3PAR data — 00:02:AC (MA-L)

A MAC address starting with 00:02:AC belongs to 3PARdata, Inc. — later shortened to 3PAR, then absorbed into HP and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) — typically found on enterprise SAN storage arrays such as the InServ Storage Server and its successor, the HPE 3PAR StoreServ line.

3PARdata was founded in 1998 or 1999 in Fremont, California by Jeffrey Price, Ashok Singhal, and Robert Rogers (the "P," "A," and "R" in the company name). The company shipped its first InServ Storage Server in September 2002 and pioneered thin-provisioning storage technology, then went public on NYSE Arca in November 2007 under ticker PAR.

3PAR became the subject of a highly public 2010 bidding war between Dell and HP. Dell's initial offer of $18.00 per share was topped repeatedly until HP won at $33.00 per share, completing a $2.35 billion acquisition on September 27, 2010. The 3PAR brand and hardware line survive today as HPE 3PAR StoreServ, still actively sold and supported.

IEEE's public registry lists exactly one MA-L block for this vendor — 00:02:AC, registered to "3PAR data" at 4209 Technology Drive, Fremont, CA — with no additional MA-M or OUI-36 assignment found under any 3PAR name-form. IEEE does not publish a registration date for any OUI; a third-party date shown by some lookup tools is a database artifact, not an IEEE fact.

The successor HPE 3PAR StoreServ / Primera / Alletra 9000 codebase carries an active CVE history, including several critical, remotely exploitable, unauthenticated flaws patched as recently as 2024. A device presenting this OUI in a network scan is worth checking against current HPE firmware levels rather than assumed abandoned.

Identifies

3PARdata, Inc. (later 3PAR, then HP/HPE) enterprise storage hardware

Device class

SAN storage arrays — InServ Storage Server, successor HPE 3PAR StoreServ

Also seen on

HPE Primera and Alletra 9000, which share the same management codebase (per HPE's own advisories)

Vendor status

Acquired by HP in 2010 for $2.35 billion; product line remains active under HPE

Prefix count

Exactly one IEEE MA-L block (00:02:AC); no other 3PAR assignment found in the OUI-36 or MA-M registries

IEEE assignment

00:02:AC → "3PAR data" (registry name; historically "3PARdata, Inc."), registered 4209 Technology Drive, Fremont, CA 94538, US [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry 25196

Registry / block size

MA-L (24-bit OUI); exactly one IEEE assignment — no MA-M or OUI-36 block found under any 3PAR name-form [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry 25196; the IEEE MA-M registry (checked, no match); the IEEE MA-S registry (checked, no match)

HQ / country

4209 Technology Drive, Fremont, CA 94538, US (registry address, matches independent corroboration) [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry 25196

Company status

Acquired — no longer independent. Founded 1998/1999 as 3PARdata, Inc.; IPO'd NYSE Arca Nov 2007 (ticker PAR); acquired by HP Sept 27 2010 for $2.35B ($33.00/share) after a bidding war with Dell; now part of HPE. Product line (HPE 3PAR StoreServ) remains actively sold and supported.

[Confirmed] — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3PAR

Device types

Enterprise SAN storage arrays — InServ Storage Server (first shipped Sept 2002), successor HPE 3PAR StoreServ (7000/8000/9000/20000 series) [Confirmed] — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3PAR

Notable products

InServ Storage Server; thin-provisioning storage technology (announced 2002); HPE 3PAR StoreServ [Confirmed] — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3PAR

Registration date

Unknown — IEEE's public the IEEE MA-L registry publishes no assignment/registration date for any OUI; a third-party lookup tool's displayed dates for 00:02:AC are a database artifact, not an IEEE fact, and must not be shown as an IEEE registration date [Unknown] — the IEEE MA-L registry 25196

Related registrations

Four IANA service names for 3PAR management protocols — 3par-evts 5781/tcp+udp, 3par-mgmt 5782/tcp+udp, 3par-mgmt-ssl 5783/tcp+udp, 3par-rcopy 5785/tcp+udp [Confirmed] — the IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry 3par-evts; the IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry 3par-mgmt; the IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry 3par-mgmt-ssl; the IANA Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry 3par-rcopy

Security note

Successor product line (HPE 3PAR StoreServ / Primera / Alletra 9000) has an active CVE history including CVSS 9.8–10.0 unauthenticated remote-auth-bypass/RCE issues (CVE-2024-22442, CVE-2021-26588, CVE-2020-7197), patched by HPE [Confirmed] — https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-22442; https://www.securityweek.com/hpe-patches-two-critical-remotely-exploitable-vulnerabilities/

Website status

No standalone 3PAR/3PARdata vendor site confirmed; product information now lives under hpe.com [Unknown] — https://www.hpe.com/psnow/doc/c04607918

Related vendors

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (parent since 2015 HP split); HP Inc. (acquirer, 2010) [Confirmed] — https://investor.hp.com/news-events/news/news-details/2010/HP-Completes-Tender-Offer-for-and-Merger-of-3PAR-Inc/default.aspx

Analyst note

A 00:02:AC OUI reliably identifies legacy 3PARdata/HP/HPE 3PAR-era storage hardware — this is a dedicated single-company MA-L block, not a shared IEEE base. Given the active CVE history on the successor codebase, a device presenting this OUI is worth checking against current HPE firmware/patch levels rather than assuming abandoned hardware.

[Likely] — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3PAR; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-22442