Tuesday 21 September 2010

Fujitsu & DataCore Storage Virtualization Software

Network Computing: Fujitsu Maximizes Business Continuity And Flexibility Of Cloud Storage Architectures With DataCore Storage Virtualization

http://www.networkcomputing.com/storage-networking-management/datacore-software-fujitsu-maximizes-business-continuity-and-flexibility-of-cloud-storage-architectur.php

ChannelPros: DataCore Software and Fujitsu Technology Solutions Validate Integration of Products

Fujitsu has validated the integration of its data center storage and server systems with DataCore storage virtualization software, in order to minimize the risks for enterprises switching to virtualized and cloud storage architectures. http://www.channelprosmb.com/article/20444/DataCore-Software-and-Fujitsu-Technology-Solutions-Validate-Integration-of-Products/

SearchStorage: Fujitsu bundles DataCore storage virtualization software
DataCore Software Corp. said Fujitsu has validated its SANsymphony storage virtualization software, and Fujitsu will sell the integrated DataCore software on its Eternus storage systems and Primergy servers. http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid5_gci1519941,00.html 

Friday 17 September 2010

DataCore Software: Fujitsu Maximizes Business Continuity and Flexibility of Cloud Storage Architectures with DataCore Storage Virtualization

A Fujitsu-Qualified Integration of DataCore SANsymphony™ with Fujitsu ETERNUS and PRIMERGY Products Will Provide Customers with More Interoperable and Flexible Solutions and Options for Customized Storage Infrastructures
DataCore Software announced that Fujitsu has validated the integration of its data center storage and server systems with DataCore storage virtualization software, in order to minimize the risks for enterprises switching to virtualized and cloud storage architectures.

Jens-Peter Seick, Senior Vice President Product Division Datacenter Systems at Fujitsu Technology Solutions states, “By combining our server and storage solutions with DataCore software, customers benefit from storage consolidation in various usage scenarios. We deliver complete storage pool architectures customized to our customers’ ever-changing needs - via a single source.”

Initially available in Europe within Austria, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, the pre-tested and qualified solutions combining Fujitsu ETERNUS and PRIMERGY with DataCore SANsymphony are available immediately via local distributors. With the Fujitsu and DataCore combination, customers can easily provision storage within their cloud infrastructures in real-time, while improving business continuity by removing single points of failure. DataCore adds a new level of high-availability and makes it possible to move data and virtual machines as needed, where needed in a true cloud storage architecture.

Christian Hagen, Vice President EMEA at DataCore Software comments, “The combined Fujitsu and DataCore solutions enable our two customer bases to easily build powerful, extremely fast and reliable virtual storage infrastructures. By qualifying SANsymphony for Fujitsu ETERNUS and PRIMERGY systems, DataCore and Fujitsu assure a pre-tested highly-available platform for dynamic storage available on demand and optimized for cloud storage architectures.”

Additional links –
Fujitsu Press Release: Fujitsu Maximizes Flexibility of Cloud Storage Architectures with DataCore storage virtualization http://www.fujitsu.com/global/news/

About Fujitsu
Fujitsu is a leading provider of ICT-based business solutions for the global marketplace. With approximately 170,000 employees supporting customers in 70 countries, Fujitsu combines a worldwide corps of systems and services experts with highly reliable computing and communications products and advanced microelectronics to deliver added value to customers. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.6 trillion yen (US$50 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. For more information, please see: http://www.fujitsu.com/.

Thursday 16 September 2010

Fujitsu maximises flexibility of storage architectures with DataCore storage virtualisation

http://www.sns-uk.co.uk/news_full.php?id=15628
Fujitsu announces the validated integration of its datacentre storage and server systems with DataCore storage virtualisation software, helping to minimise the risks for enterprises switching to virtualised storage pool architectures. The pre-tested and qualified solution with Fujitsu ETERNUS and PRIMERGY with DataCore SANsymphony is available immediately.

The tighter integration of Fujitsu ETERNUS DX disk storage systems and PRIMERGY X86 tower, blade and rack servers with DataCore’s storage virtualisation software offers enterprises a powerful storage solution that is flexible and easy-to-manage. The reliable and secure disk storage systems integrate well with host operating systems, multi-vendor servers, network infrastructures and back-up solutions.

To minimise the potential risks of permanent data loss, Fujitsu’s ETERNUS DX disk storage systems already provide many redundant components. DataCore adds an independent storage virtualisation layer to further optimise the availability of storage. It ensures an uninterruptible operation of storage systems in case a failover is necessary. DataCore SANsymphony™ provides the ability to mirror data over distances between storage systems with active/active access.

Adding the DataCore virtualisation layer gives customers the ability to scale multiple independent ETERNUS DX systems. The advantage is that the ETERNUS DX can act as one global storage pool that can be expanded virtually to any size far beyond the capacity of each single storage unit. Thanks to Fujitsu and DataCore, customers can now distribute data in their storage infrastructure in real-time, therefore removing any Single Point of Failure, and making it possible to move the data to every storage device in flexible storage pool architecture in real-time for highest availability.

Sean Haffey, product marketing manager Unix and Storage at Fujitsu UK & Ireland, says: “By combining our server and storage solutions with DataCore software, customers benefit from storage consolidation in various usage scenarios. We deliver complete storage pool architectures customised to our customers’ ever-changing needs - via a single source.”

Christian Hagen, vice president EMEA & Americas at DataCore Software said: “Combined Fujitsu and DataCore solutions enable joint customers to easily build powerful, extremely fast and reliable virtual storage infrastructures. By qualifying SANsymphony for Fujitsu ETERNUS and PRIMERGY systems, DataCore and Fujitsu assure a pre-tested environment for dynamic storage on demand concepts optimised for storage pool architectures. This solution is built on our long term success with Fujitsu based installations in the field. It now opens up the channel for Fujitsu resellers and customers to benefit from this combined qualified infrastructure working perfectly together.”

Fujitsu and DataCore Software Partner for Virtualized Storage

eWeek Storage Report: Fujitsu, DataCore Partner for Virtualized Storage
One could say that Fujitsu as a company is a bit cautious about change and in choosing its partners. But that would be a massive understatement.

Being cautious in international business is undoubtedly a very good thing. Note that Fujitsu is one of the world's true IT powerhouses.

However, good quality, second-generation storage virtualization has been available and used in production by many enterprises for more than four years. Companies like Dell, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, NetApp and a slew of others already have snapped up their own such suppliers and incorporated their wares into their catalogs.

Thus it is indeed news that Fujitsu now has a storage virtualization software partner. On Sept. 9 it was announced that Fujitsu has validated DataCore storage virtualization software to run on its storage arrays and servers.

Thus, the two will produce high-end Fujitsu Eternus and Primergy systems featuring DataCore SANsymphony and make them available immediately through local channel partners.

DataCore said the combination enables easy real-time provisioning of storage within cloud infrastructures. DataCore's secret sauce also adds high availability, making it possible to move data and virtual machines as needed, where needed in a cloud storage architecture.

The new systems will at first become available this fall in Europe -- Austria, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom....

Saturday 4 September 2010

VMworld 2010: DataCore Showcases Why Its Storage Virtualization and Stretch High-Availability Software Eliminates Business Outages that Jeopardize Cloud Computing


At VMworld 2010 being held in San Francisco at the Moscone Center this week, DataCore is showcasing how fundamental software-based storage virtualization is to cloud computing.


The Mirazon Group's Chief Technical Architect Barry Martin states:


"Cloud computing platforms demand unprecedented uptime due to server and storage consolidation. DataCore's high-availability approach provides zero downtime. This is a tremendous advantage."

Storage Virtualization and Stretch HA Software for Non-stop Clouds

DataCore is blazing a trail by developing storage virtualization software that is a game-changer in terms of how resellers, solution providers as well as companies considering virtualization deployments manage and deploy virtualization projects and Clouds. The game-changer is that by deploying DataCore in a stretch high-availability (HA) configuration, DataCore delivers fault-tolerance that virtually eliminates storage-related outages that jeopardize business continuity and plague virtualization and consolidation initiatives.

"The DataCore Software stretch high-availability solution delivers seamless, enterprise-class business continuity, data resiliency, and high performance at an affordable price tag," states Aaron Schneider, principal and co-founder, Helixstorm, Inc. "Your applications, virtual servers and virtual desktops and VM migrations continue to run non-stop despite back-end storage changes, failures or reconfigurations. Bottom-line, you get a true high-availability, shared storage solution that automatically protects your data and your virtual machines right out-of-the box just by deploying the virtual storage software in two locations."

DataCore in the Cloud: Achieve the Highest Degree of Availability, Flexibility and Openness for Your Storage
Host.net knows intuitively that storage virtualization software is priority one. "Any cloud computing platform, just like any virtualization deployment, needs to have portable software as its building blocks," notes Jeffrey Slapp, vice president of virtualization services, Host.net. "We chose DataCore in the core design of our virtual private data center (vPDC) platform alongside VMware and Cisco because it delivers the very best storage virtualization component."

DataCore storage virtualization software is virtualizing the storage aspect of an all-virtual private data center (vPDC) platform developed by Host.net. Host.net delivers private cloud computing services for companies ranging from SMEs to large enterprises, utilizing a true software-based approach for the greatest flexibility. Check out the Case study here: Host.Net Case Study on Why Host.net Chose DataCore?


Contain Costs, Avoid Risks, Boost Productivity and Extend the Life of IT Investments with DataCore Software
Even though server and desktop virtualization and consolidation have garnered much of the virtualization press to date, now the real focus of concern is turning from how to virtualize and consolidate servers and desktops to how can we do more to mitigate the risk that results from consolidation. The key concerns being, "How do I insulate my business applications from storage related failures and disruptions that can severely impact virtual machine images and data that are key to running the business?" and "How good is my high-availability, disaster recovery and shared storage solutions?"

DataCore addresses these concerns with proven software deployed in thousands of customer sites around the world. DataCore's software virtualizes disks across pools of tiered storage devices enabling users to provision, share, reconfigure, migrate, replicate, expand or upgrade without slowdowns or downtime. Simply put, DataCore:

+Complements your storage and makes it more reliable, faster and better.

+Works across unlike & incompatible storage devices.

+Eliminates storage-related disruptions, bottlenecks and funding roadblocks that jeopardize virtualization and cloud deployments.

Visit DataCore Customers and Partners Onsite at VMworld 2010 [Booth #1607]
Numerous DataCore customers, including Host.net and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, who have deployed DataCore along with top DataCore solution providers will be onsite at DataCore's VMworld booth [#1607] and are available and standing by to answer questions, highlight best practices and explain the DataCore difference. DataCore solution providers and partners onsite include Grove Networks, HelixStorm, Red Level Networks, Sanity Solutions, The Mirazon Group and DataCore's value-add distributor Lifeboat Distribution.

DataCore partner Andy Judge, founder and CEO of Miami-based Grove Networks, encapsulates the value DataCore brings as follows, "DataCore storage virtualization software gives our clients cost savings and flexibility that is not achievable with storage hardware alone. It takes hardware to a higher level - serving as a hardware and productivity 'enhancer' that pays dividends over the short and long term."

Thursday 2 September 2010

VMworld 2010: American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Deploys DataCore Software in a Stretch, High-Availability Configuration with VMware to Ensure Uptime and Business Continuity


American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) www.ashp.org/ has implemented a new stretch cluster and stretch high-availability (HA) storage configuration based on DataCore storage virtualization software and VMware server virtualization software to ensure uptime and business continuity. This new, stretch, dual-node configuration was implemented by DataCore partner Helixstorm, Inc. and together, DataCore and VMware form an HA configuration that spans floors – serving as an industrial-strength production system with fault-tolerance.

The goal is to transition all of ASHP’s data onto the newly configured, fault-tolerant, virtualized environment. “I am now a believer in the software-based approach to high-availability and storage virtualization,” states Jack Spencer, vice president of operations and CIO at American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. “It was not intuitive until I actually saw it. But now that I have, I am no longer skeptical. Going forward, I will put the bulk of all the money earmarked for network storage into expanding the DataCore configuration as well as building in remote disaster recovery.”

Enterprise Scalability, Seamless Business Continuity, Data Resiliency and High Performance That Supports the ASHP Membership
ASHP has 35,000 individual members. The staff at ASHP itself comprises 210 people. All benefit from the uptime the virtualized environment provides, with DataCore at the heart of it all. “The DataCore Software stretch HA solution delivers enterprise scalability, seamless business continuity, data resiliency, and high performance for a cost-effective price tag when comparing it to traditional storage arrays,” states Aaron Schneider, principal and co-founder, Helixstorm, Inc. “The best part about it is that if ASHP lost a floor to power or critical disaster, the users would not experience an outage because of seamless I/O failover to the surviving node. You get high availability right out of the box just by deploying the virtual storage software in two locations.”

The New HA Configuration: DataCore + VMware Form an Industrial-Strength Production System with Fault-Tolerance
The two HA systems are stretched across two floors at ASHP using synchronous mirroring – thereby providing data redundancy. In total, the data pool – near-line and on-line – comprises sixty (60) terabytes at ASHP. Because ASHP publishes 500+ different publications, storage has always been a big requirement. Three years ago, ASHP became interested in the flexibility, ease-of-use, centralized management and reduced costs that DataCore’s software-based approach to managing and virtualizing their storage assets afforded. DataCore was not, however, ASHP’s first step into virtualization. Prior to DataCore, VMware was deployed at ASHP and the virtual machine (VM) farm has grown four-fold over five years.

“We designed and implemented a true highly available SAN solution,” states Eric Henry, CTO and co-founder, Helixstorm, Inc. “It’s a shared nothing environment, which means the disks do not share a backplane with the controllers like traditional arrays. ASHP has eliminated all single points of failure between the application servers and the storage controllers along with increasing the data resiliency by ‘stretching’ the SAN between two floors via redundant fiber channel connections for synchronous mirroring. You just can’t get any better business continuity than that!”

A Mission-Critical Solution and Configuration
Spencer extols the value-added utilities and features of SANmelody as well as its ease of use – chiefly its simplicity in terms of set-up and maintenance. “Trying to carve out a LUN on a big SAN is a true hassle,” explains Spencer. “Then trying to maintain and keep track of the different LUNs – just the maintenance of the configuration – is very complicated. Software-based SANmelody makes it simple. It is elegantly straightforward and simple in terms of removing labor-intensive aspects of SAN maintenance.”

VMworld 2010 Photos - DataCore Storage Virtualization Software Makes Clouds Happy!