HP introduced new firmware that “flattens” storage area networks (SANs) in data centers, collapsing multiple layers of the traditional SAN architecture into one, at its annual Discover conference in Las Vegas Monday.

Data center operators who deploy HP Virtual Connect for 3Par with Flat SAN technology will no longer need dedicated fiber-channel switches (SAN switch layer and fabric-interconnect layer) and associated cables to connect to HP’s BladeSystem blade-server enclosures. This cuts overall cost, the time it takes to set up a SAN and reduces latency between compute and storage.

David Scott, senior VP and general manager of HP’s storage division, said this was an industry first. “Please meet the industry’s first flat SAN for virtual and private cloud solutions,” he said during a press conference.

Scott was CEO of 3Par, before HP bought the storage vendor for US$2.35bn in 2010.

The firmware solution comes with the latest HP’s Virtual Connect appliance – which connects virtual servers to physical storage – and the latest 3Par storage arrays. Customers that have previous-generation versions of the hardware will need to upgrade if they want the Flat SAN technology.

Customers that buy HP’s Virtual Connect FlexFabric module for its BladeSystem blade-server enclosures will get the Flat SAN technology free of charge as part of the solution.

HP is currently offering 3Par with Flat SAN only in limited quantities to early adopters. The company is planning to launch the solution into general availability later in 2012.

HP launched Virtual Connect in 2007 and has since sold more than 6m Virtual Connect ports. In 2010, the company launched Virtual Connect FlexFabric, which have server administrators a simple way to connect physical and virtual servers to any local area network (LAN) or SAN without any additional network cards or software licenses.

Monday’s launch is the next step in this evolution, Scott said.

HP’s Enterprise group also launched a new StoreOnce B6200 backup system with StoreOnce Catalyst software on Monday. David Donatelli, the group’s executive VP and general manager said backup storage had become the “next battleground” for storage vendors, and the announcement was one way to tackle the opportunity.

Also launched on Monday were Data Protector 7, a software solution for backup and recovery, and the latest release of its deduplication software StoreOnce. Data Protector is now powered by the Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL) by Autonomy, an enterprise-software company HP bought in 2011.

Watch www.DatacenterDynamics.com for live coverage of HP Discover 2012 in Las Vegas this week.