Googling it suggests that it's a SAN (Storage Area Network) device. Which is like an industrial-scale hard disk system.

http://h71016.www7.hp.com/dstore/ctoBases.asp?ProductLineId=...

Think of it as just a big disk enclosure. You can either plug it into the back of an HP server or plonk it on the network by itself.

Google has some good pictures: http://www.google.com/images?q=HP%20MSA%203000

HP's high-end 'ProLiant' kit have "Integrated Lights-out" that will allow you to do things like power cycle the device, drop on to the serial console, etc. All over a user friendly web interface.

I'm assuming this 'admin backdoor' it is for that.

A laptop?! This is the first result on google: http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF04a/12169-304616-2...

It's a SAN device with a ton of drive bays. We've got a few and they seem pretty speedy, haven't had an issue with them. I'm already investigating what generation we have - but I'm almost certain our initial setup on at least one was using the admin !admin credentials, which means that it's documented _somewhere_.

First paragraph, first sentence of the article: "every HP MSA2000 G3 SAN".

(Though it looks to be a P2000 MSA G3).