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storage news - 2004, February week 2 |
| RamSan-320 Certified
Solaris Ready HOUSTON, TEXAS - February 12, 2004 - Texas Memory Systems, Inc. announced that the RamSan-320 solid state disk has completed Sun Microsystems' Solaris Ready certification. Sun provides this designation to products that have met stringent testing requirements for system compatibility, interoperability, ease-of-installation, functionality, and network interoperability. Users with demanding, Solaris-based applications, or high user loads, such as databases, OLTP, and OLAP, can increase their server and storage efficiency with RamSan-320 storage. "We are delighted to extend interoperability by completing Solaris Ready certification," said Woody Hutsell, Executive Vice President at Texas Memory Systems. "RamSan-320 is the ideal complement to Solaris servers and demanding applications, such as Oracle database acceleration." RamSan solid state disk is designed to be interoperable in heterogeneous environments. It is widely deployed across all major platforms and operating systems. The RamSan-320 is the fastest solid state disk on the market. For frequently accessed data and performance-intensive applications, transaction and storage response times are critical. The RamSan has proven highly effective in overcoming these I/O bottlenecks. The RamSan-320 offers 250,000 IOPS and internal bandwidth of 3GB that can be shared effectively amongst multiple servers. The performance boost from the RamSan can enable higher transaction loads and support more users without resorting to additional servers, associated licenses and management overhead. ...Texas Memory Systems profile ActionFront Recovers Lost Data from a Failed iPod Atlanta, GA - February 12, 2004 - ActionFront Data Recovery Labs today announced that they had recovered data from a failed iPod. Like most MP3 players, the iPod can double as a data backup device and this iPod was submitted to ActionFront to retrieve inaccessible application data. John "magic fingers" Yost, a senior ActionFront recovery specialist states "These 1.8 inch drives use a new embedded ATA interface, which appears similar to the PC-card type interface but is entirely different. A special adaptor and special screw drivers were sourced overseas in order to work on this drive". ActionFront is the only company capable of recovering data from IBM's 1 inch MicroDrive, which also requires a special tool set. Experience gained working on the MicroDrive speeded up the research on the iPod drive. ActionFront's data-recovery-media-success-list ranges from the tiniest hard drives holding personal photos to the largest files servers and tape libraries containing business-critical enterprise data. ...ActionFront Data Recovery profile Constant Data Selected by Digital River Hopkins, Minnesota - February 11, 2004 - Constant Data, Inc. today announced that Digital River, Inc. has chosen its Constant Replicator software to provide data protection and real-time data replication services for Digital River's global data centers. Digital River, a global leader in e-commerce outsourcing, services more than 34,000 clients worldwide and depends on 24x7 availability of client data in its three data centers, located in the UK and US. Constant Replicator provides Digital River with critical data protection and allows for load balancing capabilities between all of the company's data centers. "Constant Data offers us the ability to synchronize content and seamlessly load-balance our global data centers so we can provide our clients with enhanced performance and uptime," said Marty Boos, Digital River's CIO. "Constant Replicator offers the real-time redundancy our business requires. It provides bi-directional filesystem replication, which consistently mirrors changes to data across all of our data centers." ...Constant Data profile AleraTech's New Photo Memory Card to DVD Copier LAS VEGAS - February 11, 2004 - Alera Technologies introduced today at PMA 2004 the DVD/CD Digital Photo Copy Station, the world's first Memory card to DVD/CD copier. Both the resolution of digital cameras and the capacity of digital photo memory cards are increasing at an astonishing rate making this development particularly important. Now professional photographers, photo enthusiasts, and commercial photo labs, all can have the ability to safely store up to 4.7GB of valuable digital photos on one convenient removable disc. Photos stored on optical storage media are recognized as being more secure and far less subject to damage than those stored on a hard disk drive. The DVD/CD Digital Photo Copy Station incorporates a high speed DVD/CD Recorder that records DVD at 8x and CD at 40x and a built in card reader that supports CF Type I and II, SD, MMC, SM, MS, and MS Pro Digital Memory Card formats to read images directly for quick copying. While it requires no computer to copy Memory Cards to DVD or CD, this Digital Photo Copy Station's DVD/CD recorder can be attached to a computer via USB 2.0 for creating and managing still images, video, audio, and data. The ESP of the new Copy Station is $599. ...Alera Technologies profile NSI Software Achieves Accolades from STORAGEsearch Hoboken, N.J. - February 11, 2004 - NSI Software, Inc. today announced STORAGEsearch.com has named NSI a 2003/2004 Top 10 Storage Software Company and 2003 Fastest Growing Storage Company. NSI secured the 8th spot on the top 10 list, beating out more than 130 storage software companies. NSI earned the fastest growth accolade based on its 10 quarters of consecutive revenue growth and 80% year-to-year revenue growth. "2003 was the year in which small to medium sized storage software companies performed much better in the market than most of their bigger rivals, and this was reflected in our 2003 top 10 lists," said Zsolt Kerekes, editor of STORAGEsearch.com. "NSI Software stood out amongst the competition by providing must-have data replication software at prices accessible by small and large businesses alike." NSI Double-Take software is becoming the de facto standard in data protection and is a primary driver in the company's continued success. The software combines continuous real-time replication and failover to provide high-availability, centralized backup and disaster recovery. Double-Take software provides cost-effective data protection on servers and NAS enabling organizations to replicate and protect mission-critical data residing throughout their environment. "Data replication is emerging as the baseline in data protection. This industry recognition is a tribute to the value of our replication software, and shows the tremendous efforts of the entire NSI Software team," said Bob Guilbert, VP of marketing and business development for NSI. "We remain committed to making continuous business operations affordable for companies of all sizes." ...NSI Software profile Sony Rolls Out DLTtape VS1 PARK RIDGE, N.J. - February 11, 2004 - Sony Electronics today announced the first shipments of its Sony-branded DLTtape VS1 media. The 160GB data cartridges represent the next generation of the DLTtape format, which was developed by global storage provider Quantum. Sony-branded DLTtape VS1 media is now available for a suggested price of $79.99. ...Sony profile LogicStor Accelerates Backup Recovery Time MILPITAS, Calif. - February 11, 2004 - LSI Logic Storage Systems today announced that the latest solution in its LogicStor Solutions Program combines SATA technology with IBM Tivoli Storage Manager and AIX to restore data faster, reduce backup times and improve backup reliability. This is ideal for meeting the specific workload, capacity and cost requirements of secondary storage. LogicStor program Solution Kits contain technical guides with step-by-step installation instructions and architectural specifications for applications, software and hardware that have been qualified and tested in LSI Logic Storage Systems' labs. "Transitioning a portion of the backup process to disk makes a great deal of sense when service levels are a critical concern," said Steve Gardner, director of product marketing, LSI Logic Storage Systems. "By using inexpensive SATA and IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for disk-to-disk backup, many of the shortcomings of tape backup can be overcome." ...LSI Logic Storage Systems profile Ideas Int'l Completes Acquisition of DH Brown SYDNEY, Australia - February 11, 2004 - Ideas International Limited today announced that it has completed the acquisition of US-based IT research firm DH Brown Associates, Inc. The newly combined company blends the technical analysis, advisory services and consulting capabilities of D.H Brown with the powerful analytic and decision-support facilities of Ideas International's Competitive Profiles on-line tactical intelligence database. The company's research and services coverage now spans a broad spectrum of computing platforms, storage technologies, systems software, operating systems, middleware, database products and related service/support offerings. ...IDEAS International profile LAKS Launches a "Hard Disk" on Your Wrist Vienna, Austria - February 10, 2004 - LAKS will be launching an MP3 Watch and Voice Recorder at CeBIT. You can carry your favourite music on your wrist. Via a discreet MP3 player, you can record and play up to 60 songs. That corresponds to a playing time of 4 to 5 hours, and the battery is charged via the integrated USB cable.  Depending on the model, the memory capacity of the "LAKS Memory Music" can be 256 MB, 128 MB, 64 MB or 32 MB. An integrated voice recorder can be used to record "unreproducible childrens' stories," meetings, messages, songs or your own reminders. The USB socket built into the wrist strap makes it possible to transfer this data easily to any PC and edit it. There is a choice of 4 models with various memory capacities. The "LAKS Memory Music" with 32 MB memory costs € 89, with 64 MB € 129, with 128 MB €149 and with 256 MB €198. ...LAKS Editor's comments:- I don't wear a watch but the thought of wearing an electronic gadget which you strap to your wrist and plug into a PC that's connected to the mains is scary. I'm sure that if Agathe Cristie were alive this would give Poirot the opportunity to investigate the case of the mysterious MP3 player murder. IPR Int'l Launches OptiGuard Data Archiving Conshohocken, PA - February 10, 2004 - IPR International today announced the launch of OptiGuard, a new offering designed to give organizations a secure, reliable and legally accepted way to archive, access and retrieve information online. OptiGuard takes full advantage of the latest electronic archiving technologies to bring organizations a powerful, cost-competitive alternative to traditional tape, microfiche and paper archiving solutions. The addition of OptiGuard rounds out IPR's comprehensive suite of data backup & recovery solutions. Today's fast-paced and highly regulated corporate environment means that organizations at all levels need to be able to access and retrieve information whether it is an hour, a year, or a decade old. OptiGuard combines industry-leading lines of hardware and software, giving organizations instant access to their information. OptiGuard ensures that records can be reliably retrieved far into the future, without fear of tape degradation or, in the event of legal proceedings, record corruption. The solution also employs proven best practices to ensure the timely retrieval of information in the short and long term. Full audit trail assures that documents cannot be altered or even accessed without specific permission and any attempt to do so will be tracked and time stamped. ...IPR International profile AberNAS Provides 3TB of Storage Under $10k Santa Fe Springs, California - February 10, 2004 - Aberdeen LLC today unveiled the AberNAS NAS solution which packs 3 terabytes in a standard 2U format at an amazing price under $10,000. Packed with feature-rich server management, security and mission-critical features, the AberNAS by Aberdeen offers high-performance network attached storage without the high cost of ownership. "As the old adage goes, everyone wants more for less and I managers are no different." states Aberdeen President, Moshe Ovadya. "This was the impetus behind the creation of the AberNAS by Aberdeen. Our NAS device not only provides the highest storage capacity density of up to 3.0TB per 2U chassis, but it also provides enterprise-class performance at the most competitive value in the marketplace. It is not only is backed by the reliability of the Aberdeen 5-Year Warranty, but with our CARES program it can be evaluated for free for 30 days." At a fraction of the cost of comparable storage applications, the AberNAS by Aberdeen is the ideal file sharing NAS server storage solution to boost network capacity and provide the benefits of a feature-rich, high-performance network attached storage without the high cost of ownership. The three models of the AberNAS 200 series are currently shipping and can be configured for under $10,000 via the Aberdeen Web site or by contacting a sales executive at (800)552-6868. ...Aberdeen profile Mellanox Delivers InfiniBand PCI Express YOKNEAM, ISRAEL - February 10, 2004 - Mellanox Technologies Ltd. today introduced its third generation InfiniBand Host Channel Adapter (HCA) and announced shipments to OEM customers. The InfiniHost III Ex features an 8X PCI Express interface that delivers 32 and 64-bit InfiniBand capabilities for PCI Express based servers. The InfiniHost III Ex includes dual 10Gb/sec InfiniBand ports that deliver unmatched throughput and extremely low latencies in a low power single chip implementation. In addition to the semiconductor device, Mellanox is shipping a low profile InfiniHost III Ex HCA PCI Express add-in adapter card. InfiniHost and 8X PCI Express server platforms enable an aggregate of 20 Gb/sec of I/O bandwidth. PCI Express greatly improves upon the 8Gb/sec bandwidth that PCI-X slots provide and at the same time improves latencies. Bandwidth and latency are critical attributes for clustered database, HPC, embedded, and storage applications that take advantage of InfiniBand's Remote Direct Memory Access capabilities. "As a systems leader and an active participant in the InfiniBand Trade Association, Sun works with best-in-class InfiniBand technology providers such as Mellanox to develop InfiniBand-based hardware and software," said Subodh Bapat, vice president and chief technologist, Volume Systems Products, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "With its improved support for bandwidth and lower latencies, the InfiniBand architecture and PCI Express have the potential to offer tremendous performance benefits to InfiniBand-based blade servers." ...Mellanox Technologies profile IBM to Distribute TeraCloud Solutions BELLEVUE, WA - February 10, 2004 - TeraCloud Corporation announced today that IBM Global Services is adding all four of TeraCloud's mainframe products to IBM's SystemPac for worldwide distribution. IBM designed SystemPac for customers of their z/OS and z/OS.e systems. SystemPac integrates IBM and third party software on a single customized tape, allowing for ease of installation. The composite allows customers to choose IBM products and appropriate solutions all at once, streamlining the process. TeraCloud will make the following z/OS products available through SystemPac:- SpaceFinder Workbench (a sophisticated, easy to use, storage monitoring, reporting, and analysis solution for z/OS and S/390 that provides detailed information on DASD utilization and stored data), Total Recall (provides real-time HSM monitoring, reporting, and analysis), SpaceAutomator (provides threshold automation fast problem resolution) and TapeFinder (provides detailed monitoring, reporting, and analysis of tape utilization and stored data). "TeraCloud's products are a valuable addition to SystemPac, extending and improving the versatility of z/OS for mission-critical applications, "said Nanci Taylor, Director of Worldwide Technical Support, IBM Global Services. "Through the involvement of leading vendors like TeraCloud, SystemPac is able to meet customers increasing demands for value-added solutions." ...TeraCloud profile Sony Enhances AIT Channel Program SAN JOSE, Calif. - February 10, 2004 - Sony Electronics today announced an enhanced program designed to empower resellers to grow their small-to-medium size and enterprise department storage business with Sony's complete line of AIT solutions. The goal of the program is to provide resellers with the necessary marketing, sales and service support required to grow AIT storage solutions business. "We're seeing a groundswell in demand for AIT technology because its advantages are well-suited for small-to-medium businesses that require a data protection solution that delivers reliability, large capacity, fast performance and room to grow in a small tape format," said Michael Nixon, senior manager for tape storage in Sony Electronics' Business Solutions Division. "Not only are AIT solutions compact and stylish while being able to fit into virtually any office environment or setting, we also offer unique storage devices that help resellers differentiate themselves in a competitive market." Enabled by the flash memory embedded into AIT media cartridges, Sony's solutions can manage both traditional AIT media for standard backup applications, and AIT WORM media for creating backup and archival copies and can play an integral part in an end-user's overall strategy to protect against accidental erasures and data overwrites. According to Nixon, this is a low cost and flexible approach compared to more expensive optical-based solutions. ...Sony profile Asset Management Firm Chooses IPStor MELVILLE, N.Y.- February 10, 2004 - FalconStor Software, Inc. today announced that asset management firm Robeco USA, Inc., has selected IPStor to replicate its business data in New York to a secondary data center as part of its business continuity strategy. High data availability and the capability to protect the integrity of their database applications were important factors. "It is Robeco USA's fiduciary responsibility to keep our client's data secure on multiple levels. IPStor successfully replaced another host based replication solution that did not perform to our requirements," said Jim Amlicke, CTO of Robeco USA. "The FalconStor product plays an important role in not only keeping our data secure, but also readily available." FalconStor partnered with IPM, a focused technology company servicing the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut tri-state area since 1984. IPM constructed a detailed design and project roll-out plan with FalconStor, including a highly available and scalable Fibre Channel SAN, with IPStor features such as: TimeMark, for snapshots of Robeco USA's Novell File Systems with both point-in-time consistency and transactional integrity; and Active-Active Failover, where two IPStor appliances are configured as a pair-should one IPStor appliance or path fail, the other instantly and seamlessly takes over the failed partner's workload. ...FalconStor Software profile, ...IPM Intel Says 4-Gbps Fibre Channel Won't Cost More SANTA CLARA, Calif. - February 9, 2004 - Intel Corporation today introduced two optical transceivers that will double the performance of Fibre Channel storage systems at about the same cost. The new transceivers support the 4-Gbps Fibre Channel specification, which is emerging as a solution to bottlenecks occurring in today's 2-Gbps storage-area networks, but where 10-Gbps systems would not be required. The Intel TXN31015 and TXN31115 transceivers are sampling today, and will be shipping in production quantities in the second half of 2004. They are priced at $47 in sample quantities of 1,000, and will be price competitive with 2/1-Gbps solutions in volume orders. ...Intel profile, interface chips Kashya Launches Worldwide Channel Program SAN JOSE, Calif - February 9, 2004 - Kashya announced today the creation of its K-Partner channel program. The program offers end users an extensive network of solution providers who have the expertise, resources and products to deliver complete mid-range to enterprise data protection solutions. At the core of these solutions is Kashya's KBX4000 replication appliance, which offers fast, reliable and secure bi-directional data replication over IP, with no distance limitations. Kashya's channel program enables new and exciting market opportunities for leading reseller partners to provide a unique technology that delivers full function enterprise-class data protection at a fraction of the cost of existing products. Three new members have joined the Kashya K-Partner program: Computacenter, SANZ, and RedBridge Solutions. "Over the last few years disaster recovery has become more than a topic of conversation; however, our customers have remained reluctant to spend the money for comprehensive DR solutions," said Mike Chapman, Vice President of Sales at RedBridge Solutions, Inc. "The reason has been simple - our choices for replication have not been ideal. Host based, in-band, application and sub-system replication still have the same limitations and price tags we have been trying to overcome for years. For the first time, Kashya has announced technology that satisfies both price and functionality deficits we have not been able to overcome. This product truly is what this industry has been demanding for years." ...Kashya profile Vitesse Redefines IC Options for 4 Gb/s FC SANs CAMARILLO, Calif. - February 9, 2004 - Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. today announced the industry's only fully integrated solution for managed 4 Gb/s Storage Systems and Storage Networks. The latest member of Vitesse's broad storage products portfolio addresses the raw performance, comprehensive management, and low component cost requirements of the storage OEM through a combination of its powerful Ring-Router architecture and embedded enclosure management offerings. A 22-port, accelerated JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks) IC, the VSC7196 provides many of the performance and flexibility benefits attributed to fully switched IC implementations without the burden of added complexity – all while maintaining cost parity with traditional Port Bypass Circuit and Enclosure Management device technology. By combining highly efficient interconnects and robust enclosure management capabilities, systems employing this unique architecture can be delivered at cost savings of up to 50% over competitive offerings. ...Vitesse Semiconductor profile SimpleTech Announces 8 GB CompactFlash Card SANTA ANA, Calif. - February 9, 2004 - SimpleTech, Inc. today announced the industry's highest capacity CompactFlash with an 8 GB Type II card using the Company's patented stacking technology. The Company also announced 2, 4 and 5 GB Type I cards and a significant increase to the write speed of its entire ProX line of CompactFlash cards. The products will be unveiled at the Photo Marketing Association trade show held at the Las Vegas Convention Center from February 12-15. "We combined the latest silicon with our patented IC Tower stacking technology and produced the highest density CompactFlash card available in the world," said Ken Roberts, director of product marketing at SimpleTech. "This card also uses a high speed controller with 10 MB/sec write speed - the fastest on the market today." MSRP for ProX CompactFlash cards ranges from $89.99 to $5,999 to meet budget and performance requirements. Samples of the new ProX CompactFlash Type I cards in 2, 4 and 5 GB capacities and the 8 GB type II cards are expected to ship during the first quarter of 2004, with production anticipated during the second quarter of 2004. ...SimpleTech profile Maranti Networks Secures $26 Million Series C Funding SAN JOSE, Calif. - February 9, 2004 - Maranti Networks announced completion of a $26 million Series C round of expansion financing led by JPMorgan Partners with participation by prior investors Menlo Ventures, Trinity Ventures and Alliance Ventures. The Series C round brings Maranti's total equity investment to $57 million since the company's founding in October 2000. In conjunction with the financing, Vikram Gupta, Principal of JPMorgan Partners, and Anil Gupta, CEO and President of Aristos Logic Corporation, will join Maranti's board of directors. Maranti will use the proceeds from this round of funding to fuel the growing global demand for its CoreSTOR product line and to expand its sales and marketing efforts. Separately, the Company announced the addition of Debbie Miller as President and CEO. Prior to joining Maranti, Miller was President and CEO of Egenera, a provider of next-generation servers. Her experience in high technology spans three decades and includes roles at the world's largest computer companies and several startups. Miller was president and chief operating officer at 2Bridge Software and CEO at Covia. Miller has also held senior executive management positions at IBM, SGI and Digital Equipment Corporation. Former CEO and co-founder, Kuldeep Sandhu, will continue to drive the strategic direction of the company in his new role as Chief Strategy Officer. ...Maranti profile, VCs in storage Northern Storage Suite Integrates Chargeback Module TAMPA, FL – February 9, 2004 – Northern today announces that its new Northern Storage Chargeback module is now shipping. A key component of the Northern Storage Suite, Northern Storage Chargeback provides a complete perspective on costs and usage trends. The application assigns a price to increments of storage, making users (departments, individuals, etc) accountable for the space they consume. Northern Storage Chargeback facilitates internal and external billing - enabling organizations to 'charge back' the cost of storage to end-users. This approach exacts a price on users who inefficiently manage their allotted space, and provides powerful incentive for economical and intelligent use of available resources. Pricing for Northern Storage Chargeback starts at US $1,095; volume discounts are available. Thomas Vernersson, Northern President, said, "Most users view storage as an endlessly available free commodity. As any IT administrator knows, it is hardly that. But the perception is perpetuated because so few organizations provide users with incentives to conserve space, resulting in an unchecked expansion of data. This inevitably places great strain on IT staff, IT budgets and overall productivity. Northern Storage Chargeback puts ownership and responsibility back in the hands of the user population, and provides every incentive for economical self- management of storage resources." ...Northern profile HP Lowers Bar for Pay-per-use Storage PALO ALTO, Calif.- February 9, 2004 - HP today expanded its portfolio of 64-bit servers and enhanced its storage solutions to further broaden customer choice in standards-based computing. Today's storage announcements include the following. HP introduced a pay-per-use financing program for the HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array family, including the EVA3000 and EVA5000. Designed for small- and medium-sized businesses and enterprise-class storage environments, the HP StorageWorks EVA3000 and EVA5000 systems can hold up to 24 and 35 terabytes of data, respectively, on one machine. Previously available for large enterprise customers, pay per use for the EVA family enables businesses with smaller IT budgets to take advantage of the reduced costs and risk associated with utility pricing programs. HP also introduced the HP StorageWorks ESL E-series tape libraries in both LTO Ultrium 460 and SDLT 320 industry-standard drive formats. The HP StorageWorks ESL712e and ESL630e enterprise tape automation systems are self-aware tape solutions designed specifically for use in SAN environments. In addition to using reusable components, the ESL712e and ESL630e libraries offer customers the ability to modularly scale their storage capacity with additional tape cartridges. The E-series libraries feature total capacity to 14.2 terabytes per square foot compared to 9.5 terabytes per square foot on the existing platform. Estimated U.S. pricing for the HP StorageWorks ESL E-series tape libraries begins at $132,000 with expected availability in March. ...HP profile FCIA Woos Test Companies to SANmark Program San Francisco, CA. - February 9, 2004 - the FCIA announced today the SANmark Qualified Test Provider Program. Under the program, third-party test vendors are invited to apply to become qualified SANmark test providers to Fibre Channel OEMs. FCIA established the SANmark Qualified Test Provider Program to give Fibre Channel OEMs increased testing options through having their products tested against the SANmark-approved test suites by third-party test houses. The program saves OEMs the capital costs of test lab equipment, staffing and training and also speeds time to market. ...FCIA profile EMC Launches New Storage Platforms Hopkinton, MA - February 9, 2004 - EMC Corporation today delivered a wave of major new systems and software innovations across the entire lineup of EMC tiered storage platforms spanning high-end, mid-tier, NAS and CAS. The simultaneous launch of new Symmetrix DMX, CLARiiON CX, Celerra and Centera systems and software represent EMC's most extensive storage platforms launch in its history. ...EMC profile |
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