We Got Served

A few weeks ago we invited WGS readers to submit the questions they want answered by HP’s Managed Home Team - these are the people who brought you the HP MediaSmart Server, as well as HP’s MediaSmart TV, the HP MediaVault and the forthcoming HP MediaSmart Connect media receiver.

As you’ll see, the team provide a little background into the development of the HP MediaSmart Server, a discussion about current issues users are experiencing and at least a couple of subtle hints as to areas of potential development focus for the next generation of the HP MediaSmart Server. 

So, without further ado, let’s get into the Q&A.

1. Okay, so to kick off, please introduce yourself, your job title and tell us a little bit about your role.

We have three people contributing to the Q&A.  First is Allen Buckner…

Hi folks.  I work as the Senior Product Manager for the Home Server business within HP’s Managed Home Team.  What this means is that I have a pretty challenging and exciting role acting as the product champion for MediaSmart Server.  My responsibilities include analyzing our customer research, turning it into our marketing requirements and then working with our development team to deliver these requirements within our stated schedule and cost boundaries. 

Next is Josh Peterson…. Hello. I am the Worldwide Marketing Manager for the Home Server/Home Storage team within HP’s Managed Home. I lead the activities around: future and current product marketing, marketing communications, channel strategy, partner marketing, business strategy, and roadmap planning. With the MediaSmart Server and the Media Vault, we all stay very busy.

Last but not least is Dan Thero…

Hello,  I am the R&D manager for the HP MediaSmart Server and the new HP Media Vault within HP’s Managed Home.  I direct the day-to-day activities of the software and hardware teams as well as manage the program managers responsible for the program planning and scheduling for these products. 

2. Tell us a little more about the HP Managed Home Team - what is your purpose/vision, and what product areas do you cover? What products will we have seen developed by the team.

Josh- HP’s managed home team is focused on delivering connected entertainment experiences for customers.  By “connected entertainment”, we’re referring to the ability to deliver a variety of media enjoyment (movies, music, TV, photos) activities in both the PC and living room/digital entertainment areas of the home.  For example - streaming digital music collections around your home… easily sharing photos from any PC on the network to the television… accessing your home video collection when you’re away from home.  The specific products that you would have seen from our team include the HP MediaSmart Server and Media Vault, our MediaSmart HD televisions and our upcoming HP MediaSmart Connect device that will turn any TV into a connected TV. 

3. When was the first time you heard that HP were interested in developing a home server? How long did the hardware take to develop, and what were the biggest challenges to get to the marketplace?

Dan- It has been a little over two years since HP and Microsoft first started sharing ideas about producing a product in this category.  Josh Peterson and I led these early discussion for HP, and while it took a little while for both companies to put in place plans, Josh and I and our teams have been involved with moving this program forward ever since.  The hardware took a little over a year to finalize.  The greatest challenge for me was developing a new hardware software platform with a new set of requirements and challenges related to manufacturing, recovery, Install, and user functionality on an OS that was still under development as well.  Ultimately I believe both the HP MediaSmart Server and The MS WHS platforms have benefited from this process.

Josh - As Dan states, we’ve been working on this project for over two years. Early on, it was clear that HP and Microsoft shared the same vision for this Home Server category, and that was important. We’ve had a very collaborative approach on both hardware and software. One of the greatest challenges from a marketing perspective has to be creating a new product category in the market place. Server in the home? Why would I want a server in my home?

What’s interesting is that once you get just a few moments to explain the MediaSmart Server to even the most skeptical person, they are sold. They get it. They want it. I’ve seen it a hundred times, at trade shows, in the retail stores, among friends. The challenge is getting the message across to all the consumers out there who would benefit from this new product category. We’ve really taken a step back from the traditional approaches that HP typically follows in our new product marketing efforts, and we’ve been trying more progressive approaches that focus on getting our message out to the early adopters who would be most interested in this new product category. We continue to make progress, but we’ve barely started. With new category creation, word-of-mouth is paramount, so we’re very focused on delighting the customers. That’s where my focus will remain.

4. What is your vision for the HP MediaSmart Server - where do you personally want to see WHS in the future and how long do you think it will be before we see the category reaches scale?

Allen- There are a number of tagline type responses that I’ll spare you :)!  From my standpoint, I really see the home server evolving to the next “must-have” consumer electronic device in the home.  Research predicts that an explosion of digital content is taking place right now.  And homes are rapidly becoming networked. That means home servers and other intelligent devices that enable users to consume and serve this content hold the promise of becoming an indispensable part of our lifestyles.  Just as I have a heating/cooling system to manage the climate in my home, I see the home server becoming the appliance people turn to for access, protection and control of their personal and acquired media content. 

While we obviously feel the MediaSmart Server is a great first step, there are a variety of other activities that servers can begin to manage.  We see some of these other activities emerging via the existing add-in development that wegotserved and other sites have highlighted. 

I personally think that a few of the high impact (meaning opening up servers to new groups of customers) include centralized or whole-home DVR capability, more seamless media streaming to a variety of devices and platforms and yes, even the long-discussed integration into home automation activities such as heating/cooling and security system monitoring at the higher-end of the market.

Josh - I agree with Allen on everything he said, but I also think it’s important to point out how focused we are on Ease of Use. Without ease-of-use, we will never reach the mainstream consumers. Last September, we delayed our launch because our beta testing showed that people were having some trouble with setup and configuration. We made some critical changes to the out-of-box-experience with our setup wizard and then launched in November.

In addition to all the great use models that Allen alludes to above, I can guarantee you that we will continue our maniacal focus on ease-of-use and setup.

5. Why do you think that HP and Fujitsu-Siemens are the only two major OEMs in the Windows Home Server marketplace?

Allen - We’ve been working on home server in collaboration with Microsoft for over two years.  The platform itself holds a great deal of promise, but also requires manufacturers to adhere to some pretty strict requirements in terms of product capabilities, thermal levels, acoustic levels, etc.  Based on our discussions with others in the industry, these requirements are taking manufacturers much longer than anticipated to deliver.  We do expect additional competitors and I think that having more products will only help the overall category development. 

Dan - HP set the bar high in hardware and software integration, value add features, ease of use and cost.  The integrated Hardware / Software solution of a headless device is significantly more challenging than a PC.

6. I’d like to know the HP MSS team’s thoughts on whether the HP MSS EX470/475 is a “server” or an “appliance”? As a server, users expect to be able to add their own software and upgrade the hardware (such as RAM) if the application demands require it or a new version of the OS is released. As an appliance, it is more understandable that the hardware is sold “as-is” and should be replaced by new models.

John Andrews
San Diego, CA, USA

Allen- Good question John.  I think the definitions here are a bit cloudy.  In general, our goal with MediaSmart Server is to deliver a platform that can be upgraded (hardware or software) over time.  We certainly don’t see people replacing their home servers every two years as is done frequently with PCs, so our goal when possible is to provide a platform for future expansion and/or capabilities. 

For example, today you can upgrade the amount of drive capacity very easily via our tool-free, cable-free drive carriers.  And, we know that some people have upgraded the RAM (although it’s not supported). 

On the software side, we’ll soon be delivering our first software update including McAfee virus scanning and enhanced media streaming with Packet Video.  Over time, we plan to continue offering additional features and upgrades to the server, but will do so only when they meet our standards of ease of use for the end user.  And, you can of course add your own capabilities through the add-in mechanism and the multitude of software applications that have been written for the platform.  

7. Do you folks also work on the Media Vault? If so, which platform do you like best and why?

Dusty Craine
Burton, MI USA 

Allen- We do work on the Media Vault.  In terms of which product is better, it really depends on what a customer needs.  As we’ve been discussing, MediaSmart Server is really a platform for some pretty robust applications that will continue to add new capabilities over time (either via HP or 3^rd party add-ins).  It is also built on a PC architecture providing exceptional performance for things like multiple PC backups, streaming multiple HD content streams, etc. 

Our Media Vault products are excellent network-attached storage devices that we are purposely enhancing to include things like media streaming and remote access.  While the Linux platform doesn’t provide the same level of performance or extensibility as with a home server, it allows us to provide products at a lower cost/price point.  Ultimately, developing on both products enables us to meet the needs of a much broader set of customers than each one individually.  The result is we can start delivering on the promise of connected entertainment experiences to a broader set of customers. 

8. What are the Top 3 issues with the HP MediaSmart Server that you receive the most support calls about? What are you doing to try to resolve those issues?

Allen- Our top support issues include server name resolution that can occur in DNS environments, firewall blocking/configuration issues with the Server and remote access configuration.  As these issues indicate, home networking is still a complicated area for customers and we actually anticipated they would be our top call generators.  As such, we have a support team specifically trained on MediaSmart Server to help customers who encounter these or other issues. 

9. I think a very relevant question is what did HP do with Shadow Copies and why are they disabled on MediaSmart Servers?

Josh Pearl
New York, NY, USA

Dan - HP did not disable this feature.  A few months ago we learned with the rest of the user community that Version Shadowing Service “VSS” was enabled by default in the system builder version of WHS, however it was not enabled in OEM versions, most importantly it was not enabled on the HP Media Smart Server.

Microsoft disabled the feature for “sysprep” systems.  Sysprep is a Microsoft process for OEMs to create an OS image which has an embedded Microsoft license product key.  More specifically it was disabled in what is called the “sysprep script”

It is not clear from Microsoft whether this was a feature they wanted to be enabled or disabled prior to release, and the differences between the two OS versions may be the result of that confusion.  Microsoft has not provided HP with a mechanism to enable this feature and has indicated that HP should not enable this feature.  Therefore, HP support officially states that this is not supported.  It is not clear if, or at what point this feature will be disabled on the system builder version of WHS as well.

10. Have you seen the upgrades people have been doing (more memory, more processor)? Are you guys in the cheering section or feel as if these people are potentially setting themselves up for (hardware) failure?

Dusty Craine
Burton, MI USA

Dan - Yes and yes.  I think it’s great that people are excited about their Media Smart Server and want to customize it, or change it to improve performance, and download new applications to add to or change the products capabilities. 

However I must admit I cringe when I read about people disabling the power supply fan to make it quieter, or installing CPU’s with much higher power requirements then the main board was designed for to make it faster.  In some cases, we have pretty hard evidence that these folks are setting themselves up for hardware failures or OS and BIOS instability issues. 

In an effort to make our MSS small, quiet and reliable, we designed a fairly customized product that is not nearly as accommodating to these type of changes as some larger general purpose PC platforms.  I think that in the next hardware platform we need to consider how to better to accommodate the desire to upgrade, For now, however, people should be aware that these changes are voiding their warranty for a reason; I personally would not recommend many of these “upgrades”.

11. What can you tell us about the next version of the HP MediaSmart Server?
Christopher Gorman
Southend on sea, UK

Allen- well, I can tell you that it’s going to build upon the success we’ve seen with the current product.  We watch the blogs and forums with great interest to understand what people are doing or want to be doing with their MediaSmart Servers.   In addition, we’ve recently completed a survey of the early buyers of the current MediaSmart Server, and this feedback is being used to help define the next generation product. At a high level, we plan to continue delivering experiences that simplify the organization, access (home and remote) and enjoyment of content from the various PCs in the home. We will also continue our focus on ease-of-use and fast setup/configuration. Many of the future software enhancements that we make for the next generation product will be made available to the current installed base customers.

12. The four options for default webpage for a MSS (2 MS-based and 2 HP-based) are confusing and redundant. Getting to certain functions requires multiple Logins. Do you have any plans to integrate the Login process any better? Make it seamless? Thanks.

Paul Yantko
Atlanta, GA, USA

Allen- We carefully evaluated the addition of the TZO dymanic DNS service and MediaSmart server.   Ultimately we determined that the benefits (automatic e-mail notifications in webshare, ability to port an existing domain, etc. ) outweighed the cons.  That said, I agree that it can be confusing having two services, each with two different homepage options along with multiple logins in certain instances.  Simplification in this area is something our development team is evaluting.   

13. It is still a some time before the next version of WHS ships, but is there going to be any way to upgrade the MediaSmart Server to the next version of WHS when it comes out?
Michael Woodward,
Florence, AL, USA

Josh - it’s really hard to say at this point as we don’t really have much visibility into what the next WHS version will entail.  Stay tuned. 

14. Do you have plans to offer a media server version with 1-4 Cable Card based TV Tuners? That would fit in great with the HP Media Extender TVs.

Michael Wacey
Berwyn, PA

Allen- I agree that this solution would fit well with our HP MediaSmart TVs and the upcoming MediaSmart Connect digital media adapter product.  We closely monitor the Cable Card specification and in fact offer PCs with cable card slots.  We also discuss this type of functionality pretty regularly with Microsoft. While we can’t comment on possible future features, I will say that this is a capability that would require a pretty significant change to our hardware chassis.

15. Are there any plans to improve the power efficiency of WHS such that it turns off when not needed?
Michael Liu
New York, NY USA

Allen- A low power mode setting was something Microsoft added into the Windows Home Server O/S, but it unfortunately arrived too late for us to incorporate into our current MediaSmart Server.  In addition, with the HP Photo Webshare and the remote access capability, it can be inconvenient for someone attempting to access the server remotely if it is turned off or powered down.

16. Another thing I’m curious about is if they plan on an update that let’s Windows Media Center save recorded TV shows directly to the MediaSmart PC. Right now, the hack to (sort of) enable that capability is a little ugly. I guess in general, I would ask if there will be better integration between WHS and Media Center PC’s and what that may look like if so.
Colin McGraw
Castle Rock, CO USA

Allen- This is a great example of a feature we had on our roadmap, but then ran into technical challenges.  To offload recorded TV content from a Vista PC requires a change to the Vista security settings that is not supported by Microsoft.  For now, your solution and/or the third party path is probably your best route. 

17. Since printers are such a large part of HP’s business I was surprised that one of the things that HP didn’t “add” to WHS (software-wise) is some add-ons that make this box a great print server out-of-the-box. Sure, you can connect to the box using Remote Desktop and install the printer driver and printer yourself (and I have), but I’m surprised that this wasn’t a focus for HP. Is this something that is planned for a future release?
Geoff Armstrong
Fort McMurray, AB, Canada

Allen- Great question.  This was on our original feature list.  We discovered that due to driver compatibility issues, however, only a certain subset of printers worked.  The driver compatibility came from the fact that the WHS is based on a commercial operating system (Windows Server 2003).  This OS does not have a lot of drivers for consumer printers that are commonly found in the home.  In addition, owners of All-In-Ones lost the scanning and copying capability of their products through print sharing.  These issues, coupled with the fact that most new printers are network-enabled, lead us to remove this feature from consideration.  I’d be interested in hearing from the wegotserved community as to if this is indeed a highly desirable feature for future MediaSmart Server products… 

For those who really want to do this, we’ve seen some excellent tutorials out in the blogosphere that explain how this can be done. One example is: http://www.myhomeserver.com/?page_id=30

18. My question is whether the rumor that you might support Apple’s Time Machine backup is true. That would be huge as at my house we run a mix of Mac and PC’s, and this scenario is becoming more and more true in offices as well. I love the iTunes library piece, but am hoping for Time Machine support as well…
Aaron Booker
Bellingham, WA

Allen - Hi Aaron… this would be a great question for our friends at Apple.  As of now, Time Machine does not support backups to a network location outside of their Time Capsule product. 

19. Do you see any other potential hardware configurations housing Windows Home Server? For example, do you have any plans to introduce a server with Video Out, Additional Memory, Beefier Processor? Or even a smaller form factor like the Media Vault, perhaps?

Dusty Craine
Burton, MI USA

Allen - All of these ideas are on our list, but we’re unable to comment on any specifics related to future product development.

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So, there you go - a big thank you to everyone who submitted questions and also a big thank you to Allen, Josh and Dan at HP for taking time out to respond. Apologies if we didn’t get your question answered, but we had a lot of submissions!

I know that the team at HP spend a lot of time reading Home Server sites such as WGS, and are continually interested in feedback from the community,  so make sure you continue to post your thoughts and comments on the current HP MediaSmart Server, and what you want from the product in the future. If there’s specific areas of the Q&A you wish to respond to, please leave a comment.

As regards future Q&A, we’ve now covered Microsoft and HP - who do you want to hear from next?