Storage Vendors Gear Up for SNW

Storage vendors are unveiling a host of new products at this week’s Storage Networking World conference in Dallas, ranging from 8Gbps Fibre Channel and security to SMB data protection.

HDS, EMC, Brocade, FalconStor, Seagate, Emulex and Symantec are just some of the names launching new products this week.

Hitachi unveiled a nifty storage system aimed at the SMB market. The Hitachi Simple Modular Storage Model 100 can support four servers and protect up to 9TB of data for about $5,000 to $10,000. It performs automatic rebuilds in case of drive failures and also performs data migration automatically. It integrates easily with Microsoft Windows. HDS product marketing director Kevin Sampson said that “anyone with no technical training whatsoever could install and use it.”

Also in the SMB space, FalconStor, which provides virtual tape technology for the likes of EMC, IBM and Sun, unveiled a line of low-end VTLs that it will sell through channel partners. The products offer data de-duplication and compression and there is also a version aimed at VMware environments.

Brocade, meanwhile, is showcasing 8Gbps Fibre Channel blades for its 48000 Director. The next-generation Fibre Channel technology can reduce inter-switch links (ISLs) by half and boost server connections by 25 percent, said Brocade senior product marketing manager Bill Dunmire, who added that 8 gig FC offers “real benefit for virtual environments.”

Emulex announced that it has signed a technology agreement with Nuova Systems, a startup with roots and funding from Cisco Systems, to use Nuova’s technology in the development of Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) products. The converged network adapters, similar to HBAs, are expected to be available in the second half of 2008, with customer testing beginning in the first half of 2008.

EMC Does Dedupe, CDP

EMC, naturally, had a host of announcements, starting with the addition of de-duplicationand continuous data protection (CDP) technology to its flagship NetWorker backup software. EMC also added 1TB drives to its VTL, Clariion and Celerra lines and beefed up its Backup Advisor to add support for CommVault Galaxy, CA ArcServ, Symantec PureDisk and Network Appliance NearStore VTL.

Seagate, IBM and LSI are partnering to make Full Disk Encryption (FDE) technology available for enterprise-class hard drives and storage systems. Seagate said it sees enterprise-class encrypted drives catching on with other vendors too.

Symantec will integrate its flagship Backup Exec software with Altiris IT management software in the new Backup Exec System Recovery Integration Component for Altiris to capitalize on its Altiris acquisition.

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) will use the eXensible Access Method (XAM) specification for the first time in a demonstration at SNW. Four information management applications based on the XAM specification, provided by EMC, HP, Sun and Vignette, will illustrate “XAM’s ability to protect end user information from technology lock-in by decoupling storage systems from data applications,” according to SNIA.

Several other vendors will also unveil new storage systems at this week’s conference, among them Fujitsu, ProStor Systems, IBRIX, Xyratex, Xiotech, Dot Hill Systems, JMR Electronics, iStor Networks and Crossroads Systems.

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