HP has launched a storage system capable of scaling to multiple petabytes (one million gigabytes) of data.

HP said the HP StorageWorks 9100 Extreme Data Storage System (ExDS9100) would be ideal for firms aiming to deploy rich media applications such as streaming media, video and social networking applications.

The system is aimed at large enterprises like oil and gas companies, security and surveillance firms and pharmaceutical and academic research organisations.

“As business requirements rapidly change and digital media files grow at exponential rates, many enterprises need to manage growth in a way that helps them profit from their storage infrastructure,” said HP StorageWorks general manager vice president, Dave Roberson.

HP’s ExDS9100 consists primarily of three components – a performance block based on the HP BladeSystem chassis, with a basic system consisting of four blades, each capable of 200MB/s scalable to 16 blades offering 3.2GB/s. The capacity block can scale to a maximum 820TB and both it and the performance block are managed through HP’s file clustering software, which uses a single graphical management interface and wizards to make managing storage volumes easier – and potentially reducing the burden on storage administrators.

The ExDS9100 system is expected ship in Q4 2008.