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Storage news

November 2005, week 3

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History of Enterprise Disk to Disk Backup
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IBM Includes Vision Solutions in Try & Buy Program

IRVINE, CALIF. - November 21, 2005 - Vision Solutions today announced that they have signed an agreement to distribute their world-class disaster recovery and systems management software with all IBM eServer iSeries running i5/OS.

Through this program, evaluation versions of Vision's tools OS Director, OS Data Replication and OS Data Manager will be included with every new and upgrade shipment of i5/OS V5R3 shipped by IBM.

"Recent natural events such as Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma have once again demonstrated the business need for disaster recovery solutions to protect applications and information from downtime, both planned and unplanned," said Alan Arnold, President of Vision Solutions. "Vision is happy to work with IBM in providing businesses with the strongest availability and systems-management tools at their fingertips that are designed specifically to meet the high availability requirements of the i5 organization." ...Vision Solutions profile, Storage Software


Micron and Intel Set Up New Flash Company

BOISE, Idaho, and SANTA CLARA, Calif. - November 21, 2005 - Micron Technology, Inc., and Intel Corp today announced they have agreed to form a new company to manufacture NAND flash memory for use in consumer electronics, removable storage and handheld communications devices.

The new company will exclusively manufacture product for Micron and Intel. Formation of the company is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be finalized around the end of the year. The company, to be called IM Flash Technologies, LLC, brings together the manufacturing technology, assets, experience and scale necessary for Intel and Micron to successfully compete in the NAND flash memory business, an increasingly important and fast-growing market segment. Intel and Micron have agreed to initially contribute approximately $1.2 billion each in cash, notes and assets to IM Flash Technologies.

In addition and subject to the closing of the venture, Intel and Micron have each entered into separate long-term agreements to supply Apple with a significant portion of each of their share of IM Flash Technologies' NAND flash memory output. As part of these agreements, Apple would prepay $250 million each to Intel and Micron. ...Intel profile, ...Micron Technology profile Flash

Editor's comments:- Flash is a $20 billion market in 2005 and is growing fast. Intel invented flash - but walked away from the flash market when its processor prospects looked rosier. Now Intel's processor prospects look grim - as it's #3 in the 64 bit market - and the fast growing notebook market includes Intel not inside options. Intel has partnered with Micron before. In the past Intel has invested in Micron to buffer its customers from the winds of change in the DRAM supply market. DRAM is another technology invented, but left to others due to its cyclical nature and commodity like profitability.



Maxtor OneTouch II Available at Apple Stores

MILPITAS, CA - November 21, 2005 - Maxtor Corp announced today that demonstrations of its award-winning Maxtor OneTouch II, FireWire 800 Edition are now being featured at 115 Apple retail stores across the U.S.

The Maxtor OneTouch II, FireWire 800 Edition storage solution features FireWire 800, FireWire 400 or USB 2.0 interface for universal connectivity and ease of use. MSRP is $229.95 for the 200GB capacity and $299.95 for the 300GB capacity. ...Maxtor profile, Firewire Storage


NetApp Celebrates 10 Years as a Public Company

Sunnyvale, Calif. - November 21, 2005 - Network Appliance, Inc. today celebrated 10 years as a publicly traded company on NASDAQ.

The company's IPO was on November 21, 1995, and Tom Mendoza, president of NetApp, rang the opening bell at NASDAQ in New York today, along with Dan Warmenhoven, CEO and David Hitz and James Lau, both founders and executive vice presidents. Since November 1995, NetApp has grown from 100 to over 4,000 employees, achieved nearly a $2 billion annual revenue run rate and grown at almost 30% year over year. ...Network Appliance profile, storage history


Investment Firms will be at Storage Visions

SAN JOSE, CA - November 21, 2005 - The Storage Visions Conference announces its annual Financial Analysts and Venture Capitalist panel at the 2006 conference.

This panel, occurring late afternoon on January 6, 2006 will include respected analysts from companies such as Lehman Brothers and Granite Ventures.

According to David Takata of Engage Capital, moderator of the Financial Analysts and Venture Capitalists panel, "Storage Visions attracts the leading financial analysts and investment firms. Investors attend to gain key insights into the most important trends in consumer electronics and the role that digital storage will play. Wise investment requires superior knowledge and Storage Visions delivers useful information and contacts."

During the 5th Anniversary celebration during the Storage Visions Conference reception over 100 prizes will be given out to conference attendees and participants. These great prizes (including must-have storage and consumer electronic products) were donated by our corporate sponsors and the conference organizers. 2006 Storage Visions Conference, Storage Events, VC funds in storage


Thecus Launches SATA/USB RAID 1 Box

Taiwan - November 18, 2005 - Thecus Technology introduced its eSATA based N2050 enclosure which can accomodate two hard disks.

The N2050 is a SATA/USB dual mode device, which means it can use the ubiquitous USB 2.0 interface as well. To keep your data safe, the N2050 comes standard with a hardware RAID controller, which can be configured RAID 1 for increased data security. With RAID 1, the N2050 automatically saves your data on two hard disks, allowing you to easily replace once should one fail. ...Thecus profile


Launch Date Announced for Holographic Systems

FAIR LAWN, NJ - November 18, 2005 - Maxell and InPhase Technologies are bringing a new technology to market - holographic media.

With storage capacities achieving 1.6 TB per disk and data rates as high as 120 MBps, holographic technology is a true breakthrough in optical media. These features, along with a long archival life, make holographic media a compelling choice for storage and archival requirements. Maxell and InPhase assert that holographic data storage is superior to existing disc and hard drive technologies, and is also competitive against tape technologies in capacities and transfer rate. In addition, it offers a 50+ year media archive life and random data access. The media is expected to have the lowest cost per gigabyte of any commercial quality removable storage. The first generation of holographic media is scheduled for release in September 2006. ...InPhase profile, ...Maxell profile , Storage Media


EVault Announces 'Data Turkey' Awards

EMERYVILLE, Calif. - November 18, 2005 - EVault, Inc. today announced their inaugural Data Turkey Awards to honor business professionals who have lived through a data loss, or whose actions and quick thinking have helped to avert a data disaster.

The winners of these two categories, Most Spectacular Data Recovery and Most Disastrous Data Loss, will each receive a $500 American Express gift check and a free one-year subscription to EVault's Protect online data protection solution for up to 10GB of data. EVault will also make a $500 contribution on behalf of each winner to honor a local charity or food bank of their choice. Any small business owner, IT or business professional is eligible for the award. Deadline for submissions is December 2nd. Winners will be notified on or around December 5th. Applicants must share scenario specifics - lowlights and highlights - regarding their data recovery and data loss situation. ...EVault profile, Data Recovery, online backup


Infineon Plans to Spin Off Memory Business

Munich, Germany - November 17, 2005 - Today Infineon's board agreed to create two focused and independent companies, one for Logic and one for Memory Products.

The Memory Products business will be carved out as a legally independent entity by July 1, 2006. As a next step, Infineon will consider an IPO of the Memory Products Company as the preferred option. ...Infineon Technologies profile, acquired storage companies


Accordance Delivers RAID Protection Under $400

DES MOINES, Iowa - November 16, 2005 - Accordance Systems today announced that small and medium size businesses can now afford the same class of data protection as large enterprises.
Preparing for a data loss disaster before it occurs can speed up the Disaster Recovery process tremendously. Will you be prepared when disaster strikes?
Developing a Disaster Recovery Procedure
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article:-  Flash Memory vs. Hard Disk Drives - Which Will Win? - by Semico Research
Flash Memory vs. Hard Disk Drives - Which Will Win? - article by Semico Research

There's a confusing picture in many consumer products like phones, cameras and music players in which one day it seems that the storage function is done by flash and next day another company announces they're doing the same thing with miniature hard disks.

Is there any sense to this seemingly random choice?

This article uses pricing trends, technology trends and unique market analysis insights to show that users and oems may be able to reliably predict which storage devices will be most cost effective depending where you are on the future history curve. ...read the article, Hard disk drives, Flash Memory, Market research, Solid state disks
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It's by no means inevitable that the biggest memory companies will become the biggest SSD companies.
an SSD guide to semiconductor memory boom-bust cycles
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article:-  Virtual Tape: Can You Afford to Ignore It?
Virtual Tape: Can You Afford to Ignore It? - article by MaXXan Systems

Network connected disk to disk backup systems for the enterprise have come a long way since the first pioneering products started to appear in the pages of STORAGEsearch.com in the late 1990s.

Some of the growing sophistication in the market can be seen by the way that the marketing terminology has morphed from the early D2d (let's kill tape backup), via D2D2T (let's be friends with tape / peaceful coexistence) to the current VTL (Virtual Tape Library - let's just see if they notice that it's more reliable and works faster - and don't tell them that there isn't a tape in the box) type of approaches.

But if you think that speed, reliability and cost are the only things you need to know about the "virtual" versus "real" tape library argument - take a look at this comprehensive article from MaXXan Systems which shows there are a lot more benefits than that. ...read the article, ...MaXXan profile, Disk to disk backup
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read article by Plasmon the Impact of Compliance  on Archival Storage Strategies
the Impact of Compliance on Archival Storage Strategies - article by Plasmon

It's difficult enough protecting and archiving your data so that it's available to the right people at the right time (and cost). But now that's only part of the problem. With so many new rules and regulations which prescribe how you should destroy data records at the appropriate time - how do you guarantee that they stay deleted?

Archiving data on the wrong kind of media could mean you run the risk of breaking the law. Advances in the data recovery industry, and the future cohabitation of storage search-engines both mean that Compliance Officers have to pay much more attention to the ways in which data is dispersed and disposed of in different types of media.

This article summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of currently available market technologies. ... read the article, ...Plasmon profile, Optical Libraries
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Predicting the Next 7 Years in Storage?
Commemorating the 7th anniversary of STORAGEsearch.com in 2005, this article recaps the 3 most significant changes which have taken place in the storage market in the past 7 years. Megabyte writes about the future of storage
We've reported on every widget and fidget in storage technology and every nibble and wriggle in the storage market from every company. But 3 trends stand out clearly.

That was the easy part.

As you know STORAGEsearch regularly predicts storage market winners and losers in specific segments varying from 3 to 10 years in advance. The success of those past predictions and their popularity gave us the confidence to predict the 3 biggest changes in the next 7 years. This should help you make your strategic plans and avoid future shock. ...read the article
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click to read article by SiliconSystems
Increasing Flash Solid State Disk Reliability - article by SiliconSystems

Solid state disks, based on flash technology, have greatly improved in performance in recent years and now compete head to head with RAM based accelerator systems. Flash also has significant advatanges in servers compared to RAM SSDs due to low power consumption.

But if you think that all solid state disks which use flash are equally reliable and enduring then think again.

That's a bit like saying that a Mercedes 300SL sports coupe is as tough as a Tiger tank because both were made in Germany and both are built out of metal. But as Oddball (Donald Sutherland) says in the movie Kelly's Heroes "I ain't messing with no Tigers."

This article by SiliconSystems, shows how their patented architecture cleverly manages the wear out mechanisms inherent in all flash media to deliver a disk lifetime that is about 4 times greater than of other enterprise flash products and upto 100 times greater than intrinsic flash memory. ...read the article, ...SiliconSystems profile, Solid state disks
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article by
War of the Disks: Hard Disk Drives vs. Flash Solid State Disks - article by BiTMICRO

BiTMICRO is the #1 best recognised brand of SSDs (source STORAGEsearch.com SSD Survey) and they have published a lot of articles to help customers understand the benefits of their products. When I first saw the submission for this article I was pleased to see that it quoted extracts from and linked to several other articles that I myself had written or edited - so that gave me a warm glow.

After years of analyzing this market SSD vendors and analysts are starting to see some clear patterns emerging. Although opinions still differ on some subjects, and vendors are prone to pitch their own solutions as best, this article is a useful synthesis of current industry thinking by one of the leading flash SSD module manufacturers. ...read the article, ...BiTMICRO Networks profile, Solid State Disks, Hard disk drives
Connected to either local PCs or a small central server, the ARAID IDE and SATA controllers RAID 1 capability has now been expanded to protect registry files, open data base files and application files. Accordance Systems' ARAID is the first low cost RAID system of its class (under $400) disk mirroring all computer files for disaster recovery and data backup.

"Even if you are a computer newbie, you can easily install the 'no software needed' ARAID on any Windows, Mac, Linux or UNIX computer" said Steve Johnson, President of Accordance Systems.
news image Accordance
The Accordance ARAID controller supports dual hard drives and mirrors data onto both drives. As data gets written to one disk it is automatically copied to the second disk. If one disk fails, the data is protected on the other disk. To replace a failed hard drive, the user simply pulls out the removable ARAID hard drive tray, pulls out the bad disk and replaces it with a new one. The ARAID automatically copies the data from the remaining good drive onto the newly inserted hard disk.

The ARAID is commonly used for backup by using 3 hard drives – one that stays in the ARAID controller, and 2 that are rotated in and out. The removed hard disk is taken off-site to provide reliable and secure storage of valuable data against disaster scenarios. Disk-based backups using the ARAID are less expensive, less labor intensive and more reliable than tape based backups. ...Accordance profile


Infineon Supplies Mobile-RAM to M-Systems

Munich, Germany and Sunnyvale, Calif - November 16, 2005 - M-Systems andInfineon Technologies AG today announced that the companies have signed a supply agreement for low power Mobile-RAM specifically designed for mobile applications.

Under the terms of the agreement, Infineon provides M-Systems with Known Good Dies of Mobile-RAM for use in DiskOnChip based multi-chip package devices targeting multimedia-centric mobile handsets. ...Infineon profile, ...M-Systems profile


Looking Back at 2005?

Editor:- November 16, 2005 - this is the time of year that editors start publishing their end of year reviews. But I usually wait until the last possible minute in December before writing mine. If you're interested in that kind of retrospection you can always see everything significant that's happened in the market in our storage history pages. One interesting snapshot of the market in the past 12 months can be seen in our storage market in pictures page. It's not a summary of the most important news stories in 2005 - but it does include those which had the prettiest pictures.


Agilent wins $25 million Order for RAM/Flash Tester

PALO ALTO, Calif. - November 16, 2005 - Agilent Technologies Inc today announced that a leading provider of advanced memory solutions has purchased multiple Agilent Versatest Series Model V5400s for testing NAND flash memory at wafer sort.

Agilent won the $25+ million agreement based on its flash applications expertise, superior benchmark results and the ability to test up to 288 devices in parallel. The Agilent V5400 provides the lowest cost-of-memory-test through high parallelism test and lowest test-time overhead. The V5400 allows manufacturers to test both DRAM and flash memory die.

"We are seeing a major trend of traditional DRAM manufacturers diversifying their production into both DRAM and NAND," said Pascal Ronde, vice president of Agilent's Semiconductor Test Solutions. "A flexible NAND tester, such as the Versatest models, can test both NAND and DRAM efficiently, while DRAM testers can test only DRAM devices. The Versatest models allow companies to remain competitive even when memory market demands suddenly shift." ...Agilent profile, Storage Testers, chips


TMS Demonstrates Native InfiniBand Solid State Disk

Houston, TX - November 15, 2005 - Texas Memory Systems announced it has developed solid state storage technology that utilizes an InfiniBand interface.

Texas Memory Systems will be demonstrating their 4x InfiniBand interface this week at SC05, the Supercomputing conference in Seattle, Washington.

Utilizing 4x InfiniBand a single RamSan solid state disk will offer up to 3-Gigabytes per second of sustained random data access over just four interface ports. The InfiniBand interface will allow Texas Memory Systems' RamSan solid state storage to natively connect to the high-bandwidth, low latency servers used in high performance computing and Oracle grid computing environments. Currently, InfiniBand enables increased network bandwidth of up to 10 Gigabits, provides redundant connectivity support, allows for shared resources, and offers lower CPU utilization. InfiniBand-based RamSan solid state disk systems are expected to be generally available in early 2006. ...Texas Memory Systems profile, InfiniBand, Solid State Disks


New Jersey's Hospitals Inoculated Against Data Loss

PRINCETON, N.J - November 15, 2005 - The New Jersey Hospital Association and IPR International today announced the formation of a strategic alliance that will make the benefits of online, electronic data backup and archiving available to all NJHA members at preferred rates.

This service automates and simplifies the backup processes at each hospital by allowing staff to back up and store critical data to a secure offsite location with minimal on-site IT support.

"We have witnessed unparalleled destruction from hurricanes and floods in this country during the past few months. Protecting healthcare information is of great importance to New Jersey's hospitals," said Joseph Carr, chief information officer of NJHA. "IPR's unique capabilities and expertise in data protection strategies will help all of our members ensure the recover of critical data in the event of a system failure or major disaster. This partnership helps lessen the burden on our hospitals by allowing them to benefit from the collective expertise and buying strength. As hospitals continue to deploy and leverage information technology to deliver care, the demand for responsive data recovery becomes increasingly paramount."

IPR's service provides reliable online disk-to-disk backup without capital investment. Using state-of-the-art technology and proven best practices, the service automatically transmits encrypted data to secure offsite locations to ensure that data is protected and recoverable. On Demand enables a hospital to reduce data backup windows and provides 24x7 access to all backed up files and folders with a simple, online point-and-click.

"We have been a very satisfied IPR client for three years now," said David Dyer, CIO of Somerset Medical Center. "In an emergency, hospitals need immediate access to critical data. IPR's point-and-click recovery capability for files and folders makes recovery quick and easy. If we were to lose a server, IPR delivers our data on a mobile vault within a few hours. Their service has saved us considerable amounts of time and aggravation over the years since we do not have to rely on single server backup solutions nor heavy capital investments in an enterprise solution." ...IPR International profile, online backup


Bobcat Claims Leadership in NAS Gateways

LOS GATOS, CA - November 15, 2005 - ONStor Inc. today unveiled the Bobcat 2280, a high-throughput 1U NAS gateway for streaming media, content delivery and large-scale file storage applications.

Featuring 40% greater performance than previous generations, the Bobcat 2280 includes the new FastPath streaming performance accelerator chip that enables 300MB/s sustained reads and 265MB/s sustained writes. Integrated n-way clustering capability allows aggregate throughput to grow linearly to 1.2GBps as NAS Gateways are added to the cluster. The Bobcat is certified with more than 100 different software and hardware solutions. ONStor claims the Bobcat 2280 (list price $59,000) provides three times more performance per dollar than the nearest competitor. ...ONStor profile

Editor's comments:- that reminds me about the Animals in Storage article that I'll be publishing here in time for the Holiday. So far I'm up to 14 examples of storage products and brand names which include animals. My biggest gap is animal names starting with the letters "I" to "O". Suggestions welcome.

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