

  [1]3PARen.wikipedia.org

  Following HP's enterprise-business separation, 3PAR becomes part of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

• 2015

  3PAR becomes part of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

  [1]3PARen.wikipedia.org

  The brand moves into Hewlett Packard Enterprise following the separation of HP’s enterprise assets.

• 2010

  Adaptive Optimization introduced

  [1]3PARen.wikipedia.org

  3PAR introduces automated storage tiering aimed at optimizing cost and performance in enterprise and service-provider environments.

• 2010

  HP completes acquisition of 3PAR

  [1]3PARen.wikipedia.org

  HP completes the acquisition after a bidding contest with Dell, bringing 3PAR into HP’s enterprise-storage business. Hewlett-Packard completes its acquisition of 3PAR for approximately $2.35 billion after a contested bidding process with Dell.

• 2009

  Indian subsidiary opens

  [1]3PARen.wikipedia.org

  3PAR opens a Bangalore subsidiary supporting global services, logistics, administration, and customer support operations.

• 2008

  Listing moves to the New York Stock Exchange

  [1]3PARen.wikipedia.org

  3PAR transfers its public listing from NYSE Arca to the New York Stock Exchange.

• 2007

  Belfast research office and public offering

  [1]3PARen.wikipedia.org

  3PAR opens a second research and development office in Belfast and completes its initial public offering under the symbol PAR.

• 2007

  Virtual Domains is introduced

  [1]3PARen.wikipedia.org

  3PAR introduces Virtual Domains to support secure separation of application or tenant data on consolidated storage infrastructure.

• 2004

  Institutional investment round disclosed

  [1]3PARen.wikipedia.org

  The company discloses a private investment round of nearly $33 million involving Mayfield Fund, Menlo Ventures, and Worldview Technology Partners. The company discloses almost $33 million in financing from several venture investors.

Showing the 10 most recent.

Enterprise and service-provider storage infrastructure centered on virtualization, shared resource pools, thin provisioning, multi-tenancy, and cloud-oriented data-center management.

• Enterprise storage array · 2002

  3PAR InServ Storage Server

  InServ was 3PAR's foundational storage-server platform and first major commercial product, combining array hardware with software for provisioning, virtualization, management, and data protection. It served enterprise data centers and service-provider environments with a design based on shared storage resources, virtualization, and centralized management. The family included systems aimed at both high-end and modular-array segments, allowing 3PAR to compete across different levels of enterprise infrastructure. InServ embodied the company's effort to make storage capacity more flexible and efficient than fixed, application-specific provisioning, and established the architectural and software concepts later carried into HPE-branded 3PAR StoreServ systems. The InServ family was 3PAR’s foundational storage-server platform, combining array hardware with software for provisioning, virtualization, management, and data protection. It was designed for business data centers and service-provider environments, with product variants spanning high-end monolithic-array competition and more modular deployments. The platform established the architectural and software concepts later carried into HPE-branded 3PAR StoreServ systems.

• Storage virtualization software · 2007

  3PAR Virtual Domains

  Virtual Domains provided logical separation within a consolidated 3PAR storage system. The capability was designed for multi-tenant environments in which service providers or enterprise IT departments needed to isolate applications, customers, or business units while sharing a physical platform. It supported 3PAR's utility-storage positioning by combining resource consolidation with administrative and data-isolation controls.

• Automated storage-tiering software · 2010

  3PAR Adaptive Optimization

  Adaptive Optimization was an automated tiering capability introduced in 2010 for high-end storage systems. It was intended to place data on different storage media according to workload requirements, helping organizations balance performance, capacity, and cost. The feature extended 3PAR's automation strategy beyond initial provisioning and toward ongoing optimization of storage resources, reducing the need for manual allocation of applications to fixed performance tiers. Adaptive Optimization was announced in 2010 as an automated storage-tiering capability. It was intended to place data on appropriate storage media according to workload requirements, balancing performance and infrastructure cost. The technology supported 3PAR’s broader utility-storage positioning by reducing the need for manual allocation of applications to fixed performance tiers.

• Mid-range flash and hybrid storage · 2015

  HPE 3PAR StoreServ 8000 series

  The 8000 series was an HPE-era 3PAR family introduced in 2015 and positioned for mid-range enterprise deployments. It was offered in flash and hybrid configurations and continued the platform's use of virtualized storage pools, thin provisioning, and 3PAR OS. The range was intended to provide enterprise functionality for organizations that did not require the scale of the largest 3PAR systems. The 9000 series, introduced in 2017, occupied the middle-to-upper portion of the HPE 3PAR portfolio. It was designed for enterprises requiring greater scale and performance than the 8000 family while remaining below the largest 20000 systems, and could scale to four nodes. The family used the 3PAR architecture and operating environment to provide pooled capacity, virtualization, data reduction, and centralized storage management. The 20000 series, introduced in 2015, represented the high-end portion of the HPE 3PAR portfolio. It was designed for large enterprise and service-provider environments requiring substantial scale, multi-node operation, and federation capabilities, and could scale to eight nodes with additional expansion through federation. Like other 3PAR families, it relied on the 3PAR operating environment and specialized ASIC-based hardware architecture to support virtualization, thin provisioning, and data-center workload consolidation. Introduced in 2015, the 8000 series served midrange enterprise requirements and was offered in flash and hybrid configurations. It used the 3PAR architecture and operating-system environment to provide capabilities such as thin provisioning, virtualization, data reduction, and centralized management in a comparatively accessible system range.

• Storage operating system

  3PAR OS

  3PAR OS is the software foundation used across 3PAR storage systems. It provides the control and management layer for capabilities such as storage virtualization, thin provisioning, data reduction, compression, deduplication, parity processing, and workload administration. Later versions expanded data-reduction functionality while preserving the platform's common operating model across different array families; version 3.3.1 was described as adding or enhancing data-reduction functions, including compression and deduplication improvements.

• High-end enterprise storage array · 2005

  3PAR T400 and T800

  The T400 and T800 were high-end InServ models marketed for large enterprise data centers. They addressed workloads requiring substantial scalability, centralized management, and performance comparable with large monolithic storage systems. Their positioning placed 3PAR against established high-end offerings from suppliers such as EMC and Hitachi Data Systems.

• Modular enterprise storage array · 2005

  3PAR F200 and F400

  The F200 and F400 were modular InServ systems aimed at business data centers that needed shared storage without adopting the largest monolithic platforms. They extended 3PAR's utility-storage model into a more modular segment and competed with products such as EMC's modular arrays and HP EVA systems.

• Enterprise storage array · 2017

  HPE 3PAR StoreServ 9000

  The 9000 series occupied the space between the 8000 and 20000 families. It was designed for organizations needing greater scale and performance than the midrange systems while retaining the 3PAR approach to shared infrastructure, automated management, thin provisioning, and data reduction. The series could scale to four nodes according to the referenced product description.

• High-end enterprise storage array · 2015

  HPE 3PAR StoreServ 20000

  The 20000 series represented the high end of the HPE 3PAR array range. Introduced in 2015, it was designed for demanding enterprise and service-provider deployments and could scale to eight nodes, with additional expansion through federation. Its ASIC-based platform supported storage efficiency and data-management functions across large shared environments.

• Storage-management software

  3PAR Operating System

  The 3PAR operating-system software layer provided common functionality across the array portfolio. Capabilities associated with the platform included thin provisioning, virtualization, compression, deduplication, parity processing, provisioning, and management of shared storage resources. Version 3.3.1 was described as adding or enhancing data-reduction functions, including compression and deduplication improvements.

• 2015

  3PAR transitions into Hewlett Packard EnterpriseStrategy

  Background

  HP separated its enterprise-focused operations from the rest of the company, creating Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

  Action taken

  The 3PAR business and related storage technologies were transferred into HPE's enterprise-storage portfolio.

  Aftermath

  3PAR continued as a product and technology brand within HPE rather than as an independent company.

  Source

• 2010

  HP contests Dell’s proposed acquisition of 3PARM&A

  Background

  Dell announced an agreement to acquire 3PAR in August 2010. HP entered the process shortly afterward with a higher proposal, reflecting the strategic value of 3PAR's enterprise-storage and cloud-oriented technology as enterprise customers increasingly adopted virtualization and cloud-oriented infrastructure.

  Action taken

  HP repeatedly raised its offer as Dell revised its bid. 3PAR accepted successive proposals during the contest, while the original Dell agreement was terminated subject to a breakup fee. HP completed the transaction on September 27, 2010.

  Aftermath

  HP completed the acquisition on September 27, 2010. 3PAR became part of HP's storage business and later transitioned into Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

  Final acquisition value. $2.35 billion (September 27, 2010)

  • Dell — Dell increased its offer during the bidding contest but did not ultimately acquire 3PAR.

  Source

• 2010

  Accept HP’s acquisition offer after competing bidsM&A

  Background

  3PAR became the target of competing acquisition proposals from Dell and Hewlett-Packard as enterprise customers increasingly adopted virtualization and cloud-oriented infrastructure.

  Action taken

  After successive bid increases, 3PAR accepted HP’s proposal, and HP completed the transaction on September 27, 2010.

  Aftermath

  3PAR became an HP subsidiary and later moved into Hewlett Packard Enterprise when HP separated its enterprise operations in 2015.

  Completed acquisition value. $2.35 billion (2010)

  • Dell — Dell repeatedly raised its offer during the bidding contest but ultimately did not complete the acquisition and received a reported break-up fee after the initial agreement was terminated.

  Source

• 2010

  Introduce Adaptive OptimizationStrategy

  Background

  Enterprise and service-provider customers were seeking ways to combine different storage media and control infrastructure costs without manually managing every workload placement decision.

  Action taken

  3PAR announced Adaptive Optimization, an automated storage-tiering capability for high-end storage systems.

  Aftermath

  The feature reinforced 3PAR's positioning around autonomic management, utilization efficiency, and utility-style storage.

  Source

• 2015

  3PAR becomes part of Hewlett Packard Enterprise[1]3PARen.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  Following the separation of HP’s enterprise operations into Hewlett Packard Enterprise, 3PAR became part of the new enterprise technology company.

• 2010

  Dell announces agreement to acquire 3PAR[1]3PARen.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  Dell announced an approximately $1.15 billion proposal to acquire 3PAR, beginning a competitive bidding process for the storage company.

• 2010

  Hewlett-Packard enters the 3PAR takeover contest[1]3PARen.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  HP made a higher unsolicited offer for 3PAR after Dell’s initial proposal, beginning a bidding competition between the two technology companies.

• 2010

  Dell and HP escalate 3PAR acquisition bids[1]3PARen.wikipedia.org

  M&A · Pricing

  A sequence of revised offers from Dell and HP lifted the proposed acquisition value above $2 billion and made 3PAR the focus of a prominent technology bidding contest.

• 2010

  HP enters the bidding for 3PAR[1]3PARen.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  Hewlett-Packard made a higher offer for 3PAR, valuing the storage company at approximately $1.5 billion and challenging Dell’s initial transaction.

1. 13PARen.wikipedia.org
2. 2HPE 3PAR Storagehpe.com
3. 3Hewlett Packard Enterprisehpe.com
4. 4http://www.3par.com3par.com