InfoStor articles from April 2008

InfoStor archives from April 2008

Block virtualization: switches, appliances, arrays.(CASE STUDIES)
April 1, 2008... It seems as if the argument over where block-level virtualization should reside has been around since the dawn of SANs. Should it run on a switch or in the array, or should virtualization and all of the management and data services it brings...

WAFS/WDS product roundup.(FOCUS ON)
April 1, 2008... The market for wide area file services (WAFS), wide area data services (WDS), and WAN optimization technologies continues to grow as end users grapple with keeping distributed enterprises connected with fast access to applications and data over...

EMC upgrades CDP, launches VTL.(NEWS ANALYSIS + TRENDS)
April 1, 2008... EMC recently began shipping two additions to its data-protection portfolio, including a new version of its RecoverPoint network-based replication and continuous data-protection (CDP) software and its first virtual tape library (VTL) system...

Does SaaS for storage make sense?(Editorial)
April 1, 2008... Although the acronym "SaaS" doesn't work well in the storage market--because we already have a SAS, as in Serial Attached SCSI--Software as a Service (SaaS) as applied to storage applications may be one of the hottest trends this year. ...

Brocade and InteeliMagic.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
April 1, 2008... Brocade and IntelliMagic, a provider of products for analysis and modeling of storage systems, have a strategic partnership whereby the Brocade Services, Support, and Solutions Division will bundle IntelliMagic's performance management and...

Atto Technology.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
April 1, 2008... Atto Technology's Version 3.10 Xtend SAN iSCSI initiator is available for use with HP Storage-Works EVA disk arrays in Mac environments as a connectivity solution for accessing native Fibre Channel storage. Separately, Atto's Celerity FC-42ES...

Gear6.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
April 1, 2008... Gear6 has secured $10 million in a round of financing led by Horizon Ventures. Existing investors US Venture Partners and InterWest Partners also participated in the round.

Atlantic Data Team has signed on as a member of Hifn's Channel 100 VAR Partner Program.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
April 1, 2008... Atlantic Data Teamhas signed on as a member of Hifn's Channel 100 VAR Partner Program for its Swarm Encrypted IP SAN appliances.

3Tera.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
April 1, 2008... 3Tera, a provider of grid computing technology and utility computing services for Web applications, and Nirvanix, a "cloud storage" platform provider, have entered into a partnership to offer cloud computing solutions, including global...

ExaGrid Systems has become a VMware Technology Alliance Partner.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
April 1, 2008... ExaGrid Systems has become a VMware Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) and has validated its products with VMware virtualized environments.

InMage Systems.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
April 1, 2008... InMage Systems now supports Oracle VM server virtualization software. InMage's DR-Scout is a turnkey DR/business continuity software product.

Hifn and Freescale Semiconductor are jointly developing products.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
April 1, 2008... Hifn and Freescale Semiconductor are jointly developing products that leverage Hifn's Applied Services Processors (ASPs) and cards with Freescale's embedded processors.

The 3PAR InServ Storage Server has been certified with VMware ESX Server 3.5.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
April 1, 2008... The 3PAR InServ Storage Server has been certified with VMware ESX Server 3.5, a component of VMware Infrastructure 3.

FalconStor Software has partnered with Total Tec Systems.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
April 1, 2008... FalconStor Software has partnered with Total Tec Systems, a systems integrator, to offer FalconStor's storage virtualization and data-protection appliances.

CipherMax's.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
April 1, 2008... CipherMax's CM140T tape encryption product has completed interoperability testing with IBM's System Storage TS3200 LTO tape libraries.

iStor Networks.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
April 1, 2008... iStor Networks' integraStor iS325 series storage array has been qualified with VMware ESX Server 3.

HighPoint Technologies has formed an alliance with OpenE that will integrate HighPoint's RocketRAID series of SATA RAID controllers with Open-E's NAS.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
April 1, 2008... HighPoint Technologies has formed an alliance with OpenE that will integrate HighPoint's RocketRAID series of SATA RAID controllers with Open-E's NAS, iSCSI, and storage server system software.

Storwize has joined the VMware Technology Alliance Partner.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
April 1, 2008... Storwize has joined the VMware Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) program.

Symantec enters online backup with SaaS.(NEWS ANALYSIS + TRENDS)
April 1, 2008... Symantec's long-awaited entry into the online backup-and-recovery services market has come to fruition in the form of the Symantec Protection Network (SPN), a new Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, and two new services--an online backup...

Start-up commercializes open source storage.(NEWS ANALYSIS + TRENDS)
April 1, 2008... The Cleversafe project was launched on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) as an open-source storage initiative with one goal: creating a "storage Internet." Fast forward two years, and the technology has grown from an idea...

HP ships low-cost EVA array.(NEWS ANALYSIS + TRENDS)
April 1, 2008... Hewlett-Packard took a long look at its family of Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) midrange SAN systems and decided that the low-end of the EVA line was missing the mark when it came to the cost and ease-of-use requirements of medium-sized...

CDP moves into the maturity phase: after a slew of acquisitions, the continuous data-protection (CDP) market is maturing, and the debate between true CDP" and "near CDP" is no longer an issue for most IT organizations.(SPECIAL REPORT)(Cover story)
April 1, 2008... A few years back, a host of hungry and outspoken start-ups defined the emerging market for the newest data-protection panacea: continuous data protection (CDP). Today, in the wake of a number of acquisitions by the likes of EMC, CA, Symantec,...

Software as a service (SaaS) meets storage: the SaaS delivery model is making inroads into the storage market, especially in applications such as backup and disaster recovery.
April 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With the growing acceptance of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model, many storage software vendors are moving to gain a foothold in this emerging market. The SaaS application delivery model established its...

The quest for unified storage management, part 2.(OPINION)
April 1, 2008... IN PART ONE OF THIS SERIES (see March 2008, p. 18), we looked at the unfulfilled promise of the Storage Networking Industry Association's Storage Management Initiative--Specification (SMI-S) to wrangle heterogeneous storage platforms under a...

8Gbps SAN delivers blazing speed: go from 0 to 8Gbps in 10 minutes with the HP StorageWorks 8Gb simple SAN connection kit.(LAB REVIEW)
April 1, 2008... AT MOST SMALL TO medium-sized business (SMB) sites, Fibre Channel-based SANs have long been viewed as complex and costly solutions that could be avoided by using direct-attached storage (DAS). That perspective has been reinforced by the...

'iWikiCloudStorage 2.0' or ...?(ESG INSIGHT)
April 1, 2008... DO YOU WONDER what the next "wave" of storage means for your organization? Don't worry: It's not really "iWikiCloudStorage 2.0," but sometimes it might feel like that unless you know what you're really dealing with. In the IT business,...

NetApp targets VMware.(NEW PRODUCTS)(Network Appliance Inc.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... NetApp has introduced new software products designed specifically for VMware virtual server infrastructures. SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure automatically protects and recovers virtual machines. The software runs on the application...

LeftHand bundles with VMware.(NEW PRODUCTS)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... LeftHand Networks is bundling VMware's ESX virtual server technology with its Virtual SAN Appliance (VSA) software in an effort to lower the cost of entry to virtualization. The VSA, based on LeftHand's SAN/ iQ software, runs as a VMware...

IBM overhauls portfolio.(NEW PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2008... IBM has added a variety of enhancements across its entire portfolio of storage hardware. Leading off are two additions to the N7000 series of SAN gateways. The N7700 can be configured with 840 disk drives for up to 840TB of capacity. The N7900...

Calendar.(Conference news)(Calendar)
April 1, 2008... May 5--9 Storage Area Network course--Ben Lomond, CA Sponsored by Solution Technology and hosted by Agilent Technologies, this five-day seminar is recommended for students who need a broader and deeper knowledge of storage and storage...

Compellent: more speed, fewer drives.(NEW PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2008... Compellent has fine-tuned the way its SAN software writes data to disk drives with techniques that could boost performance and capacity utilization while reducing disk drive requirements by up to 80%, according to the company. The latest...

Exanet scales clustered NAS.(NEW PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2008... Exanet recently upgraded its product line--now dubbed ExaStore 2008 Clustered NAS System--to increase the scalability of the systems and software in terms of both capacity and performance. Enhancements include the following: * Up to...

Hifn accelerates de-dupe.(NEW PRODUCTS)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Besides encryption and compression, Hifn's new Express DR 250 and DR 255 cards include hardware-accelerated data de-duplication. "Today, most de-duplication products are software-based, which is slow," says John Matze, Hifn's vice president...

Unitrends enhances DP/DR.(NEW PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2008... Unitrends has a new version of its Data Protection and Rapid Recovery platform and a high-capacity model of its Multi-Drive Archive System. The integrated data-protection and vaulting appliances now offer support for more than 30 operating...

PivotStor intros e-mail appliances.(NEW PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2008... With its recently released e-mail archiving/management appliances, start-up PivotStor hopes to differentiate its products from multiple vendors' point products with an "all-in-one" bundled configuration that includes a number of software...

LSI delivers MD2 adapters.(NEW PRODUCTS)(MegaRAID SAS/SATA)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... LSI is shipping to the channel three half-length, low-profile MegaRAID SAS/SATA adapters that fit into the PCI Express MD2 form factor. Based on the company's SAS1078 RAID on Chip (ROC) controller, the family includes the MegaRAID 8704EM2 (four...

Promise ships SAS/SAS RAID.(NEW PRODUCTS)
April 1, 2008... Promise Technology's SuperTrak EX8658 and EX8654 are SAS/SATA RAID controllers that can connect to the company's 12-bay or 16-bay E-Class JBOD expansion units. The controllers support RAID 5 and RAID 6. The EX8658 has eight external ports, and...

Samsung launches mobile drives.(NEW PRODUCTS)(Samsung Company Ltd.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2008... Designed primarily for notebooks and entry-level enterprise systems such as blade servers, Samsung has added two 2.5-inch SATA disk drives to its Spinpoint line. The MP2 has a rotation speed of 7,200rpm, stores up to 250GB on two disks and...