HP was forced to rename its new mass storage units sold to compete with EMC’s Symmetrix systems, after a judge ruled the HP name was too much like the EMC product name. The two companies parted ways at the end of June when EMC ended its resale contract with HP — after HP signed on to put its own brand on a competing product manufactured by Hitachi.

HP’s new products were called the HP SureStore E Disk Array MC256, a name that EMC claimed HP repeatedly referred to “E MC256” or “SureStore E MC256.” A judge’s injunction keeps HP from using MC in its disk array product names.

Customers using the EMC products at HP 3000 sites were debating the relative merits of the new products and evaluating them in the weeks following the EMC-HP split. HP announced support for Timefinder and SRDF functions in the EMC systems for the HP 3000 last year, and it will continue to support the use of the arrays with MPE/iX systems. Early reports show that the HP units, renamed as XP 256s, take up more floor space and require more electrical connections than the EMC systems. Last year HP wouldn’t support the Hitachi 7700E units that are the base for the XP 256s — but now HP has told customers upgraded firmware will make those Hitachi units supportable as XP 256s.