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archived storage news - 2005, March week 3
SSD news, SSD market history, storage historyCupertino, Calif. - March 21, 2005 - OuterBay today announced it has received $12 million in Series C financing.
Focus Ventures led the round with a $4.2 million investment, bringing OuterBay's total funding to $40 million. The financing will be used to expand field and product operations for OuterBay's ILM products which increase application performance and help companies comply with data retention regulations. With this round, OuterBay is positioned to bring the company to profitability. Some of the world's leading companies rely on OuterBay's ILM solutions to keep their systems running smoothly, including Arvin Meritor, Motorola, POSCO and Sun Microsystems. ...OuterBay profile, VC funds in Storage
Coughlin Publishes Entertainment Storage Report
San Jose, CA - March 21, 2005 - The new annual report on data storage and the entertainment market from Coughlin Associates shows strong growth in digital storage demand driven by higher resolution content creation and distribution as well as archiving and digital preservation.
The 2005 Entertainment Content Creation and Digital Storage Report (price $1,500) analyzes requirements and trends in worldwide data storage for entertainment content acquisition; editing; archiving and digital preservation; as well as digital cinema, broadcast, satellite, cable, and VOD distribution.
Between 2004 and 2010 Coughlin expects a 900-fold increase in the required digital storage capacity shipments per year. Up to 1,600 Terabytes may be required for a complete digital movie production at 4K resolution.
In 2004 Coughlin estimates that 60% of the total storage media shipped for all the digital entertainment content segments was tape with 40% optical, 0.43% hard disk drives and a very small amount was flash memory. By 2010 tape media units should decrease to 40%, optical increase to 55% and hard disk drives increase to 4%. ...Coughlin Associates profile, Market research
Overland Claims to be #1 in Disk to Disk Backup
SAN DIEGO - March 21, 2005 - Overland Storage, Inc. today claimed that the company has shipped more disk-based backup appliances than any other vendor, having shipped more than 1,000 of its own REOs.
"Our REO product line has been one of the most successful products in the company's history. We have nearly doubled REO unit sales on a sequential quarter basis over the last year," said Christopher Calisi, president and CEO, Overland Storage. ...Overland profile, Disk to disk backup
SimpleTech Releases Thinnest / Fastest SATA Drive
Sea-Air-Space Expo, Washington - March 21, 2005 - SimpleTech, Inc. today announced an extension to its Zeus Solid State Drive product line with the introduction of a Serial ATA version.
Zeus SSDs, available in capacities up to 128 GBs, have sustained read/write rates of 20, 30, 40 or 60 MBytes/sec and utilize the company's patented stacking technology to measure just 9.5 mm in height - making Zeus SSDs the world's thinnest, fastest SATA solid state drives.
Zeus SSDs are fully ATA-compliant and conform to the same mounting requirements as traditional hard disk drives, making Zeus SSDs drop-in replacements for any standard IDE/ATA-compliant hard disk drive. The product's patent-pending design combines low power consumption with the highest storage density (GB per cubic centimeter) available in a SSD solution.
SimpleTech Zeus SATA SSDs incorporate cutting-edge security features that comply with the most rigorous security standards issued by the Department of Defense (DoD 5220.22-M), National Security Agency (NSA 130-2), Air Force (AFSSI 5020), Army (AR 380-19), and Navy (Navso 5239). Zeus SSDs offer advanced security features, including secure erase and Intelligent Destructive Purge. The security erase has two options to sanitize the media. The first minimizes the time required to complete the operation, and the second minimizes the power consumed during the operation.
SimpleTech's Zeus SATA SSDs are currently shipping. Both SATA and Ultra DMA SSDs are available in standard 2.5- and 3.5-inch form factors, as well as custom form factors, and ranging in capacity from 2 to 128 gigabytes. ...SimpleTech profile, Military Storage, Solid state disks
Editor's comments:- SATA was named the most suitable interface for current/future SSD applications (53% of respondants) - source - the Solid State Disk Survey
Spare Backup Launches Online Backup
PALM DESERT, CA - March 21, 2005 - Spare Backup Inc. today announced the launch of its remote backup service designed and developed specifically for SOHO business users.
Spare backup is the brainchild of Cery Perle, CEO of Newport who lost all of his saved email messages one day. Even though he runs a high technology company, Perle hadn't backed up his computer because, as he says, "like most small business people, there isn't someone doing the backup for me; I have to do it myself and I'm just too busy to do it regularly."
As a result, Perle challenged his technical staff to develop a product that is virtually invisible, totally automatic and incredibly secure so that people can get back to the business of running their businesses and not their computers
"Many SOHO businesses have their important data stored in laptops and PCs that are not backed up regularly, if at all," said Michelle Zou, Research Analyst at IDC. "One reason is that the traditional backup to removable media involves manual operations, it is not convenient and easy to bring human error. In addition, data recovery is time consuming. Spare Backup Inc.'s online data back up and recovery service automates the backup process, and restores files in seconds by a few mouse clicks."
"Most business users intend to backup their computers, but they don't because products are too complicated, too expensive or both. That's because they weren't DESIGNED for business users; they were designed for computer users. The Spare backup service is different," said Perle. "To compound the problem, most business people who take the time to back up their individual computers use devices that exist in their office, such as CDs or ZIP or Flash drives. If something catastrophic happens at the office, then the backup is lost, too. Spare backup not only automatically backs up their data, but it does it effortlessly and securely at two mirrored, safe, remote locations."
Spare backup will launch March 22nd. It costs $15.97 per month which includes two gigabytes of storage. Additional storage units of two gigabytes each cost $10.97 per month. A 14 Day Free Trial is available. ...Spare Backup profile, Web backup and storage
CyberGuard Protects Against New NAS Attack
Boca Raton, FL and Sunnyvale, CA - March 21, 2005 - CyberGuard Corp and Network Appliance, Inc. announced that their joint Internet Access and Security solution protects against the dangerous Exploit-Byte Verify attack as reported by VitalSecurity.org.
The attack is the first known infection to actually cross web browsers. Even when browsing the net with a seemingly safe browser the attack compromises Internet Explorer and Spyware is automatically installed. Customers using the NetApp Internet Access and Security solution, which includes NetCache appliances and CyberGuard's Webwasher Content Security Management suite, are protected from "Exploit-Byte Verify" infections through Webwasher's proactive filtering technology.
The new attack is based on a vulnerability in the original Java Virtual Machine by SUN Microsystems. Digitally signed javascript applets can be crafted in a way that they execute outside of the sandbox with access to all system resources. Certain types of malicious mobile code have appeared recently that take advantage of this vulnerability. Most of the time they function as trojans, downloading malicious spyware as well as compromising the Internet Explorer security settings and installing malicious Browser Helper Objects. Because of the generic nature of the code taking advantage of the exploit and the frequency of updates, pattern based anti-virus engines have a difficult time recognizing and preventing infections. CyberGuard's Webwasher suite does not rely on fingerprints but detects code actually trying to take advantage of the exploit and blocking it already at the gateway. ...Network Appliance profile, ...CyberGuard, Storage Security
SRM Prices Slashed by 40%
TAMPA, FL - March 21, 2005 - Northern today announced aggressive new pricing for Northern Storage Suite 2005 and consolidation of its SRM products into one core offering.
Northern Storage Suite 2005 will be sold as a single, integrated SRM solution, consistent with Northern's "holistic" approach to today's SRM challenges. This consolidation benefits customers by eliminating the need to purchase add-on modules; features in the suite can be turned on as needed, enabling customers to simply and quickly respond to changes in their storage environment. The new price for Northern Storage Suite will be $1,095 for a standard server (up to 3TB) and $3,995 for an enterprise server (unlimited capacity) - representing up to 40% savings from previous pricing.
"In the 10 years since we introduced Quota Server, there have been many changes in the IT and business landscape. But one thing remains constant: the premium organizations place on value, reliability and consistent high performance," said Northern President Thomas Vernersson. "Today's announcement reflects this by offering organizations of all types and sizes an aggressively priced, comprehensive SRM solution built on core technology that has supported the most demanding environments for over a decade." ...Northern profile, Backup Software
Editor's comments:- there have been signs in news stories this month that users will see pricing wars break out in the storage software market market, from companies which are benefiting from genuine cost of scale advantages. Northern has 20,000+ installed users worldwide.
Infineon and Rambus Bury the Hatchet
MUNICH, GERMANY and LOS ALTOS, CA - March 21, 2005 - Infineon and Rambus announced that they have reached an agreement settling all claims between them and licensing the Rambus patent portfolio for use in current and future Infineon products.
Rambus has granted to Infineon a worldwide license to existing and future Rambus patents and patent applications for use in Infineon memory products. In exchange, Infineon will pay a quarterly license fee of US $5.85 million starting by November 15, 2005 through November 15, 2007. After November 15, 2007, and only if Rambus enters into additional specified licensing agreements with certain other DRAM manufacturers, Infineon will make additional quarterly payments which may accumulate up to a maximum of an additional $100 million.
The agreement also provides Infineon an option for acquiring certain other licenses. All licenses provide for Infineon to be treated as a "most-favored customer" of Rambus. Infineon has simultaneously granted to Rambus a fully-paid perpetual license for memory interfaces. In addition to the licenses, the two companies have agreed to the immediate dismissal of all pending litigation and have released each other from all existing legal claims. ...Rambus profile, ...Infineon profile, RAM
Mass Storage News Acquires Jobstor.com
Erie, PA - March 18, 2005 - Mass Storage News announced today it has successfully completed the acquisition of Jobstor.com.
Chris Loringer, who is editor of Mass Storage News and vice president of Jobstor.com, talked about the unique combination of MSN and Jobstor.com: "MSN and Massstoragenews.com provide information about the trends and opportunities in the storage industry. Jobstor.com reaches out to the people who drive the storage industry - the employers and the storage professionals. It's a perfect synergy. With the combined traffic of massstoragenews.com and jobstor.com, employers, candidates, and advertisers will have an audience of over 40,000 unique visitors each month." ...Jobstor.com profile, Acquired companies, Storage publications
Editor's comments:- Jobstor was put up for sale last August. In the past storage focused job portals have failed to survive as independent entities. So, having started in May 2002, they had a good run. I was surprised to see that the online readership of Mass Storage News before the acquisition was so low - only 25,000 readers / month. So the deal makes perfect sense for them.
Adaptec Offloads iSCSI Accelerator Development
March 16, 2005 - Adaptec announced that it has entered into a strategic alliance with ServerEngines LLC to advance development of Adaptec's iSCSI components.
Working together, the two companies will accelerate time-to-market of advanced iSCSI technology, such as 10Gb iSCSI, that is expected to give enterprise customers better performance than Fibre Channel Storage Area Networks while using the simpler and lower cost IP infrastructure. Under the terms of the alliance, ServerEngines will employ selected Adaptec engineers, license certain technology, and acquire certain assets related to Adaptec's iSCSI and TCP/IP offload protocol engines. ServerEngines will leverage its high performance ASIC technology and expertise to make future versions of Adaptec iSCSI products. The resulting Adaptec next generation iSCSI products will be fully backward compatible with current Adaptec Vega-based iSCSI products. ...Adaptec profile, ...ServerEngines, iSCSI
Editor's comments:- there isn't any useful information on the ServerEngines web site as you can verify by clicking on the link. The press release has this information. Located in Santa Clara, CA, ServerEngines is the latest company founded by entrepreneur Raju Vegesna who has founded other successful startups including ServerWorks.
Bell Micro to distribute SiliconSystems SSDs
ALISO VIEJO, Calif - March 16, 2005 - SiliconSystems, Inc. announced today the signing of an agreement with Bell Microproducts to distribute its solid-state storage solutions throughout North America.
Bell Microproducts will support SiliconSystems' SiliconDrive line with its Storage Device Value Add Programs that offer specific help in design/engineering, project management, consignment, manufacturing/integration and end-of-life management.
"As one of the premier distributors of storage products, Bell Microproducts will be a very effective partner for SiliconSystems selling our leading edge industrial-grade solid-state storage technology," said Michael Hajeck CEO at SiliconSystems. "This agreement is another important step in continuing our strategic direction to expand our sales organization in North America. ...Bell Microproducts is uniquely positioned in the enterprise system OEM market with substantial solid-state storage experience, making them a true asset in representing our products." ...SiliconSystems profile, ...Bell Microproducts profile, Solid State Disks, Storage VARs - USA
Index Engines Launches Storage Search Appliance
Holmdel, NJ - March 15, 2005 - Index Engines today announced the commercial availability of the first enterprise search appliance that indexes data inline with the existing backup process.
Unlike traditional enterprise search solutions that crawl networks and desktops in order to find data, the Index Engines Appliance sits in the path of the data backup and transparently indexes data as it is flows through the storage network. The product is an affordable and rapidly deployable solution aimed at helping a company's knowledge workers find and leverage the terabytes of files and email that flow through their networks.
The Index Engines Appliance was designed to be a highly performant, and efficient indexing engine. The average performance specifications of the appliance are as follows: Indexing speed – 3.5 million words per second. Microsoft Office documents are processed at 70 MB/sec. Index size - as unstructured data is indexed, an index consisting of 8% stored on the appliance. As an example, for every terabyte of unstructured data, the appliance requires 80GB of storage.
Backup latency - the appliance was designed to not significantly delay the backup window. Average latency resulting from insertion of the appliance into the backup process is 5% or three minutes for every hour of backup. The appliance supports up to 500 queries per second.
The Index Engines Appliance supports the most common file types including, Microsoft Office files, text, html, Adobe PDF, compressed zip files and more. Additionally a beta version that includes support for Microsoft Exchange email as well as PST files is also available. The Index Engines Appliance is available in two models. The ES-100 model supports the indexing of 4 million files and sells for $29,500. The ES-200 model supports 8 million document and sells for $34,500. ...Index Engines profile
Kazeon Systems Emerges from Stealth Mode
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - March 15, 2005 - Kazeon Systems today emerged from stealth mode and announced its product strategy to control unstructured enterprise information.
Kazeon is backed by $17 million in funding from Redpoint Ventures, Clearstone Venture Partners and Goldman Sachs.
The company is led by CEO and co-founder, Sudhakar Muddu, a proven executive and successful entrepreneur who founded Sanera Systems which was sold to McDATA in 2003. The Kazeon management team also includes several seasoned executives who come from some of the technology industry's leading companies, including VERITAS, Sun Microsystems, Inktomi, Broadcom, Sprint and Cisco. The company's first product is currently being tested with several Fortune 500 companies and is expected to be generally available in mid-2005.
"Until now, enterprises have been limited by a storage-centric infrastructure that has not evolved to effectively support the richness of content that is contained inside the unstructured files on their network," said Sudhakar Muddu, CEO of Kazeon. "Our new platform leverages search, database and file system technology to provide more consistency around how information is classified, managed and retrieved without disrupting user behavior or forcing migration to a centralized repository."
The core of the Kazeon platform is an advanced data classification system that efficiently creates an abstract for each file in the network. These abstracts are stored across Kazeon's distributed repository that scales to provide a uniform view of billions of objects and the information they contain. Built around the repository are integrated services that support critical information management applications such as storage search, reporting, auditing, archival, and policy management. A Kazeon API enables any other application or service to directly contribute data to, and make requests from, the Kazeon platform.
"Kazeon has put together all the pieces - the vision, the technology and the team - needed to be successful," said Tom Dyal of Redpoint Ventures. ...Kazeon Systems profile, Venture funds in Storage
VERITAS Confirms Support for Solaris 10
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - March 15, 2005 - VERITAS Software today extended its storage management and high availability offerings to include full support of Sun Microsystems' Solaris 10 Operating System.
VERITAS Storage Foundation, VERITAS Cluster Server and VERITAS Volume Replicator software for Solaris 10 are scheduled to become generally available in April 2005. ...VERITAS Software profile, Backup Software, SPARC Product Directory
Editor's comments:- the significance of this announcement is that some leading enterprise software companies like IBM have said they do not plan to support the Solaris x86 version of Solaris 10 because they think the market is too small. According to IDC market research data (disclosed by HP) - "Solaris on x86 (Opteron and Xeon) has not been widely accepted by the marketplace. It has just 0.25% share of total x86 units shipped world wide."
See also:- article:- Surviving the Solaris x86 Wars
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