Local Area and Storage Area Networks Newsletter Covering ... · Compellent SAN for increased performance ... customers with an integrated disaster recovery ... associated with the

Vol. 24 No. 12 December 2006

SAN/LAN Newsletter is published monthly by Information Gatekeepers Inc.

320 Washington St., Brighton, Massachusetts 02135, USA. Fax: (617) 783-5735. Editorial telephone: (617) 783-5033.Circulation telephone: (617) 782-5033. (800) 323-1088 (Outside MA)Publisher/Editor: Dr. Paul Polishuk Editor: Dr. Hui Pan Managing Editor: Bev WilsonCirculation Mgr: Jaime Perez Subscription rates: $695 per year, U.S. and Canada; $745 per year elsewhere.Discounts available for multiple subscriptions.© Information Gatekeepers Inc. 2006. All rights reserved. (ISSN 1051-1962)No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a data base or transmitted without prior written permission of the publisher.For photocopying authorization, contact Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Dr., Danvers, MA 01923, Tel: (978) 750-8400.

In This Issue...

Local Area and Storage Area Networks Newsletter Covering Worldwide Technology Trends, Applications, and Market Opportunities

SAN/LAN

CONTRACTS

Garanti Bank selects Cisco Systems for new Turkish

datacenter backbone

Cisco Systems announced that Garanti Bank, theleading Turkish retail, commercial, and corporate bank, has

2006 20110

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7.5

NAS-on-chip market(millions of units)

Source: ABI Research

Data393 to provide

dedicated server hosting for

LeftHand Networks........ 2

Mirapoint

integrates NetApp storage

solutions to fortify backup

and recovery of business-

critical email .................. 3

Network

Equipment Technologies

announces general

availability of its multi-

service, high-speed

switching platform ......... 4

Dell expands disk storage

line with first-to-market

product .......................... 5

ServePath unveils High

Availability Server Network

offerings for businesses

that run mission-critical

internet applications ...... 6

Copyright 2006 Information Gatekeepers Inc. 320 Washington St. Brighton, MA 02135 Tel: (617) 782-5033 Web: www.igigroup.com

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SAN/LAN Newsletter December 2006

selected Cisco to provide a new backbonenetwork infrastructure for its datacenteroperations comprising storage area networking,datacenter switching, and integrated security.The new datacenter infrastructure will help thebank support the data security requirements ofits mainframe applications.

Garanti Bank’s datacenter houses all itsbanking data. The new datacenter networkinfrastructure will also help allow the companyto take advantage of improved capacity tohandle expanding requirements stemming fromareas such as multichannel banking and theneed to comply with banking regulations.

“We have been very impressed byCisco’s Data Centre Network Architecture andthe integrated systems approach to providinginteroperability between data centrecomponents,” said Mrs. Eser Unal, business unitmanager, network services for Garanti Teknoloji.“As we develop our strategy, we are looking toachieve further cost efficiencies by deployingCisco SAN technologies and Cisco’s virtualizedFirewall Services Modules (FWSM) to helpsupport high levels of reliability and securitywithin our data centre environment.

One key advantage of the Ciscotechnology is that there is a consistent integratednetworking approach across its data centreswitching and storage networking portfolios.”

The new storage area networkinfrastructure is based around Cisco MDS 9509Multilayer SAN directors, with Cisco MDS Multi-Protocol Services Modules. In addition toredundant Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series switcheswith the Cisco Supervisor Engine 720, GarantiBank’s network upgrade features a number ofother Cisco network components, includingintegrated security with Cisco Firewall ServicesModules.

The Catalyst 6500 Series switches willalso help allow Garanti Bank to boost switchingrates in the datacenter from 140Gbps to720Gbps, and interconnect to Cisco Catalyst4510R series switches at the network edge.

“The Cisco Data Centre NetworkArchitecture represents the practical realizationof our intelligent networking vision for the datacentre.

An important benefit of Cisco’s datacentre strategy lies in helping enterprises to planfor future growth through a tight integration ofintelligent architectures including switching,optical, storage area networking, integratedsecurity and server load balancing,” commentedKaan Terzioglu, VP for Central and EasternEurope for Cisco Systems.

“We are working to provide the buildingblocks for a phased evolution of our data centrestrategy as organizations move to consolidate,virtualize and ultimately build automation intotheir data centre environments.”

The approach to using Firewall ServiceModules in the datacenter is to help give fullycontrolled access to host systems from differentregions on the Garanti Bank network. FWSMmodules operate in multiple context modesusing a stateful failover approach. Usingdifferent contexts for each segment, the trafficfrom all parties can also be isolated.

Contexts can be used either in routed ortransparent mode; by using a context intransparent mode, Garanti Bank is able to passOpen Shortest Path First (OSPF) traffic throughthe context, eliminating the need for staticroutes. The advantage is that this approach ismore reliable, more secure, and more practical.

Data393 to provide dedicated server hosting

for LeftHand Networks

Data393, a managed IT infrastructureprovider, announced an agreement to providededicated server hosting to Boulder, Colorado-based LeftHand Networks, a provider ofclustered open iSCSI storage area networks(SAN). Under this agreement, Data393 willprovide dedicated server services to LeftHandNetworks to support their Web site and otherWeb-based products. “Data393 offers an idealhosting environment — high-performance


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servers, quick deployment and outstandingnetwork connectivity — that allows us to focuson the growth of our storage systems featuringour flagship storage software, SAN/iQ,” saidChris Lewicki, director of IT for LeftHandNetworks. “By concentrating our efforts on SAN/iQ, LeftHand is able to provide its customerswith the only iSCSI SAN solution that leveragesindustry-standard servers such as the HPProLiant DL380.” Data393 offers dedicatedservers featuring Intel Xeon processors,Windows or Linux operating systems, qualitymulticarrier bandwidth, and 24/7 support froma SAS 70 certified datacenter. “Data393 hasworked hard to ensure that our dedicated serversolution offers LeftHand Networks the flexibilityand reliability they need as they continue togrow,” said Erik Porter, Data393 cofounder andvice president of sales. “Data393 has investedmore than $30 million into a state-of-the-artfacility that provides IT managers the answer tohigh hardware prices and server room build-outs.”

First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. selects

Compellent SAN for increased performance

and cost-effective data storage expansion

Compellent Technologies, a provider ofaffordable and modular enterprise storagesolutions, announced First Industrial RealtyTrust Inc., the nation’s largest provider ofdiversified industrial real estate, has selectedCompellent’s Storage Center storage areanetwork (SAN) to deliver an automated tieredstorage environment that increases storageperformance and reduces ongoing expansioncosts. First Industrial owns and operates morethan 100 million square feet of industrial realestate in markets throughout the United States,serving more than 3,000 tenants across itsportfolio. Prior to installing Compellent, FirstIndustrial’s IT administrators were regularlyadding disk space and manually moving databetween silos in an effort to keep up withincreasing capacity and performance

requirements driven by the company’s growth.Storing historic customer data and archivedemail files alongside active financial analysiswas expensive and was impacting performancefor I/O-intensive applications.

“Considering the cost, performance andtime savings, the Compellent system providesunmatched value,” said Nick Colakovic, directorof information technology for First Industrial.“With Storage Center’s Automated TieredStorage, we have cut our tier one disk purchasesby 45 percent while doubling the performanceof our primary business applications, includingExchange and Oracle.” Compellent’s SANprovides First Industrial with an automated tieredstorage environment. For example, individualblocks of large Microsoft Exchange .pst files arenow automatically classified and migrated to theoptimum tier of storage based on usage. WithFirst Industrial’s Oracle databases, the SANautomatically migrated 70 percent of the data— all inactive — to a lower-cost tier of storage,freeing up the Fibre Channel tray for moreintensive I/O and delaying additional FibreChannel disk requirements. Compellentdistributes exclusively through a select nationalnetwork of business partners that are trustedadvisors on their client’s technology decisions.StorCOM, a regional data storage consultingfirm, worked closely with First Industrial tounderstand their requirements and design atiered storage solution that delivers performanceand functionality an affordable price. “Byautomatically moving inactive data off FibreChannel drives, Storage Center increasesperformance and saves First Industrial time andmoney,” said StorCOM’s president, Jeff James.

NEW PRODUCTS

Mirapoint integrates NetApp storage

solutions to fortify backup and recovery of

business-critical email

Mirapoint, the secure messaging experts,announced the integration of its Mirapoint


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Message Server with Network Appliance FASstorage systems. The joint solution,preconfigured and optimized specifically forenterprise messaging environments, providescustomers with an integrated disaster recoverysolution designed to protect business-criticalmessaging. The integrated SAN solutionaddresses the challenge of exponentiallyincreasing volumes of email due to longerretention periods, greater reliance on email inthe enterprise, and the escalating costsassociated with the management of emailinfrastructure.

“Email continues to be the most criticalbusiness communications tool used today andorganizations are still grappling with how to dealwith the growth in volume of email that must beretained due to regulatory and corporategovernance purposes. Critical to any solutionare highly available and reliable storagemechanisms for effective archiving of emails andattachments,” according to Mark Levitt, vicepresident for Collaborative Computing and theEnterprise Workplace at IDC.

Protecting business-critical data isessential for enterprises today. A natural disastersuch as a flood, hurricane, or fire, or even humanerror can be challenging for businesses,resulting in loss of intellectual property andrevenue. Now, businesses gain a securemessaging infrastructure with the addedprotection of ensuring the integrity of their emailand maintaining business continuity.Additionally, there are mounting legal andregulatory requirements for public businessesto archive and store email.

Unlike today’s existing storage areanetworks, which are typically genericallyconfigured for a multitude of storagerequirements such as enterprise applications,data from databases, and email, the Mirapointand NetApp joint solution is specificallyoptimized for the storage and retrieval of millionsof emails, simplifying the life of storage andmessaging administrators. The solution’s N+1

high-availability configuration option allowsbusinesses to rest easier knowing that they have99.999 percent availability and continuous dataprotection.

“We are seeing a shift from one-size-fits-all storage to the storage of different types ofdata based on their business need, making itfaster and more cost-effective for users toaccess this information,” said Bethany Mayer,chief marketing officer for Mirapoint. “TheMirapoint and NetApp solution providescustomers with a more complete messagingsolution that includes messaging, security,archiving, reporting, and now backup andrecovery via an integrated storage area networksolution.”

“The combination of Mirapoint andNetApp was a natural one, considering theexplosive growth of email in businesses today,coupled with compliance regulations drivingexpanded data retention periods,” said StanleyJaworski, vice president of Worldwide ChannelMarketing at Network Appliance. “The Mirapointand NetApp solution offers customers anintegrated email and storage solution to meettheir growing email storage needs cost-effectively.”

Network Equipment Technologies

announces general availability of its multi-

service, high-speed switching platform

Telecommunications equipment makerNetwork Equipment Technologies Inc., a globalprovider of multiservice network exchangesolutions for government and enterprisecustomers, announced that its NX5010 platform,a next-generation, high-speed multiserviceaggregation and switching platform, wasreleased for general availability on November30. The NX5010 enables customers withgeographically dispersed datacenters toconnect and makes it possible to collapse intoa single integrated system the multiple switchescurrently required to perform SAN-to-WANcommunications.


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“We are pleased to have completeddevelopment, validation testing and generalrelease of this powerful solution for mission-critical communications. The NX5010significantly improves our customer’s ability totransfer large amounts of data throughoutdisparate networks on a single switch. Initiallytargeted at government and financial customers,the NX5010 also addresses our customers’increasing need for secure, high speed, versatilenetworking,” said John Sandschulte, VP ofengineering at NET. “In lab trials, the NX5010successfully demonstrated its ability to transferup to 60 terabytes of InfiniBand data over adistance of 4500 km in only 32 hours — thelargest amount of InfiniBand data evertransferred per unit time over a wide areanetwork. No other product available today hasthe ability to transfer this amount of InfiniBanddata over a wide area network.”

Jointly developed by NET and BayMicrosystems — the leader in high-performancepacket processing solutions — the NX5010 iscompact and scalable, with the ability to convert10Gbps to a wide area connection on a verysmall footprint (2RU). The NX5010 was testedextensively by the US Naval ResearchLaboratory (NRL). Following the trials, NRLawarded NET and Bay an initial order formultiple units, which are targeted for use withinNRL’s testbed for Advanced Network andAdvanced Terabit Storage Area Networkingtrials.

Dell expands disk storage line with first-to-

market product

Dell introduced the PowerVault MD3000,a versatile, direct-attached storage arraydelivering high performance and high availabilityfor critical applications. The PowerVault MD3000is the first external RAID SAS array from a Tier1 storage system company.

“Direct attach storage is incrediblyimportant to a large number of customers. Withits performance and advanced software

capabilities, the MD3000 will redefine howcustomers look at DAS,” said Darren Thomas,vice president and general manager of Dellstorage and services. “At Dell, we want tochange the economics of storage by providingeasy-to-use, highly capable storage at newlevels of affordability.”

The expandability, availability, advancedsnapshot, and virtual disk copy functionality ofthe PowerVault MD3000 make it an idealplatform for clustered applications such asMicrosoft SQL Server 2005 and MicrosoftExchange Server 2007. In addition, theseapplications are including more advancedreplication capability in the software itself. TheMD3000 complements this by providing easy-to-use and highly capable storage at a fractionof the price of storage area networks.

Added to this, the PowerVault MD3000uses dual active/active RAID controllers toenhance performance and availability —producing up to 1,400Mbps of throughput andapproximately 90,000 input/output operationsper second (IOP/s). The throughputperformance aids applications such as videoservices and file serving, while the high IOP/smake it ideal for applications with hightransactional performance requirements — suchas databases and email applications.

The PowerVault MD3000 is Dell’s secondstorage product to comply with the StorageBridge Bay 1.0 specification. Dell is a foundingmember of the Storage Bridge Bay (SBB)Working Group that is dedicated to developingindustry standards that help accelerate theadoption of new storage technologies anddeliver enhanced quality and affordability.Additional information on SBB can be found atwww.sbbwg.org.

PowerVault MD3000 features

- Capacity — Up to 4.5TB per system- Expansion — Ability to expand with

up to two MD1000 arrays for a total of 13.5TB- Two Node Clustering — This is the

first PowerVault MD product to support two-node


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clustering providing high availability and faulttolerance for applications or services.

- Multi-host Capability — Attach up tofour Dell PowerEdge servers

- Performance — Active/active RAIDcontrollers can produce up to 1,400Mbps ofthroughput and approximately 90,000 IOP/sfrom cache. This is nearly twice the throughputof the PowerVault MD1000.

- Redundant Architecture — The direct-attached storage array uses two active/activeRAID controllers with mirrored cache and I/Omultipathing capabilities to help ensureprocessing continues without interruption. Alsoincludes hot-pluggable, redundant powersupplies, cooling modules and disk drives, activedisk scrubbing, and non-disruptive firmwareupgrades

- Manageable — Delivers a suite ofeasy-to-use, intelligent storage managementfeatures for configuration and administration,partitioning, and dynamic disk expansion.Optional management features provideenhanced data availability via snapshots andvirtual disk copies.

Ideal customer scenarios

- Applications typically configured intwo-node clusters — such as MicrosoftExchange Server and Microsoft SQL Server

- IT environments that requireaffordable, high performance and highavailability for one or two servers

- Mainstream technology buyers whobuy SCSI disk drives today

The PowerVault MD3000 is availableimmediately worldwide with pricing beginningaround $6,499. For more information on Dellstorage, visit http://www.dell.com/storage.

ServePath unveils High Availability Server

Network offerings for businesses that run

mission-critical internet applications

ServePath, a dedicated server providerand hosting specialist, announced its new HighAvailability Server Network offerings. These

customized network solutions give companieswith mission-critical Web applications theopportunity to have a highly available serverhosting environment built to meet their needsat an affordable cost.

“ServePath’s new High Availability ServerNetwork offerings set us apart from the pack,”said John Keagy, president, ServePath.

“No other hosting provider can offer ahighly customized package at such areasonable price point.

We have the staff and systems in placeto provide this advanced level of service.ServePath doesn’t believe in sellingprepackaged solutions, which is why wespecialize in providing such a high degree ofserver network customization.”

ServePath’s High Availability ServerNetwork offerings leverage the company’sdedicated server products and sophisticatednetwork architecture, enabling them to beavailable at a lower cost, yet be individuallycustomized.

Featuring rapid setup by a specializedstaff, ServePath can provide two or moreservers with load balancing and many managedservices not offered by competitors, such asGigabit Port Upgrades and Storage AreaNetwork (SAN) connections.

Each network configuration is built toexact customer specifications, with a variety ofhardware and OS options.

ServePath takes care of theinfrastructure management so customers canfocus on managing their applications.

“Our site needs to be up all the time,”said Jon Boutelle, chief technical officer ofSlideshare, a site for sharing PowerPoint slides.“If our site went down, it would have a hugeimpact on our brand.

That’s why we rely on ServePath’s HighAvailability Server Network solution, which iscustomized for our needs.

One of the best things about ServePathis that they’re available 24 hours a day. 24-hour


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access is critical when running a site like oursthat customers around the world count on to bethere when they need it.”

“Any business with an online presencecan tell you that it is absolutely critical for theirsite to be up and available, 24/7,” Keagycontinued. “It’s even more significant duringseasonal times of the year like the upcomingholidays, where even just a few minutes of asite being down can mean substantial losses toyour business not only in terms of sales, butalso in the brand experience. To address theseconcerns, ServePath offers a 10,000 percentguarantee with our service level agreement(SLA). This testament to our network reliabilityis significant in the industry because it showsthat we stand behind our 100 percent uptimeguarantee.”

ServePath’s dedicated hosting solutions,High Availability Server Network solutions, andmanaged services are immediately available.For more information, please visitwww.ServePath.com or call 866-321-7284.

NetApp SnapManager 4.0 for Exchange

Server 2007 now available

Network Appliance Inc. announcedgeneral availability of two software products insupport of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.

The availability of NetApp SnapManager4.0 for Exchange Server and NetApp SingleMailbox Recovery 4.2, a near-instantaneousbackup and recovery software solution forExchange Server 2007, provides customers withenterprise-class backup, recovery, andrestoration solutions. NetApp SnapManager 4.0for Exchange, which supports both NetApp FibreChannel (FC) and iSCSI-based IP SAN (storagearea network) solutions, helps customersdramatically reduce the administrative overheadof backing up Exchange Server databases.

With the availability of these products,NetApp is helping Exchange Server 2007customers achieve near-instantaneous,granular recovery of Exchange Server data

without a prohibitive — and expensive —increase in storage capacity needs.

Located in Galveston, Texas, theUniversity of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) isa major academic health center with six state-of-the-art hospitals and is dedicated to healthscience education, patient care, research, andcommunity service.

To support its 12,300 Exchange Serverusers, UTMB uses NetApp SnapManager forExchange on an enterprise-intensive NetAppFibre Channel SAN solution.

“It’s critical to our business that we protectvaluable medical and research data capturedin Exchange Server,” said Brian Grimm,software system staff specialist at UTMB. “OurNetApp SnapManager for Exchange solution,which integrates NetApp SnapMirror for disasterrecovery, helps reduce costs, simplify our datamanagement, and increase data availabilitywithin our Exchange Server environment — withno negative performance impact.”

NetApp SnapManager 4.0 for Exchangeand Single Mailbox Recovery 4.2 softwaredramatically boost the productivity of bothadministrators and physical storage assets inthe following ways:

- Maximized data availability: NetAppprovides near-instantaneous backups and rapidExchange Server recovery, with minimalcapacity overhead. In addition, NetAppSnapMirror software provides simple, flexible,and cost-effective snapshot replication andmirroring for easy-to-use disaster recovery ofExchange Server data.

- Simplified data management: NetAppaddresses the storage management productivitychallenge with automated data management,rapid storage provisioning, and the ability to backup and restore hundreds of databases residingon a single Exchange Server installation.

- Rapid Exchange Item-LevelRecovery: NetApp Single Mailbox Recoverysoftware provides rapid recovery of mailbox datafrom any existing snapshot backups using


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administrator-specified criteria, up to andincluding individual emails and attachments.

- Reduced costs: NetApp helpsconsolidate Exchange Server data andmaximize storage resource utilization with itsunique FlexVol technology, available throughNetApp Data ONTAP 7G software.

Additionally, NetApp Global Services(NGS) offers professional and support servicesthat complement these NetApp softwareofferings by minimizing disruption, augmentingor offloading IT staff, and rapidly designing andimplementing a NetApp-enabled ExchangeServer environment.

NGS offers solutions for ExchangeServer environments that scale from installationto turnkey enterprise deployments dependingon customer needs. NGS resources areMicrosoft certified and have experience inindustry verticals such as financial services andgovernment sectors.

The service offerings are organized ascomponents and include Exchange Serverconsolidation, migration, backup/recovery, anddisaster recovery. The consolidation andmigration services assist customers in movingto current versions of Exchange Server. Thebackup and recovery services leverage tiered-storage best practices to implement high-availability solutions for safeguarding data andenabling near real-time data restoration. NGSdisaster recovery services feature highly robustclustering and replication solutions that protectdata assets within and across datacenters. Allof the Exchange Server service componentsshare a structured implementation methodologythat follow proven project managementconcepts and emphasize knowledge transfer toIT operations staff. For more information onNetApp services and support, visitwww.netapp.com/support.

“Email is a mission-critical application,and organizations demand a highly availableand reliable solution,” said Kim Akers, generalmanager, Unified Communications, Microsoft.

“We are pleased that companies like NetAppare providing solutions that will complement theenhancements delivered in Exchange Server2007, which will help IT administrators get moreout of their hardware and networkinginvestments, make deployment easier and moreflexible, while giving administrators more timefor value-added work.”

NetApp is a member of the MicrosoftTechnology Adoption Program (TAP) forExchange Server 2007, helping customersleverage the capabilities of Exchange Server2007 and NetApp storage solutions. NetAppSnapManager 4.0 for Exchange supportsMicrosoft Cluster Server (MSCS) for highavailability and Microsoft Multipath I/O forresiliency in FC and IP SAN environments.NetApp storage arrays are listed in the WindowsServer Catalog, demonstrating theircompatibility with Microsoft products. For moredetails on NetApp SnapManager software, visitwww.ne tapp . com/p roduc t s / so f twa re /snapmanager.html.

NetApp StoreVault extends comprehensive,

enterprise-class replication and Fibre

Channel support to SMBs

StoreVault, a NetApp division,announced new features to its StoreVault S500for improved simplicity, scalability, and datamanagement for small and medium-sizedbusinesses (SMBs). With this news, StoreVaultis delivering on its promise to make the best ofenterprise-proven storage technology fromNetApp available to the SMB market throughan easy-to-use and flexible network storagesolution at a price point that fits SMB budgets.StoreVault has added the following new featuresto Data ONTAP StoreVault Edition andStoreVault Manager to further extend enterprise-class functionality to the SMB masses:

- StoreVault Replication — Based onNetApp enterprise technology, StoreVaultReplication is the first SMB storage software thatcan copy both file and block data between


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locations. StoreVault Replication is easilyenabled with a software license key anddesigned to simply manage replication betweenmultiple StoreVault S500s using the newStoreVault Manager 2.0 interface. Instead ofthird-party software loaded on various servers,StoreVault Replication provides comprehensivereplication at an affordable price that isintegrated in the StoreVault S500 to address alltypes of data on the system.

- Fibre Channel (FC) Support —StoreVault is teaming with QLogic Corporationto provide the StoreVault FC Starter Kit, whichincludes a factory-installed host bus adapter(HBA), a 10-port 4Gbit Fibre Channel switch,and QLogic SANsurfer Express software.Additional FC HBAs are available for a simple,customized solution. The FC Starter Kit is idealfor first-time FC installations, bringing simplicityto FC storage area networks (SANs) by enablingStoreVault customers to start with NAS or iSCSISAN and scale to Fibre Channel as their datarequirements evolve, without buying a separatenetwork storage system.

The StoreVault S500 provides seamlesstechnology functionality without the need for newhardware, resources, cycles, or traininginvestment. For example, StoreVault Replicationis built into StoreVault Manager 2.0, and thesoftware is an embedded application in DataONTAP StoreVault Edition. Other replicationproducts depend on third-party servers oroperate separately from the storage system,forcing unnecessary network traffic anddeployment complexity. The StoreVault S500provides one centralized network storagesolution for efficient data movement, disasterrecovery, and off-site backup services,eliminating the need to purchase, install, or learnnew hardware or additional software.

Gartner Dataquest recently conducted aglobal SMB user survey in 11 major countries:the United States, three European countries (theUnited Kingdom, Germany, and France), Japan,and six countries in Asia/Pacific (Australia,

China, India, South Korea, Singapore, andTaiwan). The October 2006 survey, “UserSurvey Analysis: Top Storage Demands fromGlobal Small and Midsize Businesses,” wascompleted with 1,138 respondents, with eachcountry evenly represented by 100 or slightlymore than 100 respondents. According to thesurvey, two of the top five problems IT personnelare facing when managing storage are lack ofreliable backup/recovery solutions and lack ofstorage management tools. In addition, amongthe top storage software solutions that willreceive the greatest amount of new budgetdollars during the next one to three years arebackup and replication software and storageresource management (SRM)/SANmanagement software.

“My SMB customers have multiplelocations where StoreVault Replication deliversan attractive solution for their disaster recoveryneeds,” said Greg Knieriemen, vice president,marketing, Chi Corporation. “Unlike thepiecemeal offerings of other network storagemanufacturers, StoreVault Replication issmoothly integrated into the S500, making it thelogical choice for replication.”

“StoreVault Replication ensures that ourcustomers have access to their data,” saidChuck Edwards, principal, Blue Gecko, amanaged service provider. “StoreVaultReplication is more flexible, easier to implement,and faster than any tape or disk-based copy withthird-party software. We now have disasterrecovery abilities that would have costthousands more with another solution and, bestof all, it is from a reputable company that weabsolutely trust with our data.”

In addition to StoreVault Replication,StoreVault Manager 2.0 improves ease of useand simplifies advanced features by providingmultiple views of storage volumes and improvingCIFS setup and management of NFS exports.Additionally, StoreVault Manager 2.0 adds theability to make Snapshot copies of iSCSI andFC LUNs at no additional charge.


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The availability of Fibre Channel supportmakes the StoreVault S500 the industry’s firstand only full-featured, scalable, all-in-onenetwork storage system for the SMB market thatsupports NAS, iSCSI SAN, and Fibre ChannelSAN. StoreVault eliminates the need forcustomers to purchase multiple products forSAN and NAS or make an up-front technologychoice between iSCSI and Fibre Channel, betterenabling SMB customers to address theirgrowing storage needs without forcing difficultand expensive up-front technology decisions.

According to the survey, when GartnerDataquest questioned SMBs about the majorstorage issues they face today, 55 percent ofrespondents mentioned managing growingcapacity demands.

Gartner Dataquest also asked how fastSMBs expect their capacity needs to grow inthe next one to two years, and the averageresponse was 25 percent capacity growth in oneyear and 41 percent growth in two years.

StoreVault provides SMB customers thescalability that is missing in today’s networkstorage solutions for SMBs.

The StoreVault S500 delivers the sameenterprise-proven storage technology fromNetApp that had previously only been affordablefor large enterprises.

Customers can easily deploy FibreChannel with the StoreVault S500 and still havethe flexibility to leverage the StoreVault S500for NAS or iSCSI SAN in the future. Mostimportantly, SMBs will not need to invest in morestorage as their businesses grow, and they willmake their storage budgets go further with theStoreVault S500.

“We continue to deliver greater value toour SMB customers and distinguish StoreVaultfrom other competitive offerings,” said SajaiKrishnan, general manager of StoreVault. “TheStoreVault S500 gives SMBs the first completeplatform for all their network storage needscombined with the first enterprise-classreplication software. It’s all about giving

customers what they’re looking for — a ‘Swissarmy knife’ storage solution with easy replicationand simplicity in data management, all from atrusted storage vendor.”

StoreVault Replication and the StoreVaultFC Starter Kit from QLogic are availableimmediately in the United States. StoreVaultReplication pricing starts at $1,500 for eachStoreVault S500 system.

Licenses for an existing StoreVault S500may be purchased directly from qualifiedStoreVault VARs, with specific pricing availablethrough the channel. Pricing for the StoreVaultFC Starter Kit from QLogic starts at $4,000 andincludes a factory-installed HBA, cabling, andswitch. Additional HBAs are priced at $650 each.StoreVault Replication and the FC Starter Kitare expected to be available in January 2007 inthe United Kingdom and Australia.

Resellers can access the StoreVault Webportal at http://partners.storevault.com, wherethey can easily begin the authorization process,purchase preconfigured or customizedsolutions, research product information, accessvaluable training and on-demand marketingtools, and review any program or promotionalopportunities.

BUSINESS

NEC Corporation of America garners

Brocade Fabric Aware Status for storage

networking compatibility

NEC Corporation of America, a providerof IT, network, and telephony solutions,announced that their S-Series Storage Systemshave been verified by Brocade CommunicationsSystems Inc. as compatible with Brocade-basedStorage Area Networking (SAN) infrastructure,according to the testing requirements of theBrocade Fabric Aware Program.

This program is a comprehensive testingand configuration initiative designed to fosterSAN interoperability in multivendor Brocade-based SAN environments.


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Testing was conducted at the BrocadeFabric Aware labs, which are state-of-the-artfacilities supporting end-to-end interoperabilityand performance testing of SAN products inmultivendor and large fabric SAN environments.The Brocade Fabric Aware Program boasts animpressive collection of members since itslaunch in 2000.

“NEC has 42 years of experience inserving our storage customers, and have a deepunderstanding of the vast importance ofcompatibility with Brocade switches toaccelerate SAN implementations,” said MatthewWolken, vice president, Fault Tolerant Serverand Data Storage of NEC Corporation ofAmerica. “We are working to ensureinteroperability of NEC’s complete storageproduct line, as part of our continuous effort toprovide the marketplace with quality storagesolutions and value-added services.”

Available in North America, the NEC S-Series of storage systems includes the S1500,S2500, and the S2900, which offer high-performance, full data availability as well as acomprehensive suite of business continuity anddisaster recovery capabilities.

“We are pleased that NEC hassuccessfully completed the Fabric Aware testingwith Brocade fabric switches in multi-vendorSAN environments,” said Dan Crain, chieftechnology officer for Brocade CommunicationsSystems Inc. “Storage area networks are beingdeployed worldwide at a rapid rate as a scalable,high-performance networking foundation forstorage environments. The Fabric Awareprogram is an example of our continuedcommitment to our SAN customers.”

The Brocade Fabric Aware program is acomprehensive testing and configurationinitiative designed to foster end-to-end SANinteroperability. As part of the program, testingis conducted in SAN configurations thatcomprise a heterogeneous mix of servers,storage subsystems, Brocade fabric switches,SAN management and enterprise applications,

and other SAN technologies. Brocade hascreated a dedicated lab comprising aheterogeneous SAN fabric, in which thecompany tests and validates partner equipmentin specific configurations. Vendors receiveBrocade Fabric Aware Certification aftersuccessfully completing tests to confirm thatvendors’ products meet compatibility guidelines.

For more information, visit http://w w w . b r o c a d e . c o m / p a r t n e r s /fabric_aware_program.jsp.

RELDATA dramatically increases worldwide

headquarters to meet workforce and

facilities growth

RELDATA, a provider of a newgeneration of universal IP storage virtualizationappliances, announced that it has dramaticallyexpanded its worldwide headquarters, triplingthe size of its Parsippany, New Jersey, facilityto accommodate its growing workforce and toprovide additional space for further developmentof its universal IP storage solutions. The largerfacilities at RELDATA’s headquarters will enablethe company to meet the demand for itsexpanding sales, technical, and executive staff;improve and expand lab facilities for testing,quality assurance, and certification; and upgradeits internal infrastructure.

“Our continued success has prompted usto triple our worldwide headquarters in NewJersey and to establish it as a center ofinnovation for our family of universal IP storagesolutions,” said Boris Anderer, president andCEO of RELDATA. “The capital expenditure weare making in increasing our physicalinfrastructure and human resources is aninvestment in the future of our company and afirm commitment behind our industry-leadinguniversal IP storage solutions.”

The company recently announced thatthe RELDATA IP Storage Gateway 9240incorporates six 1GbE ports and two Ultra SCSIports in addition to the dual 4Gbps FC ports,which provides flexible connectivity so


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enterprises can easily, cost-effectively extendor expand existing Fibre Channel, SCSI, andiSCSI storage investments.

Universal IP storage solutions based onRELDATA 9240 reduce capital expenditures tomeet growth and mitigate future storagespending by maximizing utilization and loweringadministration costs through centralizeduniversal IP storage management.

As a result, RELDATA-based IP storagesolutions let enterprises face the challengesbrought on by rapidly growing mixed file andblock storage volumes, short recovery time orrecovery point objectives, or data protection ofmultisite locations.

MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Compellent placed in Visionaries Quadrant

in leading analyst firm’s Magic Quadrant

Compellent Technologies, a provider ofaffordable and modular enterprise storagesolutions, announced that Gartner positionedthe company in the Visionaries Quadrant of the“Gartner Magic Quadrant for MidrangeEnterprise Disk Arrays, 2H06,” released onDecember 13, 2006, and authored by StanleyZaffos, Roger W. Cox, and April Adams.

The Gartner Magic Quadrant measuresthe completeness of vision and ability to executeof midrange enterprise disk array vendorsworldwide.

Several factors contribute to the vendors’ratings, including market understanding and theability to demonstrate innovation in meetingcustomer needs. According to Gartner, “amidrange enterprise disk array storage vendorin the Visionaries Quadrant delivers uniquelyinnovative products that address operationallyor financially important end-user problems, buthas not demonstrated the ability to capturemarket share or sustainable profitability.

Visionary vendors are frequently privatelyheld companies and acquisition targets for largerestablished companies.

The likelihood of acquisition oftenreduces the risks associated with installing theirsystems.”

“We set out less than three years ago toremove the traditional cost and complexity fromenterprise storage,” said Phil Soran, presidentand chief executive officer of Compellent.

“We think being positioned in theVisionaries Quadrant on the Gartner MagicQuadrant demonstrates that we have listenedto end users and delivered innovativecapabilities that significantly lower costs for ourcustomers.”

Since its introduction in early 2004,Compellent’s storage area network (SAN) hasattracted more than 400 customers, aninternational network of channel partners, andwidespread industry acclaim for the product’spowerful capabilities and ease of use.

Demand for Compellent’s award-winning midrange storage area network and theoperating efficiency of the company’s businessmodel will more than double revenue in 2006and ensure consistent profitability in 2007.

Compellent’s SAN represents a majorleap forward in storage innovation, radicallyreducing the total cost of storage acquisition andmanagement.

Companies using the SAN have reducedstorage costs up to 74 percent, cut storageadministration time in half, and ensuredcontinuous data availability.

Among its many innovative features thatresulted in its debut in the visionary quadrant,Compellent’s Storage Center is the industry’sonly SAN with Automated Tiered Storage, whichautomatically moves data to the optimum tier ofstorage based on usage. Additional pioneeringfeatures of Compellent’s SAN include thefollowing:

- Thin Provisioning — Reducesstorage expenditures, automates capacityplanning, and lowers power and coolingrequirements by only consuming physical diskwhen data is written


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- Continuous Snapshots — Providesrecovery from any point in time in less than 10seconds by creating an unlimited number ofspace-efficient snapshots

- Thin Replication — Lowers capacity,bandwidth, and management requirements byup to 50 percent to deliver affordable, multisitereplication without the cost or complexity

- Advanced Virtualization —Intelligently allocates data across all disk drivesin a virtualized environment to increaseperformance

- Intuitive Interface — Cutsmanagement time in half with wizards thateliminate repetitive, time-consuming tasks andsimplify advanced storage processes

Acopia Networks file virtualization solutions

score high with Fortune 1000 customers

Acopia Networks Inc., a provider of high-performance intelligent file virtualization,announced that independent research firmTheInfoPro (TIP) has reported that Acopia is“edging out” its competition — including NetworkAppliance, Microsoft, Cisco, Brocade, andothers — in the file virtualization space.

The findings, based on 154 hour-longinterviews with TheInfoPro’s peer network ofprescreened Fortune 1000 storageprofessionals, showed that file virtualization hasnow moved into the top position on TheInfoPro’sStorage Technology Heat Index, a measure ofusers’ spending and implementation plans.

“With installed NAS growing rapidly in thedata center and the long project timelinesneeded for block virtualization, storageprofessionals have been focusing their near-term energies and budgets on improving filecontent,” stated Robert Stevenson, managingdirector of TheInfoPro’s Storage Sector.

“In fact, two of the more salient findingsof the research were that information lifecyclemanagement (ILM), tiering, and migration areall prominent management technologies nowbeing considered for short term implementation,

as well as the substantiation that there is in factno such thing as a ‘one-off’ data migration intoday’s enterprise.”

“We are delighted that results of theTheInfoPro Wave 8 Study reinforce Acopia’sgrowing market presence in intelligent filevirtualization,” said Kirby Wadsworth, senior vicepresident of marketing and businessdevelopment. “More importantly, TheInfoProresults provide quantifiable proof that F1000companies are investing in file virtualizationsolutions today and intend to invest even morein the near future. As a technology and marketleader, Acopia is uniquely positioned to addressthe data management needs of these F1000enterprises.”

To view a rich media presentation ofTheInfoPro’s Wave 8 Storage ManagementFortune 1000 Study, please visit http://w w w . b r a i n s h a r k . c o m / t h e i n f o p r o /storw8_smr_f1000_pr.

Market research shows NetApp SAN

momentum

Network Appliance Inc. announced thatit continued to gain momentum in the storagearea network (SAN) market, while maintainingstrong leadership in both the network-attachedstorage (NAS) and iSCSI markets, in the thirdcalendar quarter of 2006.

According to IDC’s Worldwide QuarterlyDisk Storage Systems Tracker Q3 2006, NetAppgained share in both capacity shipped andrevenue for the Fibre Channel (FC) SAN market.NetApp continued to grow faster than the marketin FC SAN in both revenue and capacity, yearover year. For capacity shipped, NetApp grewat 210.2 percent, while the market grew at 46.3percent. In terms of revenue, NetApp grew fasterthan the market for the 11th consecutive quarterat 62.1 percent, while the market grew at 14.1percent. Sequentially, NetApp grew at 16.0percent, while the market grew at 6.4 percent.

NetApp also demonstrated continuedleadership in the NAS and iSCSI storage


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markets in the third quarter. NetApp maintainedthe No. 1 market share positions in capacityshipped for NAS (42.0 percent), and in iSCSIfor both capacity shipped (32.6 percent) andrevenue (21.5 percent).

In the network storage market (whichincludes SAN, NAS, and iSCSI), NetApp grewfaster than the market, year over year, in bothcapacity shipped and revenue. For capacityshipped, NetApp grew at 106.8 percent, whilethe market grew at 62.6 percent. In terms ofrevenue, NetApp grew 18.9 percent, while themarket grew at 17.2 percent.

“Every quarter, IDC’s market researchcontinues to show NetApp gaining momentumin SAN faster than the market, whilecontinuously maintaining strong leadershippositions in both NAS and iSCSI,” said ElisaSteele, vice president of Worldwide IntegratedMarketing at Network Appliance. “Our overallleadership and momentum in the marketdemonstrate the value NetApp is delivering tocustomers across all segments of our business.”

EqualLogic strengthens position as leading

midrange iSCSI SAN provider for retail

market

EqualLogic, a provider of enterprise-class iSCSI storage area network (SAN)solutions, announced growing momentum in theretail industry with several new customers.EqualLogic’s affordable and easy-to-use PSSeries storage arrays support retailers’demanding environments that include thechallenges of automated inventory tracking,supporting dispersed users, and an increasingvolume of customer-related data. A few ofEqualLogic’s newest retail customers includeParty America, Patagonia, ZOOTS Inc., ChicagoOffice Technology Group, and OfficeEnvironments of New England.

Retailers have found EqualLogic’sflexible PS Series SANs to be an ideal fit fortheir traditional or virtualized IT environments.The company’s technology gives retailers

uninterrupted data access in a self-managing,all-inclusive storage solution, allowing theseorganizations to concentrate on their customersand not their day-to-day storage management.Additionally, the high transaction rates thatretailers support on their databases and SANsrequire the performance and reliability that thePS Series delivers. Included in all EqualLogicSANs are 24/7 backup and disaster recoverycapabilities via snapshots and Auto-Replicationto enable business continuity that is vital toretailers.

Patagonia, a leading manufacturer ofoutdoor clothing and technical apparel, migratedto an EqualLogic iSCSI SAN to consolidate adisparate set of direct attached storage (DAS)and simplify management and backup of thestorage supporting its critical business services,including supply chain and product lifecyclemanagement. Since implementing theEqualLogic SAN, Patagonia has transitionedfrom tape backup to a disk-based backupmethod, cutting administration times. “Ourdeployment of EqualLogic has been what waspromised: short configuration times, up andrunning in minutes and exceptional ease-of-useand management capabilities that help us growour storage networks as needed,” said TammyBarrett, network engineer at Patagonia. “TheEqualLogic solution provides our IT team witha level of storage network flexibility andmanagement that we never experienced withDAS. We can now implement IT initiatives thatwere previously impossible due to complexityand cost issues.”

Founded in 1998, ZOOTS is the largestdry cleaner on the East Coast, with 75 locationsspanning nine states. The company’s rapidgrowth — in stores and customers — pushedthe ZOOTS IT staff to seek replacements for itshard-to-manage Fiber-Channel SAN. ZOOTSselected EqualLogic’s storage arrays so it couldmore easily grow its storage to keep pace withthe business expansion, and so staff couldspend less time managing their SAN and more


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time supporting their more than 300,000customers. “We are dedicated to providing thehighest levels of quality and convenience for our300,000 active customers. We needed toimplement a solution that would grow with ourcompany, meet IT budgets and increaseavailability of data for our users,” said DeanPatterson, vice president of IT for ZOOTS Inc.“EqualLogic’s cost-effective, plug-and-playstorage solution met our scalability and costrequirements, and continues to protect ourmission-critical operations as we multiply insize.”

Nationwide party supplies provider PartyAmerica selected EqualLogic to overcome I/Obottleneck limitations it encountered with itsprevious Fibre Channel SAN. In performancebenchmarking, Party America discoveredEqualLogic’s iSCSI storage array delivered atleast a 3x improvement in performance over theFibre Channel predecessor for its Oraclesystems. Party America’s PS Seriesimplementation exceeds the company’s supportneeds for its bicoastal, 1,000-plus concurrentuser IT environment. “Party America has gonefrom the smallest party supply retailer to thesecond largest in the country, operating in 45

states across the U.S.,” said Chris Fairbourne,director of IT operations at Party America. “As alarge retailer, we have a substantial Oracledatabase that supports a real-time point of salesystem, hosted via broadband links. We neededa SAN for this environment that could scale at aprice point we desired. There’s nothing else outthere like EqualLogic. It’s bullet proof. The fault-tolerance, flexibility and performance combinedare unmatched. The box integrates flawlesslyat all layers-better than anything I’ve seen.”

“IT departments at retailers want to focuson ensuring optimal services for their customers,but are frequently distracted from this priorityby storage management challenges,” said JohnJoseph, vice president of marketing atEqualLogic. “Retailers’ database-intensiveapplications are mission-critical for processingcustomer transactions and demand high-performance, while their data storagerequirements often grow rapidly. EqualLogic isuniquely able to deliver a high-performance,self-managing and scalable SAN that helpsretailers free up IT staff, time and money forcustomer-service oriented priorities.”

Success stories on more EqualLogiccustomers can be found at http://www.equallogic.com/customers.

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