InfoStor articles from October 2007

InfoStor archives from October 2007

Storage vendors target virtual servers.(NEWS ANALYSIS + TRENDS)
October 1, 2007... In a keynote at last month's VMworld show in San Francisco, Cisco CEO John Chambers likened the rise of virtualization to the rise of the Internet, saying that virtualization will "usher in a new generation of productivity, changing how we...

Start-up virtualizes I/O connectivity.(NEWS ANALYSIS + TRENDS)
October 1, 2007... Over the past few years virtualization has evolved from an industry buzzword into a full-fledged revolutionary force in the data center. But as virtual servers continue to gain popularity, managing connectivity between the servers and storage...

Solid-state disks stage a comeback.(FOCUS ON)
October 1, 2007... Traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) have been the storage technology of choice for decades. They dominate in primary storage from laptops to enterprise arrays. Competing technologies usually encounter skepticism at best, and derision at worst....

Happy 10th, InfoStor!(EDITORIAL)
October 1, 2007... THIS ISSUE MARKS OUR 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY and, since our staff is geographically dispersed, we virtualized the celebration, complete with virtual martinis (VMs). To commemorate the occasion, I kicked back with the October 1997 premiere...

Fibre Channel Industry Association.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... The Fibre Channel Industry Association announced its newly elected board of directors: Skip Jones, chairman (QLogic); Tom Hammond-Doel, vice chairman (LSI); Jeff Eckard, secretary (Network Appliance); Kevin Burbank, treasurer (PMC Sierra).

IBM is integrating Brocade's 4Gbps model 210E Fibre Channel switch and Brocade's Light-Pulse host bus adapters and EZ-Pilot software into its System Storage DS3400 Simple SAN Express Kits.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... IBM is integrating Brocade's 4Gbps model 210E Fibre Channel switch and Brocade's Light-Pulse host bus adapters and EZ-Pilot software into its System Storage DS3400 Simple SAN Express Kits.

XiloCore LLC.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... XiloCore LLC has announced a suite of business continuity solutions, based on technology from Asigra, for VARs and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) in the US and Canada. The solutions enable VARs and MSPs to provide data archiving services...

Hifn.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... Hifn announced a no-charge version of its iSCSI target software, downloadable at www.hifn. com/freeiSCSItarget.aspx.

InMage Systems has entered into a strategic partnership with iStor Networks to provide a storage offering to channel resellers and OEMs.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... InMage Systems has entered into a strategic partnership with iStor Networks to provide a storage offering to channel resellers and OEMs. Under the terms of the agreement, iStor will bundle a "lite" version of InMage's DR-Scout disaster-recovery...

Arrow ECS and NTP Software have signed a distribution agreement enabling Arrow to resell NTP Software products.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... Arrow ECS and NTP Software have signed a distribution agreement enabling Arrow to resell NTP Software products.

DataCore Software and Overland Storage have teamed with Bell Micro to provide SMBs with a SAN data-protection and virtualization bundle, SANensemble.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... DataCore Software and Overland Storage have teamed with Bell Micro to provide SMBs with a SAN data-protection and virtualization bundle, SANensemble.

The Advanced Infrastructure Solutions (AIS) Division of Tech Data has signed distribution agreements with Breece Hill and Double-Take Software.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... The Advanced Infrastructure Solutions (AIS) Division of Tech Data has signed distribution agreements with Breece Hill and Double-Take Software.

LSI has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tarari Inc.(BUSINESS BRIEFS)
October 1, 2007... LSI has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tarari Inc., a San Diego-based fabless semiconductor company, for $85 million in cash.

Hitachi shrinks USP for midrange.(NEWS ANALYSIS + TRENDS)(Universal Storage Platform )
October 1, 2007... It has been just a few months since Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) overhauled its enterprise-class Universal Storage Platform (USP). Now the company has rounded out the USP line with the introduction of a smaller version that brings the same...

NEC ships array for backup, archive.(NEWS ANALYSIS + TRENDS)
October 1, 2007... End users in search of a way to consolidate backup and archive data onto a single system may be in luck. NEC Corporation of America last month announced availability of the first product based on its HYDRAstor grid-based architecture. The...

Data Domain expands de-dupe to nearline.(NEWS ANALYSIS + TRENDS)
October 1, 2007... After helping bring data de-duplication to the forefront as a must-have capability in the backup process, Data Domain is taking de-dupe a step further by expanding its operating system to go beyond backup with support for nearline applications....

HP ships 'Shorty' blade server.(NEWS ANALYSIS + TRENDS)
October 1, 2007... Hewlett-Packard is out to bring blades to the masses with an all-in-one system complete with server, storage, networking, and data protection in an enclosure about the same size as a desk-side PC. The brains of the new box--also referred to...

IT's new 'dirty little secret'.(ESg INSIGHT)(Information Technology)
October 1, 2007... ABOUT FIVE YEARS AGO, I wrote an article in this magazine exposing one of IT's now-infamous dirty little secrets. Backup and recovery, as it was done then, was grossly inefficient, and IT was fully aware of it. IT managers knew there were...

The benefits of file virtualization services (FVS): FVS, or file/NAS virtualization, simplifies the management of proliferating, heterogeneous NAS systems.(SPECIAL REPORT)
October 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] File virtualization is not a new technology, but it is quickly moving into the spotlight as more and more NAS boxes are deployed. File virtualization services (FVS) vastly simplify managing heterogeneous NAS...

Server virtualization drives cross-domain management: a relatively new set of tools enables IT administrators to manage across multiple domains, including servers and storage.
October 1, 2007... Server virtualization has proven to be a great change agent for wringing out costs and consolidating physical server infrastructure for greater operating efficiencies. Server virtualization enables administrators to pool compute resources and...

The benefits of data footprint reduction: users should consider archiving, data compression, and data de-duplication.
October 1, 2007... Organizations of all sizes are generating and depending on larger amounts of data that must be readily available and easily accessible. This growth in data results in an ever-increasing data footprint: More data is being generated, copied, and...

Choosing the right backup solution: there are a range of products and technologies available to meet your RTO and RPO requirements.(SNIA on STORAGE)(Recovery Time Objectives and Recovery Point Objectives )
October 1, 2007... ALL DATA-PROTECTION STRATEGIES are subject to the same challenges and outside pressures. The strategies that you choose must take into account these considerations. To start, no thriving organization is exempt from the pressures of managing and...

NetApp arrays support SAS.(NEW PRODUCTS)
October 1, 2007... Network Appliance is shipping two new "unified storage" midrange appliances in its FAS2000 product line--the FAS2020 and FAS2050. NetApp is pitching the FAS2000 series as a platform for companies migrating from DAS to networked storage. The...

Dell, IBM, Adaptec add iSCSI arrays.(NEW PRODUCTS)
October 1, 2007... Adding to its Dell/EMC AX150i line of iSCSI disk arrays (and causing a bit of confusion over the relative positioning of its IP SAN arrays), Dell recently began shipments of the iSCSI-based MD3000i. The MD3000i is available in...

Calendar.(NEW PRODUCTS)(Calendar)
October 1, 2007... November 5-6 Storage Interface Overview--Santa Clara, CA This two-day seminar provides an overview of the principal storage interfaces: Fibre Channel, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), Serial ATA (SATA), Internet SCSI (iSCSI), and...

Diogenes upgrades 'SRM' service.(NEW PRODUCTS)(Storage Resource Management )(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... The latest version of Diogenes Analytical Laboratories' Storage Satellite monitoring and reporting service, which leverages the SMI-S management standard, supports 14 vendors' disk arrays and three vendors' switches. Features include capacity...

Atto enhances iSCSI for Macs.(NEW PRODUCTS)
October 1, 2007... Version 3.0 of Atto Technology's Xtend iSCSI initiator software supports Mac OS X software and OS X workstations. Features include support for Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP), which is the primary authentication/security...

Promise ships 16- bay SAS RAID.(NEW PRODUCTS)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... New additions to Promise Technology's E-Class of disk subsystems--the VTE610fD and VTE610sD--are 3U, 16-bay RAID subsystems that can be configured with either SAS or SATA drives. Users can add capacity via the company's VTJ610sD expansion...

Enhance supports SAS.(NEW PRODUCTS)(Enhance Technology's UltraStor RS16 SS )(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Enhance Technology's UltraStor RS16 SS is a 3U, 16-bay RAID array with support for RAID 6 (dual-parity RAID) and all other RAID levels, 3Gbps SAS disk drives and SATA drives, and dual SAS host connections. The company claims a data-transfer...

Sans Digital ships SATA JBOD.(NEW PRODUCTS)(Brief article)
October 1, 2007... Sans Digital's TowerRAID series now includes the TR4M SATA-to-JBOD enclosure and TR4U SATA-to-USB JBOD/spanning enclosure. The TR4M is a four-bay unit that has up to four SATA drives, a port multiplier feature, and a 2-port eSATA PCIe card. In...

Overland increases VTL capacity.(NEW PRODUCTS)
October 1, 2007... Overland Storage's REO 4500c virtual tape library (VTL) has up to 27TB of raw capacity, hardware compression (for up to 45TB), dual 4Gbps Fibre Channel and iSCSI host connectivity, and up to six VTLs, 32 virtual tape drives, 512 virtual...