Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Multivendor provisioning grows easier with new storage virtualization wares


NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: NETWORKING TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
06/29/05

Dear security.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* The virtual answer
* Links related to Networking Technology Update
* Featured reader resource
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Business Continuity - is it practical?
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Today's focus:

Multivendor provisioning grows easier with new storage
virtualization wares

By Joanne Cummings

Storage virtualization isn't a new concept, but it's getting a
lot of attention lately as the top storage vendors launch
next-generation virtualization wares. The vendors vary on their
approaches - some put virtualization in the network, while
others put it at the edge or in the array - but they all attack
the same basic problem: simplifying storage management.

In traditional storage setups, the intelligence necessary to
perform key storage functions such as snapshot copying, data
replication and disk mirroring are handled primarily at the host
or server level. Implementing virtualization, in which servers
view all enterprise storage devices as one large pool of
storage, means adding the software, device drivers and so on to
each individual server - a situation that is notoriously tough
to manage.

The first attempt to move the intelligence necessary for storage
virtualization into the network came in 2000-2001 with
appliances such as DataCore's SANsymphony and FalconStor's
IPstor. These appliances let users pool storage while
eliminating the need for drivers and licenses for each server.
But this approach never really caught on, primarily because the
main Tier 1 storage vendors didn't play along. "We looked at
FalconStor's IPstor appliance when we put in our SAN a while
back," says Bo Christiansen, IT consultant at SDC Udvikling, a
Copenhagen, Denmark, financial firm. "It raised the possibility
to integrate the different storage technologies under one GUI,
which we liked. But there were some problems with how it worked
and vendor lock-in. We decided to wait to see if we could get
the virtualization without being locked in to a small vendor."

IBM became the first large vendor to embrace virtualization
fully with its SAN Volume Controller (SVC), introduced in July
2003 as a network appliance or as a blade within Cisco's MDS
director-level SAN switch. IBM has made considerable headway
with the SVC since last August, when it added the ability to
manage arrays from Hitachi Data Systems, HP and EMC; the company
announced its 1,000th customer this March.

Hitachi has since rolled out its TagmaStore array-based
virtualization, and Sun its StorEdge 6290 controller/array
system. And EMC hit the market in May with its Invista
virtualization software, which runs on Cisco, Brocade and McData
director-level switches.

This is all good news for users, who are struggling with
explosive growth in storage coupled with the need to better
manage stored data because of compliance pressures.

Check out the virtualization timeline along with the rest of
this story at: <http://www.networkworld.com/nltechupdate2909>
_______________________________________________________________
To contact:

Cummings is a freelance writer in North Andover, Mass. She can
be reached at jocummings@comcast.net
_______________________________________________________________
Business Continuity - is it practical?
A Special Report produced by Network World, sponsored by NSI

All forward thinking network executives must consider the
possibilities of system loss. So what are the options for a
comprehensive data protection and recovery strategy? Download
the special report Cost-effective Application Protection and
Recovery and read about creating a plan and factoring cost along
with other insightful and timely information.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=107417
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Technology Update archive:
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What data replication alternatives exist and what are their
impacts on the WAN? Tune in now to this webcast moderated by
Jerald Murphy of Meta Group and find out how you can optimize
data replication across the WAN.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=107327
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